,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,second ,,kings ,,from ,,chap4 ,,viii1 ,,and ,,chronicles1 ,,ezra1 ,,and ,,nehemiah ,,esther1 ,,job1 ,,proverbs ,,and ,,ecclesiastes ,,contents ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,kings ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,hazael 7#b ,kings viii4 #i-ae7 ,,impure ,,zeal 7#b ,kings x4 #ah-ca7 ,,jehoiada ,,and ,,joash 7#b ,kings xi4 #a-af7 ,,methodical ,,liberality 7#b ,kings xii4 #d-ae7 ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,power 7#b ,kings xiii4 #af7 ,a ,,kingdom',s ,,epitaph 7#b ,kings xvii4 #f-ah7 ,,divided ,,worship 7#b ,kings xvii4 #cc7 ,,hezekiah1 ,a ,,pattern ,,of ,,devout ,,life 7#b ,kings xviii4 #e1 #f7 ',,he ,,uttered ,,his ,,voice1 ,,the ,,earth ,,melted' 7#b ,kings xix4 #bj-bb2 #bh-cg7 ,,the ,,rediscovered ,,law ,,and ,,its ,,effects 7#b ,kings xxii4 #h-bj7 ,,the ,,end 7#b ,kings xxv4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,king',s ,,potters 7#a ,chron4 iv4 #bc7 ,,david',s ,,choristers 7#a ,chron4 vi4 #cb1 ,r4,v4 margin7 ,,drill ,,and ,,enthusiasm 7#a ,chron4 xii4 #cc7 ,,david',s ,,prohibited ,,desire ,,and ,,permitted ,,service 7#a ,chron4 xxii4 #f-af7 ,,david',s ,,charge ,,to ,,solomon 7#a ,chron4 xxviii4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,waves ,,of ,,time 7#a ,chron4 xxix4 #cj7 ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,chronicles ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,every ,,day 7#b ,chron4 viii4 #ab-ac1 ,r4,v47 ,,contrasted ,,services 7#b ,chron4 xii4 #h7 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,victory 7#b ,chron4 xiii4 #ah7 ,,asa',s ,,reformation1 ,,and ,,consequent ,,peace ,,and ,,victory 7#b ,chron4 xiv4 #b-h7 ,,asa',s ,,prayer 7#b ,chron4 xiv4 #aa7 ,,the ,,search ,,that ,,always ,,finds 7#b ,chron4 xv4 #ae7 ,,jehoshaphat',s ,,reform 7#b ,chron4 xvii4 #a-aj7 ,,amasiah 7#b ,chron4 xvii4 #af7 ',a ,,mirror ,,for ,,magistrates' 7#b ,chron4 xix4 #a-aa7 ,a ,,strange ,,battle 7#b ,chron4 xx4 #ab7 ,,holding ,,fast ,,and ,,held ,,fast 7#b ,chron4 xx4 #bj7 ,,joash 7#b ,chron4 xxiv4 #b1 #ag7 ,,glad ,,givers ,,and ,,faithful ,,workers 7#b ,chron4 xxiv4 #d-ad7 ,,prudence ,,and ,,faith 7#b ,chron4 xxv4 #i7 ,,jotham 7#b ,chron4 xxvii4 #f7 ,,costly ,,and ,,fatal ,,help 7#b ,chron4 xxviii4 #bc7 ,a ,,godly ,,reformation 7#b ,chron4 xxix4 #a-aa7 ,,sacrifice ,,renewed 7#b ,chron4 xxix4 #ah-ca7 ,a ,,loving ,,call ,,to ,,reunion 7#b ,chron4 xxx4 #a-ac7 ,a ,,strange ,,reward ,,for ,,faithfulness 7#b ,chron4 xxxii4 #a7 ,,manasseh',s ,,sin ,,and ,,repentance 7#b ,chron4 xxxiii4 #i-af7 ,,josiah 7#b ,chron4 xxxiv4 #a-ac7 ,,josiah ,,and ,,the ,,newly ,,found ,,law 7#b ,chron4 xxxiv4 #aa-bh7 ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,judah 7#b ,chron4 xxxvi4 #aa-ba7 ,,ezra ,,the ,,eve ,,of ,,the ,,restoration 7,ezra i4 #a-aa7 ,,altar ,,and ,,temple 7,ezra iii4 #a-ac7 ,,building ,,in ,,troublous ,,times 7,ezra iv4 #a-e7 ,,the ,,new ,,temple ,,and ,,its ,,worship 7,ezra vi4 #ad-bb7 ,,god ,,the ,,joy-,,bringer 7,ezra vi4 #bb7 ,,heroic ,,faith 7,ezra viii4 #bb1 #bc1 #ca1 #cb7 ,,the ,,charge ,,of ,,the ,,pilgrim ,,priests 7,ezra viii4 #bi7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,nehemiah ,a ,,reformer',s ,,schooling 7,neh4 i4 #a-aa7 ,,the ,,church ,,and ,,social ,,evils 7,neh4 i4 #d7 ',,over ,,against ,,his ,,house' 7,neh4 iii4 #bh7 ,,discouragements ,,and ,,courage 7,neh4 iv4 #i-ba7 ,,an ,,ancient ,,nonconformist 7,neh4 v4 #ae7 ,,reading ,,the ,,law ,,with ,,tears ,,and ,,joy 7,neh4 viii4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,joy ,,of ,,the ,,lord 7,neh4 viii4 #aj7 ,,sabbath ,,observance 7,neh4 xiii4 l#e-bb7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,esther ,,the ,,net ,,spread 7,esther iii4 #a-aa7 ,,esther',s ,,venture 7,esther iv4 #aj-ag2 v4 #a-c7 ,,mordecai ,,and ,,esther 7,esther iv4 #ad7 ,,the ,,net ,,broken 7,esther viii4#c-h1ae-ag7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,job ,,sorrow ,,that ,,worships 7,job i4 #ba7 ,,the ,,peaceable ,,fruits ,,of ,,sorrows ,,rightly ,,borne 7,job v4 #ag-bg7 ,,two ,,kinds ,,of ,,hope 7,job viii4 #ad2 ,romans v4 #e7 ,,job',s ,,question1 ,,jesus' ,,answer 7,job xiv4 #ad2 ,john xi4 #be1bf7 ,,knowledge ,,and ,,peace 7,job xxii4 #ba7 ,,what ,,life ,,may ,,be ,,made 7,job xxii4 #bf-bi7 ',,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,lord' 7,job xlii4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,proverbs ,a ,,young ,,man',s ,,best ,,counsellor 7,proverbs i4 #a-ai7 ,,wisdom',s ,,call 7,proverbs i4 #bj-cc7 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,well-,,being 7,proverbs iii4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,gifts ,,of ,,heavenly ,,wisdom 7,proverbs iii4 #aa-bd7 ,,the ,,two ,,paths 7,proverbs iv4 #aj-ai7 ,,monotony ,,and ,,crises 7,proverbs iv4 #ab7 ,,from ,,dawn ,,to ,,noon 7,proverbs iv4 #ah2 ,matt4 xiii4 #dc7 ,,keeping ,,and ,,kept 7,proverbs iv4 #bc2 ,i ,peter i4 #e7 ,,the ,,cords ,,of ,,sin 7,proverbs v4 #bb7 ,,wisdom',s ,,gift 7,proverbs viii4 #ba7 ,,wisdom ,,and ,,christ 7,proverbs viii4 #cj1 #ca7 ,,the ,,two-,,fold ,,aspect ,,of ,,the ,,divine ,,working 7,proverbs x4 #bi7 ,,the ,,many-,,sided ,,contrast ,,of ,,wisdom ,,and ,,folly 7,proverbs xii4 #a-ae7 ,,the ,,poor ,,rich ,,and ,,the ,,rich ,,poor 7,proverbs xiii4 #g7 ,,the ,,tillage ,,of ,,the ,,poor 7,proverbs xiii4 #bc7 ,,sin ,,the ,,mocker 7,proverbs xiv4 #i7 ,,hollow ,,laughter1 ,,solid ,,joy 7,prov4 xiv4 #ac2 ,john xv4 #aa7 ,,satisfied ,,from ,,self 7,proverbs xiv4 #ad7 ,,what ,i ,,think ,,of ,,myself ,,and ,,what ,,god ,,thinks ,,of ,,me 7,proverbs xvi4 #b7 ,a ,,bundle ,,of ,,proverbs 7,proverbs xvi4 #bb-cc7 ,,two ,,fortresses 7,proverbs xviii4 #aj1 #aa7 ,a ,,string ,,of ,,pearls 7,proverbs xx4 #a-g7 ,,the ,,sluggard ,,in ,,harvest 7,proverbs xx4 #d7 ,,bread ,,and ,,gravel 7,proverbs xx4 #ag7 ,a ,,condensed ,,guide ,,for ,,life 7,proverbs xxiii4 #ae-bc7 ,,the ,,afterwards ,,and ,,our ,,hope 7,proverbs xxiii4 #ag1 #ah7 ,,the ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,drunkard 7,proverbs xxiii1 #bi-ce7 ,,the ,,crime ,,of ,,negligence 7,proverbs xxiv4 #aa1 #ab7 ,,the ,,sluggard',s ,,garden 7,proverbs xxiv4 #cj1 #ca7 ,,an ,,unwalled ,,city 7,proverbs xxv4 #bh7 ,,the ,,weight ,,of ,,sand 7,proverbs xxvii4 #c7 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,matron 7,proverbs xxxi4 #aj-ca7 ,,ecclesiastes2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,preacher ,,what ,,passes ,,and ,,what ,,abides 7,eccles4 i4 #d2 ,i ,john ii4 #ag7 ,,the ,,past ,,and ,,the ,,future 7,eccles4 i4 #i2 ,i ,peter iv4 #b1 #c7 ,,two ,,views ,,of ,,life 7,eccles4 i4 #ac2 ,hebrews xii4 #aj7 ',a ,,time ,,to ,,plant' 7,eccles4 iii4 #b7 ,,eternity ,,in ,,the ,,heart 7,eccles4 iii4 #aa7 ,,lessons ,,for ,,worship ,,and ,,for ,,work 7,eccles4 v4 #a-ab7 ,,naked ,,or ,,clothed8 7,eccles4 v4 #ae2 ,rev4 xiv4 #ac7 ,,finis ,,coronat ,,opus 7,eccles4 vii4 #h7 ,,misused ,,respite 7,eccles4 viii4 #aa7 ,,fences ,,and ,,serpents 7,eccles4 x4 #h7 ,,the ,,way ,,to ,,the ,,city 7,eccles4 x4 #ae7 ,a ,,new ,,year',s ,,sermon ,,to ,,the ,,young 7,eccles4 xi4 #i2 xii4 #a7 ,,the ,,conclusion ,,of ,,the ,,matter 7,eccles4 xii4 #a-g1 #ac-ad7 ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,kings ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,hazael ',so ,hazael went to meet him1 and took a present with him1 even of every good thing of ,damascus1 forty camels' burden1 and came and stood before him1 and said1 ,thy son ,ben-hadad king of ,syria hath sent me to thee1 saying1 ,shall ,i recover of this disease8 #aj4 ,and ,elisha said unto him1 ,go1 say unto him1 ,thou mayest certainly recover3 howbeit the ,lord hath shewed me that he shall surely die4 #aa4 ,and he settled his countenance stedfastly1 until he was ashamed3 and the man of ,god wept4 #ab4 ,and ,hazael said1 ,why weepeth my lord8 ,and he answered1 ,because ,i know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of ,israel3 their strong holds wilt thou set on fire1 and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword1 and wilt dash their children1 and rip up their women with child4 #ac4 ,and ,hazael said4 ,but what1 is thy servant a dog1 that he should do this great thing8 ,and ,elisha answered1 ,the ,lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over ,syria4 #ad4 ,so he departed from ,elisha1 and came to his master2 who said to him1 ,what said ,elisha to thee8 and he answered1 ,he told me that thou shouldest surely recover4 #ae4 ,and it came to pass on the morrow1 that he took a thick cloth1 and dipped it in water1 and spread it on his face1 so that he died3 and ,hazael reigned in his stead4'--#b ,,kings viii4 #i-ae4 ,this is a strange1 wild story4 ,that ,damascene monarchy burst into sudden power1 warlike and commercial--for the two things went together in those days4 ,as is usually the case1 ,hazael the successful soldier becomes ambitious4 ,his sword seems to be the real sceptre1 and he will have the dominion4 ,many years before this ,elijah had anointed him to be king over ,syria4 ,that had wrought upon him and stirred ambition in him4 ,elijah's other appointments1 coeval with his own1 had already taken effect1 ,jehu was king of ,israel1 ,elisha was prophet1 and he only had not attained the dignity to which he had been designated4 ,he comes now with his message from the king of ,damascus to ,elisha4 ,no doubt he had been often contrasting his own vigour with the decrepit1 nominal king1 and many a time had thought of the anointing1 and had nursed ambitious hopes1 which gradually turned to dark resolves4 ,he hoped1 no doubt1 that ,ben-hadad was mortally sick1 and it must have been a cruel1 crushing disappointment when he heard that there was nothing deadly in the illness4 ,another hope was gone from him4 ,the throne seemed further off than ever4 ,i suppose that1 at that instant1 there sprang in his heart the resolve that he would kill ,ben-hadad4 ,the recoil of disappointment spurred ,hazael to the resolution which he then and there took4 ,it had been gathering form1 no doubt1 through some years1 but now it became definite and settled4 ,while his face glowed with the new determination1 and his lips clenched themselves in the firmness of his purpose1 the even voice of the prophet went on1 'howbeit he shall certainly die1' and the eye of the man of ,god searched him till he turned away ashamed because aware that his inmost heart was read4 ,then there followed the prophet's weeping1 and the solemn announcement of what ,hazael would do when he had climbed to the throne4 ,he shrank in real horror from the thought of such enormity of sin4 ',is thy servant a dog that he should do such a thing8' ,elisha sternly answers3 ',the ,lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over ,syria4' ,the certainty is that in his character occasion will develop evil4 ,the certainty is that a course begun by such crime will be of a piece1 and consistent with itself4 ,this conversation with ,elisha seems to have accelerated ,hazael's purpose1 as if the prediction were to his mind a justification of his means of fulfilling it4 ,how like ,macbeth he is6--the successful soldier1 stirred by supernatural monitions of a greatness which he should achieve1 and at last a murderer4 ,this narrative opens to us some of the solemn1 dark places of human life1 of men's hearts1 of ,god's ways4 ,let us look at some of the lessons which lie here4 ,i4 ,man's responsibility for the sin which ,god foresees4 ,it seems as if the prophet's words had much to do in exciting the ambitious desires which led to the crime4 ,hazael's purpose of executing the deed is clearly known to the prophet4 ,his ascending the throne is part of the divine purpose4 ,he could find excuses for his guilt1 and fling the responsibility for firing his ambition on the divine messenger4 ,it may be asked--,what sort of ,god is this who works on the mind of a man by exciting promises1 and having done so1 and having it fixed in ,his purposes that the man is to do the crime1 yet treats it when done as guilt8 ,but now1 whatever you may say1 or whatever excuses ,hazael might have found for himself1 here is just in its most naked form that which is true about all sin4 ,god foresees it all4 ,god puts men into circumstances where they will fall1 ,god presents to them things which they will make temptations4 ,god takes the consequences of their wrongdoing and works them into ,his great scheme4 ,that is undeniable on one side1 and on the other it is as undeniable that ,god's foreseeing leaves men free4 ,god's putting men into circumstances where they fall is not ,his tempting them4 ,god's non-prevention of sin is not permission to sin4 ,god's overruling the consequences of sin is not ,his condoning of sin as part of the scheme of ,his providence4 ,man is free4 ,man is responsible4 ,god hates sin4 ,god foresees and permits sin4 ,it is all a terrible mystery1 but the facts are as undeniable as the mystery of their co-existence is inscrutable4 ,,ii4 ,the slumbering possibilities of sin4 ,hazael indignantly protests against the thought that he should do such a thing4 ,there is conscience left in him yet4 ,his example suggests how little any of us know what it is in us to be or to do4 ,we are all of us a mystery to ourselves4 ,slumbering powers lie in us4 ,we are like quiescent volcanoes4 ,so much in us lies dormant1 needing occasion for its development1 like seeds that may sleep for centuries4 ,that is true in regard to both the good and the bad in us4 ,life reveals us to ourselves4 ,we learn to know ourselves by our actions1 better than by mental self-inspection4 ,all sin is one in essence1 and may pass into diverse forms according to circumstances4 ,of course characters differ1 but the root of sin is in us all4 ,we are largely good because not tempted1 as a house may well stand firm when there are no floods4 ,by the nature of the case1 thorough self-knowledge is impossible4 ,sin has the power of blinding us to its presence4 ,it comes in a cloud as the old gods were fabled to do4 ,the lungs get accustomed to a vitiated atmosphere1 and scarcely are conscious of oppression till they cease to play4 ,all this should teach us-- ,lessons of wary walking and humility4 ,we are good because we have not been tried4 ,lessons of charity and brotherly kindness4 ,every thief in the hulks1 every prostitute on the streets1 is our brother and sister1 and they prove their fraternity by their sin4 ',whatever man has done man may do4' ',nihil humanum alienum a me puto4' ',let him that is without sin cast the first stone4' ,,iii4 ,the fatal necessity by which sin repeats itself in aggravated forms4 ,see how ,hazael is drifted into his worst crimes4 ,his first one leads on by fell necessity to others4 ,a man who has done no sin is conceivable1 but a man who has done only one is impossible4 ,did you ever see a dam bursting or breaking down8 ,through a little crack comes one drop3 will it stop there--the gap or the trickle8 ,no6 ,the drop has widened the crack1 it has softened the earth around1 it has cleared away some impediments4 ,so another and another follow ever more rapidly1 until the water pours out in a flood and the retaining embankment is swept away4 ,no sin 'is dead1 being alone4' ,the demon brings seven other devils worse than himself4 ,the reason for that aggravation is plain4 ,there is1 first1 habit4 ,there is1 second1 growing inclination4 ,there is1 third1 weakened restraint4 ,there is1 fourth1 a craving for excitement to still conscience4 ,there is1 fifth1 the necessity of the man's position4 ,there is1 sixth1 the strange love of consistency which tones all life down or up to one tint1 as near as may be4 ,there comes at last despair4 ,but not merely does every sin tend to repeat itself and to draw others after it4 ,it tends to repeat itself in aggravated forms4 ,there is growth1 the law of increase as well as of perpetuity4 ,the seed produces 'some sixty and some an hundredfold4' ,and so the slaughtered soldiers and desolated homesteads of ,israel were the sequel of the cloth on ,ben-hadad's face4 ,the secret of much enormous crime is the kind of relief from conscience which is found in committing a yet greater sin4 ,the ,furies drive with whips of scorpions1 and the poor wretch goes plunging and kicking deeper and deeper in the mire1 further and farther from the path4 ,so you can never say3 ',i will only do this one wrong thing4' ,we see here how powerless against sin are all restraints4 ,the prophecy did not prevent ,hazael from his sins4 ,the clear sense that they were sins did not prevent him4 ,the horror-struck shudder of conscience did not prevent him4 ,it was soon gagged4 ,hear1 then1 the conclusion of the whole matter4 ,christ reveals us to ourselves4 ,christ breaks the chain of sin1 makes a new beginning1 cuts off the entail1 reverses the irreversible1 erases the indelible1 cancels the irrevocable1 forgives all the faultful past1 and by the power of ,his love in the soul1 works a mightier miracle than changing the ,ethiopian's skin2 teaches them that are accustomed to evil to do well1 and though sins be as scarlet1 makes them white as snow4 ,he gives us a cleansed past and a bright future1 and out of all our sins and wasted years makes pardoned sinners and glorified1 perfected saints4 ,,impure ,,zeal ',and ,jehu gathered all the people together1 and said unto them1 ,ahab served ,baal a little2 but ,jehu shall serve him much4 #ai4 ,now therefore call unto me all the prophets of ,baal1 all his servants1 and all his priests2 let none be wanting3 for ,i have a great sacrifice to do to ,baal2 whosoever shall be wanting1 he shall not live4 ,but ,jehu did it in subtilty1 to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of ,baal4 #bj4 ,and ,jehu said1 ,proclaim a solemn assembly for ,baal4 ,and they proclaimed it4 #ba4 ,and ,jehu sent through all ,israel3 and all the worshippers of ,baal came1 so that there was not a man left that came not4 ,and they came into the house of ,baal2 and the house of ,baal was full from one end to another4 #bb4 ,and he said unto him that was over the vestry1 ,bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of ,baal4 ,and he brought them forth vestments4 #bc4 ,and ,jehu went1 and ,jehonadab the son of ,rechab1 into the house of ,baal1 and said unto the worshippers of ,baal1 ,search1 and look that there be here with you none of the servants of the ,lord1 but the worshippers of ,baal only4 #bd4 ,and when they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings1 ,jehu appointed fourscore men without1 and said1 ,if any of the men whom ,i have brought into your hands escape1 he that letteth him go1 his life shall be for the life of him4 #be4 ,and it came to pass1 as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering1 that ,jehu said to the guard and to the captains1 ,go in1 and slay them2 let none come forth4 ,and they smote them with the edge of the sword2 and the guard and the captains cast them out1 and went to the city of the house of ,baal4 #bf4 ,and they brought forth the images out of the house of ,baal1 and burned them4 #bg4 ,and they brake down the image of ,baal1 and brake down the house of ,baal1 and made it a draught house unto this day4 #bh4 ,thus ,jehu destroyed ,baal out of ,israel4 #bi4 ,howbeit from the sins of ,jeroboam the son of ,nebat1 who made ,israel to sin1 ,jehu departed not from after them1 to wit1 the golden calves that were in ,beth-el1 and that were in ,dan4 #cj4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,jehu1 ,because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in ,mine eyes1 and hast done unto the house of ,ahab according to all that was in ,mine heart1 thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of ,israel4 #ca4 ,but ,jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the ,lord ,god of ,israel with all his heart3 for he departed not from the sins of ,jeroboam1 which made ,israel to sin4'--#b ,,kings x4 #ah-ca4 ,the details of this story of bloodshed need little elucidation4 ,jehu had 'driven furiously' to some purpose4 ,secrecy and swiftness joined to unhesitating severity had crushed the dynasty of ,ahab1 which fell unlamented and unsupported1 as if lightning-struck4 ,the nobler elements had gathered to ,jehu1 as represented by the ,rechabite1 ,jehonadab1 evidently a ,jehovah worshipper1 and closely associated with the fierce soldier in this chapter4 ,jehu first secured his position1 and then smote the ,baal worship as heavily and conclusively as he had done the royal family4 ,he struck once1 and struck no more2 for the single blow pulverised4 ,the audacious pretext of an intention to outdo the fallen dynasty in ,baal worship must have sounded strange to those who knew how his massacre of ,ahab's house had been represented by him as fulfilling ,jehovah's purpose1 but it was not too gross to be believed4 ,so we can fancy the joyous revival of hope with which from every corner of the land the ,baal priests1 prophets1 and worshippers1 recovered from their fright1 came flocking to the great temple in ,samaria1 till it was like a cup filled with wine from brim to brim4 ,the worship cannot have numbered many adherents if one temple could hold the bulk of them4 ,probably it had never been more than a court fashion1 and1 now that ,jezebel was dead1 had lost ground4 ,a token of royal favour was given to each of the crowd1 in the gift of a vestment from the royal wardrobe4 ,then ,jehu himself1 accompanied by the ascetic ,jehonadab1 entered the court of the temple1 a strangely assorted pair1 and a couple of very 'distinguished' converts4 ,the ,baal priests would thrill with gratified pride when these two came to worship4 ,the usual precautions against the intrusion of non-worshippers were taken at ,jehu's command1 but with a sinister meaning1 undreamed of by the eager searchers4 ,that was a sifting for destruction1 not for preservation4 ,so they all passed into the inner court to offer sacrifice4 ,the story gives a double picture in verse #bd4 ,within are the jubilant worshippers2 without1 the grim company of their executioners1 waiting the signal to draw their swords and burst in on the unarmed mob4 ,jehu carried his deception so far that he himself offered the burnt offering1 with ,jehonadab standing by1 and then withdrew1 followed1 no doubt1 by grateful acclamations4 ,a step or two brought him to the 'eighty men without4' ,two stern words1 ',go1 smite them1' are enough4 ,they storm in1 and 'the songs of the temple' are turned to 'howlings in that day4' ,the defenceless1 surprised crowd1 huddled together in the dimly lighted shrine1 were massacred to a man4 ,the innermost sanctuary was then wrecked1 corpses and statues thrown pell-mell into the outer courts or beyond the precincts1 fires lit to burn the abominations1 and busy hands1 always more ready for pillage and destruction than for good work1 pulled down the temple1 the ruins of which were turned to base uses4 ,the writer1 picturing the wild scene1 sums up with a touch of exultation3 ',thus ,jehu destroyed ,baal out of ,israel'--where note the emphatic prominence of the three names of the king1 the god1 and the nation4 ,that is the vindication of the terrible deed4 ,now the main interest of this passage lies in its disclosure of the strangely mingled character of ,jehu1 and in the fact that his bloody severity was approved by ,god1 and rewarded by the continuance of his dynasty for a longer time than any other on the throne of ,israel4 ,jehu was influenced by 'zeal for the ,lord1' however much smoke mingled with the flame4 ,he acted under the conviction that he was ,god's instrument1 and at each new deed of blood asserted his fulfilment of prophecy4 ,his profession to ,jehonadab 7ver4 #af7 was not hypocrisy nor ostentation4 ,the ,rechabite sheikh was evidently a man of mark1 and apparently one of the leaders of those who had not 'bowed the knee to ,baal'2 and ,jehu's disclosure of his animating motive was meant to secure the alliance of that party through one of its chiefs4 ,no doubt many elements of selfishness and many stains mingled with ,jehu's zeal4 ,it was much on the same level as the fanaticism of the immediate successors of ,mohammed2 but1 low as it was1 look at its power4 ,jehu swept like a whirlwind1 or like leaping fire among stubble1 from ,ramoth to ,jezreel1 from ,jezreel to ,samaria1 and nothing stood before his fierce onset4 ,promptitude1 decision1 secrecy1--the qualities which carry enterprises to success--marked his character2 partly1 no doubt1 from natural temperament1 for ,god chooses right instruments1 but from temperament heightened and invigorated by the conviction of being the instrument whom ,god had chosen4 ,we may learn how even a very imperfect form of this conviction gives irresistible force to a man1 annihilates fear1 draws the teeth of danger1 and gathers up all one's faculties to a point which can pierce any opposition4 ,we may all recognise that ,god has sent us on ,his errands2 and if we cherish that conviction1 we shall put away from us slothfulness and fear1 and out of weakness shall be made strong4 ,but ,jehu sets forth the possible imperfections of 'zeal for the ,lord4' ,we may defer for a moment the consideration of the morality of his slaughter of the royal house and the ,baal worshippers1 and point to the taint of selfishness and to the leaven of deceit in his enthusiasm4 ,we have not to analyse it4 ,that is ,god's work4 ,but clearly the object which he had in view was not merely fulfilment of prophecy1 but securing the throne2 and there was more passion1 as well as selfish policy1 in his massacres1 than befitted a minister of the divine justice1 who should let no anger disturb the solemnity of his terrible task4 ,such dangers ever attend the path of the great men who feel themselves to be sent by ,god4 ,in our humbler lives they dog our steps1 and religious fervour needs ever to keep careful watch on itself1 lest it should degenerate unconsciously into self-will1 and should allow the muddy stream of earth-born passion to darken its crystal waters4 ,many a great name in the annals of the ,church has fallen before that temptation4 ,we all need to remember that 'the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of ,god1' and to take heed lest we should be guided by our own stormy impatience of contradiction1 and by a determination to have our own way1 while we think ourselves the humble instruments of a divine purpose4 ,there was a ',zelotes' in the ,apostolate2 but the coarse1 sanguinary 'zeal' of his party must have needed much purifying before it learned what manner of spirit the zeal of a true disciple was of4 ,another point of interest is the divine emphatic approval of ,jehu's bloody acts 7ver4 #cj74 ,the massacre of the ,baal worshippers is not included in the acts which ,god declares to have been 'according to all that was in ,mine heart1' and it may be argued that it was not part of ,jehu's commission4 ,certainly the accompanying deceit was not 'right in ,god's eyes1' but the slaughter in ,baal's temple was the natural sequel of the civil revolution1 and is most probably included in the deeds approved4 ,perhaps ,elisha brought ,jehu the message in verse #cj4 ,if so1 what a contrast between the two instruments of ,god's purposes6 ,at all events1 ,jehovah's approval was distinctly given4 ,what then8 ,there need be no hesitation in recognising the progressive character of ,scripture morality1 as well as the growth of the revelation of the divine character1 of which the morality of each epoch is the reflection4 ,the full revelation of the ,god of love had to be preceded by the clear revelation of the ,god of righteousness2 and whilst the ,old ,testament does make known the love of ,god in many a gracious act and word1 it especially teaches ,his righteous condemnation of sin1 without which ,his love were mere facile indulgence and impunity4 ,the slaughter of that wicked house of ,ahab and of the ,baal priests was the act of divine justice1 and the question is simply whether that justice was entitled to slay them4 ,to that question believers in a divine providence can give but one answer4 ,the destruction of ,baal worship and the annihilation of its stronghold in ,ahab's family were sufficient reasons1 as even we can see1 for such a deed4 ,to bring in ,jehu into the problem is unnecessary4 ,he was the sword1 but ,god's was the hand that struck4 ,it is not for men to arraign the ,lord of life and death for ,his methods and times of sending death to evil-doers4 ,granted that the 'long-suffering' which is 'not willing that any should perish' speaks more powerfully to our hearts than the justice which smites with death1 the later and more blessed revelation is possible and precious only on the foundation of the former4 ,nor will a loose-braced generation like ours1 which affects to be horrified at the thought of the 'wrath of ,god1' and recoils from the contemplation of ,his judgments1 ever reach the innermost secrets of the tenderness of ,his love4 ,from the merely human point of view1 we may say that revolutions are not made with rose-water1 and that1 at all crises in a nation's history1 when some ancient evil is to be thrown off1 and some powerful system is to be crushed1 there will be violence1 at which easy-going people1 who have never passed through like times1 will hold up their hands in horror and with cheap censure4 ,no doubt we have a higher law than ,jehu knew1 and ,christ has put ,his own gentle commandment of love in the place of what was 'said to them of old time4' ,but let us1 while we obey it for ourselves1 and abjure violence and blood1 judge the men of old 'according to that which they had1 and not according to that which they had not4' ,jehu's bloody deeds are not held up for admiration4 ,his obedience is what is praised and rewarded4 ,well for us if we obey our better law as faithfully6 ,the last point in the story is the imperfection of the obedience of ,jehu4 ,he contented himself with rooting out ,baal1 but left the calves4 ,that shows the impurity of his 'zeal1' which flamed only against what it was for his advantage to destroy1 and left the more popular and older idolatry undisturbed4 ,obedience has to be 'all in all1 or not at all4' ,we may not 'compound for sins we are inclined to1 by' zeal against those 'we have no mind to4' ,our consciences are apt to have insensitive spots in them1 like witch-marks4 ,we often think it enough to remove the grosser evils1 and leave the less1 but white ants will eat up a carcass faster than a lion4 ,putting away ,baal is of little use if we keep the calves at ,dan and ,beth-el4 ,nothing but walking in the law of the ,lord 'with all the heart' will secure our walking safely4 ',unite my heart to fear ,thy name' needs to be our daily prayer4 ',one foot on sea and one on shore' is not the attitude in which steadfastness or progress is possible4 ,,jehoiada ,,and ,,joash ',and when ,athaliah the mother of ,ahaziah saw that her son was dead1 she arose and destroyed all the seed royal4 #b4 ,but ,jehosheba1 the daughter of king ,joram1 sister of ,ahaziah1 took ,joash the son of ,ahaziah1 and stole him from among the king's sons which were slain2 and they hid him1 even him and his nurse1 in the bedchamber from ,athaliah1 so that he was not slain4 #c4 ,and he was with her hid in the house of the ,lord six years4 ,and ,athaliah did reign over the land4 #d4 ,and the seventh year ,jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds1 with the captains and the guard1 and brought them to him into the house of the ,lord1 and made a covenant with them1 and took an oath of them in the house of the ,lord1 and shewed them the king's son4 #e4 ,and he commanded them1 saying1 ,this is the thing that ye shall do2 ,a third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king's house2 #f4 ,and a third part shall be at the gate of ,sur2 and a third part at the gate behind the guard3 so shall ye keep the watch of the house1 that it be not broken down4 #g4 ,and two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath1 even they shall keep the watch of the house of the ,lord about the king4 #h4 ,and ye shall compass the king round about1 every man with his weapons in his hand3 and he that cometh within the ranges1 let him be slain3 and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in4 #i4 ,and the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that ,jehoiada the priest commanded3 and they took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath1 with them that should go out on the sabbath1 and came to ,jehoiada the priest4 #aj1 ,and to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king ,david's spears and shields1 that were in the temple of the ,lord4 #aa4 ,and the guard stood1 every man with his weapons in his hand1 round about the king1 from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple1 along by the altar and the temple4 #ab4 ,and he brought forth the king's son1 and put the crown upon him1 and gave him the testimony2 and they made him king1 and anointed him2 and they clapped their hands1 and said1 ,god save the king4 #ac4 ,and when ,athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people1 she came to the people into the temple of the ,lord4 #ad4 ,and when she looked1 behold1 the king stood by a pillar1 as the manner was1 and the princes and the trumpeters by the king1 and all the people of the land rejoiced1 and blew with trumpets3 and ,athaliah rent her clothes1 and cried1 ,treason1 ,treason4 #ae4 ,but ,jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds1 the officers of the host1 and said unto them1 ,have her forth without the ranges3 and him that followeth her kill with the sword4 ,for the priest had said1 ,let her not be slain in the house of the ,lord4 #af4 ,and they laid hands on her2 and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king's house3 and there was she slain4'--#b ,,kings xi4 #a-af4 ,the king of ,judah has been killed1 his alliance with the king of ,israel having involved him in the latter's fate4 ,jehu had also murdered 'the brethren of ,ahaziah1' forty-two in number4 ,next1 ,athaliah1 the mother of ,ahaziah and a daughter of ,ahab1 killed all the males of the royal family1 and planted herself on the throne4 ,she had ,jezebel's force of character1 unscrupulousness and disregard of human life4 ,she was a tigress of a woman1 and1 no doubt1 her six years' usurpation was stained with blood and with the nameless abominations of ,baal worship4 ,never had the kingdom of ,judah been at a lower ebb4 ,one infant was all that was left of ,david's descendants4 ,the whole promises of ,god seemed to depend for fulfilment on one little1 feeble life4 ,the tree had been cut down1 and there was but this one sucker pushing forth a tiny shoot from 'the root of ,jesse4' ,we have in the passage1 first1 the six years of hiding in the temple4 ,it is a pathetic picture1 that of the infant rescued by his brave aunt from the blood-bath1 and stowed away in the storeroom where the mats and cushions which served for beds were kept when not in use1 watched over by two loving and courageous women1 and taught infantile lessons by the husband of his aunt1 ,jehoiada the high priest4 ,many must have been aware of his existence1 and there must have been loyal guarding of the secret1 or ,athaliah's sword would have been reddened with the baby's blood4 ,like the child ,samuel1 he had the ,temple for his home1 and his first impressions would be of daily sacrifices and white-robed priests4 ,it was a better school for him than if he had been in the palace close by4 ,the opening flower would have been soon besmirched there1 but in the holy calm of the ,temple courts it unfolded unstained4 ,a ,christian home should breathe the same atmosphere as surrounded ,joash1 and it1 too1 should be a temple1 where holy peace rules1 and where the first impressions printed on plastic little minds are of ,god and ,his service4 ,we have next the disclosure and coronation of the boy king4 ,the narrative here has to be supplemented from that in #b ,chron4 xxiii41 which does not contradict that in this passage1 as is often said1 but completes it4 ,it informs us that before the final scene in the ,temple1 ,jehoiada had in ,jerusalem assembled a large force of ,levites and of the 'heads of the fathers' houses' from all the kingdom4 ,that statement implies that the revolution was mainly religious in its motive1 and was national in its extent4 ,obviously ,jehoiada would have been courting destruction for ,joash and himself unless he had made sure of a strong backing before he hoisted the standard of the house of ,david4 ,there must1 therefore1 have been long preparation and much stir2 and all the while the foreign woman was sitting in the palace1 close by the ,temple1 and not a whisper reached her4 ,evidently she had no party in ,judah1 and held her own only by her indomitable will and by the help of foreign troops4 ,anybody who remembers how the ,austrians in ,italy were shunned1 will understand how ,athaliah heard nothing of the plot that was rapidly developing a stone's throw from her isolated throne4 ,strange delusion1 to covet such a seat1 yet no stranger than many another mistaking of serpents for fish1 into which we fall6 ,jehoiada's caution was as great as his daring4 ,he does not appear to have given the ,levites and elders any inkling of his purpose till he had them safe in the ,temple1 and then he opened his mind1 swore them to stand by him1 and 'showed them the king's son4' ,what a scene that would be--the seven-year-old child there among all these strange men1 the joyful surprise flashing in their eyes1 the exultation of the faithful women that had watched him so lovingly1 the stern facing of the dangers ahead4 ,most of the assembly must have thought that none of ,david's house remained1 and that thought would have had much to do with their submitting to ,athaliah's usurpation4 ,now that they saw the true heir1 they could not hesitate to risk their lives to set him on his throne4 ,show a man his true king1 and many a tyranny submitted to before becomes at once intolerable4 ,the boy ,joash makes ,athaliah look very ugly4 ,jehoiada's plans are somewhat difficult to understand1 owing to our ignorance of the details as to the usual arrangements of the guards of the palace1 but the general drift of them is plain enough4 ,the main thing was to secure the person of the king1 and1 for that purpose1 the two companies of priests who were relieved on the ,sabbath were for once kept on duty1 and their numbers augmented by the company that would1 in the ordinary course1 have relieved them4 ,this augmented force was so disposed as1 first1 to secure the ,temple from attack2 and1 second1 to 'compass the king'--in his chamber1 that is4 ,we learn from #b ,chronicles that it consisted of priests and ,levites1 and some would see in that statement a tampering with the account in this passage1 in the interests of a later conception of the sanctity of the ,temple and of the priestly order4 ,our narrative is said to make the foreign mercenaries of the palace guard the persons referred to2 but surely that cannot be maintained in the face of the plain statement of verse #g1 that they kept the watch of the ,temple1 for that was the office of the priests4 ,besides1 how should foreign soldiers have needed to be armed from the ,temple armoury8 ,and is it probable on the face of it that the palace guard1 who were ,athaliah's men1 and therefore antagonistic to ,joash1 and ,baal worshippers1 should have been gained over to his side1 or should have been the guards of the house of ,jehovah8 ,if1 however1 we understand that these guards were ,levites1 all is plain1 and the arming of them with 'the spears and shields that had been king ,david's' becomes intelligible1 and would rouse them to enthusiasm and daring4 ,not till all these dispositions for the boy king's safety1 and for preventing an assault on the ,temple1 had been carried out1 did the prudent ,jehoiada venture to bring ,joash out from his place of concealment4 ,note that in verse #ab he is not called 'the king1' as in the previous verses1 but1 as in verse #d1 'the king's son4' ,he was king by right1 but not technically1 till he had been presented to1 and accepted by1 the representatives of the people1 had had 'the testimony' placed in his hands1 and been anointed by the high-priest4 ,so 'they made him king4' ,the three parts of the ceremony were all significant4 ,the delivering of 'the testimony' 7the ,book of the ,law--,deut4 xvii #ah1 #ai7 taught him that he was no despot to rule by his own pleasure and for his own glory1 but the viceroy of the true ,king of ,judah1 and himself subject to law4 ,the people's making him king taught him and them that a true royalty rules over willing subjects1 and both guarded the rights of the nation and set limits to the power of the ruler4 ,the priest's anointing witnessed to the divine appointment of the monarch and the divine endowment with fitness for his office4 ,would that these truths were more recognised and felt by all rulers6 ,what a different thing the page of history would be6 ,the vigilance of the tigress had been eluded1 and ,athaliah had a rude awakening4 ,but she had her mother's courage1 and as soon as she heard in the palace the shouts1 she dashed to the ,temple1 alone as she was1 and fronted the crowd4 ,the sight might have made the boldest quail4 ,who was that child standing in the royal place8 ,where had he come from8 ,how had he been hidden all these years8 ,what was all this frenzy of rejoicing1 this blare of trumpets1 these ranks of grim men with weapons in their hands8 ,the stunning truth fell on her2 but1 though she felt that all was lost1 not a whit did she blench1 but fronted them all as proudly as ever4 ,one cannot but admire the dauntless woman1 'magnificent in sin4' ,but her cry of ',treason6 treason6' brought none to her side4 ,as she stood solitary there1 she must have felt that her day was over1 and that nothing remained but to die like a queen4 ,proudly as ever1 she passed down the ranks and not a face looked pity on her1 nor a voice blessed her4 ,she was reaping what she had sown1 and she who had killed without compunction the innocents who stood between her and her ambitions1 was pitilessly slain1 and all the land rejoiced at her death4 ,so ended the all but bloodless revolution which crushed ,baal worship in ,judah4 ,it had been begun by ,elijah and ,elisha1 but it was completed by a high priest4 ,it was religious even more than political4 ,it was a national movement1 though ,jehoiada's courage and wisdom engineered it to its triumph4 ,it teaches us how ,god watches over ,his purposes and their instruments when they seem nearest to failure1 for one poor infant was all that was left of the seed of ,david2 and how1 therefore1 we are never to despair1 even in the darkest hour1 of the fulfilment of ,his promises4 ,it teaches us how much one brave1 good man and woman can do to change the whole face of things1 and how often there needs but one man to direct and voice the thoughts and acts of the silent multitude1 and to light a fire that consumes evil4 ,,methodical ,,liberality '#d4 ,and ,jehoash said to the priests1 ,all the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of the ,lord1 even the money of every one that passeth the account1 the money that every man is set at1 and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the house of the ,lord1 #e4 ,let the priests take it to them1 every man of his acquaintance2 and let them repair the breaches of the house1 wheresoever any breach shall be found4 #f4 ,but it was so1 that in the three and twentieth year of king ,jehoash the priests had not repaired the breaches of the house4 #g4 ,then king ,jehoash called for ,jehoiada the priest1 and the other priests1 and said unto them1 ,why repair ye not the breaches of the house8 ,now therefore receive no more money of your acquaintance1 but deliver it for the breaches of the house4 #h4 ,and the priests consented to receive no more money of the people1 neither to repair the breaches of the house4 #i4 ,but ,jehoiada the priest took a chest1 and bored a hole in the lid of it1 and set it beside the altar1 on the right side as one cometh into the house of the ,lord3 and the priests that kept the door put therein all the money that was brought into the house of the ,lord4 #aj4 ,and it was so1 when they saw that there was much money in the chest1 that the king's scribe and the high priest came up1 and they put up in bags1 and told the money that was found in the house of the ,lord4 #aa4 ,and they gave the money1 being told1 into the hands of them that did the work1 that had the oversight of the house of the ,lord3 and they laid it out to the carpenters and builders that wrought upon the house of the ,lord1 #ab4 ,and to masons1 and hewers of stone1 and to buy timber and hewed stone to repair the breaches of the house of the ,lord1 and for all that wast laid out for the house to repair it4 #ac4 ,howbeit there were not made for the house of the ,lord bowls of silver1 snuffers1 basons1 trumpets1 any vessels of gold1 or vessels of silver1 of the money that was brought into the house of the ,lord3 #ad4 ,but they gave that to the workmen1 and repaired therewith the house of the ,lord4 #ae4 ,moreover they reckoned not with the men1 into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen3 for they dealt faithfully4'--#b ,,kings xii4 #d-ae4 ',the sons of ,athaliah1 that wicked woman1 had broken up the house of ,god1' says ,chronicles4 ,the dilapidation had not been complete1 but had been extensive1 as may be gathered from the large expenditure recorded in this passage for repairs1 and the enumeration of the artisans employed4 ,no doubt ,joash was guided by ,jehoiada in setting about the restoration1 but the fact that he gives the orders1 while the high priest is not mentioned1 throws light on the relative position of the two authorities1 and on the king's office as guardian of the ,temple and official 'head of the church4' ,the story comes in refreshingly and strangely among the bloody pages in which it is embedded1 and it suggests some lessons as to the virtue of plain common sense and business principles applied to religious affairs4 ,if 'the outward business of the house of ,god' were always guided with as much practical reasonableness as ,joash brought to bear on it1 there would be fewer failures or sarcastic critics4 ,we note1 first1 the true source of money for religious purposes4 ,there was a fixed amount for which 'each man is rated1' and that made the minimum1 but there was also that which 'cometh into any man's heart to bring1' and that was infinitely more precious than the exacted tax4 ,the former was appropriate to the ,old ,testament1 of which the animating principle was law and the voice3 ',thou shalt' or ',thou shalt not4' ,the latter alone fits the ,new ,testament1 of which the animating principle is love and the voice3 ',though ,i have all boldness in ,christ to enjoin thee 444 yet for love's sake ,i rather beseech4' ,what disasters and what stifling of the spirit of ,christian liberality have marred the ,church for many centuries1 and in many lands1 because the great anachronism has prevailed of binding its growing limbs in ,jewish swaddling bands1 and degrading ,christian giving into an assessment6 ,and how shrunken the stream that is squeezed out by such a process1 compared with the abundant gush of the fountain of love opened in a grateful1 trusting heart6 ,next1 we have the negligent1 if not dishonest1 officials4 ,we do not know how long ,joash tried the experiment of letting the priests receive the money and superintend the repairs2 but probably the restoration project was begun early in his reign1 and if so1 he gave the experiment of trusting all to the officials1 a fair1 patient trial1 till the twenty-third year of his reign4 ,years gone and nothing done1 or at least nothing completed6 ,we do not need to accuse them of intentional embezzlement1 but certainly they were guilty of carelessly letting the money slip through their fingers1 and a good deal of it stick to their hands4 ,it is always the temptation of the clergy to think of their own support as a first charge on the church1 nor is it quite unheard of that the ministry should be less enthusiastic in religious objects than the 'laity1' and should work the enthusiasm of the latter for their own advantage4 ,human nature is the same in ,jerusalem in ,joash's time1 and to-day in ,manchester1 or ,new ,york1 or ,philadelphia1 and all men who live by the gifts of ,christian people have need to watch themselves1 lest they1 like ,ezekiel's false shepherds1 feed themselves and not the flock1 and seek the wool and the fat and not the good of the sheep4 ,next we have the application of businesslike methods to religious work4 ,it was clearly time to take the whole matter out of the priests' hands1 and ,joash is not afraid to assume a high tone with the culprits1 and even with ,jehoiada as their official head4 ,he was in some sense responsible for his subordinates1 and probably1 though his own hands were clean1 he may have been too lax in looking after the disposal of the funds4 ,note that while ,joash rebuked the priests1 and determined the new arrangements1 it was ,jehoiada who carried them out and provided the chest for receiving the contributions4 ,the king wills1 the high priest executes1 the rank and file of the priests1 however against the grain1 consent4 ,the arrangement for collecting the contributions 'saved the faces' of the priests to some extent1 for the gifts were handed to them1 and by them put into the chest4 ,but1 of course1 that was done at once1 in the donor's presence4 ,if changes involving loss of position are to work smoothly1 it is wise to let the deposed officials down as easily as may be4 ,similar common sense is shown in the second step1 the arrangement for ascertaining the amounts given4 ,the king's secretary and the high-priest 7or a representative7 jointly opened the chest1 counted and bagged up the money4 ,they checked each other1 and prevented suspicion on either side4 ,no man who regards his own reputation will consent to handle public money without some one to stand over him and see what he does with it4 ,one would be wise always to suspect people who appeal for help 'for the ,lord's work' and are too 'spiritual' to have such worldly things as committees or auditors of their books4 ,accurate accounts are as essential to ,christian work as spirituality or enthusiasm4 ,the next stage was to hand over the money to the 'contractors1' as we should call them2 and there similar precautions were taken against possible peculation on the part of the two officials who had received the money1 for it was apparently 'weighed out into the hands' of the overseers1 who would thus be able to check what they received by what the secretary and the high-priest had taken from the chest1 and would be responsible for the expenditure of the amount which the two officials knew that they had received4 ,but all this system of checks seems to break down at the very point where it should have worked most searchingly1 for 'they reckoned not with the men1 into whose hand they delivered the money' to pay the workmen1 'for they dealt faithfully4' ,that last clause looks like a hit at the priests who had not dealt so1 and contrasts the methods of plain business men of no pretensions1 with those of men whose very calling should have guaranteed their trustworthiness4 ,the contrast has been repeated in times and places nearer home4 ,but another suggestion may also be made about this singular lapse into what looks like unwise confidence4 ,these overseers had proved their faithfulness and earned the right to be trusted entirely1 and the way to get the best out of a man1 if he has any reliableness in him1 is to trust him utterly1 and to show him that you do4 ',it is a shame to tell ,arnold a lie2 he always believes us1' said the ,rugby boys about their great head-master4 ,there is a time for using all precautions1 and a time for using none4 ,businesslike methods do not consist in spying at the heels of one's agents1 but in picking the right men1 and1 having proved them1 giving them a free hand4 ,and is not that what the great ,lord and ,employer does with ,his servants1 and is it not part of the reason why ,jesus gets more out of us than any one else can do1 that ,he trusts us more8 ,one more point may be noticed2 namely1 the order of precedence in which the necessary works were done4 ,not a coin went to provide the utensils for sacrifice till the ,temple was completely repaired4 ,after they had 'set up the house of ,god in its state1' as ,chronicles tells us1 they took the balance of the funds to the king and ,jehoiada1 and spent that on 'vessels for the house4' ,a clear insight to discern what most needs to be done1 and a firm resolve to 'do the duty that lies nearest thee1' and to let everything else1 however necessary1 wait till it is done1 is a great part of ,christian prudence1 and goes far to make works or lives truly prosperous4 ',first things first'6--it is a maxim that carries us far and as right as far4 ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,power ',and ,elisha said to the king of ,israel1 ,put thine hand upon the bow4 ,and he put his hand upon it3 and ,elisha put his hands upon the king's hands4'--#b ,,kings xiii4 #af4 ,this is part of one of the strangest narratives in the ,old ,testament4 ,elisha is on his deathbed1 'sick of the sickness' wherewith he 'should die4' ,a very different scene1 that close sick-chamber1 from the open plain beyond ,jordan from which ,elijah had gone up2 a very different way of passing from life by wasting sickness than by fiery chariot6 ,but ,god is as near ,his servant in the one place as in the other1 and the slow wasting away is as much ,his messenger as the sudden apocalypse of the horsemen of fire4 ,the king of ,israel comes to the old prophet1 and very significantly repeats over him his own exclamation over ,elijah1 ',my father6 ,my father6 the chariot of ,israel and the horsemen thereof4' ,elisha takes no notice of the grief and reverence expressed by the exclamation1 but goes straight to his work1 and what follows is remarkable indeed4 ,here is a prophet dying2 and his last words are not edifying moral and religious reflections1 nor does he seem to be much concerned to leave with the king his final protest against ,israel's sin1 but his thoughts are all of warfare1 and his last effort is to stir up the sluggish young monarch to some of his own enthusiasm in the conflict with the enemy4 ,it does not sound like an edifying deathbed4 ,people might have said1 ',ah6 secular and political affairs should be all out of a man's mind when he comes to his last moments4' ,but ,elisha thought that to stick to his life's work till the last breath was out of him1 and to devote the last breath to stimulating successors who might catch up the torch that dropped from his failing hands1 was no unworthy end of a prophet's life4 ,so there followed what perhaps is not very familiar to some of us1 that strange scene in which the dying man is far fuller of energy and vigour than the young king1 and takes the upper hand of him1 giving him a series of curt1 authoritative commands1 each of which he punctiliously obeys4 ',take bow and arrow1' and he took them4 ,then the prophet lays his wasted hand for a moment on the strong1 young hand1 and having thus either in symbol or reality--never mind which--communicated power1 he says to him1 ',fling open the casement towards the quarter where the enemy's territory lies1' and he flings it open4 ',now1 shoot1' and he shoots4 ,then the old man gathers himself up on his bed1 and with a triumphant shout exclaims1 ',the ,lord's arrow of victory6444 ,thou shalt smite the ,syrians till they be consumed4' ,that is not all4 ,there is a second stage4 ,the promise is given2 the possibility is opened before the king1 and now all depends on the question whether he will rise to the height of the occasion4 ,so the prophet says to him1 ',take the sheaf of arrows in your hand'2 and he takes them4 ,and then he says1 ',now smite upon the ground4' ,it is a test4 ,if he had been roused and stirred by what had gone before2 if he had any earnestness of belief in the power that was communicated1 and any eagerness of desire to realise the promises that had been given of complete victory1 what would he have done8 ,what would ,elisha have done if he had had the quiver in his hand8 ,this king smites three perfunctory taps on the floor1 and having done what will satisfy the old man's whim1 and what in decency he had to do1 he stops1 as if weary of the whole performance4 ,so the prophet bursts out in indignation on his dying bed--',thou shouldst have smitten five or six times2 then hadst thou conquered utterly4 ,now thou shalt conquer but thrice4' ,a strange story2 very far away from our atmosphere and latitude6 ,yet are there not obviously in it great principles which may be disentangled from their singular setting1 and fully applied to us8 ,i think so4 ,let us try and draw them from it4 ,i4 ,here we have the power communicated4 ,now the story seems to indicate that it was only for a moment that the prophet's hands were laid on the king's hands1 because1 after they had been so laid1 he is bidden to go to the window and fling it open1 and the bedridden man could not go there with him2 then he is bidden to draw the bow1 and another hand upon his would have been a hindrance rather than a help4 ,so it was but a momentary touch1 a communication of power in reality or in symbol that the muscular young hand needed1 and the wasted old one could give4 ,and is that not a parable for us8 ,we1 too1 if we are ,christian men and women1 have a gospel of which the very kernel is that there is to us a communication of power1 and the very name of that divine ,spirit whom it is ,christ's greatest work to send flashing and flaming through the world1 is the ',spirit of ,power4' ,and so the old promise that ye shall be clothed with strength from on high is the standing prerogative of the ,christian ,church4 ,there is not merely some partial communication1 as when hand touched hand1 but every organ is vitalised and quickened2 as in the case of the other miracle of this prophet1 when he stretched himself on the dead child eye to eye1 and mouth to mouth1 and hand to hand2 and each part received the vitalising influence4 ,we have1 if we are ,christian people1 a ,spirit given to us1 and are 'strengthened with might by the ,spirit in the inner man4' ,that gift1 that strength comes to us by contact1 not with ,elisha1 but with ,elisha's ,lord and ,master4 ,christ's touch1 when ,he was on earth1 brought sight to the blind1 healing to the sick1 vigour to the limbs of the lame1 life to the dead4 ,and you and ,i can have that touch1 far more truly1 and far more mightily operative upon us than they had1 who only felt the contact of ,his finger1 and only derived corporeal blessing4 ,for we can draw near to ,him1 and in union with ,him by faith and love and obedience1 can have ,his ,spirit in close contact with our spirits1 and strengthening us for all service1 and for every task4 ,brethren6 that touch which gives strength is a real thing4 ,it is no mere piece of mystical exaggeration when we speak of our spirits being in actual contact with ,christ's ,spirit4 ,many of us have no clear conception1 and still less a firm realisation1 of that closer than corporeal contact1 more real than bodily presence1 and more intimate than any possible physical union1 which is the great gift of ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 and brings to us1 if we will1 life and strength according to our need4 ,i would that the popular ,christianity of this day had a far larger infusion of the sound1 mystical element that lies in the ,new ,testament ,christianity1 and did not talk so exclusively about a ,christ that is for us as to have all but lost sight of the second stage of our relation to ,christ1 and lost a faith in a ,christ that is in us ,brethren6 ,he can lay ,his hand upon your spirit's hand4 ,he can flash light into your spirit's eye from ,his eye4 ,he can put breath and eloquence into your spirit's lips from ,his lips1 and ,his heart beating against yours can transfuse--if ,i may so say--into you ,his own life-blood1 which cleanses from all sin1 and fits for all conflict4 ,then1 further1 let me remind you that this power1 which is bestowed on condition of contact1 is given before duties are commanded4 ,this king1 in our acted parable1 first had the touch of ,elisha's fingers1 and then received the command from ,elisha's lips1 ',shoot6' ,so ,jesus ,christ gives before ,he commands1 and commands nothing which ,he has not fitted us to perform4 ,he is not 'an austere man1 reaping where ,he did not sow1 and gathering where ,he did not straw'2 but ,he comes first to us saying1 ',i give thee ,myself1' and then ,he looks us in the eyes and says1 ',wilt thou not give ,me thyself8' ,he bestows the strength first1 and ,he commands the consequent duty afterwards4 ,further1 this strength communicated is realised in the effort to obey ,christ's great commands4 ,joash felt nothing when the prophet's hand was laid upon his but1 perhaps1 some tingling4 ,but when he got the bow in his hand and drew the arrow to its head1 the infused power stiffened his muscles and strengthened him to pull2 and though he could not distinguish between his own natural corporeal ability and that which had been thus imparted to him1 the two co-operated in the one act1 and it was when he drew his bow that he felt his strength4 ',stretch forth thine hand1' said ,christ to the lame man4 ,but the very infirmity to be dealt with was his inability to stretch it forth4 ,at the command he tried1 and1 to his wonder1 the stiffened sinews relaxed1 and the joint that had been immovable had free play1 and he stretched out his hand1 and it was restored whole as the other4 ,so ,he gives what ,he commands1 and in obeying the command we realise and are conscious of the power4 ,elisha and ,joash but act an illustration of the great word of ,paul3 ',work out your own salvation 444 for it is ,god that worketh in you4' ,,ii4 ,and now1 secondly1 look at the perfected victory that is possible4 ,when the arrows1 by ,god's strength operating through ,joash's arm1 had been shot1 the prophet says1 ',the arrow of the ,lord's victory6 444 thou shalt smite 444 till thou have consumed4' ,yes1 of course2 if the arrow is the ,lord's arrow1 and the strength is ,his strength1 then the only issue corresponding to the power is perfect victory4 ,i would that ,christian people realised more than they do practically in their lives that while men's ideals and aims may be all unaccomplished1 or but partially approximated to1 since ,god is ,god1 ,his nature is perfection1 and nothing that ,he does can fall beneath ,his ideal and purpose in doing it4 ,all that comes from ,him must correspond to ,him from whom it comes4 ,he never leaves off till ,he has completed1 nor can any one say about any of ,his work1 ',he began to build1 and was not able to finish4' ,so1 ,christian people6 ,i would that we should rise to the height of our prerogatives1 and realise the fact that perfect victory is possible1 regard being had to the power which 'teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight4' ,a great deal of not altogether profitable jangling goes on at present in reference to the question of whether absolute sinlessness is possible for a ,christian man on earth4 ,whatever view we take upon that question1 it ought not to hide from us the fact which should loom very much more largely in our daily operative belief than it does with most of us1 that in so far as the power which is given to us is concerned1 perfect victory is within our grasp1 and is the only worthy and correspondent result to the perfect power which worketh in us4 ,so there is no reason1 as from any defect of the divine gift to the weakest of us1 why our ,christian lives should have ups and downs1 why there should be interruptions in our devotion1 fallings short in our consecration1 contradictions in our conduct1 slidings backward in our progress4 ,there is no reason why1 in our ,christian year1 there should be summer and winter2 but according to the symbolical saying of one of the old prophets1 ',the ploughman may overtake the reaper1 and he that treadeth out the grapes him that soweth the seed4' ,in so far as our ,christian life is concerned1 the perfection of the power that is granted to us involves the possibility of perfection in the recipient4 ,and the same thing is true in reference to a ,christian man's work in the world4 ,god's ,church has ample resources to overcome the evil of the world4 ,the fire is tremendous1 but the ,christian ,church has possession of the floods that can extinguish the fire4 ,if we utilised all that we have1 we might 'smite till we had consumed1' and turned the world into the ,church of ,god4 ,that is the ideal1 the possibility1 when we look at the ,christian man as possessor of the communicated power of ,god4 ,and then we turn to the reality1 to our own consciences1 to the state of our religious communities everywhere1 and we see what seems to be blank contradiction of the possibility4 ,where is the explanation8 ,,iii4 ,that brings me to my last point1 the partial victory that is actually won4 ',thou shouldst have smitten five or six times2 then hadst thou smitten the ,syrians till they were consumed4 ,but now thou shalt conquer but thrice4' ,all ,god's promises and prophecies are conditional4 ,there is no such thing as an unconditional promise of victory or of defeat2 there is always an 'if4' ,there is always man's freedom as a factor4 ,it is strange4 ,i suppose no thinking1 metaphysical or theological1 ever has solved or ever will1 that great paradox of the power of a finite will to lift itself up in the face of1 and antagonism to1 an ,infinite ,will backed by infinite power1 and to thwart its purposes4 ',how often would ,i have gathered 444 and ye would not4' ,here is all the power for a perfect victory1 and yet the man that has it has to be contented with a very partial one4 ,it is a solemn thought that the ,church's unbelief can limit and hinder ,christ's work in the world1 and we have here another illustration of that truth4 ,you will find now and then in the newspapers1 stories--they may be true or false--about caterpillars stopping a train4 ,there is an old legend of that fabulous creature the remora1 a tiny thing that fastened itself to the keel of a ship1 and arrested it in mid-ocean4 ,that is what we do with ,god and ,his purposes1 and with ,his power granted to us4 ,a low expectation limits the power4 ,this king did not believe1 did not expect1 that he would conquer utterly1 and so he did not4 ,you believe that you can do a thing1 and in nine cases out of ten that goes nine-tenths of the way towards doing it4 ,if we cast ourselves into our fight expecting victory1 the expectation will realise itself in nine cases out of ten4 ,and the man who in faith refuses to say 'that beast of a word--impossible6' will find that 'all things are possible to him that believeth4' ',expect great things of ,god1' and you will feel ,his power tingling to your very fingertips1 and will be able to draw the arrow to its head1 and send it whizzing home to its mark4 ,small desires block the power4 ,where there is an iron-bound coast running in one straight line1 the whole ocean may dash itself on the cliffs at the base1 but it enters not into the land2 but where the shore opens itself out into some deep gulf far inland1 and broad across at the entrance1 then the glad water rushes in and fills it all4 ,make room for ,god in your lives by your desires and you will get ,him in the fullness of ,his power4 ,the use of our power increases our power4 ,joash had an unused quiver full of arrows1 and he only smote thrice4 ',to him that hath shall be given1 and from him that hath not shall be taken4' ,the reason why many of us professing ,christians have so little of the strength of ,god in our lives is because we have made so little use of the strength that we have4 ,stow away your seed-corn in a granary and do not let the air into it1 and weevils and rats will consume it4 ,sow it broadcast on the fields with liberal hand1 and it will spring up1 'some thirty1 some sixty1 some an hundredfold4' ,use increases strength in all regions1 and unused organs atrophy and wither4 ,so1 dear friends6 if we will keep ourselves in contact with ,christ1 and tremulously sensitive to ,his touch1 if we will expect power according to our tasks and our needs1 if we will desire more of ,his grace1 and if we will honestly and manfully use the strength that we have1 then ,he will 'teach our hands to war and our fingers to fight1' and will give us strength1 'so that a bow of brass is bent by' our arms1 and we shall be 'more than conquerors through ,him that loved us4' ,a ,,kingdom',s ,,epitaph ',in the ninth year of ,hoshea the king of ,assyria took ,samaria1 and carried ,israel away into ,assyria1 and placed them in ,halah and in ,habor by the river of ,gozan1 and in the cities of the ,medes4 #g4 ,for so it was1 that the children of ,israel had sinned against the ,lord their ,god1 which had brought them up out of the land of ,egypt1 from under the hand of ,pharaoh king of ,egypt1 and had feared other gods1 #h4 ,and walked in the statutes of the heathen1 whom the ,lord cast out from before the children of ,israel1 and of the kings of ,israel1 which they had made4 #i4 ,and the children of ,israel did secretly those things that were not right against the ,lord their ,god1 and they built them high places in all their cities1 from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city4 #aj4 ,and they set them up images and groves in every high hill1 and under every green tree3 #aa4 ,and there they burnt incense in all the high places1 as did the heathen whom the ,lord carried away before them2 and wrought wicked things to provoke the ,lord to anger3 #ab4 ,for they served idols1 whereof the ,lord had said unto them1 ,ye shall not do this thing4 #ac4 ,yet the ,lord testified against ,israel1 and against ,judah1 by all the prophets and by all the seers1 saying1 ,turn ye from your evil ways1 and keep ,my commandments and ,my statutes1 according to all the law which ,i commanded your fathers1 and which ,i sent to you by ,my servants the prophets4 #ad4 ,notwithstanding they would not hear1 but hardened their necks1 like to the neck of their fathers1 that did not believe in the ,lord their ,god4 #ae4 ,and they rejected ,his statutes1 and ,his covenant that ,he made with their fathers1 and ,his testimonies which ,he testified against them2 and they followed vanity1 and became vain1 and went after the heathen that were round about them1 concerning whom the ,lord had charged them1 that they should not do like them4 #af4 ,and they left all the commandments of the ,lord their ,god1 and made them molten images1 even two calves1 and made a grove1 and worshipped all the host of heaven1 and served ,baal4 #ag4 ,and they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire1 and used divination and enchantments1 and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the ,lord1 to provoke ,him to anger4 #ah4 ,therefore the ,lord was very angry with ,israel1 and removed them out of ,his sight3 there was none left but the tribe of ,judah only4'--#b ,,kings xvii4 #f-ah4 ,the brevity of the account of the fall of ,samaria in verse #f contrasts with the long enumeration of the sins which caused it1 in the rest of this passage4 ,modern critics assume that verses #g-bc are 'an interpolation by the ,deuteronomic writer1' apparently for no reason but because they trace ,israel's fall to its cause in idolatry4 ,but surely the bare notice in verse #f1 immediately followed by verse #bd1 cannot have been all that the original historian had to say about so tragic an end of so large a part of the people of ,god4 ,the whole purpose of the ,old ,testament history is not to chronicle events1 but to declare ,god's dealings1 and the fall of a kingdom was of little moment1 except as revealing the righteousness of ,god4 ,the main part of this passage1 then1 is the exposition of the causes of the national ruin4 ,it is a post mortem inquiry into the diseases that killed a kingdom4 ,at first sight1 these verses seem a mere heaping together1 not without some repetition1 of one or two charges2 but1 more closely looked at1 they disclose a very striking progress of thought4 ,in the centre stands verse #ac1 telling of the mission of the prophets4 ,before it1 verses #g-ab1 narrate ,israel's sin1 which culminates in provoking the ,lord to anger 7ver4 #aa74 ,after it1 the sins are reiterated with noticeable increase of emphasis1 and again culminate in provoking the ,lord to anger 7ver4 #ag74 ,so we have two degrees of guilt--one before and one after the prophets' messages2 and two kindlings of ,god's anger--one which led to the sending of the prophets1 and one which led to the destruction of ,israel4 ,the lessons that flow from this obvious progress of thought are plain4 ,i4 ,the less culpable apostasy before the prophets' warnings4 ,the first words of verse #g1 rendered as in the ,revised ,version1 give the purpose of all that follows2 namely1 to declare the causes of the calamity just told4 ,note that the first characteristic of ,israel's sin was ungrateful departure from ,god4 ,there is a world of pathos and meaning in that 'their ,god1' which is enhanced by the allusion to the ,egyptian deliverance4 ,all sins are attempts to break the chain which binds us to ,god--a chain woven of a thousand linked benefits4 ,all practically deny ,his possession of us1 and ours of ,him1 and display the short memory which ingratitude has4 ,all have that other feature hinted at here--the contrast1 so absurd if it were not so sad1 between the worth and power of the ,god who is left and the other gods who are preferred4 ,the essential meanness and folly of ,israel are repeated by every heart departing from the living ,god4 ,the double origin of the idolatry is next set forth4 ,it was in part imported and in part home-made4 ,we have little conception of the strength of faith and courage which were needed to keep the ,jews from becoming idolaters1 surrounded as they were by such4 ,but the same are needed to-day to keep us from learning the ways of the world and getting a snare to our souls4 ,now1 as ever1 walking with ,god means walking in the opposite direction from the crowd1 and that requires some firm nerve4 ,the home-made idolatry is gibbeted as being according to 'the statutes of the kings4' ,what right had they to prescribe their subjects' religion8 ,the influence of influential people1 especially if exerted against the service of ,god1 is hard to resist2 but it is no excuse for sin that it is fashionable4 ,the blindness of ,israel to the consequences of their sin is hinted in the reference to the fate of the nations whom they imitated4 ,they had been cast out2 would not their copyists learn the lesson8 ,we1 too1 have examples enough of what godless lives come to1 if we had the sense to profit by them4 ,the ,god who cast out the vile ,canaanites and all the rest of the wicked crew before the sons of the desert has not changed1 and will treat ,israel as ,he did them1 if ,israel come down to their level4 ,outward privileges make idolatry or any sin more sinful1 and its punishment more severe4 ,another characteristic of ,israel's sin is its being done 'secretly4' ,of the various meanings proposed for that word 7ver4 #i7 the best seems to be that it refers to the attempt to combine the worship of ,god and of idols1 of which the calf worship is an instance4 ,elijah had long ago taunted the people with trying 'to hobble on both knees1' or on 'two opinions' at once2 and here the charge is of covering idolatry with a cloak of ,jehovah worship4 ,a varnish of religion is convenient and cheap1 and often effectual in deceiving ourselves as well as others2 but 'as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he1' whatever his cloak may be2 and the thing which we count most precious and long most for is our god1 whatever our professions of orthodox religion4 ,the idolatry is then described1 in rapid touches1 as universal4 ,wherever there was a solitary watchman's tower among the pastures there was a high place1 and they were reared in every city4 ,images and ,asherim deformed every hill-top and stood under every spreading tree4 ,everywhere incense loaded the heavy air with its foul fragrance4 ,the old scenes of unnamable abomination1 which had been so terribly avenged1 seemed to have come back1 and to cry aloud for another purging by fire and sword4 ,the terrible upshot of all was 'to provoke the ,lord to anger4' ,the ,new ,testament is as emphatic as the ,old in asserting that there is the capacity of anger in the ,god whose name is love1 and that sin calls it forth4 ,the special characteristic of sin1 by which it thus attracts that lightning1 is that it is disobedience4 ,as in the first sin1 so in all others1 ,god has said1 ',ye shall not do this thing'2 and we say1 ',do it we will4' ,what can the end of that be but the anger of the ,lord8 ',because of these things cometh the wrath of ,god upon the children of disobedience4' ,,ii4 ,verse #ac gives the pleading of ,jehovah4 ,the mission of the prophets was ,god's reply to ,israel's rebellion1 and was equally the sign of ,his anger and of ,his love4 ,the more sin abounds1 the more does ,god multiply means to draw back to ,himself4 ,the deafer the ears1 the louder the beseeching voice of ,his grieved and yet pitying love4 ,his anger clothes itself in more stringent appeals and clearer revelations of ,himself before it takes its slaughtering weapons in hand4 ,the darker the background of sin1 the brighter the beams of ,his light show against it4 ,man's sin is made the occasion for a more glorious display of ,god's character and heart4 ,it is on the storm-cloud that the sun paints the rainbow4 ,each successive stage in man's departure from ,god evoked a corresponding increase in the divine effort to attract him back1 till 'last of all ,he sent unto them ,his ,son4' ,in nature1 attraction diminishes as distance increases2 in the realms of grace1 it grows with distance4 ,the one desire of ,god's heart is that sinners would return from their evil ways1 and ,he presses on them the solemn thought of the abundant intimations of ,his will which have been given from of old1 and are pealed again into all ears by living voices4 ,his law for us is not merely an old story spoken centuries ago1 but is vocal in our consciences to-day1 and fresh as when ,sinai flamed and thundered above the camp1 and the trumpet thrilled each heart4 ,,iii4 ,the heavier sin that followed the divine pleading4 ,that divine voice leaves no man as it finds him4 ,if it does not sway him to obedience1 it deepens his guilt1 and makes him more obstinate4 ,like some perverse ox in the yoke1 he stiffens his neck1 and stands the very picture of brute obduracy4 ,there is an awful alternative involved in our hearing of ,god's message1 which never returns to ,him void1 but ever does something to the hearer1 either softening or hardening1 either scaling the eyes or adding another film on them1 either being the 'savour of life unto life or of death unto death4' ,the mission of the prophets changed forgetfulness of ,god's 'statutes' into 'rejection' of them1 and made idolatry self-conscious rebellion4 ,alas1 that men should make what is meant to be a bond to unite them to ,god into a wedge to part them farther from ,him6 ,but how constantly that is the effect of the gospel1 and for the same reason as in ,israel--that they 'did not believe in the ,lord their ,god'6 ,the miserable result on the sinners' own natures is described with pregnant brevity in verse #ae4 ',they followed vanity1 and became vain4' ,the worshipper became like the thing worshipped1 as is always the case4 ,the idol is vanity1 utter emptiness and nonentity2 and whoever worships nothingness will become in his own inmost life as empty and vain as it is4 ,that is the retribution attendant on all trust in1 and longing after1 the trifles of earth1 that we come down to the level of what we set our hearts upon4 ,we see the effects of that principle in the moral degradation of idolaters4 ,gods lustful1 cruel1 capricious1 make men like themselves4 ,we see it working upwards in ,christianity1 in which ,god becomes man that men may become like ,god1 and of which the whole law is put into one precept1 which is sure to be kept1 in the measure of the reality of a man's religion4 ',be ye therefore imitators of ,god1 as beloved children4' ,in verses #af and #ag the details of the idolatry follow the general statement1 as in verses #i to #ab1 but with additions and with increased severity of tone4 ,we hear now of calves and star worship1 and ,baal1 and burning children to ,moloch1 and divination and enchantment4 ,the catalogue is enlarged1 and there is added to it the terrible declaration that ,israel had 'sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the ,lord4' ,the same thing was said by ,elijah to ,ahab--a noble instance of courage4 ,the sinner who steels himself against the divine remonstrance1 does not merely go on in his old sins1 but adds new ones4 ,begin with the calves1 and fancy that you are worshipping ,jehovah1 and you will end with ,baal and ,moloch4 ,refuse to hear ,god's pleadings1 and you will sell your freedom1 and become the lowest and only real kind of slave--the bondsman of evil4 ,when that point of entire abandonment to sin1 which ,paul calls being 'sold under sin1' is reached1 as it may be reached1 at all events by a nation1 and corruption has struck too deep to be cast out1 once again the anger of the ,lord is provoked2 but this time it comes in a different guise4 ,the armies of the ,assyrians1 not the prophets1 are its messengers now4 ,israel had made itself like the nations whom ,god had used it to destroy1 and now it shall be destroyed as they were4 ,to be swept out of ,his sight is the fate of obstinate rejection of ,his commandments and pleadings4 ,israel made itself the slave of evil1 and was made the captive of ,assyria4 ,self-willed freedom1 which does as it likes1 and heeds not ,god1 ends in bondage1 and is itself bondage4 ,god's anger against sin speaks pleadingly to us all1 saying1 ',do not this abominable thing that ,i hate4' ,well for us if we hearken to ,his voice when ',his anger is kindled but a little4' ,if we do not yield to ,him1 and cast away our idols1 we shall become vain as they4 ,our evil will be more fatal1 and our obstinacy more criminal1 because ,he called1 and we refused4 ',who may abide the day of ,his coming8 and who shall stand when ,he appeareth8' ,these captives1 dragging their weary limbs1 with despair in their hearts1 across the desert to a land of bondage1 were but shadows1 in the visible region of things1 of the far more doleful and dreary fate that sooner or later must fall on those who would none of ,god's counsel1 and despised all ,his reproof1 but cling to their idol till they and it are destroyed together4 ,,divided ,,worship ',these nations feared the ,lord1 and served their own gods4'--#b ,,kings xvii4 #cc4 ,the kingdom of ,israel had come to its fated end4 ,its king and people had been carried away captives in accordance with the cruel policy of the great ,eastern despotisms1 which had so much to do with weakening them by their very conquests4 ,the land had lain desolate and uncultivated for many years1 savage beasts had increased in the untilled solitudes1 even as weeds and nettles grew in the gardens and vineyards of ,samaria4 ,at last the king of ,assyria resolved to people the country2 and for this purpose he sent a mixed multitude from the different nationalities of his empire to the land of ,israel4 ,they were men of five nationalities1 most of them recently conquered4 ,israel had been deported to different parts of the ,assyrian empire2 men from different parts of the empire were deported to the land of ,israel4 ,such cruel uprootings seemed to be wisdom1 but were really a policy that kept alive disaffection4 ,it was the same mistake 7and bore the same fruits7 as ,austria pursued in sending ,hungarian regiments to keep down ,venice1 and ,venetian-born soldiers to overawe ,hungary4 ,these new settlers brought with them their national peculiarities1 and among the rest1 their gods4 ,they knew nothing about the ,jehovah whom they supposed to be the local deity of ,israel2 and when they were troubled by the wild beasts which had1 of course1 rapidly increased in the land1 they attributed it to their neglect of ,his worship1 and sent an embassy to the king of ,assyria telling that as they 'know not the manners of the ,god of the land1' ,he has sent lions among them4 ,this is an instructive example of the heathen way of thinking4 ,they have their local deities4 ,each land1 each valley1 each mountain top1 has its own4 ,they are ready to worship them all1 for they have no real worship for any4 ,their reason for worship is to escape from harm1 to pay the tribute to which the god has a right on his own territory1 lest he should make it the worse for them if they neglect it4 ',the mild tolerance of heathendom' simply means the utter absence of religion and an altogether inadequate notion of deity4 ,so the settlers have sent to them one of these schismatic priests who had belonged to the extinct sanctuary at ,beth-el1 and he1 apparently1 not having any truer notions of ,god or of worship than they had1 nothing loth1 teaches them the rites of the ,israelite worship1 which was not like that of ,judah1 as is distinctly stated in the context4 ,this worship of ,jehovah was1 however1 blended by them with their own national idolatry4 ,how contemptuously the historian enumerates the hard names of their gods and the rabble rout of them which each nation made6 ',the men of ,babylon made ,succoth-benoth' 7probably a deity1 though the name may mean booths for purposes of prostitution7 and the others 'made ,nergal and ,ashima and ,nibhaz and ,tartak4' ,what names1 and what a pantheon6 ',they feared the ,lord and served their own gods4' ,this was the beginning of the ,samaritan people1 whom we find through the rest of ,scripture even down to the ,acts of the ,apostles1 retaining some trace of their heathen origin4 ,simon ,magus bewitched them in his sorceries4 ,they began as heathen1 though in lapse of years they came to be pure monotheists1 even more rigid than the ,jews themselves1 and today1 if you went to ,nablus1 you would find the small remnant of their descendants adhering to ,moses and the law1 guarding their sacred copy of the ,pentateuch with unintelligent awe1 and eating the ,paschal ,lamb with wild rites4 ,they have changed the object of their worship1 but one fears that it is little more real and deep than in old days1 #bejj years ago1 when their forefathers 'feared the ,lord and served their own gods4' ,now ,i venture to take this verse as indicative of a tendency which belongs to a great many more people than the confused mass of settlers that were shot down on the hills of ,israel by the king of ,assyria4 ,it is really a description of a great deal of what goes by the name of religion amongst us4 ,i4 ,the ,religion of ,fear4 ,these people would never have thought about ,god if it had not been for the lions4 ,when they did think of ,him it was only to tremble before ,him4 ,the reason for their trembling was that they did not know the etiquette of ,his worship2 that they thought of ,him as having rights over them because they had come into ,his territory1 which ,he would exact1 or punish them for omitting4 ,in a word1 their notion of ,god was that of a jealous1 capricious tyrant1 whose ways were inscrutable to them1 in whose territory they found themselves without their will1 and who needed to be propitiated if they would live in peace4 ,and this is the thought which is most operative in many minds1 though it is veiled in more seemly phrases1 and which darkens and injures all those on whom it lays hold4 ,need ,i spend time in showing you how1 point by point1 this picture is a picture of many among us8 ,how many of you think of ,god when you are ill1 and forget ,him when you are well8 ,how many of you pour out a prayer when you are in trouble1 and forget all about ,him and it when you are prosperous8 ,how many of you see ,god in your calamities and not in your joys8 ,why do people call sudden deaths and the like the 'visitation of ,god'8 ,how many of us are like ,italian sailors who burn candles and shriek out to the ,madonna when the storm catches them1 and get drunk in the first wine-shop which they come to when they land6 ,is not many a man's thought of ,god1 ',i knew ,thee that ,thou wert an austere ,man1 and ,i was afraid'8 ,the popular religion is largely a religion of fear4 ,there is a fear which is right and noble4 ,that is reverend1 humble adoration at the sight or thought of ,god's great perfections4 ,angels veil their faces with their wings4 ,such awe has no thought of personal consequences--is inseparable from all true knowledge of ,god2 for all greatness of character is perfected by love4 ,of such fear we are not now speaking4 ,terror of ,god is deep in men's hearts4 ,fear is the apprehension of personal evil from some person or thing4 ,now ,i believe that terror has its place in the human economy1 and in religion1 as the sense of pain has4 ,there is something in man's relations to ,god to cause it4 ,the ,bible sets forth 'the terror of the ,lord1' that men may tremble before ,him4 ,moses said1 ',i exceedingly fear and quake4' ,but that terror is only right when it proceeds from a sense of ,god's holiness and a consciousness of my own sinfulness4 ,it is not right when it is a mere dread of a hard tyrant4 ,that terror is only right when it leads to a joyful acceptance of ,god's revelation of ,his love in ,christ4 ,fear was never meant to be permanent1 it is only the alarum-bell which rings to wake up the soul that sleeps on when in mortal peril4 ,and it should pass into penitence1 faith1 joy in ,jesus4 ',we have access with confidence by the faith of ,him4' ,the brightness is great and awful1 but go nearer1 as you can in ,jesus1 and lo6 there is love in the brightness4 ,you see it all tender and sweet4 ,a heart and a hand are there1 and from the midst of it the ,father's voice speaks1 and says1 ',my son1 give ,me thine heart4' ,the religion of fear is worthless4 ,it produces no holiness1 it does nothing for a man1 it does not bind him to ,god4 ,he is none the stronger for it4 ,it paralyses so far as it does anything4 ,it is spasmodic and intermittent4 ,it is impossible to keep it up1 so it comes in fits and starts4 ,when the morning comes men laugh at their terrors4 ,it leads to wild endeavours to forget ,god--atheism--to insensibility4 ,he who begins by fearing when there was no need1 ends by not fearing when he ought4 ,,ii4 ,the ,religion of ,form4 ,the ,samaritans' whole worship was outward worship4 ,they did the things which the ,beth-el priest taught them to do1 and that was all4 ,and this again is a type1 very common in our day4 ,religion must have forms4 ,the forms often help to bring us the spirit4 ,but we are always in danger of trusting to them too much4 ,how many of us have our ,christianity only in outward seeming8 ,the only thing that unites men to ,god is love4 ,so your external connection with ,god's worship is of no use at all unless you have that4 ,church and chapel-goers are alike exposed to the danger of erecting the forms of worship to a place in which they cannot be put without marring the spirit of worship4 ,whether our worship be more or less symbolic1 whether we have a more or less elaborate ritual1 whether we think more or less of sacraments1 whether we put hearing a sermon as more or less prominent1 or even if we follow the formless forms of the ,friends1 we are all tempted to substitute our forms for the spirit which alone is worship4 ,,iii4 ,the ,religion of ,compromise or ,worldliness4 ,they had ,god and they had gods4 ,they liked the latter best4 ,they gave ,god formal worship1 but they gave the others more active service4 ,such a kind of religion is a type of much that we see around us2 the attempt to be ,christians and worldlings1 the indecision under which many men labour all their lives1 being drawn one way by their consciences1 another by their inclinations4 ,you cannot unite the two4 ,god requires all4 ,he fills the heart1 and claims supreme control over all the nature4 ,there cannot be two supreme in the soul4 ,it cannot be ,god and self4 ,it must be ,god or self4 ,you may look now one way and now another1 but the way the heart goes is the thing4 ,mr4 ,facing-both-ways does not really face both ways4 ,he only turns quickly round from one to the other4 ,such divided religion is impossible in the nature of ,god--of the soul--of religion4 ,to attempt it1 then1 is really to decide against ,god4 ,it is weak and unmanly to be thus vague and decided by circumstances4 ,you would have been a ,mohammedan if you had been born in ,turkey4 ,you ought to decide for ,god4 ,he claims1 ,he deserves1 ,he will reward and bless1 your whole soul4 ',choose you this day whom ye will serve4 ,if the ,lord be ,god1 follow ,him' ,if ,baal or ,succoth-benoth1 then follow him4 ',you cannot serve ,god and ,mammon4' ',he that is not for us is against us4' ,be one thing or the other4 ,,hezekiah1 ,a ,,pattern ,,of ,,devout ,,life ',hezekiah trusted in the ,lord ,god of ,israel4444 #f4 ,he clave to the ,lord1 and departed not from following ,him1 but kept ,his commandments4'--#b ,,kings xviii4 #e1f4 ,devout people in all ages and stations are very much like each other4 ,the elements of godliness are always the same4 ,this king of ,israel1 something like two thousand six hundred years ago1 and the humblest ,christian to-day have the family likeness on their faces4 ,these words1 which are an outline sketch of the king's character1 are really a sketch of the religious life at all times and in all places4 ,he realised it2 why may not we8 ,he achieved it amid much ignorance2 why should not we amid our blaze of knowledge8 ,he accomplished it amid the temptations of a monarchy2 why should not we in our humbler spheres8 ,there are four things set forth here as constituting a religious life4 ,we begin at the bottom with the foundation of everything4 ',he trusted in the ,lord ,god of ,israel4' ,the ,old ,testament is just as emphatic in declaring that there is no religion without trust1 and that trust is the very nerve and life-blood of religion1 as is the ,new4 ,only that in the one half of the book our translators have chosen to use the word 'trust1' and in the other half of the book they have chosen to use1 for the very same act1 the word 'faith4' ,they have thus somewhat obscured the absolute identity which exists in the teaching of the ,old and of the ,new ,testament as regards the bond which unites men to ,god4 ,that union always was1 and always will be1 begun in the simple attitude and exercise of trust1 and everything else will come out of that1 and without that nothing else will come4 ,so this king had a certain measure of knowledge about the character of ,god1 and that measure of knowledge led him to lean all his weight upon the ,lord4 ,you and ,i know a great deal more about ,god and ,his ways and purposes than ,hezekiah did1 but we can make no better use of it than he did--translate our knowledge into faith1 and rely with simple1 absolute confidence on ,him whose name we know in ,christ more fully and blessedly than was possible to ,hezekiah4 ,and need ,i remind you of how1 in this life of which the outline is here given and the inmost secret is here disclosed1 there were significant and magnificent instances of the power of humble trust to bring to an else helpless man all the blessings that he needs1 and to put a crystal wall round about him that will preserve him from every evil1 howsoever threatening it may seem8 ',it has come addressed to me1 but it is meant for ,thee4 ,vindicate ,thine own cause by delivering ,thine own servant4' ,and so1 'when the morning dawned1 they were all dead men1' and faith rejoiced in a perfect deliverance4 ,and you and ,i may get the same answer1 in the midst of all our trials1 difficulties1 toils1 and conflicts1 if only we will go the same way to get it1 and let our faith work1 as ,hezekiah's worked1 and take everything that troubles us to our ,father in the heavens1 and be quite sure that ,he is the ,god 'who daily bears our burdens4' ,let us begin with the simple act of confidence in ,him4 ,that is the foundation1 and on that we may build everything besides4 ,let us see what this man further built upon it4 ,the second story1 if ,i may so say1 of the temple-fortress of his life1 upon the foundation of faith1 was1 ',he clave to the ,lord4' ,that is to say1 the act of confidence must be followed and perfected by tenacious adherence with all the tendrils of a man's nature to the ,god in whom he says that he trusts4 ,the metaphor is a very forcible one1 so familiar in ,scripture as that we are apt to overlook its emphasis4 ,let me recall one or two of the instances in which it is employed about other matters which throw light on its force here4 ,first of all1 remember that sweet picture of the widow woman from ,moab and the two daughters-in-law1 one sent back1 not reluctantly1 to her home2 and the other persisting in keeping by ,naomi's side1 in spite of difficulties and remonstrances4 ,with kisses of real love ,orpah went back1 but she did go back1 to her people and her gods1 but ',ruth clave unto her4' ,so should we cling to ,god1 as ,ruth flung her arms round ,naomi1 and twined her else lonely and desolate heart about her dear and only friend1 for whose sweet sake she became a willing exile from kindred and country4 ,is that how we cleave to the ,lord8 ,more sacred still are the lessons that are suggested by the fact that this is the word employed to describe the blessed and holy union of man and woman in pure wedded life1 and ,i suppose some allusion to that use of the expression underlies its constant application to the relation of the believing soul to ,jehovah4 ,for by trust the soul is wedded to ,him1 and so 'joined to the ,lord' as to be 'one spirit4' ,or if we do not care to go so deep as that1 let us take the metaphor that lies in the word itself1 without reference to its ,scriptural applications4 ,as the limpet holds on to its rock1 as the ivy clings to the wall1 as a shipwrecked sailor grasps the spar which keeps his head above water1 so a ,christian man ought to hold on to ,god1 with all his energy1 and with all parts of his nature4 ,the metaphor implies tenacity2 closeness of adhesion1 in heart and will1 in thought1 in desire1 and in all the parts of our receptive humanity1 all of which can touch ,god and be touched by ,him1 and all of which are blessed only in the measure in which1 yielding to ,him1 they are filled and steadied and glorified4 ,and there is implied1 too1 not only tenacity of adherence1 but tenacity in the face of obstacles4 ,there must be resistance to all the forces which would detach1 if there is to be union with ,god in the midst of life in the world4 ,or1 to recur for a moment to the figure that ,i employed a moment ago1 as the sailor clings to a spar1 though the waves dash round him1 and his fingers get stiffened with cold and cramped with keeping the one position1 and can scarcely hold on1 but he knows that it is life to cling and death to loosen1 and so tightens his grasp2 thus have we to lay hold of ,god1 and in spite of all obstacles1 to keep hold of ,him4 ,our grasp tends to slacken1 and is feeble at the best1 even if there were nothing outside of us to make it difficult for us to get a good grip4 ,but there are howling winds and battering waves blowing and beating on us1 and making it hard to keep our hold4 ,do not let us yield to these1 but in spite of them all let our hearts tighten round ,him1 for it is only in ,his sweet1 eternal1 perfect love that they can be at rest4 ,and let our thoughts keep close to ,him in spite of all distractions1 for it is only in the measure in which ,his light fills our minds and ,his truth occupies our thoughts that our thinking spirits will be at rest4 ,and let our desires1 as the tentacles of some shell-fish fasten upon the rock1 and feel out towards the ocean that is coming to it1 let our desires go all out towards ,him until they touch that after which they feel1 and curl round it in repose and in blessedness4 ,the whole secret of a joyful1 strong1 noble ,christian life lies here--that on the foundation of faith we should rear tenacious adherence to ,him in spite of all obstacles4 ,so it was a most encyclopaedic1 though laconic1 exhortation that that 'good man' sent down from ,jerusalem to encourage the first heathen converts gave1 when instead of all other instruction or advice1 or inculcation of less important1 and yet real1 ,christian duties1 ,barnabas exhorted them all 'that with purpose of heart'--the full devotion of their inmost natures--'they should cleave to the ,lord4' ,then the third stage1 or the third story1 in this building is that1 cleaving to the ,lord1 'he departed not from following ,him4' ,the metaphor of cleaving implies proximity and union2 the metaphor of following implies distance which is being diminished4 ,these two are incongruous1 and the very incongruity helps to give point to the representation4 ,the same two ideas of union and yet of pursuit are brought still more closely together in other parts of ,scripture4 ,for instance1 there is a remarkable saying in one of the ,psalms1 translated in our ,bible--',my soul followeth hard after ,thee4 ,thy right hand upholdeth me1' where the expression 'followeth hard after' is a lame attempt at translating the perhaps impossible-to-be-translated fullness of the original1 which reads ',my soul cleaveth after ,thee4' ,it is an incongruous combination of ideas1 by its very incongruity and paradoxical form suggesting a profound truth--viz4 that in all the conscious union and tenacious adherence to ,god which makes the ,christian life1 there is ever1 also1 a sense of distance which kindles aspiration and leads to the effort after continual progress4 ,however close we may be to ,god1 it is always possible to press closer4 ,however full may be the union1 it may always be made fuller2 and the cleaving spirit will always be longing for a closer contact and a more blessed sense of being in touch with ,god4 ,so1 as we climb1 new heights reveal themselves1 and the further we advance in the ,christian life the more are we conscious of the infinite depths that yet remain to be traversed4 ,hence arises one great element of the blessedness of being a ,christian--namely1 that we need not fear ever coming to the end of the growth in holiness and the increase of joy and power that are possible to us4 ,so that weariness1 and the sense of having reached the limits that are possible on a given path1 which sooner or later fall upon men that live for anything but ,god1 can never be ours if we live for ,him4 ,but the oldest and most experienced will have the same forward-looking glances of hope and forward-directed steps of strenuous effort as the youngest beginner on the path2 and a ,paul will be able to say when he is ',paul the aged1' and 'the time of his departure is at hand1' that he 'forgets the things that are behind1 and reaches forth unto the things that are before1 while he presses towards the mark4' ,let us be thankful for the endless progress which is possible to the ,christian1 and let us see to it that we are never paralysed into supposing that 'to-morrow must be as this day1' but trust the infinite resources of our ,god1 and be sure that we growingly make our own the growing gifts which ,he bestows4 ,and so1 lastly1 the fourth element in this analysis of a devout life is ',he kept the commandments of the ,lord4' ,that is the outcome of them all4 ,faith1 adhesion1 aspiration1 and progress1 all vindicate their value and reality in the simple1 homely way of practical obedience4 ,let us learn two things4 ,one as to the worthlessness of all these others1 if they do not issue in this4 ,not that these inward emotions are ever to be despised1 but that1 if they are genuine in our hearts1 they cannot but manifest themselves in our lives4 ,and so1 dear ,christian friends6 do you not build upon your faith1 on your adherence to ,god1 on your aspirations after ,him1 unless you can bring into court1 as witnesses for these1 daily and hourly1 your efforts after the conformity of your will to ,his1 in the great things and in the small4 ,then1 and only then1 may we be sure that our confidence is not a delusion1 and that it is to ,him that we cleave when our feet tread in the paths of goodness4 ,and on the other hand1 let us learn that all attempts to be obedient to a divine will which do not begin with trust and cleaving to ,him are vain4 ,there is no other way to get that conformity of will except by that union of spirit4 ,all other attempts are beginning at the wrong end4 ,you do not begin building your houses with the chimney-pots1 but many a man who seeks to obey without trusting does precisely commit that fault4 ,let us be sure that the foundations are in1 and then let us be sure that we do not stop half-way up1 lest all that pass by should mock and say1 ',this man began to build and was not able to finish4' ,how many professing ,christians' lives are half-finished and unroofed houses1 because they have not 'added to their faith'--that is1 to their 'cleaving to the ,lord'--endless aspiration and continual progress1 and to their aspiration and their progress the peaceable fruit of practical righteousness6 ,if these things be in us and abound1 they mark us as devout men after ,god's pattern4 ,and if we want to be devout men after ,god's pattern1 we must follow ,god's sequence1 which begins with trust and ends with obedience4 ',,he ,,uttered ,,his ,,voice1 ,,the ,,earth ,,melted' ',then ,isaiah the son of ,amos sent to ,hezekiah1 saying1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 ,that which thou hast prayed to ,me against ,sennacherib king of ,assyria ,i have heard4 #ba4 ,this is the word that the ,lord hath spoken concerning him2 ,the virgin1 the daughter of ,zion1 hath despised thee1 and laughed thee to scorn2 the daughter of ,jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee4 #bb4 ,whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed8 and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice1 and lifted up thine eyes on high8 even against the ,holy ,one of ,israel4444 #bh4 ,because thy rage against ,me and thy tumult is come up into ,mine ears1 therefore ,i will put ,my hook in thy nose1 and ,my bridle in thy lips1 and ,i will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest4 #bi4 ,and this shall be a sign unto thee1 ,ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves1 and in the second year that which springeth of the same2 and in the third year sow ye1 and reap1 and plant vineyards1 and eat the fruits thereof4 #cj4 ,and the remnant that is escaped of the house of ,judah shall yet again take root downward1 and bear fruit upward4 #ca4 ,for out of ,jerusalem shall go forth a remnant1 and they that escape out of mount ,zion3 the zeal of the ,lord of hosts shall do this4 #cb4 ,therefore thus saith the ,lord concerning the king of ,assyria1 ,he shall not come into this city1 nor shoot an arrow there1 nor come before it with shield1 nor cast a bank against it4 #cc4 ,by the way that he came1 by the same shall he return1 and shall not come into this city1 saith the ,lord4 #cd4 ,for ,i will defend this city1 to save it1 for ,mine own sake1 and for ,my servant ,david's sake4 #ce4 ,and it came to pass that night1 that the angel of the ,lord went out1 and smote in the camp of the ,assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand3 and when they arose early in the morning1 behold1 they were all dead corpses4 #cf4 ,so ,sennacherib king of ,assyria departed1 and went and returned1 and dwelt at ,nineveh4 #cg4 ,and it came to pass1 as he was worshipping in the house of ,nisroch his god1 that ,adrammelech and ,sharezer his sons smote him with the sword2 and they escaped into the land of ,armenia3 and ,esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead4'--#b ,,kings xix4 #bj-bb2 #bh-cg4 ,at an earlier stage of the ,assyrian invasion ,hezekiah had sent to ,isaiah1 asking him to pray to his ,god for deliverance1 and had received an explicit assurance that the invasion would be foiled4 ,when the second stage was reached1 and ,hezekiah was personally summoned to surrender1 by a letter which scoffed at ,isaiah's promise1 he himself prayed before the ,lord4 ,isaiah does not seem to have been present1 and may not have known of the prayer4 ,at all events1 the answer was given to him to give to the king2 and it is noteworthy that1 as in the former case1 he does not himself come1 but sends to ,hezekiah4 ,he did come when he had to bring a message of death1 and again when he had to rebuke 7chap4 xx471 but now he only sends4 ,as the chosen speaker of ,jehovah's will1 he was mightier than kings1 and must not imperil the dignity of the message by the behaviour of the messenger4 ,in a sentence1 ,hezekiah's prayer is answered1 and then the prophet1 in ,jehovah's name1 bursts into a wonderful song of triumph over the defeated invader4 ',i have heard4' ,that is enough4 ,hezekiah's prayer has1 as it were1 fired the fuse or pulled the trigger1 and the explosion follows1 and the shot is sped4 ',whereas thou hast prayed1 444 ,i have heard1' is ever true1 and ,god's hearing is ,god's acting in answer4 ,the methods of ,his response vary1 the fact that ,he responds to the cry of despair driven to faith by extremity of need does not vary4 ,but it is noteworthy that1 with that brief1 sufficient assurance1 ,hezekiah1 as it were1 is put aside1 and instead of three fighters in the field1 the king1 with ,god to back him1 and on the other side ,sennacherib1 two only1 appear4 ,it is a duel between ,jehovah and the arrogant heathen who had despised ,him4 ,jerusalem appears for a moment1 in a magnificent piece of poetical scorn1 as despising and making gestures of contempt at the baffled would-be conqueror1 as ,miriam and her maidens did by the ,red ,sea4 ,the city is 'virgin1' as many a fortress in other lands has been named1 because uncaptured4 ,but she1 too1 passes out of sight1 and ,jehovah and ,sennacherib stand opposed on the field4 ,god speaks now not 'concerning1' but to1 him1 and indicts him for insane pride1 which was really a denial of dependence on ,god1 and passionate antagonism to ,him1 as manifested not only in his war against ,jehovah's people1 but also in the tone of his insolent defiances of ,hezekiah1 in which he scoffed at the vain trust which the latter was placing in his ,god1 and paralleled ,jehovah with the gods of the nations whom he had already conquered 7,isaiah xix4 #ab74 ,the designation of ,god1 characteristic of ,isaiah1 as 'the ,holy ,one of ,israel1' expresses at once ,his elevation above1 and separation from1 all mundane1 creatural limitations1 and ,his special relation to ,his people1 and both thoughts intensify ,sennacherib's sin4 ,the ,highest1 before whose transcendent height all human elevations sink to a uniform level1 has so joined ,israel to ,himself that to touch it is to strike at ,him1 and to vaunt one's self against it is to be arrogant towards ,god4 ,that mighty name has received wider extension now1 but the wider sweep does not bring diminished depth1 and lowly souls who take that name for their strong tower can still run into it and be safe from 'the oppressor's wrong1 the proud man's contumely1' and the strongest foes4 ,there is tremendous scorn in the threat with which the divine address to ,sennacherib ends4 ,the dreaded world-conqueror is no more in ,god's eyes than a wild beast1 which ,he can ring and lead as ,he will1 and not even as formidable as that1 but like a horse or a mule1 that can easily be bridled and directed4 ,what majestic assertion lies in these figures and in ',my hook' and ',my bridle6' ,how many conquerors and mighty men since then have been so mastered1 and their schemes balked6 ,sennacherib had to return by 'the way that he came1' and to tramp back1 foiled and disappointed1 over all the weary miles which he had trodden before with such insolent confidence of victory4 ,a modern parallel is ,napoleon's retreat from ,moscow4 ,but the same experience really befalls all who order life regardless of ,god4 ,their schemes may seem to succeed1 but in deepest truth they fail1 and the schemers never reach their goal4 ,in verse #bi the prophet turns away abruptly and almost contemptuously from ,sennacherib to speak comfortably to ,jerusalem1 addressing ,hezekiah first1 but turning immediately to the people4 ,the substance of his words to them is1 first1 the assurance that the ,assyrian invasion had limits of time set to it by ,god2 and1 second1 that beyond it lay prosperous times1 when the prophetic visions of a flourishing ,israel should be realised in fact4 ,for two seed-times only field work was to be impossible on account of the ,assyrian occupation1 but it was to foam itself away1 like a winter torrent1 before a third season for sowing came round4 ,but how could this sequence of events1 which required time for its unfolding1 be 'a sign'8 ,we must somewhat modify our notions of a sign to understand the prophet4 ,the ,scripture usage does not only designate by that name a present event or thing which guarantees the truth of a prophecy1 but it sometimes means an event1 or sequence of events1 in the future1 which1 when they have come to pass in accordance with the divine prediction of them1 will shed back light on other divine words or acts1 and demonstrate that they were of ,god4 ,thus ,moses was given as a sign of his mission the worshipping in ,mount ,sinai1 which was to take place only after the ,exodus4 ,so with ,isaiah's sign here4 ,when the harvest of the third year was gathered in1 then ,israel would know that the prophet had spoken from ,god when he had sung ,sennacherib's defeat4 ,for the present1 ,hezekiah and ,judah had to live by faith2 but when the deliverance was complete1 and they were enjoying the fruits of their labours and of ,god's salvation1 then they could look back on the weary years1 and recognise more clearly than while these were slowly passing how ,god had been in all the trouble1 and had been carrying on ,his purposes of mercy through it all4 ,and there will be a 'sign' for us in like manner when we look back from eternity on the transitory conflicts of earthly life1 and are satisfied with the harvest which ,he has caused to spring from our poor sowings to the ,spirit4 ,the definite promise of deliverance in verses #cb-cd is addressed to ,judah1 and emphasises the completeness of the frustration of the invader's efforts4 ,there is a climax in the enumeration of the things that he will not be allowed to do--he will not make his entry into the city1 nor even shoot an arrow there1 nor even make preparation for a siege4 ,his whole design will be overturned1 and as had already been said 7ver4 #bh71 he will retrace his steps a baffled man4 ,note the strong antithesis3 ',he shall not come into this city1 444 for ,i will defend this city4' ,zion is impregnable because ,jehovah defends it4 ,sennacherib can do nothing1 for he is fighting against ,god4 ,and if we 'are come unto the city of the living ,god1' we can take the same promise for the strength of our lives4 ,god saves ,zion 'for ,his own sake1' for ,his name is concerned in its security1 both because ,he has taken it for ,his own and because ,he has pledged ,his word to guard it4 ,it would be a blot on ,his faithfulness1 a slur on ,his power1 if it should be conquered while it remains true to ,him1 its ,king4 ,his honour is involved in protecting us if we enter into the strong city of which the builder and maker is ,god4 ,and 'for ,david's sake1' too1 ,he defends ,zion1 because ,he had sworn to ,david to dwell there4 ,but ,zion's security becomes an illusion if ,zion breaks away from ,god4 ,if it becomes as ,sodom1 it shares ,sodom's fate4 ,it is remarkable that neither in the song of triumph nor in the prophecy of deliverance is there allusion to the destruction of the ,assyrian army4 ,how the exultant taunts of the one and the definite promises of the other were to be fulfilled was not declared till the event declared it4 ,but faithful expectation had not long to wait1 for 'that night' the blow fell1 and no second was needed4 ,we are not told where the ,assyrian army was1 but clearly it was not before ,jerusalem4 ,nor do we learn what was the instrument of destruction wielded by the 'angel of the ,lord1' if there was any4 ,the catastrophe may have been brought about by a pestilence1 but however effected1 it was 'the act of ,god1' the fulfilment of ,his promise1 the making bare of ,his arm4 ',by terrible things in righteousness' did ,he answer the prayer of ,hezekiah1 and give to all humble souls who are oppressed and cry to ,him a pledge that 'as they have heard1 so' will they 'see1 in the city of' their ',god4' ,how much more impressive is the stern1 naked brevity of the ,scriptural account than a more emotional expansion of it1 like1 for instance1 ,byron's well-known1 and in their way powerful lines1 would have been6 ,to the writer of this book it seemed the most natural thing in the world that the foes of ,zion should be annihilated by one blow of the divine hand4 ,his business is to tell the facts2 he leaves commentary and wonder and triumph or terror to others4 ,there is but one touch of patriotic exultation apparent in the half-sarcastic and half-rejoicing accumulation of synonyms descriptive of ,sennacherib's retreat4 ,he 'departed1 and went and returned4' ,it is like the picture in ,psalm xlviii41 which probably refers to the same events3 ',they saw it1 and so they marvelled2 they were troubled1 and hasted away4' ,about twenty years elapsed between ,sennacherib's retreat and his assassination4 ,during all that time he 'dwelt at ,nineveh1' so far as ,judah was concerned4 ,he had had enough of attacking it and its ,god4 ,but the notice of his death is introduced here1 not only to complete the narrative1 but to point a lesson1 which is suggested by the fact that he was murdered 'as he was worshipping in the house of ,nisroch his god4' ,hezekiah had gone into the house of his ,god with ,sennacherib's letter1 and the dead corpses of an army showed what ,jehovah could do for ,his servant2 ,sennacherib was praying in the temple of his god1 and his corpse lay stretched before his idol1 an object lesson of the impotence of ,nisroch and all his like to hear or help their worshippers4 ,,the ,,rediscovered ,,law ,,and ,,its ,,effects ',and ,hilkiah the high priest said unto ,shaphan the scribe1 ,i have found the book of the law in the house of the ,lord3 and ,hilkiah gave the book to ,shaphan1 and he read it4 #i4 ,and ,shaphan the scribe came to the king1 and brought the king word again1 and said1 ,thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house1 and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work1 that have the oversight of the house of the ,lord4 #aj4 ,and ,shaphan the scribe shewed the king1 saying1 ,hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book3 and ,shaphan read it before the king4 #aa4 ,and it came to pass1 when the king had heard the words of the book of the law1 that he rent his clothes4 #ab4 ,and the king commanded ,hilkiah the priest1 and ,ahikam the son of ,shaphan1 and ,achbor the son of ,michaiah1 and ,shaphan the scribe1 and ,asahiah a servant of the king's1 saying1 #ac4 ,go ye1 enquire of the ,lord for me1 and for the people1 and for all ,judah1 concerning the words of this book that is found3 for great is the wrath of the ,lord that is kindled against us1 because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book1 to do according unto all that which is written concerning us4 #ad4 ,so ,hilkiah the priest1 and ,ahikam1 and ,achbor1 and ,shaphan1 and ,asahiah1 went unto ,huldah the prophetess1 the wife of ,shallum the son of ,tikvah1 the son of ,harhas1 keeper of the wardrobe2 7now she dwelt in ,jerusalem in the college27 and they communed with her4 #ae4 ,and she said unto them1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 ,tell the man that sent you to me1 #af4 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,behold1 ,i will bring evil upon this place1 and upon the inhabitants thereof1 even all the words of the book which the king of ,judah hath read3 #ag4 ,because they have forsaken ,me1 and have burnt incense unto other gods1 that they might provoke ,me to anger with all the works of their hands2 therefore ,my wrath shall be kindled against this place1 and shall not be quenched4 #ah4 ,but to the king of ,judah1 which sent you to enquire of the ,lord1 thus shall ye say to him1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 ,as touching the words which thou hast heard2 #ai4 ,because thine heart was tender1 and thou hast humbled thyself before the ,lord1 when thou heardest what ,i speak against this place1 and against the inhabitants thereof1 that they should become a desolation and a curse1 and hast rent thy clothes1 and wept before ,me2 ,i also have heard thee1 saith the ,lord4 #bj4 ,behold1 therefore1 ,i will gather thee unto thy fathers1 and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace2 and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which ,i will bring upon this place4 ,and they brought the king word again4'--#b ,,kings xxii4 #h-bj4 ,we get but a glimpse into a wild time of revolution and counter-revolution in the brief notice that the 'servants of ,amon1' ,josiah's father1 conspired and murdered him in his palace1 but were themselves killed by a popular rising1 in which the 'people of the land made ,josiah his son king in his stead1' and so no doubt balked the conspirators' plans4 ,poor boy6 he was only eight years old when he made his first acquaintance with rebellion and bloodshed4 ,there must have been some wise heads and strong arms and loyal hearts round him1 but their names have perished4 ,the name of ,david was still a spell in ,judah1 and guarded his childish descendant's royal rights4 ,in the eighteenth year of his reign1 the twenty-sixth of his age1 he felt himself firm enough in the saddle to begin a work of religious reformation1 and the first reward of his zeal was the finding of the book of the law4 ,josiah1 like the rest of us1 gained fuller knowledge of ,god's will in the act of trying to do it so far as he knew it4 ',light is sown for the upright4' ,i4 ,we have1 first1 the discovery of the law4 ,the important and complicated critical questions raised by the narrative cannot be discussed here1 nor do they affect the broad lines of teaching in the incident4 ,nothing is more truthful-like than the statement that1 in course of the repairs of the ,temple1 the book should be found1--probably in the holiest place1 to which the high priest would have exclusive access4 ,how it came to have been lost is a more puzzling question2 but if we recall that seventy-five years had passed since ,hezekiah1 and that these were almost entirely years of apostasy and of tumult1 we shall not wonder that it was so4 ,unvalued things easily slip out of sight1 and if the preservation of ,scripture depended on the estimation which some of us have of it1 it would have been lost long ago4 ,but the fact of the loss suggests the wonder of the preservation4 ,it would appear that this copy was the only one existing1--at all events1 the only one known4 ,it alone transmitted the law to later days1 like some slender thread of water that finds its way through the sand and brings the river down to broad plains beyond4 ,think of the millions of copies now1 and the one dusty1 forgotten roll tossing unregarded in the dilapidated ,temple1 and be thankful for the ,providence that has watched over the transmission4 ,let us take care1 too1 that the whole ,scripture is not as much lost to us1 though we have half a dozen ,bibles each1 as the roll was to ,josiah and his men4 ,hilkiah's announcement to ,shaphan has a ring of wonder and of awe in it4 ,it sounds as if he had not known that such a book was anywhere in the ,temple4 ,and it is noteworthy that not he1 but ,shaphan1 is said to have read it4 ,perhaps he could not1--though1 if he did not1 how did he know what the book was8 ,at all events1 he and ,shaphan seem to have felt the importance of the find1 and to have consulted what was to be done4 ,observe how the latter goes cautiously to work1 and at first only says that he has received 'a book4' ,he gives it no name1 but leaves it to tell its own story1--which it was then1 and is still1 well able to do4 ,scripture is its own best credentials and witnesses whence it comes4 ,again ,shaphan is the reader1 as it was natural that a 'scribe' should be1 and again the possibility is that ,josiah could not read4 ,,ii4 ,one can easily picture the scene while the reader's voice went steadily through the commandments1 threatenings1 and promises1--the deepening eagerness of the king1 the gradual shaping out before his conscience of ,god's ideal for him and his people1 and the gradual waking of the sense of sin in him1 like a dormant serpent beginning to stir in the first spring sunshine4 ,the effect of ,god's law on the sinful heart is vividly pictured in ,josiah's emotion4 ',by the law is the knowledge of sin4' ,to many of us that law1 in spite of our outward knowledge of it1 is as completely absent from our consciousness as it had been from the most ignorant of ,josiah's subjects2 and if for once its searchlight were thrown into the hidden corners of our hearts and lives1 it would show up in dreadful clearness the skulking foes that are stealing to assail us1 and the foul things that have made good their lodgment in our hearts and lives4 ,it always makes an epoch in a life when it is really brought to the standard of ,god's law2 and it is well for us if1 like ,josiah1 we rend our clothes1 or rather 'our heart1 and not our garments1' and take home the conviction1 ',i have sinned against the ,lord4' ,the dread of punishment sprang up in the young king's heart1 and though that emotion is not the highest motive for seeking the ,lord1 it is not an unworthy one1 and is meant to lead on to nobler ones than itself4 ,there is too much unwillingness1 in many modern conceptions of ,christ's gospel1 to recognise the place which the apprehension of personal evil consequences from sin has in the initial stages of the process by which we are 'translated from the kingdom of darkness into that of ,god's dear ,son4' ,,iii4 ,the message to ,huldah is remarkable4 ,the persons sent with it show its importance4 ,the high priest1 the royal secretary1 and one of the king's personal attendants1 who was1 no doubt1 in his confidence1 and two other influential men1 one of whom1 ,ahikam1 is known as ,jeremiah's staunch friend1 would make some stir in 'the second quarter1' on their way to the modest house of the keeper of the wardrobe4 ,the weight and number of the deputation did honour to the prophetess1 as well as showed the king's anxiety as to the matter in hand4 ,jeremiah and ,zephaniah were both living at this time1 and we do not know why ,huldah was preferred4 ,perhaps she was more accessible4 ,but conjecture is idle4 ,enough that she was recognised as having1 and declared herself to have1 direct authoritative communications from ,god4 ,for what did ,josiah need to inquire of the ,lord 'concerning the words of this book'8 ,they were plain enough4 ,did he hope to have their sternness somewhat mollified by the words of a prophetess who might be more amenable to entreaties or personal considerations than the unalterable page was8 ,evidently he recognised ,huldah as speaking with divine authority1 and he might have known that two depositories of ,god's voice could not contradict each other4 ,but possibly his embassy simply reflected his extreme perturbation and alarm1 and like many another man when ,god's law startles him into consciousness of sin1 he betook himself to one who was supposed to be in ,god's counsels1 half hoping for a mitigated sentence1 and half uncertain of what he really wished4 ,he confusedly groped for some support or guide4 ,but1 confused as he was1 his message to the prophetess implied repentance1 eager desire to know what to do1 and humble docility4 ,if dread of evil consequences leads us to such a temper1 we shall hear1 as ,josiah did1 answers of peace as authoritative and divine as were the threatenings that brought us to our senses and our knees4 ,,iv4 ,the answer which ,josiah received falls into two parts1 the former of which confirms the threatenings of evil to ,jerusalem1 while the latter casts a gleam athwart the thundercloud1 and promises ,josiah escape from the national calamities4 ,observe the difference in the designation given him in the two parts4 ,when the threatenings are confirmed1 his individuality is1 as it were1 sunk2 for that part of the message applies to any and every member of the nation1 and therefore he is simply called 'the man that sent you4' ,any other man would have received the same answer4 ,but when his own fate is to be disclosed1 then he is 'the king of ,judah1 who sent you1' and is described by the official position which set him apart from his subjects4 ,huldah has but to confirm the dread predictions of evil which the roll had contained4 ,what else can a faithful messenger of ,god do than reiterate its threatenings8 ,vainly do men seek to induce the living prophet to soften down ,god's own warnings4 ,foolishly do they think that the messenger or the messenger's ,sender has any 'pleasure in the death of the wicked'2 and as foolishly do they take the message to be unkind1 for surely to warn that destruction waits the evildoer is gracious4 ,the signal-man who waves the red flag to stop the train rushing to ruin is a friend4 ,huldah was serving ,judah best by plain reiteration of the 'words of the book4' ,but the second half of her message told that in wrath ,god remembered mercy4 ,and that is for ever true4 ,his thunderbolts do not strike indiscriminately1 even when they smite a nation4 ,judah's corruption had gone too far for recovery1 and the carcase called for the gathering together of the vultures1 but ,josiah's penitence was not in vain4 ',i have heard thee' is always said to the true penitent1 and even if he is involved in widespread retribution1 its strokes become different to him4 ,josiah was assured that the evil should not come in his days4 ,but ,huldah's promise seems contradicted by the circumstances of his death4 ,it was a strange kind of being gathered to his grave in peace when he fell on the fatal field of ,megiddo1 and 'his servants carried him in a chariot dead1 444 and buried him in his own sepulchre' 7#b ,kings xxiii4 #cj74 ,but the promise is fulfilled in its real meaning by the fact that the threatenings which he was inquiring about did not fall on ,judah in his time1 and so far as these were concerned1 he did come to his grave in peace4 ,,the ,,end '#a4 ,and it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign1 in the tenth month1 in the tenth day of the month1 that ,nebuchadnezzar king of ,babylon came1 he1 and all his host1 against ,jerusalem1 and pitched against it2 and they built forts against it round about4 #b4 ,and the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king ,zedekiah4 #c4 ,and on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city1 and there was no bread for the people of the land4 #d4 ,and the city was broken up1 and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate1 between two walls1 which is by the king's garden2 7now the ,chaldees were against the city round about27 and the king went the way toward the plain4 #e4 ,and the army of the ,chaldees pursued after the king1 and overtook him in the plains of ,jericho3 and all his army were scattered from him4 #f4 ,so they took the king1 and brought him up to the king of ,babylon to ,riblah2 and they gave judgment upon him4 #g4 ,and they slew the sons of ,zedekiah before his eyes1 and put out the eyes of ,zedekiah1 and bound him with fetters of brass1 and carried him to ,babylon4 #h4 ,and in the fifth month1 on the seventh day of the month1 which is the nineteenth year of king ,nebuchadnezzar king of ,babylon1 came ,nebuzar-adan1 captain of the guard1 a servant of the king of ,babylon1 unto ,jerusalem3 #i4 ,and he burnt the house of the ,lord1 and the king's house1 and all the houses of ,jerusalem1 and every great man's house burnt he with fire4 #aj4 ,and all the army of the ,chaldees1 that were with the captain of the guard1 brake down the walls of ,jerusalem round about4 #aa4 ,now the rest of the people that were left in the city1 and the fugitives that fell away to the king of ,babylon1 with the remnant of the multitude1 did ,nebuzar-adan1 the captain of the guard1 carry away4 #ab4 ,but the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vine-dressers and husbandmen4'--#b ,,kings xxv4 #a-ab4 ,eighteen months of long-drawn-out misery and daily increasing famine preceded the fall of the doomed city4 ,the siege was a blockade4 ,no assaults by the enemy1 nor sorties by the inhabitants1 are narrated1 but the former grimly and watchfully drew their net closer1 and the latter sat still in their despair4 ,the passionless tone of the narrative here is very remarkable4 ,not a word escapes the writer to show his feelings1 though he is telling his country's fall4 ,we must turn to ,lamentations for sighs and groans4 ,there we have the emotions of devout hearts2 here we have the calm record of ,god's judgment4 ,it is all one long sentence1 for in the ,hebrew each verse begins with 'and1' clause heaped on clause1 as if each were a footstep of the destroying angel in his slow1 irresistible march4 ,the narrative falls into two principal parts--the fate of the king and that of the city4 ,it is unnecessary to dwell on the details4 ,the confusion of counsels1 the party strife1 the fierce hatred of ,god's prophet1 the agony of famine1 are all suppressed here1 but painted with terrible vividness in the ,book of ,jeremiah4 ,at last the fatal day came4 ,on the north side a breach was made in the wall1 and through it the fierce besiegers poured--the 'princes of the king of ,babylon1' with their idolatrous and barbarous names1 'came in1 and sat in the middle gate4' ,it was night4 ,the sudden appearance of the conquerors in the heart of the city shot panic into the feeble king and his 'men of war' who had never struck one blow for deliverance2 and they hurried under cover of darkness1 and hidden between two walls1 down the ravine to the king's garden1 once the scene of pleasure1 but waste now1 and thence1 as best they could1 round or over ,olivet to the road to ,jericho4 ,the king's flight by night had been foretold by ,ezekiel far away in captivity 7,ezek4 xii4 #ab72 and the same prophet received on that very day a divine message announcing the fall of the city1 and bidding him 'write thee the name of the day1 even of this selfsame day1' as that on which the king of ,babylon 'drew close unto ,jerusalem' 7,ezek4 xxiv4 #a et seq474 ,down the rocky road went the flying host1 with 'their shaftless1 broken bows' closely followed by the avenging foe with 'red pursuing spear4' ,where ,israel had first set foot on its inheritance1 the last king of ,david's line was captured and his monarchy shattered4 ,the scene of the first victory1 when ,jericho fell before unarmed men trusting in ,god1 was the scene of the last defeat4 ,the spot where the covenant was renewed1 and the reproach of ,israel rolled away1 was the spot where the broken covenant was finally avenged and abrogated4 ,the end came back to the beginning1 and the cradle was the coffin4 ,away up to ,riblah1 in the far north1 under the shadow of ,lebanon1 the captive was dragged to meet the conqueror4 ,the name of each is a profession of belief4 ,the one means ',jehovah is righteousness'2 the other1 ',nebo1 protect the crown4' ,the idol seemed to have overcome1 but the defeat of the unbelieving confessor of the true ,god at the hands of the idolater is really the victory of the righteousness which the name celebrated and the bearer of the name insulted4 ,his murdered sons were the last sight which he saw before he was blinded1 according to the ferocious practice of the ,east4 ,it was ingenuity of cruelty to let him see for so long1 and then to give him that as the last thing seen1 and therefore often remembered4 ,note how the enigma of ,ezekiel's prophecy 7,ezek4 xii4 #ac7 and its apparent contradiction of ,jeremiah's 7,jer4 xxxii4 #d2 xxxiv4 #c7 are reconciled1 and learn how easily the fact1 when it comes1 clears the riddles of prophecy1 and how easily1 probably1 the whole facts1 if we knew them1 would clear the difficulties of ,scripture history4 ,the blinded king was harmless1 but according to ,jewish tradition1 was set to work in a mill 7though that is probably only an application of ,samson's story71 and according to ,jeremiah 7,jer4 lii4 #aa71 was kept in prison till his death4 ,so ended the monarchy of ,judah4 ,the fate of the city was not settled for a month1 during which1 no doubt1 there was much consultation at ,riblah whether to garrison or destroy it4 ,the king of ,babylon did not go in person1 but despatched a force commanded by a high officer1 to burn palace1 ,temple1 the more important houses 7the poorer people would probably be lodged in huts not worth burning71 and to raze the fortifications4 ,in accordance with the practice of the great ,eastern despotisms1 deportation followed victory--a clever though cruel device for securing conquests4 ,but some were left behind2 for the land1 if deserted1 would have fallen out of cultivation1 and been profitless to ,babylon4 ,the bulk of the people of ,jerusalem1 the fugitives who had joined the invaders during the siege1 and the mass of the general population1 were carried off1 in such a long string of misery as we may still see on the monuments1 and a handful left behind1 too poor to plot1 and stirred to diligence by necessity4 ,so ended the possession by ,israel of its promised inheritance4 ,now this fall of ,jerusalem is like an object-lesson to teach everlasting truth as to the retributive providence of ,god4 ,what does it say8 ,it declares plainly what brings down ,god's judgments4 ,the terms on which ,israel prospered and held its land were obedience to ,god's law4 ,we cannot directly apply the principles of ,god's government of it to modern nations4 ,the present analogue of ,israel is the ,church1 not the nation4 ,but when all deductions have been made1 it is still true that a nation's religious attitude is a most potent factor in its prosperous development4 ,it is not accidental that1 on the whole1 stagnant ,europe and ,america are ,roman ,catholic1 and the progressive parts ,protestant4 ,nor was it causes independent of religion that scattered a decaying ,christianity in the lands of the ,eastern ,church before the onslaught of wild ,arabs1 who1 at all events1 did believe in ,allah4 ,so there are abundant lessons for politics and sociology in the story of ,jerusalem's fall4 ,but these lessons have direct application to the individual and to the ,christian ,church4 ,all departure from ,god is ruin4 ,we slay ourselves by forsaking ,him1 and every sinner is a suicide4 ,we live under a moral government1 and in a system of things so knit together as that even here every transgression receives its just recompense--if not visibly and palpably in outward circumstances1 yet really and punctually in effects on mind and heart1 which are more solemn and awful4 ',behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth3 much more the wicked and the sinner4' ,sin and sorrow are root and fruit4 ,especially does that crash of ,jerusalem's fall thunder the lesson to all churches that their life and prosperity are inseparably connected with faithful obedience and turning away from all worldliness1 which is idolatry4 ,they stand in the place that was made empty by ,israel's later fall4 ,our very privileges call us to beware4 ',because of unbelief they were broken off1 and thou standest by faith4' ,that great seven-branched candlestick was removed out of its place1 and all that is left of it is its sculptured image among the spoils on the triumphal arch to its captor4 ,other lesser candlesticks have been removed from their places1 and ,turkish oppression brings night where ,sardis and ,laodicea once gave a feeble light4 ,the warning is needed to-day2 for worldliness is rampant in the ,church4 ',if ,god spared not the natural branches1 take heed lest ,he also spare not thee4' ,the fall of ,jerusalem is not merely a tragic story from the past4 ,it is a revelation1 for the present1 of the everlasting truth1 that the professing people of ,god deserve and receive the sorest chastisement1 if they turn again to folly4 ,further1 we learn the method of present retribution4 ,nebuchadnezzar knew nothing of the purposes which he fulfilled4 ',he meaneth not so1 neither doth his heart think so4' ,he was but the 'axe' with which ,god hewed4 ,therefore1 though he was ,god's tool1 he was also responsible1 and would be punished even for performing ,god's 'whole work upon ,jerusalem1' because of 'the glory of his high looks4' ,the retribution of disobedience1 so far as that retribution is outward1 needs no 'miracle4' ,the ordinary operations of ,providence amply suffice to bring it4 ,if ,god wills to sting1 ,he will 'hiss for the fly1' and it will come4 ,the ferocity and ambition of a grim and bloody despot1 impelled by vainglory and lust of cruel conquest1 do ,god's work1 and yet the doing is sin4 ,the world is full of ,god's instruments1 and ,he sends punishments by the ordinary play of motives and circumstances1 which we best understand when we see behind all ,his mighty hand and sovereign will4 ,the short-sighted view of history says ',nebuchadnezzar captured ,jerusalem ,b4,c4 so and so1' and then discourses about the tendencies of which ,babylonia was exponent and creature4 ,the deeper view says1 ,god smote the disobedient city1 as ,he had said1 and ,nebuchadnezzar was 'the rod of ,his anger4' ,again1 we learn the ,divine reluctance to smite4 ,more than four hundred years had passed since ,solomon began idolatry1 and steadily1 through all that time1 a stream of prophecy of varying force and width had flowed1 while smaller disasters had confirmed the prophets' voices4 ',rising up early and sending' his servants1 ,god had been in earnest in seeking to save ,israel from itself4 ,men said then1 ',where is the promise of ,his coming8' and mocked ,his warnings and would none of ,his reproof2 but at last the hour struck and the crash came4 ',as a dream when one awaketh2 so1 ,o ,lord6 when ,thou awakest1 ,thou shalt despise their image4' ,his judgment seems to slumber1 but its eyes are open1 and it remains inactive1 that ,his long-suffering may have free scope4 ,as long as ,his gaze can discern the possibility of repentance1 ,he will not strike2 and when that is hopeless1 ,he will not delay4 ,the explanation of the marvellous tolerance of evil which sometimes tries faith and always evokes wonder1 lies in the great words1 which might well be written over the chair of every teacher of history3 ',the ,lord is not slack concerning ,his promise1 as some men count slackness2 but is long-suffering to us-ward4' ,alas1 that that divine patience should ever be twisted into the ground of indurated disobedience6 ',because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily1 therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil4' ,god's reluctance to punish is no reason for doubting that ,he will4 ,judgment is ,his 'strange work1' less congenial1 if we may so paraphrase that strong word of the prophet's1 than pure mercy1 but it will be done nevertheless4 ,the tears over ,jerusalem that witnessed ,christ's sorrow did not blind the eyes like a flame of fire1 nor stay the outstretched hand of the ,judge1 when the time of her final fall came4 ,the longer the delay1 the worse the ruin4 ,the more protracted the respite and the fuller it has been of entreaties to return1 the more terrible the punishment4 ',behold1 therefore1 the goodness and severity of ,god3 towards them which fell1 severity2 but toward thee1 goodness1 if thou continue in ,his goodness3 otherwise thou also shalt be cut off4' ,,the ,,first ,,book ,,of ,,chronicles ,,the ,,king',s ,,potters ',there they dwelt with the king for his work4'--#a ,,chron4 iv4 #bc4 ,in these dry lists of names which abound in ,chronicles1 we now and then come across points of interest1 oases in the desert1 which need but to be pondered sympathetically to yield interesting suggestions4 ,here for example1 buried in a dreary genealogical table1 is a little touch which repays meditating on4 ,among the members of the tribe of ,judah were a hereditary caste of potters who lived in ',netaim and ,gederah1' if we adhere to the ,revised ,version's text1 or 'among plantations and hedges' if we prefer the margin4 ,but they are also described as dwelling 'with the king4' ,that can only mean on the royal estates1 for the king himself resided in ,jerusalem4 ,he1 however1 held large domains in the territory of ,judah1 on some of which these ceramic artists were settled down and followed their calling4 ,they were kept on the royal estates and kept in comfort1 not needing to till1 but fed and cared for1 that they might be free to mould1 out of common clay1 forms of beauty and 'vessels meet for the master's use4' ,surely we may read into the brief statement of the text a meaning of which the writer of it never dreamt1 and see in the description of these forgotten artisans1 a symbol of our ,christian relations to our ,lord and of our life's work4 ,i4 ,we1 too1 dwell with the ,king4 ,the ,davidic king was in ,jerusalem1 and the potters were 'among plantations and hedges1' yet in a real sense they 'dwelt with the king1' though some of them might never have seen his face or trod the streets of the sacred city4 ,perhaps now and then he came to visit them on his outlying domains1 but they were always parts of his household4 ,and have we1 ,christ's servants1 not ,his gracious parting word3 ',i am with you always'8 ,true1 we are not beside ,him in the great city1 but ,he is beside us in ,his outlying domains1 and we may be with ,him in ,his glory1 if while we still outwardly live among the 'plantations and hedges' of this life1 we dwell in spirit1 by faith and aspiration1 with our risen and ascended ,lord4 ,if we so 'dwell with the ,king1' ,he will dwell with us1 and fill our humble abode with the radiance of ,his presence1 'making that place of ,his feet glorious4' ,that ,he should be with us is supreme condescension1 that we should be with ,him is the perfection of exaltation4 ,how low ,he stoops1 how high we can rise6 ,the vigour of our ,christian life largely depends on our keeping vivid the consciousness of our communion with ,jesus and the sense of ,his real presence with us4 ,how life's burdens would be lightened if we faced them all in the strength of the felt nearness of our ,lord6 ,how impossible it would be that we should ever feel the dreary sense of solitude1 if we felt that unseen1 but most real1 ,presence wrapping us round6 ,it is only when our faith in it has fallen asleep that any earthly good allures1 or any earthly evil frightens us4 ,to be sure1 in our thrilling consciousness1 that we dwell with ,jesus is an impenetrable cuirass that blunts the points of all arrows and keeps the breast that wears it unwounded in the fray4 ,the world has no voices which can make themselves heard above that low sovereign whisper3 ',i am with you always1 even to the end of the world'--and after the end has come1 then we shall be with ,him4 ,but we find in this notice a hint that leads us in yet another direction4 ,they 'dwelt with the king' in the sense that they were housed and cared for on his lands4 ,and in like manner1 the true conception of the ,christian life is that each of us is 'a sojourner with ,thee1' set down on ,christ's domains1 and looked after by ,him in regard to provision for outward wants4 ,we have nothing in property1 but all is ,his and held by ,his gift and to be used for ,him4 ,the slave owns nothing4 ,the patch of ground which he cultivates for his food and what grows on it1 are his master's4 ,these workmen were not slaves1 but they were not owners either4 ,and we hold nothing as our own1 if we are true to the terms on which it is given us to hold4 ,so if we rightly appreciate our position as dwelling on the ,king's lands1 our delusion of possession will vanish1 and we shall feel more keenly the pressure of responsibility while we feel less keenly the grip of anxiety4 ,we are for the time being entrusted with a tiny piece of the royal estates4 ,let us not strut about as if we were owners1 nor be for ever afraid that we shall not have enough for our needs4 ,one sometimes comes on a model village close to the gates of some ducal palace1 and notes how the lordly owner's honour prompts its being kept up to a high standard of comfort and beauty4 ,we may be sure that the potters were well lodged and looked after1 and that care for their personal wants was shifted from their shoulders to the king's4 ,so should ours be4 ,he will not leave ,his servants to starve4 ,they should not dishonour ,him and disturb themselves by worries and cares that would be reasonable only if they had no ,provider4 ,he has said1 ',all things are given to ,me of ,my ,father1' and ,he gives us all that ,god has given ,him4 ,,ii4 ,we dwell with the ,king for ,his work4 ,the king's potters had not to till the land nor do any work but to mould clay into vessels for use and beauty4 ,for that purpose they had their huts and bits of ground assigned them4 ,so with us1 ,christ has a purpose in ,his provision for us4 ,we are set down on ,his domains1 and we enjoy ,his presence and providing in order that1 set free from carking cares and low ends1 we may1 with free and joyous hearts1 yield ourselves to ,his joyful service4 ,the law of our life should be that we please not ourselves1 nor consult our own will in choosing our tasks1 nor seek our own profit or gratification in doing them1 but ever ask of ,him3 ',lord1 what wilt ,thou have me to do8' and when the answer comes1 as come it will to all who ask with real desire to learn and with real inclination to do ,his will1 that we 'make haste and delay not1 but make haste to keep ,his commandments4' ,the spirit which should animate our active lives is plainly enough taught us in that little word1 they 'dwelt with the king for his work4' ,nor are we to forget that1 in a very profound sense1 dwelling with the ,king must go before doing ,his work4 ,unless we are living continually under the operation of the stimulus of communion with ,jesus1 we shall have neither quickness of ear to know what ,he wishes us to do1 nor any resolute concentration of ourselves on our ,christ-appointed tasks4 ,the spring of all noble living is communion with noble ideals1 and fellowship with ,jesus sets men agoing1 as nothing else will1 in practical lives of obedience to ,jesus4 ,time given to silent1 retired meditation on that sweet1 sacred bond that knits the believing soul to the redeeming ,lord is not lost with reference to active work for ,jesus4 ,the meditative and the practical life are not antagonistic1 but complementary1 ,mary and ,martha are sisters1 though sometimes they differ1 and foolish people try to set them against each other4 ,but we must beware of a common misconception of what the ,king's work is4 ,the royal potters did not make only things of beauty1 but very common vessels designed for common and ignoble uses4 ,there were vessels of dishonour dried in their kilns as well as vessels 'meet for the master's use4' ,there is a usual and lamentable narrowing of the term ',christian work1' to certain conventional forms of service1 which has done and is doing an immense amount of harm4 ,the ,king's work is far wider in scope than teaching in ,sunday-schools1 or visiting the sick1 or any similar acts that are usually labelled with the name4 ,it covers all the common duties of life4 ,a shallow religion tickets some selected items with the name2 a robuster1 truer conception extends the designation to everything4 ,it is not only when we are definitely trying to bring others into touch with ,jesus that we are doing ,him service1 but we may be equally serving ,him in everything4 ,the difference between the king's work and the poor potters' own lay not so much in the nature as in the motive of it1 and whatever we do for ,christ's sake and with a view to ,his will is work that ,he owns1 while a regard to self in our motive or in our end decisively strikes any service tainted by it out of the category4 ,we are to hallow all our deeds by drawing the motive for them from the ,king and by laying the fruits of them at ,his feet4 ,thus1 and only thus1 will the most 'secular' actions be sanctified and the narrowest life be widened to contain a present ,christ4 ,there are subsidiary motives which may legitimately blend with the supreme one4 ,the potters would be stimulated to work hard and with their utmost skill when they thought of how well they were paid in house and store for their work4 ,we have ample reasons for dedicating our whole selves to ,jesus when we think of ,his gift of ,himself to us1 of ,his wages beforehand1 of ,his joyful presence with ,his eye ever on us1 marking our purity of motive and our diligence4 ,there is a final thought that may well stimulate us to put all our skill and effort into our work4 ,the potters' work went to ,jerusalem4 ,it was for the king4 ,what can be too good for him8 ,he will see it1 therefore let us put our best into it4 ,and we shall see it too1 when we too enter 'the city of the great ,king4' ,jars that perhaps were wrought by these very workmen of whom we have been speaking turn up to-day in the excavations in ,palestine4 ,so much has perished and they remain1 speaking symbols of the solemn truth that nothing human ever dies4 ,our 'works do follow us4' ,let us so live that these may be 'found unto praise and honour and glory' at the appearing of 'the ,king4' ,,david',s ,,choristers ',they stood in their office1 according to their order4'--#a ,,chron4 vi4 #cb 7,r4,v4 margin74 ,this brief note is buried in the catalogue of the singers appointed by ,david for 'the service of song in the house of the ,lord4' ,the waves of their choral praise have long ages since ceased to eddy round the 'tabernacle of the tent of meeting1' and all that is left of their melodious companies is a dry list of names1 in spite of which the dead owners of them are nameless4 ,but the chronicler's description of them may carry some lessons for us1 for is not the ,church of ,christ a choir1 chosen to 'shew forth the praises of ,him who has called us out of darkness into ,his marvellous light'8 ,we take a permissible liberty with this fragment1 when we use it to point lessons that may help that great band of choristers who are charged with the office of making the name of ,jesus ring through the world4 ,now1 in making such a use of the text1 we may linger on each important word in it and find each fruitful in suggestions which we shall be the better for expanding in our own meditations4 ,we pause on the first word1 which is rendered in the ,authorised and ,revised ,versions 'waited1' and in the margin of the latter 'stood4' ,the former rendering brings into prominence the mental attitude with which the singers held themselves ready to take their turns in the service1 the latter points rather to their bodily attitude as they fulfilled their office4 ,we get a picture of the ranked files gathered round their three leaders1 ,heman1 ,asaph1 and ,ethan4 ,these three names are familiar to us from the ,psalter1 but how all the ranks behind them have fallen dim to us1 and how their song has floated into inaudible distance6 ,they 'stood1' a melodious multitude1 girt and attent on their song1 or waiting their turn to fill the else silent air with the high praises of ,jehovah1 and glad when it came to their turn to open their lips in full-throated melody4 ,now may we not catch the spirit of that long vanished chorus1 and find in the two possible renderings of this word a twofold example1 the faithful following of which would put new vigour into our service8 ,we are called to a loftier office1 and have heavenly harmonies entrusted to us to be made vocal by our lips1 compared with which theirs were poor4 ',they waited on' their office1 and shall not we1 in a higher fashion1 wait on our ministry1 and suffer no inferior claims to block our way or hamper our preparedness to discharge it8 ,to let ourselves be entangled with 'the affairs of this life1' or to 'drowse in idle cell1' sleepily letting summonses that should wake us to work sound unheeded and almost unheard1 is flagrant despite done to our high vocation as ,christians4 ',they also serve who only stand and wait1' but not if in their waiting their eyes are straying everywhere but to their ,master's pointing hand or directing eye4 ,the world is full of voices calling ,christ's folk to help2 but what a host of so-called ,christians fail to hear these piteous and despairing cries1 because the noise of their own whims1 fancies1 and self-centred desires keeps buzzing in their ears4 ,a constant accompaniment of deafness is constant noises in the head2 and the ,christians who are hardest of hearing when ,christ calls are generally afflicted with noises which are probably the cause1 and not merely an accompaniment1 of their deafness4 ,for indeed it demands no little detachment of spirit from self and sense1 from the world and its clamant suitors1 if a ,christian soul is to be ready to mark the first signal of the great ,conductor's baton1 and to answer the lightest whisper1 intrusting it with a task for ,him1 with its self-consecrating ',here am ,i4 ,send me4' ,it used to be said that they who watched for providences never wanted providences to watch for2 it is equally true that they who are on the watch for opportunities for service never fail to find them1 and that ears pricked to 'hear what ,god the ,lord shall speak1' summoning to work for ,him1 will not listen in vain4 ,paul saw in a vision 'a man of ,macedonia' begging for his help1 and 'straightway' he concluded that ',god had called' him to preach in ,europe4 ,happy are these ,christian workers who hear ,god's voice speaking through men's needs1 and recognise a divine imperative in human cries6 ,may we not see in the attitude of ,david's choristers as they sang1 hints for our own discharge of the tasks of our ,christian service8 ,there was a curse of old on him who did the work of the ,lord 'negligently1' and its weight falls still on workers and work4 ,for who can measure the harm done to the ,christian life of the negligent worker1 and who can expect any blessing to come either to him or to others from such half-hearted seeming service8 ,the devil's kingdom is not to be cast down nor ,christ's to be builded up by workers who put less than their whole selves1 the entire weight of their bodies1 into their toil4 ,a pavior on the street brings down his rammer at every stroke with an accompanying exclamation expressing effort1 and there is no place in ,christ's service for dainty people who will not sweat at their task1 and are in mortal fear of over-work4 ,strenuousness1 the gathering together of all our powers1 are implied in the attitude of ,heman and his band as they 'stood' in their office4 ,idle revellers might loll on their rose-strewn couches as they 'sing idle songs to the sound of the viol and devise for themselves instruments of music1 like ,david1' but the austerer choir of the ,temple despised ease1 and stood ready for service and in the best bodily posture for song4 ,the second important word of the text brings other thoughts no less valuable and rich in practical counsel4 ,the singers in the ,temple stood in their 'office1' which was song4 ,their special work was praise4 ,and that is the highest task of the ,church4 ,as a matter of fact1 every period of quickened earnestness in the ,church's life has been a period marked by a great outburst of ,christian song4 ,all intense emotion seeks expression in poetry1 and music is the natural speech of a vivid faith4 ,luther chanted the ,marseillaise of the ,reformation1 ',a safe stronghold our ,god is still1' and many another sweet strain blended strangely with the fiery and sometimes savage words from his lips4 ,the ,scottish ,reformation1 grim in some of its features as it was1 had yet its ',gude and ,godly ,ballads4' ,at the birth of ,methodism1 as round the cradle at ,bethlehem1 hovered as it were angel voices singing1 ',glory to ,god in the highest4' ,a flock of singing birds let loose attends every revival of ,christian life4 ,the ,church's praise is the noblest expression of the ,church's life4 ,its hymns go deeper than its creeds1 touch hearts more to the quick1 minister to the faith which they enshrine1 and often draw others to see the preciousness of the ,christ whom they celebrate4 ,how little we should have known of ,old ,testament religion1 notwithstanding law and prophets1 if the ,psalter had perished6 ,and it is true1 in a very deep sense1 that we shall do more for ,christ and men by voicing our own deep thankfulness for ,his great gifts and speaking simply our valuation of1 and our thankfulness for1 what we draw from ,him than by any other form of so-called ,christian work4 ,we can offend none by saying3 ',we have found the ,messias1' and are adoringly glad that we have4 ,the most effectual way of moving other souls to participate in our joy is to let our joy speak4 ',if you wish me to weep1' your own tears must not be held back1 and if you wish others to know the preciousness of ,christ1 you must ring out ,his name with fervour of emotion and the triumphant confidence4 ,we are the 'secretaries of ,god's praise1' as ,george ,herbert has it1 for we have possession of ,his greatest gift1 and have learned to know ,him in loftier fashion than ,heman's choristers dreamed of1 having seen 'the glory of ,god in the face of ,jesus ,christ1' and tasted the sweetness of redeeming love4 ,the ,apocalyptic seer sets forth a great truth when he tells us that he first heard a new song from the lips of the representatives of the ,church1 who could sing1 ',thou wast slain and didst redeem us to ,god with ,thy blood1' and then heard their adoration echoed from 'many angels round about the throne1' and finally heard the song reverberated from every created thing in heaven and earth1 in the sea and all deep places4 ,a praising ,church has experiences of its own which angels cannot share1 and it sets in motion the great sea of praise whose surges break in music and roll from every side of the universe in melodious thunder to the great white throne4 ,without our song even angel voices would lack somewhat4 ',god said1 ,a praise is in ,mine ear2 ,there is no doubt in it1 no fear3 ,clearer loves sound other ways3 ,i miss ,my little human praise4' ,the song of the redeemed has in it a minor strain that gives a sweetness far more poignant than belongs to those who cannot say3 ',out of the depths ,i cried unto ,thee4' ',the sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought1' and recount experiences of conquered sin and life springing from death4 ,but it is also true that no kind of ,christian service will be effectual1 if it lacks the element of grateful praise as its motive and mainspring4 ,perhaps there would be fewer complaints of toiling all night and wearily hauling in empty nets1 if the nets were oftener let down not only 'at ,thy word' but with glad remembrance of the fishermen's debt to ,jesus1 and in the spirit of praise4 ,when all our work is a sacrifice of praise1 it is pleasing to ,god and profitable to ourselves and to others4 ,if we would oftener bethink ourselves1 and herald every deed with a silent dedication of it and of ourselves to ,him who died for us1 we should less often have to complain that we have sowed much and brought back little4 ,a pinch of incense cast into the common domestic fire makes its flame sacrificial and fragrant4 ,the last important word of the text is also fertile in hints for us4 ,the singers stood in their office 'according to their order4' ,that last expression may either refer to rotation of service or to distribution of parts in the chorus4 ,they did not sing in unison1 grand as the effect of such a song from a multitude sometimes is1 but they had their several parts4 ,the harmonious complexity of a great chorus is the ideal for the ,church4 ,paul puts the same thought in a sterner metaphor when he tells the ,colossian ,christians that he joys 'beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in ,christ1' where he is evidently thinking of the ,roman legion with its rigid discipline and its solid1 irresistible1 ranked weight4 ,division of function and consequent concordant action of different parts is the lesson taught by both metaphors1 and by the many modern examples of the immense results gained in machinery that almost simulates vital action1 and by organisations for great purposes in which men combine4 ,the ,church should be the highest example of such combination1 for it is the shrine of the noblest life1 even the life of its indwelling ,lord4 ,every member of it should have and know his place4 ,every ,christian should know his part in the great chorus1 for he has a part1 even if it is only that of tinkling the triangle in the orchestra or beating a drum4 ,that division of function and concordance of action apply to all forms of the ,church's action1 and are enforced most chiefly by the great ,apostolic metaphor of the body and its members4 ,paul did not delight in 'uniformity4' ,inferiors calling themselves his successors have often aimed at enforcing it1 but nature has been too strong for them1 and the hedge will grow its own way in spite of pedants' shears4 ',if the whole body were an eye1 where the hearing8' ,the monotony of a church in which uniformity was the ideal would be intolerable4 ,the chorus has its parts1 and the soprano cannot say to the bass1 ',i have no need of you1' nor the bass to the tenor1 ',i have no need of thee4' ,so let us see that we find our own place1 and see that we fill it1 singing our own part lustily1 and not being either confused or made dumb because another has other notes to sing than are written on our score4 ,let us recognise unity made more melodious by diversity1 the importance of the humblest1 and 'having gifts differing according to the grace given unto us let us wait on our ministry1' and stand in our office according to our order4 ,,drill ,,and ,,enthusiasm ',men that could keep rank1 they were not of double heart4'--#a ,,chron4 xii4 #cc4 ,these words come from the muster-roll of the hastily raised army that brought ,david up to ,hebron and made him ,king4 ,the catalogue abounds in brief characterisations of the qualities of each tribe's contingent4 ,for example1 ,issachar had 'understanding of the times4' ,our text is spoken of the warriors of ,zebulon1 who had left their hills and their flocks in the far north1 and poured down from their seats by the blue waters of ,tiberias to gather round their king4 ,they were not only like their brethren expert in war and fully equipped1 but they had some measure of discipline too1 a rare thing in the days when there were no standing armies4 ,they 'could keep rank1' could march together1 had been drilled to some unanimity of step and action1 could work and fight together1 were an army1 not a crowd1 and not only so1 but also 'they were not of double heart4' ,each man1 and the whole body1 had a brave single resolve2 they had one spirit animating the whole1 and that was to make ,david king1 an enthusiastic loyalty which made them brave1 and a discipline which kept the courage from running to waste4 ,i take1 then1 this text as bringing before us two very important characteristics which ought to be found in every ,christian church1 and without which no real prosperity and growth is possible4 ,these two may be put very briefly3 organisation and enthusiastic devotion4 ,these are both important1 but in very different degrees4 ,organisation without valour is in a worse plight than valour without organisation4 ,the one is fundamental1 the other secondary4 ,the one is the true cause1 so far as men are concerned1 of victory1 the other is but the instrument by which the cause works4 ,there have been many victories won by undisciplined valour1 but disciplined cowardice and apathy come to no good4 ,these two have been separated and made antagonistic1 and churches are to be found which glory in the one1 and others in the other4 ,some have gone in for order1 and are like butterflies in a cabinet all ticketed and displayed in place1 but a pin is run through their bodies and they are dead2 and others have prided themselves on unfettered freedom1 and been not an army1 but a mob4 ,the true relation1 of course1 is that life should shape and inform organisation1 and organisation should preserve1 manifest and obey life4 ,there must be body to hold spirit1 there must be spirit to keep body from rotting4 ,i4 ,organisation4 ,this is not the strong point of ,nonconformist churches4 ,we pride ourselves on our individualism1 and that is all very well4 ,we believe in direct access of each soul to ,christ1 that men must come to ,him one by one1 that religion is purely a personal matter1 and the firmness with which we hold this tends to make us weak in combined action4 ,it cannot be truthfully denied that both in the relations of our churches to one another1 and in the internal organisation of these1 we are and have been too loosely compacted1 and have forgotten that two is more than one plus one1 so that we are only helping to redress the balance a little when we insist upon the importance of organisation in our churches4 ,and first of all--remember the principles in subordination to which our organisation must be framed4 ,what are we united by8 ,common love and faith to ,christ1 or rather ,christ ,himself4 ',one is your ,master1 even ,christ1 and all ye are brethren4' ,so there must be nothing in our organisation which is inconsistent with ,christ's supreme place among us1 and with our individual obedience to ,him4 ,there are to be no 'lords over ,god's heritage' in the ,church of ,christ4 ,there are churches in which the temptation to be such affects the official chiefly1 and there are others1 with a different polity1 in which it is chiefly a ,diotrephes1 who loves to have pre-eminence4 ,character1 zeal1 social station1 even wealth will always confer a certain influence1 and their possessors will be tempted to set up their own will or opinions as dominant in the ,church4 ,such men are sinning against the very bond of ,christian union4 ,organisation which is bought by investing one man with authority1 is too dearly purchased at the cost of individual development on the individual's own lines4 ,a row of clipped yew-trees is not an inspiring sight4 ,and yet again what are we organised for8 ,not merely for our own growth or spiritual advantage1 but also1 and more especially1 for spreading faith in ,christ and advancing ,his glory4 ,all our organisation1 then1 is but an arrangement for doing our work1 and if it hinders that1 it is cumbrous and must be cut away or modified1 at all hazards4 ,ecclesiastical martinets are still to be found1 to whom drill is all-important1 and who see no use in irregular valour1 but they are a diminishing number1 and they may be recommended to ponder the old wise saying3 ',where no oxen are1 the crib is clean1 but much increase is by the strength of the ox4' ,if the one aim is a 'clean crib' the best way to secure that is to keep it empty2 but if a harvest is the aim1 there must be cultivation1 and one must accept the consequences of having a strong team to plough4 ,the end of drill is fighting4 ,the parade-ground and its exercising is in order that a corps may be hurled against the enemy1 or may stand unmoved1 like a solid breakwater against a charge which it flings off in idle spray1 and the end of the ,church's organisation is that it may move en masse1 without waste1 against the enemy4 ,but a further guiding principle to shape ,christian organisation is that of the ,church as the body of ,christ4 ,that requires that there shall be work for every member4 ,christ has endowed ,his members with varying gifts1 powers1 opportunities1 and has set them in diverse circumstances1 that each may give his own contribution to the general stock of work4 ,our theory is that each man has his own proper gift from ,god1 'one after this manner1 and another after that4' ,but what is our practice8 ,take any congregation of ,christian people in any of our churches1 and especially in the ,free ,churches of which ,i know most1 and is there anything like this wide diversity of forms of service1 to which each contributes8 ,a handful of people do all the work1 and the remainder are idlers4 ,the same small section are in evidence always1 and the rest are nowhere4 ,there are but a few bits of coloured glass in a kaleidoscope1 they take different patterns when the tube is turned1 but they are always the same bits of glass4 ,there needs to be a far greater variety of forms of work for our people and more workers in the field4 ,there are too few wheels for the quantity of water in the river1 and1 partly for that reason1 the amount of water that runs waste over the sluice is deplorable4 ,there is a danger in having too many spindles for the power available1 but the danger in modern church organisation is exactly the other way4 ,every one should have his own work4 ,in all living creatures1 differentiation of organs increases as the creature rises in the scale of being1 from the simple sac which does everything up to the human body with a distinct function for every finger4 ,it should not be possible for a lazy ,christian to plead truly as his vindication that 'no man had hired' him4 ,it should be the ,church's business to find work for the unemployed4 ,the example in our text should enforce the necessity of united work4 ,david's levies could keep rank4 ,they did not let each man go at his own rate and by his own road1 but kept together1 shoulder to shoulder1 with equal stride4 ,they were content to co-operate and be each a part of a greater whole4 ,that keeping rank is a difficult problem in all societies1 where individual judgments1 weaknesses1 wills1 and crotchets are at work1 but it is apt to be especially difficult in ,christian communities1 where one may expect to find individual characteristics intensified1 a luxuriant growth of personal peculiarities1 an intense grip of partial aspects of the great truths and a corresponding dislike of other aspects of these1 and of those whose favourite truths they are4 ,one would do nothing to clip that growth1 but still ,christians who have not learned to subordinate themselves in and for united work are of little use to ,god or man4 ,what does such united work require8 ,mainly the bridling of self1 the curbing of one's own will1 not insisting on forcing one's opinions on one's brother1 not being careful of having one's place secured and one's honour asserted4 ,without such virtues no association of man could survive for a year4 ,if the world managed its societies as the ,church manages its unity1 they would collapse quickly4 ,indeed it is a strong presumption in favour of ,christianity that the ,churches have not killed it long ago4 ,vanity1 pride1 self-importance1 masterfulness1 pettishness get full play among us4 ,diotrephes has many descendants to-day4 ,a cotton mill1 even if it were a co-operative one1 could not work long without going into bankruptcy1 if there were no more power of working together than some ,christian congregations have4 ,a watch would be a poor timekeeper1 where every wheel tried to set the pace and be a mainspring1 or sulked because the hands moved on the face in sight of all men1 while it had to move round and fit into its brother wheel in the dark4 ,subordination is required as well as co-operation4 ,for if there be harmonious co-operation in varying offices1 there must be degrees and ranks4 ,the differences of power and gift make degrees1 and in every society there will be leaders4 ,of course there is no commanding authority in the ,churches4 ,its leaders are brethren1 whose most imperative highest word is1 ',we beseech you4' ,of course1 too1 these varieties and degrees do not mean real superiority or inferiority in the eye of ,god4 ,from the highest point of view nothing is great or small1 there is no higher or lower4 ,the only measure is quality1 the only gauge is motive4 ',small service is true service while it lasts4' ,he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet1 shall receive a prophet's reward4 ,but yet there are1 so far as our work here is concerned1 degrees and orders1 and we need a hearty and ungrudging recognition of superiority wherever we find it4 ,if the 'brother of high degree' needs to be exhorted to beware of arrogance and imposing his own will on his fellows1 the 'brother of low degree' needs not less to be exhorted to beware of letting envy and self-will hiss and snarl in his heart at those who are in higher positions than himself4 ,if the chief of all needs to be reminded that in ,christ's household preeminence means service1 the lower no less needs to be reminded that in ,christ's household service means pre-eminence4 ,so much1 then1 for organisation4 ,it is perfectly reconcilable with democracy that is not mob-ocracy4 ,in fact1 democracy needs it most4 ,if ,i may venture to speak to the members of the ,free ,churches1 with which ,i am best acquainted1 ,i would take upon myself to say that there is nothing which they need more than that they should show their polity to be capable of reconciling the freest development of the individual with the most efficient organisation of the community4 ,the object is work for ,christ1 the bond of their fellowship is brotherly union with ,christ4 ,many eyes are on them to-day1 and the task is in their hands of showing that they can keep rank4 ,the most perfect discipline in war in old times was found1 not amongst the subjects of ,eastern despots who were not free enough to learn to submit1 but amongst the republics of ,greece1 where men were all on a level in the city1 and fell into their places in the camp1 because they loved liberty enough to know the worth of discipline1 and so the slaves of ,xerxes were scattered before the resistless onset of the phalanx of the free4 ,the terrible legion which moved 'altogether when it moved at all1' and could be launched at the foe like one javelin of steel1 had for its units free men and equals4 ,there needs freedom for organisation4 ,there needs organisation for freedom4 ,let us learn the lesson4 ',god is not the author of confusion1 but of order1 in all churches of saints4' ,,ii4 ,enthusiastic devotion4 ,these men came to bring ,david up to ,hebron with one single purpose in their hearts4 ,they had no sidelong glances to their own self-interest1 they had no wavering loyalty1 they had no trembling fears1 so we may take their spirit as expressing generally the deepest requirements for prosperity in a church4 ,the foundation of all prosperity is a passion of personal attachment to ,christ our ,king4 ,christ is ,christianity objective4 ,love to ,christ is ,christianity subjective4 ,the whole stress of ,christian character is laid on this4 ,it is the mother of all grace and goodness1 and in regard to the work of the ,church1 it is the ardour of a soul full of love to ,jesus that conquers4 ,the one thing in which all who have done much for ,him have been alike in that single-hearted devotion4 ,but such love is the child of faith4 ,it rests upon belief of truth1 and is the response of man to ,god4 ,dwelling in the truth is the means of it4 ,how our modern ,christianity fails in this strong personal bond of familiar love6 ,consider its effect on the individual4 ,it will give tenacity of purpose1 will brace to strenuous effort1 will subdue self1 self-regard1 self-importance1 will subdue fear4 ,it is the true anaesthetic4 ,the soldier is unconscious of his wounds1 while the glow of devotion is in his heart and the shout of the battle in his ears4 ,it will give fertility of resource and patience4 ,consider its effect on the community4 ,it will remove all difficulties in the way of discipline arising from vanity and self which can be subdued by no other means4 ,that flame fuses all into one glowing mass like a stream that pours from the blast furnace4 ,what a power a church would be which had this6 ,it is itself victory4 ,the men that go into battle with that one firm resolve1 and care for nothing else1 are sure to win4 ,think what one man can do who has resolved to sell his life dear6 ,consider the worthlessness of discipline without this4 ,it is a poor mechanical accuracy4 ,how easy to have too much machinery6 ,how the ,french ,revolution men swept the ,austrian martinets before them6 ,david was half-smothered in ,saul's armour4 ,on the other hand1 this fervid flame needs control to make it last and work4 ,spirit and law are not incompatible4 ,valour may be disciplined1 and the combination is irresistible4 ,and so here1 till we exchange the close array of the battlefield for the open ranks of the festal procession on the ,coronation day1 and lay aside the helmet for the crown1 the sword for the palm1 the breastplate for the robe of peace1 and stand for ever before the throne1 in the peaceful ranks of 'the solemn troops and sweet societies' of the unwavering armies of the heavens who serve ,him with a perfect heart1 and burn unconsumed with the ardours of an immortal and ever brightening love1 let us see to it that we too are 'men that can keep rank and are not of double heart4' ,,david',s ,,prohibited ,,desire ,,and ,,permitted ,,service ',then he called for ,solomon his son1 and charged him to build an house for the ,lord ,god of ,israel4 #g4 ,and ,david said to ,solomon1 ,my son1 as for me1 it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the ,lord my ,god3 #h4 ,but the word of the ,lord came to me1 saying1 ,thou hast shed blood abundantly1 and hast made great wars3 thou shalt not build an house unto ,my name1 because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in ,my sight4 #i4 ,behold1 a son shall be born to thee1 who shall be a man of rest2 and ,i will give him rest from all his enemies round about3 for his name shall be ,solomon1 and ,i will give peace and quietness unto ,israel in his days4 #aj4 ,he shall build an house for ,my name2 and he shall be ,my son1 and ,i will be his ,father2 and ,i will establish the throne of his kingdom over ,israel for ever4 #aa4 ,now1 my son1 the ,lord be with thee2 and prosper thou1 and build the house of the ,lord thy ,god as ,he hath said of thee4 #ab4 ,only the ,lord give thee wisdom and understanding1 and give thee charge concerning ,israel1 that thou mayest keep the law of the ,lord thy ,god1 #ac4 ,then shalt thou prosper1 if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the ,lord charged ,moses with concerning ,israel3 be strong1 and of good courage2 dread not1 nor be dismayed4 #ad4 ,now1 behold1 in my trouble ,i have prepared for the house of the ,lord an hundred thousand talents of gold1 and a thousand thousand talents of silver2 and of brass and iron without weight2 for it is in abundance3 timber also and stone have ,i prepared and thou mayest add thereto4 #ae4 ,moreover1 there are workmen with thee in abundance1 hewers and workers of stone and timber1 and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work4 #af4 ,of the gold1 the silver1 and the brass1 and the iron1 there is no number4 ,arise1 therefore1 and be doing1 and the ,lord be with thee4'--#a ,,chron4 xxii4 #f-af4 ,this passage falls into three parts4 ,in verses #f-aj the old king tells of the divine prohibition which checked his longing to build the ,temple2 in verses #aa-ac he encourages his more fortunate successor1 and points him to the only source of strength for his happy task2 in verses #ad-af he enumerates the preparations which he had made1 the possession of which laid stringent obligations on ,solomon4 ,i4 ,there is a tone of wistfulness in ,david's voice as he tells how his heart's desire had been prohibited4 ,the account is substantially the same as we have in #b ,samuel vii4 #d-af1 but it adds as the reason for the prohibition ,david's warlike career4 ,we may note the earnestness and the motive of the king's desire to build the ,temple4 ',it was in my heart'2 that implies earnest longing and fixed purpose4 ,he had brooded over the wish till it filled his mind1 and was consolidated into a settled resolve4 ,many a musing1 solitary moment had fed the fire before it burned its way out in the words addressed to ,nathan4 ,so should our whole souls be occupied with our parts in ,god's service1 and so should our desires be strongly set towards carrying out what in solitary meditation we have felt borne in on us as our duty4 ,the moving spring of ,david's design is beautifully suggested in the simple words 'unto the name of the ,lord my ,god4' ,david's religion was eminently a personal bond between him and ,god4 ,we may almost say that he was the first to give utterance to that cry of the devout heart1 ',my ,god1' and to translate the generalities of the name 'the ,god of ,israel' into the individual appropriation expressed by the former designation4 ,it occurs in many of the psalms attributed to him1 and may fairly be regarded as a characteristic of his ardent and individualising devotion4 ,the sense of a close1 personal relation to ,god naturally prompted the impulse to build ,his house4 ,we must claim our own portion in the universal blessings shrined in ,his name before we are moved to deeds of loving sacrifice4 ,we must feel that ,christ 'loved me1 and gave ,himself for me1' before we are melted into answering surrender4 ,the reason for the frustrating of ,david's desire1 as here given1 is his career as a warrior king4 ,not only was it incongruous that hands which had been reddened with blood should rear the ,temple1 but the fact that his reign had been largely occupied with fighting for the existence of the kingdom showed that the time for engaging in such a work1 which would task the national resources1 had not yet come4 ,we may draw two valuable lessons from the prohibition4 ,one is that it indicates the true character of the kingdom of ,god as a kingdom of peace1 which is to be furthered1 not by force1 but in peace and gentleness4 ,the other is that various epochs and men have different kinds of duties in relation to ,christ's cause1 some being called on to fight1 and others to build1 and that the one set of tasks may be as sacred and as necessary for the rearing of the ,temple as the other4 ,militant epochs are not usually times for building4 ,the men who have to do destructive work are not usually blessed with the opportunity or the power to carry out constructive work4 ,controversy has its sphere1 but it is mostly preliminary to true 'edification4' ,in the broadest view all the activity of the ,church on earth is militant1 and we have to wait for the coming of the true ',prince of peace' to build up the true ,temple in the land of peace1 whence all foes have been cast out for ever4 ,to serve ,god in ,god's way1 and to give up our cherished plans1 is not easy2 but ,david sets us an example of simple-hearted1 cheerful acquiescence in a ,providence that thwarted darling designs4 ,there is often much self-will in what looks like enthusiastic perseverance in some form of service4 ,,ii4 ,the charge to ,solomon breathes no envy of his privilege1 but earnest desire that he may be worthy of the honour which falls to him4 ,petitions and exhortations are closely blended in it1 and1 though the work which ,solomon is called to do is of an external sort1 the qualifications laid down for it are spiritual and moral4 ,however 'secular' our work in connection with ,god's service may be1 it will not be rightly done unless the highest motives are brought to bear on it1 and it is performed as worship4 ,the basis of all successful work is ,god's presence with us1 so ,david prays for that to be granted to ,solomon as the beginning of all his fitness for his task4 ,next1 ,david recalls to his son ,god's promise concerning him1 that it may hearten him to undertake and to carry on the great work4 ,a conviction that our service is appointed for us by ,god is essential for vigorous and successful ,christian work4 ,we must have1 in some way or other1 heard ,him 'speak concerning us1' if we are to fling ourselves with energy into it4 ,the petitions in verse #ab seem to stretch beyond the necessities of the case1 in so far as building the ,temple is concerned4 ,wisdom and understanding1 and a clear consciousness of the duty enjoined on him by ,god in reference to ,israel1 were surely more than that work required4 ,but the qualifications for ,god's service1 however the manner of service may be concerned with 'the outward business of the house of ,god1' are always these which ,david asked for ,solomon4 ,the highest result of true 'wisdom and understanding' given by ,god is keeping ,god's law2 and keeping it is the one condition on which we shall obtain and retain that presence of ,god with us which ,david prayed for ,solomon1 and without which they labour in vain that build4 ,a life conformed to ,god's will is the absolutely indispensable condition of all prosperity in direct ,christian effort4 ,the noblest exercise of our wisdom and understanding is to obey every word that we hear proceeding out of the mouth of ,god4 ,,iii4 ,there is something very pathetic in the old king's enumeration of the treasures which1 by the economies of a lifetime1 he had amassed4 ,the amount stated is enormous1 and probably there is some clerical error in the numbers specified4 ,be that as it may1 the sum was very large4 ,it represented many an act of self-denial1 many a resolute shearing off of superfluities and what might seem necessaries4 ,it was the visible token of long years of fixed attention to one object4 ,and that devotion was all the more noble because the result of it was never to be seen by the man who exercised it4 ,therein ,david is but a very conspicuous example of a law which runs through all our work for ,god4 ,none of us are privileged to perform completed tasks4 ',one soweth and another reapeth4' ,we have to be content to do partial work1 and to leave its completion to our successors4 ,there is but one ,builder of whom it can be said that ,his hands 'have laid the foundation of this house2 ,his hands shall also finish it4' ,he who is the ',alpha and ,omega1' and ,he alone1 begins and completes the work in which ,he has neither sharers nor predecessors nor successors4 ,the rest of us do our little bit of the great work which lasts on through the ages1 and1 having inherited unfinished tasks1 transmit them to those who come after us4 ,it is privilege enough for any ,christian to lay foundations on which coming days may build4 ,we are like the workers on some great cathedral1 which was begun long before the present generation of masons were born1 and will not be finished until long after they have dropped trowel and mallet from their dead hands4 ,enough for us if we can lay one course of stones in that great structure4 ,the greater our aims1 the less share has each man in their attainment4 ,but the division of labour is the multiplication of joy1 and all who have shared in the toil will be united in the final triumph4 ,it would be poor work that was capable of being begun and perfected in a lifetime4 ,the labourer that dug and levelled the track and the engineer that drives the locomotive over it are partners4 ,solomon could not have built the ,temple unless1 through long1 apparently idle1 years1 ,david had been patiently gathering together the wealth which he bequeathed4 ,so1 if our work is but preparatory for that of those who come after1 let us not think it of slight importance1 and let us be sure that all who have had any portion in the toil shall share in the victory1 that 'he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together4' ,,david',s ,,charge ,,to ,,solomon ',and ,david assembled all the princes of ,israel1 the princes of the tribes1 and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course1 and the captains over the thousands1 and captains over the hundreds1 and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king1 and of his sons1 with the officers1 and with the mighty men1 and with all the valiant men1 unto ,jerusalem4 #b4 ,then ,david the king stood up upon his feet1 and said1 ,hear me1 my brethren1 and my people3 ,as for me1 ,i had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the ,lord1 and for the footstool of our ,god1 and had made ready for the building3 #c4 ,but ,god said unto me1 ,thou shalt not build an house for ,my name1 because thou hast been a man of war1 and hast shed blood4 #d4 ,howbeit the ,lord ,god of ,israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over ,israel for ever3 for ,he hath chosen ,judah to be the ruler2 and of the house of ,judah1 the house of my father2 and among the sons of my father ,he liked me to make me king over all ,israel3 #e4 ,and of all my sons1 7for the ,lord hath given me many sons71 he hath chosen ,solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the ,lord over ,israel4 #f4 ,and ,he said unto me1 ,solomon thy son1 he shall build ,my house and ,my courts3 for ,i have chosen him to be ,my son1 and ,i will be his father4 #g4 ,moreover ,i will establish his kingdom for ever1 if he be constant to do ,my commandments and ,my judgments1 as at this day4 #h4 ,now therefore in the sight of all ,israel the congregation of the ,lord1 and in the audience of our ,god1 keep and seek for all the commandments of the ,lord your ,god3 that ye may possess this good land1 and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever4 #i4 ,and thou1 ,solomon my son1 know thou the ,god of thy father1 and serve ,him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind3 for the ,lord searcheth all hearts1 and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts3 if thou seek ,him1 ,he will be found of thee2 but if thou forsake ,him1 ,he will cast thee off for ever4 #aj4 ,take heed now2 for the ,lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary3 be strong1 and do it4'--#a ,,chron4 xxviii4 #a-aj4 ,david had established an elaborate organisation of royal officials1 details of which occupy the preceding chapters and interrupt the course of the narrative4 ,the passage picks up again the thread dropped at chapter xxiii4 #a4 ,the list of the members of the assembly called in verse #a is interesting as showing how he tried to amalgamate the old with the new4 ,the princes of ,israel1 the princes of the tribes1 represented the primitive tribal organisation1 and they receive precedence in virtue of the antiquity of their office4 ,then come successively ,david's immediate attendants1 the military officials1 the stewards of the royal estates1 the 'officers' or eunuchs attached to the palace1 and the faithful 'mighty men' who had fought by the king's side in the old days4 ,it was an assembly of officials and soldiers whose adherence to ,solomon it was all-important to secure1 especially in regard to the project for building the ,temple1 which could not be carried through without their active support4 ,the passage comprises only the beginning of the proceedings of this assembly of notables4 ,the end is told in the next chapter2 namely1 that the ,temple-building scheme was unanimously and enthusiastically adopted1 and large donations given for it1 and that ,solomon's succession was accepted1 and loyal submission offered by the assembly to him4 ,david's address to this gathering is directed to secure these two points4 ,he begins by recalling his own intention to build the ,temple and ,god's prohibition of it4 ,the reason for that prohibition differs from that alleged by ,nathan1 but there is no contradiction between the two narratives1 and the chronicler has already reported ,nathan's words 7chap4 xvii4 #c1 etc471 so that the motive which is ascribed to many of the variations in this book1 a priestly desire to exalt ,temple and ritual1 cannot have been at work here4 ,why should there not have been a divine communication to ,david as well as ,nathan's message8 ,that hands reddened with blood1 even though it had been shed in justifiable war1 were not fitted to build the ,temple1 was a thought so far in advance of ,david's time1 and flowing from so spiritual a conception of ,god1 that it may well have been breathed into ,david's spirit by a divine voice4 ,sword in one hand and trowel in the other are incongruous1 notwithstanding ,nehemiah's example4 ,the ,temple of the ,god of peace cannot be built except by men of peace4 ,that is true in the widest and highest application4 ,jesus builds the true ,temple4 ,controversy and strife do not4 ,and1 on a lower level1 the prohibition is for ever valid4 ,men do not atone for a doubtful past by building churches1 founding colleges1 endowing religious or charitable institutions4 ,the speech next declares emphatically that the throne belongs to ,david and his descendants by real 'divine right1' and that ,god's choice is ,solomon1 who is to inherit both the promises and obligations of the office1 and1 among the latter1 that of building the ,temple4 ,the unspoken inference is that loyalty to ,solomon would be obedience to ,jehovah4 ,the connection between the true heavenly ,king and ,his earthly representative is strongly expressed in the remarkable phrase3 ',he hath chosen ,solomon 444 to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of ,jehovah1' which both consecrates and limits the rule of ,solomon1 making him but the viceroy of the true king of ,israel4 ,when ,israel's kings remembered that1 they flourished2 when they forgot it1 they destroyed their kingdom and themselves4 ,the principle is as true to-day1 and it applies to all forms of influence1 authority1 and gifts4 ,they are ,god's1 and we are but stewards4 ,the address to the assembly ends with the exhortation to these leaders to 'observe1' and not merely to observe1 but also to 'seek out' ,god's commandments1 and so to secure to the nation1 whom they could guide1 peaceful and prosperous days4 ,it is not enough to do ,god's will as far as we know it2 we must ever be endeavouring after clearer1 deeper insight into it4 ,would that these words were written over the doors of all ,senate and ,parliament houses6 ,what a different ,england we should see6 ,but ,solomon was present as well as the notables1 and it was well that1 in their hearing1 he should be reminded of his duties4 ,david had previously in private taught him these1 but this public 'charge' before the chief men of the kingdom bound them more solemnly upon him1 and summoned a cloud of witnesses against him if he fell below the high ideal4 ,it is pitched on a lofty key of spiritual religion1 for it lays ',know thou the ,god of thy fathers' as the foundation of everything4 ,that knowledge is no mere intellectual apprehension1 but1 as always in ,scripture1 personal acquaintanceship with a ,person1 which involves communion with ,him and love towards ,him4 ,for us1 too1 it is the seed of all strenuous discharge of our life's tasks1 whether we are rulers or nobodies1 and it means a much deeper experience than understanding or giving assent to a set of truths about ,god4 ,we know one another when we summer and winter with each other1 and not unless we love one another1 and we know ,god on no other terms4 ,after such knowledge comes an outward life of service4 ,active obedience is the expression of inward communion1 love1 and trust4 ,the spring that moves the hands on the dial is love1 and1 if the hands do not move1 there is something wrong with the spring4 ,morality is the garment of religion2 religion is the animating principle of morality4 ,faith without works is dead1 and works without faith are dead too4 ,but even when we 'know ,god' we have to make efforts to have our service correspond with our knowledge1 for we have wayward hearts and obstinate wills1 which need to be stimulated1 sometimes to be coerced and forcibly diverted from unworthy objects4 ,therefore the exhortation to serve ,god 'with a perfect heart and with a willing mind' is always needful and often hard4 ,entire surrender and glad obedience are the ,christian ideal1 and continual effort to approximate to it will be ours in the degree in which we 'know ,god4' ,there is no worse slavery than that of the half-hearted ,christian whose yoke is not padded with love4 ,reluctant obedience is disobedience in ,god's sight4 ,david solemnly reminds ,solomon of those 'pure eyes and perfect judgment1' not to frighten1 but to enforce the thought of the need for whole-hearted and glad service1 and of the worthlessness of external acts of apparent worship which have not such behind them4 ,what a deal of seeming wheat would turn out to be chaff if that winnowing fan which is in ,christ's hand were applied to it6 ,how small our biggest heaps would become6 ,the solemn conditions of the continuance of ,god's favour and of the fulfilment of ,his promises are next plainly stated4 ,god responds to our state of heart and mind4 ,we determine ,his bearing to us4 ,the seeker finds4 ,if we move away from ,him1 ,he moves away from us4 ,that is not1 thank ,god6 all the truth1 or what would become of any of us8 ,but it is true1 and in a very solemn sense ,god is to us what we make ,him4 ',with the pure ,thou wilt show ,thyself pure2 and with the perverse ,thou wilt show ,thyself froward4' ,the charge ends with recalling the high honour and office to which ,jehovah had designated ,solomon1 and with exhortations to 'take heed' and to 'be strong1 and do it4' ,it is well for a young man to begin life with a high ideal of what he is called to be and do4 ,but many of us have that1 and miserably fail to realise it1 for want of these two characteristics1 which the sight of such an ideal ought to stamp on us4 ,if we are to fulfil ,god's purposes with us1 and to be such tools as ,he can use for building ,his true ,temple1 we must exercise self-control and 'take heed to our ways1' and we must brace ourselves against opposition and crush down our own timidity4 ,it seems to be commanding an impossibility to say to a weak creature like any one of us1 ',be strong1' but the impossible becomes a possibility when the exhortation takes the full ,christian form3 ',be strong in the ,lord1 and in the power of ,his might4' ,,the ,,waves ,,of ,,time ',the times that went over him4'--#a ,,chron4 xxix4 #cj4 ,this is a fragment from the chronicler's close of his life of ,king ,david4 ,he is referring in it to other written authorities in which there are fuller particulars concerning his hero2 and he says1 'the acts of ,david the ,king1 first and last1 behold they are written in the book of ,samuel the seer 444 with all his reign and his might1 and the times that went over him1 and over all ,israel1 and over all the kingdoms of the countries4' ,now ,i have ventured to isolate these words1 because they seem to me to suggest some very solemn and stimulating thoughts about the true nature of life4 ,they refer1 originally1 to the strange vicissitudes and extremes of fortune and condition which characterised1 so dramatically and remarkably1 the life of ,king ,david4 ,shepherd-boy1 soldier1 court favourite1 outlaw1 freebooter and all but brigand2 rebel1 king1 fugitive1 saint1 sinner1 psalmist1 penitent--he lived a life full of strongly marked alternations1 and 'the times that went over him' were singularly separate and different from each other4 ,there are very few of us who have such chequered lives as his4 ,but the principle which dictated the selection by the chronicler of this somewhat strange phrase is true about the life of every man4 ,i4 ,note1 first1 'the times' which make up each life4 ,now1 by the phrase here the writer does not merely mean the succession of moments1 but he wishes to emphasise the view that these are epochs1 sections of 'time1' each with its definite characteristics and its special opportunities1 unlike the rest that lie on either side of it4 ,the great broad field of time is portioned out1 like the strips of peasant allotments1 which show a little bit here1 with one kind of crop upon it1 bordered by another little morsel of ground bearing another kind of crop4 ,so the whole is patchy1 and yet all harmonises in effect if we look at it from high enough up4 ,thus each life is made up of a series1 not merely of successive moments1 but of well-marked epochs1 each of which has its own character1 its own responsibilities1 its own opportunities1 in each of which there is some special work to be done1 some grace to be cultivated1 some lesson to be learned1 some sacrifice to be made2 and if it is let slip it never comes back any more4 ',it might have been once1 and we missed it1 and lost it for ever4' ,the times pass over us1 and every single portion has its own errand to us4 ,unless we are wide awake we let it slip1 and are the poorer to all eternity for not having had in our heads the eyes of the wise man which 'discern both time and judgment4' ,it is the same thought which is suggested by the well-known words of the cynical book of ,ecclesiastes--',to every thing there is a season and a time'--an opportunity1 and a definite period--'for every purpose that is under the sun4' ,it is the same thought which is suggested by ,paul's words1 ',as we have therefore opportunity1 let us do good to all men4 ,in due season we shall reap if we faint not4' ,there is 'a time for weeping and a time for laughing1 a time for building up and a time for casting down4' ,it is the same thought of life1 and its successive epochs of opportunity never returning1 which finds expression in the threadbare lines about 'a tide in the affairs of men1 which1 taken at the flood1 leads on to fortune1' and neglected1 condemns the rest of a career to be hemmed in among creeks and shallows4 ,through all the variety of human occupations1 each moment comes to us with its own special mission1 and yet1 alas6 to far too many of us the alternations do not suggest the question1 what is it that ,i am hereby called upon to be or to do8 what is the lesson that present circumstances are meant to teach1 and the grace that my present condition is meant to force me to cultivate or exhibit8 ,there is one point1 as it were1 upon the road where we may catch a view far away into the distance1 and1 if we are not on the lookout when we come there1 we shall never get that glimpse at any other point along the path4 ,the old alchemists used to believe that there was what they called the 'moment of projection1' when1 into the heaving molten mass in their crucible1 if they dropped the magic powder1 the whole would turn into gold2 an instant later and there would be explosion and death2 an instant earlier and there would be no effect4 ,and so ,god's moments come to us2 every one of them--if we had eyes to see and hands to grasp--a crisis1 affording opportunity for something for which all eternity will not afford a second opportunity1 if the moment be let pass4 ',the times went over him1' and your life and mine is parcelled out into seasons which have their special vocation for and message to us4 ,how solemn that makes our life6 ,how it destroys the monotony that we sometimes complain of6 ,how it heightens the low things and magnifies the apparently small ones6 ,and how it calls upon us for a sharpened attention1 that we miss not any of the blessings and gifts which ,god is meaning to bestow upon us through the ministry of each moment6 ,how it calls upon us for not only sharpened attention1 but for a desire to know the meaning of each of the hours and of every one of ,his providences6 ,and how it bids us1 as the only condition of understanding the times1 so as to know what we ought to do1 to keep our hearts in close union with ,him1 and ourselves ever standing1 as becomes servants1 girded and ready for work2 and with the question on our lips and in our hearts1 ',lord1 what wouldst ,thou have me to do8 and what wouldst ,thou have me to do now8' ,the lesson of the day has to be learned in a day1 and at the moment when it is put in practice4 ,,ii4 ,another thought suggested by this text is1 the ,power that moves the times4 ,as far as my text represents--and it is not intended to go to the bottom of everything--these times flow on over a man1 as a river might4 ,but is there any power that moves the stream8 ,unthinking and sense-bound men--and we are all such1 in the measure in which we are unspiritual--are contented simply to accept the mechanical flow of the stream of time4 ,we are all tempted not to look behind the moving screen to see the force that turns the wheel on which the painted scene ,is stretched4 ,but1 ,oh6 how dreary a thing it is if all that we have to say about life is1 ',the times pass over us1' like the blind rush of a stream1 or the movement of the sea around our coasts1 eating away here and depositing its spoils there1 sometimes taking and sometimes giving1 but all the work of mere eyeless and purposeless chance or of natural causes4 ,oh1 brethren6 there is nothing more dismal or paralysing than the contemplation of the flow of the times over our heads1 unless we see in their flow something far more than that4 ,it is very beautiful to notice that this same phrase1 or at least the essential part of it1 is employed in one of the ,psalms ascribed to ,david1 with a very significant addition4 ,he says1 ',my times are in ,thy hand4' ,so1 then1 the passage of our epochs over us is not merely the aimless flow of a stream1 but the movement of a current which ,god directs4 ,therefore1 if at any time it goes over our heads and seems to overwhelm us1 we can look up through the transparent water and say1 ',thy waves and ,thy billows have gone over me1' and so ,i die not of suffocation beneath them4 ,god orders the times1 and therefore1 though1 as the bitter ingenuity of ,ecclesiastes1 on the lookout for proofs of the vanity of life1 complained1 in a one-sided view1 as an aggravation of man's lot1 that there is a time for everything1 yet that aspect of change is not its deepest or truest4 ,true it is that sometimes birth and sometimes death1 sometimes joy and sometimes sorrow1 sometimes building up and sometimes casting down1 follow each other with monotonous uniformity of variety1 and seem to reduce life to a perpetual heaping up of what is as painfully to be cast down the next moment1 like the pitiless sport of the wind amongst the sandhills of the desert4 ,but the futility is only apparent1 and the changes are not meant to occasion 'man's misery' to be 'great upon him1' as ,ecclesiastes says they do4 ,the diversity of the 'times' comes from a unity of purpose2 and all the various methods of the divine ,providence exercised upon us have one unchanging intention4 ,the meaning of all the 'times' is that they should bring us nearer to ,god1 and fill us more full of ,his power and grace4 ,the web is one1 however various may be the pattern wrought upon the tapestry4 ,the resulting motion of the great machine is one1 though there may be a wheel turning from left to right here1 and another one that fits into it1 turning from right to left there4 ,the end of all the opposite motions is straight progress4 ,so the varying times do all tend to the one great issue4 ,therefore let us seek to pursue1 in all varying circumstances1 the one purpose which ,god has in them all1 which the ,apostle states to be 'even your sanctification1' and let us understand how summer and winter1 springtime and harvest1 tempest and fair weather1 do all together make up the year1 and ensure the springing of the seed and the fruitfulness of the stalk4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 let me remind you1 too1 how eloquently the words of my text suggest the transiency of all the 'times4' ,they 'passed over him' as the wind through an archway1 that whistles and comes not again4 ,the old1 old thought1 so threadbare and yet always so solemnising and pathetic1 which we know so well that we forget it1 and are so sure of that it has little effect on life1 the old1 old thought1 'this too will pass away1' underlies the phrase of my text1 ,how blessed it is1 brethren6 to cherish that wholesome sense of the transiency of things here below1 only those who live under its habitual power can fairly estimate4 ,it is thought to be melancholy4 ,we are told that it spoils joys and kills interest1 and ,i know not what beside4 ,it spoils no joys that ought to be joys4 ,it kills no interests that are not on other grounds unworthy to be cherished4 ,contrariwise1 the more fully we are penetrated with the persistent conviction of the transiency of the things seen and temporal1 the greater they become1 by a strange paradox4 ,for then only are they seen in their true magnitude and nobility1 in their true solemnity and importance as having a bearing on the things that are eternal4 ,time is the 'ceaseless lackey of eternity1' and the things that pass over us may become1 like the waves of the sea1 the means of bearing us to the unmoving shore4 ,oh6 if only in the midst of joys and sorrows1 of heavy tasks and corroding cares1 of weary work and wounded spirits1 we could feel1 'but for a moment1' all would be different1 and joy would come1 and strength would come1 and patience would come1 and every grace would come1 in the train of the wholesome conviction that 'here we have no continuing city4' ,cherish the thought4 ,it will spoil nothing the spoiling of which will be a loss4 ,it will heighten everything the possession of which is a gain4 ,it will teach us to trust in the darkness1 and to believe in the light4 ,and when the times are dreariest1 and frost binds the ground1 we shall say1 ',if winter comes1 can spring be far behind8' ,the times roll over us1 like the seas that break upon some isolated rock1 and when the tide has fallen and the vain flood has subsided1 the rock is there4 ,if the world helps us to ,god1 we need not mind though it passes1 and the fashion thereof4 ,but do not let us forget that this text in its connection may teach us another thought4 ,the transitory 'times that went over' ,israel's king are all recorded imperishably on the pages here1 and so1 though condensed into narrow space1 the record of the fleeting moments lives for ever1 and 'the books shall be opened1 and men shall be judged according to their works4' ,we are writing an imperishable record by our fleeting deeds4 ,half a dozen pages carry all the story of that stormy life of ,israel's king4 ,it takes a thousand rose-trees to make a vial full of essence of roses4 ,the record and issues of life will be condensed into small compass1 but the essence of it is eternal4 ,we shall find it again1 and have to drink as we have brewed when we get yonder4 ',be not deceived1 ,god is not mocked1 for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap4' ',there is a time to sow1' and that is the present life2 'and there is a time to gather the fruits' of our sowing1 and that is the time when times have ended and eternity is here4 ,,the ,,second ,,book ,,of ,,chronicles ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,every ,,day ',then ,solomon offered burnt offerings unto the ,lord 444 ,even after a certain rate every day4'--7,a4,v47 ',then ,solomon offered burnt offerings unto the ,lord1 even as the duty of every day required it4'--#b ,chron4 viii4 #ab-ac 7,r4 ,v474 ,this is a description of the elaborate provision1 in accordance with the commandment of ,moses1 which ,solomon made for the worship in his new ,temple4 ,the writer is enlarging on the precise accordance of the ritual with the regulations laid down in the law4 ,he expresses1 by the phrase which we have taken as our text1 not only the accordance of the worship with the commandment1 but its unbroken continuity1 and also the variety in it1 according to the regulations for different days4 ,for the verse runs on1 'on the ,sabbaths1 and on the new moons1 and on the solemn feasts1 three times in the year1 even in the ,feast of unleavened bread1 and in the ,feast of weeks1 and in the ,feast of ,tabernacles4' ,there were1 then1 these characteristics in the ritual of ,solomon's ,temple1 precise compliance with the ,divine commandment1 unbroken continuity1 and beautiful flexibility and variety of method4 ,but passing altogether from the original application of the words1 ,i venture to do now what ,i very seldom do1 and that is1 to take this verse as a kind of motto4 ',even according as the duty of every day required'2 the phrase may suggest three thoughts3 that each day has its own work1 its own worship1 and its own supplies1 'even as the duty of every day required4' ,each day has its own work4 ,of course there is a great uniformity in our lives1 and many of us who are set down to one continuous occupation can tell twelve months before what1 in all probability1 we shall be doing at each hour of each day in the week4 ,but for all that1 there is a certain individual physiognomy about each new day as it comes to us2 and the oldest1 most habitual1 and therefore in some degree easiest and least stimulating1 work has its own special characteristics as it comes again to us day by day for the hundredth time4 ,so there are three pieces of practical wisdom that ,i would suggest1 and one is--be content to take your work in little bits as it comes4 ,there is a great deal of practical wisdom in taking short views of things1 for although we have often to look ahead1 yet it is better on the whole that a man should1 as far as he can1 confine his anticipations to the day that is passing1 and leave the day that is coming to look after itself4 ,take short views and be content to let each day prescribe its tasks1 and you have gone a long way to make all your days quiet and peaceful4 ,for it is far more the anticipation of difficulties than the realisation of them that wears and wearies us4 ,if a man says to himself1 ',this sorrow that ,i am carrying1 or this work that ,i have to do1 is going to last for many days to come1' his heart will fail4 ,if he said to himself1 ',it will be no worse to-morrow than it is at this moment1 and ,i can live through it1 for am ,i not living through it at this moment1 and getting power to endure or do at this moment8 and to-morrow will probably be like today1' things would not be so difficult4 ,you remember the homely old parable of the clock on the stair that gave up ticking altogether because it began to calculate how many thousands of seconds there are in the year1 and that twice that number of times it would have to wag backwards and forwards4 ,the lesson that it learned was--tick one tick and never mind the next4 ,you will be able to do it when the time to do it comes4 ,let us act 'as the duty of every day requireth4' ',sufficient for the day is the work thereof4' ,then there is another piece of advice from this thought of each day having its own work1 and that is--keep your ears open1 and your eyes too1 to learn the lesson of what the day's work is4 ,there is generally abundance of direction for us if only we are content with the one-step-at-a-time direction1 which we get1 and if another condition is fulfilled1 if we try to suppress our own wishes and the noisy babble of our own yelping inclinations1 and take the whip to them until they cease their barking1 that we may hear what ,god says4 ,it is not because ,he does not speak1 but because we are too anxious to have our own way to listen quietly to ,his voice1 that we make most of our blunders as to what the duty of every day requires4 ,if we will be still and listen1 and stand in the attitude of the boy-prophet before the glimmering lamp in the sacred place1 saying1 ',speak1 ,lord6 for ,thy servant heareth1' we shall get sufficient instruction for our next step4 ,another piece of practical wisdom that ,i would suggest is that if every day has its own work1 we should buckle ourselves to do the day's work before night falls and not leave any over for to-morrow1 which will be quite full enough4 ',do the duty that lies nearest thee1' was the preaching of one of our sages1 and it is wholesome advice4 ,for when we do that duty1 the doing of it has a wonderful power of opening up further steps1 and showing us more clearly what is the next duty4 ,only let us be sure of this1 that no moment comes from ,god which has not in it boundless possibilities2 and that no moment comes from ,god which has not in it stringent obligations4 ,we neither avail ourselves of the one1 nor discharge the other1 unless we come1 morning by morning1 to the new day that is dawning upon us1 with some fresh consciousness of the large issues that may be wrapped in its unseen hours1 and the great things for ,him that we may do ere its evening falls4 ,each day has its tasks1 and if we do not do the tasks of each day in its day1 we shall fling away life4 ,if a man had ,l4 #ajj1jjj for a fortune1 and turned it all into halfpence1 and tossed them out of the window1 he could soon get rid of his whole fortune4 ,and if you fling away your moments or live without the consciousness of their solemn possibilities and mystic awfulness1 you will find at the last that you have made 'ducks and drakes' of your years1 and have flung them away in moments without knowing what you were doing1 and without possibility of recovery4 ',take care of the pence1 the pounds will take care of themselves4' ,take care of the days1 and the years will show a fair record4 ,secondly1 we have here the suggestion that every day has its own worship4 ,as ,i remarked at the beginning of my observations1 the chronicler dwells1 with a certain kind of satisfaction1 in accordance with the tone of his whole writings1 upon the external ritual of the ,temple2 and points out its entire conformity with the divine precept1 and the unbroken continuity of worship day after day1 year in year out1 and the variation of the characteristics of that worship according as the day was more or less ritually important4 ,from his words we may deduce a very needful though obvious and commonplace lesson4 ,what we want is every-day religion1 and that every-day religion is the only thing that will enable us to do what the duty of every day requires4 ,but that every-day religion which will be our best ally1 and power for the discharge of the obligations that each moment brings with it1 must have its points of support1 as it were1 in special moments and methods of worship4 ,so1 then1 take that first thought3 ,what we want is a religion that will go all through our lives4 ,a great many of you keep your religion where you keep your best clothes3 putting it on on ,sunday and locking it away on the ,sunday night in a wardrobe because it is not the dress that you go to work in4 ,and some of you keep your religion in your pew1 and lock it up in the little box where you put your hymn-books and your ,bibles1 which you read only once a week1 devoting yourselves to ledgers or novels and newspapers for the rest of your time4 ,we want a religion that will go all through our life2 and if there is anything in our life that will not stand its presence1 the sooner we get rid of that element the better4 ,a mountain road has generally a living brooklet leaping and flashing by the side of it4 ,so our lives will be dusty and dead and cold and poor and prosaic unless that river runs along by the roadside and makes music for us as it flows4 ,take your religion wherever you go4 ,if you cannot take it in to any scenes or company1 stop you outside4 ,there is nothing that will help a man to do his day's work so much as the realisation of ,christ's ,presence4 ,and that realisation1 along with its certain results1 devotion of heart to ,him and submission of will to ,his commandment1 and desire to shape our lives to be like ,his1 will make us masters of all circumstances and strong enough for the hardest work that ,god can lay upon us4 ,there is nothing so sure to make life beautiful1 and noble1 and pure1 and peaceful1 and strong as this--the application to its monotonous trifles of religious principles4 ,if you do not do little things as ,christian men and women1 and under the influence of ,christian principle1 pray what are you going to do under the influence of ,christian principle8 ,if you are keeping your religion to influence the crises of your lives1 and are content to let the trifles be ruled by the devil or the world and yourselves1 you will find out1 when you come to the end1 that there were perhaps three or four crises in your experience1 and that all the rest of life was made of trifles1 and that when the crises came you could not lay your hand on the religious principle that would have enabled you to deal with them4 ,the sword had got so rusty in its scabbard because it had never been drawn for long years1 that it could not be readily drawn in the moment of sudden peril2 and if you could have drawn it1 you would have found its edge blunted4 ,use your religion on the trifles1 or you will not be able to make much of it in the crises4 ',he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much4' ,the worship of every day is the preparation for the work of that day4 ,further1 that worship1 that religion1 wearing its common1 modest suit of workaday clothes1 must also1 if there is to be any power in it1 have a certain variety in its methods4 ',solomon offered burnt offerings 444 on the ,sabbaths1 on the new moons1' which had a little more ceremonial than the ,sabbaths1 'and on the solemn feasts three times in a year1' which had still more ceremonial than the new moons1 'even in the ,feast of unleavened bread1 and in the ,feast of weeks1 and in the ,feast of tabernacles4' ,these were spring-tides when the sea of worship rose beyond its usual level1 and they kept it from stagnating4 ,we1 too1 if we wish to have this every-day religion running with any strength of scour and current through our lives1 will need to have moments when it touches high-water mark1 else it will not flush the foulness out of our hearts and our lives4 ,lastly1 take the other suggestion1 that every day has its own supplies4 ,that does not lie in the text properly1 but for the sake of completeness ,i add it4 ,every day has its own supplies4 ,the manna fell every day1 and was gathered and consumed on the day on which it fell4 ,god gives us strength measured accurately by the needs of the day4 ,you will get as much as you require1 and if ever you do not get as much as you require1 which is very often the case with ,christian people1 that is not because ,god did not send enough manna1 but because their omer was not ready to catch it as it fell4 ,the day's supply is measured by the day's need4 ,suppose an ,israelite had sat in his tent and said1 ',i am not going out to gather1' would he have had any in his empty vessel8 ,certainly not4 ,the manna lay all around the tent1 but each man had to go out and gather it4 ,god makes no mistakes in ,his weights and measures4 ,he gives us each sufficient strength to do ,his will and to walk in ,his ways2 and if we do not do ,his will or walk in ,his ways1 or if we find our burden too heavy1 our sorrows too sharp1 our loneliness too dreary1 our difficulties too great1 it is not because 'the ,lord's hand is shortened that it cannot' supply1 but because our hands are so slack that they will not take the sufficiency which ,he gives4 ,in the midst of abundance we are starving4 ,we let the water run idly through the open sluice instead of driving the wheels of life4 ,my friend6 ,god's measure of supply is correct4 ,if we were more faithful and humble1 and if we understood better and felt more how deep is our need and how little is our strength1 we should more continually be able to rejoice that ,he has given1 and we have received1 'even as the duty of every day required4' ,,contrasted ,,services ',they shall be his servants3 that they may know ,my service1 and the service of the kingdoms of the countries4'--#b ,chron4 xii4 #h4 ,rehoboam was a self-willed1 godless king who1 like some other kings1 learned nothing by experience4 ,his kingdom was nearly wrecked at the very beginning of his reign1 and was saved much more by the folly of his rival than by his own wisdom4 ,jeroboam's religious revolution drove all the worshippers of ,god among the northern kingdom into flight4 ,they might have endured the separate monarchy1 but they could not endure the separate ,temple4 ,so all priests and ,levites in ,israel1 and all the adherents of the ancestral worship in the ,temple at ,jerusalem1 withdrew to the southern kingdom and added much to its strength4 ,rehoboam's narrow escape taught him neither moderation nor devotion1 his new strength turned his head4 ,he forsook the law of the ,lord4 ,the dreary series1 so often illustrated in the history of ,israel1 came into operation4 ,prosperity produced irreligion2 irreligion brought chastisement2 chastisement brought repentance2 repentance brought the removal of the invader--and then1 like a spring released1 back went king and nation to their old sin4 ,so here--,rehoboam's sins take visible form in ,sheshak's army4 ,he has sown the dragon's teeth and they spring up armed men4 ,shemaiah the prophet1 the first of the long series of noble men who curbed the violence of ,jewish monarchs1 points the lesson of invasion in plain1 blunt words3 ',ye have forsaken ,me4' ,then follow penitence and confession--and the promise that ,jerusalem shall not be destroyed1 but at the same time they are to be left as vassals and tributaries of ,egypt--an anomalous position for them--and the reason is given in these words of our text4 ,i4 ,the contrasted ,masters4 ,judah was too small to be independent of the powerful warlike states to its north and south1 unless miraculously guarded and preserved4 ,so it must either keep near ,god1 and therefore free and safe from invasion1 or else1 departing from ,god and following its own ways1 fall under alien dominion4 ,its experience was a type of that of universal humanity4 ,man is not independent4 ,his mass is not enough for him to do without a central orb round which he may revolve4 ,he has a choice of the form of service and the master that he will choose1 but one or other must dominate his life and sway his motions4 ',ye cannot serve ,god and ,mammon'2 ye must serve ,god or ,mammon4 ,the solemn choice is presented to every man1 but the misery of many lives is that they drift along1 making their election unawares1 and infallibly choosing the worse by the very act of lazily or weakly allowing accident to determine their lives4 ,not consciously and strongly to will the right1 not resolutely and with coercion of the vagrant self to will to take ,god for our aim1 is to choose the low1 the wrong4 ,perhaps none1 or very few of us1 would deliberately say ',i choose ,mammon1 having carefully compared the claims of the opposite systems of life that solicit me1 and with open-eyed scrutiny measured their courses1 their goods and their ends4' ,but how many of us there are who have in effect made that choice1 and never have given one moment's clear1 patient examination of the grounds of our choice6 ,the policy of drift is unworthy of a man and is sure to end in ruin4 ,it is not for me to attempt here to draw out the contrast between man's chief end and all other rival claimants of our lives4 ,each man must do that for himself1 and ,i venture to assert that the more thoroughly the process of comparison is carried out1 and the more complete the analysis not only of the rival claims and gifts1 but of our capacities and needs1 the more sun-clear will be the truth of the old1 well-worn answer3 ',man's chief end is to glorify ,god and to enjoy ,him for ever4' ,the old woman by her solitary fireside who has learned that and practises it1 has chosen the better part which will last when many shining careers have sunk into darkness1 and many will-o'-the-wisps1 which have been pursued with immense acclamations1 have danced away into the bog1 and many a man who has been envied and admired has had to sum up his successful career in the sad words1 ',i have played the fool and erred exceedingly4' ,i cannot pretend to conduct the investigation for you1 but ,i can press on every one who does not wish to let accidents mould him1 at least to recognise that there is a choice to be made1 and to make it deliberately and with eyes open to the facts of the case4 ,it is a shabby way of ruining yourself to do it for want of thought4 ,the rabble of competitors of ,god catch more souls by accident than of set purpose4 ,most men are godless because they have never fairly faced the question3 what does my soul require in order to reach its highest blessedness and its noblest energy8 ,,ii4 ,the contrasted experience of the servants4 ,judah learned that the yoke of obedience to ,god's law was a world lighter than the grinding oppression of the ,egyptian invader4 ,god's service is freedom2 the world's is slavery4 ,liberty is unrestrained power to do what we ought4 ,man must be subject to law4 ,the solemn imperative of duty is omnipresent and sovereign4 ,to do as we like is not freedom1 but bondage to self1 and that usually our worst self1 which means crushing or coercing the better self4 ,the choice is to chain the beast in us or to clip the wings of the angel in us1 and he is a fool who conceits himself free because he lets his inferior self have its full swing1 and hustles his better self into bondage to clear the course for the other4 ,there is but one deliverance from the sway of self1 and it is realised in the liberty wherewith ,christ has made us free4 ,to make self our master inevitably leads to setting beggars on horseback and princes walking4 ,passion1 the 'flesh' is terribly apt to usurp the throne within when once ,god is dethroned4 ,then indulgence feeds passion1 and deeper draughts become necessary in order to produce the same effects1 and cravings1 once allowed free play1 grow in ravenousness1 while their pabulum steadily loses its power to satisfy4 ,the experience of the undevout sensualist is but too faithful a type of that of all undevout livers1 in the failure of delights to delight and of acquisitions to enrich1 and in the bondage1 often to nothing more worthy to be obeyed than mere habit1 and in the hopeless incapacity to shake off the adamantine chains which they have themselves rivetted on their limbs4 ,there are endless varieties in the forms which the service of self assumes1 ranging from gross animalism1 naked and unashamed1 up to refined and cultured godlessness1 but they are one in their inmost character1 one in their disabling the spirit from a free choice of its course1 one in the limitations which they impose on its aspirations and possibilities1 one in the heavy yoke which they lay on their vassals4 ,the true liberty is realised only when for love's dear sake we joyously serve ,god1 and from the highest motive enrol ourselves in the household of the highest ,person1 and by the act become 'no more servants but sons4' ,well may we all pray-- ',lord6 bind me up1 and let me lie ,a prisoner to my liberty1 ,if such a state at all can be ,as an imprisonment1 serving ,thee4' ,god's service brings solid good1 the world's is vain and empty4 ,god's service brings an approving conscience1 a calm heart1 strength and gladness4 ,it is in full accord with our best selves4 ,tranquil joys attend on it4 ',in keeping ,thy commandments there is great reward1' and that not merely bestowed after keeping1 but realised and inherent in the very act4 ,on the other side1 think of the stings of conscience1 the illusions on which those feed who will not eat of the heavenly food1 the husks of the swine-trough1 the ashes for bread1 that self and the world1 in all their forms set before men4 ,a pathetic character in modern fiction says1 ',if you make believe very much it is nice4' ,it takes a tremendous amount of make-believe to keep up an appetite for the world's dainties or to find its meats palatable1 after a little while4 ,no sin ever yields the fruit it was expected to produce1 or if it does it brings something which was not expected1 and the bitter tang of the addition spoils the whole4 ,it may be wisely adapted to secure a given end1 but that end is only a means to secure the real end1 our substantial blessedness1 and that is never attained but by one course of life1 the life of service of ,god4 ,we may indeed win a goodly garment1 but the plague is in the stuff and1 worn1 it will burn into the bones like fire4 ,i read somewhere lately of thieves who had stolen a cask of wine1 and had their debauch1 but they sickened and died4 ,the cask was examined and a huge snake was found dead in it4 ,its poison had passed into the wine and killed the drinkers4 ,that is how the world serves those who swill its cup4 ',what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed8' ,the threatening pronounced against ,israel's disobedience enshrines an eternal truth3 ',because thou servedst not the ,lord thy ,god with joyfulness1 and with gladness of heart1 by reason of the abundance of all things2 therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies 444 in hunger and in thirst1 and in nakedness and in want of all things4' ,god's service has final issues and the world's service has final issues4 ,only fools try to blink the fact that all our doings have consequences4 ,and it augurs no less levity and insensibility to blink the other fact that these consequences show no indications of being broken short off at the end of our earthly life4 ,men die into another life1 as they have ever1 dimly and with many foolish accompaniments1 believed2 and dead1 they are the men that they have made themselves while living4 ,character is eternal1 memory is eternal1 death puts the stamp of perpetuity on what life has evolved4 ,nothing human ever dies4 ,the thought is too solemn to be vulgarised by pulpit rhetoric4 ,enough to say here that these two tremendous alternatives1 ,life and ,death1 express some little part of the eternal issues of our fleeting days4 ,looking fixedly into these two great symbols of the ultimate issues of these contrasted services1 we can dimly see1 as in the one1 a wonder of resplendent glories moving in a sphere 'as calm as it is bright1' so1 in the other1 whirling clouds and jets of vapour as in the crater of a volcano4 ,one shuddering glance over the rim of it should suffice to warn from lingering near1 lest the unsteady soil should crumble beneath our feet4 ,but the true ,lord of our lives loves us too well to let us experience all the bitter issues of our foolish rebellion against ,his authority1 and yet ,he loves us too well not to let us taste something of them that we may 'know and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter1 that thou hast forsaken the ,lord thy ,god4' ,the experiences of the consequences of godless living are in some measure allowed to fall on us by ,god's love1 lest we should persist in the evil and so bring down on ourselves still more fatal issues4 ,it is mercy that here chastises the evildoer with whips1 in hope of not having to chastise him with scorpions4 ,god desires to teach us1 by the pains and heartaches of an undevout life1 by disappointments1 foiled plans1 wrecked hopes1 inner poverty1 the difference between ,his service and that of 'the kingdoms of the countries1' if haply ,he may not be forced to let the full flood of fatal results overwhelm us4 ,it is best to be drawn to serve ,him by the cords of love1 but it is possible to have the beginnings of the desire so to serve roused by the far lower motives of weariness and disgust at the world's wages1 and by dread of what these may prove when they are paid in full4 ,self-interest may sicken a man of serving ,mammon1 and may be transformed into the self-surrender which makes ,god's service possible and blessed4 ,the flight into the city of refuge may be quickened by the fear of the pursuer1 whose horse's hoofs are heard thundering on the road behind the fugitive1 and whose spear is all but felt a yard from his back1 but once within the shelter of the city wall1 gratitude for deliverance will fill his heart and 'perfect love will cast out fear4' ,the king concerning whom our text was spoken had to suffer humiliation by the ,egyptian invasion4 ,his sufferings were meant to be educational1 and when they in some measure effected their purpose1 ,god curbed the invader and granted some measure of deliverance4 ,so is it with us1 if1 moved by whatever impulse1 we betake ourselves to ,jesus to save us from the bitter fruits of our evil lives4 ,the extreme severity of the results of our sins does not fall on penitent1 believing spirits1 but some do fall4 ,as the ,psalmist says3 ',thou wast a ,god that forgavest them though ,thou tookest vengeance of their inventions4' ,a profligate course of life may be forgiven1 but health or fortune is ruined all the same4 ,in brief1 the so-called 'natural' consequences are not removed1 though the sin which caused them is pardoned4 ,polluted memories1 indulged habits1 defiled imaginations1 are not got rid of1 though the sins that inflicted them are forgiven4 ,is it not1 then1 the part of wise men to lay to heart the lessons of experience1 and to let what we have learned of the bitter fruit of godless living turn us away from such service1 and draw us by merciful chastisement to yield ourselves to ,god1 whom to serve accords with our deepest needs and brings first fruits and pre-libations of blessedness and peace here1 and fullness of joy with pleasures for evermore hereafter8 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,victory ',the children of ,judah prevailed1 because they relied upon the ,lord ,god of their fathers4'--#b ,,chron4 xiii4 #ah4 ,these words are the summing-up of the story of a strange old-world battle between ,jeroboam1 the adventurer who rent the kingdom1 and ,abijah1 the son of the foolish ,rehoboam1 whose unseasonable blustering had played into the usurper's hands4 ,the son was a wiser and better man than his father4 ,it is characteristic of the ancient world1 that before battle was joined ,abijah made a long speech to the enemy1 recounting the ritual deficiencies of the ,northern kingdom1 and proudly contrasting the punctilious correctness of the ,temple service with the irregular cult set up by ,jeroboam4 ,he confidently pointed to the priests 'with their trumpets' in his army as the visible sign that ',god is with us at our head1' and while charging ,israel with having 'forsaken the ,lord our ,god1' to whom he and his people had kept true1 besought them not to carry their rebellion to the extreme of fighting against their fathers' ,god1 and assured them that no success could attend their weapons in such a strife4 ,the passionate appeal had no effect1 but while ,abijah was orating1 ,jeroboam was carrying out a ruse1 and planting part of his troops behind ,judah1 so as to put them between two fires and draw a net round the outnumbered and outmanoeuvred enemy4 ,abijah and his men suddenly detected their desperate position1 and did the only wise thing4 ,when1 with a shock of surprise1 they saw that 'behold6 the battle was before and behind them1' they 'cried unto the ,lord1 and the priests sounded with the trumpets4' ,the sharp1 short cry from thousands of agitated men ringed round by foes1 and the blare of the trumpets were both prayers1 and heartened the suppliants for their whirlwind charge1 before which the men of ,israel1 double in number as they were1 broke and fled4 ,the defeat was thorough1 and1 for a while1 ,rehoboam and his kingdom were 'brought under1' and a comparatively long peace followed4 ,our text gathers up the lesson taught1 not to ,judah or ,israel alone1 by victory and defeat1 when it declares that to rely upon the ,lord is to prevail4 ,it opens for us the secret of victory1 in that old far-off struggle and in to-day's conflicts4 ,i4 ,we note the faith of the fighters4 ',they relied1' says the chronicler1 'upon the ,lord4' ,now the word rendered 'relied' is one of several picturesque words by which the ,old ,testament1 which we are sometimes told1 with a great flourish of learning1 has no mention of 'faith1' expresses 'trust1' by metaphors drawn from bodily actions which symbolise the spiritual act4 ,the word here literally signifies to lean on1 as a feeble hand might on a staff1 or a tremulous arm on a strong one4 ,and does not that picture carry with it much insight into what the essence of ,old ,testament 'trust' or ,new ,testament 'faith' is8 ,if we think of faith as leaning1 we shall not fall into that starved misconception of it which takes it to be nothing more than intellectual assent4 ,we shall see there is a far fuller pulse of feeling than that beating in it4 ,a man who leans on some support1 does so because he knows that his own strength is insufficient for his need4 ,the consciousness of weakness is the beginning of faith4 ,he who has never despaired of himself has scarcely trusted in ,god4 ,abijah's enemies were two to one of his own men4 ,no wonder that they cried unto the ,lord1 and felt a stound of despair shake their courage4 ,and who of us can face life with its heavy duties1 its thick-clustering dangers and temptations1 its certain struggles1 its possible failures1 and not feel the cold touch of dread gripping our hearts1 though strong and brave8 ,surely he has had little experience1 or has learned little wisdom from the experience he has had1 who has yet to discover his own weakness4 ,but the consciousness of weakness is by itself debilitating1 and but increases the weakness of which it is painfully aware4 ,there is no surer way to sap what strength we have than to tell ourselves what poor creatures we are4 ,the purpose and end of self-contemplation which becomes aware of our own feebleness is to lead us to the contemplation of ,god1 our immortal strength4 ,abijah's assurance that ',god is with us at our head' rang out triumphantly4 ,faith has an upper and an under side3 the under side is self-distrust2 the upper1 trust in ,god4 ,he will never lean all his weight on a prop1 who fancies that he can stand alone1 or has other stays to hold him up4 ,but ,abijah's example teaches us another lesson--that for a vigorous faith1 there must be obedience to all ,god's known will4 ,true1 thank ,god6 faith often springs in its power in a soul that is conscious but of sin1 but a continuance in disobedience will inevitably kill faith4 ,it was because ,abijah and his people had kept 'the charge of the ,lord our ,god1' that they were sure that ,god was with them4 ,we can only be sure of ,god to lean on when we are doing ,his will1 and we shall do ,his will only as we are sure that we lean on ,him4 ,our trust in ,him will be strong and operative in the measure in which our lives are conformed to ,his commandments4 ,much elaborate dissertation has been devoted to expounding what faith is1 and the strong1 vivid ,scriptural conception of it has been woefully darkened and overlaid with cobwebs of theology1 but surely this eloquent metaphor of our text tells us more than do many learned volumes4 ,it bids us lean on ,god1 rest the whole weight of our needs1 our weaknesses1 and our sins on ,him4 ,like any human friend or helper1 ,he is better pleased when we lean hard on ,him than when we gingerly put a finger on ,his arm1 and lay no pressure on it1 as we do when in ceremonial fashion we seem to accept another's support1 and hold ourselves back from putting a weight on the offered arm4 ,we cannot rely too utterly on ,him4 ,we honour ,him most when we repose our whole selves on ,his strong arm4 ,,ii4 ,the increase of faith by sudden fear4 ',when ,judah looked back1 behold1 the battle was before and behind them4' ,the shock of seeing the flashing spears in the rear would make the bravest hold their breath for one overwhelming moment1 but the next moment their faith in ,god surged back with tenfold force1 increased by the sudden new peril4 ,the sharp collision of flint and steel struck out a spark of faith4 ',what time ,i am afraid1 ,i will trust in ,thee1' said an expert in the genesis and growth of trust4 ,peril kills a feeble trust1 but vivifies it1 if strong4 ,the recognition of danger is meant to drive us to ,god4 ,if each fresh difficulty or danger makes us tighten our clasp of ,him1 and lean the harder on ,him1 it has done its highest service to us1 and we have conquered it1 and are the stronger because of it4 ,the storm that makes the traveller1 fighting with the wind and the rain in his face1 clasp his cloak tighter round him1 does him no harm4 ,the purpose of our trials is to drive us to ,god1 and a fair-weather faith which had all but fallen asleep is often roused to energy that works wonders1 by the sudden dash of danger flung into and disturbing a life4 ,it is wise seamanship to make a run to get snugly behind the breakwater when a sudden gale springs up4 ,,iii4 ,the expression of faith in appeal to ,god4 ,when the ambush was unmasked1 the surrounded men of ,judah 'cried unto the ,lord1 and the priests sounded with the trumpets1' before they flung themselves on the enemy4 ,we may be sure that their cry was short and sharp1 and poignant with appeal to ,god4 ,there would be no waste words1 nor perfunctory petitions without wings of desire1 in that cry4 ,should we not look for the essential elements of prayer rather to such cries1 pressed from burdened hearts by a keen sense of absolute helplessness1 and very careless of proprieties so long as they were shrill enough to pierce ,god's ear and touch ,his heart1 than to the formal petitions of well-ordered worship8 ,a single ejaculation flung heavenward in a moment of despair or agony is more precious in ,god's sight than a whole litany of half-hearted devotions4 ,the text puts in a striking form another lesson well worth learning1 that1 in the greatest crises1 no time is better spent than time used for prayer4 ,a rush on the enemy would not have served ,abijah's purpose nearly so well as that moment's pause for crying to the ,lord1 before his charge4 ,hands lifted to heaven are nerved to clutch the sword and strike manfully4 ,it is not only that ,christ's soldiers are to fight and pray1 but that they fight by praying4 ,that is true in the small conflicts and antagonisms of the lives of each of us1 and it is true in regard to the agelong battle against ignorance and sin4 ,christian's sword was named ',all-prayer4' ,the priests1 too1 blew a prayer through their trumpets1 for the ordinance had appointed that 'when ye go to war 444 then shall ye sound an alarm with the trumpets2 and ye shall be remembered before the ,lord your ,god1 and ye shall be saved from your enemies4' ,the clear1 strident blare was not intended to hearten warriors1 or to sing defiance1 but to remind ,god of ,his promises1 and to bring ,him on to the battlefield1 as ,he had said that ,he would be4 ,the truest prayer is that which but picks up the arrows of promise shot from heaven to earth1 and casts them back from earth to heaven4 ,he prays best who fills his mouth with ,god's words1 turning every ',i will' of ,his into ',do ,thou6' ,,iv4 ,the strength that comes through faith4 ',as the men of ,judah shouted1 it came to pass that ,god smote ,jeroboam and all ,israel before ,abijah and ,judah4' ,there is no such quickener of all a man's natural force as even the lowest forms of faith4 ,he who throws himself into any enterprise sure of success will often succeed just because he was sure he would4 ,the world's history is full of instances where men1 with every odds against them1 have plucked the flower safety out of the nettle danger1 just because they trusted in their star1 or their luck1 or their destiny4 ,we all know how a very crude faith turned a horde of wild ,arabs into a conquering army1 that in a century dominated the world from ,damascus to ,seville4 ,the truth that is in ',christian ,science' is that many forms of disease yield to the patient's firm persuasion of recovery4 ,and from these and many other facts the natural power of faith is beginning to dawn on the most matter-of-fact and unspiritual people4 ,they are beginning to think that perhaps ,christ was right after all in saying ',all things are possible to him that believeth1' and that it is not such a blunder after all to make faith the first step to all holiness and purity1 and the secret of victory in life's tussle4 ,leaving out of view for the moment the supernatural effects of faith1 which ,christianity alleges are its constant consequences1 it is clear that its natural effects are all in the direction of increasing the force of the trusting man4 ,it calms1 it heartens for all work1 effort1 and struggle4 ,it imparts patience1 it brightens hope1 it forbids discouragement1 it rebukes and cures despondency4 ,and besides all this1 there is the supernatural communication of a strength not our own1 which is the constant result of ,christian faith4 ,christian faith knits the soul and the ,saviour in so close a union1 that all that is ,christ's becomes the ,christian's1 and every believer may hear ,his ,lover's voice whispering to him what one of ,his servants once heard in an hour of despondency1 ',my grace is sufficient for thee1 for ,my power is made perfect in weakness4' ,faith joins us to the ,lord1 and 'he that is joined to the ,lord is one spirit'2 and that ,lord has said to all ,his disciples1 ',i give thee ,myself1 and in ,myself all that is ,mine4' ,we do not go to warfare at our own charges1 but there will pass into and abide in our hearts the warlike might of the true ,king and ,captain of the ,lord's host1 and we shall hear the ring of ,his encouraging voice saying1 ',be of good cheer6 ,i have overcome the world4' ,,asa',s ,,reformation1 ,,and ,,consequent ,,peace ,,and ,,victory ',and ,asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the ,lord his ,god2 #c4 ,for he took away the altars of the strange gods1 and the high places1 and brake down the images1 and cut down the groves3 #d4 ,and commanded ,judah to seek the ,lord ,god of their fathers1 and to do the law and the commandment4 #e4 ,also he took away out of all the cities of ,judah the high places and the images3 and the kingdom was quiet before him4 #f4 ,and he built fenced cities in ,judah3 for the land had rest1 and he had no war in those years2 because the ,lord had given him rest4 #g4 ,therefore he said unto ,judah1 ,let us build these cities1 and make about them walls1 and towers1 gates1 and bars1 while the land is yet before us2 because we have sought the ,lord our ,god1 we have sought ,him1 and ,he hath given us rest on every side4 ,so they built and prospered4 #h4 ,and ,asa had an army of men that bare targets and spears1 out of ,judah three hundred thousand2 and out of ,benjamin1 that bare shields and drew bows1 two hundred and fourscore thousand3 all these were mighty men of valour4'--#b ,,chron4 xiv4 #b-h4 ,asa was ,rehoboam's grandson1 and came to the throne when a young man4 ,the two preceding reigns had favoured idolatry1 but the young king had a will of his own1 and inaugurated a religious revolution1 with which and its happy results this passage deals4 ,i4 ,it first recounts the thorough clearance of idolatrous emblems and images which ,asa made4 ',strange altars1'--that is1 those dedicated to other gods2 'high places1'--that is1 where illegal sacrifice to ,jehovah was offered2 'pillars1'--that is1 stone columns2 and ',asherim1'--that is1 trees or wooden poles1 survivals of ancient stone- or tree-worship2 'sun-images1'--that is1 probably1 pillars consecrated to ,baal as sun-god1 were all swept away4 ,the enumeration vividly suggests the incongruous rabble of gods which had taken the place of the one ,lord4 ,how vainly we try to make up for ,his absence from our hearts by a multitude of finite delights and helpers6 ,their multiplicity proves the insufficiency of each and of all4 #a ,kings xv4 #ac adds a detail which brings out still more clearly ,asa's reforming zeal2 for it tells us that he had to fight against the influence of his mother1 who had been prominent in supporting disgusting and immoral forms of worship1 and who retained some authority1 of which her son was strong enough to take the extreme step of depriving her4 ,remembering the ,eastern reverence for a mother1 we can estimate the effort which that required1 and the resolution which it implied4 ,but #a ,kings differs from our narrative in stating that the 'high places' were not taken away--the explanation of the variation probably being that the one account tells what ,asa attempted and commanded1 and the other records the imperfect way in which his orders were carried out4 ,they would be obeyed in ,jerusalem and its neighbourhood1 but in many a secluded corner the old rites would be observed4 ,it is vain to force religious revolutions4 ,laws which are not supported by the national conscience will only be obeyed where disobedience will involve penalties4 ,if men's hearts cleave to ,baal1 they will not be turned into ,jehovah-worshippers by a king's commands4 ,asa could command ,judah to 'seek the ,lord ,god of their fathers1 and to do the law1' but he could not make them do it4 ,,ii4 ,the chronicler brings out strongly the truth which runs through his whole book1--namely1 the connection between honouring ,jehovah and national prosperity4 ,he did not import that thought into his narrative1 but he insisted on it as moulding the history of ,judah4 ,modern critics charge him with writing with a bias1 but he learned the 'bias' from ,god's own declarations1 and had it confirmed by observation1 reflection1 and experience4 ,the whole history of ,israel and ,judah was one long illustration of the truth which he is constantly repeating4 ,no doubt1 the divine dealings with ,israel brought obedience and well-being into closer connection than exists now2 but in deepest truth the sure defence of our national prosperity is the same as theirs1 and it is still the case that 'righteousness exalteth a nation4' ',the kingdom was quiet1' says the chronicler1 'and he had no war in those years2 because the ,lord had given him rest4' #a ,kings makes more of the standing enmity with the northern kingdom1 and records scarcely anything of ,asa's reign except the war which1 as it says1 was between him and ,baasha of ,israel 'all their days4' ,but1 according to #b ,chronicles xvi4 #a1 ,baasha did not proceed to war till ,asa's thirty-sixth year1 and the halcyon time of peace evidently followed immediately on the religious reformation at its very beginning4 ,asa's experience embodies a truth which is substantially fulfilled in nations and in individuals2 for obedience brings rest1 often outward tranquillity1 always inward calm4 ,note the heightened earnestness expressed in the repetition of the expression ',we have sought the ,lord' in verse #g1 and the grand assurance of ,his favour as the source of well-being in the clause which follows1 'and ,he hath given us rest on every side4' ,that is always so1 and will be so with us4 ,if we seek ,him with our whole hearts1 keeping ,him ever before us amid the distractions of life1 taking ,him as our aim and desire1 and ever stretching out the tendrils of our hearts to feel after ,him and clasp ,him1 all around and within will be tranquil1 and even in warfare we shall preserve unbroken peace4 ,asa teaches us1 too1 the right use of tranquillity4 ,he clearly and gratefully recognised ,god's hand in it1 and traced it not to his own warlike skill or his people's prowess1 but to ,him4 ,and he used the time of repose to strengthen his defences1 and exercise his soldiers against possible assaults4 ,we do not yet dwell in the land of peace1 where it is safe to be without bolts and bars1 but have ever to be on the watch for sudden attacks4 ,rest from war should give leisure for building not only fortresses1 but temples1 as was the case with ,solomon4 ,the time comes when1 as in many an ancient fortified city of ,europe1 the ramparts may be levelled1 and flowers bloom where sentries walked2 but to-day we have to be on perpetual guard1 and look to our fortifications1 if we would not be overcome4 ,,asa',s ,,prayer ',and ,asa cried unto the ,lord his ,god1 and said1 ,lord1 it is nothing with ,thee to help1 whether with many1 or with them that have no power3 help us1 ,o ,lord our ,god2 for we rest on ,thee1 and in ,thy ,name we go against this multitude4 ,o ,lord1 ,thou art our ,god2 let not man prevail against ,thee4'--#b ,,chron4 xiv4 #aa4 ,this ,king ,asa1 ,rehoboam's grandson1 had had a long reign of peace1 which the writer of the ,book of ,chronicles traces to the fact that he had rooted out idolatry from ,judah1 ',the land had rest1 and he no war 444 because the ,lord had given him rest4' ,but there came a time when the war-cloud began to roll threateningly over the land1 and a great army--the numbers of which1 from their immense magnitude1 seem to be erroneously given--came up against him4 ,like a wise man he made his military dispositions first1 and prayed next4 ,he set his troops in order1 and then he fell down on his knees1 and spoke to ,god4 ,now1 it seems to me that this prayer contains the very essence of what ought to be the ,christian attitude in reference to all the conditions and threatening dangers and conflicts of life2 and so ,i wish to run over it1 and bring out the salient points of it1 as typical of what ought to be our disposition4 ,i4 ,the wholesome consciousness of our own impotence4 ,it did not take much to convince ,asa that he had 'no power4' ,his army1 according to the numbers given of the two hosts1 was outnumbered two to one2 and so it did not require much reflection to say1 ',we have no might4' ,but although perhaps not so sufficiently obvious to us1 as truly as in the case in our text1 if we look fairly in the face our duties1 our tasks1 our dangers1 the possibilities of life and its certainties1 the more humbly we think of our own capacity1 the more wisely we shall think about ,god1 and the more truly we shall estimate ourselves4 ,the world says1 ',self-reliance is the conquering virtue'2 ,jesus says to us1 ',self-distrust is the condition of all victory4' ,and that does not mean any mere shuffling off of responsibility from our own shoulders1 but it means looking the facts of our lives1 and of our own characters1 in the face4 ,and if we will do that1 however apparently easy may be our course1 and however richly endowed in mind1 body1 or estate we may be1 if we all do that honestly1 we shall find that we each are like 'the man with ten thousand' that has to meet 'the ,king that comes against him with twenty thousand'2 and we shall not 'desire conditions of peace' with our enemy1 for that is not what in this case we have to do1 but we shall look about us1 and not keep our eyes on the horizon1 and on the levels of earth1 but look up to see if there is not there an ,ally that we can bring into the field to redress the balance1 and to make our ten as strong as the opposing twenty4 ,zerah the ,ethiopian1 who was coming down on ,asa1 is said to have had a million fighting-men at his back1 but that is probably an erroneous figure1 because ,old ,testament numbers are necessarily often unreliable4 ,asa had only half the number2 so he said1 ',what can ,i do8' ,and what could he do8 ,he did the only thing possible1 he 'grasped at ,god's skirts1 and prayed1' and that made all the difference4 ,now all that is true about the disproportion between the foes we have to face and fight and our own strength4 ,it is eminently true about us ,christian people1 if we are doing any work for our ,master4 ,you hear people say1 ',look at the small number of professing ,christians in this country1 as compared with the numbers on the other side4 ,what is the use of their trying to convert the world8' ,well1 think of the assembled ,christian people1 for instance1 of ,manchester1 on the most charitable supposition1 and the shallowest interpretation of that word ',christian4' ,what are they among so many8 ,a mere handful4 ,if the ,christian ,church had to undertake the task of ,christianising the world by its own strength1 we might well despair of success and stop altogether4 ',we have no might4' ,the disproportion both numerically and in all things that the world estimates as strength 7which are many of them good things71 is so great that we are in a worse case than ,asa was4 ,it is not two to one2 it is twenty to one1 or an even greater disproportion4 ,but we are not only numerically weak4 ,a multitude of non-effectives1 mere camp followers1 loosely attached1 nominal ,christians1 have to be deducted from the muster-roll1 and the few who are left are so feeble as well as few that they have more than enough to do in holding their own1 to say nothing of dreaming of charging the wide-stretching lines of the enemy4 ,so a profound self-distrust is our wisdom4 ,but that should not paralyse us1 but lead to something better1 as it led ,asa4 ,,ii4 ,summoning ,god into the field should follow wholesome self-distrust4 ,asa uses a remarkable expression1 which is1 perhaps1 scarcely reproduced adequately in our ,authorised ,version3 ',it is nothing with ,thee to help1 whether with many or with them that have no power4' ,it is a strange phrase1 but it seems most probable that the suggested rendering in the ,revised ,version is nearer the writer's meaning1 which says1 ',lord6 there is none beside ,thee to help between the mighty and them that have no power1' which to our ears is a somewhat cumbrous way of saying that ,god1 and ,god only1 can adjust the difference between the mighty and the weak2 can redress the balance1 and by the laying of ,his hand upon the feeble hand can make it strong as the mailed fist to which it is opposed4 ,if we know ourselves to be hopelessly outnumbered1 and send to ,god for reinforcements1 ,he will clash ,his sword into the scale1 and make it go down4 ,asa turns to ,god and says1 ',thou only canst trim the scales and make the lighter of the two the heavier one by casting ,thy might into it4 ,so help us1 ,o ,lord our ,god6' ,one man with ,god at his back is always in the majority2 and1 however many there may be on the other side1 'there are more that be with us than they that be with them4' ,there is encouragement for people who have to fight unpopular causes in the world1 who have been accustomed to be in minorities all their days1 in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation4 ,never mind about the numbers2 bring ,god into the field1 and the little band1 which is compared in another place in these historical ,books to 'two flocks of kids' fronting the enemy1 that had flowed all over the land1 is in the majority4 ',god with us'2 then we are strong4 ,the consciousness of weakness may unnerve a man2 and that is why people in the world are always patting each other on the back and saying ',be of good cheer1 and rely upon yourself4' ,but the self-distrust that turns to ,god becomes the parent of a far more reliable self-reliance than that which trusts to men4 ,my consciousness of need is my opening the door for ,god to come in4 ,just as you always find the lakes in the hollows1 so you will always find the grace of ,god coming into men's hearts to strengthen them and make them victorious1 when there has been the preparation of the lowered estimate of one's self4 ,hollow out your heart by self-distrust1 and ,god will fill it with the flashing waters of ,his strength bestowed4 ,the more ,i feel myself weak1 the more ,i am meant not to fold my hands and say1 ',i never can do that thing2 it is of no use my trying to attempt it1 ,i may as well give it up'2 but to say1 ',lord ,i there is none beside ,thee that can set the balance right between the mighty and him that hath no strength4' ',help me1 ,o ,lord my ,god6' ,just as those little hermit-crabs that you see upon the seashore1 with soft bodies unprotected1 make for the first empty shell they can find1 and house in that and make it their fortress1 our exposed natures1 our unarmoured characters1 our sense of weakness1 ought to drive us to ,him4 ,as the unarmed population of a land invaded by the enemy pack their goods and hurry to the nearest fortified place1 so when ,i say to myself ,i have no strength1 let me say1 ',thou art my ,rock1 my ,strength1 my ,fortress1 and my ,deliverer4 ,my ,god1 in whom ,i trust1 my ,buckler1 and the ,horn of my ,salvation1 and my high ,tower4' ,now1 there is one more word about this matter1 and that is1 the way by which we summon ,god into the field4 ,asa prays1 ',help us1 ,o ,lord our ,god6 for we rest on ,thee'2 and the word that he employs for 'rest' is not a very frequent one4 ,it carries with it a very striking picture4 ,let me illustrate it by a reference to another case where it is employed4 ,it is used in that tragical story of the death of ,saul1 when the man that saw the last of him came to ,david and drew in a sentence the pathetic picture of the wearied1 wounded1 broken-hearted1 discrowned1 desperate monarch1 leaning on his spear4 ,you can understand how hard he leaned1 with what a grip he held it1 and how heavily his whole languid1 powerless weight pressed upon it4 ,and that is the word that is used here4 ',we lean on ,thee' as the wounded ,saul leaned upon his spear4 ,is that a picture of your faith1 my friend8 ,do you lean upon ,god like that1 laying your hand upon ,him till every vein on your hand stands out with the force and tension of the grasp8 ,or do you lean lightly1 as a man that does not feel much the need of a support8 ,lean hard if you wish ,god to come quickly4 ',we rest on ,thee2 help us1 ,o ,lord6' ,,iii4 ,courageous advance should follow self-distrust and summoning ,god by faith4 ,it is well when self-distrust leads to confidence1 when1 as ,charles ,wesley has it in his great hymn3 '444 ,i am weak1 ,but confident in self-despair4' ,but that is not enough4 ,it is better when self-distrust and confidence in ,god lead to courage1 and as ,asa goes on1 ',help us1 for we rely on ,thee1 and in ,thy name we go against this multitude4' ,never mind though it is two to one4 ,what does that matter8 ,prudence and calculation are well enough1 but there is a great deal of very rank cowardice and want of faith in ,christian people1 both in regard to their own lives and in regard to ,christian work in the world1 which goes masquerading under much too respectable a name1 and calls itself 'judicious caution' and 'prudence4' ,there is little ever done by that1 especially in the ,christian course2 and the old motto of one of the ,french republicans holds good2 ',dare6 dare6 always dare6' ,you have more on your side than you have against you1 and creeping prudence of calculation is not the temper in which the battle is won4 ',dash' is not always precipitate and presumptuous4 ,if we have ,god with us1 let us be bold in fronting the dangers and difficulties that beset us1 and be sure that ,he will help us4 ,,iv4 ,and now the last point that ,i would notice is this--the all-powerful plea which ,god will answer4 ',thou art my ,god1 let not man prevail against ,thee4' ,that prayer covers two things4 ,you may be quite sure that if ,god is your ,god you will not be beaten2 and you may be quite sure that if you have made ,god's cause yours ,he will make your cause ,his1 and again you will not be beaten4 ',thou art our ,god4' ',it takes two to make a bargain1' and ,god and we have both to act before ,he is truly ours4 ,he gives ,himself to us1 but there is an act of ours required too1 and you must take the ,god that is given to you1 and make ,him yours because you make yourselves ,his4 ,and when ,i have taken ,him for mine1 and not unless ,i have1 ,he is mine1 to all intents of strength-giving and blessedness4 ,when ,i can say1 ',thou art my ,god1 and it is impossible that ,thou wilt deny ,thyself1' then nothing can snap that bond2 and 'neither life nor death1 nor angels1 nor principalities1 nor powers1 nor things present1 nor things to come1 nor height1 nor depth1 nor any other creature' can do it4 ,but there is a creature that can1 and that is ,i4 ,for ,i can separate myself from the love and the guardianship of ,god1 and ,he can say to a man1 ',i am thy ,god1' and the man not answer1 ',thou art my ,god4' ,and then there is another plea here4 ',let not man prevail against ,thee4' ,what business had ,asa to identify his little kingdom and his victory with ,god's cause and ,god's conquest8 ,only this1 that he had flung himself into ,god's arms1 and because he had1 and was trying to do what ,god would have him do1 he was quite sure that it was not ,asa but ,jehovah that the million of ,ethiopians were fighting against4 ,people warn us against the fanaticism of taking for granted that our cause is ,god's cause4 ,well1 we need the warning sometimes1 but we may be quite sure of this1 that if we have made ,god's cause ours1 ,he will make our cause ,his1 down to the minutest point in our daily lives4 ,and then1 if thus we say in the depths of our hearts1 and live accordingly1 ',there is none other that fighteth for us1 but only ,thou1 ,o ,god6' it will be with us as it was with ,asa in the story before us1 'the enemy fled1 and could not recover themselves1 for they were destroyed before the ,lord and before ,his hosts4' ,,the ,,search ,,that ,,always ,,finds ',they 444 sought ,him with their whole desire2 and ,he was found of them3 and the ,lord gave them rest round about4'--#b ,,chron4 xv4 #ae4 ,these words occur in one of the least familiar passages of the ,old ,testament4 ,they describe an incident in the reign of ,asa1 who was the grandson of ,solomon's foolish son ,rehoboam1 and was consequently the third king of ,judah after the secession of the ,north4 ,he had just won a great victory1 and was returning with his triumphant army to ,jerusalem1 when there met him a prophet1 unknown otherwise1 who poured out fiery words1 exhorting ,asa and his people to cleave to ,god and to cast away their idols4 ,asa1 encouraged by the prophetic words of this bold speaker for ,god1 screwed himself up1 and was able to induce also his people1 to effect a great religious reformation4 ,he made a clean sweep of the idols1 and gathered the sadly-dwindled nation together in ,jerusalem1 where they renewed the covenant with the ,lord ,god of their fathers4 ,the text sums up their work and its result4 ',they sought ,him with their whole heart1 and ,he was found of them2 and the ,lord gave them rest round about4' ,the words express in simplest form what should be the chief desire of our hearts and occupation of our lives1 and what will then be our peaceful experience4 ,we shall best bring out these points if we take the words just as they lie1 and consider the seeking1 the finding which certainly crowns that seeking1 and the rest which ensues on finding ,god4 ,i4 ,the seeking4 ,now1 of course1 there is no doubt that what the chronicler meant to describe by the phrase1 'seeking the ,lord1' was largely the mere external acts of ritual worship1 the superficial turning from idols to a purely external recognition of ,god as the ,god of ,israel4 ,but while there may have been nothing deeper than a change in the nominal object of nominal worship1 so far as many were concerned1 no doubt a very real turning of heart to ,god underlay the external change in many other cases1 of which the destruction of idols and the renewed observance of the form of ,jehovah's worship were the consequence and sign4 ,that turning of mind1 will1 and affection towards ,god must be ours if we are to be among those wise and happy seekers who are sure to find that which--or rather ,him whom--they seek and to rest in ,him whom they find4 ,that search is not after a lost treasure1 nor does it imply ignorance of where its object is to be found4 ,we seek that which we know1 and which we may be assured of finding4 ,therefore there need be no tremors of uncertainty in our quest1 and the blessedness of the search is as real as1 though different from1 the blessedness of the possession which ends it4 ,the famous saying which prefers the search after1 to the possession of truth1 is more proud than wise2 but the comparison which it institutes is so far true that there is a joy in the aspiration after and the efforts towards truth only less joyous than that which attends its attainment4 ,but truth divorced from ,god is finite and may pall1 become familiar and lose its radiance1 like a gathered flower2 and hence the preference for the search is intelligible though one-sided4 ,but ,god does not pall1 and the more we find ,him the more we delight in ,him2 the highest bliss is to find ,him1 the next highest is to seek ,him2 and1 since seeking and finding ,him are never wholly separate1 these kindred joys blend their lights in the experience of all ,his children4 ,but our text lays emphasis on the whole-heartedness of the people's seeking of ,god4 ,the search must be earnest and engaged in with the whole energy of our whole being1 if any blessing is to come from it4 ,why6 one reason why the great mass of professing ,christians make so little of their religion is because they are only half-hearted in it4 ,if you divide a river into two streams the force of each is less than half the power of the original current2 and the chances are that you will make a stagnant marsh where there used to be a flowing stream4 ',all in all1 or not at all1' is the rule for life1 in all departments4 ,it is the rule in daily business4 ,a man that puts only half himself in his profession or trade1 while the other half of his wits is gone woolgathering and dreaming1 is predestined from all eternity to fail4 ,the same is true about our religion4 ,if you and ,i attend to it as a kind of by-occupation2 if we give the balance of our time and the superfluity of our energy1 after we have done a hard day's work--say1 an hour upon a ,sunday--to seeking ,god1 and devote all the rest of the week to seeking worldly prosperity1 it is no wonder if our religion languishes1 and is mainly a matter of forms1 as it is with such hosts of people that call themselves ,christians4 ,oh6 dear brethren1 ,i do believe there is more unconscious unreality in the average ,christian man's endeavour to be a better ,christian than there is in almost anything else in the world3-- ',one foot on sea1 and one on shore1 ,to one thing constant never4' ,that is why so many of us know nothing of a progressive strengthening of our faith1 and an increasing conquest of ourselves1 and a firmer grasp of ,god1 and a fuller realisation of the blessedness of walking in ,his ways4 ',they sought ,him with all their heart4' ,that does not mean1 remember1 that there are to be no other desires1 for it is a great mistake to pit religion against other things which are meant to be its instruments and its helps4 ,we are not required to seek nothing else in order to seek ,god wholly4 ,he demands no impossible and fantastic detachment of ourselves from the ordinary and legitimate occupations1 affections1 and duties of human life1 but ,he does ask that the dominant desire after ,him should be powerful enough to express itself through all our actions1 and that we should seek for ,god in them1 and for them in ,god4 ,whilst thus we are to give the right interpretation to that whole-heartedness in our seeking ,god1 on which the text lays stress1 do not let us forget that the one token of it which the text specifies is1 casting out our idols4 ,there must be detachment if there is to be attachment4 ,if some climbing plant1 for instance1 has twisted itself round the unprofitable thorns in the hedge1 the gardener1 before he can get it to go up the support that it is meant to encircle1 has carefully to detach it from the stays to which it has wantonly clung1 taking care that in the process he does not break its tendrils and destroy its power of growth4 ,so1 to train our souls to cleave to ,god1 and to grow up round the great ,stay that is provided for us1 there is needed1 as an essential part of the process1 the voluntary1 conscious1 conscientious1 and constant guarding of ourselves from the vagrancies of our desires1 which send out their shoots away from ,him2 and when the objects of these become idols1 then there is nothing for it but that1 like ,asa and his people1 we should hew them to pieces and make a bonfire of them2 and then renew our covenant before ,god4 ,i desire to press that upon you and upon myself4 ,the heart must be emptied of baser liquors1 if the new wine of the ,kingdom is to be poured into it4 ,true it is1 of course--and thank ,god for it6--that the most powerful agent in effecting that detachment of ourselves from lower things is our fruition of higher4 ,it is when ,god comes into the temple that ,dagon falls on the threshold4 ,it is when a new affection begins to spring in the heart that old loves are thrust out of it4 ,but whilst that is true1 it is also true that the two processes run on simultaneously2 and that whilst1 on the one hand1 if we are ever to overcome our love of the world it must be through the love of ,god1 on the other hand1 if we are ever to be confirmed in a whole-hearted love of ,god1 it must be through our conquest of our love of the world4 ',unite my heart to fear ,thy name' was the profound prayer of the old ,psalmist2 and the 'heart1' according to ,old ,testament usage1 is the central fountain from which flow all the streams of conscious life4 ,to seek ,him with the whole heart is to engage the whole self in the quest1 and that is the only kind of seeking which has the certainty of success4 ,,ii4 ,the finding which crowns such seeking4 ',he was found of them4' ,yes2 anything is possible rather than that a whole-hearted search after ,god should be a vain search4 ,for there are1 in that case1 two seekers--,god is seeking for us more truly than we are seeking for ,him4 ,and if the mother is seeking her child1 and the child its mother1 it will be a very wide desert where they will not meet4 ',the ,father seeketh such to worship ,him1' that is--the divine activity is going about the world1 searching for the heart that turns to ,him1 and it cannot but be that they that seek ,him shall find ,him1 or 'shall be found of ,him4' ,open the windows1 and you cannot keep out the sunshine2 open your lungs and you cannot keep out the air4 ',in ,him we live and move and have our being1' and if our desires turn1 however blindly1 to ,him1 and are accompanied with the appropriate action1 heaven and earth are more likely to rush to ruin than such a searching to be frustrated of its aim4 ,brethren6 is there anything else in the world of which you can say1 ',seek1 and ye shall find'8 ,you1 with white hairs on your heads1 have you found anything else in which the chase was sure to result in the capture2 in which capture was sure to yield all that the hunter had wished8 ,there is only one direction for a man's desires and aims1 in which disappointment is an impossibility4 ,in all other regions the most that can be promised is ',seek1 and perhaps you will find'2 and1 when you have found1 perhaps you will feel that the prize was not worth the finding4 ,or it is1 ',seek1 and possibly you will find2 and after you have found and kept for a little while1 you will lose4' ,though it may be ',better to have loved and lost1 ,than never to have loved at all1' a treasure that slips out of our fingers is not the best treasure that we can search for4 ,but here the assurance is1 ',seek1 and ye shall find2 and shall never lose4 ,find1 and you shall always possess4' ,what would you think of a company of gold-seekers1 hunting about in some exhausted claim1 for hypothetical grains1 ragged1 starving--and all the while in the next gully were lying lumps of gold for the picking up8 ,and that figure fairly represents what people do and suffer who seek for good and do not seek for ,god4 ,,iii4 ,the rest which ensues on finding ,god4 ',the ,lord gave them rest round about4' ,we believe that the ,jewish nation was under special supernatural guidance1 so that national adherence to the ,law was always followed by external prosperity4 ,that is not1 of course1 the case with us4 ,but which is the better thing1 'rest round about' or rest within8 ,we have no immunity from toil or conflict4 ,seeking ,god does not cover our heads from the storm of external calamities1 nor arm our hearts against the darts and daggers of many a pain1 anxiety1 and care1 but disturbance around is a very small matter if there be a better thing1 rest within4 ,do you remember who it was that said1 ',in the world ye shall have tribulation 444 but in ,me ye shall have peace'8 ,then we have1 as it were1 two abodes--one1 as far as regards the life of sense1 in the world of sense--another1 as far as regards the inmost self1 which may1 if we will1 be in ,christ4 ,a vessel with an outer casing and a layer of air between it and the inner will keep its contents hot4 ,so we may have round us the very opposite of repose1 and1 if ,god so wills1 let us not kick against ,his will2 we may have conflict and stir and strife1 and yet a better rest than that of my text may be ours4 ',rest round about' is sometimes good and sometimes bad4 ,it is often bad1 for it is the people that 'have no changes' who most usually 'do not fear ,god4' ,but rest within1 that is sure to come when a man has sought with all his desire for ,god1 whom he has found in all ,his fullness1 is only good and best of all4 ,we all know1 thank ,god6 in worldly matters and in inferior degree1 how blessed and restful it is when some strong affection is gratified1 some cherished desire fulfilled4 ,though these satisfactions are not perpetual1 nor perfect1 they may teach us what a depth of blessed and calm repose1 incapable of being broken by any storms or by any tasks1 will come to and abide with the man whose deepest love is satisfied in ,god1 and whose most ardent desires have found more than they sought for in ,him4 ,be sure of this1 dear friends6 that if we do thus seek1 and thus find1 it is not in the power of anything 'that is at enmity with joy' utterly to 'abolish or destroy' the quietness of our hearts4 ',rest in the ,lord1 and wait patiently for ,him4' ,they who thus repose will have peace in their hearts1 even whilst tasks and temptations1 changes and sorrows1 disturb their outward lives4 ',in the world ye shall have tribulation4' ,be it so2 it may be borne with submission and thankfulness if in ,christ we have peace4 ,thus we may have the peace of ,god1 rest in and from ,him1 entering into us1 and in due time1 by ,his gracious guidance and help1 we shall enter into eternal rest4 ,whilst to seek is to find ,him1 in a very deep and blessed sense1 even in this life2 in another aspect all our earthly life may be regarded as seeking after ,him1 and the future as the true finding of ,him4 ,that future will bring to those whose hearts have turned from the shows and vanities of time to ,god a possession of ,him so much fuller than was experienced here that the lesser discoveries and enjoyments of ,him which are experienced here1 scarcely deserve in comparison to be called by the same name4 ,so my text may be taken1 as in its first part1 a description of the blessed life here--',they sought ,him with all their heart'--and in its second1 as a shadowy vision of the yet more blessed life hereafter1 ',he was found of them1 and the ,lord gave them rest round about1' as well as within1 in the land of peace1 where sorrow and sighing1 and toil and care1 shall pass from memory2 and they that warred against us shall be far away4 ,,jehoshaphat',s ,,reform ',and ,jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead1 and strengthened himself against ,israel4 #b4 ,and he placed forces in all the fenced cities of ,judah1 and set garrisons in the land of ,judah1 and in the cities of ,ephraim1 which ,asa his father had taken4 #c4 ,and the ,lord was with ,jehoshaphat1 because he walked in the first ways of his father ,david1 and sought not unto ,baalim2 #d4 ,but sought to the ,lord ,god of his father1 and walked in ,his commandments1 and not after the doings of ,israel4 #e4 ,therefore the ,lord established the kingdom in his hand2 and all ,judah brought to ,jehoshaphat presents2 and he had riches and honour in abundance4 #f4 ,and his heart was lifted up in the ways of the ,lord3 moreover he took away the high places and groves out of ,judah4 #g4 ,also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes1 even to ,ben-hail1 and to ,obadiah1 and to ,zechariah1 and to ,nethaneel1 and to ,michaiah1 to teach in the cities of ,judah4 #h4 ,and with them he sent ,levites1 even ,shemaiah1 and ,nethaniah1 and ,zebadiah1 and ,asabel1 and ,shemiramoth1 and ,jehonathan1 and ,adonijah1 and ,tobijah1 and ,tobadonijah1 ,levites3 and with them ,elishama and ,jehoram1 priests4 #i4 ,and they taught in ,judah1 and had the book of the law of the ,lord with them1 and went about throughout all the cities of ,judah1 and taught the people4 #aj4 ,and the fear of the ,lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about ,judah1 so that they made no war against ,jehoshaphat4'--#b ,,chron4 xvii4 #a-aj4 ,the first point to be noted in this passage is that ,jehoshaphat followed in the steps of ,asa his father4 ,stress is laid on his adherence to the ancestral faith1 'the first ways of his father ,david1'--before his great fall1--and the paternal example1 'he sought to the ,god of his father4' ,such carrying on of a predecessor's work is rare in the line of kings of ,judah1 where father and son were seldom of the same mind in religion4 ,the principle of hereditary monarchy secures peaceful succession1 but not continuity of policy4 ,many a king of ,judah had to say in his heart what ,ecclesiastes puts into ,solomon's mouth1 ',i hated all my labour1 444 seeing that ,i must leave it unto the man that shall be after me4 ,and who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool8' ,but it is not only in kings' houses that that experience is realised4 ,many a home is saddened to-day because the children do not seek the ,god of their fathers4 ',instead of the fathers' should 'come up thy children'2 but1 alas6 grandmother ,lois and mother ,eunice do not always see the boy who has known the ,scriptures from a child grow up into a ,timothy1 in whom their unfeigned faith lives again4 ,the neglect of religious instruction in professedly ,christian families1 the inconsistent lives of parents or their too rigid restraints1 or1 sometimes1 their too lax discipline1 are to be blamed for many such cases4 ,but there are many instances in which not the parents1 but the children1 are to be blamed4 ,an earnest ,sunday-school teacher may do much to lead the children of godly parents to their father's ,god4 ,blessed is the home where the golden chain of common faith binds hearts together1 and family love is elevated and hallowed by common love of ,god6 ,jehoshaphat's religion was1 further1 resolutely held in the face of prevailing opposition4 ',the ,baalim' were popular2 it was fashionable to worship them4 ,they were numerous1 and all varieties of taste could find a ,baal to please them4 ,but this young king turned from the tempting ways that opened flower-strewn before him1 and chose the narrow road that led upwards4 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god1' might have been his motto4 ,a similar determined setting of our faces ,god-ward1 in spite of the crowd of tempting false deities around us1 must mark us1 if we are to have any religion worth calling by the name4 ,this king recoiled from the example of the neighbouring monarchy1 and walked 'not after the doings of ,israel4' ,his seeking to ,god was very practical1 for it was not shown simply by professed beliefs or by sentiment1 but by ordering his life in obedience to ,god's will4 ,the test of real religion is1 after all1 a life unlike the lives of the men who do not share our faith1 and moulded in accordance with ,god's known will4 ,it is vain to allege that we are seeking the ,lord unless we are walking in ,his commandments4 ,prosperity followed godliness1 in accordance with the divinely appointed connection between them which characterised the ,old ,dispensation4 ',prosperity is the blessing of the ,old ,testament2 adversity is the blessing of the ,new1' says ,bacon4 ,but the epigram is too neat to be entirely true1 for the ,book of ,job and many a psalm show that the eternal problem of suffering innocence was raised by facts even in the old days1 and in our days there are forms of well-being which are the natural fruits of well-doing4 ,still1 the connection was closer in ,judah than with us1 and1 in the case before us1 the establishment of ,jehoshaphat in the kingdom1 his subjects' love1 which showed itself in voluntary gifts over and above the taxes imposed1 and his wealth and honour1 were the direct results of his true religion4 ,a really devout man must be a propagandist4 ,true faith cannot be hid nor be dumb4 ,as certainly as light must radiate must faith strive to communicate itself4 ,so the account of ,jehoshaphat's efforts to spread the worship of ,jehovah follows the account of his personal godliness4 ',his heart was lifted up in the ways of the ,lord4' ,there are two kinds of lifted-up hearts2 one when pride1 self-sufficiency1 and forgetfulness of ,god1 raise a man to a giddy height1 from which ,god's judgments are sure to cast him down and break him in the fall2 one when a lowly heart is raised to high courage and devotion1 and 'set on high1' because it fears ,god's name4 ,such elevation is consistent with humility4 ,it fears no fall2 it is an elevation above earthly desires and terrors1 neither of which can reach it1 so as to hinder the man from walking in 'the ways of the ,lord4' ,this king was lifted to it by his happy experience of the blessed effects of obedience4 ,these encouraged him to vigorous efforts to spread the religion which had thus gladdened and brightened his own life4 ,is that the use we make of the ease which ,god gives us8 ,jehoshaphat had to destroy first1 in order to build up4 ,the 'high places and ,asherim' had to be taken out of ,judah before the true worship could be established there4 ,so it is still4 ,the ,christian has to carry a sword in the one hand1 and a trowel in the other4 ,many a rotten old building1 the stones of which have been cemented in blood1 has to be swept away before the fair temple can be reared4 ,the ,devil is in possession of much of the world1 and the lawful owner has to dispossess the 'squatter4' ,no one can suppose that society is organised on ,christian principles even in so-called ',christian countries'2 and there is much overturning work to be done before ,he whose right it is to reign is really king over the whole earth4 ,we1 too1 have our 'high places and ,asherim' to root out4 ,but that destructive work is not to be done by force4 ,institutions can only be swept away when public opinion has grown to see their evils4 ,forcible reformations of manners1 and1 still more1 of religion1 never last1 but are sure to be followed by violent rebounds to the old order4 ,so1 side by side with the removal of idolatry1 this king took care to diffuse the knowledge of the true worship1 by sending out a body of influential commissioners to teach in ,judah4 ,that was a new departure of great importance4 ,it presents several interesting features4 ,the composition of the staff of instructors is remarkable4 ,the principal men in it are five court officers1 next to whom1 and subordinate1 as is shown not only by the order of enumeration1 but by the phrase 'with them1' were nine ,levites1 and1 last and lowest of all1 two priests4 ,we might have expected that priests should be the most numerous and important members of such a body1 and we are led to suspect that the priesthood was so corrupted as to be careless about religious reformation4 ,a clerical order is not always the most ardent in religious revival4 ,the commissioners were probably chosen1 without regard to their being priests1 ,levites1 or 'laymen1' because of their zeal in the worship of ,jehovah2 and the five 'princes' head the list in order to show the royal authority of the commission4 ,another point is the emphasis with which their function of teaching is thrice mentioned in three verses4 ,apparently the bulk of the nation knew little or nothing of 'the law of the ,lord1' either on its spiritual and moral or its ceremonial side2 and ,jehoshaphat's object was to effect an enlightened1 not a forcible and superficial1 change4 ,god's way of influencing actions is to reveal ,himself to the understanding and the heart1 that these may move the will1 and that may shape the deeds4 ,wise men will imitate ,god's way4 ,jehoshaphat did not issue royal commands1 but sent out teachers4 ,in chapter xix4 we find him despatching 'judges' in similar fashion throughout ,judah4 ,they had the power to punish1 but these teachers had only authority to explain and to exhort4 ,the present writer accepts the chronicler's statement that the teachers had 'the ,book of the ,law' with them1 though he recognises it as possible that that ',book' was not identical with the complete collection of documents which now bears the name4 ,but1 be that as it may1 the incident of our text is remarkable as being the only recorded systematic and complete attempt to diffuse the remedy against idolatry throughout the kingdom1 as putting religious reformation on its only sure ground1 and as hinting at deep and widespread ignorance among the masses4 ',when a man's ways please the ,lord1 ,he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him4' ,so ,judah found4 ',a terror of the ,lord fell upon all the kingdoms' around4 ,no doubt1 the news filtered to them of how ,jehovah was exerting ,his might on the nation1 and a certain indefinable awe of this so potent god1 who was defeating the ,baalim1 made them think that peace was the best policy4 ,each nation was supposed to have its own god1 and the national god was supposed to fight for his worshippers2 so that war was a struggle of deities as well as of men1 and the stronger god won4 ,here was a god who had reconquered his territory1 and had cast out usurpers4 ,prudence dictated keeping on good terms with him4 ,but it never occurred to any of these peoples that their own gods were any less real than ,judah's1 or that ,judah's ,god could ever become theirs4 ,,amasiah ',amasiah1 the son of ,zichri1 who willingly offered himself unto the ,lord4'--#a ,,chron4 xvii1 #af4 ,this is a scrap from the catalogue of ,jehoshaphat's 'mighty men of valour'2 and is ,amasiah's sole record4 ,we see him for a moment and hear his eulogium and then oblivion swallows him up4 ,we do not know what it was that he did to earn it4 ,but what a fate1 to live to all generations by that one sentence6 ,i4 ,cheerful self-surrender the secret of all religion4 ,the words of our text contain a metaphor naturally drawn from the sacrificial system4 ,it comes so easily to us that we scarcely recognise the metaphorical element1 but the clear recognition of it gives great additional energy to the words4 ,amasiah was both sacrificer and sacrifice4 ,his offering was self-immolation4 ,as in all love1 so in that noblest kind of it which clasps ,god1 its perfect expression is1 ',i give ,thee my living1 loving self4' ,nor is it only sacrifice and sacrificer that are seen in deepest truth in the experience of the ,christian life1 but the reality of the ,temple is also there1 for ',ye also 444 are built up a spiritual house1 to be a holy priesthood1 to offer up spiritual sacrifices4' ,only when ,god dwells in us1 shall we have the nerve and the firmness of hand to take the knife and 'slay before the ,lord1' the awful ,guest in the sanctuary within1 the most precious of the children of our spirits4 ,the essence of the sacrifice of self is the sacrifice of will4 ,in the ,christian experience 'willingly offered' is almost tautology1 for unwilling offerings are a contradiction and in fact there are no such things4 ,the quality of unwillingness destroys the character of the offering and robs it of all sacredness4 ,reluctant ,christianity is not ,christianity4 ,that noun and that adjective can never be buckled together4 ,the submission of will and the consequent surrender of myself and my powers1 opportunities1 and possessions1 so that ,i do all1 enjoy all1 use all1 and when need is1 endure all with glad thankful reference to ,god is only possible to me in the measure in which my will is made flexible by love1 and such will-subduing love comes only when we 'know and believe the love that ,god hath to us4' ,there is the point at which not a few moral and religious teachers go wrong and bewilder themselves and their disciples4 ,there1 too1 is the point at which ,christ and the ,gospel of salvation through faith in ,him stand forth as emancipating humanity from the dreary round of efforts and vain attempts to work up the condition needful for achieving the height of self-surrender1 which is seen to be indispensable to all true nobleness of living1 but is felt to be beyond the reach of the ordinary man4 ,there1 too1 is the point at which many good people mar their lives as ,christians4 ,they waste their strength in trying to bring the jibbing horse up to the leap4 ,they try to blow up a fire of devotion and to make themselves priests to offer themselves1 but all the while the mutinous self recoils from the leap1 and the fire burns smokily1 and their sacrifice is laid on the altar with little joy1 because they have not been careful and wise enough to begin at the beginning and to follow ,god's way of melting their wills1 by love1 the reflection of the ,infinite love of ,god to them4 ,god's priests offer themselves because they offer their wills2 they offer their wills because they love ,god2 they love ,god because they know that ,god loves them4 ,that is the divine order4 ,it is vain to try to accomplish the end by any other4 ,,ii4 ,this willing offering hallows all life4 ,no syllable is left to tell us what ,amasiah did to win this praise4 ,probably the words enshrine some now forgotten memory of his cheerful courage1 some heroic feat on an unrecorded battlefield4 ,particulars are not given nor needed4 ,specific actions are unimportant2 the spirit of a life can be told with very incomplete details1 and it1 not the details1 is the important thing4 ,sometimes1 as in many modern biographies1 one 'cannot see the wood for the trees1' and misses the main drift and aim of a life in the chaos of a bewildering mass of nothings4 ,how much more happy the lot of this man of whom we have only the generalised expression of the text1 unweighted and undisturbed by petty incidents6 ,it takes tons of rose leaves to make a tiny phial of otto of roses1 but the fragrance is far more pungent in a drop of the distillation than in armfuls of leaves4 ,every life shrinks into very small compass1 and the centuries do not tolerate long biographies4 ,shall we not seek to order our life so that ,amasiah's epitaph may serve for us8 ,it will be blessed if this--and nothing else--is known about us1 that we 'willingly offered ourselves to the ,lord4' ,my friend3 will that be a true epitome of your life8 ,,iii4 ,this willing offering is accepted by ,god4 ,we may hear a mightier voice behind the chronicler's1 and the judgment of the ,judge of all pronounced by ,his lips4 ,it matters little what men say of one another1 but it matters everything what ,god says of us4 ,we are but too apt to forget that ,he is now saying something as to each of us1 and that we have not to wait for death to put a final period to our activities1 before our lives become fit subjects for ,god's judgment1 ,moment by moment we are writing our own sentences4 ,but while it is good for us to remember the continuous judgment of ,god on each deed1 it is not good to let dark thoughts of the principles of that judgment paralyse our activity or chill our confidence in ,his forgiving and accepting mercy4 ,there is often a dark suspicion1 like that of the one-talented servant1 which blackens ,god's fair fame as being 'an austere ,man1' making demands rather than imparting power1 and the effect of such an ugly conception of ,him is to cut the nerve of service and bury the talent1 carefully folded up1 it may be1 but none the less earning nothing4 ',if we call on ,him as ,father1 who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work1' let us be sure that it will be a ,fatherly judgment that ,he will pass upon us and our offerings4 ,there is a wonderful collection on ,his altar of what many people would think rubbish1 just as many a mother has laid away among her treasures some worthless article which her child had once given her--a weed plucked by the roadside in a long past summer day1 some trifle of rare preciousness in the child's eyes1 and of none in any others than her own4 ,she opens her drawer and brings out the poor little thing1 and her eyes fill and her heart fills as she looks4 ,and does not ,god keep ,his children's gifts as lovingly1 and set them in places of honour in the day when ,he 'makes up ,his jewels'8 ,there are cups of cold water and widows' mites and much else that a supercilious world would call 'trash' stored there4 ,thank ,god6 ,he accepts imperfect service1 faltering faith1 partial consecration1 a little love4 ,even our poor offering may be an 'odour of a sweet smell1' ministering fragrance that is a delight to ,him1 if it is offered with the much incense of the great ,sacrifice and through the mediation of the great ,high ,priest4 ,the world forgot ,amasiah1 or never knew him1 an obscure soldier in an obscure kingdom1 but ,god did not forget1 and here is his epitaph1 and this is his memorial to all generations4 ,men's chronicles have no room for all the names that their wearers are eager to have inscribed on their crumbling and crowded pages1 'but the ,lamb's ,book of ,life' has ample space on its radiant pages for all who desire to set their names there1 and if ours are there1 we need not envy the proudest whose titles and deeds fill the most conspicuous pages in the world's records4 ',then shall every man have praise of ,christ1' and he who wins that guerdon needs nothing more1 and can have nothing more to swell his blessedness4 ',a ,,mirror ,,for ,,magistrates' ',and ,jehoshaphat the king of ,judah returned to his house in peace to ,jerusalem4 #b4 ,and ,jehu the son of ,hanani the seer went out to meet him1 and said to king ,jehoshaphat1 ,shouldest thou help the ungodly1 and love them that hate the ,lord8 therefore is wrath upon thee from before the ,lord4 #c4 ,nevertheless there are good things found in thee1 in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land1 and hast prepared thine heart to seek ,god4 #d4 ,and ,jehoshaphat dwelt at ,jerusalem3 and he went out again through the people from ,beer-sheba to mount ,ephraim1 and brought them back unto the ,lord ,god of their fathers4 #e4 ,and he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of ,judah1 city by city4 #f4 ,and said to the judges1 ,take heed what ye do3 for ye judge not for man1 but for the ,lord1 who is with you in the judgment4 #g4 ,wherefore now let the fear of the ,lord be upon you2 take heed and do it3 for there is no iniquity with the ,lord our ,god1 nor respect of persons1 nor taking of gifts4 #h4 ,moreover in ,jerusalem did ,jehoshaphat set of the ,levites1 and of the priests1 and of the chief of the fathers of ,israel1 for the judgment of the ,lord1 and for controversies1 when they returned to ,jerusalem4 #i4 ,and he charged them1 saying1 ,thus shall ye do in the fear of the ,lord1 faithfully1 and with a perfect heart4 #aj4 ,and what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities1 between blood and blood1 between law and commandment1 statutes and judgments1 ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the ,lord1 and so wrath come upon you1 and upon your brethren3 this do1 and ye shall not trespass4 #aa4 ,and1 behold1 ,amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the ,lord2 and ,zebadiah the son of ,ishmael1 the ruler of the house of ,judah1 for all the king's matters3 also the ,levites shall be officers before you4 ,deal courageously1 and the ,lord shall be with the good4'--#b ,,chron4 ,,xix4 #a-aa4 ,jehoshaphat is distinguished by two measures for his people's good3 one1 his sending out travelling preachers through the land 7#b ,chron4 xvii4 #g-i72 another1 this provision of local judges and a central court in ,jerusalem4 ,the former was begun as early as the third year of his reign1 but was probably interrupted1 like other good things1 by his ill-omened alliance with ,ahab4 ,the prophet ,jehu's plain speaking seems to have brought the king back to his better self1 and its fruit was his going 'among the people1' from south to north1 as a missionary1 'to bring them back to ,jehovah4' ,the religious reformation was accompanied by his setting judges throughout the land4 ,our modern way of distinguishing between religious and civil concerns is foreign to ,eastern thought1 and was especially out of the question in a theocracy4 ,jehovah was the ,king of ,judah2 therefore the things that are ,caesar's and the things that are ,god's coalesced1 and these two objects of ,jehoshaphat's journeyings were pursued simultaneously4 ,we have travelled far from his simple institutions1 and our course has not been all progress4 ,his supreme concern was to deal out even-handed justice between man and man2 is not ours rather to give ample doses of law8 ,to him the judicial function was a copy of ,god's1 and its exercise a true act of worship1 done in ,his fear1 and modelled after ,his pattern4 ,the first impression made in one of our courts is scarcely that judge and counsel are engaged in worship4 ,there had been local judges before ,jehoshaphat--elders in the villages1 the 'heads of the fathers' houses' in the tribes4 ,we do not know whether the great secession had flung the simple old machinery somewhat out of gear1 or whether ,jehoshaphat's action was simply to systematise and make universal the existing arrangements4 ,but what concerns us most is to note that all the charge which he gives to these peasant magistrates bears on the religious aspect of their duties4 ,they are to think themselves as acting for ,jehovah and with ,jehovah4 ,if they recognise the former1 they may be confident of the latter4 ,they are to 'let the fear of ,jehovah be upon you1' for that awe resting on a spirit will1 like a burden or water-jar on a woman's shoulder1 make the carriage upright and the steps firm4 ,they are not only to act for and with ,jehovah1 but to do like ,him1 avoiding injustice1 favouritism1 and corruption1 the plague-spots of ,eastern law-courts4 ,in such a state of society1 the cases to be adjudicated were mostly such as mother-wit1 honesty and the fear of ,god could solve2 other times call for other qualifications4 ,but still1 let us learn from this charge that even in our necessarily complicated legal systems and political life1 there is room and sore need for the application of the same principles4 ,what a different world it would be if our judges and representatives carried some tincture of ,jehoshaphat's simple and devout wisdom into their duties6 ,civic and political life ought to be as holy as that of cloister and cell4 ,to judge righteously1 to vote honestly1 is as much worship as to pray4 ,a politician may be 'a priest of the ,most ,high ,god4' ,and for us all the spirit of ,jehoshaphat's charge is binding1 and every trivial and secular task is to be discharged for ,god1 with ,god1 in the fear of ,god4 ',on the bells of the horses shall be ,holiness unto ,jehovah4' ,if our religion does not drive the wheels of daily life1 so much the worse for our life and our religion4 ,but1 above all1 this charge reminds us that the secret of right living is to imitate ,god4 ,these peasants were to find direction1 as well as inspiration1 in gazing on ,jehovah's character1 and trying to copy it4 ,and we are to be 'imitators of ,god1 as beloved children1' though our best efforts may only produce poor results4 ,a masterpiece may be copied in some wretched little newspaper blotch1 but the great artist will own it for a copy1 and correct it into complete likeness4 ,the second step was to establish a 'supreme court' in ,jerusalem1 which had two divisions1 ecclesiastical and civil1 as we should say1 the former presided over by the chief priest1 and the latter by 'the ruler of the house of ,judah4' ,murder cases and the graver questions involving interpretation of the law were sent up thither1 while the village judges had probably to decide only points that shrewdness and integrity could settle4 ,but these superior judges1 too1 received charges as to moral1 rather than intellectual or learned qualifications4 ,religiously1 uprightly1 'with a perfect heart1' courageously1 they were to act1 'and ,jehovah be with the good6' ,that may be a prayer1 like the old invocation with which heralds sent knights to tilt at each other1 and with which1 in some legal proceedings1 the pleas are begun1 ',god defend the right6' ,but more probably it is an assurance that ,god will guide the judges to favour the good cause1 if they on their parts will bring the aforesaid qualities to their decisions4 ,and are not these qualities just such as will1 for the most part1 give similar results to us1 if in our various activities we exercise them8 ,and may we not see a sequence worth our practically putting to the proof in these characteristics enjoined on ,jehoshaphat's supreme court8 ,begin with 'the fear of the ,lord'2 that will help us to 'faithfulness and a perfect heart'2 and these again by taking away occasions of ignoble fear1 and knitting together the else tremulous and distracted nature1 will make the fearful brave and the weak strong4 ,but another thought is suggested by ,jehoshaphat's language4 ,note how this court does not seem to have inflicted punishments1 but to have had only counsels and warnings to wield4 ,it was a board of conciliation rather than a penal tribunal4 ,two things it had to do--to press upon the parties the weighty consideration that crimes against men were sins against ,god1 and that the criminal drew down wrath on the community4 ,this remarkable provision brings out strongly thoughts that modern society will be the better for incorporating4 ,the best way to deal with men is to get at their hearts and consciences4 ,the deeper aspect of civil crimes or wrongs to men should be pressed on the doer2 namely1 that they are sins against ,god4 ,again1 all such acts are sins against the mystical sacred bond of brotherhood4 ,again1 the solidarity of a nation makes it inevitable that 'one sinner destroyeth much good1' and pulls down with him1 when ,god smites him1 a multitude of innocents4 ,so finely woven is the web of the national life that1 if a thread run in any part of it1 a great rent gapes4 ,if one member sins1 all the members suffer with it4 ,and lastly1 the cruellest thing that we can do is to be dumb when we see sin being committed4 ,it is not public men1 judges and the like1 alone1 who are called on thus to warn evil-doers1 but all of us in our degree4 ,if we do not1 we are guilty along with a guilty nation2 and it is only when1 to the utmost of our power1 we have warned our brethren as to national sins1 that we can wash our hands in innocency1 ',this do1 and ye shall not be guilty4' ,a ,,strange ,,battle ',we have no might against this great company that cometh against us2 neither know we what to do3 but our eyes are upon ,thee4'--#b ,,chron xx4 #ab4 ,a formidable combination of neighbouring nations1 of which ,moab and ,ammon1 the ancestral enemies of ,judah1 were the chief1 was threatening ,judah4 ,jehoshaphat1 the king1 was panic-stricken when he heard of the heavy war-cloud that was rolling on1 ready to burst in thunder on his little kingdom4 ,his first act was to muster the nation1 not as a military levy but as suppliants1 'to seek help of the ,lord4' ,the enemy was camping down by the banks of the ,dead ,sea1 almost within striking distance of ,jerusalem4 ,it seemed a time for fighting1 not for praying1 but even at that critical moment1 the king and the men1 whom it might have appeared that plain duty called to arms1 were gathered in the ,temple1 and1 hampered by their wives and children1 were praying4 ,would they not have done better if they had been sturdily marching through the wilderness of ,judah to front their foes8 ,our text is the close and the climax of ,jehoshaphat's prayer1 and1 as the event proved1 it was the most powerful weapon that could have been employed1 for the rest of the chapter tells the strangest story of a campaign that was ever written4 ,no sword was drawn4 ,the army was marshalled1 but ,levites with their instruments of music1 not fighters with their spears1 led the van1 and as 'they began to sing and to praise1' sudden panic laid hold on the invading force1 who turned their arms against each other4 ,so when ,judah came to some rising ground1 on which stood a watch-tower commanding a view over the savage grimness of 'the wilderness1' it saw a field of corpses1 stark and stiff and silent4 ,three days were spent in securing the booty1 and on the fourth1 ,jehoshaphat and his men 'assembled themselves in the ,valley of ,blessing1' and thence returned a joyous multitude praising ,god for the victory which had been won for them without their having struck a blow4 ,the whole story may yield large lessons1 seasonable at all times4 ,we deal with it1 rather than with the fragment of the narrative which we have taken as our text4 ,i4 ,we see here the confidence of despair4 ,jehoshaphat's prayer had stayed itself on ,god's self-revelation in history1 and on ,his gift of the land to their fathers4 ,it had pleaded that the enemy's hostility was a poor 'reward' for ,israel's ancient forbearance1 and now1 with a burst of agony1 it casts down before ,god1 as it were1 ,judah's desperate plight as outnumbered by the swarm of invaders and brought to their last shifts--'we have no might against this great company 444 neither know we what to do4' ,but the very depth of despair sets them to climb to the height of trust4 ,that is a mighty ',but1' which buckles into one sentence two such antitheses as confront us here4 ',we know not what to do1 but our eyes are upon ,thee'--blessed is the desperation which catches at ,god's hand2 firm is the trust which leaps from despair6 ,the helplessness is always a fact1 though most of us manage to get along for the most part without discovering it4 ,we are all outnumbered and overborne by the claims1 duties1 hindrances1 sorrows1 and entanglements of life4 ,he is not the wisest of men who1 facing all that life may bring and take away1 all that it must bring and take away1 knows no quiver of nameless fear1 but jauntily professes himself ready for all that life can inflict4 ,but there come moments in every life when the false security in which shallow souls wrap themselves ignobly is broken up1 and then often a paroxysm of terror or misery grips a man1 for which he has no anodyne1 and his despair is as unreasonable as his security4 ,the meaning of all circumstances that force our helplessness on us is to open to us ,jehoshaphat's refuge in his--'our eyes are upon ,thee4' ,we need to be driven by the crowds of foes and dangers around to look upwards4 ,our props are struck away that we may cling to ,god4 ,the tree has its lateral branches hewed off that it may shoot up heavenward4 ,when the valley is filled with mist and swathed in evening gloom1 it is the time to lift our gaze to the peaks that glow in perpetual sunshine4 ,wise and happy shall we be if the sense of helplessness begets in us the energy of a desperate faith4 ,for these two1 distrust of self and glad confidence in ,god1 are not opposites1 as naked distrust and trust are1 but are complementary4 ,he does not turn his eyes to ,god who has not turned them on himself1 and seen there nothing to which to cling1 nothing on which to lean4 ,astronomers tell us that there are double stars revolving round one axis and forming a unity1 of which the one is black and the other brilliant4 ,self-distrust and trust in ,god are thus knit together and are really one4 ,,ii4 ,we see here the peaceful assurance of victory that attends on faith4 ,a flash of inspiration came to one of the ,levitical singers who had1 no doubt1 been deeply moved and had unconsciously fitted himself for receiving it4 ,divinely breathed confidence illuminated his waiting spirit1 and a great message of encouragement poured from his lips4 ,his words heartened the host more than a hundred trumpets braying in their ears4 ,how much one man who has drunk in ,god's assurance of victory can do to send a thrill of his own courage through more timorous hearts6 ,courage is no less contagious than panic4 ,this ,levite becomes the commander of the army1 and ,jehoshaphat and his captains 'bow their heads' and accept his plan for to-morrow1 hearing in his ringing accents a message from ,jehovah4 ,the instructions given and at once accepted are as unlike those of ordinary warfare as is the whole incident2 for there is to be no sword drawn nor blow struck1 but they are to 'stand still and see the salvation of the ,lord4' ,they are told where to find the enemy and are bid to go forth in order of battle against them1 and they are assured 'that the battle is not theirs1 but ,god's4' ,no wonder that the message was hailed as from heaven1 and put new heart into the host1 or that1 when the messenger's voice ceased1 his brother ,levites broke into shrill praise as for a victory already won4 ,with what calm1 triumphant hearts the camp would sleep that night6 ,may we not take that inspired ,levite's message as one to ourselves in the midst of our many conflicts both in the outward life and in the inward8 ,if we have truly grasped ,god's hands1 and are fighting for what is accordant with ,his will1 we have a right to feel that 'the battle is not ours but ,god's1' and to be sure that therefore we shall conquer4 ,of course we are not to say to ourselves1 ',god will fight for us1 and we need not strike a blow1' ,jehoshaphat's example does not fit our case in that respect1 and we may thank ,god that it does not4 ,we have a better lot than to 'stand still and see the salvation of ,god1' for we are honoured by being allowed to share the stress of conflict and the glow of battle as well as in the shout of victory4 ,but even in the struggles of outward life1 and much more in those of our spiritual nature1 every man who watches his own career will many a time have to recognise ,god's hand1 unaided by any act of his own1 striking for him and giving him victory2 and in the spiritual life every ,christian man knows that his best moments have come from the initiation of the ,spirit who 'bloweth where ,he listeth4' ,how often we have been surprised by ,god's help2 how often we have been quickened by ,god's inbreathed ,spirit1 and have been taught that the passivity of faith draws to us greater blessings than the activity of effort6 ',they also serve who only stand and wait1' and they also conquer who in quietness and confidence keep themselves still and let ,god work for them and in them4 ,the first great blessing of trust in ,god is that we may be at peace on the eve of battle1 and the second is that in every battle it is1 in truth1 not we that fight1 but ,god who fights for and in us4 ,,iii4 ,we learn here the best preparation for the conflict4 ,when the morning dawned1 the array was set in order and the march begun1 and a strange array it was4 ,in the van marched the ,temple singers singing words that are music to us still3 ',give thanks unto the ,lord1 for ,his mercy endureth for ever1' and behind them came the ranks of ,judah1 no doubt swelling the volume of melody1 that startled the wild creatures of the wilderness1 and perhaps travelled through the still morning as far as the camp of the enemy4 ,the singers had no armour nor weapons4 ,they were clad in 'the beauty of holiness1' the priestly dress1 and for sword and spear they carried harps and timbrels4 ,our best weapons are like their equipment4 ,we are most likely to conquer if we lift up the voice of thanks for victory in advance1 and go into the battle expecting to triumph1 because we trust in ,god4 ,the world's expectation of success is too often a dream1 a will-o'-the-wisp that tempts to bogs where the beguiled victim is choked1 though even in the world it is often true2 'screw your courage to the sticking point1 and we'll not fail4' ,but faith1 that is the expectation of success based on ,god's help and inspiring to struggles for things dear to ,his heart1 is wont to fulfil itself1 and by bringing ,god into the fray1 to secure the victory4 ,a thankful heart not seldom brings into existence that for which it is thankful4 ,,iv4 ,we see here the victory and the praise for it4 ,the panic that laid hold on the enemy1 and turned their swords against each other1 was more natural in an undisciplined horde such as these irregular levies of ancient times1 than it would be in a modern army4 ,once started1 the infection would spread1 so we need not wonder that by the time that ,judah arrived on the field all was over4 ,how often a like experience attends us6 ,we quiver with apprehension of troubles that never attack us4 ,we dread some impending battlefield1 and when we reach it1 ,jehoshaphat's surprise is repeated1 'and1 behold they were dead bodies1 fallen to the earth4' ,delivered from foes and fears1 ,judah's first impulse was to secure the booty1 for they were keen after wealth1 and their 'faith' was not very pure or elevating4 ,but their last act was worthier1 and fitly ended the strange campaign4 ,they gathered in some wady among the grim cliffs of the wilderness of ,judah1 which broke the dreariness of that savage stretch of country with perhaps verdure and a brook1 and there they 'blessed the ,lord4' ,the chronicler gives a piece of popular etymology1 in deriving the name1 'the valley of blessing1' from that morning's worship4 ,perhaps the name was older than that1 and was given from a feeling of the contrast between the waste wilderness1 which in its gaunt sterility seemed an accursed land1 and the glen which with its trees and stream was indeed a 'valley of blessing4' ,if so1 the name would be doubly appropriate after that day's experience4 ,be that as it may1 here we have in vivid form the truth that all our struggles and fightings may end in a valley of blessing1 which will ring with the praise of the ,god who fights for us4 ,if we begin our warfare with an appeal to ,god1 and with prayerful acknowledgment of our own impotence1 we shall end it with thankful acknowledgment that we are 'more than conquerors through ,him that loved us' and fought for us1 and our choral song of praise will echo through the true ,valley of ,blessing1 where no sound of enemies shall ever break the settled stillness1 and the host of the redeemed1 like that army of ,judah1 shall bear 'psalteries and harps and trumpets1' and shall need spear and sword no more at all for ever4 ,,holding ,,fast ,,and ,,held ,,fast ',as they went forth ,jehoshaphat stood and said1 ,believe in the ,lord your ,god1 so shall ye be established4'--#b ,,chron4 xx4 #bj4 ,certainly no stronger army ever went forth to victory than these ,jews1 who poured out of ,jerusalem that morning with no weapon in all their ranks1 and having for their van1 not their picked men1 but singers who 'praised the beauty of holiness1' and chanted the old hymn1 ',give thanks unto the ,lord1 for ,his mercy endureth for ever4' ,that was all that men had to do in the battle1 for as the shrill song rose in the morning air 'the ,lord set liers in wait for the foe1' and they turned their swords against one another1 so that when ,jehoshaphat and his troops came in sight of the enemy the battle was over and the field strewn with corpses--so great and swift is the power of devout recognition of ,god's goodness and trust in ,his enduring mercy1 even in the hour of extremest peril4 ,the exhortation in our text which is ,jehoshaphat's final word to his army1 has1 in the original1 a beauty and emphasis that are incapable of being preserved in translation4 ,there is a play of words which cannot be reproduced in another language1 though the sentiment of it may be explained4 ,the two expressions for 'believing' and 'being established' are two varying forms of the same root-word2 and although we can only imitate the original clumsily in our language1 we might translate in some such way as this3 ',hold fast by the ,lord your ,god1 and you will be held fast1' or 'stay yourselves on ,him and you will be stable4' ,these attempts at reproducing the similarity of sound between the two verbs in the two clauses of our text1 rude as they are1 preserve what is lost1 so far as regards form1 in the ,english translation1 though that is correct as to the meaning of the command and promise4 ,if we note this connection of the two clauses we just come to the general principle which lies here1 that the true source of steadfastness in character and conduct1 of victory over temptation1 and of standing fast in slippery places1 is simple reliance1 or1 to use the ,new ,testament word1 'faith1' ',believe and ye shall be established4' ,put out your hand and clasp ,him1 and ,he puts out ,his hand and steadies you4 ,but all the steadfastness and strength come from the mighty ,hand that is outstretched1 not from the tremulous one that grasps it4 ,so1 then1 keeping to the words of my text1 let me suggest to you the large lessons that this saying teaches us1 in regard to three things1 which ,i may put as being the object1 the nature1 and the issues of faith2 or1 in other words1 to whom we are to cling1 how we are to cling1 and what the consequence of the clinging is4 ,i4 ,to whom we must cling4 ',stay yourselves on the ,lord your ,god1' ,well1 then1 faith is not believing a number of theological articles1 nor is it even accepting the truth of the ,gospel as it lies in ,jesus ,christ1 but it is accepting the ,christ whom the truth of the ,gospel reveals to us4 ,and1 although we have to come to ,him through the word that declares what ,he is1 and what ,he has done for us1 the act of believing on ,him is something that lies beyond the mere understanding of1 or giving credence to1 the message that tells us who ,he is and what ,he has done4 ,a man may have not the ghost of a doubt or hesitation about one tittle of revealed truth1 and if you were to cross-question him1 could answer satisfactorily all the questions of an orthodox inquisitor1 and yet there may not be one faintest flicker of faith in that man's whole being1 for all the correctness of his creed1 and the comprehensiveness of it1 too4 ,trust is more than assent4 ,if it is a ,person on whom our faith leans1 then from that there follows clearly enough that the bond which binds us to ,him must be something far warmer1 far deeper1 and far more under the control of our own will than the mere consent or assent of our brains to a set of revealed truths4 ',the ,lord your ,god1' and not even the ,bible that tells you about ,him2 'the ,lord your ,god1' and not even the revealed truths that manifest ,him1 but ,him as revealed by the truths--it is ,he that is the ,object to which our faith clings4 ,jehoshaphat1 in the same breath in which he exhorted his people to 'believe in the ,lord1 that they might be established1' also said1 ',believe ,his prophets1 so shall ye prosper4' ,the immediate reference1 of course1 was to the man who the day before had assured them of victory4 ,but the wider truth suggested is1 that the only way to get to ,god is through the word that speaks of ,him1 and which has come from the lips either of prophets or of the ,son who has spoken more1 and more sweetly and clearly1 than all the prophets put together4 ,if we are to believe ,god1 we must believe the prophets that tell us of ,him4 ,and then there is another suggestion that may be made4 ,the ,object of faith proposed to ,judah is not only 'the ,lord1' but 'the ,lord your ,god4' ,i do not say that there can be no faith without the 'appropriating' action which takes the whole ,godhead for mine1 but ,i doubt very much whether there is any4 ,and it seems to me that to a very large extent the difference between mere nominal1 formal ,christians and men who really are living by the power of faith in ,god as revealed in ,jesus ,christ1 lies in that one little word1 'the ,lord your ,god4' ,that a man shall put out a grasping hand1 and say1 ',i take for my own--for my very own--the universal blessing1 ,i claim as my possession that ,god of the spirits of all flesh1 ,i believe that ,he does stand in a real individualising relation to me1 and ,i to ,him1' is surely of the very essence of faith4 ,there is no presumption1 but the truest wisdom and lowliness in enclosing1 if ,i may so say1 a part of this great common for ours1 and putting a hedge about it1 as it were1 and saying1 ',that is mine4' ,we shall not have understood the sweetness and the power of the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ until we have pointed and condensed the general declaration1 ',he so loved the world1' into the individualising and appropriating one1 ',he loved me1 and gave ,himself for me4' ,oh6 if we could only apply that process thoroughly to all the broad glorious words and promises of ,scripture1 and feel that the whole incidence of them was meant to fall upon us1 one by one1 and that just as the sun1 up in the heavens there1 sends all his beams into the tiniest daisy on the grass1 as if there was nothing else in the whole world1 but only its little petals to be smoothed out and opened1 ,i think our ,christianity would be more real1 and we should have more blessings in our hands4 ,god in ,christ and ,i1 the only two beings in the universe1 and all ,his fullness mine1 and all my weakness supported and supplemented by ,him--that is the view that we should sometimes take4 ,we should set ourselves apart from all mankind1 and claim ,him as our very own1 and so be filled with the fullness of ,god4 ,this1 then1 is the ,object of faith1 a ,person who is all mine and all yours too4 ,the beam of light that falls on my eye falls on yours1 and no man makes a sunbeam the smaller because he sees by it2 and in like manner we may each possess the whole of ,god for our very own property4 ,,ii4 ,how we cling4 ,the metaphor1 ,i suppose1 is more eloquent than all explanations of it4 ',believe in the ,lord'2 hold fast by ,him with a tight grip1 continually renewed when it tends to slacken1 as it surely will1 and then you will be established4 ,we might run out into any number of figurative illustrations4 ,look at that little child beginning to learn to walk1 how it fastens its little dimpled hands into its mother's apron1 and so the tiny tottering feet get a kind of steadfastness into them4 ,look at that man lying at the door of the ,temple1 who never had walked since his mother's womb1 and had lain there for forty years1 with his poor weak ankles all atrophied by reason of their disuse4 ',he held ,peter and ,john4' ,would not his grasp be tight8 ,would he not clasp their hands as his only stay8 ,he had not become accustomed to the astounding miracle of walking1 nor learned to balance himself and accomplish the still more astounding feat of standing steady4 ,so he clutched at the two ,apostles and was 'established4' ,look at that man walking by a slippery path which he does not know1 holding by the hand the guide who is able to direct and keep him up4 ,see this other in some wild storm1 with an arm round a steadfast tree-stem1 to keep him from being blown over the precipice1 how he clings like a limpet to a rock4 ,and that is how we are to hold on to ,god1 with what would be despair if it were not the perfection of confidence1 with the clear sense that the only thing between us and ruin is the strong ,hand that we clasp4 ,and what do we mean by clasping ,god8 ,i mean making daily efforts to rivet our love on ,him1 and not to let the world1 with all its delusive and cloying sweets1 draw us away from ,him4 ,i mean continual and strenuous efforts to fix our thoughts upon ,him1 and not to allow the trivialities of life1 or the claims of culture1 or the necessities of our daily position so to absorb our minds as that thoughts of ,god are comparative strangers there1 except1 perhaps1 sometimes on a ,sunday1 and now and then at the sleepy end1 or the half-awake beginning1 of a day4 ,i mean continually repeated and strenuous efforts to cleave to ,him by the submission of our will1 letting ,him 'do what seemeth ,him good1' and not lifting ourselves up against ,him1 or perking our own inclinations1 desires1 and fancies in ,his face1 as if we would induce ,him to take them for ,his guides6 ,and ,i mean that we should try to commit our way unto the ,lord1 'to rest in the ,lord1 and wait patiently for ,him4' ,the submissive will which cleaves to ,god's commandments1 the waiting heart that clings to ,his love1 the regulated thoughts that embrace ,his truth1 and the childlike confidence that commits its path to ,him--these are the elements of that steadfast adherence to the ,lord which shall not be in vain4 ,,iii4 ,the blessed effects of this clinging to ,god4 ',so shall ye be established4' ,that follows1 as a matter of course4 ,the only way to make light things stable is to fasten them to something that is stable4 ,and the only way to put any kind of calmness and fixedness1 and yet progress--stability in the midst of progress1 and progress in the midst of stability--into our lives1 is by keeping firm hold of ,god4 ,if we grasp ,his hand1 then a calm serenity will be ours4 ,in the midst of changes1 sorrows1 losses1 disappointments1 we shall not be blown about here and there by furious winds of fortune1 nor will the heavy currents of the river of life sweep us away4 ,we shall have a holdfast and a mooring4 ,and although1 like some light-ship anchored in the ,channel1 we may heave up and down with the waves1 we shall keep in the same place1 and be steadfast in the midst of mobility1 and wholesomely mobile although anchored in the one spot where there is safety4 ,as the issue of faith1 of this throwing the responsibility for ourselves upon ,god1 there will be quietness of heart1 and continuance and persistence in righteousness1 and steadfastness of purpose and continuity of advancement in the divine life4 ',the law of the ,lord is in his heart1' says one of the ,psalms1 'none of his steps shall slide4' ,the man who walks holding ,god's hand can put down a firm foot1 even when he is walking in slippery places4 ,there will be decision1 and strength1 and persistence of continuous advance1 in a life that derives its impulse and its motive power from communion with ,god in ,jesus ,christ4 ,there will be victory1 not indeed after the fashion of that in this story before us4 ,in it1 of course1 men had to do nothing but 'stand still and see the salvation of ,god4' ,that is the law for us1 in regard to the initial blessings of acceptance1 and forgiveness1 and the communication of the divine life from above4 ,we have to be simple recipients1 and we have no co-operating share in that part of the work of our own salvation4 ,but for the rest we have to help ,god4 ',work out your own salvation with fear and trembling1 for it is ,god that worketh in you4' ,but none the less1 ',this is the victory that over-cometh the world1 even our faith1' and if we give heed to ,jehoshaphat's commandment1 and go out to battle as his people did1 with the love and trust of ,god in our hearts1 then we shall come back as they did1 laden with spoil1 and shall name the place which was the field of conflict 'the valley of blessing1' and return to ,jerusalem 'with psalteries1 and harps1 and trumpets1' and ',god will give us rest from all our enemies round about us4' ,,joash ',and ,joash did that which was right in the sight of the ,lord all the days of ,jehoiada the priest4444 #ag4 ,now after the death of ,jehoiada came the princes of ,judah1 and made obeisance to the king4 ,then the king hearkened unto them4'--#b ,,chron4 xxiv4 #b1 #ag4 ,here we have the tragedy of a soul4 ,joash begins life well and for the greater part of it remains faithful to his conscience and to his duty1 and then1 when outward circumstances change1 he casts all behind him1 forgets the past and commits moral suicide4 ,it is the sad old story1 a bright commencement1 an early promise all scattered to the winds4 ,it is a strange story1 too4 ,this seven-year-old king had been saved when his father had been killed1 and that true daughter of ,jezebel1 as well by nature as by blood1 ,athaliah1 had murdered all his brothers and sisters1 and made herself queen4 ,he had been saved by the courage of a woman who might worthily stand by the side of ,deborah and other ,jewish heroines4 ,by this woman1 who was his aunt1 he was hidden and brought up in the ,temple until1 whilst yet a mere boy1 he came to the throne1 the ,high ,priest ,jehoiada1 the husband of his aunt1 being his guardian during his nonage4 ,he reigns well till the lad of seven becomes a mature man of thirty or thereabouts1 and then ,jehoiada dies1 full of years and honours1 and they fitly lay him among the kings of ,judah1 a worthy resting-place for one who had 'done good in ,israel4' ,and now the weakling on the throne is left alone without the strong arm to guide him and keep him right1 and we read that 'the princes of ,judah came and made obeisance to him4' ,they take him on his weak side1 and ,i dare say ,jehoiada had been too true and too noble to do that1 and though we are not told what means they took to flatter and coax him1 we see very plainly what they were conspiring to do1 for we read that 'they left the house of the ,lord their ,god1 the ,god of their fathers1 and served groves and idols1' the groves here mentioned being symbols of ,ashtaroth the goddess of the ,sidonians4 ,and so all the past is wiped out and ,joash takes his place amongst the apostates4 ,the story has solemn lessons4 ,i4 ,note the change from loyal adhesion to apostasy4 ,the strong man on whom ,joash used to lean was away1 and the poor1 weak king went just where the wicked princes led him4 ,it was probably out of sheer imbecility that he passed from the worship of ,god to the acknowledgment and service of idols4 ,the first point that ,i would insist upon is a well-worn and familiar one1 as ,i am well aware1 but ,i urge it upon you1 and especially upon the younger portion of my audience4 ,it is this1 that there is no telling the amount of mischief that pure weakness of character may lead into4 ,the worst men we come across in the ,bible are not those who begin with a deliberate intention of doing evil4 ,they are weak creatures1 'reeds shaken by the wind1' who have no power of resisting the force of circumstances4 ,it is a truth which every one's experience confirms1 that the mother of all possible badness is weakness1 and that1 not only as ,milton's ,satan puts it1 ',to be weak is to be miserable1' but that weakness is wickedness sooner or later4 ,the man who does not bar the doors and windows of his senses and his soul against temptation1 is sure to make shipwreck of his life and in the end to become 'a fool4' ,there is so much wickedness lying round us in this world that any man who lets himself be shaped and coloured by that with which he comes in contact1 is sure to go to the bad in the long run4 ,where a man lays himself open to the accidents of time and circumstances1 the majority of these influences will be contrary to what is right and good4 ,therefore1 he must gather himself together and learn to say ',no6' ,there is no foretelling the profound abysses into which a 'good1 easy' nature1 with plenty of high and pure impulses1 perhaps1 but which are written in water1 may fall4 ',thou1 therefore1 young man6 be strong in the grace that is in ,christ ,jesus4' ,learn to say ,no6 or else you will be sure to say ,yes6 in the wrong place1 and then down you will go1 like this ,joash whose goodness depended on ,jehoiada1 and when he died1 all the virtue that had characterised this life hitherto was laid with him in the dust4 ,let us learn from this story in the next place1 how little power of continuance there is in a merely traditional religion4 ,many of you call yourselves ,christian people mainly because other people do the same4 ,it is customary to respect and regard ,christianity4 ,you have been brought up in the midst of it4 ,our country is always considered a ,christian land1 and so1 naturally1 you tacitly accept the truth of a religion which is so influential4 ,the lowest phase of this attitude is that which seeks some advantage from a church connection1 like the foolish man in the ,old ,testament who thought he would do well because he had a ,levite for his priest4 ,religion is the most personal thing about a man4 ,to become a ,christian is the most personal act one can perform4 ,it is a thing that a man has to do for himself1 and however friends and guides may help us in other matters1 in trials and perplexities and difficulties1 by their sympathy and experience1 they are useless here4 ,a man has here to act as if there were no other beings in the universe but a solitary ,god and himself1 and unless we have ourselves done that act in the depths of our own personality1 we have not done it at all4 ,if you young people are good1 just because you have pious parents who make you go to church or chapel on a ,sunday1 and keep you out of mischief during the week1 your goodness is a sham4 ,one great result of personal ,christianity is to make a minister1 a teacher1 a guide1 superfluous1 and when such an one becomes so1 his work has been successful and not till then4 ,unless you put forth for yourself the hand of faith and for yourself yield up the devotion and love of your own heart1 your religion is nought4 ,however much active effort about the outside of religion there may be1 it is of itself useless4 ,it is without bottom and without reality4 ,here we have ,joash busy with the externals of worship and actually deceiving himself thereby4 ,it was a great deal easier to make that chest for contributions to a ,temple ,repairing ,fund1 and to get it well filled1 and to patch up the house of the ,lord1 than for him to get down on his knees and pray1 and he may have thought that to be busy about the house of ,god was to be devout4 ,so it may be with many ,sunday-school teachers and ,church workers4 ,their religion may be as merely superficial and as little personal as this man's was4 ,it is not for me to say so about ,a1 ,b1 or ,c4 ,it is for you to ask of yourselves if it is so as to you4 ,but ,i do say that there is nothing that masks his own soul from a man more than setting him to do something for ,christianity and ,god's ,church1 while in his inmost self he has not yet yielded himself to ,god4 ,i look around and ,i see the devil slaying his thousands by setting them to work in ,christian associations and leaving them no time to think about their own ,christianity4 ,my brother6 if the cap fits1 go home and put it on4 ,we see in ,joash's life for how long a time a man may go on in this self-delusion of external and barren service and never know it4 ,joash came to the throne at the age of seven4 ,up till that age he had lived in the ,temple in concealment4 ,until he was one and thirty he went on in a steady1 upright course1 never knowing that there was anything hollow in his life4 ,apparently1 ,jehoiada's long life of one hundred and thirty years extended over the greater part of ,joash's reign1 during most of which he had ,jehoiada to direct him and keep him right1 and all this tragedy comes at the tag end of it4 ,so he went on apparently all right1 like a tree that has become quite hollow1 till during some storm it is blown down and falls with a crash1 and it is seen that for years it has been only the skin of a tree1 bark outside1 and inside--emptiness4 ,,ii4 ,we come now to the second stage in the later life of ,joash3 ,his resistance to the divine pleading4 ',and they left the house of the ,lord ,god of their fathers1 and served groves and idols1 and wrath came upon ,judah and ,jerusalem for their trespass1 yet ,he sent prophets to them to bring them again unto the ,lord4' ,he sent with endless pity1 with long-suffering patience4 ,he would not be put away1 and as they increased the distance between ,him and them1 ,he increased ,his energies to bring them back4 ,but they lifted themselves up1 ,joash and his princes1 and with that strange1 awful power of resisting the attraction of the divine pleading1 and hardening their hearts against the divine patience--'they would not4' ,and then comes the affecting episode of the death of the high priest ,zechariah1 who had succeeded to his father's place and likewise to his heroism1 and who1 with the ,spirit of ,god upon him1 stands up and pointing out his wickedness1 rebukes the fallen monarch for his apostasy4 ,joash1 doubtless stung to the quick by ,zechariah's just reproaches1 allowed the truculent princes to slay him in the court of the ,temple1 even between the very shrine and the altar4 ,what a picture we have here of the divine love which follows every wanderer with its pleadings and beseechings6 ,it came to this man through the lips of a prophet4 ,it comes to us all in daily blessings1 sometimes in messages1 like these poor words of mine4 ,god will not let us ruin ourselves without pleading with us and wooing us to love ,him and cling to ,him4 ',he rises up early' and daily sends us ,his messages1 sometimes rebukes and voices in our conscience1 sometimes sunset glows and starry heavens lifting our thoughts above this low earth1 sometimes sorrows that are meant to 'drive us to ,his breast1' and above all1 the ',gospel of our salvation' in ,christ1 ever1 in such a land as ours1 sounding in our ears4 ,still further1 we see in ,joash what a strange1 awful strength of obstinate resistance1 a character weak as regards its resistance to man1 can put forth against ,god4 ,he never attempted to say ',no6' to the princes of ,judah1 but he could say it again and again to his ,father in heaven4 ,he could not but yield to the temptations which were level with his eyes1 and this poor creature1 easily swayed by human allurements and influences1 could gather himself together1 standing1 as it were1 on his little pin point1 and say to ,god1 ',thou dost call and ,i refuse4' ,what a paradox1 and yet repetitions of it are sitting in these pews1 only half aware that it is about them that ,i am speaking6 ,the ever-deepening evil which began with forsaking the house of the ,lord and serving ,ashtaroth1 ends with ,joash steeping his hands in blood4 ,the murder of ,zechariah was beyond the common count of crimes1 for it was a foul desecration of the ,temple1 an act of the blackest ingratitude to the man who had saved his infant life1 and put him on the throne1 an outrage on the claims of family connections1 for ,joash and ,zechariah were probably blood relations4 ,my brother6 once get your foot upon that steep incline of evil1 once forsake the path of what is good and right and true1 and you are very much like a climber who misses his footing up among the mountain peaks1 and down he slides till he reaches the edge of the precipice and then in an instant is dashed to pieces at the bottom4 ,once put your foot on that slippery slope and you know not where you may fall to4 ,,iii4 ,last comes the final scene3 ,the retribution4 ,we have that picture of ,zechariah1 solemnly lifting up his eyes to heaven and committing his cause to ,god4 ',the ,lord look upon it and require it1' says the martyr priest in the spirit of the old ,law4 ,the dying appeal was soon answered in the invasion of the ,syrian army1 a comparatively small company1 into whose hands the ,lord delivered a very great host of the ,israelites4 ,the defeat was complete1 and possibly ,joash's 'great diseases1' of which the narrative speaks1 refer to wounds received in the fight4 ,the end soon comes1 for two of his servants1 neither of them ,hebrews1 one being the son of an ,ammonitess and the other the son of a ,moabitess1 who were truer to his religion than he had been1 and resolved to revenge ,zechariah's death1 entered the room1 of the wounded king in the fortress whither he had retired to hide himself after the fight1 and 'slew him on his bed4' ,imagine the grim scene--the two men stealing in1 the sick man there on the bed helpless1 the short ghastly struggle and the swift end4 ,what an end for a life with such a beginning6 ,now ,i am not going to dwell on this retribution1 inflicted on ,joash1 or on that which comes to us if we are like him1 through a loud-voiced conscience1 and a memory which1 though it may be dulled and hushed to sleep at present1 is sure to wake some day here or yonder4 ,but ,i beseech you to ask yourselves what your outlook is4 ',be not deceived1 ,god is not mocked2 for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap4' ,is that all8 ,zechariah said1 ',the ,lord look upon it and require it4' ,the great doctrine of retribution is true for ever4 ,yes2 but our ,zechariah lifts up his eyes to heaven and he says1 ',father6 forgive them1 for they know not what they do4' ,and so1 dear brother6 you and ,i1 trusting to that dear ,lord1 may have all our apostasy forgiven1 and be brought near by the blood of ,christ4 ,let us say with the ,apostle ,peter1 ',lord1 to whom shall we go but to ,thee8 ,thou hast the words of eternal life4' ,,glad ,,givers ,,and ,,faithful ,,workers ',and it came to pass after this1 that ,joash was minded to repair the house of the ,lord4 #e4 ,and he gathered together the priests and the ,levites1 and said to them1 go out unto the cities of ,judah1 and gather of all ,israel money to repair the house of your ,god from year to year1 and see that ye hasten the matter4 ,howbeit the ,levites hastened it not4 #f4 ,and the king called for ,jehoiada the chief1 and said unto him1 ,why hast thou not required of the ,levites to bring in out of ,judah and out of ,jerusalem the collection1 according to the commandment of ,moses the servant of the ,lord1 and of the congregation of ,israel1 for the tabernacle of witness' #g4 ,for the sons of ,athaliah1 that wicked woman1 had broken up the house of ,god3 and also all the dedicated things of the house of the ,lord did they bestow upon ,baalim4 #h4 ,and at the king's commandment they made a chest1 and set it without at the gate of the house of the ,lord4 #i4 ,and they made a proclamation through ,judah and ,jerusalem1 to bring in to the ,lord the collection that ,moses the servant of ,god laid upon ,israel in the wilderness4 #aj4 ,and all the princes and all the people rejoiced1 and brought in1 and cast into the chest1 until they had made an end4 #aa4 ,now it came to pass1 that at what time the chest was brought unto the king's office by the hand of the ,levites1 and when they saw that there was much money1 the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest1 and took it1 and carried it to his place again4 ,thus they did day by day1 and gathered money in abundance4 #ab4 ,and the king and ,jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of the ,lord1 and hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of the ,lord1 and also such as wrought iron and brass to mend the house of the ,lord4 #ac4 ,so the workmen wrought1 and the work was perfected by them1 and they set the house of ,god in his state1 and strengthened it4 #aa4 ,and when they had finished it1 they brought the rest of the money before the king and ,jehoiada1 whereof were made vessels for the house of the ,lord1 even vessels to minister1 and to offer withal1 and spoons1 and vessels of gold and silver4 ,and they offered burnt offerings in the house of the ,lord continually all the days of ,jehoiada4'--#b ,,chron4 xxiv4 #d-ad4 ,joash owed his life and his throne to the high-priest ,jehoiada1 who was his uncle by marriage with the sister of ,ahaziah1 his father4 ,rescued by his aunt when an infant1 he 'was with them1 hid in the house of ,god six years1' and1 when seven years old1 was made king by ,jehoiada's daring revolt against 'that wicked woman1' ,athaliah4 ,jehoiada's influence was naturally paramount1 and was as wholesome as strong4 ,it is remarkable1 however1 that this impulse to repair the ,temple seems to have originated with the king1 not with the high-priest1 though no doubt the spirit which conceived the impulse was largely moulded by the latter4 ,the king1 whose childhood had found a safe asylum in the ,temple1 might well desire its restoration1 even apart from considerations of religion4 ,i4 ,the story first brings into strong contrast the eager king1 full of his purpose1 and the sluggards to whom he had to entrust its execution4 ,we can only guess the point in his reign at which ,joash summoned the priests to his help4 ,it was after his marriage 7ver4 #c71 and considerably before the twenty-third year of his reign1 at which time his patience was exhausted 7#b ,kings xii4 #f74 ,some years were apparently wasted by the dawdling sluggishness of the priests1 who1 for some reason or other1 did not go into the proposed restoration heartily4 ,joash seems to have suspected that they would push the work languidly2 for there is a distinct tinge of suspicion and 'whipping up' in his injunction to 'hasten the matter4' ,the first intention was to raise the funds by sending out the priests and ,levites to collect locally the statutory half-shekel1 as well as other contributions mentioned in #b ,kings xii4 ,there we learn that each collector was to go to 'his acquaintance4' ,the subscription was to be spread over some years1 and for a while ,joash waited quietly2 but in the twenty-third year of his reign 7see #b ,kings71 he could stand delay no longer4 ,whether the priests had been diligent in collecting or not1 they had done nothing towards repairing4 ,perhaps they found it difficult to determine the proportion of the money which was needed for the ordinary expenses of worship1 and for the restoration fund2 and1 as the former included their own dues and support1 they would not be likely to set it down too low4 ,perhaps they did not much care to carry out a scheme which had not begun with themselves2 for priests are not usually eager to promote ecclesiastical renovations suggested by laymen4 ,perhaps they did not care as much about the renovation as the king did1 and smiled at his earnestness as a pious imagining4 ,possibly there was even deliberate embezzlement4 ,but1 at any rate1 there was half-heartedness1 and that always means languid work1 and that always means failure4 ,the earnest people are fretted continually by the indifferent4 ,every good scheme is held back1 like a ship with a foul bottom1 by the barnacles that stick to its keel and bring down its speed4 ,professional ecclesiastics in all ages have succumbed to the temptation of thinking that 'church property' was first of all to be used for their advantage1 and1 secondarily1 for behoof of ,god's house4 ,eager zeal has in all ages to be yoked to torpid indifference1 and to drag its unwilling companion along1 like two dogs in a leash4 ,direct opposition is easier to bear than apparent assistance which tries to slow down to half speed4 ,joash's command is imperative on all workers for ,god4 ',see that ye hasten the matter1' for time is short1 the fruit great1 the evening shadows lengthening1 the interests at stake all-important1 and the ,lord of the harvest will soon come to count our sheaves4 ,whatever work may be done without haste1 ,god's cannot be1 and a heavy curse falls on him who 'does the work of the ,lord negligently4' ,the runner who keeps well on this side of fatigue1 panting1 and sweat1 has little chance of the crown4 ,,ii4 ,the next step is the withdrawal of the work from the sluggards4 ,they are relieved both of the collection and expenditure of the money4 ,apparently 7#b ,kings xii4 #i7 the contributors handed their donations to the doorkeepers1 who put them into the chest with 'a hole in the lid of it1' in the sight of the donors4 ,the arrangement was not flattering to the hierarchy1 but as appearances were saved by ,jehoiada's making the chest 7see #b ,kings7 they had to submit with the best grace they could4 ,in our own times1 we have seen the same thing often enough4 ,when clergy have maladministered church property1 ,parliament has appointed ecclesiastical commissioners4 ,common sense prescribes taking slovenly work out of lazy hands4 ,the more rigidly that principle is carried out in the church and the nation1 at whatever cost of individual humiliation1 the better for both4 ',the tools to the hands that can use them' is the ideal for both4 ,god's dealings follow the same law1 both in withdrawing opportunities of service and in giving more of such4 ,the reward for work is more work1 and the punishment for sloth is compulsory idleness4 ,,iii4 ,we are next shown the glad givers4 ,probably suspicion had been excited in others than the king1 and had checked liberality4 ,people will not give freely if the expenses of the collectors' support swallow up the funds4 ,it is hard to get help for a vague scheme1 which unites two objects1 and only gives the balance1 after the first is provided for1 to the second and more important4 ,so the whole nation1 both high and low1 was glad when the new arrangement brought a clear issue1 and secured the right appropriation of the money4 ,no doubt1 too1 ,joash's earnestness kindled others4 ,chronicles speaks only of the 'tax1'--that is1 the half-shekel1--but ,kings mentions two other sources1 one of which is purely spontaneous gifts1 and these are implied by the tone of verse #aj1 which lays stress on the gladness of the offerers4 ,that is the incense which adds fragrance to our gifts4 ,grudging service is no service1 and money given for ever so religious a purpose1 without gladness because of the opportunity of giving1 is not1 in the deepest sense1 given at all4 ,love is a longing to give to the beloved1 and whoever truly loves ,god will know no keener delight than surrender for ,his dear sake4 ,pecuniary contributions for religious purposes afford a rough but real test of the depth of a man's religion2 but it is one available only for himself1 since the motive1 and not the amount1 is the determining element4 ,we all need to bring our hearts more under the ,influence of ,god's love to us1 that our love to ,him may be increased1 and then to administer possessions1 under the impulse to glad giving which enkindled love will always excite4 ,super-heated steam has most expansive power and driving force4 ,these glad givers may remind us not only of the one condition of acceptable giving1 but also of the need for clear and worthy objects1 and of obvious disinterestedness in those who seek for money to help good causes4 ,the smallest opening for suspicion that some of it sticks to the collector's fingers is fatal1 as it should be4 ,,iv4 ,joash was evidently a business-like king4 ,we next hear of the precautions he took to secure the public confidence4 ,there was a rough but sufficient audit4 ,when the chest grew heavy1 and sounded full1 two officials received it at the 'king's office4' ,the ,levites carried it there1 but were not allowed to handle the contents4 ,the two tellers represented the king and the chief priest1 and thus both the civil and religious authorities were satisfied1 and each officer was a check on the other4 ,public money should never be handled by a man alone2 and an honest one will always wish1 like ,paul1 to have a brother associated with him1 that no man may blame him in his administration of it4 ,if we take 'day by day' literally1 we have a measure of the liberality which filled the chest daily2 but1 more probably1 the expression simply means 'from time to time1' when occasion required4 ,v4 ,the application of the money is next narrated4 ,in this ,jehoiada is associated with ,joash1 the king probably desiring to smooth over any slight that might seem to have been put on the priests1 as well as being still under the influence of the high-priest's strong character and early kindness4 ,together they passed over the results of the contribution to the contractors1 who in turn paid it in wages to the workmen who repaired the fabric1 such as masons and carpenters1 and to other artisans who restored other details1 such as brass and iron work4 ,the ,second ,book of ,kings tells us that ,joash's cautious provision against misappropriation seems to have deserted him at this stage2 for no account was required of the workmen1 'for they dealt faithfully4' ,that is an indication of their goodwill4 ,the humble craftsmen were more reliable than the priests4 ,they had1 no doubt1 given their half-shekel like others1 and now they gladly gave their work1 and were not hirelings1 though they were hired4 ,we1 too1 have to give our money and our labour2 and if our hearts are right1 we shall give both with the same conscientious cheerfulness1 and1 if we are paid in coin for our work1 will still do it for higher reasons and looking for other wages4 ,these ,temple workmen may stand as patterns of what religion should do for those of us whose lot is to work with our hands1--and not less for others who have to toil with their brains1 and the sweat of whose brow is inside their heads4 ,a ,christian workman should be a 'faithful' workman1 and will be so if he is full of faith4 ,joash knew when to trust and when to keep a sharp eye on men4 ,his experience with the priests had not soured him into suspecting everybody4 ,cynical disbelief in honesty is more foolish and hurtful to ourselves than even excessive trust4 ,these workmen wrought all the more faithfully because they knew that they were trusted1 and in nine cases out of ten men will try to live up to our valuation of them4 ,the ,rugby boys used to say1 ',it's a shame to tell ,arnold a lie1 he always believes us4' ,better to be cheated once than to treat the nine as rogues1--better for them and better for ourselves4 ',faithful' work is prosperous work4 ,as verse #ac picturesquely says1 ',healing went up upon the work'2 and the ,temple was restored to its old fair proportions1 and stood strong as before4 ,where there is conscientious effort1 ,god's blessing is not withheld4 ,labour 'in the ,lord' can never be empty labour1 though even a prophet may often be tempted1 in a moment of weary despondency1 to complain1 ',i have laboured in vain4' ,we may not see the results1 nor have the workmen's joy of beholding the building rise1 course by course1 under our hands1 but we shall see it one day1 though now we have to work in the dark4 ,there seems a discrepancy between the statements in ,chronicles and ,kings as to the source from which the cost of the sacrificial vessels was defrayed1 since1 according to the former1 it was from the restoration fund1 which is expressly denied by the latter4 ,the explanation seems reasonable1 that1 as ,chronicles says1 it was from the balance remaining after all restoration charges were liquidated1 that this other expenditure was met4 ,first1 the whole amount was sacredly devoted to the purpose for which it had been asked1 and then1 when the honest overseers repaid the uncounted surplus1 which they might have kept1 it was found sufficient to meet the extra cost of furnishing4 ,god blesses the faithful steward of his gifts with more than enough for the immediate service1 and the best use of the surplus is to do more with it for ,him4 ',god is able to make all grace abound unto you2 that ye1 having always all sufficiency in every thing1 may abound unto every good work1 444 being enriched in every thing unto all liberality4' ,,prudence ,,and ,,faith ',and ,amaziah said to the man of ,god1 ,but what shall we do for the hundred talents which ,i have given to the army of ,israel8 ,and the man of ,god answered1 ,the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this4'--#b ,,chron4 xxv4 #i4 ,the character of this ,amaziah1 one of the ,kings of ,judah1 is summed up by the chronicler in a damning epigram3 ',he did that which was right in the sight of the ,lord1 but not with a perfect heart4' ,he was one of your half-and-half people1 or1 as ,hosea says1 'a cake not turned1' burnt black on one side1 and raw dough on the other4 ,so when he came to the throne1 in the buoyancy and insolence of youth1 he immediately began to aim at conquests in the neighbouring little states2 and in order to strengthen himself he hired 'a hundred thousand mighty men of valour' out of ,israel for a hundred talents of silver4 ,to seek help from ,israel was1 in a prophet's eyes1 equivalent to flinging off help from ,god4 ,so a man of ,god comes to him1 and warns him that the ,lord is not with ,israel1 and that the alliance is not permissible for him4 ,but1 instead of yielding to the prophet's advice1 he parries it with this misplaced question1 ',but what shall we do for the hundred talents that ,i have given to the army of ,israel8' ,he does not care to ask whether the counsel that he is receiving is right or wrong1 or whether what he is intending to do is in conformity with1 or in opposition to1 the will of ,god1 but1 passing by all such questions1 at once he fastens on the lower consideration of expediency--',what is to become of me if ,i do as this prophet would have me do8 ,what a heavy loss one hundred talents will be6 ,it is too much to sacrifice to a scruple of that sort4 ,it cannot be done4' ,a great many of us may take a lesson from this man4 ,there are two things in my text--a misplaced question and a triumphant answer3 ',what shall we do for the hundred talents8' ',the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this4' ,now1 remarkably enough1 both question and answer may be either very right or very wrong1 according as they are taken1 and ,i purpose to look at those two aspects of each4 ,i4 ,a misplaced question4 ,i call it misplaced because ,amaziah's fault1 and the fault of a great many of us1 was1 not that he took consequences into account1 but that he took them into account at the wrong time4 ,the question should have come second1 not first4 ,amaziah's first business should have been to see clearly what was duty2 and then1 and not till then1 the next business should have been to consider consequences4 ,consider the right place and way of putting this question4 ,many of us make shipwreck of our lives because1 with our eyes shut1 we determine upon some grand design1 and fall under the condemnation of the man that 'began to build1 and was not able to finish4' ,he drew a great plan of a stately mansion2 and then found that he had neither money in the bank1 nor stones in his quarry1 to finish it1 and so it stood--a ruin4 ,all through our ,lord's life ,he was engaged rather in repressing volunteers than in soliciting recruits1 and ,he from time to time poured a douche of cold water upon swiftly effervescing desires to go after ,him4 ,when the multitudes followed ,him1 ,he turned and said to them1 ',if you are counting on being ,my disciples1 understand what it means3 take up the cross and follow ,me4' ,when an enthusiastic man1 who had not looked consequences in the face1 came rushing to ,him and said3 ',lord1 ,i will follow ,thee whithersoever ,thou goest1' ,his answer to him was another pull at the string of the shower bath3 ',the ,son of ,man hath not where to lay ,his head4' ,when the two disciples came to him and said3 ',grant that we may sit1 the one on ,thy right hand and the other on ,thy left1 when ,thou comest into ,thy kingdom1' ,he said3 ',are ye able to drink of the cup that ,i drink of1 and to be baptized with the baptism that ,i am baptized withal8' ,look the facts in the face before you make your election4 ,jesus ,christ will enlist no man under false pretences4 ,recruiting-sergeants tell country bumpkins or city louts wonderful stories of what they will get if they take the shilling and put on the king's uniform2 but ,jesus ,christ does not recruit ,his soldiers in that fashion4 ,if a man does not open his eyes to a clear vision of the consequences of his actions1 his life will go to water in all directions4 ,and there is no region in which such clear insight into what is going to follow upon my determinations and the part that ,i take is more necessary than in the ,christian life4 ,it is just because in certain types of character1 'the word is received with joy1' and springs up immediately1 that when 'the sun is risen with a burning heat'--that is1 as ,christ explains1 when the pinch of difficulty comes--'immediately they fall away1' and all their grand resolutions go to nothing4 ',lightly come1 lightly go4' ,let us face the facts of what is involved1 in the way of sacrifice1 surrender1 loss1 if we determine to be on ,christ's side2 and then1 when the anticipated difficulties come1 we shall neither be perplexed nor swept away1 but be able quietly to say1 ',i discounted it all beforehand2 ,i knew it was coming4' ,the storm catches the ship that is carrying full sail and expecting nothing but light and favourable breezes2 while the captain that looked into the weather quarter and saw the black cloud beginning to rise above the horizon1 and took in his sails and made his vessel snug and tight1 rides out the gale4 ,it is wisdom that becomes a man1 to ask this question1 if first of all he has asked1 ',what ought ,i to do8' ,but we have here an instance of a right thing in a wrong place4 ,it was right to ask the question1 but wrong to ask it at that point4 ,amaziah thought nothing about duty4 ,there sprang up in his mind at once the cowardly and ignoble thought3 ',i cannot afford to do what is right1 because it will cost me a hundred talents1' and that was his sin4 ,consequences may be1 must be1 faced in anticipation1 or a man is a fool4 ,he that allows the clearest perception of disagreeable consequences1 such as pain1 loss of ease1 loss of reputation1 loss of money1 or any other harmful results that may follow1 to frighten him out of the road that he knows he ought to take1 is a worse fool still1 for he is a coward and recreant to his own conscience4 ,we have to look into our own hearts for the most solemn and pressing illustrations of this sin1 and ,i daresay we all of us can remember clear duties that we have neglected1 because we did not like to face what would come from them4 ,a man in business will say1 ',i cannot afford to have such a high standard of morality2 ,i shall be hopelessly run over in the race with my competitors if ,i do not do as they do1' or he will say1 ',i durst not take a stand as an out-and-out ,christian2 ,i shall lose connections1 ,i shall lose position4 ,people will laugh at me4 ,what am ,i to do for the hundred talents8' ,but we can find the same thing in ,churches4 ,i do not mean to enter upon controversial questions1 but as an instance1 ,i may remind you that one great argument that our friends who believe in an ,established ,church are always bringing forward1 is just a modern form of ,amaziah's question1 ',what shall we do for the hundred talents8 ,how could the ,church be maintained1 how could its ministrations be continued1 if its ,state-provided revenues were withdrawn or given up8' ,but it is not only ,anglicans who put the consideration of the consequences of obedience in the wrong place4 ,all the ,churches are but too apt to let their eyes wander from reading the plain precepts of the ,new ,testament to looking for the damaging results to be expected from keeping them4 ,do we not sometimes hear1 as answer to would-be reformers1 ',we cannot afford to give up this1 that1 or the other practice8 ,we should not be able to hold our ground1 unless we did so-and-so and so-and-so4' ,but not only individuals or ,churches are guilty in this matter4 ,the nation takes a leaf out of ,amaziah's book1 and puts aside many plain duties1 for no better reason than that it would cost too much to do them4 ',what is the use of talking about suppressing the liquor traffic or housing the poor8 ,think of the cost4' ,the 'hundred talents' block the way and bribe the national conscience4 ,for instance1 the opium traffic2 how is it defended8 ,some attempt is made to prove either that we did not force it upon ,china1 or that the talk about the evils of opium is missionary fanaticism1 but the sheet-anchor is3 ',how are we ever to raise the ,indian revenue if we give up the traffic8' ,that is exactly ,amaziah over again1 come from the dead1 and resurrected in a very ugly shape4 ,so national policy and ,church action1 and--what is of far more importance to you and me than either the one or the other1--our own personal relation to ,jesus ,christ and discipleship to ,him1 have been hampered1 and are being hampered1 just by that persistent and unworthy attitude of looking at the consequences of doing plain duties1 and permitting ourselves to be frightened from the duties because the consequences are unwelcome to us4 ,prudence is all right1 but when prudence takes command and presumes to guide conscience1 then it is all wrong4 ,in some courts of law and in certain cases1 the judge has an assessor sitting beside him1 an expert about some of the questions that are involved4 ,conscience is the judge1 prudence the assessor4 ,but if the assessor ventures up on the judgment-seat1 and begins to give the decisions which it is not his business to give--for his only business is to give advice--then the only thing to do with the assessor is to tell him to hold his tongue and let the judge speak4 ,it is no answer to the prophet's prohibition to say1 ',but what shall ,i do for the hundred talents8' ,a yet better answer than the prophet gave ,amaziah would have been1 ',never mind about the hundred talents2 do what is right1 and leave the rest to ,god4' ,however1 that was not the answer4 ,,ii4 ,the triumphant answer4 ',the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this4' ,now1 this answer1 like the question1 may be right or wrong1 according as it is taken4 ,in what aspect is it wrong8 ,in what sense is it not true8 ,i suppose this prophet did not mean more than the undeniable truth that ,god was able to give ,amaziah more than a hundred talents4 ,he was not thinking of the loftier meanings which we necessarily1 as ,christian people1 at a later stage of ,revelation1 and with a clearer vision of many things1 attach to the words4 ,he simply meant1 ',you will very likely get more than the hundred talents that you have lost1 if you do what pleases ,god4' ,he was speaking from the point of view of the ,old ,testament2 though even in the ,old ,testament we have instances enough that prosperity did not always attend righteousness4 ,in the ,old ,testament we find the ,book of ,job1 and the ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 and many a psalm1 all of which were written in order to grapple with the question1 ',how is it that ,god does not give the good man more than the hundred talents that he has lost for the sake of being good8' ,it is not true1 and it is a dangerous mistake to suggest that it is true1 that a man in this world never loses by being a good1 honest1 consistent ,christian4 ,he often does lose a great deal1 as far as this world is concerned2 and he has to make up his mind to lose it1 and it would be a very poor thing to say to him1 ',now1 live like a ,christian man1 and if you are flinging away money or anything else because of your ,christianity1 you will get it back4' ,no2 you will not1 in a good many cases4 ,sometimes you will1 and sometimes you will not4 ,it does not matter whether you do or do not4 ,but the sense in which the triumphant answer of the prophet is true is a far higher one4 ',the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this1'--what is 'more'8 a thousand talents8 ,no2 the 'much more' that ,christianity has educated us to understand is meant in the depths of such a promise as this is1 first of all1 character4 ,every man that sacrifices anything to convictions of duty gains more than he loses thereby1 because he gains an inward nobleness and strength1 to say nothing of the genial warmth of an approving conscience4 ,and whilst that is true in all regions of life1 it is most especially true in regard to sacrifices made from ,christian principle4 ,no matter how disastrous may be the results externally1 the inward results of faithfulness are so much greater and sweeter and nobler than all the external evil consequences that may follow1 that it is 'good policy' for a man to beggar himself for ,christ's sake1 for the sake of the durable riches--which our ,lord ,himself explains to be synonymous with righteousness--which will come thereby4 ,he that wins strength and ,christ-likeness of character by sacrificing for ,christ has won far more than he can ever lose4 ,he wins not only character1 but a fuller capacity for a fuller possession of ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 and that is infinitely more than anything that any man has ever sacrificed for the sake of that dear ,lord4 ,do you remember when it was that there was granted to the ,apostle ,john the vision of the throned ,christ1 and that he felt laid upon him the touch of the vivifying ,hand from ,heaven8 ,it was 'when ,i was in ,patmos for the ,word of ,god1 and for the testimony of ,jesus4' ,he lost ,ephesus2 he gained an open heaven and a visible ,christ4 ,do you remember who it was that said1 ',i have suffered the loss of all things1 and do count them but dung1 that ,i may win ,christ'8 ,it was a good bargain1 ,paul6 ,the balance-sheet showed a heavy balance to your credit4 ,debit1 'all things'2 credit1 ',christ4' ',the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this4' ,remember the old prophecy3 ',for brass ,i will bring gold2 and for iron1 silver4' ,the brass and the iron may be worth something1 but if we barter them away and get instead gold and silver1 we are gainers by the transaction4 ,fling out the ballast if you wish the balloon to rise4 ,let the hundred talents go if you wish to get 'the more than this4' ,and listen to the ,new ,testament variation of this man of ,god's promise1 ',if thou wilt have treasure in heaven1 go and sell all that thou hast1 and follow ,me4' ,,jotham ',so ,jotham became mighty1 because he prepared his ways before the ,lord his ,god4'--#b ,,chron4 xxvii #f4 ,this ,king ,jotham is one of the obscurer of the ,jewish monarchs1 and we know next to nothing about him4 ,the most memorable event in his reign is that 'in the year when ,king ,uzziah1' his father1 'died1' and consequently in ,jotham's first year1 ,isaiah saw the ,lord sitting in the ,temple on the empty throne1 and had the lips which were to utter so many immortal words touched with fire from the altar4 ,whether it were the effect of the prophet's words1 or from other causes1 the little that is told of him is good1 and he is eulogised as having imitated his father's ,god-pleasing acts1 and not having stained himself by repeating his father's sin4 ,the rest that we hear of him in ,chronicles is a mere sketch of campaigns1 buildings1 and victories1 and then he and his reign are summed up in the words of our text1 which is the analysis of the man and the disclosure of the secret of his prosperity3 ',he became mighty1 because he prepared his ways'--and1 more than that1 'he prepared them before the ,lord his ,god4' ,so then1 if we begin1 as it were1 at the bottom1 as we ought to do1 in studying a character1 taking the deepest thing first1 and laying hold upon the seminal and germinal principle of the whole1 this text reminds us that--,the secret of true strength lies in the continual recognition that life is lived ',before the ,lord our ,god4' ,now to say1 ',walk thou before ,me1' the command given to ,abraham1 suggests a somewhat different modification of the idea from the apparently parallel phrase1 'to walk with ,god' which is declared to have been the life's habit of ,enoch4 ,the one expression suggests simple companionship and communion2 the other suggests rather the vivid and continual realisation of the thought that we are 'ever in the great ,taskmaster's eye4' ,to walk before ,god is to feel thrillingly and continually1 and yet without being abased or crushed or discomposed1 but rather being encouraged and quickened and calmed and ennobled and gladdened thereby3 ',thou ,god seest me4' ,it seems to me that one of the plainest pieces of ,christian duty1 and1 alas6 one of the most neglected of them1 is the cultivation1 definitely and consciously1 by effort and by self-discipline1 of that consciousness as a present factor in all our lives1 and an influencing motive in everything that we do4 ,if once we could bring before the eye of our minds that great1 blazing1 white throne1 and ,him that sits upon it1 we should want nothing else to burn up the commonplaces of life1 and to flash its insignificance into splendour and awfulness4 ,we should want nothing else to lift us to a 'solemn scorn of ills1' and to deliver us from the false sweetnesses and fading delights that grow on the low levels of a sense-bound life6 ,brethren6 our whole life would be transformed and glorified1 and we should be different men and women if we ordered our ways as 'before the ,lord our ,god4' ,what meanness could live when we knew that it was seen by those pure ,eyes8 ,how we should be ashamed of ourselves1 of our complaints1 of our murmurings1 of our reluctance to do our duty1 of our puerile regrets for vanished blessings1 and of all the low cares and desires that beset and spoil our lives1 if once this thought1 'before ,god1' were habitual with us1 and we walked in it as in an atmosphere6 ,why is it not8 and might it not be8 and if it might not1 ought it not to be8 ,and what are we to say to ,him whom we profess to love as our ,supreme ,good1 if all the day long the thought of ,him seldom comes into our minds1 and if any triviality1 held near the eye1 is large enough and bright enough to shut ,him out from our sight8 ,with deep ethical significance and accuracy was the command given to ,abraham as the sole1 all-sufficient direction for both inward and outward life3 ',walk before ,me and 7so7 be thou perfect4' ,for indeed the full realisation--adequate and constant and solid enough to be a motive--of ',thou ,god seest me1' would be found to contain practical directions in regard to all moral difficulties1 and would unfailingly detect the evil1 howsoever wrapped up1 and would carry in itself not only motive but impulse1 not only law but power to fulfil it4 ,the ,master's eye makes diligent servants4 ,how schoolboys bend themselves over their slates and quicken their effort when the teacher is walking behind the benches6 ,and how a gang of idle labourers will buckle to the spade and tax their muscles in an altogether different fashion when the overseer appears upon the field6 ,if we realised1 as we should do1 the presence in all our little daily life of that great1 sovereign ,lord1 there would be less skulking1 less superficially performed tasks1 less jerry work put into our building2 more of our strength cast into all our work1 and less of ourselves in any of it4 ,remember1 too1 how connected with this is another piece of effort needful in the religious life1 and suggested by the last words of this text1 ',before the ,lord his ,god4' ,cultivate the habit of narrowing down the general truths of religion to their relation to yourselves4 ,do not be content with 'the ,lord our ,god1' or 'the ,lord the ,god of the whole earth1' but put a 'my' in1 and realise not only the presence of a divine ,inspector1 but the closeness of the personal bond that unites to ,him2 and the individual responsibility1 in all its width and depth and unshiftableness--if ,i may use such a word--which results therefrom4 ,you cannot shake off or step out of the tasks that 'the ,lord your ,god' lays upon you4 ,you and ,he are as if alone in the world4 ,make ,him your ,god by choice1 by your own personal acceptance of ,his authority and dependence upon ,his power1 and try to translate into daily life the great truth1 ',thou ,god seest me1' and bring it to bear upon the veriest trifles and smallest details4 ,now the text follows the order of observation1 so to speak1 and mentions the outward facts of ,jotham's success before it goes deeper and accounts for them4 ,we have reversed the process and dealt first with the cause4 ,the spring of all lay in his conscious recognition of his relation to ,god and ,god's to him4 ,from that1 of course1 followed that he 'prepared1' according to the ,authorised ,version1 or 'ordered1' according to the ,revised ,version1 'his ways4' ,there is an alternative rendering of the word rendered 'prepared' or 'ordered' given in the margin of the ,authorised ,version1 which reads1 'established his ways4' ,both the ideas of ordering and establishing are contained in the word4 ,now that fact1 that the same word means both these1 conveys a piece of practical wisdom1 which it will do us all good to note clearly and take to heart4 ,for it teaches us that whatever is 'ordered' is firm1 and whatever is disorderly1 haphazard1 done without the exercise of one's mind on the act1 being chaotic1 is necessarily short-lived4 ,the ordered life is the established life4 ,the life of impulse1 chance1 passion1 the life that is lived without choice and plan1 without reflection and consideration of consequences1 the following of nature1 which some people tell us is the highest law1 and which is woefully likely to degenerate into following the lower nature1 which ought not to be followed1 but covered and kept under hatches--such a life is sure to be a topsy-turvy life1 which1 being based upon the narrowest point1 must1 by the laws of equilibrium1 topple over sooner or later4 ,if you would have your lives established1 they must be ordered4 ,you must bring your brains to bear upon them1 and you must bring more than brain1 you must bring to bear on every part of them the spiritual instincts that are quickened by contact with the thought of the ,all-seeing ,god1 and let these have the ordering of them4 ,such lives1 and only such1 will endure 'when all that seems shall suffer shock4' ',he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4' ,but the lesson that is pressed upon us by this word1 understood in the other meanings of 'prepared' or 'ordered1' is that all our 'ways1' that is1 our practical life1 our acts1 direction of mind1 habits1 should be regulated by continual consciousness of1 and reference to1 the ,all-discerning ,eye that looks down upon us1 and 'the ,god in whose hands our breath is1 and whose are'--whether we make them so or not--'all our ways4' ,to translate that into less picturesque1 and less forcible1 but more modern words1 it is just this3 ,you ,christian people ought to make it a point of duty to cultivate the habit of referring everything that you do to the will and judgment of ,god4 ,take ,him into account in everything great or small1 and in nothing say1 ',thus ,i will1 thus ,i command4 ,my will shall stand instead of all other reasons'2 but say1 ',lord6 by ,thee and for ,thee ,i try to do this'2 and having done it1 say1 ',lord6 the seed is sown in ,thy name2 bless ,thou the springing thereof4' ,works thus begun1 continued and ended1 will never be put to confusion1 and 'ways' thus ordered will be established4 ,a path of righteousness like that can no more fail to be a way of peace than can ,god's throne ever totter or fall4 ,an ordered life in which ,he is consulted1 and which is all shaped at ,his bidding1 and by ,his strength1 and for ,his dear name1 will 'stand four-square to all the winds that blow1' and1 being founded upon a rock1 will never fall4 ,but we may also note that in the strength of that thought1 that we are before the ,lord our ,god1 we shall best establish our ways in the sense that we shall keep on steadily and doggedly on the path4 ,well begun may be half ended1 but there is often a long dreary grind before it is wholly ended1 and the last half of the march is the wearisome half4 ,the ,bible has a great deal to say about the need of obstinate persistence on the right road4 ',ye did run well1 what did hinder you8' ',cast not away your confidence1 which hath great recompense of reward4' ',we are made partakers of ,christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end4' ',he that overcometh and keepeth ,my words unto the end1 to him will ,i give authority4' ,lives which derive their impulse from communion with ,god will not come to a dead stop half-way on their road1 like a motor the fuel of which fails2 and it will be impossible for any man to 'endure unto the end' and so to be heir of the promise--'the same shall be saved1' unless he draws his persistency from ,him who 'fainteth not1 neither is weary' and who 'reneweth strength to them that have no might' so that in all the monotonous levels they shall 'walk and not faint1' and in all the crises1 demanding brief spurts of energy1 'they shall run and not be weary1' and at last 'shall mount up with wings as eagles4' ,a path ordered and a path persisted in ought to be the path of every ,christian man4 ,the text finally tells of the prosperity and growing power which attends such a course4 ',jotham became mighty4' ,that was simple outward blessing4 ,his kingdom prospered1 and1 according to the theocratic constitution of ,judah1 faithfulness to ,god and material well-being went together4 ,you cannot apply these words1 of course1 to the outward lives of ,christians4 ,it is no doubt true that ',godliness is profitable for all things1' but there are a great many other things besides the godliness of the man that does them which determine whether a man's undertakings shall prosper in the world's sense or not4 ,it would be a pitiable thing if the full revelation of ,god in ,christ did not teach us ,christians more about the meaning and the worth of outward success and inward prosperity than the ,old ,testament could teach4 ,i hope we have learned that lesson2 at least1 it is not the fault of our lesson book if we have not4 ,although it is true that religion does make the best of both worlds1 it does not do so by taking the world's estimate of what its best for to-day is1 and giving a religious man that4 ,sometimes it does1 and sometimes it does not1 and whether it does or no depends on other considerations than the reality of the man's devotion4 ,good men are often made better by being made sad and unsuccessful4 ,and if they are not bettered by adversity1 it is not the fault of the discipline but of the people who undergo it4 ,but though the husk of my text falls away--and we should thank ,god that it has fallen away--the kernel of it is ever true4 ,whosoever will thus root his life in the living thought of a loving1 divine ,eye being perpetually upon him1 and make that thought a motive for holiness and loving obedience and effort after service1 will find that the true success1 the only success and the only strength that are worth a man's ambition to desire or his effort to secure1 will assuredly be his4 ,he may be voted a failure as regards the world's prizes4 ,but a man that 'orders his ways1' and perseveres in ways thus ordered1 'before the ,lord' will for reward get more power to order his ways1 and a purer and more thrilling1 less interrupted and more childlike vision of the ,face that looks upon him4 ,god's 'eyes behold the upright1' and the upright behold ,his eyes1 and in the interchange of glances there is power2 and in that power is the highest reward for ordered lives4 ,we shall get power to do1 power to bear1 power to think aright1 power to love1 power to will1 power to behold1 power to deny ourselves1 'power to become sons of ,god4' ,this is the success of life1 when out of all its changes1 and by reason of all its efforts1 we realise more fully our filial possession of our ,father1 and our ,father's changeless love to us4 ,we shall become mighty with the might that is born of obedience and faith if we order our ways before the ,lord our ,god4 ',the path of the just is as the shining light1 that shineth more and more until the noontide of the day4' ,,costly ,,and ,,fatal ,,help ',he sacrificed unto the gods of ,damascus1 which smote him3 and he said1 ,because the gods of the kings of ,syria help them1 therefore will ,i sacrifice to them1 that they may help me4 ,but they were the ruin of him1 and of all ,israel4'--#b ,,chron4 xxviii4 #bc4 ,ahaz came to the throne when a youth of twenty4 ,from the beginning he reversed the policy of his father1 and threw himself into the arms of the heathen party4 ,in a comparatively short reign of sixteen years he stamped out the worship of ,god1 and nearly ruined the kingdom4 ,he did not plunge into idolatry for want of good advice4 ,the greatest of the prophets stood beside him4 ,isaiah addressed to him remonstrances which might have made the most reckless pause1 and promises which might have kindled hope and courage in the bosom of despair4 ,hosea in the northern kingdom1 ,micah in ,judah1 and other less brilliant names were amongst the stars which shone even in that dark night4 ,but their light was all in vain4 ,the foolish lad had got the bit between his teeth1 and1 like many another young man1 thought to show his 'breadth' and his 'spirit' by neglecting his father's counsellors1 and abandoning his father's faith4 ,he was ready to worship anything that called itself a god1 always excepting ,jehovah4 ,he welcomed ,baal1 ,moloch1 ,rimmon1 and many more with an indiscriminate eagerness that would have been ludicrous if it had not been tragical4 ,the more he multiplied his gods the more he multiplied his sorrows1 and the more he multiplied his sorrows the more he multiplied his gods4 ,from all sides the invaders came4 ,from north1 northeast1 east1 south-east1 south1 they swarmed in upon him4 ,they tore away the fringes of his kingdom2 and hostile armies flaunted their banners beneath the very walls of ,jerusalem4 ,and then1 in his despair1 like a scorpion in a circle of fire1 he inflicted a deadly wound on himself by calling in the fatal help of ,assyria4 ,nothing loth1 that warlike power responded1 scattered his less formidable foes1 and then swallowed the prey which it had dragged from between the teeth of the ,israelites and ,syrians4 ,the result of ,ahaz's frantic appeals to false gods and faithless men may still be read on the cuneiform inscriptions1 where1 amidst a long list of unknown tributary kings1 stands1 with a ,philistine on one side of him and an ,ammonite on the other1 the shameful record1 ',ahaz of ,judah4' ,that was what came of forsaking the ,god of his fathers4 ,it is a type of what always has come1 and always must come1 of a godless life4 ,that is the point of view from which ,i wish to look at the story1 and at these words of my text which gather the whole spirit of it into one sentence4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 let me ask you to notice how this narrative illustrates for us the crowd of vain helpers to which a man has to take when he turns his back upon ,god4 ,if we compare the narrative in our chapter with the parallel in the ,second ,book of ,kings1 we get a very vivid picture of the strange medley of idolatries which they introduced4 ,amongst ,ahaz's new gods are1 for instance1 the golden calves of ,israel and the ferocious ,moloch of ,ammon1 to whom he sacrificed1 passing through the fire at least one of his own children4 ,the ancient sacred places of the ,canaanites1 on every high hill and beneath every conspicuous tree1 again smoked with incense to half-forgotten local deities4 ,in every open space in ,jerusalem he planted a brand-new altar with a brand-new worship attendant upon it4 ,in the ,temple1 he brushed aside the altar that ,solomon had made and put up a new one1 copied from one which he had seen at ,damascus4 ,the importation of the ,damascene altar1 ,i suppose1 meant1 as our text tells us1 the importation of the ,damascene gods along with it4 ,side by side with that multiplication of false deities went the almost entire neglect of the worship of ,jehovah1 until at last1 as his reign advanced and he floundered deeper into his troubles1 the ,temple was spoiled1 everything in it that could be laid hands upon was sent to the melting-pot1 to pay the ,assyrian tribute2 and then the doors were shut1 the lamps extinguished1 the fire quenched on the cold altars1 and the silent ,temple left to the bats and--the ,shekinah2 for ,god still abode in the deserted house4 ,further1 side by side with this appealing all round the horizon to whatsoever obscene and foul shape seemed to promise some help1 there went the foolish appeal to the northern invaders to come and aid him1 which they did1 to his destruction4 ,his whole career is that of a godless and desperate man who will grasp at anything that offers deliverance1 and will worship any god or devil who will extricate him from his troubles4 ,is the breed extinct1 think you8 ,is there any one among us who1 if he cannot get what he wants by fair ways1 will try to get it by foul8 ,do none of you ever bow down to ,satan for a slice of the kingdoms of this world8 ,ahaz has still plenty of brothers and sisters in all our churches and chapels4 ,this story illustrates for us what1 alas6 is only too true1 both on the broad scale1 as to the generation in which we live1 and on the narrower field of our own individual lives4 ,look at the so-called cultured classes of ,europe to-day2 turning away1 as so many of them are1 from the ,lord ,god of their fathers2 what sort of gods are they worshipping instead8 ,scraps from ,buddhism1 the ,vedas1 any sacred books but the ,bible2 quackeries1 and charlatanism1 arid dreams1 and fragmentary philosophies all pieced together1 to try and make up a whole1 instead of the old-fashioned whole that they have left behind them4 ,there are men and women in many congregations who1 in modern fashion1 are doing precisely the thing that ,ahaz did--having abandoned ,christianity1 they are trying to make up for it by hastily stitching together shreds and patches that they have found in other systems4 ',the garment is narrower than that a man can wrap himself in it1' and a creed patched together so will never make a seamless whole which can be trusted not to rend4 ,but look1 further1 how the same thing is true as to the individual lives of godless men4 ,many of us are trying to make up for not having the ,one by seeking to stay our hearts on the many4 ,but no accumulation of insufficiencies will ever make a sufficiency4 ,you may fill the heaven all over with stars1 bright and thickly set as those in the whitest spot in the galaxy1 and it will be night still4 ,day needs the sun1 and the sun is one1 and when it comes the twinkling lights are forgotten4 ,you cannot make up for ,god by any extended series of creatures1 any more than a row of figures that stretched from here to ,sirius and back again would approximate to infinitude4 ,the very fact of the multitude of helpers is a sign that none of them is sufficient4 ,there is no end of 'cures' for toothache1 that is to say there is none4 ,there is no end of helps for men that have abandoned ,god1 that is to say1 every one in turn when it is tried1 and the stress of the soul rests upon it1 gives1 and is found to be a broken staff that pierces the hand that leans upon it4 ,consult your own experience4 ,what is the meaning of the unrest and distraction that mark the lives of most of the men in this generation8 ,why is it that you hurry from business to pleasure1 from pleasure to business1 until it is scarcely possible to get a quiet breathing time for thought at all8 ,why is it but because one after another of your gods have proved insufficient1 and so fresh altars must be built for fresh idolatries1 and new experiments made1 of which we can safely prophesy the result will be the old one4 ,we have not got beyond ,st4 ,augustine's saying3--',oh1 ,god6 my heart was made for ,thee1 and in ,thee only doth it find repose4' ,the many idols1 though you multiply them beyond count1 all put together will never make the ,one ,god4 ,you are seeking what you will never find4 ,the many pearls that you seek will never be enough for you4 ,the true wealth is ,one1 ',one pearl of great price4' ,,ii4 ,so notice again how this story teaches the heavy cost of these helpers' help4 ,ahaz had1 as he thought1 two strings to his bow4 ,he had the gods of ,damascus and of other lands on one hand1 he had the king of ,assyria on another4 ,they both of them exacted onerous terms before they would stir a foot to his aid4 ,as for the northern conqueror1 all the wealth of the king and of the princes and of the ,temple was sent to ,assyria as the price of his hurtful help4 ,as for the gods1 his helpers1 one of his sons at least went into the furnace to secure their favour2 and what other sacrifices he may have made besides the sacrifice of his conscience and his soul1 history does not tell us4 ,these were considerable subsidies to have to be paid down before any aid was granted4 ,do you buy this world's help any cheaper1 my brother8 ,you get nothing for nothing in that market4 ,it is a big price that you have to pay before these mercenaries will come to fight on your side4 ,here is a man that 'succeeds in life1' as we call it4 ,what does it cost him8 ,well6 it has cost him the suppression1 the atrophy by disuse1 of many capacities in his soul which were far higher and nobler than those that have been exercised in his success4 ,it has cost him all his days2 it has possibly cost him the dying out of generous sympathies and the stimulating of unwholesome selfishness4 ,ah6 he has bought his prosperity very dear4 ,political economists have much to say about the 'appreciation of gold4' ,i think if people would estimate what they pay for it1 in an immense majority of cases1 in treasure that cannot be weighed and stamped1 they would find it to be about the dearest thing in ,god's universe2 and that there are few men who make worse bargains than the men who give themselves for worldly success1 even when they receive what they give themselves for4 ,there are some of you who know how much what you call enjoyment has cost you4 ,some of us have bought pleasure at the price of innocence1 of moral dignity1 of stained memories1 of polluted imaginations1 of an incapacity to rise above the flesh3 and some of us have bought it at the price of health4 ,the world has a way of getting more out of you than it gives to you4 ,at the best1 if you are not ,christian men and women1 whether you are men of business1 votaries of pleasure1 seekers after culture and refinement or anything else1 you have given ,heaven to get earth4 ,is that a good bargain8 ,is it much wiser than that of a horde of naked savages that sell a great tract of fair country1 with gold-bearing reefs in it1 for a bottle of rum1 and a yard or two of calico8 ,what is the difference8 ,you have been fooled out of the inheritance which ,god meant for you2 and you have got for it transient satisfaction1 and partial as it is transient4 ,if you are not ,christian people1 you have to buy this world's wealth and goods at the price of ,god and of your own souls4 ,and ,i ask you if that is an investment which recommends itself to your common sense4 ,oh6 my brother2 'what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world1 and lose himself8' ,answer the question4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we may gather from this story an illustration of the fatal falsehood of the world's help4 ,ahaz pauperised himself to buy the hireling swords of ,assyria1 and he got them2 but1 as it says in the narrative1 'the king came unto him1 and distressed him1 but strengthened him not4' ,he helped ,ahaz at first4 ,he scattered the armies of which the king of ,judah was afraid like chaff1 with his fierce and disciplined onset4 ,and then1 having driven them off the bleeding prey1 he put his own paw upon it1 and growled ',mine6' ,and where he struck his claws there was little more hope of life for the prostrate creature below him4 ,ay6 and that is what this world always does4 ,in the case before us there was providential guidance of the politics of the ,eastern nations in order to bring about these results2 and we do not look for anything of that sort4 ,no6 ,but there are natural laws at work today which are ,god's laws1 and which ensure the worthlessness of the help bought so dear4 ,a godless life has at the best only partial satisfaction1 and that partial satisfaction soon diminishes4 ',even in laughter the heart is sorrowful1 and the end of that mirth is heaviness4' ,that is the experience of all men1 and ,i need not dwell upon the threadbare commonplaces which have survived from generation to generation1 because each generation in turn has found them so piteously true1 about the incompleteness and the fleetingness of all the joys and treasures of this life4 ,the awful power of habit1 if there were no other reason1 takes the edge off all gratification except in so far as ,god is in it4 ,nothing fully retains its power to satisfy4 ,nothing has that power absolutely at any moment2 but even what measure of it any of our possessions or pursuits may have for a time1 soon1 or at all events by degrees1 passes away4 ,the greater part of life is but like drinking out of empty cups1 and the cups drop from our hands4 ,what one of our purest and peacefullest poets said in his haste about all his kind is true in spirit of all godless lives3-- ',we poets1 in our youth1 begin in gladness1 ,but thereof cometh1 in the end1 despondency and madness4' ',vanity of vanities6 saith'--not the ,preacher only1 but the inmost heart of every godless man and woman--'vanity of vanities6 all is vanity6' ,and do not forget that1 partial and transient as these satisfactions of which ,i have been speaking are1 they derive what power of helping and satisfying is in them only from the silence of our consciences1 and our success in being able to shut out realities4 ,one word1 they say1 spoken too loud1 brings down the avalanche1 and beneath its white1 cold death1 the active form is motionless and the beating heart lies still4 ,one word from conscience1 one touch of an awakened reflectiveness1 one glance at the end--the coffin and the shroud and what comes after these--slay your worldly satisfactions as surely as that falling snow would crush some light-winged1 gauzy butterfly that had been dancing at the cliff's foot4 ,your jewellery is all imitation4 ,it is well enough for candle-light4 ,would you like to try the testing acid upon it8 ,here is a drop of it4 ',know thou that for all these things ,god will bring thee into judgment4' ,does it smoke8 or does it stand the test8 ,here is another drop4 ',this night thy soul shall be required of thee4' ,does it stand that test8 ,my brother6 do not be afraid to take in all the facts of your earthly life1 and do not pretend to satisfy yourselves with satisfactions which dare not face realities1 and shrivel up at their presence4 ,these fatal helpers come as friends and allies1 and they remain as masters4 ,ahaz and a hundred other weak princes have tried the policy of sending for a strong foreign power to scatter their enemies1 and it has always turned out one way4 ,the foreigner has come and he has stopped4 ,the auxiliary has become the lord1 and he that called him to his aid becomes his tributary4 ,ay6 and so it is with all the things of this world4 ,here is some pleasant indulgence that ,i call to my help lightly and thoughtlessly4 ,it is very agreeable and does what ,i wanted with it1 and ,i try it again4 ,still it answers to my call4 ,and then after a while ,i say1 ',i am going to give that up1' and ,i cannot1 ,i have brought in a master when ,i thought ,i was only bringing in an ally that ,i could dismiss when ,i liked4 ,the sides of the pit are very slippery2 it is gay travelling down them1 but when the animal is trapped at the bottom there is no possibility of getting up again4 ,so some of you1 dear friends6 have got masters in your delights1 masters in your pursuits1 masters in your habits4 ,these are your gods1 these are your tyrants1 and you will find out that they are so1 if ever1 in your own strength1 you try to break away from them4 ,so let me plead with you4 ,with some of you1 perhaps1 my voice1 as a familiar voice1 that in some measure1 however undeservedly1 you trust1 may have influence4 ,let me plead with you--do not run after these will-o'-the-wisps that will only lure you into destruction1 but follow the light of life which is ,jesus ,christ ,himself4 ,do not take these tyrants for your helpers1 who will master you under pretence of aiding you2 and work their will of you instead of lightening your burden4 ,the same unwise and hopeless mode of life1 which we have been describing this evening by one symbolic illustration1 as calling vain helpers to our aid1 was presented by ,ahaz's great contemporary ,isaiah1 in words which ,ahaz himself may have heard1 as 'striking a covenant with death1 and making lies our refuge4' ,some of us1 alas6 have been doing that all our lives4 ,let such hearken to the solemn words which may have rung in the ears of this unworthy king4 ',judgment also will ,i lay to the line1 and righteousness to the plummet1 and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies4' ,i come to you1 dear friends6 to press on your acceptance the true ,guide and ,helper--even ,jesus ,christ your ,brother1 in whose single ,self you will find all that you have vainly sought dispersed 'at sundry times and in divers manners'--among creatures4 ,take ,him for your ,saviour by trusting your whole selves to ,him4 ,he is the ,sacrifice by whose blood all our sins are washed away1 and the ,indweller1 by whose ,spirit all our spirits are ennobled and gladdened4 ,i ask you to take ,him for your ,helper1 who will never deceive you2 to call whom to our aid is to be secure and victorious for ever4 ',behold6 ,i lay in ,zion for a foundation a stone1 a tried stone1 a precious cornerstone1 a sure foundation3 he that believeth shall not make haste4' ,a ,,godly ,,reformation ',hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old1 and he reigned nine and twenty years in ,jerusalem4 ,and his mother's name was ,abijah1 the daughter of ,zechariah4 #b4 ,and he did that which was right in the sight of the ,lord1 according to all that ,david his father had done4 #c4 ,he in the first year of his reign1 in the first mouth1 opened the doors of the house of the ,lord1 and repaired them4 #d4 ,and he brought in the priests and the ,levites1 and gathered them together into the east street1 #e4 ,and said unto them1 ,hear me1 ye ,levites2 ,sanctify now yourselves1 and sanctify the house of the ,lord ,god of your fathers1 and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place4 #f4 ,for our fathers have trespassed1 and done that which was evil in the eyes of the ,lord our ,god1 and have forsaken ,him1 and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the ,lord1 and turned their backs4 #g4 ,also they have shut up the doors of the porch1 and put out the lamps1 and have not burnt incense1 nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place unto the ,god of ,israel4 #h4 ,wherefore the wrath of the ,lord was upon ,judah and ,jerusalem1 and ,he hath delivered them to trouble1 to astonishment1 and to hissing1 as ye see with your eyes4 #i4 ,for1 lo1 our fathers have fallen by the sword2 and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this4 #aj4 ,now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 that ,his fierce wrath may turn away from us4 #aa4 ,my sons1 be not now negligent3 for the ,lord hath chosen you to stand before ,him1 to serve ,him1 and that ye should minister unto ,him1 and burn incense4'--#b ,,chron4 xxix4 #a-aa4 ,hezekiah1 the best of the later kings1 had the worst for his father1 and another almost as bad for his son4 ,his own piety was probably deepened by the mad extravagance of his father's boundless idolatry1 which brought the kingdom to the verge of ruin4 ,action and reaction are equal and contrary4 ,saints grown amidst fashionable and deep corruption are generally strong1 and reformers usually arise from the midst of the systems which they overthrow4 ,hezekiah came to a tottering throne and an all but beggared nation1 ringed around by triumphant enemies4 ,his brave young heart did not quail4 ,he sought 'first the kingdom of ,god1 and ,his righteousness1' and of the two pressing needs for ,judah1 political peace and religious purity1 he began with the last4 ,the ,book of ,kings tells at most length the civil history2 the ,book of ,chronicles1 as usual1 lays most stress on the ecclesiastical4 ,the two complete each other4 ,the present passage gives a beautiful picture of the vigorous1 devout young king setting about the work of reformation4 ,we may note1 first1 his prompt action4 ,joash had to whip up the reluctant priests with his ',see that ye hasten the matter6' ,hezekiah lets no grass grow under his feet1 but begins his reforms with his reign4 ',the first month' 7ver4 #c7 possibly1 indeed1 means the first month of the calendar1 not of ,hezekiah1 who may have come to the throne in the later part of the ,jewish year2 but1 in any case1 no time was lost4 ,the statement in verse #c may be taken as a general resume of what follows in detail1 but this vigorous speech to the priests was clearly among the new king's first acts4 ,no doubt his purpose had slowly grown while his father was affronting ,heaven with his mania for idols4 ,such decisive1 swift action does not come without protracted1 previous brooding4 ,the hidden fires gather slowly in the silent crater1 however rapidly they burst out at last4 ,we can never begin good things too early1 and when we come into new positions1 it is always prudence as well as bravery to show our colours unmistakably from the first4 ,many a young man1 launched among fresh associations1 has been ruined because of beginning with temporising timidity4 ,it is easier to take the right standing at first than to shift to it afterwards4 ,hezekiah might have been excused if he had thought that the wretched state of political affairs left by ,ahaz needed his first attention4 ,edomites on the east1 ,philistines on the west and south1 ,syrians and ,assyrians on the north1 'compassed him about like bees1' and worldly prudence would have said1 ',look after these enemies today1 and the ,temple tomorrow4' ,he was wiser than that1 knowing that these were effects of the religious corruption1 and so he went at that first4 ,it is useless trying to mend a nation's fortunes unless you mend its morals and religion4 ,and there are some things which are best done quickly1 both in individual and national life4 ,leaving off bad habits by degrees is not hopeful4 ,the only thing to be done is to break with them utterly and at once4 ,one strong1 swift blow1 right through the heart1 kills the wild beast4 ,slighter cuts may make him bleed to death1 but he may kill you first4 ,the existing state was undeniably sinful4 ,there was no need for deliberation as to that4 ,therefore there was no reason for delay4 ,let us learn the lesson that1 where conscience has no doubts1 we should have no dawdling4 ',i made haste1 and delayed not to keep thy commandment4' ,note1 too1 in ,hezekiah's speech1 the true order of religious reformation4 ,the priests and ,levites were not foremost in it1 as indeed is only too often the case with ecclesiastics in all ages4 ,probably many of them had been content to serve ,ahaz as priests of his multiform idolatry4 ,at all events1 they needed 'sanctifying1' though no doubt the word is here used in reference to merely ceremonial uncleanness4 ,still the requirement that they should cleanse themselves before they cleansed the ,temple has more than ceremonial significance4 ,impure hands are not fit for the work of religious reformation1 though they have often been employed in it4 ,what was the weakness of the ,reformation but that the passions of princes and nobles were so soon and generally enlisted for it1 and marred it8 ,he that enters into the holy place1 especially if his errand be to cleanse it1 must have 'clean hands1 and a pure heart4' ,the hands that wielded the whip of small cords1 and drove out the money-changers1 were stainless1 and therefore strong4 ,some of us are very fond of trying to set churches to rights4 ,let us begin with ourselves1 lest1 like careless servants1 we leave dirty finger-marks where we have been 'cleaning4' ,the next point in the speech is the profound and painful sense of existing corruption4 ,note the long-drawn-out enumeration of evils in verses #f and #g1 starting with the general recognition of the fathers' trespass1 advancing to the more specific sin of forsaking ,him and ,his house1 and dwelling1 finally1 as with fascinated horror1 on all the details of closed shrine and quenched lamps and cold altars4 ,the historical truth of the picture is confirmed by the close of the previous chapter1 and its vividness shows how deeply ,hezekiah had felt the shame and sin of ,ahaz4 ,it is not easy to keep clear of the influence of prevailing corruptions of religion4 ,familiarity weakens abhorrence1 and the stained embodiments of the ideal hide its purity from most eyes4 ,but no man will be ,god's instrument to make society1 the church1 or the home1 better1 unless he feels keenly the existing evils4 ,we do not need to cherish a censorious spirit1 but we do need to guard against an unthinking acquiescence in the present state of things1 and a self-complacent reluctance to admit their departure from the divine purpose for the church4 ,there is need to-day for a like profound consciousness of evil1 and like efforts after new purity4 ,if we individually lived nearer ,god1 we should be less acclimatised to the ,church's imperfections4 ,no doubt ,hezekiah's clear sight of the sinfulness of the idolatry so universal round him was largely owing to ,isaiah's influence4 ,eyes which have caught sight of the true ,king of ,israel1 and of the pure light of ,his kingdom1 will be purged to discern the sore need for purifying the ,lord's house4 ,the clear insight into the national sin gives as clear understanding of the national suffering4 ,hezekiah speaks1 in verses #h and #i1 as the ,law and the ,prophets had been speaking for centuries1 and as ,god's providence had been uttering in act all through the national history4 ,but so slow are men to learn familiar truths that ,ahaz had grasped at idol after idol to rescue him2 'but they were the ruin of him1 and of all ,israel4' ,how difficult it is to hammer plain truths1 even with the mallet of troubles1 into men's heads6 ,how blind we all are to the causal connection between sin and sorrow6 ,hezekiah saw the iron link uniting them1 and his whole policy was based upon that 'wherefore4' ,of course1 if we accept the ,biblical statements as to the divine dealing with ,israel and ,judah1 obedience and disobedience were there followed by reward and suffering more certainly and directly than is now the case in either national or individual life4 ,but it still remains true that it is a 'bitter' as well as an 'evil' thing to depart from the living ,god4 ,if we would find the cause of our own or of a nation's sorrows1 we had better begin our search among our or its sins4 ,that phrase 'an astonishment1 and an hissing' 7ver4 #h7 is new4 ,it appears for the first time in ,micah 7,micah vi4 #af71 and he1 we know1 exercised influence on ,hezekiah 7,jer4 xxvi4 #ah1 #ai74 ,perhaps the king is here quoting the prophet4 ,the exposition of the sin and its fruit is followed by the king's resolve for himself1 and1 so far as may be1 for his people4 ,the phrase 'it is in my heart' expresses fixed determination1 not mere wish4 ,it is used by ,david and of him1 in reference to his resolve to build the ,temple4 ',to make a covenant' probably means to renew the covenant1 made long ago at ,sinai1 but broken by sin4 ,the king has made up his mind1 and announces his determination4 ,he does not consult priests or people1 but expects their acquiescence4 ,so1 in the early days of ,christianity1 the 'conversion' of a king meant that of his people4 ,of course1 the power of the kings of ,israel and ,judah to change the national religion at their pleasure shows how slightly any religion had penetrated1 and how much1 at the best1 it was a matter of mere ceremonial worship with the masses4 ,people who worshipped ,ahaz's rabble of gods and godlings to-day because he bade them1 and ,hezekiah's ,god to-morrow1 had little worship for either1 and were much the same through all changes4 ,hezekiah was in earnest1 and his resolve was none the less right because it was moved by a desire to turn away the fierce anger of the ,lord4 ,dread of sin's consequences and a desire to escape these is no unworthy motive1 however some superfine moralists nowadays may call it so4 ,it is becoming unfashionable to preach 'the terror of the ,lord4' ,the more is the pity1 and the less is the likelihood of persuading men4 ,but1 however kindled1 the firm determination 7which does not wait for others to concur7 that ',as for me1 ,i will serve the ,lord1' is the grand thing for us all to imitate4 ,that strong young heart showed itself kingly in its resolve1 as it had shown itself sensitive to evil and tender in contemplating the widespread sorrow4 ,if we would brace our feeble wills1 and screw them to the sticking-point of immovable determination to make a covenant with ,god1 let us meditate on our departures from ,him1 the ,lover and ,benefactor of our souls1 and on the dreadfulness of ,his anger and the misery of those who forsake ,him4 ,once more the king turns to the priests4 ,he began and he finishes with them1 as if he were not sure of their reliableness4 ,his tone is kindly1 ',my sons1' but yet monitory4 ,they would not have been warned against 'negligence' unless they had obviously needed it1 nor would they have been stimulated to their duties by reminding them of their prerogatives1 unless they had been apt to slight these4 ,officials1 whose business is concerned with the things of ,god1 are often apt to drop into an easy-going pace4 ,negligent work may suit unimportant offices1 but is hideously inconsistent with the tasks and aims of ,god's servants4 ,if there is any work which has to be done 'with both hands1 earnestly1' it is theirs4 ,unless we put all our strength into it1 we shall get no good for ourselves or others out of it4 ,the utmost tension of all powers1 the utmost husbanding of every moment1 is absolutely demanded by the greatness of the task2 and the voice of the great ,master says to all ,his servants1 ',my sons1 be not now negligent4' ,ungirt loins and unlit lamps are fatal4 ,we should meditate1 too1 on the prerogatives and lofty offices to which ,christ calls those who love ,him2 not to minister to self-complacency1 as if we were so much better than other men1 but to deepen our sense of responsibility1 and stir us to strenuous efforts to be what we are called to be4 ,if ,christian people thought more earnestly on what ,jesus ,christ means them to be to the world1 they would not so often counterwork ,his purpose and shirk their own duties4 ,crowns are heavy to wear4 ,gifts are calls to service4 ,if we are chosen to be ,his ministers1 we have solemn responsibilities4 ,if we are to burn incense before ,him1 our censers need to be bright and free from strange fire4 ,if we are the lights of the world1 our business is to shine4 ,,sacrifice ,,renewed ',then they went in to ,hezekiah the king1 and said1 ,we have cleansed all the house of the ,lord1 and the altar of burnt-offering1 with all the vessels thereof1 and the shew-bread table1 with all the vessels thereof4 #ai4 ,moreover1 all the vessels1 which king ,ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression1 have we prepared and sanctified1 and1 behold1 they are before the altar of the ,lord4 #bj4 ,then ,hezekiah the king rose early1 and gathered the rulers of the city1 and went up to the house of the ,lord4 #ba4 ,and they brought seven bullocks1 and seven rams1 and seven lambs1 and seven he goats1 for a sin-offering for the kingdom1 and for the sanctuary1 and for ,judah4 ,and he commanded the priests1 the sons of ,aaron1 to offer them on the altar of the ,lord4 #bb4 ,so they killed the bullocks1 and the priests received the blood1 and sprinkled it on the altar3 likewise1 when they had killed the rams1 they sprinkled the blood upon the altar3 they killed also the lambs1 and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar4 #bc4 ,and they brought forth the he goats for the sin-offering before the king and the congregation2 and they laid their hands upon them4 #bd4 ,and the priests killed them1 and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar1 to make an atonement for all ,israel3 for the king commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be made for all ,israel4 #be4 ,and he set the ,levites in the house of the ,lord with cymbals1 with psalteries1 and with harps1 according to the commandment of ,david1 and of ,gad the king's seer1 and ,nathan the prophet3 for so was the commandment of the ,lord by ,his prophets4 #bf4 ,and the ,levites stood with the instruments of ,david1 and the priests with the trumpets4 #bg4 ,and ,hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering upon the altar4 ,and when the burnt-offering began1 the song of the ,lord began also with the trumpets1 and with the instruments ordained by ,david king of ,israel4 #bh4 ,and all the congregation worshipped1 and the singers sang1 and the trumpeters sounded3 and all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished4 #bi4 ,and when they had made an end of offering1 the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves1 and worshipped4 #cj4 ,moreover1 ,hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the ,levites to sing praises unto the ,lord with the words of ,david1 and of ,asaph the seer4 ,and they sang praises with gladness1 and they bowed their heads and worshipped4 #ca4 ,then ,hezekiah answered and said1 ,now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the ,lord1 come near1 and bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the ,lord4 ,and the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings2 and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings4--#b ,,chron4 xxix4 #ah-ca4 ,ahaz1 ,hezekiah's father1 had wallowed in idolatry1 worshipping any and every god but ,jehovah4 ,he had shut up the ,temple1 defiled the sacred vessels1 and 'made him altars in every corner of ,jerusalem4' ,and the result was that he brought the kingdom very near ruin1 was not allowed to be buried in the tombs of the kings1 and left his son a heavy task to patch up the mischief he had wrought4 ,hezekiah began at the right end of his task4 ',in the first year of his reign1 in the first month1' he set about restoring the worship of ,jehovah4 ,the relations with ,syria and ,damascus would come right if the relations with ,judah's ,god were right4 ',first things first' was his motto1 and perhaps he discerned the true sequence more accurately than some great political pundits do nowadays4 ,so neglected had the ,temple been that a strong force of priests and ,levites took a fortnight to 'carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place to the brook ,kidron1' and to cleanse and ceremonially sanctify the sacred vessels4 ,then followed at once the re-establishment of the ,temple worship1 which is narrated in the passage4 ,the first thing to be noted is that the whole movement back to ,jehovah was a one-man movement4 ,it was ,hezekiah's doing and his only4 ,no priest is named as prominent in it1 and the slowness of the whole order is especially branded in verse #cd4 ,no prophet is named2 was there any one prompting the king8 ,perhaps ,isaiah did1 though his chapter i4 with its scathing repudiation of 'the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts1' suggests that he did not think the restoration of sacrifice so important as that the nation should 'cease to do evil and learn to do well4' ,the people acquiesced in the king's worship of ,jehovah1 as they had acquiesced in other kings' worship of ,baal or ,moloch or ,hadad4 ,when kings take to being religious reformers1 they make swift converts1 but their work is as slight as it is speedy1 and as short-lived as it is rapid4 ,manasseh was ,hezekiah's successor1 and swept away all his work after twenty-nine years1 and apparently the mass of his people followed him just as they had followed ,hezekiah4 ,religion must be a matter of personal conviction and individual choice4 ,imposed from without1 or adopted because other people adopt it1 it is worthless4 ,another point to notice is that ,hezekiah's reformation was mainly directed to ritual1 and does not seem to have included either theology or ethics4 ,was be quite right in his estimate of what was the first thing8 ,isaiah1 in the passage already referred to1 does not seem to think so4 ,to him1 as to all the prophets1 foul hands could not bring acceptable sacrifices1 and worship was an abomination unless preceded by obedience to the command3 ',put away the evil of your doings from before ,mine eyes4' ,the filth in the hearts of the men of ,judah was more 'rank1 and smelt to heaven' more offensively1 than that in the ,temple1 which took sixteen days to shovel into ,kidron4 ,no doubt ceremonial bulked more largely in the days of the ,old ,covenant than it does in those of the ,new1 and both the then stage of revelation and the then spiritual stature of the recipients of revelation required that it should do so4 ,but the true religious reformers1 the prophets1 were never weary of insisting that1 even in those days1 moral and spiritual reformation should come first1 and that unless it did1 ritual worship1 though it were nominally offered to ,jehovah1 was as abhorrent to ,him as if it had been avowedly offered to ,baal4 ,not a little so-called ,christian worship today1 judged by the same test1 is as truly heathen superstition as if it had been paid to ,mumbo-,jumbo4 ,but when all deductions have been made1 the scene depicted in the passage is not only an affecting1 but an instructive one4 ,strangely unlike our notions of worship1 and to us almost repulsive1 must have been the slaying of three hundred and seventy animals and the offering of them as burnt offerings4 ,try to picture the rivers of blood1 the contortions of the dumb brutes1 the priests bedaubed with gore1 the smell of the burnt flesh1 the blare of the trumpets1 the shouts of the worshippers1 the clashing cymbals1 and realise what a world parts it from ',they went up into the upper chamber where they were abiding 444 these all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer1 with the women1 and ,mary1 the mother of ,jesus1 and with ,his brethren'6 ,sacrifice has been the essential feature in all religions before ,christ4 ,it has dropped out of worship wherever ,christ has been accepted4 ,why8 ,because it spoke of a deep1 permanent1 universal need1 and because ,christ was recognised as having met the need4 ,people who deny the need1 and people who deny that ,jesus on the ,cross has satisfied it1 may be invited to explain these two facts1 written large on the history of humanity4 ,that brings us to the most important aspect of ,hezekiah's great sacrifice4 ,it sets forth the stages by which men can approach to ,god4 ,it is symbolic of spiritual facts1 and prophetic of ,christ's work and of our way of coming to ,god through ,him4 ,the first requisite for ,judah's return to ,jehovah1 whom they had forsaken1 was the presentation of a 'sin offering4' ,the king and the congregation laid their hands on the heads of the goats1 thereby1 as it were1 transferring their own sinful personality to them4 ,thus laden with the nation's sins1 they were slain1 and in their death the nation1 as it were1 bore the penalty of its sin4 ,representation and substitution were dramatised in the sacrifice4 ,the blood sprinkled on the altar 7which had previously been 'sanctified' by sprinkling of blood1 and so made capable of presenting what touched it to ,jehovah71 made 'atonement for all ,israel4' ,we note in passing the emphasis of ',israel' here1 extending the benefit of the sacrifice to the separated tribes of the ,northern ,kingdom1 in a gush of yearning love and desire that they1 too1 might be reconciled to ,jehovah4 ,and is not this the first step towards any man's reconciliation with ,god8 ,is not ',my faith would lay her hand ,on that dear head of ,thine1' the true expression of the first requisite for us all8 ,jesus is the sin-offering for the world4 ,in ,his death ,he bears the world's sin4 ,his blood is presented to ,god1 and if we have associated ourselves with ,him by faith1 that blood sprinkled on the altar covers all our sins4 ,then followed in this parabolic ceremonial the burnt offering4 ,and that is the second stage of our return to ,god1 for it expresses the consecration of our forgiven selves1 as being consumed by the holy and blessed fire of a self-devotion1 kindled by the 'unspeakable gift1' which fire1 burning away all foulness1 will make us tenfold ourselves4 ,that fire will burn up only our bonds1 and we shall walk at liberty in it4 ,and that burnt-offering will always be accompanied with 'the song of ,jehovah1' and the joyful sound of the trumpets and 'the instruments of ,david4' ,the treasures of ,christian poetry have always been inspired by the ,cross1 and the consequent rapture of self-surrender4 ,calvary is the true fountain of song4 ,the last stage in ,hezekiah's great sacrifice was 'thank-offerings1' brought by 'as many as were of a willing heart4' ,and will not the self-devotion1 kindled by the fire of love1 speak in daily life by practical service1 and the whole activities of the redeemed man be a long thank-offering for the ,lamb who 'bears away the sins of the world'8 ,and if we do not thus offer our whole lives to ,god1 how shall we profess to have taken the priceless benefit of ,christ's death8 ,hezekiah followed the order laid down in the ,law1 and it is the only order that leads to the goal4 ,first1 the atoning sacrifice of the slain ,lamb2 next1 our identification with ,him and it by faith2 then the burnt-offering of a surrendered self1 with the song of praise sounding ever through it2 and last1 the life of service1 offering all our works to ,god1 and so reaching the perfection of life on earth and antedating the felicities of heaven4 ,a ,,loving ,,call ,,to ,,reunion ',and ,hezekiah sent to all ,israel and ,judah1 and wrote letters also to ,ephraim and ,manasseh1 that they should come to the house of the ,lord at ,jerusalem1 to keep the passover unto the ,lord ,god of ,israel4 #b4 ,for the king had taken counsel1 and his princes1 and all the congregation in ,jerusalem1 to keep the passover in the second month4 #c4 ,for they could not keep it at that time1 because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently1 neither had the people gathered themselves together to ,jerusalem4 #d4 ,and the thing pleased the king and all the congregation4 #e4 ,so they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all ,israel1 from ,beersheba even to ,dan1 that they should come to keep the passover unto the ,lord ,god of ,israel at ,jerusalem3 for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written4 #f4 ,so the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all ,israel and ,judah1 and according to the commandment of the king1 saying1 ,ye children of ,israel1 turn again unto the ,lord ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,israel1 and he will return to the remnant of you1 that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of ,assyria4 #g4 ,and be not ye like your fathers1 and like your brethren1 which trespassed against the ,lord ,god of their fathers1 who therefore gave them up to desolation1 as ye see4 #h4 ,now1 be ye not stiffnecked1 as your fathers were1 but yield yourselves unto the ,lord1 and enter into ,his sanctuary1 which ,he hath sanctified for ever3 and serve the ,lord your ,god1 that the fierceness of ,his wrath may turn away from you4 #i4 ,for if ye turn again unto the ,lord1 your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive1 so that they shall come again into this land3 for the ,lord your ,god is gracious and merciful1 and will not turn away ,his face from you1 if ye return unto ,him4 #aj4 ,so the posts passed from city to city through the country of ,ephraim and ,manasseh1 even unto ,zebulun3 but they laughed them to scorn1 and mocked them4 #aa4 ,nevertheless divers of ,asher and ,manasseh and of ,zebulun humbled themselves1 and came to ,jerusalem4 #ab4 ,also in ,judah the hand of ,god was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes1 by the word of the ,lord4 #ac4 ,and there assembled at ,jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month1 a very great congregation4'--#b ,,chron4 xxx4 #a-ac4 ,the date of ,hezekiah's passover is uncertain1 for1 while the immediate connection of this narrative with the preceding account of his cleansing the ,temple and restoring the sacrificial worship suggests that the passover followed directly on those events1 which took place at the beginning of the reign1 the language employed in the message to the northern tribes 7vers4 #f1g1 #i7 seems to imply the previous fall of the kingdom of ,israel1 ,if so1 this passover did not occur till after #gba ,b4,c41 the date of the capture of ,samaria1 six years after ,hezekiah's accession4 ,the sending of messengers from ,jerusalem on such an errand would scarcely have been possible if the northern kingdom had still been independent4 ,perhaps its fall was thought by ,hezekiah to open the door to drawing 'the remnant that were escaped' back to the ancient unity of worship1 at all events1 if not of polity4 ,no doubt a large number had been left in the northern territory1 and ,hezekiah may have hoped that calamity had softened their enmity to his kingdom1 and perhaps touched them with longings for the old worship4 ,at all events1 like a good man1 he will stretch out a hand to the alienated brethren1 now that evil days have fallen on them4 ,the hour of an enemy's calamity should be our opportunity for seeking to help and proffering reconciliation4 ,we may find that trouble inclines wanderers to come back to ,god4 ,the alteration of the time of keeping the passover from the thirteenth day of the first month to the same day of the second was in accordance with the liberty granted in ,numbers ix4 #aj1 #aa1 to persons unclean by contact with a dead body or 'in a journey afar off4' ,the decision to have the passover was not taken in time to allow of the necessary removal of uncleanness from the priests nor of the assembling of the people1 and therefore the permission to defer it for a month was taken advantage of1 in order to allow full time for the despatch of the messengers and the journeys of the farthest northern tribes4 ,it is to be observed that ,hezekiah took his subjects into counsel1 since the step intended was much too great for him to venture on of his own mere motion4 ,so the overtures went out clothed with the authority of the whole kingdom of ,judah4 ,it was the voice of a nation that sought to woo back the secessionists4 ,the messengers were instructed to supplement the official letters of invitation with earnest entreaties as from the king1 of which the gist is given in verses #f-i4 ,with the skill born of intense desire to draw the long-parted kingdoms together1 the message touches on ancestral memories1 recent bitter experiences1 yearnings for the captive kinsfolk1 the instinct of self-preservation1 and rises at last into the clear light of full faith in1 and insight into1 ,god's infinite heart of pardoning pity4 ,note the very first words1 ',ye children of ,israel1' and consider the effect of this frank recognition of the northern kingdom as part of the undivided ,israel4 ,such recognition might have been misunderstood or spurned when ,samaria was gay and prosperous2 but when its palaces were desolate1 the effect of the old name1 recalling happier days1 must have been as if the elder brother had come out from the father's house and entreated the prodigal to come back to his place at the fireside4 ,the battle would be more than half won if the appeal that was couched in the very name of ,israel was heeded4 ,note further how firmly and yet lovingly the sin of the northern kingdom is touched on4 ,the name of ,jehovah as the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,israel1 recalls the ancient days when the undivided people worshipped ,him1 and the still more ancient1 and1 to hearers and speakers alike1 more sacred1 days when the patriarchs received wondrous tokens that ,he was their ,god1 and they were ,his people2 while the recurrence of ',israel' as the name of ,jacob adds force to its previous use as the name of all ,his descendants4 ,the possible rejection of the invitation1 on the ground which the men of the north1 like the ,samaritan woman1 might have taken1 that they were true to their fathers' worship1 is cut away by the reminder that that worship was an innovation1 since the fathers of the present generation had been apostate from the ,god of their fathers4 ,the appeal to antiquity often lands men in a bog because it is not carried far enough back4 ',the fathers' may lead astray1 but if the antiquity to which we appeal is that of which the ,new ,testament is the record1 the more conservative we are1 the nearer the truth shall we be4 ,again1 the message touched on a chord that might easily have given a jarring note2 namely1 the misfortunes of the kingdom4 ,but it was done with so delicate a hand1 and so entirely without a trace of rejoicing in a neighbour's calamities1 that no susceptibilities could be ruffled1 while yet the solemn lesson is unfalteringly pointed4 ',he gave them up to desolation1 as ye see4' ,behind ,assyria was ,jehovah1 and ,israel's fall was not wholly explained by the disparity between its strength and the conquerors'4 ,under and through the play of criminal ambition1 cruelty1 and earthly politics1 the unseen ,hand wrought2 and the teaching of all the ,old ,testament history is condensed into that one sad sentence1 which points to facts as plain as tragical4 ,in deepest truth it applies to each of us2 for1 if we trespass against ,god1 we draw down evil on our heads with both hands1 and shall find that sin brings the worst desolation--that which sheds gloom over a godless soul4 ,we note further the deep true insight into ,god's character and ways expressed in this message4 ,there is a very striking variation in the three designations of ,jehovah as 'the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,israel' 7ver4 #f71 'the god of their that is1 the preceding generation fathers' 7ver4 #g71 and 'your ,god' 7ver4 #h74 ,the relation which had subsisted from of old had not been broken by man's apostasy1 ,jehovah still was1 in a true sense1 their ,god1 even if ,his relation to them only bound ,him not to leave them unpunished4 ,so their very sufferings proved them ,his1 for ',what son is he whom the father chasteneth not8' ,but strong1 sunny confidence in ,god shines from the whole message1 and reaches its climax in the closing assurance that ,he is merciful and gracious4 ,the evil results of rebellion are not omitted1 but they are not dwelt on4 ,the true magnet to draw wanderers back to ,god is the loving proclamation of ,his love4 ,unless we are sure that ,he has a heart tender with all pity1 and 'open as day to melting charity1' we shall not turn to ,him with our hearts4 ,the message puts the response which it sought in a variety of ways2 namely1 turning to ,jehovah1 not being stiff-necked1 yielding selves to ,jehovah1 entering into ,his sanctuary4 ,more than outward participation in the passover ceremonial is involved4 ,submission of will1 abandonment of former courses of action1 docility of spirit ready to be directed anywhere1 the habit of abiding with ,god by communion--all these1 the standing characteristics of the religious life1 are at least suggested by the invitations here4 ,we are all summoned thus to yield ourselves to ,god1 and especially to do so by surrendering our wills to ,him1 and to 'enter into ,his sanctuary1' by keeping up such communion with ,him as that1 however and wherever occupied1 we shall still 'dwell in the house of the ,lord all the days of our lives4' ,and the summons to return unto ,god is addressed to us all even more urgently than to ,israel4 ,god ,himself invites us by the voice of ,his providences1 by ,his voice within1 and by the voice of ,jesus ,himself1 who is ever saying to each of us1 by ,his death and passion1 by ,his resurrection and ascension1 ',turn ye6 turn ye6 why will ye die8' and who has more than endorsed ,hezekiah's messengers' assurance that ',jehovah will not turn away ,his face from' us by ,his own gracious promise1 ',him that cometh to ,me ,i will in no wise cast out4' ,the king's message met a mingled reception4 ,some mocked1 some were moved and accepted4 ,so1 alas6 is it with the better message1 which is either 'a savour of life unto life or of death unto death4' ,the same fire melts wax and hardens clay4 ,may it be with all of us as it was in ,judah--that we 'have one heart1 to do the commandment' and to accept the merciful summons to the great passover6 ,a ,,strange ,,reward ,,for ,,faithfulness ',after these things1 and the establishment thereof1 ,sennacherib1 king of ,assyria1 came4'--#b ,,chron4 ,,xxxii4 #a4 ,the ,revised ,version gives a much more accurate and significant rendering of a part of these words4 ,it reads3 ',after these things and this faithfulness1 ,sennacherib1 king of ,assyria1 came4' ,what are 'these things' and 'this faithfulness'8 ,the former are the whole of the events connected with the religious reformation in ,judah1 which ,king ,hezekiah inaugurated and carried through so brilliantly and successfully4 ,this 'faithfulness' directly refers to a word in a couple of verses before the text3 ',thus did ,hezekiah throughout all ,judah2 and he wrought that which was good and right and faithfulness before the ,lord his ,god4' ,and1 after these things1 the re-establishment of religion and this 'faithfulness1' though ,hezekiah was perfect before ,god in all ritual observances and in practical righteousness1 and though he was seeking the ,lord his ,god with all his heart1 here is what came of it3--',after this faithfulness came' not blessings or prosperity1 but ',sennacherib1 king of ,assyria'6 ,the chronicler not only tells this as singular1 but one can feel that he is staggered by it4 ,there is a tone of perplexity and wonder in his voice as he records that this was what followed the faithful righteousness and heart-devotion of the best king that ever sat on the throne of ,judah4 ,i think that this royal martyr's experience is really a mirror of the experience of devout men in all ages and a revelation of the great law and constant processes of the ,divine ,providence4 ,and from that point of view ,i wish to speak now1 not only on the words ,i have read1 but on what follows them4 ,i4 ,we have here the statement of the mystery4 ,it is the standing puzzle of the ,old ,testament1 how good men come to be troubled1 and how bad men come to be prosperous4 ,and although we ,christian men and women are a great deal too apt to suppose that we have outlived that rudimentary puzzle of the religious mind1 yet ,i do not think by any means that we have4 ,for we hear men1 when the rod falls upon themselves1 saying1 ',what have ,i done that ,i should be smitten thus8' or when their friends suffer1 saying1 ',what a marvellous thing it is that such a good man as ,a1 ,b1 or ,c should have so much trouble6' or1 when widespread calamities strike a community1 standing aghast at the broad and dark shadows that fall upon a nation or a continent1 and wondering what the meaning of all this heaped misery is1 and why the world is thus allowed to run along its course surrounded by an atmosphere made up of the breath of sighs1 and swathed in clouds which are moist with tears4 ,my text gives us an illustration in the sharpest form of the mystery4 ',after these things and this faithfulness1 ,sennacherib came'--and he always comes in one shape or another4 ,for1 to begin with1 a good man's goodness does not lift him out of the ordinary associations and contingencies and laws of life4 ,if he has inherited a diseased constitution1 his devotion will not make him a healthy man4 ,if he has little common sense1 his godliness will not make him prosper in worldly affairs4 ,if he is tied to unfortunate connections1 he will have to suffer4 ,if he happens to be in a decaying branch of business1 his prayers will not make him prosperous4 ,if he falls in the way of poisonous gas from a sewer1 his godliness will not exempt him from an attack of fever4 ,so all round the horizon we see this3 that the godly man is involved like any other man in the ordinary contingencies and possible evils of life4 ,then1 have we to say that ,god has nothing to do with these8 ,again1 ,hezekiah's story teaches us how second causes are ,god's instruments1 and ,he is at the back of everything4 ,there are two sources of our knowledge of the history of ,judah in the time with which we are concerned4 ,one is the ,bible1 the other is the ,assyrian monuments2 and it is a most curious contrast to read the two narratives of the same events1 agreeing about the facts1 but disagreeing utterly in the spirit4 ,why8 ,because the one tells the story from the world's point of view1 and the other tells it from ,god's point of view4 ,so when you take the one narrative1 it is simply this3 ',there was a conspiracy down in the south against the political supremacy of ,assyria1 and a lot of little confederate kinglets gathered themselves2 and ,hezekiah1 of ,judah1 was one1 along with ,so-and-,so of such-and-such a petty land1 and they leaned upon ,egypt2 and ,i1 ,sennacherib1 came down among them1 and they tumbled to pieces1 and that is all4' ,then the ,bible comes in1 and it says that ,god ordered all those political complications1 and that they were all the working out of ,his purposes1 and that 'the axe in ,his hand' as ,isaiah has it so picturesquely1 was this proud king of ,assyria1 with his boastful mouth and vainglorious words4 ,now1 that is the principle by which we have to estimate all the events that befall us4 ,there are two ways of looking at them4 ,you may look at them from the under side or from the top side4 ,you may see them as they appear to men who cannot look beyond their noses and only have concern with the visible cranks and shafting1 or you may look at them from the engine-room and take account of the invisible power that drives them all4 ,in the one case you will regard it as a mystery that good men should have to suffer so2 in the other case1 you will say1 ',it is the ,lord1 let ,him do'--even when ,he does it through ,sennacherib and his like1 'let ,him do what seemeth ,him good4' ,then there is another thing to be taken into account--that is1 that the better a man is1 the more faithful he is and the more closely he cleaves to ,god1 and seeks1 like this king1 to do1 with all his heart1 all his work in the service of the ,house of ,god and to seek his ,god1 the more sure is he to bring down upon himself certain forms of trouble and trial4 ,the rebellion which1 from the ,assyrian side of the river1 seemed to be a mere political revolt1 from the ,jordan side of the river seemed to be closely connected with the religious reformation4 ,and it was just because ,hezekiah and his people came back to ,god that they rebelled against the ,king of ,assyria and served him not4 ,if you provoke ,sennacherib1 ,sennacherib will be down upon you very quickly4 ,that is to say1 being translated1 if you will live like ,christian men and women and fling down the gage of battle to the world and to the evil that lies in every one of us1 and say1 ',no1 ,i have nothing to do with you4 ,my law is not your law1 and1 ,god helping me1 my practice shall not be your practice1' then you will find out that the power that you have defied has a very long arm and a very tight grasp1 and you will have to make up your minds that1 in some shape or other1 the old law will be fulfilled about you4 ,through much tribulation we must enter the ,kingdom4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 my text and its context solve the mystery which it raises4 ,the chronicler1 as ,i said1 wishes us to notice the sequence1 strange as it is1 and to wonder at it for a moment1 in order that we may be prepared the better to take in the grand explanation that follows4 ,and the explanation lies in the facts that ensue4 ,did ,sennacherib come to destroy8 ,by no means6 ,here were the results3 first1 a stirring to wholesome energy and activity4 ,if annoyances and troubles and sorrows1 great or small1 do nothing else for us1 they would be clear and simple gain if they woke us up1 for the half of men pass half of their lives half-asleep4 ,and anybody that has ever come through a great sorrow and can remember what deep fountains were opened in his heart that he knew nothing about before1 and how powers that were all unsuspected by himself suddenly came to him1 and how life1 instead of being a trivial succession of nothings1 all at once became significant and solemn--any man who can remember that1 will feel that if there were nothing else that his troubles did for him than to shake him out of torpor and rouse him to a tension of wholesome activity1 so that he cried out3 ',call forth thy powers1 my soul6 and dare ,the conflict of unequal war1' he would have occasion to bless ,god for the roughest handling4 ,the tropics are very pleasant for lazy people1 but they sap the constitution and make work impossible2 and after a man has lived for a while in their perpetual summer1 he begins to long for damp and mist and frost and east winds which bring bracing to the system and make him fit to work4 ,god takes us often into very ungenial climates1 and the vindication of it is that we may be set to active service4 ,that was the first good thing that ,sennacherib's coming did4 ,the next was that his invasion increased dependence upon ,god4 ,you will remember the story of the insolent taunts and vulgar vaunting by him and his servants1 and the one answer that was given3 ',hezekiah1 the king1 and ,isaiah the son of ,amoz the prophet1 prayed and cried to ,god4' ,ah6 dear brethren1 any thing that drives us to ,his breast is blessing4 ,we may call it evil when we speak from the point of view of the foolish senses and the quivering heart1 but if it blows us into ,his arms1 any wind1 the roughest and the fiercest1 is to be welcomed more than lazy calms or gentle zephyrs4 ,if1 realising our own weakness and impotence1 we are made to hang more completely upon ,him1 then let us be thankful for whatever has been the means of such a blessed issue4 ,that was the second good thing that ,sennacherib did4 ,the third good thing that he--not exactly did--but that was done through him1 was that experience of ,god's delivering power was enriched4 ,you remember the miracle of the destruction of the army4 ,i need not dilate upon it4 ,a man who can look back and say1 ',thou hast been with me in six troubles1' need never be afraid of the seventh2 and he who has hung upon that strong rope when he has been swinging away down in the darkness and asphyxiating atmosphere of the pit1 and has been drawn up into the sunshine again1 will trust it for all coming time4 ,if there were no other explanation1 the enlarged and deepened experience of the realities of ,god's ,gospel and of ,god's grace1 which are bought only by sorrow1 would be a sufficient explanation of any sorrow that any of us have ever had to carry4 ',well roars the storm to him who hears ,a deeper voice across the storm4' ,there are large tracts of ,scripture which have no meaning1 no blessedness to us until they have been interpreted to us by losses and sorrows4 ,we never know the worth of the lighthouse until the ,november darkness and the howling winds come down upon us1 and then we appreciate its preciousness4 ,so1 dear friends6 the upshot of the whole is just that old teaching1 that if we realised what life is for1 we should wonder less at the sorrows that are in it4 ,for life is meant to make us partakers of ,his holiness1 not to make us happy4 ,our happiness is a secondary purpose1 not out of view of the ,divine love1 but it is not the primary one4 ,and the direct intention and mission of sorrow1 like the direct intention and mission of joy1 are to further that great purpose1 that we 'should be partakers of ,his holiness4' ',every branch in ,me that beareth fruit1 ,he purgeth it1 that it may bring forth more fruit4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 my text suggests a warning against letting prosperity undo adversity's work4 ,hezekiah came bravely through his trials4 ,they did exactly what ,god wanted them to do2 they drove him to ,god1 they forced him down upon his knees4 ,when ,sennacherib's letter came1 he took it to the ,temple and spread it before ,god1 and said1 ',o ,lord6 it is ,thy business4 ,it is addressed to me1 but it is meant for ,thee2 do ,thou answer it4' ,and so he received the help that he wanted4 ,but he broke down after that4 ,he was 'exalted'2 and the allies1 his neighbours1 that had not lifted a finger to help him when he needed their help1 sent him presents which would have been a great deal more seasonable when he was struggling for his life with ,sennacherib4 ,what 'came after 7,god's7 faithfulness'8 ,this--'his heart was lifted up1 and he rendered not according to the benefit rendered to him4' ,therefore the blow had to come down again4 ,a great many people take refuge in archways when it rains1 and run out as soon as it holds up1 and a great many people take religion as an umbrella1 to put down when the sunshine comes4 ,we cross the bridge and forget it1 and when the leprosy is out of us we do not care to go back and give thanks4 ,sometimes too1 we begin to think1 ',after all1 it was we that killed ,sennacherib's army1 and not the angel4' ,and so1 like dull scholars1 we need the lesson repeated once1 twice1 thrice1 'here a little and there a little1 precept upon precept1 line upon line4' ,there is none of us that has so laid to heart our past difficulties and trials that it is safe for ,god to burn the rod as long as we are in this life4 ,dear friends6 do not let it be said of us1 ',in vain have ,i smitten thy children4 ,they have received no correction'2 but rather let us keep close to ,him1 and seek to learn the sweet and loving meaning of ,his sharpest strokes4 ,then the little book1 'written within and without with lamentation and woe1' which we all in our turn have to absorb and make our own1 may be 'bitter in the mouth1' but will be 'sweet as honey' thereafter4 ,,manasseh',s ,,sin ,,and ,,repentance ',so ,manasseh made ,judah and the inhabitants of ,jerusalem to err1 and to do worse than the heathen1 whom the ,lord had destroyed before the children of ,israel4 #aj4 ,and the ,lord spake to ,manasseh1 and to his people3 but they would not hearken4 #aa4 ,wherefore the ,lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of ,assyria1 which took ,manasseh among the thorns1 and bound him with fetters1 and carried him to ,babylon4 #ab4 ,and when he was in affliction1 he besought the ,lord his ,god1 and humbled himself greatly before the ,god of his fathers1 #ac4 ,and prayed unto him3 and he was intreated of him1 and heard his supplication1 and brought him again to ,jerusalem into his kingdom4 ,then ,manasseh knew that the ,lord ,he was ,god4 #ad4 ,now after this he built a wall without the city of ,david1 on the west side of ,gihon1 in the valley1 even to the entering in at the fish gate1 and compassed about ,ophel1 and raised it up a very great height1 and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of ,judah4 #ae4 ,and he took away the strange gods1 and the idol out of the house of the ,lord1 and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the ,lord1 and in ,jerusalem1 and cast them out of the city4 #af4 ,and he repaired the altar of the ,lord1 and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings1 and commanded ,judah to serve the ,lord ,god of ,israel4'--#b ,,chron4 xxxiii4 #i-af4 ,the story of ,manasseh's sin and repentance may stand as a typical example4 ,its historical authenticity is denied on the ground that it appears only in this ,book of ,chronicles4 ,i must leave others to discuss that matter2 my purpose is to bring out the teaching contained in the story4 ,the first point in it is the stern indictment against ,manasseh and his people4 ,the experience which has saddened many a humbler home was repeated in the royal house1 where a ,hezekiah was followed by a ,manasseh1 who scorned all that his father had worshipped1 and worshipped all that his father had loathed4 ,happily the father's eyes were closed long before the idolatrous bias of his son could have disclosed itself4 ,succeeding to the throne at twelve years of age1 he could not have begun his evil ways at once1 and probably would have been preserved from them if his father had lived long enough to mould his character4 ,a child of twelve1 flung on to a throne1 was likely to catch the infection of any sin that was in the atmosphere4 ,the narrative specifies two points in which1 as he matured in years1 and was confirmed in his course of conduct1 he went wrong3 first1 in his idolatry2 and second1 in his contempt of remonstrances and warnings4 ,as to the former1 the preceding context gives a terrible picture4 ,he was smitten with a very delirium of idolatry1 and wallowed in any and every sort of false worship4 ,no matter what strange god was presented1 there were hospitality1 an altar1 and an offering for him4 ,baal1 ,moloch1 'the host of heaven1' wizards1 enchanters1 anybody who pretended to have any sort of black art1 all were welcome1 and the more the better4 ,no doubt1 this eager acceptance of a miscellaneous multitude of deities was partly reaction from the monotheism of the former reign1 but also it was the natural result of being surrounded by the worshippers of these various gods2 and it was an unconscious confession of the insufficiency of each and all of them to fill the void in the heart1 and satisfy the needs of the spirit4 ,there are 'gods many1 and lords many1' because they are insufficient2 'the ,lord our ,god is one ,lord1' because ,he1 in ,his single ,self1 is more than all these1 and is enough for any and every man4 ,we may note1 too1 that at the beginning of the chapter ,manasseh is said to have done 'like unto the abominations of the heathen1' while in verse #i he is said to have done 'evil more than did the nations4' ,when a worshipper of ,jehovah does like the heathen1 he does worse than they4 ,an apostate ,christian is more guilty than one who has never 'tasted the good word of ,god1' and is likely to push his sins to a more flagrant wickedness4 ',the corruption of the best is the worst4' ,we cannot do what the world does without being more deeply guilty than they4 ,the narrative lays stress on the fact that the king's inclination to idolatry was agreeable to the people4 ,the kings1 who fought against it1 had to resist the popular current1 but at the least encouragement from those in high places the nation was ready to slide back4 ,rulers who wish to lower the standard of morality or religion have an easy task2 but the people who follow their lead are not free from guilt1 though they can plead that they only followed4 ,the second count in the indictment is the refusal of king and people to listen to ,god's remonstrances4 #b ,kings1 chap1 xxi41 gives the prophets' warnings at greater length4 ',they would not hearken'--can anything madder and sadder be said of any of us than that8 ,is it not the very sin of sins1 and the climax of suicidal folly1 that ,god should call and men stop their ears8 ,and yet how many of us pay no more regard to ,his voice1 in ,his providences1 in our own consciences1 in history1 in ,scripture1 and1 most penetrating and beseeching of all1 in ,christ1 than to idle wind whistling through an archway6 ,our own evil deeds stop our ears1 and the stopped ears make further evil deeds more easy4 ,the second step in this typical story is merciful chastisement1 meant to secure a hearing for ,god's voice4 #b ,kings tells the threat1 but not the fulfilment2 ,chronicles tells the fulfilment1 but not the threat4 ,we note how emphatically ,god's hand is recognised behind the political complications which brought the ,assyrians to ,jerusalem1 and how particularly it is stated that the invasion was not headed by ,esarhaddon1 but by his generals4 ,the place of ,manasseh's captivity also is specified1 not as ,nineveh1 as might have been expected1 but as ,babylon4 ,these details1 especially the last1 look like genuine history4 ,it is history which carries a lesson4 ,here is one conspicuous instance of the divine method1 which is working to-day as it did then4 ,god's hand is behind the secondary causes of events4 ,our sorrows and 'misfortunes' are sent to us by ,him1 not hurled at us by human hands only1 or occurring by the working of impersonal laws4 ,they are meant to make us bethink ourselves1 and drop evil things from our hands and hearts4 ,it is best to be guided by ,his eye1 and not need 'bit and bridle'2 but if we make ourselves stubborn as 'the mule1 which has no understanding1' it is second best that we should taste the whip1 that it may bring us to run in harness on the road which ,he wills4 ,if we habitually looked at calamities as ,his loving chastisement1 intended to draw us to ,himself1 we should not have to stand perplexed so often at what we call the mysteries of ,his providence4 ,the next step in the story is the yielding of the sinful heart when smitten4 ,the worst affliction is an affliction wasted1 which does us no good4 ,and ,god has often to lament1 ',in vain have ,i smitten your children2 they received no correction4' ,sorrow has in itself no power to effect the purpose for which it is sent2 but all depends on how we take it4 ,it sometimes makes us hard1 bitter1 obstinate in clinging to evil4 ,a heart that has been disciplined by it1 and still is undisciplined1 is like iron hammered on an anvil1 and made the more close-grained thereby4 ,but this king took his chastisement wisely4 ,an accepted sorrow is an angel in disguise1 and nothing which drives us to ,god is a calamity4 ,manasseh praying was freer in his chains than ever he had been in his prosperity4 ,manasseh humbling himself greatly before ,god was higher than when1 in the pride of his heart1 he shut ,god out from it4 ,affliction should clear our sight1 that we may see ourselves as we are2 and1 if we do1 there will be an end of high looks1 and we shall 'take the lowest room4' ,thus humbled1 we shall pray as the self-confident and outwardly prosperous cannot do4 ,sorrow has done its best on us when1 like some strong hand on our shoulders1 it has brought us to our knees4 ,no affliction has yielded its full blessing to us unless it has thus set us by ,manasseh's side4 ,the next step in the story is the loving answer to the humbled heart1 and the restoration to the kingdom4 ',he was entreated of him4' ,no doubt1 political circumstances brought about ,manasseh's reinstatement1 as they had brought about his captivity1 but it was ,god that 'brought him again to his kingdom4' ,we may not receive again lost good things1 but we may be quite sure that ,god never fails to hear the cry of the humble1 and that1 if there is one voice that more surely reaches ,his ear and moves ,his heart than another1 it is the voice of ,his chastened children1 who cry to ,him out of the depths1 and there have learned their own sin and sore need4 ,he will be entreated of them1 and1 whether ,he gives back lost good or not1 ,he will give ,himself1 in whom all good is comprehended4 ,manasseh's experience may be repeated in us4 ,and the best part of it was1 not that he received back his kingdom1 but that 'then ,manasseh knew that the ,lord ,he was ,god4' ,the name had been but a name to him1 but now it had become a reality4 ,our traditional1 second-hand belief in ,god is superficial and largely unreal till it is deepened and vivified by experience4 ,if we have cried to ,him1 and been lightened1 then we have a ground of conviction that cannot be shaken4 ,formerly we could at most say1 ',i believe in ,god1' or1 ',i think there is a ,god1' but now we can say1 ',i know1' and no criticism nor contradiction can shake that4 ,such knowledge is not the knowledge won by the understanding alone1 but it is acquaintance with a living ,person1 like the knowledge which loving souls have of each other2 and he who has that knowledge as the issue of his own experience may smile at doubts and questionings1 and say with the ,apostle of ,love1 ',we know that we are of ,god1 444 and we know that the ,son of ,god is come1 and hath given us an understanding1 that we may know ,him that is true4' ,then1 if we have that knowledge1 we shall listen to the same ,apostle's commandment1 ',keep yourselves from idols1' even as the issue of ,manasseh's knowledge of ,god was that 'he took away the strange gods1 and the idol out of the house of the ,lord4' ,,josiah ',josiah was eight years old when he began to reign1 and he reigned in ,jerusalem one and thirty years4 #b4 ,and he did that which was right in the sight of the ,lord1 and walked in the ways of ,david his father1 and declined neither to the right hand1 nor to the left4 #c4 ,for in the eighth year of his reign1 while he was yet young1 he began to seek after the ,god of ,david his father3 and in the twelfth year he began to purge ,judah and ,jerusalem from the high places1 and the groves1 and the carved images1 and the molten images4 #d4 ,and they brake down the altars of ,baalim in his presence2 and the images1 that were on high above them1 he cut down2 and the groves1 and the carved images1 and the molten images1 he brake in pieces1 and made dust of them1 and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them4 #e4 ,and he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars1 and cleansed ,judah and ,jerusalem4 #f4 ,and so did he in the cities of ,manasseh1 and ,ephraim1 and ,simeon1 even unto ,naphtali1 with their mattocks round about4 #g4 ,and when he had broken down the altars and the groves1 and had beaten the graven images into powder1 and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of ,israel1 he returned to ,jerusalem4 #h4 ,now in the eighteenth year of his reign1 when he had purged the land1 and the house1 he sent ,shaphan the son of ,azaliah1 and ,maaseiah the governor of the city1 and ,joah the son of ,joahaz the recorder1 to repair the house of the ,lord his ,god4 #i4 ,and when they came to ,hilkiah the high priest1 they delivered the money that was brought into the house of ,god1 which the ,levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of ,manasseh and ,ephraim1 and of all the remnant of ,israel1 and of all ,judah and ,benjamin2 and they returned to ,jerusalem4 #aj4 ,and they put it in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the ,lord1 and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the ,lord1 to repair and amend the house3 #aa4 ,even to the artificers and builders gave they it1 to buy hewn stone1 and timber for couplings1 and to floor the houses which the kings of ,judah had destroyed4 #ab4 ,and the men did the work faithfully3 and the overseers of them were ,jahath and ,obadiah1 the ,levites1 of the sons of ,merari2 and ,zechariah and ,meshullam1 of the sons of the ,kohathites1 to set it forward2 and other of the ,levites1 all that could skill of instruments of musick4 #ac4 ,also they were over the bearers of burdens1 and were overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service3 and of the ,levites there were scribes1 and officers1 and porters4'--#b ,,chron4 xxxiv4 #a-ac4 ,another boy king1 even younger than his grandfather ,manasseh had been at his accession1 and another reversal of the father's religion6 ,these vibrations from idolatry to ,jehovah-worship1 at the pleasure of the king1 sadly tell how little the people cared whom they worshipped1 and how purely a matter of ceremonies and names both their idolatry and their ,jehovah-worship were4 ,the religion of the court was the religion of the nation1 only idolatry was more congenial than the service of ,god4 ,how far the child monarch ,josiah had a deeper sense of what that service meant we cannot decide1 but the little outline sketch of him in verses #b and #c is at least suggestive of his having it1 and may well stand as a fair portrait of early godliness4 ,a child eight years old1 who had been lifted on to the throne of a murdered father1 must have had a strong will and a love of goodness to have resisted the corrupting influences of royalty in a land full of idols4 ,here again we see that1 great as may be the power of circumstances1 they do not determine character2 for it is always open to us either to determine whether we yield to them or resist them4 ,the prevailing idolatry influenced the boy1 but it influenced him to hate it with all his heart4 ,so out of the nettle danger we may pluck the flower safety4 ,the men who have smitten down some evil institution have generally been brought up so as to feel its full force4 ',he did that which was right in the eyes of ,jehovah'--that may mean simply that he worshipped ,jehovah by outward ceremonies1 but it probably means more2 namely1 that his life was pure and ,god-pleasing1 or1 as we should say1 clean and moral1 free from the foul vices which solicit a young prince4 ',he walked in the ways of ,david his father'--not being one of the 'emancipated' youths who think it manly to throw off the restraints of their fathers' faith and morals4 ,he 'turned not aside to the right hand or to the left'--but marched right onwards on the road that conscience traced out for him1 though tempting voices called to him from many a side-alley that seemed to lead to pleasant places4 ',while he was yet young1 he began to seek after the ,god of ,david his father'--at the critical age of sixteen1 when ,easterns are older than we1 in the flush of early manhood1 he awoke to deeper experiences and felt the need for a closer touch of ,god4 ,a career thus begun will generally prelude a life pure1 strenuous1 and blessed with a clearer and clearer vision of the ,god who is always found of them that seek ,him4 ,such a childhood1 blossoming into such a boyhood1 and flowering in such a manhood1 is possible to every child among us4 ,it will 'still bring forth fruit in old age4' ,the two incidents which the passage narrates1 the purging of the land and the repair of the ,temple1 are told in inverted order in #b ,kings1 but the order here is probably the more accurate1 as dates are given1 whereas in #b ,kings1 though the purging is related after the ,temple restoration1 it is not said to have occurred after4 ,but the order is of small consequence4 ,what is important is the fiery energy of ,josiah in the work of destruction of the idols4 ,here1 there1 everywhere1 he flames and consumes4 ,he darts a flash even into the desolate ruins of the ,israelitish kingdom1 where the idols had survived their devotees and still bewitched the scanty fragments of ,israel that remained4 ,the altars of stone were thrown down1 the wooden sun-pillars were cut to pieces1 the metal images were broken and ground to powder4 ,a clean sweep was made4 ,a dash of ferocity mingled with contempt appears in ,josiah's scattering the 'dust' of the images on the graves of their worshippers1 as if he said3 ',there you lie together1 pounded idols and dead worshippers1 neither able to help the other6' ,the same feelings prompted digging up the skeletons of priests and burning the bones on the very altars that they had served1 thus defiling the altars and executing judgment on the priests4 ,no doubt there were much violence and a strong strain of the 'wrath of man' in all this4 ,iconoclasts are wont to be 'violent'2 and men without convictions1 or who are partisans of what the iconoclasts are rooting out1 are horrified at their want of 'moderation4' ,but though violence is always unchristian1 indifference to rampant evils is not conspicuously more ,christian1 and1 on the whole1 you cannot throttle snakes in a graceful attitude or without using some force to compress the sinuous neck4 ,the restoration of the ,temple comes after the cleansing of the land1 in ,chronicles1 and naturally in the order of events1 for the casting out of idols must always precede the building or repairing of the ,temple of ,god4 ,destructive work is very poor unless it is for the purpose of clearing a space to build the ,temple on4 ,happy the man or the age which is able to do both6 ,josiah and ,joash worked at restoring the ,temple in much the same fashion1 but ,josiah had a priesthood more interested than ,joash had4 ,but we may note one or two points in his restoration4 ,he had put his personal effort into the preparatory extirpation of idols1 but he did not need to do so now4 ,he could work this time by deputy4 ,and it is noteworthy that he chose 'laymen' to carry out the restoration4 ,perhaps he knew how ,joash had been balked by the knavery of the priests who were diligent in collecting money1 but slow in spending it on the ,temple4 ,at all events1 he delegated the work to three highly-placed officials1 the secretary of state1 the governor of ,jerusalem1 and the official historian4 ,it appears that for some time a collection had been going on for ,temple repairs2 probably it had been begun six years before1 when the 'purging' of the land began4 ,it had been carried on by the ,levites1 and had been contributed to even by 'the remnant of ,israel' in the northern kingdom1 who1 in their forlorn weakness1 had begun to feel the drawings of ancient brotherhood and the tie of a common worship4 ,this fund was in the keeping of the high priest1 and the three commissioners were instructed to require it from him4 ,here #b ,kings is clearer than our passage1 and shows that what the three officials had mainly to do was to get the money from ,hilkiah1 and to hand it over to the superintendents of the works4 ,there are two remarkable points in the narrative2 one is the observation that 'the men did the work faithfully1' which comes in rather enigmatically here1 but in #b ,kings is given as the reason why no accounts were kept4 ,not an example to be imitated1 and the sure way to lead subordinates sooner or later to deal unfaithfully2 but a pleasant indication of the spirit animating all concerned4 ,surely these men worked 'as ever in the great ,taskmaster's eye4' ,that is what makes us work faithfully1 whether we have any earthly overseer or audit or no4 ,another noteworthy matter is that not only were the superintendents of the work--the 'contractors1' as we might say--,levites1 but so were also the inferior superintendents1 or1 as we might say1 'foremen4' ,and not only so1 but they were those that 'were skilful with instruments of music4' ,what were musicians doing there8 ,did the building rise 'with the sound ,of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet8' ,may we not gather from this singular notice the great thought that for all rearing of the true ,temple1 harps of praise are no less necessary than swords or trowels1 and that we shall do no right work for ,god or man unless we do it as with melody in our hearts8 ,our lives must be full of music if we are to lay even one stone in the ,temple4 ,,josiah ,,and ,,the ,,newly ,,found ,,law ',and when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the ,lord1 ,hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the ,lord given by ,moses4 #ae4 ,and ,hilkiah answered and said to ,shaphan the scribe1 ,i have found the book of the law in the house of the ,lord4 ,and ,hilkiah delivered the book to ,shaphan4 #af ,and ,shaphan carried the book to the king1 and brought the king word back again1 saying1 ,all that was committed to thy servants1 they do it4 #ag4 ,and they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the ,lord1 and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers1 and to the hand of the workmen4 #ah4 ,then ,shaphan the scribe told the king1 saying1 ,hilkiah the priest hath given me a book4 ,and ,shaphan read it before the king4 #ai4 ,and it came to pass1 when the king had heard the words of the law1 that he rent his clothes4 #bj4 ,and the king commanded ,hilkiah1 and ,ahikam the son of ,shaphan1 and ,abdon the son of ,micah1 and ,shaphan the scribe1 and ,asaiah a servant of the king's1 saying1 #ba4 ,go1 enquire of the ,lord for me1 and for them that are left in ,israel and in ,judah1 concerning the words of the book that is found3 for great is the wrath of the ,lord that is poured out upon us1 because our fathers have not kept the word of the ,lord1 to do after all that is written in this book4 #bb4 ,and ,hilkiah1 and they that the king had appointed1 went to ,huldah the prophetess1 the wife of ,shallum the son of ,tikvath1 the son of ,hasrah1 keeper of the wardrobe2 7now she dwelt in ,jerusalem in the college27 and they spake to her to that effect4 #bc4 ,and she answered them1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 ,tell ye the man that sent you to me4 #bd4 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,behold1 ,i will bring evil upon this place1 and upon the inhabitants thereof1 even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of ,judah3 #be4 ,because they have forsaken ,me1 and have burned incense unto other gods1 that they might provoke ,me to anger with all the works of their hands2 therefore ,my wrath shall be poured out upon this place1 and shall not be quenched4 #bf4 ,and as for the king of ,judah1 who sent you to enquire of the ,lord1 so shall ye say unto him1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god of ,israel concerning the words which thou hast heard2 #bg4 ,because thine heart was tender1 and thou didst humble thyself before ,god1 when thou heardest ,his words against this place1 and against the inhabitants thereof1 and humbledst thyself before ,me1 and did rendst thy clothes1 and weep before ,me2 ,i have even heard thee also1 saith the ,lord4 #bh4 ,behold1 ,i will gather thee to thy fathers1 and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace1 neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that ,i will bring upon this place1 and upon the inhabitants of the same4 ,so they brought the king word again4'--#b ,,chron4 xxxiv4 #ad-bh4 ,about one hundred years separated ,hezekiah's restoration from ,josiah's4 ,neither was more than a momentary arrest of the strong tide running in the opposite direction2 and ,josiah's was too near the edge of the cataract to last1 or to avert the plunge4 ,there is nothing more tragical than the working of the law which often sets the children's teeth on edge by reason of the fathers' eating of sour grapes4 ,i4 ,the first point in this passage is the discovery of the book of the ,law4 ,the book had been lost before it was found4 ,for how long we do not know1 but the fact that it had been so carelessly kept is eloquent of the indifference of priests and kings1 its appointed guardians4 ,lawbreakers have a direct interest in getting rid of lawbooks1 just as shopkeepers who use short yardsticks and light weights are not anxious the standards should be easily accessible4 ,if we do not make ,god's law our guide1 we shall wish to put it out of sight1 that it may not be our accuser4 ,what more sad or certain sign of evil can there be than that we had rather not 'hear what ,god the ,lord will speak'8 ,the straightforward story of our passage gives a most natural explanation of the find4 ,hilkiah was likely to have had dark corners cleared out in preparation for repairs and in storing the subscriptions1 and many a mislaid thing would turn up4 ,if it be possible that the book of the ,law should have been neglected 7and the religious corruption of the last hundred years makes that only too certain71 its discovery in some dusty recess is very intelligible1 and would not have been doubted but for the exigencies of a theory4 ',reading between the lines' is fascinating1 but risky2 for the reader is very likely unconsciously to do what ,hilkiah is said to have done--namely1 to invent what he thinks he finds4 ,accepting the narrative as it stands1 we may see in it a striking instance of the indestructibleness of ,god's ,word4 ,his law is imperishable1 and its written embodiment seems as if it1 too1 had a charmed life4 ,when we consider the perils attending the transmission of ancient manuscripts1 the necessary scarcity of copies before the invention of printing1 the scattering of the ,jewish people1 it does appear as if a divine hand had guarded the venerable book4 ,how came this strange people1 who never kept their ,law1 to swim through all their troubles1 like ,caesar with his commentaries between his teeth1 bearing aloft and dry1 the ,word which they obeyed so badly8 ',write it 444 in a book1 that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever4' ,the permanence of the written ,word1 the providence that has watched over it1 the romantic history of its preservation through ages of neglect1 and the imperishable gift to the world of an objective standard of duty1 remaining the same from age to age1 are all suggested by this reappearance of the forgotten ,law4 ,it may suggest1 too1 that honest efforts after reformation are usually rewarded by clearer knowledge of ,god's will4 ,if ,hilkiah had not been busy in setting wrong things right1 he would not have found the book in its dark hiding-place4 ,we are told that the coincidence of the discovery at the nick of time is suspicious4 ,so it is1 if you do not believe in ,providence4 ,if you do1 the coincidence is but one instance of ,his sending gifts of the right sort at the right moment4 ,it is not the first time nor the last that the attempt to keep ,god's law has led to larger knowledge of the law4 ,it is not the first time nor the last that ,god has sent to ,his faithful servants an opportune gift4 ,what the world calls accidental coincidence deeper wisdom discerns to be the touch of ,god's hand4 ,again1 the discovery reminds us that the true basis of all religious reform is the ,word of ,god4 ,josiah had begun to restore the ,temple1 but he did not know till he heard the ,law read how great the task was which he had taken in hand4 ,that recovered book gave impulse and direction to his efforts4 ,the nearest parallel is the rediscovery of the ,bible in the sixteenth century1 or1 if we may take one incident as a symbol of the whole1 ,luther's finding the dusty ,latin ,bible among the neglected convent books4 ,the only reformation for an effete or secularised church is in its return to the ,bible4 ,faded flowers will lift up their heads when plunged in water4 ,the old ,bible1 discovered and applied anew1 must underlie all real renovation of dead or moribund ,christianity4 ,,ii4 ,the next point here is the effect of the rediscovered ,law4 ,shaphan was closely connected with ,josiah1 as his office made him a confidant4 ,it is ordinarily taken for granted that he and the other persons named in this lesson formed a little knot of earnest ,jehovah worshippers1 fully sympathising with the ,reformation1 and that among them lay the authorship of the book4 ,but we know nothing about them except what is told here and in the parallel in ,kings4 ,one of them1 ,ahikam1 was a friend and protector of ,jeremiah1 and ,shaphan the scribe was the father of another of ,jeremiah's friends4 ,they may all have been in accord with the king1 or they may not4 ,at all events1 ,shaphan took the book to ,josiah4 ,we can picture the scene--the deepening awe of both men as the whole extent of the nation's departure from ,god became clearer and clearer1 the tremulous tones of the reader1 and the silent1 fixed attention of the listener as the solemn threatenings came from ,shaphan's reluctant1 pallid lips4 ,there was enough in them to touch a harder heart than ,josiah's4 ,we cannot suppose that1 knowing the history of the past1 and being sufficiently enlightened to 'seek after the ,god of ,david his father1' he did not know in a general way that sin meant sorrow1 and national disobedience national death4 ,but we all have the faculty of blunting the cutting edge of truth1 especially if it has been familiar1 so that some novelty in the manner of its presentation1 or even its repetition without novelty sometimes1 may turn commonplace and impotent truth into a mighty instrument to shake and melt4 ,so it seems to have been with ,josiah4 ,whether new or old1 the ,word found him as it had never done before4 ,the venerable copy from which ,shaphan read1 the coincidence of its discovery just then1 the dishonour done to it for so long1 may all have helped the impression4 ,however it arose1 it was made4 ,if a man will give ,god's ,word a fair hearing1 and be honest with himself1 it will bring him to his knees4 ,no man rightly uses ,god's law who is not convinced by it of his sin1 and impelled to that self-abased sorrow of which the rent royal robes were the passionate expression4 ,josiah was wise when he did not turn his thoughts to other people's sins1 but began with his own1 even whilst he included others4 ,the first function of the law is to arouse the knowledge of sin1 as ,paul profoundly teaches4 ,without that penitent knowledge religion is superficial1 and reformation merely external4 ,unless we 'abhor ourselves1 and repent in dust and ashes1' ,scripture has not done its work on us1 and all our reading of it is in vain4 ,nor is there any good reason why familiarity with it should weaken its power4 ,but1 alas6 it too often does4 ,how many of us would stand in awe of ,god's judgments if we heard them for the first time1 but listen to them unmoved1 as to thunder without lightning1 merely because wo know them so well6 ,that is a reason for attending to them1 not for neglecting4 ,josiah's sense of sin led him to long for a further word from ,god2 and so he called these attendants named in verse #bj1 and sent them to 'enquire of the ,lord 444 concerning the words of the book4' ,what more did he wish to know8 ,the words were plain enough1 and their application to ,israel and him indubitable4 ,clearly1 he could only wish to know whether there was any possibility of averting the judgments1 and1 if so1 what was the means4 ,the awakened conscience instinctively feels that threatenings cannot be ,god's last words to it1 but must have been given that they might not need to be fulfilled4 ,we do not rightly sorrow for sin unless it quickens in us a desire for a word from ,god to tell us how to escape4 ,the ,law prepares for the ,gospel1 and is incomplete without it4 ',the soul that sinneth1 it shall die1' cannot be all which a ,god of pity and love has to say4 ,a faint promise of life lies in the very fact of threatening death1 faint indeed1 but sufficient to awaken earnest desire for yet another word from the ,lord4 ,we rightly use the solemn revelations of ,god's law when we are driven by them to cry1 ',what must ,i do to be saved8' ,,iii4 ,so we come to the last point1 the double-edged message of the prophetess4 ,josiah does not seem to have told his messengers where to go2 but they knew1 and went straight to a very unlikely person1 the wife of an obscure man1 only known as his father's son4 ,where was ,jeremiah of ,anathoth8 ,perhaps not in the city at the time4 ,there had been prophetesses in ,israel before4 ,miriam1 ,deborah1 the wife of ,isaiah1 are instances of 'your daughters' prophesying2 and this embassy to ,huldah is in full accord with the high position which women held in that state1 of which the framework was shaped by ,god ,himself4 ,in ,christ ,jesus 'there is neither male nor female1' and ,judaism approximated much more closely to that ideal than other lands did4 ,huldah's message has two parts3 one the confirmation of the threatenings of the ,law2 one the assurance to ,josiah of acceptance of his repentance and gracious promise of escape from the coming storm4 ,these two are precisely equivalent to the double aspect of the ,gospel1 which completes the ,law1 endorsing its sentence and pointing the way of escape4 ,note that the former part addresses ,josiah as 'the man that sent you1' but the latter names him4 ,the embassy had probably not disclosed his name1 and ,huldah at first keeps up the veil1 since the personality of the sender had nothing to do with her answer2 but when she comes to speak of pardon and ,god's favour1 there must be no vagueness in the destination of the message1 and the penitent heart must be tenderly bound up by a word from ,god straight to itself4 ,the threatenings are general1 but each single soul that is sorry for sin may take as its very own the promise of forgiveness4 ,god's great ',whosoever' is for me as certainly as if my name stood on the page4 ,the terrible message of the inevitableness of the destruction hanging over ,jerusalem is precisely parallel with the burden of all ,jeremiah's teaching4 ,it was too late to avert the fall4 ,the external judgments must come now1 for the emphasis of the prophecy is in its last words1 it 'shall not be quenched4' ,but that did not mean that repentance was too late to alter the whole character of the punishment1 which would be fatherly chastisement if meekly accepted4 ,so1 too1 ,jeremiah taught1 when he exhorted submission to the ',chaldees4' ,it is never too late to seek mercy1 though it may be too late to hope for averting the outward consequences of sin4 ,as for ,josiah1 his penitence was accepted1 and he was assured that he would be gathered to his fathers4 ,that expression1 as is clear from the places where it occurs1 is not a synonym for either death or burial1 from both of which it is distinguished1 but is a dim promise of being united1 beyond the grave1 with the fathers1 who1 in some one condition1 which we may call a place1 are gathered into a restful company1 and wander no more as pilgrims and sojourners in this lonely and changeful life4 ,josiah died in battle4 ,was that going to his grave in peace8 ,surely yes6 if1 dying1 he felt ,god's presence1 and in the darkness saw a great light4 ,he who thus dies1 though it be in the thick of battle1 and with his heart's blood pouring from an arrow-wound down on the floor of the chariot1 dies in peace1 and into peace4 ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,judah ',zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign1 and reigned eleven years in ,jerusalem4 #ab4 ,and he did that which was evil in the sight of the ,lord his ,god1 and humbled not himself before ,jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the ,lord4 #ac4 ,and he also rebelled against king ,nebuchadnezzar1 who had made him swear by ,god3 but he stiffened his neck1 and hardened his heart from turning unto the ,lord ,god of ,israel4 #ad4 ,moreover all the chief of the priests1 and the people1 transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen2 and polluted the house of the ,lord which he had hallowed in ,jerusalem4 #ae4 ,and the ,lord ,god of their fathers sent to them by ,his messengers1 rising up betimes1 and sending2 because ,he had compassion on ,his people1 and on ,his dwelling-place3 #af4 ,but they mocked the messengers of ,god1 and despised ,his words1 and misused ,his prophets1 until the wrath of the ,lord arose against ,his people1 till there was no remedy4 #ag4 ,therefore he brought upon them the king of the ,chaldees1 who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary1 and had no compassion upon young man or maiden1 old man1 or him that stooped for age3 he gave them all into his hand4 #ah4 ,and all the vessels of the house of ,god1 great and small1 and the treasures of the house of the ,lord1 and the treasures of the king1 and of his princes2 all these he brought to ,babylon4 #ai4 ,and they burnt the house of ,god1 and brake down the wall of ,jerusalem1 and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire1 and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof4 #bj4 ,and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to ,babylon2 where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of ,persia3 #ba4 ,to fulfil the word of the ,lord by the mouth of ,jeremiah1 until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths2 for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath1 to fulfil threescore and ten years4'--#b ,,chron4 xxxvi #aa-ba4 ,bigness is not greatness1 nor littleness smallness4 ,nebuchadnezzar's conquest of ,judah was1 in his eyes1 one of the least important of his many victories1 but it is the only one of them which survives in the world's memory and keeps his name as a household word4 ,the ,jews were a mere handful1 and their country a narrow strip of land between the desert and the sea2 but little ,judaea1 like little ,greece1 has taught the world4 ,the tragedy of its fall has importance quite disproportioned to its apparent magnitude4 ,our passage brings together ,judah's sin and ,judah's punishment1 and we shall best gather the lessons of its fall by following the order of the text4 ,consider the sin4 ,there is nothing more remarkable than the tone in which the chronicler1 like all the ,old ,testament writers1 deals with the national sin4 ,patriotic historians make it a point of pride and duty to gloss over their country's faults1 but these singular narrators paint them as strongly as they can4 ,their love of their country impels them to 'make known to ,israel its transgression and to ,judah its sin4' ,there are tears in their eyes1 as who can doubt8 ,but there is no faltering in their voices as they speak4 ,a higher feeling than misguided 'patriotism' moves them4 ,loyalty to ,israel's ,god forces them to deal honestly with ,israel's sin4 ,that is the highest kind of love of country1 and might well be commended to loudmouthed 'patriots' in modern lands4 ,look at the piled-up clauses of the long indictment of ,judah in verses #ab to #af4 ,slow1 passionless1 unsparing1 the catalogue enumerates the whole black list4 ,it is like the long-drawn blast of the angel of judgment's trumpet4 ,any trace of heated emotion would have weakened the impression4 ,the nation's sin was so crimson as to need no heightening of colour4 ,with like judicial calmness1 with like completeness1 omitting nothing1 does 'the book1' which will one day be opened1 set down every man's deeds1 and he will be 'judged according to the things that are written in this book4' ,some of us will find our page sad reading4 ,but the points brought out in this indictment are instructive4 ,judah's idolatry and 'trespass after all the abominations of the heathen' is1 of course1 prominent1 but the spirit which led to their idolatry1 rather than the idolatry itself1 is dwelt on4 ,zedekiah's doing 'evil in the sight of the ,lord' is regarded as aggravated by his not humbling himself before ,jeremiah1 and the head and front of his offending is that 'he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the ,lord4' ,similarly1 the people's sin reaches its climax in their 'mocking' and 'scoffing' at the prophets and 'despising' ,god's words by them4 ,so then1 an evil life has its roots in an alienated heart1 and the source of all sin is an obstinate self-will4 ,that is the sulphur-spring from which nothing but unwholesome streams can flow1 and the greatest of all sins is refusing to hear ,god's voice when ,he speaks to us4 ,further1 this indictment brings out the patient love of ,god seeking1 in spite of all their deafness1 to find a way to the sinners' ears and hearts4 ,in a bold transference to ,him of men's ways1 ,he is said to have 'risen early' to send the prophets4 ,surely that means earnest effort4 ,the depths of ,god's heart are disclosed when we are bidden to think of ,his compassion as the motive for the prophet's messages and threatenings4 ,what a wonderful and heart-melting revelation of ,god's placableness1 wistful hoping against hope1 and reluctance to abandon the most indurated sinner1 is given in that centuries-long conflict of the patient ,god with treacherous ,israel6 ,that divine charity suffered long and was kind1 endured all things and hoped all things4 ,consider the punishment4 ,the tragic details of the punishment are enumerated with the same completeness and suppression of emotion as those of the sin4 ,the fact that all these were divine judgments brings the chronicler to the ,psalmist's attitude4 ',i was dumb1 ,i opened not my mouth because ,thou didst it4' ,sorrow and pity have their place1 but the awed recognition of ,god's hand outstretched in righteous retribution must come first4 ,modern sentimentalists1 who are so tenderhearted as to be shocked at the ,christian teachings of judgment1 might learn a lesson here4 ,the first point to note is that a time arrives when even ,god can hope for no amendment and is driven to change ,his methods4 ,his patience is not exhausted1 but man's obstinacy makes another treatment inevitable4 ,god lavished benefits and pleadings for long years in vain1 till ,he saw that there was 'no remedy4' ,only then did ,he1 as if reluctantly forced1 do ',his work1 ,his strange work4' ,behold1 therefore1 the 'goodness and severity' of ,god1 goodness in ,his long delay1 severity in the final blow1 and learn that ,his purpose is the same though ,his methods are opposite4 ,to the chronicler ,god is the true ,actor in human affairs4 ,nebuchadnezzar thought of his conquest as won by his own arm4 ,secular historians treat the fall of ,zedekiah as simply the result of the political conditions of the time1 and sometimes seem to think that it could not be a divine judgment because it was brought about by natural causes4 ,but this old chronicler sees deeper1 and to him1 as to us1 if we are wise1 'the history of the world is the judgment of the world4' ,the ,nebuchadnezzars are ,god's axes with which ,he hews down fruitless trees4 ,they are responsible for their acts1 but they are ,his instruments1 and it is ,his hand that wields them4 ,the iron band that binds sin and suffering is disclosed in ,judah's fall4 ,we cannot allege that the same close connection between godlessness and national disaster is exemplified now as it was in ,israel4 ,nor can we contend that for individuals suffering is always the fruit of sin4 ,but it is still true that 'righteousness exalteth a nation1' and that 'by the soul only are the nations great1' in the true sense of the word4 ,to depart from ,god is always 'a bitter and an evil thing' for communities and individuals1 however sweet draughts of outward prosperity may for a time mask the bitterness4 ,not armies nor fleets1 not ships1 colonies and commerce1 not millionaires and trusts1 not politicians and diplomatists1 but the fear of the ,lord and the keeping of ,his commandments1 are the true life of a nation4 ,if ,christian men lived up to the ideal set them by ,jesus1 ',ye are the salt of the land1' and sought more earnestly and wisely to leaven their nation1 they would be doing more than any others to guarantee its perpetual prosperity4 ,the closing words of this chapter1 not included in the passage1 are significant4 ,they are the first words of the ,book of ,ezra4 ,whoever put them here perhaps wished to show a far-off dawn following the stormy sunset4 ,he opens a 'door of hope' in 'the valley of trouble4' ,it is an ,old ,testament version of ',god hath not cast away ,his people whom ,he foreknew4' ,it throws a beam of light on the black last page of the chronicle1 and reveals that ,god's chastisement was in love1 that it was meant for discipline1 not for destruction1 that it was educational1 and that the rod was burned when the lesson had been learned4 ,it was learned1 for the ,captivity cured the nation of hankering after idolatry1 and whatever defects it brought back from ,babylon1 it brought back a passionate abhorrence of all the gods of the nations4 ,,ezra ,,the ,,eve ,,of ,,the ,,restoration ',now in the first year of ,cyrus king of ,persia1 that the word of the ,lord by the mouth of ,jeremiah might be fulfilled1 the ,lord stirred up the spirit of ,cyrus king of ,persia1 that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom1 and put it also in writing1 saying1 #b4 ,thus saith ,cyrus king of ,persia1 ,the ,lord ,god of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth2 and ,he hath charged me to build ,him a house at ,jerusalem1 which is in ,judah4 #c4 ,who is there among you of all ,his people8 his ,god be with him1 and let him go up to ,jerusalem1 which is in ,judah1 and build the house of the ,lord ,god of ,israel 7,he is the ,god71 which is in ,jerusalem4 #d4 ,and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth1 let the men of his place help him with silver1 and with gold1 and with goods1 and with beasts1 besides the freewill offering for the house of ,god that is in ,jerusalem4 #e4 ,then rose up the chief of the fathers of ,judah and ,benjamin1 and the priests1 and the ,levites1 with all them whose spirit ,god had raised1 to go up to build the house of the ,lord which is in ,jerusalem4 #f4 ,and all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver1 with gold1 with goods1 and with beasts1 and with precious things1 besides all that was willingly offered4 #g4 ,also ,cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the ,lord1 which ,nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of ,jerusalem1 and had put them in the house of his gods2 #h4 ,even those did ,cyrus king of ,persia bring forth by the hand of ,mithredath the treasurer1 and numbered them unto ,sheshbazzar1 the prince of ,judah4 #i4 ,and this is the number of them3 thirty chargers of gold1 a thousand chargers of silver1 nine and twenty knives1 #aj4 ,thirty basons of gold1 silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten1 and other vessels a thousand4 #aa4 ,all the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred4 ,all these did ,sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from ,babylon unto ,jerusalem4'--,,ezra i4 #a-aa4 ,cyrus captured ,babylon #ech ,b4,c41 and the 'first year' here is the first after that event4 ,the predicted seventy years' captivity had nearly run out1 having in part done their work on the exiles4 ,colours burned in on china are permanent2 and the furnace of bondage had1 at least1 effected this1 that it fixed monotheism for ever in the inmost substance of the ,jewish people4 ,but the bulk of them seem to have had little of either religious or patriotic enthusiasm1 and preferred ,babylonia to ,judea4 ,we are here told of the beginning of the return of a portion of the exiles--forty-two thousand1 in round numbers4 ',the ,lord stirred up the spirit of ,cyrus4' ,that unveils the deepest cause of what fell into place1 to the superficial observers1 as one among many political events of similar complexion4 ,we find among the inscriptions a cylinder written by order of ,cyrus1 which shows that he reversed the ,babylonian policy of deporting conquered nations4 ',all their peoples1' says he1 in reference to a number of nations of whom he found members in exile in ,babylonia1 ',i assembled and restored to their lands and the gods 444 whom ,nabonidos 444 had brought into ,babylon1 ,i settled in peace in their sanctuaries' 7,sayce1 ,fresh ,light from the ,ancient ,monuments1 p4 #adh74 ,it was1 then1 part of a wider movement1 which sent back ,zerubbabel and his people to ,jerusalem1 and began the rebuilding of the ,temple4 ,no doubt1 ,cyrus had seen that the old plan simply brought an element of possible rebellion into the midst of the country1 and acted on grounds of political prudence4 ,but our passage digs deeper to find the true cause4 ,cyrus was ,god's instrument1 and the statesman's insight was the result of ,god's illumination4 ,the divine causality moves men1 when they move themselves4 ,it was not only in the history of the chosen people that ,god's purpose is wrought out by more or less conscious and willing instruments4 ,the principle laid down by the writer of this book is of universal application1 and the true 'philosophy of history' must recognise as underlying all other so-called causes and forces the one uncaused ,cause1 of whose purposes kings and politicians are the executants1 even while they freely act according to their own judgments1 and1 it may be1 in utter unconsciousness of ,him4 ,it concerns our tranquillity and hopefulness1 in the contemplation of the bewildering maze and often heart-breaking tragedy of mundane affairs1 to hold fast by the conviction that ,god's unseen ,hand moves the pieces on the board1 and presides over all the complications4 ,the difference between 'sacred' and 'profane' history is not that one is under ,his direct control1 and the other is not4 ,what was true of ,cyrus and his policy is as true of ,england4 ,would that politicians and all men recognised the fact as clearly as this historian did6 ,i4 ,cyrus's proclamation sounds as if he were a ,jehovah-worshipper1 but it is to be feared that his religion was of a very accommodating kind4 ,it used to be said that1 as a ,persian1 he was a monotheist1 and would consequently be in sympathy with the ,jews2 but the same cylinder already quoted shatters that idea1 and shows him to have been a polytheist1 ready to worship the gods of ,babylon4 ,he there ascribes his conquest to ',merodach1 the great lord1' and distinctly calls himself that god's 'worshipper4' ,like other polytheists1 he had room in his pantheon for the gods of other nations1 and admitted into it the deities of the conquered peoples4 ,the use of the name ',jehovah' would1 no doubt1 be most simply accounted for by the supposition that ,cyrus recognised the sole divinity of the ,god of ,israel2 but that solution conflicts with all that is known of him1 and with his characterisation in ,isaiah xlv4 as 'not knowing' ,jehovah4 ,more probably1 his confession of ,jehovah as the ,god of heaven was consistent in his mind with a similar confession as to ,bel-,merodach or the supreme god of any other of the conquered nations4 ,there is1 however no improbability in the supposition that the prophecies concerning him in ,isaiah xlv1 may have been brought to his knowledge1 and be referred to in the proclamation as the 'charge' given to him to build ,jehovah's ,temple4 ,but we must not exaggerate the depth or exclusiveness of his belief in the ,god of the ,jews4 ,cyrus's profession of faith1 then1 is an example of official and skin-deep religion1 of which public and individual life afford plentiful instances in all ages and faiths4 ,if we are to take their own word for it1 most great conquerors have been very religious men1 and have asked a blessing over many a bloody feast4 ,all religions are equally true to cynical politicians1 who are ready to join in worshipping ',jehovah1 ,jove1 or ,lord1' as may suit their policy4 ,nor is it only in high places that such loosely worn professions are found4 ,perhaps there is no region of life in which insincerity1 which is often quite unconscious1 is so rife as in regard to religious belief4 ,but unless my religion is everything1 it is nothing4 ',all in all1 or not at all1' is the requirement of the great ,lover of souls4 ,what a winnowing of chaff from wheat there would be1 if that test could visibly separate the mass which is gathered on ,his threshing-floor1 the ,church6 ,cyrus's belief in ,jehovah illustrates the attitude which was natural to a polytheist1 and is so difficult for us to enter into4 ,a vague belief in ,one ,supreme1 above all other gods1 and variously named by different nations1 is buried beneath mountains of myths about lesser gods1 but sometimes comes to light in many pagan minds4 ,this blind creed1 if creed it can be called1 is joined with the recognition of deities belonging to each nation1 whose worship is to be co-extensive with the race of which they are patrons1 and who may be absorbed into the pantheon of a conqueror1 just as a vanquished king may be allowed an honourable captivity at the victor's capital4 ,thus ,cyrus could in a sense worship ,jehovah1 the ,god of ,israel1 without thereby being rebellious to ,merodach4 ,there are people1 even among so-called ,christians1 who try the same immoral and impossible division of what must in its very nature be wholly given to ,one ,supreme4 ,to 'serve ,god and mammon' is demonstrably an absurd attempt4 ,the love and trust and obedience which are worthy of ,him must be wholehearted1 whole-souled1 whole-willed4 ,it is as impossible to love ,god with part of one's self as it is for a husband to love his wife with half his heart1 and another woman with the rest4 ,to divide love is to slay it4 ,cyrus had some kind of belief in ,jehovah2 but his own words1 so wonderfully recovered in the inscription already referred to1 proved that he had not listened to the command1 ',him only shalt thou serve4' ,that command grips us as closely as it did the ,jews1 and is as truly broken by thousands calling themselves ,christians as by any idolaters4 ,the substance of the proclamation is a permission to return to any one who wished to do so1 a sanction of the rebuilding of the ,temple1 and an order to the native inhabitants to render help in money1 goods1 and beasts4 ,a further contribution towards the building was suggested as 'a free-will offering4' ,the return1 then1 was not to be at the expense of the king1 nor was any tax laid on for it2 but neighbourly goodwill1 born of seventy years of association1 was invoked1 and1 as we find1 not in vain4 ,god had given the people favour in the eyes of those who had carried them captive4 ,,ii4 ,the long years of residence in ,babylonia had weakened the homesickness which the first generation of captives had1 no doubt1 painfully experienced1 and but a small part of them cared to avail themselves of the opportunity of return4 ,one reason is frankly given by ,josephus3 ',many remained in ,babylon1 not wishing to leave their possessions behind them4' ',the heads of the fathers' houses who may have exercised some sort of government among the captives1 the priests and ,levites1' made the bulk of the emigrants2 but in each class it was only those 'whose spirit ,god had stirred up' 7as he had done ,cyrus'7 that were devout or patriotic enough to face the wrench of removal and the difficulties of repeopling a wasted land4 ,there was nothing to tempt any others1 and the brave little band had need of all their fortitude4 ,but no heart in which the flame of devotion burned1 or in which were felt the drawings of that passionate love of the city and soil where ,god dwelt 7which in the best days of the nation was inseparable from devotion71 could remain behind4 ,the departing contingent1 then1 were the best part of the whole2 and the lingerers were held back by love of ease1 faint-heartedness1 love of wealth1 and the like ignoble motives4 ,how many of us have had great opportunities offered for service1 which we have let slip in like manner6 ,to have doors opened which we are too lazy1 too cowardly1 too much afraid of self-denial1 to enter1 is the tragedy and the crime of many a life4 ,it is easier to live among the low levels of the plain of ,babylon1 than to take to the dangers and privations of the weary tramp across the desert4 ,the ruins of ,jerusalem are a much less comfortable abode than the well-furnished houses which have to be left4 ,prudence says1 ',be content where you are1 and let other people take the trouble of such mad schemes as rebuilding the ,temple4' ,a thousand excuses sing in our ears1 and we let the moment in which alone some noble resolve is possible slide past us1 and the rest of life is empty of another such4 ,neglected opportunities1 unobeyed calls to high deeds1 we all have in our lives4 ,the saddest of all words is1 ',it might have been4' ,how much wiser1 happier1 nobler1 were the daring souls that rose to the occasion1 and flung ease and wealth and companionship behind them1 because they heard the divine command couched in the royal permission1 and humbly answered1 ',here am ,i2 send me'6 ,,iii4 ,the third point in the passage is singular--the inventory of the ,temple vessels returned by ,cyrus4 ,as to its particulars1 we need only note that ,sheshbazzar is the same as ,zerubbabel2 that the exact translation of some of the names of the vessels is doubtful2 and that the numbers given under each head do not correspond with the sum total1 the discrepancy indicating error somewhere in the numbers4 ,but is not this dry enumeration a strange item to come in the forefront of the narrative of such an event8 ,we might have expected some kind of production of the enthusiasm of the returning exiles1 some account of how they were sent on their journey1 something which we should have felt worthier of the occasion than a list of bowls and nine-and-twenty knives4 ,but it is of a piece with the whole of the first part of this ,book of ,ezra1 which is mostly taken up with a similar catalogue of the members of the expedition4 ,the list here indicates the pride and joy with which the long hidden and often desecrated vessels were received4 ,we can see the priests and ,levites gazing at them as they were brought forth1 their hearts1 and perhaps their eyes1 filling with sacred memories4 ,the ,lord had 'turned again the captivity of ,zion1' and these sacred vessels lay there1 glittering before them1 to assure them that they were not as 'them that dream4' ,small things become great when they are the witnesses of a great thing4 ,we must remember1 too1 how strong a hold the externals of worship had on the devout ,jew4 ,his faith was much more tied to form than ours ought to be1 and the restoration of the sacrificial implements as a pledge of the re-establishment of the ,temple worship would seem the beginning of a new epoch of closer relation to ,jehovah4 ,it is almost within the lifetime of living men that all ,scotland was thrilled with emotion by the discovery1 in a neglected chamber1 of a chest in which lay1 forgotten1 the crown and sceptre of the ,stuarts4 ,a like wave of feeling passed over the exiles as they had given back to their custody these ,temple vessels4 ,sacreder ones are given into our hands1 to carry across a more dangerous desert4 ,let us hear the charge1 ',be ye clean1 that bear the vessels of the ,lord1' and see that we carry them1 untarnished and unlost1 to 'the house of the ,lord which is in ,jerusalem4' ,,altar ,,and ,,temple ',and when the seventh month was come1 and the children of ,israel were in the cities1 the people gathered themselves together as one man to ,jerusalem4 #b4 ,then stood up ,jeshua the son of ,jozadak1 and his brethren the priests1 and ,zerubbabel the son of ,shealtiel1 and his brethren1 and builded the altar of the ,god of ,israel1 to offer burnt offerings thereon1 as it is written in the law of ,moses the man of ,god4 #c4 ,and they set the altar upon his bases2 for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries2 and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the ,lord1 even burnt offerings morning and evening4 #d4 ,they kept also the feast of tabernacles1 as it is written1 and offered the daily burnt offerings by number1 according to the custom1 as the duty of every day required2 #e4 ,and afterward offered the continual burnt offering1 both of the new moons1 and of all the set feasts of the ,lord that were consecrated1 and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the ,lord4 #f4 ,from the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the ,lord4 ,but the foundation of the ,temple of the ,lord was not yet laid4 #g4 ,they gave money also unto the masons1 and to the carpenters2 and meat1 and drink1 and oil1 unto them of ,zidon1 and to them of ,tyre1 to bring cedar trees from ,lebanon to the sea of ,joppa1 according to the grant that they had of ,cyrus king of ,persia4 #h4 ,now in the second year of their coming unto the house of ,god at ,jerusalem1 in the second month1 began ,zerubbabel the son of ,shealtiel1 and ,jeshua the son of ,jozadak1 and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the ,levites1 and all they that were come out of the captivity unto ,jerusalem2 and appointed the ,levites1 from twenty years old and upward1 to set forward the work of the house of the ,lord4 #i4 ,then stood ,jeshua with his sons and his brethren1 ,kadmiel and his sons1 the sons of ,judah1 together1 to set forward the workmen in the house of ,god3 the sons of ,henadad1 with their sons and their brethren the ,levites4 #aj4 ,and when the builders laid the foundation of the ,temple of the ,lord1 they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets1 and the ,levites1 the sons of ,asaph1 with cymbals1 to praise the ,lord1 after the ordinance of ,david king of ,israel4 #aa4 ,and they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the ,lord2 because ,he is good1 for ,his mercy endureth for ever toward ,israel4 ,and all the people shouted with a great shout1 when they praised the ,lord1 because the foundation of the house of the ,lord was laid4 #ab4 ,but many of the priests and ,levites and chief of the fathers1 who were ancient men1 that had seen the first house1 when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes1 wept with a loud voice2 and many shouted aloud for joy3 #ac4 ,so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people3 for the people shouted with a loud shout1 and the noise was heard afar off4'--,,ezra iii4 #a-ac4 ,what an opportunity of 'picturesque' writing the author of this book has missed by his silence about the incidents of the march across the dreary levels from ,babylon to the verge of ,syria6 ,but the very silence is eloquent4 ,it reveals the purpose of the book1 which is to tell of the re-establishment of the ,temple and its worship4 ,no doubt the tone of the whole is somewhat prosaic1 and indicative of an age in which the externals of worship bulked largely2 but still the central point of the narrative was really the centre-point of the events4 ,the austere simplicity of biblical history shows the real points of importance better than more artistic elaboration would do4 ,this passage has two main incidents--the renewal of the sacrifices1 and the beginning of rebuilding the ,temple4 ,the date given in verse #a is significant4 ,the first day of the seventh month was the commencement of the great festival of tabernacles1 the most joyous feast of the year1 crowded with reminiscences from the remote antiquity of the ,exodus1 and from the dedication of ,solomon's ,temple4 ,how long had passed since ,cyrus' decree had been issued we do not know1 nor whether his 'first year' was reckoned by the same chronology as the ,jewish year1 of which we here arrive at the seventh month4 ,but the journey across the desert must have taken some months1 and the previous preparations could not have been suddenly got through1 so that there can have been but a short time between the arrival in ,judea and the gathering together 'as one man to ,jerusalem4' ,there was barely interval enough for the returning exiles to take possession of their ancestral fields before they were called to leave them unguarded and hasten to the desolate city4 ,surely their glad and unanimous obedience to the summons1 or1 as it may even have been1 their spontaneous assemblage unsummoned1 is no small token of their ardour of devotion1 even if they were somewhat slavishly tied to externals4 ,it would take a good deal to draw a band of new settlers in our days to leave their lots and set to putting up a church before they had built themselves houses4 ,the leaders of the band of returned exiles demand a brief notice4 ,they are ,jeshua1 or ,joshua1 and ,zerubbabel4 ,in verse #b the ecclesiastical dignitary comes first1 but in verse #h the civil4 ,similarly in ,ezra ii4 #b1 ,zerubbabel precedes ,jeshua4 ,in ,haggai1 the priest is pre-eminent2 in ,zechariah the prince4 ,the truth seems to be that each was supreme in his own department1 and that they understood each other cordially1 or1 ,zechariah says1 'the counsel of peace' was 'between them both4' ,it is sometimes bad for the people when priests and rulers lay their heads together2 but it is even worse when they pull different ways1 and subjects are torn in two by conflicting obligations4 ,jeshua was the grandson of ,seraiah1 the unfortunate high-priest whose eyes ,nebuchadnezzar put out after the fall of ,jerusalem4 ,his son ,jozadak succeeded to the dignity1 though there could be no sacrifices in ,babylon1 and after him his son ,jeshua4 ,he cannot have been a young man at the date of the return2 but age had not dimmed his enthusiasm1 and the high-priest was where he ought to have been1 in the forefront of the returning exiles4 ,his name recalls the other ,joshua1 likewise a leader from captivity and the desert2 and1 if we appreciate the significance attached to names in ,scripture1 we shall scarcely suppose it accidental that these two1 who had similar work to do1 bore the same name as the solitary third1 of whom they were pale shadows1 the greater ,joshua1 who brings ,his people from bondage into ,his own land of peace1 and builds the ,temple4 ,zerubbabel 7',sown in ,babylon'7 belonged to a collateral branch of the royal family4 ,the direct ,davidic line through ,solomon died with the wretched ,zedekiah and ,jeconiah1 but the descendants of another son of ,david's1 ,nathan1 still survived4 ,their representative was one ,salathiel1 who1 on the failure of the direct line1 was regarded as the 'son of ,jeconiah' 7#a ,chron4 iii4 #ag74 ,he seems to have had no son1 and ,zerubbabel1 who was really his nephew 7#a ,chron4 iii4 #ai71 was legally adopted as his son4 ,in this makeshift fashion1 some shadow of the ancient royalty still presided over the restored people4 ,we see ,zerubbabel better in ,haggai and ,zechariah than in ,ezra1 and can discern the outline of a strong1 bold1 prompt nature4 ,he had a hard task1 and he did it like a man4 ,patient1 yet vigorous1 glowing with enthusiasm1 yet clear-eyed1 self-forgetful1 and brave1 he has had scant justice done him1 and ought to be a very much more familiar and honoured figure than he is4 ',who art thou1 ,o great mountain8 ,before ,zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain4' ,great mountains only become plains before men of strong wills and fixed faith4 ,there is something very pathetic in the picture of the assembled people groping amid the ruins on the ,temple hill1 to find 'the bases1' the half-obliterated outlines1 of the foundations of the old altar of burnt offerings4 ,what memories of ,araunah's threshing-floor1 and of the hovering angel of destruction1 and of the glories of ,solomon's dedication1 and of the long centuries during which the column of smoke had gone up continually from that spot1 and of the tragical day when the fire was quenched1 and of the fifty years of extinction1 must have filled their hearts6 ,what a conflict of gladness and sorrow must have troubled their spirits as the flame again shot upwards from the hearth of ,god1 cold for so long6 ,but the reason for their so quickly rearing the altar is noteworthy4 ,it was because 'fear was upon them because of the people of the countries4' ,the state of the ,holy ,land at the return must be clearly comprehended4 ,samaria and the central district were in the hands of bitter enemies4 ,across ,jordan in the east1 down on the ,philistine plain in the west1 and in the south where ,edom bore sway1 eager enemies sulkily watched the small beginnings of a movement which they were interested in thwarting4 ,there was only the territory of ,judah and ,benjamin left free for the exiles1 and they had reason for their fears2 for their neighbours knew that if restitution was to be the order of the day1 they would have to disgorge a good deal4 ,what was the defence against such foes which these frightened men thought most impregnable8 ,that altar6 ,no doubt1 much superstition mingled with their religion4 ,haggai leaves us under no illusions as to their moral and spiritual condition4 ,they were no patterns of devoutness or of morality4 ,but still1 what they did carries an eternal truth2 and they were reverting to the original terms of ,israel's tenure of their land when they acted on the conviction that their worship of ,jehovah according to ,his commandment was their surest way of finding shelter from all their enemies4 ,there are differences plain enough between their condition and ours2 but it is as true for us as ever it was for them1 that our safety is in ,god1 and that1 if we want to find shelter from impending dangers1 we shall be wiser to betake ourselves to the altar and sit suppliant there than to make defences for ourselves4 ,the ruined ,jerusalem was better guarded by that altar than if its fallen walls had been rebuilt4 ,the whole ritual was restored1 as the narrative tells with obvious satisfaction in the enumeration4 ,to us this punctilious attention to the minutiae of sacrificial worship sounds trivial4 ,but we equally err if we try to bring such externalities into the worship of the ,christian ,church1 and if we are blind to their worth at an earlier stage4 ,there cannot be a temple without an altar1 but there may be an altar without a temple4 ,god meets men at the place of sacrifice1 even though there be no house for ,his name4 ,the order of events here teaches us what is essential for communion with ,god4 ,it is the altar4 ,sacrifice laid there is accepted1 whether it stand on a bare hill-top1 or have round it the courts of the ,lord's house4 ,the second part of the passage narrates the laying of the foundations of the ,temple4 ,there had been contracts entered into with masons and carpenters1 and arrangements made with the ,phoenicians for timber1 as soon as the exiles had returned2 but of course some time elapsed before the stone and timber were sufficient to make a beginning with4 ,note in verse #g the reference to ,cyrus' grant as enabling the people to get these stores together4 ,whether the whole preparations1 or only the transport of cedar wood1 is intended to be traced to the influence of that decree1 there seems to be a tacit contrast1 in the writer's mind1 with the glorious days when no heathen king had to be consulted1 and ,hiram and ,solomon worked together like brothers4 ,now1 so fallen are we1 that ,tyre and ,sidon will not look at us unless we bring ,cyrus' rescript in our hands6 ,if the 'years' in verses #a and #h are calculated from the same beginning1 some seven months were spent in preparation1 and then the foundation was laid4 ,two things are noted--the humble attempt at making some kind of a display on the occasion1 and the conflict of feeling in the onlookers4 ,they had managed to get some copies of the prescribed vestments2 and the narrator emphasises the fact that the priests were 'in their apparel1' and that the ,levites had cymbals1 so that some approach to the pomp of ,solomon's dedication was possible4 ,they did their best to adhere to the ancient prescriptions1 and it was no mere narrow love of ritual that influenced them4 ,however we may breathe a freer air of worship1 we cannot but sympathise with that earnest attempt to do everything 'according to the order of ,david king of ,israel4' ,not only punctiliousness as to ritual1 but the magnetism of glorious memories1 prescribed the reproduction of that past4 ,rites long proscribed become very sacred1 and the downtrodden successors of mighty men will cling with firm grasp to what the greater fathers did4 ,the ancient strain which still rings from ,christian lips1 and bids fair to be as eternal as the mercies which it hymns1 rose with strange pathos from the lips of the crowd on the desolate ,temple mountain1 ringed about by the waste solitudes of the city3 ',for ,he is good1 for ,his mercy endureth for ever toward ,israel4' ,it needed some faith to sing that song then1 even with the glow of return upon them4 ,what of all the weary years8 ,what of the empty homesteads1 and the surrounding enemies1 and the brethren still in ,babylon8 ,no doubt some at least of the rejoicing multitude had learned what the captivity was meant to teach1 and had come to bless ,god1 both for the long years of exile1 which had burned away much dross1 and for the incomplete work of restoration1 surrounded though they were with foes1 and little as was their strength to fight4 ,the trustful heart finds occasion for unmingled praise in the most mingled cup of joy and sorrow4 ,there can have been very few in that crowd who had seen the former ,temple1 and their memories of its splendour must have been very dim4 ,but partly remembrance and partly hearsay made the contrast of the past glories and the present poverty painful4 ,hence that pathetic and profoundly significant incident of the blended shouts of the young and tears of the old4 ,one can fancy that each sound jarred on the ears of those who uttered the other4 ,but each was wholly natural to the years of the two classes4 ,sad memories gather1 like evening mists1 round aged lives1 and the temptation of the old is unduly to exalt the past1 and unduly to depreciate the present4 ,welcoming shouts for the new befit young lips1 and they care little about the ruins that have to be carted off the ground for the foundations of the temple which they are to have a hand in building4 ,however imperfect1 it is better to them than the old house where the fathers worshipped4 ,but each class should try to understand the other's feelings4 ,the friends of the old should not give a churlish welcome to the new1 nor those of the new forget the old4 ,it is hard to blend the two1 either in individual life or in a wider sphere of thought or act4 ,the seniors think the juniors revolutionary and irreverent2 the juniors think the seniors fossils4 ,it is possible to unite the shout of joy and the weeping4 ,unless a spirit of reverent regard for the past presides over the progressive movements of this or any day1 they will not lay a solid foundation for the temple of the future4 ,we want the old and the young to work side by side1 if the work is to last and the sanctuary is to be ample enough to embrace all shades of character and tendencies of thought4 ,if either the grey beards of ,solomon's court or the hot heads of ,rehoboam's get the reins in their hands1 they will upset the chariot4 ,that mingled sound of weeping and joy from the ,temple hill tells a more excellent way4 ,,building ,,in ,,troublous ,,times ',now when the adversaries of ,judah and ,benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the ,lord ,god of ,israel2 #b4 ,then they came to ,zerubbabel1 and to the chief of the fathers1 and said unto them1 ,let us build with you3 for we seek your ,god1 as ye do2 and we do sacrifice unto ,him since the days of ,esar-haddon king of ,assur1 which brought us up hither4 #c4 ,but ,zerubbabel1 and ,joshua1 and the rest of the chief of the fathers of ,israel1 said unto them1 ,ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our ,god2 but we ourselves together will build unto the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 as king ,cyrus the king of ,persia hath commanded us4 #d4 ,then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of ,judah1 and troubled them in building1 #e4 ,and hired counsellors against them1 to frustrate their purpose1 all the days of ,cyrus king of ,persia1 even until the reign of ,darius king of ,persia4'--,,ezra iv4 #a-e4 ,opposition began as soon as the foundations were laid1 as is usually the case with all great attempts to build ,god's house4 ,it came from the ,samaritans1 the mingled people who were partly descendants of the ancient remnant of the northern kingdom1 left behind after the removal by deportation of the bulk of its population1 and partly the descendants of successive layers of immigrants1 planted in the empty territory by successive ,assyrian and ,babylonian kings4 ,esar-haddon was the first who had sent colonists1 about one hundred and thirty years before the return4 ,the writer calls the ,samaritans 'the adversaries1' though they began by offers of friendship and alliance4 ,the name implies that these offers were perfidious1 and a move in the struggle4 ,one can easily understand that the ,samaritans looked with suspicion on the new arrivals1 the ancient possessors of the land1 coming under the auspices of the new dynasty1 and likely to interfere with their position if not reduced to inferiority or neutralised somehow4 ,the proposal to unite in building the ,temple was a political move2 for1 in old-world ideas1 co-operation in ,temple-building was incorporation in national unity4 ,the calculation1 no doubt1 was that if the returning exiles could be united with the much more numerous ,samaritans1 they would soon be absorbed in them4 ,the only chance for the smaller body was to keep itself apart1 and to run the risk of its isolation4 ,the insincere request was based on an untruth1 for the ,samaritans did not worship ,jehovah as the ,jews1 but along with their own gods 7#b ,kings xvii4 #be-da74 ,to divide ,his dominion with others was to dethrone ,him altogether4 ,it therefore became an act of faithfulness to ,jehovah to reject the entangling alliance4 ,to have accepted it would have been tantamount to frustrating the very purpose of the return1 and consenting to be muzzled about the sin of idolatry4 ,but the chief lesson which exile had burned in on the ,jewish mind was a loathing of idolatry1 which is in remarkable contrast to the inclination to it that had marked their previous history4 ,so one answer only was possible1 and it was given with unwelcome plainness of speech1 which might have been more courteous1 and not less firm4 ,it flatly denied any common ground2 it claimed exclusive relation to 'our ,god1' which meant1 'not yours'2 it underscored the claim by reiterating that ,jehovah was the ',god of ,israel'2 it put forward the decree of ,cyrus1 as leaving no option but to confine the builders to the people whom it had empowered to build4 ,now1 it is easy to represent this as a piece of impolitic narrowness1 and to say that its surly bigotry was rightly punished by the evils that it brought down on the returning exiles4 ,the temper of much flaccid ,christianity at present delights to expand in a lazy and foolish 'liberality1' which will welcome anybody to come and take a hand at the building1 and accepts any profession of unity in worship4 ,but there is no surer way of taking the earnestness out of ,christian work and workers than drafting into it a mass of non-,christians1 whatever their motives may be4 ,cold water poured into a boiling pot will soon stop its bubbling1 and bring down its temperature4 ,the churches are clogged and impeded1 and their whole tone lowered and chilled1 by a mass of worldly men and women4 ,nothing is gained1 and much is in danger of being lost1 by obliterating the lines between the church and the world4 ,the ,jew who thought little of the difference between the ,samaritan worship with its polytheism1 and his own monotheism1 was in peril of dropping to the ,samaritan level4 ,the ,samaritan who was accepted as a true worshipper of ,jehovah1 though he had a bevy of other gods in addition1 would have been confirmed in his belief that the differences were unimportant4 ,so both would have been harmed by what called itself 'liberality1' and was in reality indifference4 ,no doubt1 ,zerubbabel had counted the cost of faithfulness1 and he soon had to pay it4 ,the would-be friends threw off the mask1 and1 as they could not hinder by pretending to help1 took a plainer way to stop progress4 ,all the weapons that ,eastern subtlety and intrigue could use were persistently employed to 'weaken the hands' of the builders1 and the most potent of all methods1 bribery to ,persian officials1 was freely used4 ,the opponents triumphed1 and the little community began to taste the bitterness of high hopes disappointed and noble enterprises frustrated4 ,how differently things had turned out from the expectations with which the company had set forth from ,babylon6 ,the rough awakening to realities disillusions us all when we come to turn dreams into facts4 ,the beginning of laying the ,temple foundations is put in #ecf ,b4,c42 the first year of ,darius was #ebb4 ,how soon after the commencement of the work the ,samaritan tricks succeeded we do not know1 but it must have been some time before the death of ,cyrus in #ebi4 ,for weary years then the sanguine band had to wait idly1 and no doubt enthusiasm died out3 they had enough to do in keeping themselves alive1 and in holding their own amidst enemies4 ,they needed1 as we all do1 patience1 and a willingness to wait for ,god's own time to fulfil ,his own promise4 ,,the ,,new ,,temple ,,and ,,its ,,worship ',and the elders of the ,jews builded1 and they prospered through the prophesying of ,haggai the prophet and ,zechariah the son of ,iddo3 and they builded1 and finished it1 according to the commandment of the ,god of ,israel1 and according to the commandment of ,cyrus1 and ,darius1 and ,artaxerxes king of ,persia4 #ae4 ,and this house was finished on the third day of the month ,adar1 which was in the sixth year of the reign of ,darius the king4 #af4 ,and the children of ,israel1 the priests1 and the ,levites1 and the rest of the children of the captivity1 kept the dedication of this house of ,god with joy1 #ag4 ,and offered at the dedication of this house of ,god an hundred bullocks1 two hundred rams1 four hundred lambs2 and for a sin offering for all ,israel1 twelve he-goats1 according to the number of the tribes of ,israel4 #ah4 ,and they set the priests in their divisions1 and the ,levites in their courses1 for the service of ,god1 which is at ,jerusalem2 as it is written in the book of ,moses4 #ai4 ,and the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month4 #bj4 ,for the priests and the ,levites were purified together1 all of them were pure1 and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity1 and for their brethren the priests1 and for themselves4 #ba4 ,and the children of ,israel1 which were come again out of captivity1 and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land1 to seek the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 did eat1 #bb4 ,and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy3 for the ,lord had made them joyful1 and turned the heart of the king of ,assyria unto them1 to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of ,god1 the ,god of ,israel4'--,,ezra4 vi4 #ad-bb4 ,there are three events recorded in this passage1--the completion of the ,temple1 its dedication1 and the keeping of the passover some weeks thereafter4 ,four years intervene between the resumption of building and its successful finish1 much of which time had been occupied by the interference of the ,persian governor1 which compelled a reference to ,darius1 and resulted in his confirmation of ,cyrus' charter4 ,the king's stringent orders silenced opposition1 and seem to have been loyally1 however unwillingly1 obeyed4 ,about twenty-three years passed between the return of the exiles and the completion of the ,temple4 ,i4 ,the prosperous close of the long task 7vers4 #ad1 #ae74 ,the narrative enumerates three points in reference to the completion of the ,temple which are very significant1 and1 taken together1 set forth the stimulus and law and helps of work for ,god4 ,it is expressive of deep truth that first in order is named1 as the cause of success1 'the prophesying of ,haggai and ,zechariah4' ',practical men1' no doubt1 then as always1 set little store by the two prophets' fiery words1 and thought that a couple of masons would have done more for the building than they did4 ,the contempt for 'ideas' is the mark of shallow and vulgar minds4 ,nothing is more practical than principles and motives which underlie and inform work1 and these two prophets did more for building the ,temple by their words than an army of labourers with their hands4 ',there are diversities of operations1' and it is not given to every man to handle a trowel2 but no good work will be prosperously accomplished unless there be engaged in it prophets who rouse and rebuke and hearten1 and toilers who by their words are encouraged and saved from forgetting the sacred motives and great ends of their work in the monotony and multiplicity of details4 ,still more important is the next point mentioned4 ,the work was done 'according to the commandment of the ,god of ,israel4' ,there is peculiar beauty and pathos in that name1 which is common in ,ezra4 ,it speaks of the sense of unity in the nation1 though but a fragment of it had come back4 ,there was still an ,israel1 after all the dreary years1 and in spite of present separation4 ,god was still its ,god1 though ,he had hidden ,his face for so long4 ,an inextinguishable faith1 wistful but assured1 in ,his unalterable promise1 throbs in that name1 so little warranted by a superficial view of circumstances1 but so amply vindicated by a deeper insight4 ,his 'commandment' is at once the warrant and the standard for the work of building4 ,in ,his service we are to be sure that ,he bids1 and then to carry out ,his will whoever opposes4 ,we are to make certain that our building is 'according to the pattern showed in the mount1' and1 if so1 to stick to it in every point4 ,there is no room for more than one architect in rearing the temple4 ,the working drawings must come from ,him4 ,we are only ,his workmen4 ,and though we may know no more of the general plan of the structure than the day-labourer who carries a hod does1 we must be sure that we have ,his orders for our little bit of work1 and then we may be at rest even while we toil4 ,they who build according to ,his commandment build for eternity1 and their work shall stand the trial by fire4 ,that motive turns what without it were but 'wood1 hay1 stubble1' into 'gold and silver and precious stones4' ,the last point is that the work was done according to the commandment of the heathen kings4 ,we need not discuss the chronological difficulty arising from the mention of ,artaxerxes here4 ,the only king of that name who can be meant reigned fifty years after the events here narrated4 ,the mention of him here has been explained by 'the consideration that he contributed to the maintenance1 though not to the building1 of the ,temple4' ,whatever is the solution1 the intention of the mention of the names of the friendly monarchs is plain4 ',the king's heart is in the hand of the ,lord as the watercourses2 ,he turneth it whithersoever ,he will4' ,the wonderful providence1 surpassing all hopes1 which gave the people 'favour in the eyes of them that carried them captive1' animates the writer's thankfulness1 while he recounts that miracle that the commandment of ,god was re-echoed by such lips4 ,the repetition of the word in both clauses underscores1 as it were1 the remarkable concurrence4 ,,ii4 ,the dedication of the ,temple 7vers4 #af-ah74 ,how long the dedication was after the completion is not specified4 ,the month ,adar was the last of the ,jewish year1 and corresponded nearly with our ,march4 ,probably the ceremonial of dedication followed immediately on the completion of the building4 ,probably few1 if any1 of the aged men1 who had wept at the founding1 survived to see the completion of the ,temple4 ,a new generation had no such sad contrasts of present lowliness and former glory to shade their gladness4 ,so many dangers surmounted1 so many long years of toil interrupted and hope deferred1 gave keener edge to joy in the fair result of them all4 ,we may cherish the expectation that our long tasks1 and often disappointments1 will have like ending if they have been met and done in like spirit1 having been stimulated by prophets and commanded by ,god4 ,it is not wholesome nor grateful to depreciate present blessings by contrasting them with vanished good4 ,let us take what ,god gives to-day1 and not embitter it by remembering yesterday with vain regret4 ,there is a remembrance of the former more splendid ,temple in the name of the new one1 which is thrice repeated in the passage1--'this house4' ,but that phrase expresses gratitude quite as much as1 or more than1 regret4 ,the former house is gone1 but there is still 'this house1' and it is as truly ,god's as the other was4 ,let us grasp the blessings we have1 and be sure that in them is continued the substance of those we have lost4 ,the offerings were poor1 if compared with ,solomon's 'two and twenty thousand oxen1 and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep' 7#a ,kings viii4 #fc71 and no doubt the despisers of the 'day of small things1' whom ,zechariah had rebuked1 would be at their depreciating work again4 ,but 'if there be first a willing mind1 it is accepted according to that a man hath1 and not according to that he hath not4' ,the thankfulness of the offerers1 not the number of their bullocks and rams1 made the sacrifice well pleasing4 ,but it would not have been so if the exiles' resources had been equal to the great ,king's4 ,how many cattle had they in their stalls at home1 not how many they brought to the ,temple1 was the important question4 ,the man who says1 ',oh6 ,god accepts small offerings1' and gives a mite while he keeps talents1 might as well keep his mite too2 for certainly ,god will not have it4 ,a significant part of the offerings was the 'twelve he-goats1 according to the number of the tribes of ,israel4' ,these spoke of the same confidence as we have already noticed as being expressed by the designation of 'the ,god of ,israel4' ,possibly scattered members of all the tribes had come back1 and so there was a kind of skeleton framework of the nation present at the dedication2 but1 whether that be so or not1 that handful of people was not ,israel4 ,thousands of their brethren still lingered in exile1 and the hope of their return must have been faint4 ,yet ,god's promise remained1 and ,israel was immortal4 ,the tribes were still twelve1 and the sacrifices were still theirs4 ,a thrill of emotion must have touched many hearts as the twelve goats were led up to the altar4 ,so an ,englishman feels as he looks at the crosses on the ,union ,jack4 ,but there was more than patriotism in that sacrifice4 ,it witnessed to unshaken faith4 ,and there was still more expressed in it than the offerers dreamed2 for it prophesied of that transformation of the national into the spiritual ,israel1 in virtue of which the promises remain true1 and are inherited by the ,church of ,christ in all lands4 ,the re-establishment of the ,temple worship with the appointment of priests and ,levites1 according to the ancient ordinance1 naturally followed on the dedication4 ,,iii4 ,the celebration of the ,passover 7vers4 #ai-bb74 ,it took place on the fourteenth day of the first month1 and probably1 therefore1 very soon after the dedication4 ,they 'kept the feast1 444 for the priests and ,levites were purified together4' ,the zeal of the sacerdotal class in attending to the prescriptions for ceremonial purity made it possible that the feast should be observed4 ,how much of real devotion1 and how much of mere eagerness to secure their official position1 mingled with this zeal1 cannot be determined4 ,probably there was a touch of both4 ,scrupulous observance of ritual is easy religion1 especially if one's position is improved by it4 ,but the connection pointed out by the writer is capable of wide applications4 ,the true purity and earnestness of preachers and teachers of all degrees has much to do with their hearers' and scholars' participation in the blessings of the ,gospel4 ,if priests are not pure1 they cannot kill the passover4 ,earnest teachers make earnest scholars4 ,foul hands cannot dispense the bread of life4 ,there is a slight deviation from the law in the ritual as here stated1 since it was prescribed that each householder should kill the passover lamb for his house4 ,but from the time of ,hezekiah the ,levites seem to have done it for the congregation 7#b ,chron4 xxx4 #ag71 and afterwards for the priests also 7#b ,chron4 xxxv4 #aa1 #ad74 ,verse #ba tells that not only the returned exiles1 but also 'all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land1 to seek the ,lord ,god of ,israel1' ate the passover4 ,it may be questioned whether these latter were ,israelites1 the descendants of the residue who had not been deported1 but who had fallen into idolatry during the exile1 or heathens of the mixed populations who had been settled in the vacant country4 ,the emphasis put on their turning to ,israel and ,israel's ,god seems to favour the latter supposition4 ,but in any case1 the fact presents us with an illustration of the proper effect of the presence anywhere of a company of ,god's true worshippers4 ,if we purify ourselves1 and keep the feast of the true passover with joy as well as purity1 we shall not want for outsiders who will separate themselves from the more subtle and not less dangerous idolatries of modern life1 to seek the ,lord ,god of ,israel4 ,if ,his ,israel is what it ought to be1 it will attract4 ,a bit of scrap-iron in contact with a magnet is a magnet4 ,they who live in touch with ,him who said1 ',i will draw all men unto ,me' will share ,his attractive power in the measure of their union with ,him4 ,the week after the passover feast was1 according to the ritual1 observed as the feast of unleavened bread4 ,the narrative touches lightly on the ceremonial1 and dwells in conclusion on the joy of the worshippers and its cause4 ,they do well to be glad whom ,god makes glad4 ,all other joy bears in it the seeds of death4 ,it is1 in one aspect1 the end of ,god's dealings1 that we should be glad in ,him4 ,wise men will not regard that as a less noble end than making us pure2 in fact1 the two are united4 ,the 'blessed ,god' is glad in our gladness when it is ,his gladness4 ,notice the exulting wonder with which ,god's miracle of mercy is reported in its source and its glorious result4 ,the heart of the king was turned to them1 and no power but ,god's could have done that4 ,the issue of that divine intervention was the completed ,temple1 in which once more the ,god of that ,israel which ,he had so marvellously restored dwelt in the midst of ,his people4 ,,god ,,the ,,joy-,,bringer ',they kept the feast 444 seven days with joy2 for the ,lord had made them joyful4'--,,ezra vi4 #bb4 ,twenty years of hard work and many disappointments and dangers had at last1 for the ,israelites returning from the captivity1 been crowned by the completion of the ,temple4 ,it was a poor affair as compared with the magnificent house that had stood upon ,zion2 and so some of them 'despised the day of small things4' ,they were ringed about by enemies2 they were feeble in themselves2 there was a great deal to darken their prospects and to sadden their hearts2 and yet1 when memories of the ancient days came back1 and once more they saw the sacrificial smoke rising from the long cold and ruined altar1 they rejoiced in ,god1 and they kept the passover amid the ruins1 as my text tells us1 for the 'seven days' of the statutory period 'with joy1' because1 in spite of all1 'the ,lord had made them joyful4' ,i think if we take this simple saying we get two or three thoughts1 not altogether irrelevant to universal experience1 about the true and the counterfeit gladnesses possible to us all4 ,i4 ,look at that great and wonderful thought--,god the joy-maker4 ,we do not often realise how glad ,god is when we are glad1 and how worthy an object of much that ,he does is simply the prosperity and the blessedness of human hearts4 ,the poorest creature that lives has a right to ask from ,god the satisfaction of its instincts1 and every man has a claim on ,god--because he is ,god's creature--to make him glad4 ,god honours all cheques legitimately drawn on ,him1 and answers all claims1 and regards ,himself as occupied in a manner entirely congruous with ,his magnificence and ,his infinitude1 when ,he stoops to put some kind of vibrating gladness into the wings of a gnat that dances for an hour in the sunshine1 and into the heart of a man that lives his time for only a very little longer4 ,god is the ,joy-maker4 ,there are far more magnificent and sublime thoughts about ,him than that2 but ,i do not know that there is any that ought to come nearer to our hearts1 and to silence more of our grumblings and of our distrust1 than the belief that the gladness of ,his children is an end contemplated by ,him in all that ,he does4 ,whether we think it of small importance or no1 ,he does not think it so1 that all mankind should rejoice in ,himself4 ,and this is a marvellous revelation to break out of the very heart of that comparatively hard system of ancient ,judaism4 ',the ,lord hath made them joyful4' ,turning away from the immediate connection of these words1 let me remind you of the great outlines of the divine provision for gladdening men's hearts4 ,i was going to say that ,god had only one way of making us glad2 and perhaps that is in the deepest sense true4 ,that way is by putting ,himself into us4 ,he gives us ,himself to make us glad2 for nothing else will do it--or1 at least1 though there may be many subordinate sources of joy1 if there be in the innermost shrine of our spirits an empty place1 where the ,shekinah ought to shine1 no other joys will suffice to settle and to rejoice the soul4 ,the secret of all true human well-being is close communion with ,god2 and when ,he looks at the poorest of us1 desiring to make us blessed1 ,he can but say1 ',i will give ,myself to that poor man2 to that ignorant creature2 to that wayward and prodigal child2 to that harlot in her corruption2 to that worldling in his narrow godlessness2 ,i will give ,myself1 if they will have ,me4' ,and thus1 and only thus1 does ,he make us truly1 perfectly1 and for ever glad4 ,besides that1 or rather as a sequel and consequence of that1 there come such other ,god-given blessings as these to which my text refers4 ,what were the outward reasons for the restored exiles' gladness8 ',the ,lord had made them joyful1 and turned the heart of the king 444 unto them to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of ,god1 the ,god of ,israel4' ,so1 then1 ,he pours into men's lives by ,his providences the secondary and lower gifts which men1 according to changing circumstances1 need2 and ,he also satisfies the permanent physical necessities of all orders of beings to whom ,he has given life4 ,he gives ,himself for the spirit2 ,he gives whatever is contributory to any kind of gladness2 and if we are wise we shall trace all to ,him4 ,he is the ,joy-giver2 and that man has not yet understood either the sanctity of life or the full sweetness of its sweetest things unless he sees1 written over every one of them1 the name of ,god1 their giver4 ,your common mercies are ,his love tokens1 and they all come to us1 just as the gifts of parents to their children do1 with this on the fly-leaf1 ',with a father's love4' ,whatever comes to ,god's child with that inscription1 surely it ought to kindle a thrill of gladness4 ,that 'the king of ,assyria's heart is turned'2 shall we thank the king of ,assyria8 ,yes and ,no6 ,for it was ,god who 'turned' it4 ,oh6 to carry the quiet confidence of that thought into all our daily life1 and see ,his name written upon everything that contributes to make us blessed4 ,god is the true ,source and ,maker of every joy4 ,and by the side of that we must put this other thought--there are sources of joy with which ,he has nothing to do4 ,there are people who are joyful--and there are some of them listening now--not because ,god made them joyful1 but because 'the world1 the devil1 and the flesh' have given them ghastly caricatures of the true gladness4 ,and these rival sources of blessedness1 the existence of which my text suggests1 are the enemies of all that is good and noble in us and in our joys4 ,god made these men joyful1 and so their gladness was wholesome4 ,,ii4 ,note the consequent obligation and wisdom of taking our ,god-given joys4 ',they kept the feast with joy1 for the ,lord had made them joyful4' ,then it is our obligation to accept and use what it is ,his blessedness to give4 ,be sure you take ,him4 ,when ,he is waiting to pour all ,his love into your heart1 and all ,his sweetness into your sensitive spirit1 to calm your anxieties1 to deepen your blessedness1 to strengthen everything that is good in you1 to be to you a stay in the midst of crumbling prosperity1 and a ,light in the midst of gathering darkness1 be sure that you take the joy that waits your acceptance4 ,do not let it be said that1 when the ,lord ,christ has come down from heaven1 and lived upon earth1 and gone back to heaven1 and sent ,his ,spirit to dwell in you1 you lock the door against the entrance of the joy-bringing ,messenger1 and are sad and restless and discontented because you have shut out the ,god who desires to abide in your hearts4 ',they kept the feast with joy1 because the ,lord had made them joyful4' ,oh6 how many ,christian men and women there are1 who in the midst of the abundant and wonderful provision for continual cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit given to them in the promises of the ,gospel1 in the gifts of ,christ1 in the indwelling of the ,divine ,spirit1 do yet go through life creeping and sad1 burdened and anxious1 perplexed and at their wits' end1 just because they will not have the ,god who yearns to come to them1 or at least will not have ,him in anything like the fullness and the completeness in which ,he desires to bestow ,himself4 ,if ,god gives1 surely we are bound to receive4 ,it is an obligation upon ,christian men and women1 which they do not sufficiently realise1 to be glad1 and it is a commandment needing to be reiterated4 ',rejoice in the ,lord always2 and again ,i say1 rejoice4' ,would that ,christian experience in this generation was more alive to the obligation and the blessedness of perpetual joy arising from perpetual communion with ,him4 ,further1 another obligation is to recognise ,him in all common mercies1 because ,he is at the back of them all4 ,let them always proclaim ,him to us4 ,oh6 if we did not go through the world blinded to the real ,power that underlies all its motions1 we should feel that everything was vocal to us of the loving-kindness of our ,father in heaven4 ,link ,him1 dear friend6 with everything that makes your heart glad2 with everything pleasant that comes to you4 ,there is nothing good or sweet but it flows from ,him4 ,there is no common delight of flesh or sense1 of sight or taste or smell1 no little enjoyment that makes the moment pass more brightly1 no drop of oil that eases the friction of the wheels of life1 but it may be elevated into greatness and nobleness1 and will then first be understood in its true significance1 if it is connected with ,him4 ,god does not desire to be put away high up on a pedestal above our lives1 as if ,he regulated the great things and the trifles regulated themselves2 but ,he seeks to come1 as air into the lungs1 into every particle of the mass of life1 and to fill it all with ,his own purifying presence4 ,recognise ,him in common joys4 ,if1 when we sit down to partake of them1 we would say to ourselves1 ',the ,lord has made us joyful1' all our home delights1 all our social pleasures1 all our intellectual and all our sensuous ones--rest and food and drink and all other goods for the body--they would all be felt to be great1 as they indeed are4 ,enjoyed in ,him1 the smallest is great2 without ,him1 the greatest is small4 ',the ,lord made them joyful'2 and what is large enough for ,him to give ought not to be too small for us to receive with recognition of ,his hand4 ,another piece of wholesome counsel in this matter is--,be sure that you use the joys which ,god does give4 ,many good people seem to think that it is somehow devout and becoming to pitch most of their songs in a minor key1 and to be habitually talking about trials and disappointments1 and 'a desert land1' and ',brief life is here our portion1' and so on1 and so on4 ,there are two ways in which you can look at the world and at everything that befalls you4 ,there is enough in everybody's life to make him sad if he sulkily selects these things to dwell upon4 ,there is enough in everybody's life to make him continually glad if he wisely picks out these to think about4 ,it depends altogether on the angle at which you look at your life what you see in it4 ,for instance1 you know how children do when they get a bit of a willow wand into their possession4 ,they cut off rings of bark1 and get the switch alternately white and black1 white and black1 and so on right away to the tip4 ,whether will you look at the white rings or the black ones8 ,they are both there4 ,but if you rightly look at the black you will find out that there is white below it1 and it only needs a very little stripping off of a film to make it into white too4 ,or1 to put it into simpler words1 no ,christian man has the right to regard anything that ,god's ,providence brings to him as such unmingled evil that it ought to make him sad4 ,we are bound to 'rejoice in the ,lord always4' ,i know how hard it is1 but sure am ,i that it is possible for a man1 if he keeps near ,jesus ,christ1 to reproduce ,paul's paradox of being 'sorrowful yet always rejoicing1' and even in the midst of darkness and losses and sorrows and blighted hopes and disappointed aims to rejoice in the ,lord1 and to 'keep the feast with gladness1 because the ,lord has made him joyful4' ,nor do we discharge our duty1 unless side by side with the sorrow which is legitimate1 which is blessed1 strengthening1 purifying1 calming1 moderating1 there is also 'joy unspeakable and full of glory4' ,again1 be sure that you limit your delights to ,god-made joys4 ,too many of us have what parts of our nature recognise as satisfaction1 and are glad to have1 apart from ,him4 ,there is nothing sadder than the joys that come into a life1 and do not come from ,god4 ,oh6 let us see to it that we do not fill our cisterns with poisonous sewage when ,god is waiting to fill them with the pure 'river of the water of life4' ,do not let us draw our blessedness from the world and its evils4 ,does my joy help me to come near to ,god8 ,does it interfere with my communion with ,him8 ,does it aid me in the consecration of myself8 ,does my conscience go with it when my conscience is most awake8 ,do ,i recognise ,him as the ,giver of the thing that is so blessed8 ,if we can say ,yes6 to these questions1 we can venture to believe that our blessedness comes from ,god1 and leads to ,god1 however homely1 however sensuous and material may be its immediate occasion4 ,but if not1 then the less we have to do with such sham gladness the better4 ',even in laughter the heart is sorrowful1 and the end of that mirth is heaviness4' ,the alternative presented for the choice of each of us is whether we will have surface joy and a centre of dark discontent1 or surface sorrow and a centre of calm blessedness4 ,the film of stagnant water on a pond full of rottenness simulates the glories of the rainbow1 in which pure sunshine falls upon the pure drops1 but it is only painted corruption after all1 a sign of rotting2 and if a man puts his lips to it it will kill him4 ,such is the joy which is apart from ,god4 ,it is the 'crackling of thorns under a pot'--the more fiercely they burn the sooner they are ashes4 ,and1 on the other hand1 'these things have ,i spoken unto you that ,my joy might remain in you1 and that your joy might be full4' ,it is not 'for seven days' that we 'keep the feast' if ,god has 'made us joyful1' but for all the rest of the days of time1 and for the endless years of the calm gladnesses of the heavens4 ,,heroic ,,faith ',i was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way3 because we had spoken unto the king1 saying1 ,the hand of our ,god is upon them all for good that seek ,him4444 #bc4 ,so we fasted and besought our ,god for this4444 #ca4 ,the hand of our ,god was upon us1 and ,he delivered us from the hand of the enemy1 and of such as lay in wait by the way4 #cb4 ,and we came to ,jerusalem4'--,,ezra viii4 #bb1 #bc1 #ca1 #cb4 ,the memory of ,ezra the scribe has scarcely had fairplay among ,bible-reading people4 ,true1 neither his character nor the incidents of his life reach the height of interest or of grandeur belonging to the earlier men and their times4 ,he is no hero1 or prophet2 only a scribe2 and there is a certain narrowness as well as a prosaic turn about his mind1 and altogether one feels that he is a smaller man than the ,elijahs and ,davids of the older days4 ,but the homely garb of the scribe covered a very brave devout heart1 and the story of his life deserves to be more familiar to us than it is4 ,this scrap from the account of his preparations for the march from ,babylon to ,jerusalem gives us a glimpse of a high-toned faith1 and a noble strain of feeling4 ,he and his company had a long weary journey of four months before them4 ,they had had little experience of arms and warfare1 or of hardships and desert marches1 in their ,babylonian homes4 ,their caravan was made unwieldy and feeble by the presence of a large proportion of women and children4 ,they had much valuable property with them4 ,the stony desert1 which stretches unbroken from the ,euphrates to the uplands on the east of ,jordan1 was infested then as now by wild bands of marauders1 who might easily swoop down on the encumbered march of ,ezra and his men1 and make a clean sweep of all which they had4 ,and he knew that he had but to ask and have an escort from the king that would ensure their safety till they saw ,jerusalem4 ,artaxerxes' surname1 'the long-handed1' may have described a physical peculiarity1 but it also expressed the reach of his power2 his arm could reach these wandering plunderers1 and if ,ezra and his troop were visibly under his protection1 they could march secure4 ,so it was not a small exercise of trust in a higher ,hand that is told us here so simply4 ,it took some strength of principle to abstain from asking what it would have been so natural to ask1 so easy to get1 so comfortable to have4 ,but1 as he says1 he remembered how confidently he has spoken of ,god's defence1 and he feels that he must be true to his professed creed1 even if it deprives him of the king's guards4 ,he halts his followers for three days at the last station before the desert1 and there1 with fasting and prayer1 they put themselves in ,god's hand2 and then the band1 with their wives and little ones1 and their substance1--a heavily-loaded and feeble caravan1--fling themselves into the dangers of the long1 dreary1 robber-haunted march4 ,did not the scribe's robe cover as brave a heart as ever beat beneath a breastplate8 ,that symbolic phrase1 'the hand of our ,god1' as expressive of the divine protection1 occurs with remarkable frequency in the books of ,ezra and ,nehemiah1 and though not peculiar to them1 is yet strikingly characteristic of them4 ,it has a certain beauty and force of its own4 ,the hand is of course the seat of active power4 ,it is on or over a man like some great shield held aloft above him1 below which there is safe hiding4 ,so that great ,hand bends itself over us1 and we are secure beneath its hollow4 ,as a child sometimes carries a tender-winged butterfly in the globe of its two hands that the bloom on the wings may not be ruffled by fluttering1 so ,he carries our feeble1 unarmoured souls enclosed in the covert of ,his ,almighty hand4 ',who hath measured the waters in the hollow of ,his hand8' ',who hath gathered the wind in ,his fists8' ,in that curved palm where all the seas lie as a very little thing1 we are held2 the grasp that keeps back the tempests from their wild rush1 keeps us1 too1 from being smitten by their blast4 ,as a father may lay his own large muscular hand on his child's tiny fingers to help him1 or as ',elisha put his hands on the king's hands1' that the contact might strengthen him to shoot the 'arrow of the ,lord's deliverance1' so the hand of our ,god is upon us to impart power as well as protection2 and our 'bow abides in strength1' when 'the arms of our hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob4' ,that was ,ezra's faith1 and that should be ours4 ,note ,ezra's sensitive shrinking from anything like inconsistency between his creed and his practice4 ,it was easy to talk about ,god's protection when he was safe behind the walls of ,babylon2 but now the pinch had come4 ,there was a real danger before him and his unwarlike followers4 ,no doubt1 too1 there were plenty of people who would have been delighted to catch him tripping2 and he felt that his cheeks would have tingled with shame if they had been able to say1 ',ah6 that is what all his fine professions come to1 is it8 ,he wants a convoy1 does he8 ,we thought as much4 ,it is always so with these people who talk in that style4 ,they are just like the rest of us when the pinch comes4' ,so1 with a high and keen sense of what was required by his avowed principles1 he will have no guards for the road4 ,there was a man whose religion was at any rate not a fair-weather religion4 ,it did not go off in fine speeches about trusting to the protection of ,god1 spoken from behind the skirts of the king1 or from the middle of a phalanx of his soldiers4 ,he clearly meant what he said1 and believed every word of it as a prose fact1 which was solid enough to build conduct on4 ,i am afraid a great many of us would rather have tried to reconcile our asking for a band of horsemen with our professed trust in ,god's hand2 and there would have been plenty of excuses very ready about using means as well as exercising faith1 and not being called upon to abandon advantages1 and not pushing a good principle to ,quixotic lengths1 and so on1 and so on4 ,but whatever truth there is in such considerations1 at any rate we may well learn the lesson of this story--to be true to our professed principles2 to beware of making our religion a matter of words2 to live1 when the time for putting them into practice comes1 by the maxims which we have been forward to proclaim when there was no risk in applying them2 and to try sometimes to look at our lives with the eyes of people who do not share our faith1 that we may bring our actions up to the mark of what they expect of us4 ,if 'the ,church' would oftener think of what 'the world' looks for from it1 it would seldomer have cause to be ashamed of the terrible gap between its words and its deeds4 ,especially in regard to this matter of trust in an unseen ,hand1 and reliance on visible helps1 we all need to be very rigid in our self-inspection4 ,faith in the good hand of ,god upon us for good should often lead to the abandonment1 and always to the subordination1 of material aids4 ,it is a question of detail1 which each man must settle for himself as each occasion arises1 whether in any given case abandonment or subordination is our duty4 ,this is not the place to enter on so large and difficult a question4 ,but1 at all events1 let us remember1 and try to work into our own lives1 that principle which the easy-going ,christianity of this day has honeycombed with so many exceptions1 that it scarcely has any whole surface left at all2 that the absolute surrender and forsaking of external helps and goods is sometimes essential to the preservation and due expression of reliance on ,god4 ,there is very little fear of any of us pushing that principle to ,quixotic lengths4 ,the danger is all the other way4 ,so it is worth while to notice that we have here an instance of a man's being carried by a certain lofty enthusiasm further than the mere law of duty would take him4 ,there would have been no harm in ,ezra's asking an escort1 seeing that his whole enterprise was made possible by the king's support4 ,he would not have been 'leaning on an arm of flesh' by availing himself of the royal troops1 any more than when he used the royal firman4 ,but a true man often feels that he cannot do the things which he might without sin do4 ',all things are lawful for me1 but all things are not expedient1' said ,paul4 ,the same ,apostle eagerly contended that he had a perfect right to money support from the ,gentile ,churches2 and then1 in the next breath1 flamed up into1 ',i have used none of these things1 for it were better for me to die1 than that any man should make my glorying void4' ,a sensitive spirit1 or one profoundly stirred by religious emotion1 will1 like the apostle whose feet were moved by love1 far outrun the slower soul1 whose steps are only impelled by the thought of duty4 ,better that the cup should run over than that it should not be full4 ,where we delight to do ,his will1 there will often be more than a scrupulously regulated enough2 and where there is not sometimes that 'more1' there will never be enough4 ',give all thou canst2 high ,heaven rejects the lore ,of nicely calculated less or more4' ,what shall we say of people who profess that ,god is their portion1 and are as eager in the scramble for money as anybody8 ,what kind of a commentary will sharp-sighted1 sharp-tongued observers have a right to make on us1 whose creed is so unlike theirs1 while our lives are identical8 ,do you believe1 friends6 that 'the hand of our ,god is upon all them for good that seek ,him'8 ,then1 do you not think that racing after the prizes of this world1 with flushed cheeks and labouring breath1 or longing1 with a gnawing hunger of heart1 for any earthly good1 or lamenting over the removal of creatural defences and joys1 as if heaven were empty because some one's place here is1 or as if ,god were dead because dear ones die1 may well be a shame to us1 and a taunt on the lips of our enemies8 ,let us learn again the lesson from this old story1--that if our faith in ,god is not the veriest sham1 it demands and will produce1 the abandonment sometimes and the subordination always1 of external helps and material good4 ,notice1 too1 ,ezra's preparation for receiving the divine help4 ,there1 by the river ,ahava1 he halts his company like a prudent leader1 to repair omissions1 and put the last touches to their organisation before facing the wilderness4 ,but he has another purpose also4 ',i proclaimed a fast there1 to seek of ,god a right way for us4' ,there was no foolhardiness in his courage2 he was well aware of all the possible dangers on the road2 and whilst he is confident of the divine protection1 he knows that1 in his own quiet1 matter-of-fact words1 it is given 'to all them that seek ,him4' ,so his faith not only impels him to the renunciation of the ,babylonian guard1 but to earnest supplication for the defence in which he is so confident4 ,he is sure it will be given--so sure1 that he will have no other shield2 and yet he fasts and prays that he and his company may receive it4 ,he prays because he is sure that he will receive it1 and does receive it because he prays and is sure4 ,so for us1 the condition and preparation on and by which we are sheltered by that great ,hand1 is the faith that asks1 and the asking of faith4 ,we must forsake the earthly props1 but we must also believingly desire to be upheld by the heavenly arms4 ,we make ,god responsible for our safety when we abandon other defence1 and commit ourselves to ,him4 ,with eyes open to our dangers1 and full consciousness of our own unarmed and unwarlike weakness1 let us solemnly commend ourselves to ,him1 rolling all our burden on ,his strong arms1 knowing that ,he is able to keep that which we have committed to ,him4 ,he will accept the trust1 and set ,his guards about us4 ,as the song of the returning exiles1 which may have been sung by the river ,ahava1 has it3 ',my help cometh from the ,lord4 ,the ,lord is thy keeper4 ,the ,lord is thy shade upon thy right hand4' ,so our story ends with the triumphant vindication of this ,quixotic faith4 ,a flash of joyful feeling breaks through the simple narrative1 as it tells how the words spoken before the king came true in the experience of the weaponless pilgrims3 ',the hand of our ,god was upon us1 and ,he delivered us from the hand of the enemy1 and of such as lay in wait by the way2 and we came to ,jerusalem4' ,it was no rash venture that we made4 ,he was all that we hoped and asked4 ,through all the weary march ,he led us4 ,from the wild1 desert-born robbers1 that watched us from afar1 ready to come down on us1 from ambushes and hidden perils1 ,he kept us1 because we had none other help1 and all our hope was in ,him4 ,the ventures of faith are ever rewarded4 ,we cannot set our expectations from ,god too high4 ,what we dare scarcely hope now we shall one day remember4 ,when we come to tell the completed story of our lives1 we shall have to record the fulfilment of all ,god's promises1 and the accomplishment of all our prayers that were built on these4 ,here let us cry1 ',be ,thy hand upon us4' ,here let us trust1 ,thy hand will be upon us4 ,then we shall have to say1 ',the hand of our ,god was upon us1' and as we look from the watch-towers of the city1 on the desert that stretches to its very walls1 and remember all the way by which ,he led us1 we shall rejoice over ,his vindication of our poor faith1 and praise ,him that 'not one thing hath failed of all the things which the ,lord our ,god spake concerning us4' ,,the ,,charge ,,of ,,the ,,pilgrim ,,priests ',watch ye1 and keep them1 until ye weigh them 444 at ,jerusalem1 in the chambers of the house of the ,lord4'--,,ezra viii4 #bi4 ,the little band of ,jews1 seventeen hundred in number1 returning from ,babylon1 had just started on that long pilgrimage1 and made a brief halt in order to get everything in order for their transit across the desert2 when their leader ,ezra1 taking count of his men1 discovers that amongst them there are none of the priests or ,levites4 ,he then takes measures to reinforce his little army with a contingent of these1 and entrusts to their special care a very valuable treasure in gold1 and silver1 and sacred vessels1 which had been given to them for use in the house of the ,lord4 ,the words which ,i have taken as text are a portion of the charge which he gave to those twelve priestly guardians of the precious things1 that were to be used in worship when they got back to the ,temple4 ',watch and keep them1 until ye weigh them in the chambers of the house of the ,lord4' ,so ,i think ,i may venture1 without being unduly fanciful1 to take these words as a type of the injunctions which are given to us ,christian people2 and to see in them a striking and picturesque representation of the duties that devolve upon us in the course of our journey across the desert to the ,temple-,home above4 ,and to begin with1 let me remind you1 for a moment or two1 what the precious treasure is which is thus entrusted to our keeping and care4 ,we can scarcely1 in such a connection and with such a metaphor1 forget the words of our ,lord about a certain king that went to receive his kingdom1 and to return2 who called together his servants1 and gave to each of them according to their several ability1 with the injunction to trade upon that until he came4 ,the same metaphor which our ,master employed lies in this story before us--in the one case1 sacrificial vessels and sacred treasures2 in the other case1 the talents out of the rich possessions of the departing king4 ,nor can we forget either the other phase of the same figure which the ,apostle employs when he says to his 'own son' and substitute1 ,timothy3 ',that good thing which was committed unto thee1 keep by the ,holy ,ghost which dwelleth in us1' nor that other word to the same ,timothy1 which says3 ',o ,timothy6 keep that which was committed to thy trust1 and avoid profane and vain babblings1 and oppositions of science1 falsely so called4' ,in these quotations1 the treasure1 and the rich deposit1 is the faith once delivered to the saints2 the solemn message of love and peace in ,jesus ,christ1 which was entrusted1 first of all to those preachers1 but as truly to every one of ,christ's disciples4 ,so1 then1 the metaphor is capable of two applications4 ,the first is to the rich treasure and solemn trust of our own nature1 of our own souls2 the faculties and capacities1 precious beyond all count1 rich beyond all else that a man has ever received4 ,nothing that you have is half so much as that which you are4 ,the possession of a soul that knows and loves1 and can obey2 that trusts and desires2 that can yearn and reach out to ,jesus ,christ1 and to ,god in ,christ2 of a conscience that can yield to ,his command2 and faculties of comprehending and understanding what comes to them from ,jesus ,christ--that is more than any other possession1 treasure1 or trust4 ,that which you and ,i carry with us--the infinite possibilities of these awful spirits of ours--the tremendous faculties which are given to every human soul1 and which1 like a candle plunged into oxygen1 are meant to burn far more brightly under the stimulus of ,christian faith and the possession of ,god's truth1 are the rich deposit committed to our charge4 ,you priests of the living ,god1 you men and women1 you say that you are ,christ's1 and therefore are consecrated to a nobler priesthood than any other--to you is given this solemn charge3 ',that good thing which is committed unto thee1 keep by the ,holy ,ghost that dwelleth in you4' ,the precious treasure of your own natures1 your own hearts1 your own understandings1 wills1 consciences1 desires--keep these1 until they are weighed in the house of the ,lord in ,jerusalem4 ,and in like manner1 taking the other aspect of the metaphor--we have given to us1 in order that we may do something with it1 that great deposit and treasure of truth1 which is all embodied and incarnated in ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,it is bestowed upon us that we may use it for ourselves1 and in order that we may carry it triumphantly all through the world4 ,possession involves responsibility always4 ,the word of salvation is given to us4 ,if we go tampering with it1 by erroneous apprehension1 by unfair usage1 by failing to apply it to our own daily life2 then it will fade and disappear from our grasp4 ,it is given to us in order that we may keep it safe1 and carry it high up across the desert1 as becomes the priests of the most high ,god4 ,the treasure is first--our own selves--with all that we are and may be1 under the stimulating and quickening influence of ,his grace and ,spirit4 ,the treasure is next--,his great word of salvation1 once delivered unto the saints1 and to be handed on1 without diminution or alteration in its fair perspective and manifold harmonies1 to the generations that are to come4 ,so1 think of yourselves as the priests of ,god1 journeying through the wilderness1 with the treasures of the ,temple and the vessels of the sacrifice for your special deposit and charge4 ,further1 ,i touch on the command1 the guardianship that is here set forth4 ',watch ye1 and keep them4' ,that is to say1 ,i suppose1 according to the ordinary idiom of the ,old ,testament1 ',watch1 in order that you may keep4' ,or to translate it into other words3 ,the treasure which is given into our hands requires1 for its safe preservation1 unceasing vigilance4 ,take the picture of my text3 ,these ,jews were four months1 according to the narrative1 in travelling from their first station upon their journey to ,jerusalem across the desert4 ,there were enemies lying in wait for them by the way4 ,with noble self-restraint and grand chivalry1 the leader of the little band says3 ',i was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen1 to help us against the enemy in the way2 because we had spoken unto the king1 saying1 ,the hand of our ,god is upon all them for good that seek ,him2 but ,his power and ,his wrath is against all that forsake ,him4' ,and so they would not go to him1 cap in hand1 and ask him to give them a guard to take care of them2 but ',we fasted and besought our ,god for this2 and ,he was intreated of us4' ,thus the little company1 without arms1 without protection1 with nothing but a prayer and a trust to make them strong1 flung themselves into the pathless desert with all those precious things in their possession2 and all the precaution which ,ezra took was to lay hold of the priests in the little party1 and to say3 ',here6 all through the march do you stick by these precious things4 ,whoever sleeps1 do you watch4 ,whoever is careless1 be you vigilant4 ,take these for your charge1 and remember ,i weigh them here before we start1 and they will be all weighed again when we get there4 ,so be alert4' ,and is not that exactly what ,christ says to us8 ',watch2 keep them2 be vigilant1 that ye may keep2 and keep them1 because they will be weighed and registered when you arrive there4' ,i cannot do more than touch upon two or three of the ways in which this charge may be worked out1 in its application for ourselves1 beginning with that first one which is implied in the words of the text--unslumbering vigilance2 then trust1 like the trust which is glorified in the context1 depending only on 'the good hand of our ,god upon us'2 then purity1 because1 as ,ezra said1 ',ye are holy unto the ,lord4 ,the vessels are holy also'2 and therefore ye are the fit persons to guard them4 ,and besides these1 there is1 in our keeping our trust1 a method which does not apply to the incident before us2 namely1 use1 in order to their preservation4 ,that is to say1 first of all1 no slumber2 not a moment's relaxation2 or some of those who lie in wait for us on the way will be down upon us1 and some of the precious things will go4 ,while all the rest of the wearied camp slept1 the guardians of the treasure had to outwatch the stars4 ,while others might straggle on the march1 lingering here or there1 or resting on some patch of green1 they had to close up round their precious charge2 others might let their eyes wander from the path1 they had ever to look to their charge4 ,for them the journey had a double burden1 and unslumbering vigilance was their constant duty4 ,we likewise have unslumberingly and ceaselessly to watch over that which is committed to our charge4 ,for1 depend upon it1 if for an instant we turn away our heads1 the thievish birds that flutter over us will be down upon the precious seed that is in our basket1 or that we have sown in the furrows1 and it will be gone4 ,watch1 that ye may keep4 ,and then1 still further1 see how in this story before us there are brought out very picturesquely1 and very simply1 deeper lessons still4 ,it is not enough that a man shall be for ever keeping his eye upon his own character and his own faculties1 and seeking sedulously to cultivate and improve them1 as he that must give an account4 ,there must be another look than that4 ,ezra said1 in effect1 ',not all the cohorts of ,babylon can help us2 and we do not want them4 ,we have one strong hand that will keep us safe'2 and so he1 and his men1 with all this mass of wealth1 so tempting to the wild robbers that haunted the road1 flung themselves into the desert1 knowing that all along it there were1 as he says1 'such as lay in wait for them4' ,his confidence was3 ',god will bring us all safe out to the end there2 and we shall carry every glittering piece of the precious things that we brought out of ,babylon right into the ,temple of ,jerusalem4' ,yet he says1 ',watch ye and keep them4' ,what does that come to in reference to our religious experience8 ,why this3 ',work out your own salvation with fear and trembling2 for it is ,god that worketh in you1 both to will and to do of ,his own good pleasure4' ,you do not need these external helps4 ,fling yourself wholly upon ,his keeping hand1 and also watch and keep yourselves4 ',i know in whom ,i have believed1 and that ,he is able to keep that which ,i have committed unto ,him against that day1' is the complement of the other words1 ',that good thing which was committed unto thee1 keep by the ,holy ,ghost4' ,so guardianship is1 first1 unceasing vigilance2 and then it is lowly trust4 ,and besides that1 it is punctilious purity4 ',i said unto them1 ,ye are holy unto the ,lord2 the vessels are holy unto the ,lord4 ,watch ye1 and keep them4' ,it was fitting that priests should carry the things that belonged to the ,temple4 ,no other hands but consecrated hands had a right to touch them4 ,to none other guardianship but the guardianship of the possessors of a symbolic and ceremonial purity1 could the vessels of a symbolic and ceremonial worship be entrusted2 and to none others but the possessors of real and spiritual holiness can the treasures of the true ,temple1 of an inward and spiritual worship1 be entrusted4 ',be ye clean that bear the vessels of the ,lord1' said ,isaiah using a kindred metaphor4 ,the only way to keep our treasure undiminished and untarnished1 is to keep ourselves pure and clean4 ,and1 lastly1 we have to exercise a guardianship which not only means unslumbering vigilance1 lowly trust1 punctilious purity1 but also requires the constant use of the treasure4 ',watch ye1 and keep them4' ,although the vessels which those priests bore through the desert were used for no service during all the weary march1 they weighed just the same when they got to the end as at the beginning2 though1 no doubt1 even their fine gold had become dim and tarnished through disuse4 ,but if we do not use the vessels that are entrusted to our care1 they will not weigh the same4 ,the man that wrapped up his talent in the napkin1 and said1 ',lo1 there thou hast that is thine1' was too sanguine4 ,there was never an unused talent rolled up in a handkerchief yet1 but when it was taken out and put into the scales it was lighter than when it was committed to the keeping of the earth4 ,gifts that are used fructify4 ,capacities that are strained to the uttermost increase4 ,service strengthens the power for service2 and just as the reward for work is more work1 the way for making ourselves fit for bigger things is to do the things that are lying by us4 ,the blacksmith's arm1 the sailor's eye1 the organs of any piece of handicraft1 as we all know1 are strengthened by exercise2 and so it is in this higher region4 ,and so1 dear brethren1 take these four words--vigilance1 trust1 purity1 exercise4 ',watch ye1 and keep them1 until they are weighed in the chambers of the ,house of the ,lord4' ,and1 lastly1 think of that weighing in the ,house of the ,lord4 ,cannot you see the picture of the little band when they finally reach the goal of their pilgrimage2 and three days after they arrived1 as the narrative tells us1 went up into the ,temple1 and there1 by number and by weight1 rendered up their charge1 and were clear of their responsibility8 ',and the first came and said1 ,lord1 thy pound hath gained ten pounds4 ,and he said1 ,well1 thou good servant1 because thou hast been faithful in a very little1 have thou authority over ten cities4' ,oh6 how that thought of the day when they would empty out the rich treasure upon the marble pavement1 and clash the golden vessels into the scales1 must have filled their hearts with vigilance during all the weary watches1 when desert stars looked down upon the slumbering encampment1 and they paced wakeful all the night4 ,and how the thought1 too1 must have filled their hearts with joy1 when they tried to picture to themselves the sigh of satisfaction1 and the sense of relief with which1 after all the perils1 their 'feet would stand within thy gates1 ,o ,jerusalem1' and they would be able to say1 ',that which thou hast given us1 we have kept1 and nothing of it is lost4' ,a lifetime would be a small expenditure to secure that2 and though it cannot be that you and ,i will meet the trial and the weighing of that great day without many failures and much loss1 yet we may say3 ',i know in whom ,i have believed1 and that ,he is able to keep my deposit--whether it be in the sense of that which ,i have committed unto ,him1 or in the sense of that which ,he has committed unto me--against that day4' ,we may hope that1 by ,his gracious help and ,his pitying acceptance1 even such careless stewards and negligent watchers as we are1 may lay ourselves down in peace at the last1 saying1 ',i have kept the faith1' and may be awakened by the word1 ',well done6 good and faithful servant4' ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,nehemiah ,a ,,reformer',s ,,schooling ',the words of ,nehemiah the son of ,hachaliah4 ,and it came to pass in the month ,chislev1 in the twentieth year1 as ,i was in ,shushan the palace1 #b4 ,that ,hanani1 one of my brethren1 came1 he and certain men of ,judah2 and ,i asked them concerning the ,jews that had escaped1 which were left of the captivity1 and concerning ,jerusalem4 #c4 ,and they said unto me1 ,the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach3 the wall of ,jerusalem also is broken down1 and the gates thereof are burned with fire4 #d4 ,and it came to pass1 when ,i heard these words1 that ,i sat down and wept1 and mourned certain days1 and fasted1 and prayed before the ,god of heaven1 #e4 ,and said1 ,i beseech ,thee1 ,o ,lord ,god of heaven1 the great and terrible ,god1 that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love ,him and observe ,his commandments3 #f4 ,let ,thine ear now be attentive1 and ,thine eyes open1 that ,thou mayest hear the prayer of ,thy servant1 which ,i pray before ,thee now1 day and night1 for the children of ,israel ,thy servants1 and confess the sins of the children of ,israel1 which we have sinned against ,thee3 both ,i and my father's house have sinned4 #g4 ,we have dealt very corruptly against ,thee1 and have not kept the commandments1 nor the statutes1 nor the judgments1 which ,thou commandedst ,thy servant ,moses4 #h4 ,remember1 ,i beseech ,thee1 the word that ,thou commandedst ,thy servant ,moses1 saying1 ,if ye transgress1 ,i will scatter you abroad among the nations3 #i4 ,but if ye turn unto ,me1 and keep ,my commandments1 and do them2 though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven1 yet will ,i gather them from thence1 and will bring them unto the place that ,i have chosen to set ,my name there4 #aj4 ,now these are ,thy servants and ,thy people1 whom ,thou hast redeemed by ,thy great power1 and by ,thy strong hand4 #aa4 ,o ,lord1 ,i beseech ,thee1 let now ,thine ear be attentive to the prayer of ,thy servant1 and to the prayer of ,thy servants1 who desire to fear ,thy name3 and prosper1 ,i pray ,thee1 ,thy servant this day1 and grant him mercy in the sight of this man4 ,for ,i was the king's cupbearer4'--,,neh4 i4 #a-aa4 ,the date of the completion of the ,temple is #eaf ,b4,c42 that of ,nehemiah's arrival #dde ,b4,c4 ,the colony of returned exiles seems to have made little progress during that long period4 ,its members settled down1 and much of their enthusiasm cooled1 as we see from the reforms which ,ezra had to inaugurate fourteen years before ,nehemiah4 ,the majority of men1 even if touched by spiritual fervour1 find it hard to keep on the high levels for long4 ,breathing is easier lower down4 ,as is often the case1 a brighter flame of zeal burned in the bosoms of sympathisers at a distance than in those of the actual workers1 whose contact with hard realities and petty details disenchanted them4 ,thus the impulse to nobler action came1 not from one of the colony1 but from a ,jew in the court of the ,persian king4 ,this passage tells us how ,god prepared a man for a great work1 and how the man prepared himself4 ,i4 ,sad tidings and their effect on a devout servant of ,god 7vs4 #a-d74 ,the time and place are precisely given4 ',the month ,chislev' corresponds to the end of ,november and beginning of ,december4 ',the twentieth year' is that of ,artaxerxes 7,neh4 ii4 #a74 ',shushan1' or ,susa1 was the royal winter residence1 and 'the palace' was 'a distinct quarter of the city1 occupying an artificial eminence4' ,note the absence of the name of the king4 ,nehemiah is so familiar with his greatness that he takes for granted that every reader can fill the gaps4 ,but1 though the omission shows how large a space the court occupied in his thoughts1 a true ,jewish heart beat below the courtier's robe4 ,that flexibility which enabled them to stand as trusted servants of the kings of many lands1 and yet that inflexible adherence to1 and undying love of1 ,israel1 has always been a national characteristic4 ,we can think of this youthful cup-bearer as yearning for one glimpse of the 'mountains round about ,jerusalem' while he filled his post in ,shushan4 ,his longings were kindled into resolve by intercourse with a little party of ,jews from ,judaea1 among whom was his own brother4 ,they had been to see how things went there1 and the fact that one of them was a member of ,nehemiah's family seems to imply that the same sentiments belonged to the whole household4 ,eager questions brought out sorrowful answers4 ,the condition of the 'remnant' was one of 'great affliction and reproach1' and the ground of the reproach was probably 7,neh4 ii4 #ag2 iv4 #b-d7 the still ruined fortifications4 ,it has been supposed that the breaking down of the walls and burning of the gates1 mentioned in verse #c1 were recent1 and subsequent to the events recorded in ,ezra2 but it is more probable that the project for rebuilding the defences1 which had been stopped by superior orders 7,ezra iv4 #ab-af71 had not been resumed1 and that the melancholy ruins were those which had met the eyes of ,zerubbabel nearly a hundred years before4 ,communication between ,shushan and ,jerusalem cannot have been so infrequent that the facts now borne in on ,nehemiah might not have been known before4 ,but the impression made by facts depends largely on their narrator1 and not a little on the mood of the hearer4 ,it was one thing to hear general statements1 and another to sit with one's brother1 and see through his eyes the dismal failure of the 'remnant' to carry out the purpose of their return4 ,so the story1 whether fresh or repeated with fresh force1 made a deep dint in the young cupbearer's heart1 and changed his life's outlook4 ,god prepares ,his servants for their work by laying on their souls a sorrowful realisation of the miseries which other men regard1 and they themselves have often regarded1 very lightly4 ,the men who have been raised up to do great work for ,god and men1 have always to begin by greatly and sadly feeling the weight of the sins and sorrows which they are destined to remove4 ,no man will do worthy work at rebuilding the walls who has not wept over the ruins4 ,so ,nehemiah prepared himself for his work by brooding over the tidings with tears1 by fasting and by prayer4 ,there is no other way of preparation4 ,without the sad sense of men's sorrows1 there will be no earnestness in alleviating them1 nor self-sacrificing devotion2 and without much prayer there will be little consciousness of weakness or dependence on divine help4 ,note the grand and apparently immediate resolution to throw up brilliant prospects and face a life of danger and suffering and toil4 ,nehemiah was evidently a favourite with the king1 and had the ball at his foot4 ,but the ruins on ,zion were more attractive to him than the splendours of ,shushan1 and he willingly flung away his chances of a great career to take his share of 'affliction and reproach4' ,he has never had justice done him in popular estimation4 ,he is not one of the well-known biblical examples of heroic self-abandonment2 but he did just what ,moses did1 and the eulogium of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews fits him as well as the lawgiver2 for he too chose 'rather to suffer with the people of ,god than to enjoy pleasures for a season4' ,so must we all1 in our several ways1 do1 if we would have a share in building the walls of the city of ,god4 ,,ii4 ,the prayer 7vs4 #e-aa74 ,the course of thought in this prayer is very instructive4 ,it begins with solemnly laying before ,god ,his own great name1 as the mightiest plea with ,him1 and the strongest encouragement to the suppliant4 ,that commencement is no mere proper invocation1 conventionally regarded as the right way of beginning1 but it expresses the petitioner's effort to lay hold on ,god's character as the ground of his hope of answer4 ,the terms employed remarkably blend what ,nehemiah had learned from ,persian religion and what from a better source4 ,he calls upon ,jehovah1 the great name which was the special possession of ,israel4 ,he also uses the characteristic ,persian designation of 'the ,god of heaven1' and identifies the bearer of that name1 not with the god to whom it was originally applied1 but with ,israel's ,jehovah4 ,he takes the crown from the head of the false deity1 and lays it at the feet of the ,god of his fathers4 ,whatsoever names for the ,supreme ,excellence any tongues have coined1 they all belong to our ,god1 in so far as they are true and noble4 ,the modern 'science of comparative religion' yields many treasures which should be laid up in ,jehovah's ,temple4 ,but the rest of the designations are taken from the ,old ,testament1 as was fitting4 ,the prayer throughout is full of allusions and quotations1 and shows how this cupbearer of ,artaxerxes had fed his young soul on ,god's word1 and drawn thence the true nourishment of high and holy thoughts and strenuous resolutions and self-sacrificing deeds4 ,prayers which are cast in the mould of ,god's own revelation of ,himself will not fail of answer4 ,true prayer catches up the promises that flutter down to us1 and flings them up again like arrows4 ,the prayer here is all built1 then1 on that name of ,jehovah1 and on what the name involves1 chiefly on the thought of ,god as keeping covenant and mercy4 ,he has bound ,himself in solemn1 irrefragable compact1 to a certain line of action4 ,men 'know where to have ,him1' if we may venture on the familiar expression4 ,he has given us a chart of ,his course1 and ,he will adhere to it4 ,therefore we can go to ,him with our prayers1 so long as we keep these within the ample space of ,his covenant1 and ourselves within its terms1 by loving obedience4 ,the petition that ,god's ears might be sharpened and ,his eyes open to the prayer is cast in a familiar mould4 ,it boldly transfers to ,him not only the semblance of man's form1 but also the likeness of ,his processes of action4 ,hearing the cry for help precedes active intervention in the case of men's help1 and the strong imagery of the prayer conceives of similar sequence in ,god4 ,but the figure is transparent1 and the 'anthropomorphism' so plain that no mistakes can arise in its interpretation4 ,note1 too1 the light touch with which the suppliant's relation to ,god 7',thy servant'7 and his long-continued cry 7'day and night'7 are but just brought in for a moment as pleas for a gracious hearing4 ,the prayer is 'for ,thy servants the children of ,israel1' in which designation1 as the next clauses show1 the relation established by ,god1 and not the conduct of men1 is pleaded as a reason for an answer4 ,the mention of that relation brings at once to ,nehemiah's mind the terrible unfaithfulness to it which had marked1 and still continued to mark1 the whole nation4 ,so lowly confession follows 7vs4 #f1 #g74 ,unprofitable servants they had indeed been4 ,the more loftily we think of our privileges1 the more clearly should we discern our sins4 ,nothing leads a true heart to such self-ashamed penitence as reflection on ,god's mercy4 ,if a man thinks that ,god has taken him for a servant1 the thought should bow him with conscious unworthiness1 not lift him in self-satisfaction4 ,nehemiah's confession not only sprung from the thought of ,israel's vocation1 so poorly fulfilled1 but it also laid the groundwork for further petitions4 ,it is useless to ask ,god to help us to repair the wastes if we do not cast out the sins which have made them4 ,the beginning of all true healing of sorrow is confession of sins4 ,many promising schemes for the alleviation of national and other distresses have come to nothing because1 unlike ,nehemiah's1 they did not begin with prayer1 or prayed for help without acknowledging sin4 ,and the man who is to do work for ,god and to get ,god to bless his work must not be content with acknowledging other people's sins1 but must always say1 ',we have sinned1' and not seldom say1 ',i have sinned4' ,that penitent consciousness of evil is indispensible to all who would make their fellows happier4 ,god works with bruised reeds4 ,the sense of individual transgression gives wonderful tenderness1 patience amid gainsaying1 submission in failure1 dependence on ,god in difficulty1 and lowliness in success4 ,without it we shall do little for ourselves or for anybody else4 ,the prayer next reminds ,god of ,his own words 7vs4 #h1i71 freely quoted and combined from several passages 7,lev4 xxvi4 #cc-de2 ,deut4 iv4 #be-ca1 etc474 ,the application of these passages to the then condition of things is at first sight somewhat loose1 since part of the people were already restored2 and the purport of the prayer is not the restoration of the remainder1 but the deliverance of those already in the land from their distresses4 ,still1 the promise gives encouragement to the prayer and is powerful with ,god1 inasmuch as it could not be said to have been fulfilled by so incomplete a restoration as that as that at present realised4 ,what ,god does must be perfectly done2 and ,his great word is not exhausted so long as any fuller accomplishment of it can be imagined4 ,the reminder of the promise is clinched 7v4 #aj7 by the same appeal as formerly to the relation to ,himself into which ,god had been pleased to bring the nation1 with an added reference to former deeds1 such as the ,exodus1 in which ,his strong hand had delivered them4 ,we are always sure of an answer if we ask ,god not to contradict ,himself4 ,since ,he has begun ,he will make an end4 ,it will never be said of ,him that ,he 'began to build and was not able to finish4' ,his past is a mirror in which we can read ,his future4 ,the return from ,babylon is implied in the ,exodus4 ,a reiteration of earlier words follows1 with the addition that ,nehemiah now binds1 as it were1 his single prayer in a bundle with those of the like-minded in ,israel4 ,he gathers single ears into a sheaf1 which he brings as a 'wave-offering4' ,and then1 in one humble little sentence at the end1 he puts his only personal request4 ,the modesty of the man is lovely4 ,his prayer has been all for the people4 ,remarkably enough1 there is no definite petition in it4 ,he never once says right out what he so earnestly desires1 and the absence of specific requests might be laid hold of by sceptical critics as an argument against the genuineness of the prayer4 ,but it is rather a subtle trait1 on which no forger would have been likely to hit4 ,sometimes silence is the very result of entire occupation of mind with a thought4 ,he says nothing about the particular nature of his request1 just because he is so full of it4 ,but he does ask for favour in the eyes of 'this man1' and that he may be prospered 'this day4' ,so this was his morning prayer on that eventful day1 which was to settle his life's work4 ,the certain days of solitary meditation on his nation's griefs had led to a resolution4 ,he says nothing about his long brooding1 his slow decision1 his conflicts with lower projects of personal ambition4 ,he 'burns his own smoke1' as we all should learn to do4 ,but he asks that the capricious and potent will of the king may be inclined to grant his request4 ,if our morning supplication is ',prosper ,thy servant this day1' and our purposes are for ,god's glory1 we need not fear facing anybody4 ,however powerful ,artaxerxes was1 he was but 'this man1' not ,god4 ,the phrase does not indicate contempt or undervaluing of the solid reality of his absolute power over ,nehemiah1 but simply expresses the conviction that the king1 too1 was a subject of ,god's1 and that his heart was in the hand of ,jehovah1 to mould as ,he would4 ,the consciousness of dependence on ,god and the habit of communion with ,him give a man a clear sight of the limitations of earthly dignities1 and a modest boldness which is equally remote from rudeness and servility4 ,thus prepared for whatever might be the issue of that eventful day1 the young cupbearer rose from his knees1 drew a long breath1 and went to his work4 ,well for us if we go to ours1 whether it be a day of crisis or of commonplace1 in like fashion6 ,then we shall have like defence and like calmness of heart4 ,,the ,,church ,,and ,,social ,,evils ',it came to pass1 when ,i heard these words1 that ,i sat down and wept1 and mourned certain days1 and fasted1 and prayed before the ,god of heaven4'--,,neh4 i4 #d4 ,ninety years had passed since the returning exiles had arrived at ,jerusalem4 ,they had encountered many difficulties which had marred their progress and cooled their enthusiasm4 ,the ,temple1 indeed1 was rebuilt1 but ,jerusalem lay in ruins1 and its walls remained as they had been left1 by ,nebuchadnezzar's siege1 some century and a half before4 ,a little party of pious pilgrims had gone from ,persia to the city1 and had come back to ,shushan with a sad story of weakness and despondency1 affliction and hostility4 ,one of the travellers had a brother1 a youth named ,nehemiah1 who was a cup-bearer in the court of the ,persian king4 ,living in a palace1 and surrounded with luxury1 his heart was with his brethren2 and the ruins of ,jerusalem were dearer to him than the pomp of ,shushan4 ,my text tells how the young cupbearer was affected by the tidings1 and how he wept and prayed before ,god4 ,the accurate dates given in this book show that this period of brooding contemplation of the miseries of his brethren lasted for four months4 ,then he took a great resolution1 flung up brilliant prospects1 identified himself with the afflicted colony1 and asked for leave to go and share1 and1 if it might be1 to redress1 the sorrows which had made so deep a dint upon his heart4 ,now1 ,i think that this vivid description1 drawn by himself1 of the emotions excited in ,nehemiah by his countrymen's sorrows1 which influenced his whole future1 contains some very plain lessons for ,christian people1 the observance of which is every day becoming more imperative by reason of the drift of public opinion1 and the new prominence which is being given to so-called 'social questions4' ,i wish to gather up one or two of these lessons for you now4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 note the plain ,christian duty of sympathetic contemplation of surrounding sorrows4 ,nehemiah might have made a great many very good excuses for treating lightly the tidings that his brother had brought him4 ,he might have said3 ',jerusalem is a long way off4 ,i have my own work to do2 it is no part of my business to rebuild the walls of ,jerusalem4 ,i am the ,king's cupbearer4 ,they went with their eyes open1 and experience has shown that the people who knew when they were well off1 and stayed where they were1 were a great deal wiser4' ,these were not his excuses4 ,he let the tidings fill his heart1 and burn there4 ,now1 the first condition of sympathy is knowledge2 and the second is attending to what we do know4 ,nehemiah had probably known1 in a kind of vague way1 for many a day how things were going in ,palestine4 ,communications between it and ,persia were not so difficult but that there would come plenty of ,government despatches2 and a man at headquarters who had the ear of the monarch1 was not likely to be ignorant of what was going on in that part of his dominions4 ,but there is all the difference between hearing vague general reports1 and sitting and hearing your own brother tell you what he had seen with his own eyes4 ,so the impression which had existed before was all inoperative until it was kindled by attention to the facts which all the time had been1 in some degree1 known4 ,now1 how many of us are there that know--and don't know--what is going on round about us in the slums and back courts of this city8 ,how many of us are there who are habitually ignorant of what we actually know1 because we never1 as we say1 'give heed' to it4 ',i did not think of that1' is a very poor excuse about matters concerning which there is knowledge1 whether there is thought or not4 ,and so ,i want to press upon all you ,christian people the plain duty of knowing what you do know1 and of giving an ample place in your thoughts to the stark staring facts around us4 ,why6 loads of people at present seem to think that the miseries1 and hideous vices1 and sodden immorality1 and utter heathenism1 which are found down amongst the foundations of every civic community are as indispensable to progress as the noise of the wheels of a train is to its advancement1 or as the bilge-water in a wooden ship is to keep its seams tight4 ,so we prate about 'civilisation1' which means turning men into cities4 ,if agglomerating people into these great communities1 which makes so awful a feature of modern life1 be necessarily attended by such abominations as we live amongst and never think about1 then1 better that there had never been civilisation in such a sense at all4 ,every consideration of communion with and conformity to ,jesus ,christ1 of loyalty to ,his words1 of a true sense of brotherhood and of lower things--such as self-interest--every consideration demands that ,christian people shall take to their hearts1 in a fashion that the churches have never done yet1 'the condition of ,england question1' and shall ask1 ',lord6 what wouldst ,thou have me to do8' ,i do not care to enter upon controversy raised by recent utterances1 the motive of which may be worthy of admiration1 though the expression cannot be acquitted of the charge of exaggeration1 to the effect that the ,christian churches as a whole have been careless of the condition of the people4 ,it is not true in its absolute sense4 ,i suppose that1 taking the country over1 the majority of the members of1 at all events the ,nonconformist churches and congregations1 are in receipt of weekly wages or belong to the upper ranks of the working-classes1 and that the lever which has lifted them to these upper ranks has been ,god's ,gospel4 ,i suppose it will be admitted that the past indifference with which we are charged belonged to the whole community1 and that the new sense of responsibility which has marked1 and blessedly marked1 recent years1 is largely owing to political and other causes which have lately come into operation4 ,i suppose it will not be denied that1 to a very large extent1 any efforts which have been made in the past for the social1 intellectual1 and moral1 and religious elevation of the people have had their impulse1 and to a large extent their support1 both pecuniary and active1 from ,christian churches and individuals4 ,all that is perfectly true and1 ,i believe1 undeniable4 ,but it is also true that there remains an enormous1 shameful1 dead mass of inertness in our churches1 and that1 unless we can break up that1 the omens are bad1 bad for society1 worse for the church4 ,if cholera is raging in the slums1 the suburbs will not escape4 ,if the hovels are infected1 the mansions will have to pay their tribute to the disease4 ,if we do not recognise the brotherhood of the suffering and the sinful1 in any other fashion--',then1' as a great teacher told us a generation ago now1 and nobody paid any attention to him1 'then they will begin and show you that they are your brethren by killing some of you4' ,and so self-preservation conjoins with loftier motives to make this sympathetic observation of the surrounding sorrows the plainest of ,christian duties4 ,,ii4 ,secondly1 such a realisation of the dark facts is indispensable to all true work for alleviating them4 ,there is no way of helping men out by bearing what they bear4 ,no man will ever lighten a sorrow of which he has not himself felt the pressure4 ,jesus ,christ's ,cross1 to which we are ever appealing as the ground of our redemption and the anchor of our hope1 is these1 thank ,god6 ,but it is more than these4 ,it is the pattern for our lives1 and it lays down1 with stringent accuracy and completeness1 the enduring conditions of helping the sinful and the sorrowful4 ,the 'saviours of society' have still1 in lower fashion1 to be crucified4 ,jesus ,christ would never have been 'the ,lamb of ,god that bore away the sins of the world' unless ,he ,himself had 'taken our infirmities and borne our sicknesses4' ,no work of any real use will be done except by those whose hearts have bled with the feeling of the miseries which they set themselves to cure4 ,oh6 we all want a far fuller realisation of that sympathetic spirit of the pitying ,christ1 if we are ever to be of any use in the world1 or to help the miseries of any of our brethren4 ,such a sorrowful and participating contemplation of men's sorrows springing from men's sins will give tenderness to our words1 will give patience1 will soften our whole bearing4 ,help that is flung to people1 as you might fling a bone to a dog1 hurts those whom it tries to help1 and patronising help is help that does little good1 and lecturing help does little more4 ,you must take blind beggars by the hand if you are going to make them see2 and you must not be afraid to lay your white1 clean fingers upon the feculent masses of corruption in the leper's glistening whiteness if you are going to make him whole4 ,go down in order to lift1 and remember that without sympathy there is no sufficient help1 and without communion with ,christ there is no sufficient sympathy4 ,,iii4 ,thirdly1 such realisation of surrounding sorrows should drive to communion with ,god4 ,nehemiah wept and mourned1 and that was well4 ,but between his weeping and mourning and his practical work there had to be still another link of connection4 ',he wept and mourned1' and because he was sad he turned to ,god1 'and ,i fasted and prayed certain days4' ,there he got at once comfort for his sorrows1 his sympathies1 and deepening of his sympathies1 and thence he drew inspiration that made him a hero and a martyr4 ,so all true service for the world must begin with close communion with ,god4 ,there was a book published several years since which made a great noise in its little day1 and called itself ,the ,service of ,man1 which service it proposed to substitute for the effete conception of worship as the service of ,god4 ,the service of man is1 then1 best done when it is the service of ,god4 ,i suppose nowadays it is 'old-fashioned' and 'narrow1' which is the sin of sins at present1 but ,i for my part have very little faith in the persistence and wide operation of any philanthropic motives except the highest--namely1 compassion caught from ,jesus ,christ4 ,i do not believe that you will get men1 year in and year out1 to devote themselves in any considerable numbers to the service of man unless you appeal to this highest of motives4 ,you may enlist a little corps--and ,god forbid that ,i should deny such a plain fact--of selecter spirits to do purely secular alleviative work1 with an entire ignoring of ,christian motives1 but you will never get the army of workers that is needed to grapple with the facts of our present condition1 unless you touch the very deepest springs of conduct1 and these are to be found in communion with ,god4 ,all the rest is surface drainage4 ,get down to the love of ,god1 and the love of men therefrom1 and you have got an ,artesian well which will bubble up unfailingly4 ,and ,i have not much faith in remedies which ignore religion1 and are brought1 without communion with ,god1 as sufficient for the disease4 ,i do not want to say one word that might seem to depreciate what are good and valid and noble efforts in their several spheres4 ,there is no need for antagonism--rather1 ,christian men are bound by every consideration to help to the utmost of their power1 even in the incomplete attempts that are made to grapple with social problems4 ,there is room enough for us all4 ,but sure ,i am that until grapes and waterbeds cure smallpox1 and a spoonful of cold water puts out ,vesuvius1 you will not cure the evils of the body politic by any lesser means than the application of the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ4 ,we hear a great deal to-day about a 'social gospel1' and ,i am glad of the conception1 and of the favour which it receives4 ,only let us remember that the ,gospel is social second1 and individual first4 ,and that if you get the love of ,god and obedience to ,jesus ,christ into a man's heart it will be like putting gas into a balloon1 it will go up1 and the man will get out of the slums fast enough2 and he will not be a slave to the vices of the world much longer1 and you will have done more for him and for the wide circle that he may influence than by any other means4 ,i do not want to depreciate any helpers1 but ,i say it is the work of the ,christian church to carry to the world the only thing that will make men deeply and abidingly happy1 because it will make them good4 ,,iv4 ,and so1 lastly1 such sympathy should be the parent of a noble1 self-sacrificing life4 ,look at the man in our text4 ,he had the ball at his feet4 ,he had the entree of a court1 and the ear of a king4 ,brilliant prospects were opening before him1 but his brethren's sufferings drew him1 and with a noble resolution of self-sacrifice1 he shut himself out from the former and went into the wilderness4 ,he is one of the ,scripture characters that never have had due honour--a hero1 a saint1 a martyr1 a reformer4 ,he did1 though in a smaller sphere1 the very same thing that the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews magnified with his splendid eloquence1 in reference to the great ,lawgiver1 ',and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of ,god1' and to turn his back upon the dazzlements of a court1 than to 'enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season1' whilst his brethren were suffering4 ,now1 dear friends6 the letter of the example may be put aside2 the spirit of it must be observed4 ,if ,christians are to do the work that they can do1 and that ,christ has put them into this world that they may do1 there must be self-sacrifice with it4 ,there is no shirking that obligation1 and there is no discharging our duty without it4 ,you and ,i1 in our several ways1 are as much under the sway of that absolute law1 that 'if a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die1 it brings forth fruit1' as ever was ,jesus ,christ or ,his ,apostles4 ,i have nothing to say about the manner of the sacrifice4 ,it is no part of my business to prescribe to you details of duty4 ,it is my business to insist on the principles which must regulate these1 and of these principles in application to ,christian service there is none more stringent than--',i will not offer unto my ,god burnt-offering of that which doth cost me nothing4' ,i am sure that1 under ,god1 the great remedy for social evils lies mainly here1 that the bulk of professing ,christians shall recognise and discharge their responsibilities4 ,it is not ministers1 city missionaries1 ,bible-women1 or any other paid people that can do the work4 ,it is by ,christian men and by ,christian women1 and1 if ,i might use a very vulgar distinction which has a meaning in the present connection1 very specially by ,christian ladies1 taking their part in the work amongst the degraded and the outcasts1 that our sorest difficulties and problems will be solved4 ,if a church does not face these1 well1 all ,i can say is1 its light will go out2 and the sooner the better4 ',if thou forbear to deliver them that are appointed to death1 and say1 ,behold6 ,i knew it not1 shall not ,he that weigheth the hearts consider it1 and shall ,he not render to every man according to his work8' ,and1 on the other hand1 there are no blessings more rich1 select1 sweet1 and abiding1 than are to be found in sharing the sorrow of the ,man of ,sorrows1 and carrying the message of ,his pity and ,his redemption to an outcast world4 ',if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry1 and satisfy the afflicted soul1 the ,lord shall satisfy thy soul2 and thou shalt be as a watered garden1 and as a spring of water whose waters fail not4' ',,over ,,against ,,his ,,house' ',the priests repaired every one over against his house4'--,,neh4 iii4 #bh4 ,the condition of our great cities has lately been forced upon public attention1 and all kinds of men have been offering their panaceas4 ,i am not about to enter upon that discussion1 but ,i am glad to seize the opportunity of saying one or two things which ,i think very much need to be said to individual ,christian people about their duty in the matter4 ',every man over against his house' is the principle ,i desire to commend to you as going a long way to solve the problem of how to sweeten the foul life of our modern cities4 ,the story from which my text is taken does not need to detain us long4 ,nehemiah and his little band of exiles have come back to a ruined ,jerusalem4 ,their first care is to provide for their safety1 and the first step is to know the exact extent of their defencelessness4 ,so we have the account of ,nehemiah's midnight ride amongst the ruins of the broken walls4 ,and then we read of the co-operation of all classes in the work of reconstruction4 ',many hands made light work4' ,men and women1 priests and nobles1 goldsmiths1 apothecaries1 merchants1 all seized trowel or spade1 and wheeled and piled4 ,one man puts up a long length of wall1 another can only manage a little bit2 another undertakes the locks1 bolts1 and bars for the gates4 ,roughly and hastily the work is done4 ,the result1 of course1 is very unlike the stately structures of ,solomon's or of ,herod's time1 but it is enough for shelter4 ,we can imagine the sigh of relief with which the workers looked upon the completed circle of their rude fortifications4 ,the principle of division of labour in our text is repeated several times in this list of the builders4 ,it was a natural one2 a man would work all the better when he saw his own roof mutely appealing to be defended1 and thought of the dear ones that were there4 ,but ,i take these words mainly as suggesting some thoughts applicable to the duties of ,christian people in view of the spiritual wants of our great cities4 ,i4 ,i need not do more than say a word or two about the ruins which need repair4 ,if ,i dwell rather upon the dark side than on the bright side of city life ,i shall not be understood1 as forgetting that the very causes which intensify the evil of a great city quicken the good--the friction of multitudes and the impetus thereby given to all kinds of mental activity4 ,here amongst us there is much that is admirable and noble--much public spirit1 much wise and benevolent expenditure of thought and toil for the general good1 much conjoint action by men of different parties1 earnest antagonism and earnest co-operation1 and a free1 bracing intellectual atmosphere1 which stimulates activity4 ,all that is true1 though1 on the other hand1 it is not good to live always within hearing of the clatter of machinery and the strife of tongues2 and the wisdom that is born of solitary meditation and quiet thought is less frequently met with in cities than is the cleverness that is born of intercourse with men1 and newspaper reading4 ,but there is a tragic other side to all that1 which mostly we make up our minds to say little about and to forget4 ,the indifference which has made that ignorance possible1 and has in its turn been fed by the ignorance1 is in some respects a more shocking phenomenon than the vicious life which it has allowed to rot and to reek unheeded4 ,most of us have got so familiarised with the evils that stare us in the face every time we go out upon the pavements1 that we have come to think of them as being inseparable from our modern life1 like the noise of a carriage wheel from its rotation4 ,and is it so then8 ,is it indeed inevitable that within a stone's throw of our churches and chapels there should be thousands of men and women that have never been inside a place of worship since they were christened2 and have no more religion than a horse8 ,must it be that the shining structure of our modern society1 like an old ,mexican temple1 must be built upon a layer of living men1 flung in for a foundation8 ,can it not be helped that there should be streets in our cities into which it is unfit for a decent woman to go by day alone1 and unsafe for a brave man to venture after nightfall8 ,must men and women huddle together in dens where decency is as impossible as it is for swine in a sty8 ,is it an indispensable part of our material progress and wonderful civilisation that vice and crime and utter irreligion and hopeless squalor should go with it8 ,can all that bilge water really not be pumped out of the ship8 ,if it be so1 then ,i venture to say that1 to a very large extent1 progress is a delusion1 and that the simple life of agricultural communities is better than this unwholesome aggregation of men4 ,the beginning of ,nehemiah's work of repair was that sad midnight ride round the ruined walls4 ,so there is a solemn obligation laid on ,christian people to acquaint themselves with the awful facts1 and then to meditate on them1 till sacred1 ,christ-like compassion1 pressing against the flood-gates of the heart1 flings them open1 and lets out a stream of helpful pity and saving deeds4 ,,ii4 ,so much for my first point4 ,my second is--the ruin is to be repaired mainly by the old ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ4 ,far be it from me to pit remedies against each other4 ,the causes are complicated1 and the cure must be as manifold as the causes4 ,for my own part ,i believe that1 in regard to the condition of the lowest of our outcast population1 drink and lust have done it almost all1 and that for all but an infinitesimal portion of it1 intemperance is directly or indirectly the cause4 ,that has to be fought by the distinct preaching of abstinence1 and by the invoking of legislative restrictions upon the traffic4 ,wretched homes have to be dealt with by sanitary reform1 which may require municipal and parliamentary action4 ,domestic discomfort has to be dealt with by teaching wives the principles of domestic economy4 ,the gracious influence of art and music1 pictures and window-gardening1 and the like1 will lend their aid to soften and refine4 ,coffee taverns1 baths and wash-houses1 workmen's clubs1 and many other agencies are doing real and good work4 ,i for one say1 ',god speed to them all1' and willingly help them so far as ,i can4 ,but1 as a ,christian man1 ,i believe that ,i know a thing that if lodged in a man's heart will do pretty nearly all which they aspire to do2 and whilst ,i rejoice in the multiplied agencies for social elevation1 ,i believe that ,i shall best serve my generation1 and ,i believe that ninety-nine out of a hundred of you will do so too1 by trying to get men to love and fear ,jesus ,christ the ,saviour4 ,if you can get ,his love into a man's heart1 that will produce new tastes and new inclinations1 which will reform1 and sweeten1 and purify faster than anything else does4 ,they tell us that ,nonconformist ministers are never seen in the slums2 well1 that is a libel6 ,but ,i should like to ask why it is that the ,roman ,catholic priest is seen there more than the ,nonconformist minister8 ,because the one man's congregation is there1 and the other man's is not--which1 being translated into other words1 is this3 the religion of ,jesus ,christ mostly keeps people out of the slums1 and certainly it will take a man out of them if once it gets into his heart1 more certainly and quickly than anything else will4 ,so1 dear friends6 if we have in our hearts and in our hands this great message of ,god's love1 we have in our possession the germ out of which all things that are lovely and of good report will grow4 ,it will purify1 elevate1 and sweeten society1 because it will make individuals pure and strong1 and homes holy and happy4 ,we do not need to draw comparisons between this and other means of reparation1 and still less to feel any antagonism to them or the benevolent men who work them2 but we should fix it in our minds that the principles of ,christ's ,gospel adhered to by individuals1 and therefore by communities1 would have rendered such a condition of things impossible1 and that the true repair of the ruin wrought by evil and ignorance1 in the single soul1 in the family1 the city1 the nation1 the world1 is to be found in building anew on the ,one ,foundation which ,god has laid1 even ,jesus ,christ1 the ,living ,stone1 whose pure life passes into all that are grounded and founded on ,him4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 this remedy is to be applied by the individual action of ,christian men and women on the people nearest them4 ',the priests repaired every one over against his house4' ,we are always tempted1 in the face of large disasters1 to look for heroic and large remedies1 and to invoke corporate action of some sort1 which is a great deal easier for most of us than the personal effort that is required4 ,when a great scandal and danger like this of the condition of the lower layers of our civic population is presented before men1 for one man that says1 ',what can ,i do8' there are twenty who say1 ',somebody should do something4 ,government should do something4 ,the ,corporation should do something4 ,this1 that1 or the other aggregate of men should do something4' ,and the individual calmly and comfortably slips his neck out of the collar and leaves it on the shoulders of these abstractions4 ,as ,i have said1 there are plenty of things that need to be done by these somebodies4 ,but what they do 7they will be a long time in doing it71 when they do get to work will only touch the fringe of the question1 and the substance and the centre of it you can set to work upon this very day if you like1 and not wait for anybody either to set you the example or to show you the way4 ,if you want to do people good you can2 but you must pay the price for it4 ,that price is personal sacrifice and effort4 ,the example of ,jesus ,christ is the all-instructive one in the case4 ,people talk about ,him being their ,pattern1 but they often forget that whatever more there was in ,christ's ,cross and ,passion there was this in it3--the exemplification for all time of the one law by which any reformation can be wrought on men--that a sympathising man shall give himself to do it1 and that by personal influence alone men will be drawn and won from out of the darkness and filth4 ,a loving heart and a sympathetic word1 the exhibition of a ,christian life and conduct1 the fact of going down into the midst of evil and trying to lift men out of it1 are the old-fashioned and only magnets by which men are drawn to purer and higher life4 ,that is ,god's way of saving the world--by the action of single souls on single souls4 ,masses of men can neither save nor be saved4 ,not in groups1 but one by one1 particle by particle1 soul by soul1 ,christ draws men to ,himself1 and ,he does ,his work in the world through single souls on fire with ,his love1 and tender with pity learned of ,him4 ,so1 dear friends6 do not think that any organisation1 any corporate activity1 any substitution of vicarious service1 will solve the problem4 ,it will not4 ,there is only one way of doing it1 the old way that we must tread if we are going to do anything for ,god and our fellows3 ',the priests repaired every one over against his house4' ,let me briefly point out some very plain and obvious things which bear upon this matter of individual action4 ,let me remind you that if you are a ,christian man you have in your possession the thing which will cure the world's woe1 and possession involves responsibility4 ,what would you think of a man that had a specific for some pestilence that was raging in a city1 and was contented to keep it for his own use1 or at most for his family's use1 when his brethren were dying by the thousand1 and their corpses polluting the air8 ,and what shall we say of men and women who call themselves ,christians1 who have some faith in that great ,lord and ,his mighty sacrifice2 who know that the men they meet with every day of their lives are dying for want of it1 and who yet themselves do absolutely nothing to spread ,his name1 and to heal men's hurts8 ,what shall we say8 ,god forbid that we should say they are not ,christians6 but ,god forbid that anybody should flatter them with the notion that they are anything but most inconsistent ,christians6 ,still further1 need ,i remind you that if we have found anything in ,jesus ,christ which has been peace and rest for ourselves1 ,christ has thereby called us to this work8 ,he has found and saved us1 not only for our own personal good4 ,that1 of course1 is the prime purpose of our salvation1 but not its exclusive purpose4 ,he has saved us1 too1 in order that the ,word may be spread through us to those beyond4 ',the ,kingdom of ,heaven is like leaven1 which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened1' and every little bit of the dough1 as it received into itself the leaven1 and was transformed1 became a medium for transmitting the transformation to the next particle beyond it and so the whole was at last permeated by the power4 ,we get the grace for ourselves that we may pass it on2 and as the ,apostle says3 ',god hath shined into our hearts that we might give the light of the knowledge of the glory of ,god in the face of ,jesus ,christ4' ,and you can do it1 you ,christian men and women1 every one of you1 and preach ,him to somebody4 ,the possession of ,his love gives the commission2 ay6 and it gives the power4 ,there is nothing so mighty as the confession of personal experience4 ,do not you think that when that first of ,christian converts1 and first of ,christian preachers went to his brother1 all full of what he had discovered1 his simple saying1 ',we have found the ,messias1' was a better sermon than a far more elaborate proclamation would have been8 ,my brother6 if you have found ,him1 you can say so2 and if you can say so1 and your character and your life confirm the words of your lips1 you will have done more to spread ,his name than much eloquence and many an orator4 ,all can preach who can say1 ',we have found the ,christ4' ,the last word ,i have to say is this3 there is no other body that can do it but you4 ,they say3--',what an awful thing it is that there are no churches or chapels in these outcast districts6' ,if there were they would be what the churches and chapels are now--half empty4 ,bricks and mortar built up into ecclesiastical forms are not the way to evangelise this or any other country4 ,it is a very easy thing to build churches and chapels4 ,it is not such an easy thing--,i believe it is an impossible thing 7and that the sooner the ,christian church gives up the attempt the better7--to get the godless classes into any church or chapel4 ,conducted on the principles upon which churches and chapels must needs at present be conducted1 they are for another class altogether2 and we had better recognise it1 because then we shall feel that no multiplication of buildings like this in which we now are1 for instance1 is any direct contribution to the evangelisation of the waste spots of the country1 except in so far as from a centre like this there ought to go out much influence which will originate direct missionary action in places and fashions adapted to the outlying community4 ,professional work is not what we want4 ,any man1 be he minister1 clergyman1 ,bible-reader1 city missionary1 who goes among our godless population with the suspicion of pay about him is the weaker for that4 ,what is needed besides is that ladies and gentlemen that are a little higher up in the social scale than these poor creatures1 should go to them themselves2 and excavate and work4 ,preach1 if you like1 in the technical sense2 have meetings1 ,i suppose1 necessarily2 but the personal contact is the thing1 the familiar talk1 the simple exhibition of a loving ,christian heart1 and the unconventional proclamation in free conversation of the broad message of the love of ,god in ,jesus ,christ4 ,why1 if all the people in this chapel who can do that would do it1 and keep on doing it1 who can tell what an influence would come from some hundreds of new workers for ,christ8 ,and why should the existence of a church in which the workers are as numerous as the ,christians be an ,utopian dream8 ,it is simply the dream that perhaps a church might be conceived to exist1 all the members of which had found out their plainest1 most imperative duty1 and were really trying to do it4 ,no carelessness1 no indolence1 no plea of timidity or business shift the obligation from your shoulders if you are a ,christian4 ,it is your business1 and no paid agents can represent you4 ,you cannot buy yourselves substitutes in ,christ's army1 as they used to do in the militia1 by a guinea subscription4 ,we are thankful for the money1 because there are kinds of work to be done that unpaid effort will not do4 ,but men ask for your money2 ,jesus ,christ asks for yourself1 for your work1 and will not let you off as having done your duty because you have paid your subscription4 ,no doubt there are some of you who1 from various circumstances1 cannot yourselves do work amongst the masses of the outcast population4 ,well1 but you have got people by your side whom you can help4 ,the question which ,i wish to ask of my ,christian brethren and sisters now is this3 ,is there a man1 woman1 or child living to whom you ever spoke a word about ,jesus ,christ8 ,is there8 ,if not1 do not you think it is time that you began8 ,there are people in your houses1 people that sit by you in your counting-house1 on your college benches1 who work by your side in mill or factory or warehouse1 who cross your path in a hundred ways1 and ,god has given them to you that you may bring them to ,him4 ,do you set yourself1 dear brother1 to work and try to bring them4 ,oh6 if you lived nearer ,jesus ,christ you would catch the sacred fire from ,him2 and like a bit of cold iron lying beside a magnet1 touching ,him1 you would yourselves become magnetic and draw men out of their evil and up to ,god4 ,let me commend to you the old pattern3 ',the priests repaired every one over against his house'2 and beseech you to take the trowel and spade1 or anything that comes handiest1 and build1 in the bit nearest you1 some living stones on the true ,foundation4 ,,discouragements ,,and ,,courage ',nevertheless we made our prayer unto our ,god1 and set a watch against them day and night1 because of them4 #aj4 ,and ,judah said1 ,the strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed1 and there is much rubbish2 so that we are not able to build the wall4 #aa4 ,and our adversaries said1 ,they shall not know1 neither see1 till we come in the midst among them1 and slay them1 and cause the work to cease4 #ab4 ,and it came to pass1 that when the ,jews which dwelt by them came1 they said unto us ten times1 ,from all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you4 #ac4 ,therefore set ,i in the lower places behind the wall1 and on the higher places1 ,i even set the people after their families with their swords1 their spears1 and their bows4 #ad4 ,and ,i looked and rose up1 and said unto the nobles1 and to the rulers1 and to the rest of the people1 ,be not ye afraid of them3 remember the ,lord1 which is great and terrible1 and fight for your brethren1 your sons1 and your daughters1 your wives1 and your houses4 #ae4 ,and it came to pass1 when our enemies heard that it was known unto us1 and ,god had brought their counsel to nought1 that we returned all of us to the wall1 every one unto his work4 #af4 ,and it came to pass from that time forth1 that the half of my servants wrought in the work1 and the other half of them held both the spears1 the shields1 and the bows1 and the habergeons2 and the rulers were behind all the house of ,judah4 #ag4 ,they which builded on the wall1 and they that bare burdens1 with those that laded1 every one with one of his hands wrought in the work1 and with the other hand held a weapon4 #ah4 ,for the builders1 every one had his sword girded by his side1 and so builded4 ,and he that sounded the trumpet was by me4 #ai4 ,and ,i said unto the nobles1 and to the rulers1 and to the rest of the people1 ,the work is great and large1 and we are separated upon the wall1 one far from another4 #bj4 ,in what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet1 resort ye thither unto us3 our ,god shall fight for us4 #ba4 ,so we laboured in the work3 and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared4'--,neh4 iv4 #i-ba4 ,common hatred has a wonderful power of uniting former foes4 ,samaritans1 wild ,arabs of the desert1 ,ammonites1 and inhabitants of ,ashdod in the ,philistine plain would have been brought together for no noble work1 but mischief and malice fused them for a time into one4 ,god's work is attacked from all sides4 ,herod and ,pilate can shake hands over their joint antagonism4 ,this passage paints vividly the discouragements which are apt to dog all good work1 and the courage which refuses to be discouraged1 and conquers by bold persistence4 ,the first verse 7v4 #i7 may stand as a summary of the whole1 though it refers to the preceding1 not to the following1 verses4 ,the true way to meet opposition is twofold--prayer and prudent watchfulness4 ',pray to ,god1 and keep your powder dry1' is not a bad compendium of the duty of a ,christian soldier4 ,the union of appeal to ,god with the full use of common sense1 watchfulness1 and prudence1 would dissipate many hindrances to successful service4 ,i4 ,in verses #aj-ab ,nehemiah tells1 in his simple way1 of the difficulties from three several quarters which threatened to stop his work4 ,he had trouble from the workmen1 from the enemies1 and from the mass of ,jews not resident in ,jerusalem4 ,the enthusiasm of the builders had cooled1 and the magnitude of their task began to frighten them4 ,verse #f tells us that the wall was completed 'unto the half of it'2 that is1 to one-half the height1 and half-way through is just the critical time in all protracted work4 ,the fervour of beginning has passed2 the animation from seeing the end at hand has not sprung up4 ,there is a dreary stretch in the centre1 where it takes much faith and self-command to plod on unfainting4 ,half-way to ,australia from ,england is the region of sickening calms4 ,it is easier to work in the fresh morning or in the cool evening than at midday4 ,so in every great movement there are short-winded people who sit down and pant very soon1 and their prudence croaks out undeniable facts4 ,no doubt strength does become exhausted2 no doubt there is 'much rubbish' 7literally 'dust'74 ,what then8 ,the conclusion drawn is not so unquestionable as the premises4 ',we cannot build the wall' ,why not8 ,have you not built half of it8 ,and was not the first half more embarrassed by rubbish than the second will be8 ,it is a great piece of ,christian duty to recognise difficulties1 and not be cowed by them4 ,the true inference from the facts would have been1 'so that we must put all our strength into the work1 and trust in our ,god to help us4' ,we may not be responsible for discouragements suggesting themselves1 but we are responsible for letting them become dissuasives4 ,our one question should be1 ,has ,god appointed the work8 ,if so1 it has to be done1 however little our strength1 and however mountainous the accumulations of rubbish4 ,the second part in the trio was taken by the enemies--,sanballat and ,tobiah and the rest4 ,they laid their plans for a sudden swoop down on ,jerusalem1 and calculated that1 if they could surprise the builders at their work1 they would have no weapons to show fight with1 and so would be easily despatched4 ,killing the builders was but a means2 the desired end is significantly put last 7v4 #aa71 as being the stopping of the abhorred work4 ,but killing the workmen does not cause the work to cease when it is ,god's work1 as the history of the ,church in all ages shows4 ,conspirators should hold their tongues4 ,it was not a hopeful way of beginning an attack1 of which the essence was secrecy and suddenness1 to talk about it4 ',a bird of the air carries the matter4' ,the third voice is that of the ,jews in other parts of the land1 and especially those living on the borders of ,samaria1 next door to ,sanballat4 ,verse #ab is probably best taken as in the ,revised ,version1 which makes ',ye must return to us' the imperative and often-repeated summons from these to the contingents from their respective places of abode1 who had gone up to ,jerusalem to help in building4 ,alarms of invasion made the scattered villagers wish to have all their men capable of bearing arms back again to defend their own homes4 ,it was a most natural demand1 but in this case1 as so often1 audacity is truest prudence2 and in all high causes there come times when men have to trust their homes and dear ones to ,god's protection4 ,the necessity is heartrending1 and we may well pray that we may not be exposed to it2 but if it clearly arises1 a devout man can have no doubt of his duty4 ,how many ,american citizens had to face it in the great ,civil ,war6 ,and how character is ennobled by even so severe a sacrifice6 ,,ii4 ,the calm heroism of ,nehemiah and his wise action in the emergency are told in verses #ac-ae4 ,he made a demonstration in force1 which at once showed that the scheme of a surprise was blown to pieces4 ,it is difficult to make out the exact localities in which he planted his men4 ',the lower places behind the wall' probably means the points at which the new fortifications were lowest1 which would be the most exposed to assault2 and the 'higher places' 7,auth4 ,ver471 or 'open places' 7,rev4 ,ver471 describes the same places from another point of view4 ,they afforded room for posting troops because they were without buildings4 ,at any rate1 the walls were manned1 and the enemy would have to deal1 not with unarmed labourers1 but with prepared soldiers4 ,the work was stopped1 and trowel and spade exchanged for sword and spear4 ',and ,i looked1' says ,nehemiah4 ,his careful eye travelled over the lines1 and1 seeing all in order1 he cheered the little army with ringing words4 ,he had prayed 7,neh4 i4 #e7 to 'the great and terrible ,god1' and now he bids his men remember ,him1 and thence draw strength and courage4 ,the only real antagonist of fear is faith4 ,if we can grasp ,god1 we shall not dread ,sanballat and his crew4 ,unless we do1 the world is full of dangers which it is not folly to fear4 ,note1 too1 that the people are animated for the fight by reminding them of the dear ones whose lives and honour hung on the issue4 ,nothing is said about fighting for ,god and ,his ,temple and city1 but the motives adduced are not less sacred4 ,family love is ,god's best of earthly gifts1 and1 though it is sometimes duty to 'forget thine own people1 and thy father's house1' as we have just seen1 nothing short of these highest obligations can supersede the sweet one of straining every nerve for the well-being of dear ones in the hallowed circle of home4 ,so the plan of a sudden rush came to nothing4 ,it does not appear that the enemy was in sight2 but the news of the demonstration soon reached them1 and was effectual4 ,prompt preparation against possible dangers is often the means of turning them aside4 ,watchfulness is indispensable to vigour of ,christian character and efficiency of work4 ,suspicion is hateful and weakening2 but a man who tries to serve ,god in such a world as this had need to be like the living creatures in the ,revelation1 having 'eyes all over4' ',blessed is the man that in that sense feareth always4' ,the upshot of the alarm is very beautifully told3 ',we returned all of us to the wall1 every one unto his work4' ,no time was wasted in jubilation4 ,the work was the main thing1 and the moment the interruption was ended1 back to it they all went4 ,it is a fine illustration of persistent discharge of duty1 and of that most valuable quality1 the ability and inclination to keep up the main purpose of a life continuous through interruptions1 like a stream of sweet water running through a bog4 ,,iii4 ,the remainder of the passage tells us of the standing arrangements made in consequence of the alarm 7vs4 #af-ba74 ,first we hear what ,nehemiah did with his own special 'servants1' whether these were slaves who had accompanied him from ,shushan 7as ,stanley supposes71 or his body-guard as a ,persian official4 ,he divided them into two parts--one to work1 one to watch4 ,but he did not carry out this plan with the mass of the people1 probably because it would have too largely diminished the number of builders4 ,so he armed them all4 ,the labourers who carried stones1 mortar1 and the like1 could do their work after a fashion with one hand1 and so they had a weapon in the other4 ,if they worked in pairs1 that would be all the easier4 ,the actual builders needed both hands1 and so they had swords stuck in their girdles4 ,no doubt such arrangements hindered progress1 but they were necessary4 ,the lesson often drawn from them is no doubt true1 that ,god's workers must be prepared for warfare as well as building4 ,there have been epochs in which that necessity was realised in a very sad manner2 and the ,church on earth will always have to be the ,church militant4 ,but it is well to remember that building is the end1 and fighting is but the means4 ,the trowel1 not the sword1 is the natural instrument4 ,controversy is second best--a necessity1 no doubt1 but an unwelcome one1 and only permissible as a subsidiary help to doing the true work1 rearing the walls of the city of ,god4 ',he that soundeth the trumpet was by me4' ,the gallant leader was everywhere1 animating by his presence4 ,he meant to be in the thick of the fight1 if it should come4 ,and so he kept the trumpeter by his side1 and gave orders that when he sounded all should hurry to the place2 for there the enemy would be1 and ,nehemiah would be where they were4 ',the work is great and large1 and we are separated 444 one far from another4' ,how naturally the words lend themselves to the old lesson so often drawn from them6 ,god's servants are widely parted1 by distance1 by time1 and1 alas6 by less justifiable causes4 ,unless they draw together they will be overwhelmed1 taken in detail1 and crushed4 ,they must rally to help each other against the common foe4 ,thank ,god6 the longing for manifest ,christian unity is deeper to-day than ever it was4 ,but much remains to be done before it is adequately fulfilled in the recognition of the common bond of brotherhood1 which binds us all in one family1 if we have one ,father4 ,english and ,american ,christians are bound to seek the tightening of the bonds between them and to set themselves against politicians who may seek to keep apart those who both in the flesh and in the spirit are brothers4 ,all ,christians have one great ,captain2 and ,he will be in the forefront of every battle4 ,his clear trumpet-call should gather all ,his servants to ,his side4 ,the closing verse tells again how ,nehemiah's immediate dependants divided work and watching1 and adds to the picture the continuousness of their toil from the first grey of morning till darkness showed the stars and ended another day of toil4 ,happy they who thus 'from morn till noon1 from noon till dewy eve1' labour in the work of the ,lord6 ,for them1 every new morning will dawn with new strength1 and every evening be calm with the consciousness of 'something attempted1 something done4' ,,an ,,ancient ,,nonconformist '444 ,so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god4'--,neh4 v4 #ae4 ,i do not suppose that the ordinary ,bible-reader knows very much about ,nehemiah4 ,he is one of the neglected great men of ,scripture4 ,he was no prophet1 he had no glowing words1 he had no lofty visions1 he had no special commission1 he did not live in the heroic age4 ,there was a certain harshness and dryness2 a tendency towards what1 when it was more fully developed1 became ,pharisaism1 in the man1 which somewhat covers the essential nobleness of his character4 ,but he was brave1 cautious1 circumspect1 disinterested2 and he had ,jerusalem in his heart4 ,the words that ,i have read are a little fragment of his autobiography which deal with a prosaic enough matter1 but carry in them large principles4 ,when he was appointed governor of the little colony of returned exiles in ,palestine1 he found that his predecessors1 like ,turkish pashas and ,chinese mandarins to-day1 had been in the habit of 'squeezing' the people of their ,government1 and that they had requisitioned sufficient supplies of provisions to keep the governor's table well spread4 ,it was the custom4 ,nobody would have wondered if ,nehemiah had conformed to it2 but he felt that he must have his hands clean4 ,why did he not do what everybody else had done in like circumstances8 ,his answer is beautifully simple3 ',because of the fear of ,god4' ,his religion went down into the little duties of common life1 and imposed upon him a standard far above the maxims that were prevalent round about him4 ,and so1 if you will take these words1 and disengage them from the small matter concerning which they were originally spoken1 ,i think you will find in them thoughts as to the attitude which we should take to prevalent practices1 the motive which should impel us to a sturdy non-compliance1 and the power which will enable us to walk on a solitary road4 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god4' ,now1 then1 these are my three points3-- ,i4 ,the attitude to prevalent practices4 ,nehemiah would not conform4 ,and unless you can say ',no6' and do it very often1 your life will be shattered from the beginning4 ,that non-compliance with customary maxims and practices is the beginning1 or1 at least1 one of the foundation-stones1 of all nobleness and strength1 of all blessedness and power4 ,of course it is utterly impossible for a man to denude himself of the influences that are brought to bear upon him by the circumstances in which he lives1 and the trend of opinion1 and the maxims and practices of the world1 in the corner1 and at the time1 in which his lot is cast4 ,but1 on the other hand1 be sure of this1 that unless you are in a very deep and not at all a technical sense of the word1 ',nonconformists1' you will come to no good4 ,none6 ,it is so easy to do as others do1 partly because of laziness1 partly because of cowardice1 partly because of the instinctive imitation which is in us all4 ,men are gregarious4 ,one great teacher has drawn an illustration from a flock of sheep1 and says that if we hold up a stick1 and the first of the flock jumps over it1 and then if we take away the stick1 all the rest of the flock will jump when they come to the point where the first did so4 ,a great many of us adopt our creeds and opinions1 and shape our lives for no better reason than because people round us are thinking in a certain direction1 and living in a certain way4 ,it saves a great deal of trouble1 and it gratifies a certain strange instinct that is in us all1 and it avoids dangers and conflicts that we should1 when we are at ,rome1 do as the ,romans do4 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god4' ,now1 brethren6 ,i ask you to take this plain principle of the necessity of non-compliance 7which ,i suppose ,i do not need to do much to establish1 because1 theoretically1 we most of us admit it71 and apply it all round the circumference of your lives4 ,apply it to your opinions4 ,there is no tyranny like the tyranny of a majority in a democratic country like ours4 ,it is quite as harsh as the tyranny of the old-fashioned despots4 ,unless you resolve steadfastly to see with your own eyes1 to use your own brains1 to stand on your own feet1 to be a voice and not an echo1 you will be helplessly enslaved by the fashion of the hour1 and the opinions that prevail4 ',what everybody says'--perhaps--'is true4' ,what most people say1 at any given time1 is very likely to be false4 ,truth has always lived with minorities1 so do not let the current of widespread opinion sweep you away1 but try to have a mind of your own1 and not to be brow-beaten or overborne because the majority of the people round about you are giving utterance1 and it may be unmeasured utterance1 to any opinions4 ,now1 there is one direction in which ,i wish to urge that especially--and now ,i speak mainly to the young men in my congregation--and that is1 in regard to the attitude that so many amongst us are taking to ,christian truth4 ,if you have honestly thought out the subject to the best of your ability1 and have come to conclusions diverse from those which men like me hold dearer than their lives1 that is another matter4 ,but ,i know that very widely there is spread to-day the fashion of unbelief4 ,so many influential men1 leaders of opinion1 teachers and preachers1 are giving up the old-fashioned ,evangelical faith1 that it takes a strong man to say that he sticks by it4 ,it is a poor reason to give for your attitude1 that unbelief is in the air1 and nobody believes those old doctrines now4 ,that may be4 ,there are currents of opinion that are transitory1 and that is one of them1 depend upon it4 ,but at all events do not be fooled out of your faith1 as some of you are tending to be1 for no better reason than because other people have given it up4 ,an iceberg lowers the temperature all round it1 and the iceberg of unbelief is amongst us to-day1 and it has chilled a great many people who could not tell why they have lost the fervour of their faith4 ,on the other hand1 let me remind you that a mere traditional religion1 which is only orthodox because other people are so1 and has not verified its beliefs by personal experience1 is quite as deleterious as an imitative unbelief4 ,doubtless1 ,i speak to some who plume themselves on 'never having been affected by these currents of popular opinion1' but whose unblemished and unquestioned orthodoxy has no more vitality in it than the other people's heterodoxy4 ,the one man has said1 ',what is everywhere always1 and by all believed1 ,i believe'2 and the other man has said1 ',what the select spirits of this day disbelieve1 ,i disbelieve1' and the belief of one and the unbelief of the other are equally worthless1 and really identical4 ,but it is not only1 nor mainly1 in reference to opinion that ,i would urge upon you this nonconformity with prevalent practices as the measure of most that is noble in us4 ,i dare not talk to you as if ,i knew much about the details of ,manchester commercial life1 but ,i can say this much1 that it is no excuse for shady practices in your trade to say1 ',it is the custom of the trade1 and everybody does it4' ,nehemiah might have said3 ',there never was a governor yet but took his forty shekels a day's worth'--about ,l4 #a1hjj of our money--'of provisions from these poor people1 and ,i am not going to give it up because of a scruple4 ,it is the custom1 and because it is the custom ,i can do it4' ,i am not going into details4 ,it is commonly understood that preachers know nothing about business2 that may be true1 or it may not4 ,but this1 ,i am sure1 is a word in season for some of my friends this evening--do not hide behind the trade4 ,come out into the open1 and deal with the questions of morality involved in your commercial life1 as you will have to deal with them hereafter1 by yourself4 ,never mind about other people4 ',oh1' but you say1 'that involves loss4' ,very likely6 ,nehemiah was a poorer man because he fed all these one hundred and fifty ,jews at his table1 but he did not mind that4 ,it may involve loss1 but you will keep ,god1 and that is gain4 ,turn this searchlight in another direction4 ,i see a number of young people in my congregation at this moment1 young men who are perhaps just beginning their career in this city1 and who possibly have been startled when they heard the kind of talk that was going on at the next desk1 or from the man that sits beside them on the benches at ,college4 ,do not be tempted to follow that multitude to do evil4 ,unless you are prepared to say ',no6' to a great deal that will be pushed into your face in this great city1 as sure as you are living you will make shipwreck of your lives4 ,do you think that in the forty years and more that ,i have stood here ,i have not seen successive generations of young men come into ,manchester8 ,i could people many of these pews with the faces of such1 who came here buoyant1 full of hope1 full of high resolves1 and with a mother's benediction hanging over their heads1 and who got into a bad set1 and had not the strength to say ',no1' and they went down and down and down1 and then presently somebody asked1 ',where is so-and-so8' ',oh6 his health broke down1 and he has gone home to die4' ',his bones are full of the iniquity of his youth'--and he made shipwreck of prospects and of life1 because he did not pull himself together when the temptation came1 and say1 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god4' ,,ii4 ,now let me ask you to turn with me to the second thought that my text suggests to me2 that is1 ,the motive that impels to this sturdy non-compliance4 ,nehemiah puts it in ,old ,testament phraseology1 'the fear of ,god'2 the ,new ,testament equivalent is 'the love of ,christ4' ,and if you want to take the power and the life out of both phrases1 in order to find a modern conventional equivalent1 you will say 'religion4' ,i prefer the old-fashioned language4 ',the love of ,christ' impels to this non-compliance4 ,now1 my point is this1 that ,jesus ,christ requires from each of us that we shall abstain1 restrict ourselves1 refuse to do a great many things that are being done round us4 ,i need not remind you of how continually ,he spoke about taking up the cross4 ,i need not do more than just remind you of ,his parable of the two ways1 but ask you1 whilst you think of it1 to note that all the characteristics of each of the ways which ,he sets forth are given by ,him as reasons for refusing the one and walking in the other4 ,for example1 ',enter ye in at the strait gate1 for strait is the gate'--that is a reason for going in2 'and narrow is the way'--that is a reason for going in2 'and few there be that find it'--that is a reason for going in4 ',wide is the gate'--that is a reason for stopping out2 'and broad is the way'--that is a reason for stopping out2 'and many there be that go in thereat'--that is a reason for stopping out4 ,is not that what ,i said1 that the minority is generally right and the majority wrong8 ,just because there are so many people on the path1 suspect it1 and expect that the path with fewer travellers is probably the better and the higher4 ,but to pass from that1 what did ,jesus ,christ mean by ,his continual contrast between ,his disciples and the world8 ,what did ,he mean by 'the world'8 ,this fair universe1 with all its possibilities of help and blessing1 and all its educational influences8 ,by no means4 ,he meant by 'the world' the aggregate of things and men considered as separate from ,god4 ,and when ,he applied the term to men only1 ,he meant by it very much what we mean when we talk about society4 ,society is not organised on ,christian principles2 we all know that1 and until it is1 if a man is going to be a ,christian he must not conform to the world4 ',know ye not that whosoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of ,god4' ,i would press upon you1 dear friends6 that our ,christianity is nothing unless it leads us to a standard1 and a course of conduct in conformity with that standard1 which will be in diametrical opposition to a great deal of what is patted on the back1 and petted and praised by society4 ,now1 there is an easy-going kind of ,christianity which does not recognise that1 and which is in great favour with many people to-day1 and is called 'liberality' and 'breadth1' and 'conciliating and commending ,christianity to outsiders1' and ,i know not what besides4 ,well1 ,christ's words seem to me to come down like a hammer upon that sort of thing4 ,depend upon it1 'the world'--,i mean by that the aggregate of godless men organised as they are in society--does not think much of these trimmers4 ,it may dislike an out-and-out ,christian1 but it knows him when it sees him1 and it has a kind of hostile respect for him which the other people will never get4 ,you remember the story of the man that was seeking for a coachman1 and whose question to each applicant was1 ',how near can you drive to the edge of a precipice8' ,he took the man who said3 ',i would keep away from it as far as ,i could4' ,and the so-called ,christian people that seem to be bent on showing how much their lives can be made to assimilate to the lives of men that have no sympathy with their creeds1 are like the rash ,jehus that tried to go as near the edge as they could4 ,but the consistent ,christian will keep as far away from it as he can4 ,there are some of us who seem as if we were most anxious to show that we1 whose creed is absolutely inconsistent with the world's practices1 can live lives which are all but identical with these practices4 ,jesus ,christ says1 through the lips of ,his ,apostle1 what ,he often said in other language by ,his own lips when ,he was here on earth3 ',be ye not conformed to the world4' ,surely such a command as that1 just because it involves difficulty1 self-restraint1 self-denial1 and sometimes self-crucifixion1 ought to appeal1 and does appeal1 to all that is noble in humanity1 in a fashion that that smooth1 easy-going gospel of living on the level of the people round us never can do4 ,for remember that ,christ's commandment not to be conformed to the world is the consequence of ,his commandment to be conformed to ,himself4 ',thus did not ,i' comes second2 ',this one thing ,i do' comes first4 ,you will misunderstand the whole genius of the ,gospel if you suppose that1 as a law of life1 it is perpetually pulling men short up1 and saying3 ,don't1 don't1 don't6 ,there is a ,christianity of that sort which is mainly prohibition and restriction1 but it is not ,christ's ,christianity4 ,he begins by enjoining3 ',this do in remembrance of ,me1' and the man that has accepted that commandment must necessarily say1 as he looks out on the world1 and its practices3 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god4' ,,iii4 ,and now one last word--my text not only suggests the motive which impels to this non-compliance1 but also the power which enables us to exercise it4 ',the fear of ,god1' or1 taking the ,new ,testament equivalent1 'the love of ,christ1' makes it possible for a man1 with all his weakness and dependence on surroundings1 with all his instinctive desire to be like the folk that are near him1 to take that brave attitude1 and to refuse to be one of the crowd that runs after evil and lies4 ,i have no time to dwell upon this aspect of my subject1 as ,i should be glad to have done4 ,let me sum up in a sentence or two what ,i would have said4 ,christ will enable you to take this necessary attitude because1 in ,himself ,he gives you the ,example which it is always safe to follow4 ,the instinct of imitation is planted in us for a good end1 and because it is in us1 examples of nobility appeal to us4 ,and because it is in us ,jesus ,christ has lived the life that it is possible for1 and therefore incumbent on1 us to live4 ,it is safe to imitate ,him1 and it is easy not to do as men do1 if once our main idea is to do as ,christ did4 ,he makes it possible for us1 because ,he gives the strongest possible motive for the life that ,he prescribes4 ,as the ,apostle puts it1 ',ye are bought with a price1 be not the servants of men4' ,there is nothing that will so deliver us from the tyranny of majorities1 and of what we call general opinion and ordinary custom1 as to feel that we belong to ,him because ,he died for us4 ,men become very insignificant when ,christ speaks1 and the charter of our freedom from them lies in our redemption by the blood of ,jesus ,christ4 ,jesus ,christ being our ,redeemer is our ,judge1 and moment by moment ,he is estimating our conduct1 and judging our actions as they are done4 ',with me it is a very small matter to be judged of you or of man's judgment4 ,he that judgeth me is the ,lord4' ,never mind what the people round you say2 you do not take your orders from them1 and you do not answer to them4 ,like some official abroad1 appointed by the ,crown1 you do not report to the local authorities2 you report to headquarters1 and what ,he thinks about you is the only important thing4 ,so 'the fear of man which bringeth a snare' dwindles down into very minute dimensions when we think of the ,pattern1 the ,redeemer and the ,judge to whom we give account4 ,and so1 dear friends6 if we will only open our hearts1 by quiet humble faith1 for the coming of ,jesus ,christ into our lives1 then we shall be able to resist1 to refuse compliance1 to stand firm1 though alone4 ,the servant of ,christ is the master of all men4 ',all things are yours1 whether ,paul1 or ,apollos1 or ,cephas--all are yours1 and ye are ,christ's4' ,,reading ,,the ,,law ,,with ,,tears ,,and ,,joy ',and all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate2 and they spake unto ,ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of ,moses1 which the ,lord had commanded to ,israel4 #b4 ,and ,ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women1 and all that could hear with understanding1 upon the first day of the seventh month4 #c4 ,and he read therein before the street that was before the water gate1 from the morning until midday1 before the men and the women1 and those that could understand2 and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law4 #d4 ,and ,ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood1 which they had made for the purpose2 and beside him stood ,mattithiah1 and ,shema1 and ,anaiah1 and ,urijah1 and ,hilkiah1 and ,maaseiah1 on his right hand2 and on his left hand ,pedaiah1 and ,mishael1 and ,malchiah1 and ,hashum1 and ,hashbadana1 ,zechariah1 and ,meshullam4 #e4 ,and ,ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people2 7for he was above all the people72 and when he opened it1 all the people stood up3 #f4 ,and ,ezra blessed the ,lord1 the great ,god4 ,and all the people answered1 ,amen1 ,amen1 with lifting up their hands3 and they bowed their heads1 and worshipped the ,lord with their faces to the ground4 #g4 ,also ,jeshua1 and ,bani1 and ,sherebiah1 ,jemin1 ,akkub1 ,shabbethai1 ,hodijah1 ,maaseiah1 ,kelita1 ,azariah1 ,jozabad1 ,hanan1 ,pelaiah1 and the ,levites1 caused the people to understand the law3 and the people stood in their place4 #h4 ,so they read in the book in the law of ,god distinctly1 and gave the sense1 and caused them to understand the reading4 #i4 ,and ,nehemiah1 which is the ,tirashatha1 and ,ezra the priest the scribe1 and the ,levites that taught the people1 said unto all the people1 ,this day is holy unto the ,lord your ,god2 mourn not1 nor weep4 ,for all the people wept1 when they heard the words of the law4 #aj4 ,then he said unto them1 ,go your way1 eat the fat1 and drink the sweet1 and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared3 for this day is holy unto our ,lord3 neither be ye sorry2 for the joy of the ,lord is your strength4 #aa4 ,so the ,levites stilled all the people1 saying1 ,hold your peace1 for the day is holy2 neither be ye grieved4 #ab4 ,and all the people went their way to eat1 and to drink1 and to send portions1 and to make great mirth1 because they had understood the words that were declared unto them4'--,neh4 viii4 #a-ab4 ,the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month ,elul1 which was the sixth month4 ,the events recorded in this passage took place on the first day of the seventh month4 ,the year is not given1 but the natural inference is that it was the same as that of the finishing of the wall2 namely1 the twentieth of ,artaxerxes4 ,if so1 the completion of the fortifications to which ,nehemiah had set himself1 was immediately followed by this reading of the law1 in which ,ezra takes the lead4 ,the two men stand in a similar relative position to that of ,zerubbabel and ,joshua1 the one representing the civil and the other the religious authority4 ,according to ,ezra vii4 #i1 ,ezra had gone to ,jerusalem about thirteen years before ,nehemiah1 and had had a weary time of fighting against the corruptions which had crept in among the returned captives4 ,the arrival of ,nehemiah would be hailed as bringing fresh1 young enthusiasm1 none the less welcome and powerful because it had the king's authority entrusted to it4 ,evidently the two men thoroughly understood one another1 and pulled together heartily4 ,we heard nothing about ,ezra while the wall was being built4 ,but now he is the principal figure1 and ,nehemiah is barely mentioned4 ,the reasons for ,ezra's taking the prominent part in the reading of the law are given in the two titles by which he is designated in two successive verses 7vers4 #a1b74 ,he was 'the scribe' and also 'the priest1' and in both capacities was the natural person for such a work4 ,the seventh month was the festival month of the year1 its first day being that of the ,feast of trumpets1 and the great ,feast of tabernacles as well as the solemn day of atonement occurring in it4 ,possibly1 the prospect of the coming of the times for these celebrations may have led to the people's wish to hear the law1 that they might duly observe the appointed ceremonial4 ,at all events1 the first thing to note is that it was in consequence of the people's wish that the law was read in their hearing4 ,neither ,ezra nor ,nehemiah originated the gathering together4 ,they obeyed a popular impulse which they had not created4 ,we must not1 indeed1 give the multitude credit for much more than the wish to have their ceremonial right4 ,but there was at least that wish1 and possibly something deeper and more spiritual4 ,the walls were completed2 but the true defence of ,israel was in ,god1 and the condition of ,his defending was ,israel's obedience to ,his law4 ,the people were1 in some measure1 beginning to realise that condition with new clearness1 in consequence of the new fervour which ,nehemiah had brought4 ,it is singular that1 during his thirteen years of residence1 ,ezra is not recorded to have promulgated the law1 though it lay at the basis of the drastic reforms which he was able to carry through4 ,probably he had not been silent1 but the solemn public recitation of the law was felt to be appropriate on occasion of completing the wall4 ,whether the people had heard it before1 or1 as seems implied1 it was strange to them1 their desire to hear it may stand as a pattern for us of that earnest wish to know ,god's will which is never cherished in vain4 ,he who does not intend to obey does not wish to know the law4 ,if we have no longing to know what the will of the ,lord is1 we may be very sure that we prefer our own to ,his4 ,if we desire to know it1 we shall desire to understand the ,book which contains so much of it4 ,any true religion in the heart will make us eager to perceive1 and willing to be guided by1 the will of ,god1 revealed mainly in ,scripture1 in the ,person1 works1 and words of ,jesus1 and also in waiting hearts by the ,spirit1 and in those things which the world calls 'circumstances' and faith names 'providences4' ,,ii4 ,verses #b-h appear to tell the same incidents twice over--first1 more generally in verses #b and #h1 and then more minutely4 ,such expanded repetition is characteristic of the ,old ,testament historical style4 ,it is somewhat difficult to make sure of the real circumstances4 ,clearly enough there was a solemn assembly of men1 women1 and children in a great open space outside one of the gates1 and there1 from dawn till noon1 the law was read and explained4 ,but whether ,ezra read it all1 while the ,levites named in verse #g explained or paraphrased or translated it1 or whether they all read in turns1 or whether there were a number of groups1 each of which had a teacher who both read and expounded1 is hard to determine4 ,at all events1 ,ezra was the principal figure1 and began the reading4 ,it was a picturesque scene4 ,the sun1 rising over the slopes of ,olivet1 would fall on the gathered crowd1 if the water-gate was1 as is probable1 on the east or south-east side of the city4 ,beneath the fresh fortifications probably1 which would act as a sounding-board for the reader1 was set up a scaffold high above the crowd1 large enough to hold ,ezra and thirteen supporters--principal men1 no doubt--seven on one side of him and six on the other4 ,probably a name has dropped out1 and the numbers were equal4 ,there1 in the morning light1 with the new walls for a background1 stood ,ezra on his rostrum1 and amid reverent silence1 lifted high the sacred roll4 ,a common impulse swayed the crowd1 and brought them all to their feet--token at once of respect and obedient attention4 ,probably many of them had never seen a sacred roll4 ,to them all it was comparatively unfamiliar4 ,no wonder that1 as ,ezra's voice rose in prayer1 the whole assembly fell on their faces in adoration1 and every lip responded ',amen6 amen6' ,much superstition may have mingled with the reverence4 ,no doubt1 there was then what we are often solemnly warned against now1 bibliolatry4 ,but in this time of critical investigation it is not the divine element in ,scripture which is likely to be exaggerated2 and few are likely to go wrong in the direction of paying too much reverence to the ,book in which1 as is still believed1 ,god has revealed ,his will and ,himself4 ,while welcoming all investigations which throw light on its origin or its meaning1 and perfectly recognising the human element in it1 we should learn the lesson taught by that waiting crowd prone on their faces1 and blessing ,god for ,his word4 ,such attitude must ever precede reading it1 if we are to read aright4 ,hour after hour the recitation went on4 ,we must let the question of the precise form of the events remain undetermined4 ,it is somewhat singular that thirteen names are enumerated as of the men who stood by ,ezra1 and thirteen as those of the readers or expounders4 ,it may be the case that the former number is complete1 though uneven1 and that there was some reason unknown for dividing the audience into just so many sections4 ,the second set of thirteen was not composed of the same men as the first4 ,they seem to have been ,levites1 whose office of assisting at the menial parts of the sacrifices was now elevated into that of setting forth the law4 ,probably the portions read were such as bore especially on ritual1 though the tears of the listeners are sufficient proof that they had heard some things that went deeper than that4 ,the word rendered 'distinctly' in the ,revised ,version 7margin1 with an interpretation7 is ambiguous1 and may either mean that the ,levites explained or that they translated the words4 ,the former is the more probable1 as there is no reason to suppose that the audience1 most of whom had been born in the land1 were ignorant of ,hebrew4 ,but if the ritual had been irregularly observed1 and the circle of ideas in the law become unfamiliar1 many explanations would be necessary4 ,it strikes one as touching and strange that such an assembly should be needed after so many centuries of national existence4 ,it sums up in one vivid picture the sin and suffering of the nation4 ,to observe that law had been the condition of their prosperity4 ,to bind it on their hearts should have been their delight and would have been their life2 and here1 after all these generations1 the best of the nation are assembled1 so ignorant of it that they cannot even understand it when they hear it4 ,absorption with worldly things has an awful power of dulling spiritual apprehension4 ,neglect of ,god's law weakens the power of understanding it4 ,this scene was in the truest sense a 'revival4' ,we may learn the true way of bringing men back to ,god2 namely1 the faithful exposition and enforcement of ,god's will and word4 ,we may learn1 too1 what should be the aim of public teachers of religion2 namely1 first and foremost1 the clear setting forth of ,god's truth4 ,their first business is to 'give the sense1 so that they understand the reading'2 and that1 not for merely intellectual purposes1 but that1 like the crowd outside the water-gate on that hot noonday1 men may be moved to penitence1 and then lifted to the joy of the ,lord4 ,the first day of the seventh month was the ,feast of trumpets2 and when the reading was over1 and its effects of tears and sorrow for disobedience were seen1 the preachers changed their tone1 to bring consolation and exhort to gladness4 ,nehemiah had taken no part in reading the law1 as ,ezra the priest and his ,levites were more appropriately set to that4 ,but he joins them in exhorting the people to dry their tears1 and go joyfully to the feast4 ,these exhortations contain many thoughts universally applicable4 ,they teach that even those who are most conscious of sin and breaches of ,god's law should weep indeed1 but should swiftly pass from tears to joy4 ,they do not teach how that passage is to be effected2 and in so far they are imperfect1 and need to be supplemented by the ,new ,testament teaching of forgiveness through the sacrifice of ,jesus ,christ4 ,but in their clear discernment that sorrow is not meant to be a permanent characteristic of religion1 and that gladness is a more acceptable offering than tears1 they teach a valuable lesson1 needed always by men who fancy that they must atone for their sins by their own sadness1 and that religion is gloomy1 harsh1 and crabbed4 ,further1 these exhortations to festal gladness breathe the characteristic ,old ,testament tone of wholesome enjoyment of material good as a part of religion4 ,the way of looking at eating and drinking and the like1 as capable of being made acts of worship1 has been too often forgotten by two kinds of men--saints who have sought sanctity in asceticism2 and sensualists who have taken deep draughts of such pleasures without calling on the name of the ,lord1 and so have failed to find ,his gifts a cup of salvation4 ,it is possible to 'eat and drink and see ,god' as the elders of ,israel did on ,sinai4 ,further1 the plain duty of remembering the needy while we enjoy ,god's gifts is beautifully enjoined here4 ,the principle underlying the commandment to 'send portions to them for whom nothing is provided'--that is1 for whom no feast has been dressed--is that all gifts are held in trust1 that nothing is bestowed on us for our own good only1 but that we are in all things stewards4 ,the law extends to the smallest and to the greatest possessions4 ,we have no right to feast on anything unless we share it1 whether it be festal dainties or the bread that came down from heaven4 ,to divide our portion with others is the way to make our portion greater as well as sweeter4 ,further1 'the joy of the ,lord is your strength4' ,by strength here seems to be meant a stronghold4 ,if we fix our desires on ,god1 and have trained our hearts to find sweeter delights in communion with ,him than in any earthly good1 our religion will have lifted us above mists and clouds into clear air above1 where sorrows and changes will have little power to affect us4 ,if we are to rejoice in the ,lord1 it will be possible for us to 'rejoice always1' and that joy will be as a refuge from all the ills that flesh is heir to4 ,dwelling in ,god1 we shall dwell safely1 and be far from the fear of evil4 ,,the ,,joy ,,of ,,the ,,lord ',the joy of the ,lord is your strength4'--,neh4 viii4 #aj4 ,judaism1 in its formal and ceremonial aspect1 was a religion of gladness4 ,the feast was the great act of worship4 ,it is not to be wondered at1 that ,christianity1 the perfecting of that ancient system1 has been less markedly felt to be a religion of joy2 for it brings with it far deeper and more solemn views about man in his nature1 condition1 responsibilities1 destinies1 than ever prevailed before1 under any system of worship4 ,and yet all deep religion ought to be joyful1 and all strong religion assuredly will be so4 ,here1 in the incident before us1 there has come a time in ,nehemiah's great enterprise1 when the law1 long forgotten1 long broken by the captives1 is now to be established again as the rule of the newly-founded commonwealth4 ,naturally enough there comes a remembrance of many sins in the past history of the people2 and tears not unnaturally mingle with the thankfulness that again they are a nation1 having a divine worship and a divine law in their midst4 ,the leader of them1 knowing for one thing that if the spirits of his people once began to flag1 they could not face nor conquer the difficulties of their position1 said to them1 ',this day is holy unto the ,lord3 this feast that we are keeping is a day of devout worship2 therefore mourn not1 nor weep3 go your way2 eat the fat1 and drink the sweet1 and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared2 neither be ye sorry1 for the joy of the ,lord is your strength4' ,you will make nothing of it by indulgence in lamentation and in mourning4 ,you will have no more power for obedience1 you will not be fit for your work1 if you fall into a desponding state4 ,be thankful and glad2 and remember that the purest worship is the worship of ,god-fixed joy1 'the joy of the ,lord is your strength4' ,and that is as true1 brethren6 with regard to us1 as it ever was in these old times2 and we1 ,i think1 need the lesson contained in this saying of ,nehemiah's1 because of some prevalent tendencies amongst us1 no less than these ,jews did4 ,take some simple thoughts suggested by this text which are both important in themselves and needful to be made emphatic because so often forgotten in the ordinary type of ,christian character4 ,they are these4 ,religious ,joy is the natural result of faith4 ,it is a ,christian duty4 ,it is an important element in ,christian strength4 ,i4 ,joy in the ,lord is the natural result of ,christian ,faith4 ,there is a natural adaptation or provision in the ,gospel1 both by what it brings to us and by what it takes away from us1 to make a calm1 and settled1 and deep gladness1 the prevalent temper of the ,christian spirit4 ,in what it gives us1 ,i say1 and in what it takes away from us4 ,it gives us what we call well a sense of acceptance with ,god1 it gives us ,god for the rest of our spirits1 it gives us the communion with ,him which in proportion as it is real1 will be still1 and in proportion as it is still1 will be all bright and joyful4 ,it takes away from us the fear that lies before us1 the strifes that lie within us1 the desperate conflict that is waged between a man's conscience and his inclinations1 between his will and his passions1 which tears the heart asunder1 and always makes sorrow and tumult wherever it comes4 ,it takes away the sense of sin4 ,it gives us1 instead of the torpid conscience1 or the angrily-stinging conscience--a conscience all calm from its accusations1 with all the sting drawn out of it3--for quiet peace lies in the heart of the man that is trusting in the ,lord4 ,the ,gospel works joy1 because the soul is at rest in ,god2 joy1 because every function of the spiritual nature has found now its haven and its object2 joy1 because health has come1 and the healthy working of the body or of the spirit is itself a gladness2 joy1 because the dim future is painted 7where it is painted at all7 with shapes of light and beauty1 and because the very vagueness of these is an element in the greatness of its revelation4 ,the joy that is in ,christ is deep and abiding4 ,faith in ,him naturally works gladness4 ,i do not forget that1 on the other side1 it is equally true that the ,christian faith has as marked and almost as strong an adaptation to produce a solemn sorrow--solemn1 manly1 noble1 and strong4 ',as sorrowful1 yet always rejoicing1' is the rule of the ,christian life4 ,if we think of what our faith does2 of the light that it casts upon our condition1 upon our nature1 upon our responsibilities1 upon our sins1 and upon our destinies1 we can easily see how1 if gladness be one part of its operation1 no less really and truly is sadness another4 ,brethren6 all great thoughts have a solemn quiet in them1 which not unfrequently merges into a still sorrow4 ,there is nothing more contemptible in itself1 and there is no more sure mark of a trivial nature and a trivial round of occupations1 than unshaded gladness1 that rests on no deep foundations of quiet1 patient grief2 grief1 because ,i know what ,i am and what ,i ought to be2 grief1 because ,i have learnt the 'exceeding sinfulness of sin'2 grief1 because1 looking out upon the world1 ,i see1 as other men do not see1 hell-fire burning at the back of the mirth and the laughter1 and know what it is that men are hurrying to6 ,do you remember who it was that stood by the side of the one poor dumb man1 whose tongue ,he was going to loose1 and looking up to heaven1 sighed before ,he could say1 ',be opened'8 ,do you remember that of ,him it is said1 ',god hath anointed ,thee with the oil of gladness above ,thy fellows'2 and also1 'a ,man of sorrows1 and acquainted with grief'8 ,and do you not think that both these characteristics are to be repeated in the operations of ,his ,gospel upon every heart that receives it8 ,and if1 by the hopes it breathes into us1 by the fears that it takes away from us1 by the union with ,god that it accomplishes for us1 by the fellowship that it implants in us1 it indeed anoints us all 'with the oil of gladness'2 yet1 on the other hand1 by the sense of mine own sin that it teaches me2 by the conflict with weakness which it makes to be the law of my life2 by the clear vision which it gives me of 'the law of my members warring against the law of my mind1 and bringing me into subjection'2 by the intensity which it breathes into all my nature1 and by the thoughts that it presents of what sin leads to1 and what the world at present is1 the ,gospel1 wheresoever it comes1 will infuse a wise1 valiant sadness as the very foundation of character4 ,yes1 joy1 but sorrow too6 the joy of the ,lord1 but sorrow as we look on our own sin and the world's woe6 the head anointed with the oil of gladness1 but also crowned with thorns6 ,these two are not contradictory4 ,these two states of mind1 both of them the natural operations of any deep faith1 may co-exist and blend into one another1 so as that the gladness is sobered1 and chastened1 and made manly and noble2 and that the sorrow is like some thundercloud1 all streaked with bars of sunshine1 that pierce into its deepest depths4 ,the joy lives in the midst of the sorrow2 the sorrow springs from the same root as the gladness4 ,the two do not clash against each other1 or reduce the emotion to a neutral indifference1 but they blend into one another2 just as1 in the ,arctic regions1 deep down beneath the cold snow1 with its white desolation and its barren death1 you will find the budding of the early spring flowers and the fresh green grass2 just as some kinds of fire burn below the water2 just as1 in the midst of the barren and undrinkable sea1 there may be welling up some little fountain of fresh water that comes from a deeper depth than the great ocean around it1 and pours its sweet streams along the surface of the salt waste4 ,gladness1 because ,i love1 for love is gladness2 gladness1 because ,i trust1 for trust is gladness2 gladness1 because ,i obey1 for obedience is a meat that others know not of1 and light comes when we do ,his will6 ,but sorrow1 because still ,i am wrestling with sin2 sorrow1 because still ,i have not perfect fellowship2 sorrow1 because mine eye1 purified by my living with ,god1 sees earth1 and sin1 and life1 and death1 and the generations of men1 and the darkness beyond1 in some measure as ,god sees them6 ,and yet1 the sorrow is surface1 and the joy is central2 the sorrow springs from circumstance1 and the gladness from the essence of the thing2--and therefore the sorrow is transitory1 and the gladness is perennial4 ,for the ,christian life is all like one of those sweet spring showers in early ,april1 when the rain-drops weave for us a mist that hides the sunshine2 and yet the hidden sun is in every sparkling drop1 and they are all saturated and steeped in its light4 ',the joy of the ,lord' is the natural result and offspring of all ,christian faith4 ,,ii4 ,and now1 secondly1 the 'joy of the ,lord' or rejoicing in ,god1 is a matter of ,christian duty4 ,it is a commandment here1 and it is a command in the ,new ,testament as well4 ',neither be ye sorry1 for the joy of the ,lord is your strength4' ,i need not quote to you the frequent repetitions of the same injunction which the ,apostle ,paul gives us1 ',rejoice in the ,lord always1 and again ,i say1 ,rejoice'2 ',rejoice evermore1' and the like4 ,the fact that this joy is enjoined us suggests to us a thought or two1 worth looking at4 ,you may say with truth1 ',my emotions of joy and sorrow are not under my own control3 ,i cannot help being glad and sad as circumstances dictate4' ,but yet here it lies1 a commandment4 ,it is a duty1 a thing that the ,apostle enjoins2 in which1 of course1 is implied1 that somehow or other it is to a large extent within one's own power1 and that even the indulgence in this emotion1 and the degree to which a ,christian life shall be a cheerful life1 is dependent in a large measure on our own volitions1 and stands on the same footing as our obedience to ,god's other commandments4 ,we can to a very great extent control even our own emotions2 but then1 besides1 we can do more than that4 ,it may be quite true1 that you cannot help feeling sorrowful in the presence of sorrowful thoughts1 and glad in the presence of thoughts that naturally kindle gladness4 ,but ,i will tell you what you can do or refrain from doing--you can either go and stand in the light1 or you can go and stand in the shadow4 ,you can either fix your attention upon1 and make the predominant subject of your religious contemplations1 a truth which shall make you glad and strong1 or a half-truth1 which shall make you sorrowful1 and therefore weak4 ,your meditations may either centre mainly upon your own selves1 your faults and failings1 and the like2 or they may centre mainly upon ,god and ,his love1 ,christ and ,his grace1 the ,holy ,spirit and ,his communion4 ,you may either fill your soul with joyful thoughts1 or though a true ,christian1 a real1 devout1 ,god-accepted believer1 you may be so misapprehending the nature of the ,gospel1 and your relation to it1 its promises and precepts1 its duties and predictions1 as that the prevalent tinge and cast of your religion shall be solemn and almost gloomy1 and not lighted up and irradiated with the felt sense of ,god's presence--with the strong1 healthy consciousness that you are a forgiven and justified man1 and that you are going to be a glorified one4 ,and thus far 7and it is a long way7 by the selection or the rejection of the appropriate and proper subjects which shall make the main portion of our religious contemplation1 and shall be the food of our devout thoughts1 we can determine the complexion of our religious life4 ,just as you inject colouring matter into the fibres of some anatomical preparation2 so a ,christian may1 as it were1 inject into all the veins of his religious character and life1 either the bright tints of gladness or the dark ones of self-despondency2 and the result will be according to the thing that he has put into them4 ,if your thoughts are chiefly occupied with ,god1 and what ,he has done and is for you1 then you will have peaceful joy4 ,if1 on the other hand1 they are bent ever on yourself and your own unbelief1 then you will always be sad4 ,you can make your choice4 ,christian men1 the joy of the ,lord is a duty4 ,it is so because1 as we have seen1 it is the natural effect of faith1 because we can do much to regulate our emotions directly1 and much more to determine them by determining what set of thoughts shall engage us4 ,a wise and strong faith is our duty4 ,to keep our emotional nature well under control of reason and will is our duty4 ,to lose thoughts of ourselves in ,god's truth about ,himself is our duty4 ,if we do these things1 we cannot fail to have ,christ's joy remaining in us1 and making ours full4 ,if we have not that blessed possession abiding with us1 which ,he lived and died to give us1 there is something wrong in us somewhere4 ,it seems to me that this is a truth which we have great need1 my friends1 to lay to heart4 ,it is of no great consequence that we should practically confute the impotent old sneer about religion as being a gloomy thing4 ,one does not need to mind much what some people say on that matter4 ,the world would call 'the joy of the ,lord' gloom1 just as much as it calls 'godly sorrow' gloom4 ,but we are losing for ourselves a power and an energy of which we have no conception1 unless we feel that joy is a duty1 and unless we believe that not to be joyful in the ,lord is1 therefore1 more than a misfortune1 it is a fault4 ,i do not forget that the comparative absence of this happy1 peaceful sense of acceptance1 harmony1 oneness with ,god1 springs sometimes from temperament1 and depends on our natural disposition4 ,of course the natural character determines to a large extent the perspective of our conceptions of ,christian truth1 and the colouring of our inner religious life4 ,i do not mean to say1 for a moment1 that there is one uniform type to which all must be conformed1 or they sin4 ,there is indeed one type1 the perfect manhood of ,jesus1 but it is all comprehensive1 and each variety of our fragmentary manhood finds its own perfecting1 and not its transmutation to another fashion of man1 in being conformed to ,him4 ,some of us are naturally fainthearted1 timid1 sceptical of any success1 grave1 melancholy1 or hard to stir to any emotion4 ,to such there will be an added difficulty in making quiet confident joy any very familiar guest in their home or in their place of prayer4 ,but even such should remember that the 'powers of the world to come1' the energies of the ,gospel1 are given to us for the very express purpose of overcoming1 as well as of hallowing1 natural dispositions4 ,if it be our duty to rejoice in the ,lord1 it is no sufficient excuse to urge for not responding to the reiterated call1 ',i myself am disposed to sadness4' ,whilst making all allowances for the diversities of character1 which will always operate to diversify the cast of the inner life in each individual1 we think that1 in the great majority of instances1 there are two things1 both faults1 which have a great deal more to do with the absence of joy from much ,christian experience1 than any unfortunate natural tendency to the dark side of things4 ,the one is1 an actual deficiency in the depth and reality of our faith2 and the other is1 a misapprehension of the position which we have a right to take and are bound to take4 ,there is an actual deficiency in our faith4 ,oh1 brethren6 it is not to be wondered at that ,christians do not find that the ,lord with them is the ,lord their strength and joy1 as well as the ,lord 'their righteousness'2 when the amount of their fellowship with ,him is so small1 and the depth of it so shallow1 as we usually find it4 ,the first true vision that a sinful soul has of ,god1 the imperfect beginnings of religion1 usually are accompanied with intense self-abhorrence1 and sorrowing tears of penitence4 ,a further closer vision of the love of ,god in ,jesus ,christ brings with it 'joy and peace in believing4' ,but the prolongation of these throughout life requires the steadfast continuousness of gaze towards ,him4 ,it is only where there is much faith and consequent love that there is much joy4 ,let us search our own hearts4 ,if there is but little heat around the bulb of the thermometer1 no wonder that the mercury marks a low degree4 ,if there is but small faith1 there will not be much gladness4 ,the road into ,giant ,despair's castle is through doubt1 which doubt comes from an absence1 a sinful absence1 in our own experience1 of the felt presence of ,god1 and the felt force of the verities of ,his ,gospel4 ,but then1 besides that1 there is another fault3 not a fault in the sense of crime or sin1 but a fault 7and a great one7 in the sense of error and misapprehension4 ,we as ,christians do not take the position which we have a right to take and that we are bound to take4 ,men venture themselves upon ,god's word as they do on doubtful ice1 timidly putting a light foot out1 to feel if it will bear them1 and always having the tacit fear1 ',now1 it is going to crack6' ,you must cast yourselves on ,god's ,gospel with all your weight1 without any hanging back1 without any doubt1 without even the shadow of a suspicion that it will give--that the firm1 pure floor will give1 and let you through into the water6 ,a ,christian shrink from saying what the ,apostle said1 ',i know in whom ,i have believed1 and am persuaded that ,he is able to keep that which ,i have committed to ,him until that day'6 ,a ,christian fancy that salvation is a future thing1 and forget that it is a present thing6 ,a ,christian tremble to profess 'assurance of hope1' forgetting that there is no hope strong enough to bear the stress of a life's sorrows1 which is not a conviction certain as one's own existence6 ,brethren6 understand that the ,gospel is a ,gospel which brings a present salvation2 and try to feel that it is not presumption1 but simply acting out the very fundamental principle of it1 when you are not afraid to say1 ',i know that my ,redeemer is yonder1 and ,i know that ,he loves me6' ,try to feel1 ,i say1 that by faith you have a right to take that position1 ',now1 we know that we are the sons of ,god'2 that you have a right to claim for yourselves1 and that you are falling beneath the loftiness of the gift that is given to you unless you do claim for yourselves1 the place of sons1 accepted1 loved1 sure to be glorified at ,god's right hand4 ,am ,i teaching presumption8 am ,i teaching carelessness1 or a dispensing with self-examination8 ,no1 but ,i am saying this3 ,if a man have once felt1 and feel1 in however small and feeble a degree1 and depressed by whatsoever sense of daily transgressions1 if he feel1 faint like the first movement of an imprisoned bird in its egg1 the feeble pulse of an almost imperceptible and fluttering faith beat--then that man has a right to say1 ',god is mine6' ,as one of our great teachers1 little remembered now said1 ',let me take my personal salvation for granted'--and what8 and 'be idle8' ,no2 'and work from it4' ,ay1 brethren6 a ,christian is not to be for ever asking himself1 ',am ,i a ,christian8' ,he is not to be for ever looking into himself for marks and signs that he is4 ,he is to look into himself to discover sins1 that he may by ,god's help cast them out1 to discover sins that shall teach him to say with greater thankfulness1 ',what a redemption this is which ,i possess6' but he is to base his convictions that he is ,god's child upon something other than his own characteristics and the feebleness of his own strength4 ,he is to have 'joy in the ,lord' whatever may be his sorrow from outward things4 ,and ,i believe that if ,christian people would lay that thought to heart1 they would understand better how the natural operation of the ,gospel is to make them glad1 and how rejoicing in the ,lord is a ,christian duty4 ,,iii4 ,and now with regard to the other thought that still remains to be considered1 namely1 that rejoicing in the ,lord is a source of strength1--,i have already anticipated1 fragmentarily1 nearly all that ,i could have said here in a more systematic form4 ,all gladness has something to do with our efficiency2 for it is the prerogative of man that his force comes from his mind1 and not from his body4 ,that old song about a sad heart tiring in a mile1 is as true in regard to the ,gospel1 and the works of ,christian people1 as in any other case4 ,if we have hearts full of light1 and souls at rest in ,christ1 and the wealth and blessedness of a tranquil gladness lying there1 and filling our being2 work will be easy1 endurance will be easy1 sorrow will be bearable1 trials will not be so very hard1 and above all temptations we shall be lifted1 and set upon a rock4 ,if the soul is full1 and full of joy1 what side of it will be exposed to the assault of any temptation8 ,if the appeal be to fear1 the gladness that is there is an answer4 ,if the appeal be to passion1 desire1 wish for pleasure of any sort1 there is no need for any more-the heart is full4 ,and so the gladness which rests in ,christ will be a gladness which will fit us for all service and for all endurance1 which will be unbroken by any sorrow1 and1 like the magic shield of the old legends1 invisible1 impenetrable1 in its crystalline purity will stand before the tempted heart1 and will repel all the 'fiery darts of the wicked4' ',the joy of the ,lord is your strength1' my brother6 ,nothing else is4 ,no vehement resolutions1 no sense of his own sinfulness1 nor even contrite remembrance of past failures1 ever yet made a man strong4 ,it made him weak that he might become strong1 and when it had done that it had done its work4 ,for strength there must be hope1 for strength there must be joy4 ,if the arm is to smite with vigour1 it must smite at the bidding of a calm and light heart4 ,christian work is of such a sort as that the most dangerous opponent to it is simple despondency and simple sorrow4 ',the joy of the ,lord is your strength4' ,well1 then6 there are two questions3 ,how comes it that so much of the world's joy is weakness8 and how comes it that so much of the world's notion of religion is gloom and sadness8 ,answer them for yourselves1 and remember3 you are weak unless you are glad2 you are not glad and strong unless your faith and hope are fixed in ,christ1 and unless you are working from and not towards the sense of pardon1 from and not towards the conviction of acceptance with ,god6 ,,sabbath ,,observance ',in those days saw ,i in ,judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath1 and bringing in sheaves1 and lading asses2 as also wine1 grapes1 and figs1 and all manner of burdens1 which they brought into ,jerusalem on the sabbath day3 and ,i testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals4 #af4 ,there dwelt men of ,tyre also therein1 which brought fish1 and all manner of ware1 and sold on the sabbath unto the children of ,judah1 and in ,jerusalem4 #ag4 ,then ,i contended with the nobles of ,judah1 and said unto them1 ,what evil thing is this that ye do1 and profane the sabbath day8 #ah4 ,did not your fathers thus1 and did not our ,god bring all this evil upon us1 and upon this city8 yet ye bring more wrath upon ,israel by profaning the sabbath1 #ai4 ,and it came to pass1 that when the gates of ,jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath1 ,i commanded that the gates should be shut1 and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath3 and some of my servants set ,i at the gates1 that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day4 #bj4 ,so the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without ,jerusalem once or twice4 #ba4 ,then ,i testified against them1 and said unto them1 ,why lodge ye about the wall8 if ye do so again1 ,i will lay hands on you4 ,from that time forth came they no more on the sabbath4 #bb4 ,and ,i commanded the ,levites that they should cleanse themselves1 and that they should come and keep the gates1 to sanctify the sabbath day4 ,remember me1 ,o my ,god1 concerning this also1 and spare me according to the greatness of ,thy mercy4'--,,neh4 xiii4 #ae-bb4 ,many religious and moral reformations depend for their vitality on one man1 and droop if his influence be withdrawn4 ,it was so with ,nehemiah's work4 ,he toiled for twelve years in ,jerusalem1 and then returned for 'certain days' to the king at ,babylon4 ,the length of his absence is not given2 but it was long enough to let much of his work be undone1 and to give him much trouble to restore it to the condition in which he had left it4 ,this last chapter of his book is but a sad close for a record which began with such high hope1 and tells of such strenuous1 self-sacrificing effort4 ,the last page of many a reformer's history has been1 like ,nehemiah's1 a sad account of efforts to stem the ebbing tide of enthusiasm and the flowing tide of worldliness4 ,the heavy stone is rolled a little way up hill1 and1 as soon as one strong hand is withdrawn1 down it tumbles again to its old place4 ,the evanescence of great men's work makes much of the tragedy of history4 ,our passage is particularly concerned with ,nehemiah's efforts to enforce ,sabbath observance4 ,the rest of the chapter is occupied with similar efforts to set right other irregularities of a ceremonial character1 such as the exclusion of ,gentiles from the ,temple1 the exaction of the 'portions of the ,levites1' and the like4 ,the passage falls into three parts--the abuse 7vs4 #ae1 #af71 the vigorous remedies 7vs4 #ag-bb71 and the prayer 7v4 #bb74 ,i4 ,the abuse consisted in ,sabbath work and trading4 ,nehemiah found1 on his return1 that the people 'in ,judaea'--that is1 in the country districts--carried on their farm labour and also brought their produce to market to ,jerusalem on the ,sabbath4 ,so he 'testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals'2 that is1 probably meaning that he warned them either in person or by messengers before taking further steps4 ,not only did ,jews break the sacred day1 but they let heathen do so too4 ,the narrative tells1 with a kind of horror1 the many aggravations of this piece of wickedness4 ',they'--,gentiles with whom contact defiled--'sold on the ,sabbath'--the day of rest--'to the children of ,judah'--,god's people--'in ,jerusalem'--the ,holy ,city4 ,it was a many-barrelled crime4 ,tyre was far from ,jerusalem1 and one does not see how fish could have been brought in good condition4 ,perhaps their perishableness was the excuse for allowing their sale on the ,sabbath1 as is sometimes the case in fishing-villages even in ,sabbath-keeping ,scotland4 ,such was the abuse with which ,nehemiah struggled4 ,it is easy to pooh-pooh his crusade against ,sabbath labour as mere scrupulousness about externals4 ,but it is a blunder and an injustice to a noble character if we forget that the stage of revelation at which he stood necessarily made him more dependent on externals than ,christians are or should be4 ,but his vindication does not need such considerations4 ,he had a truer insight into what active men needed for vigorous working days1 and what devout men needed for healthy religion1 than many moderns who smile at his eagerness about 'mere externalisms4' ,it is easy to ridicule the ,jewish ,sabbath and 'the ,puritan ,sunday4' ,no doubt there have been and are well-meant but mistaken efforts to insist on too rigid observance4 ,no doubt it has been often forgotten by good people that the ,christian ,lord's ,day is not the ,jewish ,sabbath4 ,of course the religious observance of the day is not a fit subject for legislation4 ,but the need for a seventh day of rest is impressed on our physical and intellectual nature2 and devout hearts will joyfully find their best rest in ,christian worship and service4 ,the vigour of religious life demands special seasons set apart for worship4 ,unless there be such reservoirs along the road1 there will be but a thin trickle of a brook by the way4 ,it is all very well to talk about religion diffused through the life1 but it will not be so diffused unless it is concentrated at certain times4 ,they are no benefactors to the community who seek to break down and relax the stringency of the prohibition of labour4 ,if once the idea that ,sunday is a day of amusement take root1 the amusement of some will require the hard work of others1 and the custom of work will tend to extend1 till rest becomes the exception1 and work the rule4 ,there never was a time when men lived so furiously fast as now4 ,the pace of modern life demands ,sunday rest more than ever4 ,if a railway car is run continually it will wear out sooner than if it were laid aside for a day or two occasionally2 and if it is run at express speed it will need the rest more4 ,we are all going at top speed2 and there would be more breakdowns if it were not for that blessed institution which some people think they are promoting the public good by destroying--a seventh day of rest4 ,our great trading centres in ,england have the same foreign element to complicate matters as ,nehemiah had to deal with4 ,the ,tyrian fishmongers knew and cared nothing for ,israel's ,jehovah or ,sabbath1 and their presence would increase the tendency to disregard the day4 ,so with us1 foreigners of many nationalities1 but alike in their disregard of our religious observances1 leaven the society1 and help to mould the opinions and practices1 of our great cities4 ,that is a very real source of danger in regard to ,sabbath observance and many other things2 and ,christian people should be on their guard against it4 ,,ii4 ,the vigorous remedies applied by ,nehemiah were administered first to the rulers4 ,he sent for the nobles1 and laid the blame at their doors4 ',ye profane the day1' said he4 ,men in authority are responsible for crimes which they could check1 but prefer to wink at4 ,nehemiah seems to trace all the national calamities to the breach of the ,sabbath2 but of course he is simply laying stress on the sin about which he is speaking1 as any man who sets himself earnestly to work to fight any form of evil is apt to do4 ,then the men who are not in earnest cry out about 'exaggeration4' ,many other sins besides ,sabbath-breaking had a share in sending ,israel into captivity2 and if ,nehemiah had been fighting with idolatrous tendencies he would have isolated idolatry as the cause of its calamities1 just as1 when fighting against ,sabbath-breaking1 he emphasises that sin4 ,nehemiah was governor for the ,persian king1 and so had a right to rate these nobles4 ,in this day the people have the same right1 and there are many social sins for which they should arraign civic and other authorities4 ,christian principles unflinchingly insisted on by ,christian people1 and brought to bear1 by ballot-boxes and other persuasive ways1 on what stands for conscience in some high places1 would make a wonderful difference on many of the abominations of our cities4 ,go to the 'nobles' first1 and lay the burden on the backs that ought to carry it4 ,then ,nehemiah took practical measures by shutting the city gates on the eve of the ,sabbath1 and putting some of his own servants as a watch4 ,the thing seems to have been done without any notice2 so when the country folk came in1 as usual1 on the ,sabbath1 they could not get into the city1 and camped outside1 making a visible temptation to the citizens1 to slip out and do a little business1 if they could manage to elude the guards4 ,once or twice this happened2 and then ,nehemiah himself seems to have taken them in hand1 with a very plain and sufficiently emphatic warning3 ',if ye do so again1 ,i will lay hands on you4' ,of course1 'from that time they came no more on the ,sabbath1' as was natural after such a volley4 ,a man with a good strong will is apt to get his own way1 even when he is not clothed with the authority of a governor4 ,then ,nehemiah strengthened the guard1 or perhaps withdrew his own servants and substituted for them ,levites1 whose official position would put them in full sympathy with his efforts4 ,that priestly guard would be inflexible1 and with its appointment the abuse appears to have been crushed4 ,the example of ,nehemiah's enforcing ,sabbath observance is not to be taken as a pattern for ,christian communities1 without many limitations4 ,but it appears to the present writer that it is perfectly legitimate for the civil power to insist upon1 and if necessary to enforce1 the observance of ,sunday as a day of rest2 and that1 since legitimate1 it is for the well-being of the community that it should do so4 ,tyrians might believe anything they chose1 and use the day of rest as they thought proper1 so long as they did not sell fish on it4 ,we do not interfere with religious convictions when we enjoin ,sunday observance4 ,nehemiah's argument has sometimes to be used1 even about such a matter3 ',if ye do so again1 ,i will lay hands on you4' ,the methods adopted may yield suggestions for all who would aim at reforming abuses or public immoralities4 ,one most necessary step is to cut off1 as far as possible1 opportunities for the sin4 ,there will be no trade if you shut the gates the night before4 ,there will be little drunkenness if there are no liquor shops4 ,it is quite true that people cannot be made virtuous by legislation1 but it is also true that they may be saved from temptations to become vicious by it4 ,another hint comes from ,nehemiah's vigorous word to the country folk outside the wall4 ,there is need for very strong determination and much sanctified obstinacy in fighting popular abuses4 ,they die hard4 ,it is permissible to invoke the aid of the lawful authority4 ,but a man with strong convictions and earnest purpose will be able to impress his convictions on a mass1 even if he have no guards at his back4 ,the one thing needful for ,christian reformers is1 not the power to appeal to force1 but the force which they can carry within them4 ,and it is better when the traders love the ,sabbath too well to wish to drive bargains on it1 than when they are hindered from doing as they wish by ,nehemiah's strong will or formidable threats4 ,once more1 the guard of ,levites may suggest that the execution of measures for the reformation of manners or morals is best entrusted to those who are in sympathy with them4 ,levites made faithful watchmen4 ,many a promising measure for reformation has come to nothing because committed to the hands of functionaries who did not care for its success4 ,the instruments are almost as important as the measures which they carry out4 ,,iii4 ,nehemiah's prayer occurs thrice in this chapter1 at the close of each section recounting his reforming acts4 ,in the first instance 7v4 #ad7 it is most full1 and puts very plainly the merit of good deeds as a plea with ,god4 ,the same thing is implied in its form in verse #bb4 ,but while1 no doubt1 the tone of the prayer is startling to us1 and is not such as should be offered now by ,christians1 it but echoes the principle of retribution which underlies the law4 ',this do1 and thou shalt live1' was the very foundation of ,nehemiah's form of ,god's revelation4 ,we do not plead our own merits1 because we are not under the law1 but under grace1 and the principle underlying the gospel is life by impartation of unmerited mercy and divine life4 ,but the law of retribution still remains valid for ,christians in so far as that ,god will never forget any of their works1 and will give them full recompense for their work of faith and labour of love4 ,eternal life here and hereafter is wholly the gift of ,god2 but that fact does not exclude the notion of 'the recompense of reward' from the ,christian conception of the future4 ,it becomes not us to present our good deeds before the ,judge1 since they are stained and imperfect1 and the goodness in them is ,his gift4 ,but it becomes ,him to crown them with ,his gracious approbation1 and to proportion the cities ruled in that future world to the talents faithfully used here4 ,we need not be afraid of obscuring the truth that we are saved 'not of works1 lest any man should boast1' though we insist that a ,christian man is rewarded according to his works4 ,nehemiah had no false notion of his own goodness2 for1 while he asked for recompense for these good deeds of his1 he could not but add1 ',spare me according to the greatness of ,thy mercy4' ,he who asks to be 'spared' must know himself in peril of destruction2 and he who invokes 'mercy' must think that1 if he were dealt with according to justice1 he would be in evil case4 ,so the consciousness of weakness and sin is an integral part of this prayer1 and that takes all the apparent self-righteousness out of the previous petition4 ,however worthy of and sure of reward a ,christian man's acts of love and efforts for the spread of ,god's honour may be1 the doer of them must still be 'looking for the mercy of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ unto eternal life4' ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,esther ,,the ,,net ,,spread ',after these things did king ,ahasuerus promote ,haman the son of ,hammedatha the ,agagite1 and advanced him1 and set his seat above all the princes that were with him4 #b4 ,and all the king's servants1 that were in the king's gate1 bowed1 and reverenced ,haman3 for the king had so commanded concerning him4 ,but ,mordecai bowed not1 nor did him reverence4 #c4 ,then the king's servants which were in the king's gate1 said unto ,mordecai1 ,why transgressest thou the king's commandment8 #d4 ,now it came to pass1 when they spake daily unto him1 and he hearkened not unto them1 that they told ,haman1 to see whether ,mordecai's matters would stand3 for he had told them that he was a ,jew4 #e4 ,and when ,haman saw that ,mordecai bowed not1 nor did him reverence1 then was ,haman full of wrath4 #f4 ,and he thought scorn to lay hands on ,mordecai alone2 for they had showed him the people of ,mordecai3 wherefore ,haman sought to destroy all the ,jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of ,ahasuerus1 even the people of ,mordecai4 #g4 ,in the first month1 that is1 the month ,nisan1 in the twelfth year of king ,ahasuerus1 they cast ,pur1 that is1 the lot1 before ,haman from day to day1 and from month to month1 to the twelfth month1 that is1 the month ,adar4 #h4 ,and ,haman said unto king ,ahasuerus1 ,there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom2 and their laws are diverse from all people2 neither keep they the king's laws3 therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them4 #i4 ,if it please the king1 let it be written that they may be destroyed3 and ,i will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business1 to bring it into the king's treasuries4 #aj4 ,and the king took his ring from his hand1 and gave it unto ,haman the son of ,hammedatha the ,agagite1 the ,jews' enemy4 #aa4 ,and the king said unto ,haman1 ,the silver is given to thee1 the people also1 to do with them as it seemeth good to thee4'--,,esther iii4 #a-aa4 ,the stage of this passage is filled by three strongly marked and strongly contrasted figures3 ,mordecai1 ,haman1 and ,ahasuerus2 a sturdy nonconformist1 an arrogant and vindictive minister of state1 and a despotic and careless king4 ,these three are the visible persons1 but behind them is an unseen and unnamed ,presence1 the ,god of ,israel1 who still protects ,his exiled people4 ,we note1 first1 the sturdy nonconformist4 ',the reverence' which the king had commanded his servants to show to ,haman was not simply a sign of respect1 but an act of worship4 ,eastern adulation regarded a monarch as in some sense a god1 and we know that divine honours were in later times paid to ,roman emperors1 and many ,christians martyred for refusing to render them4 ,the command indicates that ,ahasuerus desired ,haman to be regarded as his representative1 and possessing at least some reflection of godhead from him4 ,european ambassadors to ,eastern courts have often refused to prostrate themselves before the monarch on the ground of its being degradation to their dignity2 but ,mordecai stood erect while the crowd of servants lay flat on their faces1 as the great man passed through the gate1 because he would have no share in an act of worship to any but ,jehovah4 ,he might have compromised with conscience1 and found some plausible excuses if he had wished4 ,he could have put his own private interpretation on the prostration1 and said to himself1 ',i have nothing to do with the meaning that others attach to bowing before ,haman4 ,i mean by it only due honour to the second man in the kingdom4' ,but the monotheism of his race was too deeply ingrained in him1 and so he kept 'a stiff backbone' and 'bowed not down4' ,that his refusal was based on religious scruples is the natural inference from his having told his fellow-porters that he was a ,jew4 ,that fact would explain his attitude1 but would also isolate him still more4 ,his obstinacy piqued them1 and they reported his contumacy to the great man1 thus at once gratifying personal dislike1 racial hatred1 and religious antagonism1 and recommending themselves to ,haman as solicitous for his dignity4 ,we too are sometimes placed in circumstances where we are tempted to take part in what may be called constructive idolatry4 ,there arise1 in our necessary co-operation with those who do not share in our faith1 occasions when we are expected to unite in acts which we are thought very straitlaced for refusing to do1 but which1 conscience tells us1 cannot be done without practical disloyalty to ,jesus ,christ4 ,whenever that inner voice says ',don't1' we must disregard the persistent solicitations of others1 and be ready to be singular1 and run any risk rather than comply4 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god1' has to be our motto1 whatever fellow-servants may say4 ,the gate of ,ahasuerus's palace was not a favourable soil for the growth of a devout soul1 but flowers can bloom on dunghills1 and there have been 'saints' in ',caesar's household4' ,haman is a sharp contrast to ,mordecai4 ,he is the type of the unworthy characters that climb or crawl to power in a despotic monarchy1 vindictive1 arrogant1 cunning1 totally oblivious of the good of the subjects1 using his position for his own advantage1 and ferociously cruel4 ,he had naturally not noticed the one erect figure among the crowd of abject ones1 but the insignificant ,jew became important when pointed out4 ,if he had bowed1 he would have been one more nobody1 but his not bowing made him somebody who had to be crushed4 ,the childish burst of passion is very characteristic1 and not less true to life is the extension of the anger and thirst for vengeance to 'all the ,jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of ,ahasuerus4' ,they were 'the people of ,mordecai1' and that was enough4 ',he thought scorn to lay hands on ,mordecai alone4' ,what a perverted notion of personal dignity which thought the sacrifice of the one offender beneath it1 and could only be satisfied by a blood-bath into which a nation should be plunged6 ,such an extreme of frantic lust for murder is only possible in such a state as ,ahasuerus's ,persia1 but the prostitution of public position to personal ends1 and the adoption of political measures at the bidding of wounded vanity1 and to gratify blind hatred of a race1 is possible still1 and it becomes all ,christian men to use their influence that the public acts of their nation shall be clear of that taint4 ,haman was as superstitious as cruel1 and so he sought for auguries from heaven for his hellish purpose1 and cast the lot to find the favourable day for bringing it about4 ,he is not the only one who has sought divine approval for wicked public acts4 ,religion has been used to varnish many a crime1 and ,te ,deums sung for many a victory which was little better than ,haman's plot4 ,the crafty denunciation of the ,jews to the king is a good specimen of the way in which a despot is hoodwinked by his favourites1 and made their tool4 ,it was no doubt true that the ,jews' laws were 'diverse from those of every people1' but it was not true that they did not 'keep the king's laws1' except in so far as these required worship of other gods4 ,in all their long dispersion they have been remarkable for two things1--their tenacious adherence to the ,law1 so far as possible in exile1 and their obedience to the law of the country of their sojourn4 ,no doubt1 the exiles in ,persian territory presented the same characteristics4 ,but ,haman has had many followers in resenting the distinctiveness of the ,jew1 and charging on them crimes of which they were innocent4 ,from ,mordecai onwards it has been so1 and ,europe is to-day disgraced by a crusade against them less excusable than ,haman's4 ,hatred still masks itself under the disguise of political expediency1 and says1 ',it is not for the king's profit to suffer them4' ,but the true half of the charge was a eulogium1 for it implied that the scattered exiles were faithful to ,god's laws1 and were marked off by their lives4 ,that ought to be true of professing ,christians4 ,they should obviously be living by other principles than the world adopts4 ,the enemy's charge 'shall turn unto you for a testimony4' ,happy shall we be if observers are prompted to say of us that 'our laws are diverse' from those of ungodly men around us6 ,the great bribe which ,haman offered to the king is variously estimated as equal to from three to four millions sterling4 ,he1 no doubt1 reckoned on making more than that out of the confiscation of ,jewish property4 ,that such an offer should have been made by the chief minister to the king1 and that for such a purpose1 reveals a depth of corruption which would be incredible if similar horrors were not recorded of other ,eastern despots4 ,but with ,turkey still astonishing the world1 no one can call ,haman's offer too atrocious to be true4 ,ahasuerus is the vain-glorious king known to us as ,xerxes4 ,his conduct in the affair corresponds well enough with his known character4 ,the lives of thousands of law-abiding subjects are tossed to the favourite without inquiry or hesitation4 ,he does not even ask the name of the 'certain people1' much less require proof of the charge against them4 ,the insanity of weakening his empire by killing so many of its inhabitants does not strike him1 nor does he ever seem to think that he has duties to those under his rule4 ,careless of the sanctity of human life1 too indolent to take trouble to see things with his own eyes1 apparently without the rudiments of the idea of justice1 he wallowed in a sty of self-indulgence1 and1 while greedy of adulation and the semblance of power1 let the reality slip from his hands into those of the favourite1 who played on his vices as on an instrument1 and pulled the strings that moved the puppet4 ,we do not produce kings of that sort nowadays1 but ,king ,demos has his own vices1 and is as easily blinded and swayed as ,ahasuerus4 ,in every form of government1 monarchy or republic1 there will be would-be leaders1 who seek to gain influence and carry their objects by tickling vanity1 operating on vices1 calumniating innocent men1 and the other arts of the demagogue4 ,where the power is in the hands of the people1 the people is very apt to take its responsibilities as lightly as ,ahasuerus did his1 and to let itself be led blindfold by men with personal ends to serve1 and hiding them under the veil of eager desire for the public good4 ,christians should 'play the citizen as it becomes the gospel of ,christ1' and take care that they are not beguiled into national enmities and public injustice by the specious talk of modern ,hamans4 ,,esther',s ,,venture ',again ,esther spake unto ,hatach1 and gave him commandment unto ,mordecai3 #aa4 ,all the king's servants1 and the people of the king's provinces1 do know1 that whosoever1 whether man or woman1 shall come unto the king into the inner court1 who is not called1 there is one law of his to put him to death1 except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre1 that he may live3 but ,i have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days4 #ab4 ,and they told to ,mordecai ,esther's words4 #ac4 ,then ,mordecai commanded to answer ,esther1 ,think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house1 more than all the ,jews4 #ad4 ,for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time1 then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the ,jews from another place2 but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed3 and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this8 #ae4 ,then ,esther bade them return ,mordecai this answer1 #af4 ,go1 gather together all the ,jews that are present in ,shushan1 and fast ye for me1 and neither eat nor drink three days1 night or day3 ,i also and my maidens will fast likewise2 and so will ,i go in unto the king1 which is not according to the law3 and if ,i perish1 ,i perish4 #ag4 ,so ,mordecai went his way1 and did according to all that ,esther had commanded him4 ',now it came to pass on the third day1 that ,esther put on her royal apparel1 and stood in the inner court of the king's house1 over against the king's house3 and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house1 over against the gate of the house4 #b4 ,and it was so1 when the king saw ,esther the queen standing in the court1 that she obtained favour in his sight3 and the king held out to ,esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand4 ,so ,esther drew near1 and touched the top of the sceptre4 #c4 ,then said the king unto her1 ,what wilt thou1 queen ,esther8 and what is thy request8 it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom4'-,,esther iv4 #aj-ag2 v4 #a-c4 ,patriotism is more evident than religion in the ,book of ,esther4 ,to turn to it after the fervours of prophets and the continual recognition of ,god in history which marks the other historical books1 is like coming down from heaven to earth1 as ,ewald says4 ,but that difference in tone probably accurately represents the difference between the saints and heroes of an earlier age and the ,jews in ,persia1 in whom national feeling was stronger than devotion4 ,the picture of their characteristics deducible from this ,book shows many of the traits which have marked them ever since1--accommodating flexibility1 strangely united with unbending tenacity2 a capacity for securing the favour of influential people1 and willingness to stretch conscience in securing it2 reticence and diplomacy2 and1 beneath all1 unquenchable devotion to ,israel1 which burns alike in the politic ,mordecai and the lovely ,esther4 ,there is not much audible religion in either1 but in this lesson ,mordecai impressively enforces his assurance that ,israel cannot perish1 and his belief in ,providence setting people in their places for great unselfish ends2 and ,esther is ready to die1 if need be1 in trying to save her people1 and thinks that fasting and prayer will help her in her daring attempt4 ,these two cousins1 unlike in so much1 were alike in their devotion to ,israel2 and though they said little about their religion1 they acted it1 which is better4 ,it is very like ,jews that the relationship between ,mordecai and ,esther should have been kept dark4 ,nobody but one or two trusted servants knew that the porter was the queen's cousin1 and probably her ,jewish birth was also unknown4 ,secrecy is1 no doubt1 the armour of oppressed nations2 but it is peculiarly agreeable to the descendants of ,jacob1 who was a master of the art4 ,there must have been wonderful self-command on both sides to keep such a secret1 and true affection1 to preserve intercourse through apparent indifference4 ,our passage begins in the middle of ,esther's conversation with the confidential go-between1 who told her of the insane decree for the destruction of the ,jews1 and of ,mordecai's request that she should appeal to the king4 ,she reminds him of what he knew well enough1 the law that unsummoned intruders into the presence are liable to death2 and adds what1 of course1 he did not know1 that she had not been summoned for a month4 ,we need not dwell on this ridiculously arrogant law1 but may remark that the substantial accuracy of the statement is confirmed by classical and other authors1 and may pause for a moment to note the glimpse given here of the delirium of self-importance in which these ,persian kings lived1 and to see in it no small cause of their vices and disasters4 ,what chance of knowing facts or of living a wholesome life had a man shut off thus from all but lickspittles and slaves8 ,no wonder that the victims of such dignity beat the sea with rods1 when it was rude enough to wreck their ships6 ,no wonder that they wallowed in sensuality1 and lost pith and manhood6 ,no wonder that ,greece crushed their unwieldy armies and fleets6 ,and what a glimpse into their heart-emptiness and degradation of sacred ties is given in the fact that ,esther the queen had not seen ,ahasuerus for a month1 though living in the same palace1 and his favourite wife6 ,no doubt1 the experiences of exile had something to do in later ages with the decided preference of the ,jew for monogamy4 ,but1 passing from this1 we need only observe how clearly ,esther sees and how calmly she tells ,mordecai the tremendous risk which following his counsel would bring4 ,note that she does not refuse4 ,she simply puts the case plainly1 as if she invited further communication4 ',this is how things stand4 ,do you still wish me to run the risk8' ,that is poor courage which has to shut its eyes in order to keep itself up to the mark4 ,unfortunately1 the temperament which clearly sees dangers and that which dares them are not often found together in due proportion1 and so men are over-rash and over-cautious4 ,this young queen with her clear eyes saw1 and with her brave heart was ready to face1 peril to her life4 ,unless we fully realise difficulties and dangers beforehand1 our enthusiasm for great causes will ooze out at our fingers' ends at the first rude assault of these4 ,so let us count the cost before we take up arms1 and let us take up arms after we have counted the cost4 ,cautious courage1 courageous caution1 are good guides4 ,either alone is a bad one4 ,mordecai's grand message is a condensed statement of the great reasons which always exist for self-sacrificing efforts for others' good4 ,his words are none the less saturated with devout thought because they do not name ,god4 ,this porter at the palace gate had not the tongue of a psalmist or of a prophet4 ,he was a plain man1 not uninfluenced by his pagan surroundings1 and perhaps he was careful to adapt his message to the lips of the ,gentile messenger1 and therefore did not more definitely use the sacred name4 ,it is very striking that ,mordecai makes no attempt to minimise ,esther's peril in doing as he wished4 ,he knew that she would take her life in her hand1 and he expects her to be willing to do it1 as he would have been willing4 ,it is grand when love exhorts loved ones to a course which may bring death to them1 and lifelong loneliness and quenched hopes to it4 ,think of ,mordecai's years of care over and pride in his fair young cousin1 and how many joys and soaring visions would perish with her1 and then estimate the heroic self-sacrifice he exercised in urging her to her course4 ,his first appeal is on the lowest ground4 ,pure selfishness should send her to the king2 for1 if she did not go1 she would not escape the common ruin4 ,so1 on the one hand1 she had to face certain destruction2 and1 on the other1 there were possible success and escape4 ,it may seem unlikely that the general massacre should include the favourite queen1 and especially as her nationality was apparently a secret4 ,but when a mob has once tasted blood1 its appetite is great and its scent keen1 and there are always informers at hand to point to hidden victims4 ,the argument holds in reference to many forms of conflict with national and social evils4 ,if ,christian people allow vice and godlessness to riot unchecked1 they will not escape the contagion1 in some form or other4 ,how many good men's sons have been swept away by the immoralities of great cities6 ,how few families there are in which there is not 'one dead1' the victim of drink and dissipation6 ,how the godliness of the ,church is cooled down by the low temperature around6 ,at the very lowest1 self-preservation should enlist all good men in a sacred war against the sins which are slaying their countrymen4 ,if smallpox breaks out in the slums1 it will come uptown into the grand houses1 and the outcasts will prove that they are the rich man's brethren by infecting him1 and perhaps killing him4 ,mordecai goes back to the same argument in the later part of his answer1 when he foretells the destruction of ,esther and her father's house4 ,there he puts it1 however1 in a rather different light4 ,the destruction is not now1 as before1 her participation in the common tragedy1 but her exceptional ruin while ,israel is preserved4 ,the unfaithful one1 who could have intervened to save1 and did not1 will have a special infliction of punishment4 ,that is true in many applications4 ,certainly1 neglect to do what we can do for others does always bring some penalty on the slothful coward2 and there is no more short-sighted policy than that which shirks plain duties of beneficence from regard to self4 ,but higher considerations than selfish ones are appealed to4 ,mordecai is sure that deliverance will come4 ,he does not know whence1 but come it will4 ,how did he arrive at that serene confidence8 ,certainly because he trusted ,god's ancient promises1 and believed in the indestructibility of the nation which a divine hand protected4 ,how does such a confidence agree with fear of 'destruction'8 ,the two parts of ,mordecai's message sound contradictory2 but he might well dread the threatened catastrophe1 and yet be sure that through any disaster ,israel as a nation would pass1 cast down1 no doubt1 but not destroyed4 ,how did it agree with his earnestness in trying to secure ,esther's help8 ,if he was certain of the issue1 why should he have troubled her or himself8 ,just for the same reason that the discernment of ,god's purposes and absolute reliance on these stimulate1 and do not paralyse1 devout activity in helping to carry them out4 ,if we are sure that a given course1 however full of peril and inconvenience1 is in the line of ,god's purposes1 that is a reason for strenuous effort to carry it out4 ,since some men are to be honoured to be ,his instruments1 shall not we be willing to offer ourselves8 ,there is a holy and noble ambition which covets the dignity of being used by ,him4 ,they who believe that their work helps forward what is dear to ,god's heart may well do with their might what they find to do1 and not be too careful to keep on the safe side in doing it4 ,the honour is more than the danger4 ',here am ,i2 take me1' should be the ,christian feeling about all such work4 ,the last argument in this noble summary of motives for self-sacrifice for others' good is the thought of ,god's purpose in giving ,esther her position4 ,it carries large truth applicable to us all4 ,the source of all endowments of position1 possessions1 or capacities1 is ,god4 ,his purpose in them all goes far beyond the happiness of the receiver4 ,dignities and gifts of every sort are ours for use in carrying out ,his great designs of good to our fellows4 ,esther was made queen1 not that she might live in luxury and be the plaything of a king1 but that she might serve ,israel4 ,power is duty4 ,responsibility is measured by capacity4 ,obligation attends advantages4 ,gifts are burdens4 ,all men are stewards1 and ,god gives ,his servants their 'talents1' not for selfish squandering or hoarding1 but to trade with1 and to pay the profits to ,him4 ,this penetrating insight into the source and intention of all which we have1 carries a solemn lesson for us all4 ,the fair young heroine's soul rose to the occasion1 and responded with a swift determination to her older cousin's lofty words4 ,her pathetic request for the prayers of the people for whose sake she was facing death was surely more than superstition4 ,little as she says about her faith in ,god1 it obviously underlay her courage4 ,a soul that dares death in obedience to ,his will and in dependence on ,his aid1 demonstrates its godliness more forcibly in silence than by many professions4 ',if ,i perish1 ,i perish6' ,think of the fair1 soft lips set to utter that grand surrender1 and of all the flowery and silken cords which bound the young heart to life1 so bright and desirable as was assured to her4 ,note the resolute calmness1 the ,spartan brevity1 the clear sight of the possible fatal issue1 the absolute submission4 ,no higher strain has ever come from human lips4 ,this womanly soul was of the same stock as a ,miriam1 a ,deborah1 ,jephthah's daughter2 and the same fire burned in her1--utter devotion to ,israel because entire consecration to ,israel's ,god4 ,religion and patriotism were to her inseparable4 ,what was her individual life compared with her people's weal and her ,god's will8 ,she was ready without a murmur to lay her young radiant life down4 ,such ecstasy of willing self-sacrifice raises its subject above all fears and dissolves all hindrances4 ,it may be wrought out in uneventful details of our small lives1 and may illuminate these as truly as it sheds imperishable lustre over the lovely figure standing in the palace court1 and waiting for life or death at the will of a sensual tyrant4 ,the scene there need not detain us4 ,we can fancy ,esther's beating heart putting fire in her cheek1 and her subdued excitement making her beauty more splendid as she stood4 ,what a contrast between her and the arrogant king on his throne6 ,he was a voluptuary1 ruined morally by unchecked licence1--a monster1 as he could hardly help being1 of lust1 self will1 and caprice4 ,she was at that moment an incarnation of self-sacrifice and pure enthusiasm4 ,the blind world thought that he was the greater2 but how ludicrous his condescension1 how vulgar his pomp1 how coarse his kindness1 how gross his prodigal promises by the side of the heroine of faith1 whose life he held in his capricious hand6 ,how amazed the king would have been if he had been told that one of his chief titles to be remembered would be that moment's interview6 ,ahasuerus is the type of swollen self-indulgence1 which always degrades and coarsens2 ,esther is the type of self-sacrifice which as uniformly refines1 elevates1 and arrays with new beauty and power4 ,if we would reach the highest nobleness possible to us1 we must stand with ,esther at the gate1 and not envy or imitate ,ahasuerus on his gaudy throne4 ',he that loveth his life shall lose it2 and he that loseth his life for ,my sake and the gospel's1 the same shall find it4' ,,mordecai ,,and ,,esther ',for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time1 then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the ,jews from another place2 but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed3 and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this8'--,,esther iv4 #ad4 ,all ,christians are agreed in holding the principles which underlie our missionary operations4 ,they all believe that the world is a fallen world1 that without ,christ the fallen world is a lost world1 that the preaching of the ,gospel is the way to bring ,christ to those who need ,him1 that to the ,church is committed the ministry of reconciliation4 ,these are the grand truths from which the grand missionary enterprise has sprung4 ,it is not my intention to enlarge on them now4 ,but in this and in all cases1 there are secondary motives besides1 and inferior to those which are derived from the real fundamental principles4 ,we are stimulated to action not only because we hold certain great principles1 but because they are reinforced by certain subordinate considerations4 ,it is the duty of all ,christians to promote the missionary cause on the lofty grounds already referred to4 ,besides that1 it may be in a special way our duty for some additional reasons drawn from peculiarities in our condition4 ,circumstances do not make duties1 but they may bring a special weight of obligation on us to do them4 ,times again do not make duties1 but they too make a thing a special duty now4 ,the consideration of consequences may not decide us in matters of conscience1 but it may allowably come in to deter us from what is on higher grounds a sin to be avoided1 or a good deed to be done4 ,success or failure is an alternative that must not be thought of when we are asking ourselves1 ',ought ,i to do this8' but when we have answered that question1 we may go to work with a lighter heart and a firmer hand if we are sure that we are not going to fail4 ,all these are inferior considerations which do not avail to determine duty and do not go deep enough to constitute the real foundation of our obligation4 ,they are considerations which can scarcely be shut out1 and should be taken in determining the weight of our obligation1 in shaping the selection of our duties1 in stimulating the zeal and sedulousness with which we do what we know to be right4 ,to a consideration of some of these secondary reasons for energy in the work of missions ,i ask your attention4 ,the verse which ,i have selected for my text is spoken by ,mordecai to ,esther1 when urging her to her perilous patriotism4 ,it singularly blends the statesman and the believer4 ,he sees that if she selfishly refuses to identify herself with her people1 in their calamity1 the wave that sweeps them away will not be stayed outside her royal dwelling2 he knows too much of courts to think that she can stand against that burst of popular fury should it break out4 ,but he looks on as a devout man believing ,god's promises1 and seeing past all instruments2 he warns her that 'deliverance and enlargement shall arise4' ,he is no fatalist2 he believes in man's work1 therefore he urges her to let herself be the instrument by which ,god's work shall be done4 ,he is no atheist2 he believes in ,god's sovereign power and unchangeable faithfulness1 therefore he looks without dismay to the possibility of her failure4 ,he knows that if she is idle1 all the evil will come on her head1 who has been unfaithful1 and that in spite of that ,god's faithfulness shall not be made of none effect4 ,he believes that she has been raised to her position for ,god's sake1 for her brethren's sake1 not her own4 ',who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this8' ,there speaks the devout statesman1 the court-experienced believer4 ,he has seen favourites tended and tossed aside1 viziers powerful and beheaded1 kings half deified and deserted in their utmost need4 ,sitting at the gate there1 he has seen generations of ,hamans go out and in2 he has seen the craft1 the cruelty1 the lusts which have been the apparent causes of the puppets' rise and fall1 and he has looked beyond it all and believed in a ,hand that pulled the wires1 in a ,king of ,kings who raiseth up one and setteth down another4 ,so he believes that his ,esther has come to the kingdom by ,god's appointment1 to do ,god's work at ,god's time4 ,and these convictions keep him calm and stir her4 ,we may find here a series of considerations having a special bearing on this missionary work4 ,to them ,i ask your attention4 ,i4 ,god gives us our position that we may use it for ,his cause1 for the spread of the ,gospel4 ,in most general terms4 7a7 ,no man has anything for his own sake--no man liveth to himself4 ,we come to the kingdom for others4 ,here we touch the foundation of all authority2 we learn the awful burden of all talents1 the dreadful weight of every gift4 7b7 ,no man receives the ,gospel for his own sake4 ,we are not non-conductors1 but stand all linked hand in hand4 ,we are members of the body that the blood may flow freely through us4 ,for no loftier reason did ,god light the candle than that it might give light4 ,we are beacons kindled to transmit1 till every sister light flashes back the ray4 7c7 ,we especially have received a position in the world for the conversion of the world4 ,our national character and position unite that of the ,jew in his two stages--we are set to be the 'light of the world1' and we are 'tribes of the wandering foot4' ,our history1 all1 has tended to this function1 our local position1 our laws1 our commerce4 ,we are citizens of a nation which 'as a nest has found the riches' of the peoples4 ,in every land our people dwell4 ,think of our colonies4 ,think that we are brought into contact with heathen1 whether we will or not4 ,we cannot help influencing them4 ',through you the name of ,god is blasphemed amongst the ,gentiles4' ,think of our sailors4 ,why this position8 ,what is plainer than that all this is in order that the ,gospel might be spread8 ,god has ever let the ,gospel follow in the tracks made for it by commercial law4 ,this object does not exclude others4 ,our language1 our literature1 our other rich spiritual treasures1 we hold them all that we may impart4 ,but remember that all these other good things that ,england has will spread themselves with little effort1 people will be glad to get them4 ,but the ,gospel will not be spread so4 ,it must be taken to those who do not want it4 ,it must be held forth with outstretched hands to 'a disobedient and gainsaying people4' ,it is found of them that seek it not4 ,like the ,lord we must go to the wanderers1 we must find them as they lie panting and thirsty in the wild wilderness4 ,therefore ,christian men must make special earnest efforts or the work will not be done4 ,they must be as the 'dew that tarrieth not for man1 nor waiteth for the sons of men4' ,and again1 such action does not involve approval of the means by which such a position has become ours4 ,mordecai knew what vile passions had been at work to put ,esther there1 and did not forget poor ,vashti1 and we have no need to hide conviction that ,england's place has often been won by wrong1 been kept by violence and fraud1 that1 as she has strode to empire1 her foot has trodden on many a venerable throne unjustly thrown down1 and her skirts have been dabbled with 'the blood of poor innocents1' splashed there with her armed hoof4 ,be it so6--,still6 ',thou makest the wrath of man to praise ,thee4' ,still--'we are debtors both to the ,greek and barbarian1' and all the more debtors because of ills inflicted4 ,god has laid on us a solemn responsibility4 ,over all the dust of base intrigues1 and the smoke of bloody battles1 and the hubbub of busy commerce1 ,his hand has been working1 and though we have been sinful1 ,he has given us a place and a power1 mighty and awful4 ,we have received these not for our own glory1 not that we should boast of our dominion1 not that we should gather tribute of gain and glory from subject peoples1 not even that we should carry to them the great though lesser blessings of language1 united order1 peaceful commerce1 sway over brute nature1 but that we should give them what will make them men--,christ4 ,we have a work to do1 an awful work4 ,to us all as ,christians1 to us especially as citizens of this land and members of this race1 to us and to our brethren across the ,atlantic the message comes1 by our history1 our manners1 etc41 as plainly as if it were written in every wave that beats around our coast4 ',ye are my witnesses1 saith the ,lord4' ,,ii4 ,god lays upon us special missionary work by the special characteristics of the times4 ',such a time as this6' ,was there ever such a time8 ,look at the condition of heathenism4 ,it is everywhere tottering4 ',the idols are on the beasts1 ,bel boweth down4' ,the grim gods sit half famished already4 ,there is a crack in every temple wall4 ,mahommedanism1 ,buddhism1 ,brahminism--they are none of them progressive4 ,they are none of them vital4 ,think how only the ,gospel outleaps space and time4 ,how all these systems are of time and devoured by it1 as ,saturn eats his own children4 ,they are of the things that can be shaken1 and their being shaken makes more certain the remaining of the things that cannot be shaken4 ,look at the fields open4 ,india1 ,china1 ,japan1 ,africa1 in a word1 ',the field is the world' in a degree in which it never was before4 ',such a time'--a time of seething1 and we can determine the cosmos2 a plastic time1 and we can mould it2 it is a deluge1 push the ark boldly out and ransom some4 ,,iii4 ,if we neglect the voice of ,god's providence1 harm comes on us4 ,the gifts unimproved are apt to be lost4 ,one knows not all the conditions on which ,england holds her sway1 nor do we fathom the strange way in which spiritual characteristics are inwrought with material interests4 ,but we believe in a providential government of the world1 and of this we may be very sure1 that all advantages not used for ,god are held by a very precarious tenure4 ,the fact is that selfishness is the ruin of any people4 ,when you have a ',christian' nation not using their position for ,god's glory1 they are using it for their own sakes2 and that indicates a state of mind which will lead to numberless other evils in their relation to men1 many of which have a direct tendency to rob them of their advantages4 ,for instance1 a selfish nation will never hold conquests with a firm grasp4 ,if we do not bind subject peoples to us by benefits1 we shall repel them by hatreds4 ,think of ,india and its lessons1 or of ,south ,africa and its4 ,we have seen the tide of material prosperity ebb away from many a nation and land1 and ,i for my part believe in the ,hand of ,god in history1 and believe that the tide follows the motions of the heavens4 ,the history of the ,jewish people is not an exception to the laws of ,god's government of the world1 but a specimen of it4 ,they who were made a hearth in which the embers of divine truth were kept in a dark world1 when they began to think that they had the truth in order that they might be different from other people1 and forgot that they were different from others in order that they might first preserve and then impart the truth to all1 lost the light and heat of it1 stiffened into formal hypocrisy and malice and all uncharitableness1 and then the ,roman sword smote their national life in twain4 ,whatever is not used for ,god becomes a snare first1 then injures the possessors1 and tends to destroy the possessors4 ,the march of ,providence goes on4 ,its purposes will be effected4 ,whatever stands in the way will be mowed remorselessly down1 if need be4 ,helps that have become hindrances will go4 ,the kingdoms of this world will have to fall2 and if we are not helping and hasting the coming of the ,lord we shall be destroyed by the brightness of ,his coming4 ,the chariot rolls on4 ,for men and for nations there is only the choice of yoking themselves to the car1 and finding themselves borne along rather than bearing it1 and partaking the triumph1 or of being crushed beneath its awful wheels as they bound along their certain road1 bearing ,him who rides 'forth prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness4' ,,iv4 ,though we be unfaithful1 ,god's purpose of mercy to the world shall be accomplished4 ',deliverance and enlargement shall arise from another place4' ,so it is certain that ,god from eternity has willed that all flesh should see ,his salvation4 ,he loves the heathen better than we do4 ,christ has died not for our sins only1 but for the sins of the whole world4 ,god hath made of one blood all nations of men4 ,the race is one in its need4 ,the race is one in its goal4 ,the ,gospel is fit for all men4 ,the ,gospel is preached to all men4 ,the ,gospel shall yet be received by a world1 and from every corner of a believing earth will rise one roll of praise to one ,father1 and the race shall be one in its hopes1 one in its ,lord1 one in faith1 one in baptism1 one in one ,god and ,father of us all4 ,that grand unity shall certainly come4 ,that true unity and fraternity shall be realised4 ,the blissful wave of the knowledge of the ,lord shall cover and hide and flow rejoicingly over all national distinctions4 ',in that day ,israel shall be the third with ,egypt and with ,assyria1 a blessing in the midst of the earth4' ,this is as certain as the efficacy of a ,saviour's blood can make it1 as certain as the universal adaptation and design of a preached ,gospel can make it1 as certain as the oneness of human nature can make it1 as certain as the power of a ,comforter who shall convince the world of sin1 of righteousness1 and judgment can make it1 as certain as the misery of man can make it1 as certain as the promises of ,god who cannot lie can make it1 as certain as ,his faithfulness who hangs the rainbow in the heavens and enters into an everlasting covenant with all the earth can make it4 ,and this accumulation of certainties does not depend on the faithfulness of men4 ,in the width of that mighty result the failure of some single agent may be eliminated4 ,nay1 more1 though all men failed1 ,god hath instruments1 and will use them ,himself1 if need were4 ,only we may share the triumph and partake of the blessed result4 ,decide for yourself1 what share you will have in that marvellous day4 ,let your work be such as that it shall abide4 ,stonehenge1 cathedrals1 temples stand when all else has passed away4 ,work for ,god abides and outlasts everything beside1 and the smallest service for ,him is only made to flash forth light by the glorifying and revealing fires of that awful day which will burn up the wood1 the hay1 and the stubble1 and flow with beautifying brightness and be flashed back with double splendour from 'the gold1 the silver1 and the precious stones1' the abiding workmanship of devout hearts in that everlasting tabernacle which shall not be taken down1 the ransomed souls builded together1 ransomed by our preaching1 and 'builded up together for a temple of ,god by the ,spirit4' ,,the ,,net ,,broken ',and ,esther spake yet again before the king1 and fell down at his feet1 and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of ,haman the ,agagite1 and his device that he had devised against the ,jews4 #d4 ,then the king held out the golden sceptre toward ,esther4 ,so ,esther arose1 and stood before the king1 #e4 ,and said1 ,if it please the king1 and if ,i have found favour in his sight1 and the thing seem right before the king1 and ,i be pleasing in his eyes1 let it be written to reverse the letters devised by ,haman the son of ,hammedatha the ,agagite1 which he wrote to destroy the ,jews which are in all the king's provinces3 #f4 ,for how can ,i endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people8 or how can ,i endure to see the destruction of my kindred8 #g4 ,then the king ,ahasuerus said unto ,esther the queen1 and to ,mordecai the ,jew1 ,behold1 ,i have given ,esther the house of ,haman1 and him they have hanged upon the gallows1 because he laid his hand upon the ,jews4 #h4 ,write ye also for the ,jews1 as it liketh you1 in the king's name1 and seal it with the king's ring3 for the writing which is written in the king's name1 and sealed with the king's ring1 may no man reverse4 #ae4 ,and ,mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white1 and with a great crown of gold1 and with a garment of fine linen and purple3 and the city of ,shushan rejoiced and was glad4 #af4 ,the ,jews had light1 and gladness1 and joy1 and honour4 #ag4 ,and in every province1 and in every city1 whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came1 the ,jews had joy and gladness1 a feast and a good day4 ,and many of the people of the land became ,jews2 for the fear of the ,jews fell upon them4'--,,esther viii4 #c-h1ae-ag4 ,the spirit of this passage may perhaps be best caught by taking the three persons appearing in it1 and the ,one who does not appear1 but acts unseen through them all4 ,i4 ,the heroine of the whole book and of this chapter is ,esther1 one of the sweetest and noblest of the women of ,scripture4 ,the orphan girl who had grown up into beauty under the care of her uncle ,mordecai1 and was lifted suddenly from sheltered obscurity into the 'fierce light that beats upon a throne1' like some flower culled in a shady nook and set in a king's bosom1 was true to her childhood's protector and to her people1 and kept her sweet1 brave gentleness unspoiled by the rapid elevation which ruins so many characters4 ,her ,jewish name of ,hadassah 7'myrtle'7 well befits her1 for she is clothed with unostentatious beauty1 pure and fragrant as the blossoms that brides twine in their hair4 ,but1 withal1 she has a true woman's courage which is always ready to endure any evil and dare any danger at the bidding of her heart4 ,she took her life in her hand when she sought an audience of ,ahasuerus uninvited1 and she knew that she did4 ,nothing in literature is nobler than her quiet words1 which measure her danger without shrinking1 and front it without heroics3 ',if ,i perish1 ,i perish6' ,the danger was not past1 though she was queen and beloved2 for a despot's love is a shifting sand-bank1 which may yield anchorage to-day1 and to-morrow may be washed away4 ,so she counted not her life dear unto herself when1 for the second time1 as in our passage1 she ventured1 uninvited1 into the king's presence4 ,the womanly courage that risks life for love's sake is nobler than the soldier's that feels the lust of battle maddening him4 ,esther's words to the king are full of tact4 ,she begins with what seems to have been the form of address prescribed by custom1 for it is used by her in her former requests 7chap4 v4 #h2 vii4 #c74 ,but she adds a variation of the formula1 tinged with more personal reference to the king's feeling towards her1 as well as breathing entire submission to his estimate of what was fitting4 ',if the thing seem right before the king1' appeals to the sense of justice that lay dormant beneath the monarch's arbitrary will2 'and ,i be pleasing in his eyes1' drew him by the charm of her beauty4 ,she avoided making the king responsible for the plot1 and laid it at the door of the dead and discredited ,haman4 ,it was his device1 and since he had fallen1 his policy could be reversed without hurting the king's dignity4 ,and then with fine tact1 as well as with a burst of genuine feeling1 she flings all her personal influence into the scale1 and seeks to move the king1 not by appeals to his justice or royal duty1 but to his love for her1 which surely could not bear to see her suffer4 ,one may say that it was a low motive to appeal to1 to ask the despot to save a people in order to keep one woman from sorrow2 and so it was4 ,it was ,ahasuerus's fault that such a reason had more weight with him than nobler ones4 ,it was not ,esther's that she used her power over him to carry her point4 ,she used the weapons that she had1 and that she knew would be efficacious4 ,the purpose for which she used them is her justification4 ,esther may well teach her sisters to-day to be brave and gentle1 to use their influence over men for high purposes of public good1 to be the inspirers of their husbands1 lovers1 brothers1 for all noble thinking and doing2 to make the cause of the oppressed their own1 to be the apostles of mercy and the hinderers of wrong1 to keep true to their early associations if prosperity comes to them1 and to cherish sympathy with their nation so deep that they cannot 'endure to see the evil that shall come unto them' without using all their womanly influence to avert it4 ,,ii4 ,ahasuerus plays a sorry part beside ,esther4 ,he knows no law but his own will1 and that is moved1 not by conscience or reason1 but by ignoble passions and sensual desires4 ,he tosses his subjects' lives as trivial gifts to any who ask for them4 ,haman's wife knew that he had only to 'speak to the king1' and ,mordecai would be hanged2 ,haman had no difficulty in securing the royal mandate for the murder of all the ,jews4 ,sated with the indulgence of low desires1 he let all power slip from his idle hands1 and his manhood was rotted away by wallowing in the pigsty of voluptuousness4 ,but he was tenacious of the semblance of authority1 and demanded the appearance of abject submission from the 'servants' who were his masters4 ,he yielded to ,esther's prayer as lightly as to ,haman's plot4 ,whether the ,jews were wiped out or not mattered nothing to him1 so long as he had no trouble in the affair4 ,to shift all responsibility off his own shoulders on to somebody else's was his one aim4 ,he was as untrue to his duty when he gave his signet to ,mordecai1 and bade him and ,esther do as they liked1 as when he had given it to ,haman4 ,and with all this slothful indifference to his duty1 he was sensitive to etiquette1 and its cobwebs held him whom the cords of his royal obligations could not hold4 ,it mattered not to him that the edict which he allowed ,mordecai to promulgate practically lit the flames of civil war4 ,he had washed his hands of the whole business4 ,it is a hideous picture of an ,eastern despot1 and has been said to be unhistorical and unbelievable4 ,but the world has seen many examples of rulers whom the possession of unlimited and irresponsible power has corrupted in like fashion4 ,and others than rulers may take the warning that to live to self is the mother of all sins and crimes2 that no man can safely make his own will and his own passions his guides2 that there is no slavery so abject as that of the man who is tyrannised by his lower nature2 that there is a temptation besetting us all to take the advantages and neglect the duties of our position1 and that to yield to it is sure to end in moral ruin4 ,we are all kings1 even if our kingdom be only our own selves1 and we shall rule wisely only if we rule as ,god's viceroys1 and think more of duty than of delight4 ,,iii4 ,mordecai is a kind of duplicate of ,joseph1 and embodies valuable lessons4 ,contented acceptance of obscurity and neglect of his services1 faithfulness to his people and his ,god in the foul atmosphere of such a court1 wise reticence1 patient discharge of small duties1 undoubting hope when things looked blackest fed by stedfast faith in ,god1 unchangedness of character and purpose when lifted to supreme dignity1 the use of influence and place1 not for himself1 but for his people1--all these are traits which may be imitated in any life4 ,we should be the same men1 whether we sit unnoticed among the lackeys at the gate1 or are bearing the brunt of the hatred of powerful foes1 or are clothed 'in royal apparel of blue and white1 and with a great crown of gold4' ,these gauds were nothing to ,mordecai1 and earthly honours should never turn our heads4 ,he valued power because it enabled him to save his brethren1 and we should cultivate the same spirit4 ,the political world1 with its fierce struggles for personal ends1 its often disregard of the public good1 and its use of place and power for 'making a pile' or helping relations up1 would be much the better for some infusion of the spirit of ,mordecai4 ,,iv4 ,but we must not look only at the visible persons and forces4 ,this book of ,esther does not say much about ,god1 but ,his presence broods over it all1 and is the real spring that moves the movers that are seen4 ,it is all a lesson of how ,god works out ,his purposes through men that seem to themselves to be working out theirs4 ,the king's criminal abandonment to lust and luxury1 ,haman's meanly personal pique1 ,esther's beauty1 the fall of the favourite1 the long past services of ,mordecai1 even the king's sleepless night1 are all threads in the web1 and ,god is the weaver4 ,the story raises the whole question of the standing miracle of the co-existence and co-operation of the divine and the human4 ,man is free and responsible1 ,god is sovereign and all-pervading4 ,he 'makes the wrath of man to praise ,him1 and with the remainder thereof ,he girdeth ,himself4' ,to-day1 as then1 ,he is working out ,his deep designs through men whom ,he has raised up1 though they have not known ,him4 ,amid the clash of contending interests and worldly passions ,his solemn purpose steadily advances to its end1 like the irresistible ocean current1 which persists through all storms that agitate the surface1 and draws them into the drift of its silent trend4 ,ahasuerus1 ,haman1 ,esther1 ,mordecai1 are ,his instruments1 and yet each of them is the doer of his or her deed1 and has to answer to ,him for it4 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,job ,,sorrow ,,that ,,worships ',naked came ,i out of my mother's womb1 and naked shall ,i return thither3 the ,lord gave1 and the ,lord hath taken away2 blessed be the name of the ,lord4'--,,job i4 #ba4 ,this book of ,job wrestles with the problem of the meaning of the mystery of sorrow4 ,whether history or a parable1 its worth is the same1 as tortured hearts have felt for countless centuries1 and will feel to the end4 ,perhaps no picture that was ever painted is grander and more touching than that of the man of ,uz1 in the antique wealth and happiness of his brighter days1 rich1 joyful1 with his children round him1 living in men's honour1 and walking upright before ,god4 ,then come the dramatic completeness and suddenness of his great trials4 ,one day strips him of all1 and stripped of all he rises to a loftier dignity1 for there is a majesty as well as an isolation in his sorrow4 ,how many spirits tossed by afflictions have found peace in these words6 ,how many quivering lips have tried to utter their grave1 calm accents6 ,to how many of us are they hallowed by memories of times when they stood between us and despair6 ,they seem to me to say everything that can be said about our trials and losses1 to set forth the whole truth of the facts1 and to present the whole series of feelings with which good men may and should be exercised4 ,i4 ,the vindication of sorrow4 ,he 'rent his clothes'--the signs and tokens of inward desolation and loss4 ,it is worth our while to stay for one moment with the thought that we are meant to feel grief4 ,god sends sorrows in order that they may pain4 ,sorrow has its manifold uses in our lives and on our hearts4 ,it is natural4 ,that is enough4 ,god set the fountain of tears in our souls4 ,we are bidden not to 'despise the chastening of the ,lord4' ,it is they who are 'exercised' thereby to whom the chastisement is blessed4 ,it is sanctioned by ,christ4 ,he wept4 ,he bade the women of ,jerusalem weep for themselves and for their children4 ,religion does not destroy the natural emotions--sorrow as little as any other4 ,it guides1 controls1 curbs1 comforts1 and brings blessings out of it4 ,so do not aim at an impossible stoicism1 but permit nature to have its way1 and look at the picture of this manly sorrow of ,job's--calm1 silent1 unless when stung by the undeserved reproaches of these three 'orthodox liars for ,god1' and going to ,god and worshipping4 ,,ii4 ,the recognition of loss and sorrow as the law of life4 ',naked came ,i out of my mother's womb4' ,we need not dwell on the figure 'mother1' suggesting the grave as the kindly mother's bosom that gathers us all in1 and the thought that perhaps gleams forth that death1 too1 is a kind of birth4 ,but the truth picturesquely set forth is just the old and simple one--that all possessions are transient4 ,the naked self gets clothed and lapped round with possessions1 but they are all outside of it1 apart from its individuality4 ,it has been without them4 ,it will be without them4 ,death at the end will rob us of them all4 ,the inevitable law of loss is fixed and certain4 ,we are losing something every moment--not only possessions1 but all our dearest ties are knit but for a time1 and sure to be snapped4 ,they go1 and then after a while we go4 ,the independence of each soul of all its possessions and relations is as certain as the loss of them4 ,they may go and we are made naked1 but still we exist all the same4 ,we have to learn the hard lesson which sounds so unfeeling1 that we can live on in spite of all losses4 ,nothing1 no one1 is necessary to us4 ,all this is very cold and miserable2 it is the standing point of law and necessity4 ,an atheist could say it4 ,it is the beginning of the ,christian contemplation of life1 but only the beginning4 ,,iii4 ,the recognition of ,god in the law4 ',the ,lord gave1 and the ,lord hath taken away4' ,that is a step far beyond the former4 ,to bring in the thought of the ,lord makes a world of difference4 ,the tendency is to look only at the second cause4 ,in ,job's case there were two classes of agencies1 men1 ,chaldeans and ,sabeans1 and natural causes1 fire and wind1 but he did not stop with these4 ,the grand corrective of that tendency lies in the full theistic idea1 that ,god is the sole cause of all4 ,the immanence of ,deity in all things and events is our refuge from the soul-crushing tyranny of the reign of law4 ,that devout recognition of ,god in law is eminently to be made in regard to death1 as ,job does in the text3 ',the number of his months is with ,thee4' ,death is not any more nor any less under ,his control than all other human incidents are4 ,it has no special sanctity1 nor abnormally close connection with ,his will1 but it no more is exempt from such connection than all the other events of life4 ,the connection is real4 ,he opens the gate of the grave and no man shuts4 ,he shuts1 and no man opens4 ,job did not forget the ,lord's gifts even while he was writhing under the stroke of ,his withdrawings4 ,alas6 that it should so often need sorrow to bear into our hearts that we owe all to ,him1 but even then1 if not before1 it is well to remember how much good we have received of the ,lord1 and the remembrance should not be 'a sorrow's crown of sorrow1' but a thankful one4 ,,iv4 ,the thankful resignation to ,god's loving administration of the law4 ,the preceding words might be said with mere submission to an irresistible power1 but this last sentence climbs to the highest of the true ,christian idea4 ,it recognises in loss and sorrow a reason for praise4 ,why8 ,because we may be sure that all loss is for our good4 ,because we may be sure that all loss is from a loving ,god4 ,in loss of dear ones1 our gain is in drawing nearer to ,god1 in being taught more to long for heaven4 ,in our relation to them1 a loftier love1 a hallowing of all the past4 ,their gain is in their entrance to heaven1 and all the glory that they have reached4 ,this blessing of ,god for loss is not inconsistent with sorrow1 but anticipates the future when we shall know all and bless ,him for all4 ,,the ,,peaceable ,,fruits ,,of ,,sorrows ,,rightly ,,borne ',behold1 happy is the man whom ,god correcteth3 therefore despise not thou the chastening of the ,almighty3 #ah4 ,for ,he maketh sore1 and bindeth up3 ,he woundeth1 and ,his hands make whole4 #ai4 ,he shall deliver thee in six troubles3 yea1 in seven there shall no evil touch thee4 #bj4 ,in famine ,he shall redeem thee from death3 and in war from the power of the sword4 #ba4 ,thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue3 neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh4 #bb4 ,at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh3 neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth4 #bc4 ,for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field3 and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee4 #bd4 ,and thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace2 and thou shalt visit thy habitation1 and shalt not sin4 #be4 ,thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great1 and thine offspring as the grass of the earth4 #bf4 ,thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age1 like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season4 #bg4 ,lo this1 we have searched it1 so it is2 hear it1 and know thou it for thy good4'--,,job v4 #ag-bg4 ,the close of the ,book of ,job shows that his friends' speeches were defective1 and in part erroneous4 ,they all proceeded on the assumption that suffering was the fruit of sin--a principle which1 though true in general1 is not to be unconditionally applied to specific cases4 ,they all forgot that good men might be exposed to it1 not as punishment1 nor even as correction1 but as trial1 to 'know what was in their hearts4' ,eliphaz is the best of the three friends1 and his speeches embody much permanent truth1 and rise1 as in this passage1 to a high level of literary and artistic beauty4 ,there are few lovelier passages in ,scripture than this glowing description of the prosperity of the man who accepts ,god's chastisements2 and1 on the whole1 the picture is true4 ,but the underlying belief in the uniform coincidence of inward goodness and outward good needs to be modified by the deeper teaching of the ,new ,testament before it can be regarded as covering all the facts of life4 ,eliphaz is gathering up1 in our passage1 the threads of his speech4 ,he bases upon all that he has been saying the exhortation to ,job to be thankful for his sorrows4 ,with a grand paradox1 he declares the man who is afflicted to be happy4 ,and therein he strikes an eternally true note4 ,it is good to be made to drink a cup of sorrow4 ,flesh calls pain evil1 but spirit knows it to be good4 ,the list of our blessings is not only written in bright inks1 but many are inscribed in black4 ,and the reason why the sad heart should be a happy heart is because1 as ,eliphaz believed1 sadness is ,god's fatherly correction1 intended to better the subject of it4 ',whom the ,lord loveth ,he chasteneth1' says the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 in full accord with ,eliphaz4 ,but his well-meant and true words flew wide of their mark1 for two reasons4 ,they were chillingly didactic1 and it is vinegar upon nitre to stand over an agonised soul and preach platitudes in an unsympathetic voice4 ,and they assumed unusual sin in ,job as the explanation of his unparalleled pains1 while the prologue tells us that his sufferings were not fruits of his sin1 but trials of his righteousness4 ,he was horrified at ,job's words1 which seemed to him full of rebellion and irreverence2 and he made no allowance for the wild cries of an agonised heart when he solemnly warned the sufferer against 'despising' ,god's chastening4 ,a more sympathetic ear would have detected the accent of faith in the groans4 ,the collocation1 in verse #ah1 of making sore and binding up1 does not merely express sequence1 but also purpose4 ,the wounding is in order to healing4 ,the wounds are merciful surgery2 and their intention is health1 like the cuts that lay open an ulcer1 or the scratches for vaccination4 ,the view of suffering in these two verses is not complete1 but it goes far toward completeness in tracing it to ,god1 in asserting its disciplinary intention1 in pointing to the divine healing which is meant to follow1 and in exhorting to submission4 ,we may recall the beautiful expansion of that exhortation in ,hebrews1 where 'faint not' is added to 'despise not1' so including the two opposite and yet closely connected forms of misuse of sorrow1 according as we stiffen our wills against it1 and try to make light of it1 or yield so utterly to it as to collapse4 ,either extreme equally misses the corrective purpose of the grief4 ,on this general statement follows a charming picture of the blessedness which attends the man who has taken his chastisement rightly4 ,after the thunderstorm come sunshine and blue1 and the song of birds4 ,but1 lovely as it is1 and capable of application in many points to the life of every man who trustfully yields to ,god's will1 it must not be taken as a literally and absolutely true statement of ,god's dealings with ,his children4 ,if so regarded1 it would hopelessly be shattered against facts2 for the world is full of instances of saintly men and women who have not experienced in their outward lives such sunny calm and prosperity stretching to old age as are here promised4 ,eliphaz is not meant to be the interpreter of the mysteries of ,providence1 and his solution is decisively rejected at the close4 ,but still there is much in this picture which finds fulfilment in all devout lives in a higher sense than his intended meaning4 ,the first point is that the devout soul is exempt from calamities which assail those around it4 ,these are such as are ordinarily in ,scripture recognised as ,god's judgments upon a people4 ,famine and war devastate1 but the devout soul abides in peace1 and is satisfied4 ,now it is not true that faith and submission make a wall round a man1 so that he escapes from such calamities4 ,in the supernatural system of the ,old ,testament such exemptions were more usual than with us1 though this very ,book of ,job and many a psalm show that devout hearts had even then to wrestle with the problem of the prosperity of the wicked and the indiscriminate fall of widespread calamities on the good and bad4 ,but in its deepest sense 7which1 however1 is not ,eliphaz's sense7 the faithful man is saved from the evils which he1 in common with his faithless neighbour1 experiences4 ,two men are smitten down by the same disease1 or lie dying on a battlefield1 shattered by the same shell1 and the one receives the fulfilment of the promise1 'there shall no evil touch thee1' and the other does not4 ,for the evil in the evil is all sucked out of it1 and the poison is wiped off the arrow which strikes him who is united to ,god by faith and submission4 ,two women are grinding at the same millstone1 and the same blow kills them both2 but the one is delivered1 and the other is not4 ,they who pass through an evil1 and are not drawn away from ,god by it1 but brought nearer to ,him1 are hid from its power4 ,to die may be our deliverance from death4 ,eliphaz's promises rise still higher in verses #bb and #bc1 in which is set forth a truth that in its deepest meaning is of universal application4 ,the wild beasts of the earth and the stones of the field will be in league with the man who submits to ,god's will4 ,of course the beasts come into view as destructive1 and the stones as injuring the fertility of the fields4 ,there is1 probably1 allusion to the story of ,paradise and the ,fall4 ,man's relation to nature was disturbed by sin2 it will be rectified by his return to ,god4 ,such a doctrine of the effects of sin in perverting man's relation to creatures runs all through ,scripture1 and is not to be put aside as mere symbolism4 ,but the large truth underlying the words here is that1 if we are servants of ,god1 we are masters of everything4 ',all things work together for good to them that love ,god4' ,all things serve the soul that serves ,god2 as1 on the other hand1 all are against him that does not1 and 'the stars in their courses fight against' those who fight against ,him4 ,all things are ours1 if we are ,christ's4 ,the many mediaeval legends of saints attended by animals1 from ,st4 ,jerome and his lion downwards to ,st4 ,francis preaching to the birds1 echo the thoughts here4 ,a gentle1 pure soul1 living in amity with dumb creatures1 has wonderful power to attract them4 ,they who are at peace with ,god can scarcely be at war with any of ,god's creatures4 ,gentleness is stronger than iron bands4 ',cords of love' draw most surely4 ,peace and prosperity in home and possessions are the next blessings promised 7ver4 #bd74 ',thou shalt visit look over thy household1 and shalt miss nothing4' ,no cattle have strayed or been devoured by evil beasts1 or stolen1 as all ,job's had been4 ,alas6 ,eliphaz knew nothing about commercial crises1 and the great system of credit by which one scoundrel's fall may bring down hundreds of good men and patient widows1 who look over their possessions and find nothing but worthless shares4 ,yet even for those who find all at once that the herd is cut off from the stall1 their tabernacle may still be in peace1 and though the fold be empty they may miss nothing1 if in the empty place they find ,god4 ,that is what ,christians may make out of the words2 but it is not what was originally meant by them4 ,in like manner the next blessing1 that of a numerous posterity1 does not depend on moral or religious condition1 as ,eliphaz would make out1 and in modern days is not always regarded as a blessing4 ,but note the singular heartlessness betrayed in telling ,job1 all whose flocks and herds had been carried off1 and his children laid dead in their festival chamber1 that abundant possessions and offspring were the token of ,god's favour4 ,the speaker seems serenely unconscious that he was saying anything that could drive a knife into the tortured man4 ,he is so carried along on the waves of his own eloquence1 and so absorbed in stringing together the elements of an artistic whole1 that he forgets the very sorrows which he came to comfort4 ,there are not a few pious exhorters of bleeding hearts who are chargeable with the same sin4 ,the only hand that will bind up without hurting is a hand that is sympathetic to the finger-tips4 ,no eloquence or poetic beauty or presentation of undeniable truths will do as substitutes for that4 ,the last blessing promised is that which the ,old ,testament places so high in the list of good things--long life4 ,the lovely metaphor in which that promise is couched has become familiar to us all4 ,the ripe corn gathered into a sheaf at harvest-time suggests festival rather than sadness4 ,it speaks of growth accomplished1 of fruit matured1 of the ministries of sun and rain received and used1 and of a joyful gathering into the great storehouse4 ,there is no reference in the speech to the uses of the sheaf after it is harvested1 but we can scarcely avoid following its history a little farther than the 'grave' which to ,eliphaz seems the garner4 ,are all these matured powers to have no field for action8 ,were all these miracles of vegetation set in motion only in order to grow a crop which should be reaped1 and there an end8 ,what is to be done with the precious fruit which has taken so long time and so much cultivation to grow8 ,surely it is not the intention of the ,lord of the harvest to let it rot when it has been gathered4 ,surely we are grown here and ripened and carried hence for something4 ,but that is not in our passage4 ,this1 however1 may be drawn from it--that maturity does not depend on length of days2 and1 however ,eliphaz meant to promise long life1 the reality is that the devout soul may reckon on complete life1 whether it be long or short4 ,god will not call ,his children home till their schooling is done2 and1 however green and young the corn may seem to our eyes1 ,he knows which heads in the great harvest-field are ready for removal1 and gathers only these4 ,the child whose little coffin may be carried under a boy's arm may be ripe for harvesting4 ,not length of days1 but likeness to ,god1 makes maturity2 and if we die according to the will of ,god1 it cannot but be that we shall come to our grave in a full age1 whatever be the number of years carved on our tombstones4 ,the speech ends with a somewhat self-complacent exhortation to the poor1 tortured man3 ',we have searched it1 so it is4' ,we wise men pledge our wisdom and our reputation that this is true4 ,great is authority4 ,an ounce of sympathy would have done more to commend the doctrine than a ton of dogmatic self-confidence4 ',hear it1 and know thou it for thyself4' ,take it into thy mind4 ,take it into thy mind and heart1 and take it for thy good4 ,it was a frosty ending1 exasperating in its air of patronage1 of superior wisdom1 and in its lack of any note of feeling4 ,so1 of course1 it set ,job's impatience alight1 and his next speech is more desperate than his former4 ,when will well-meaning comforters learn not to rub salt into wounds while they seem to be dressing them8 ,,two ,,kinds ,,of ,,hope ',whose hope shall be cut off1 and whose trust shall be a spider's web4'--,,job viii4 #ad4 ',and hope maketh not ashamed4'--,,romans v4 #e4 ,these two texts take opposite sides4 ,bildad was not the wisest of ,job's friends1 and he gives utterance to solemn commonplaces with partial truth in them4 ,in the rough it is true that the hope of the ungodly perishes1 and the limits of the truth are concealed by the splendour of the imagery and the perfection of artistic form in which the well-worn platitude is draped4 ,the spider's web stretched glittering in the dewy morning on the plants1 shaking its threaded tears in the wind1 the flag in the dry bed of a nullah withering while yet green1 the wall on which leaning a man will fall1 are vivid illustrations of hopes that collapse and fail4 ,but my other text has to do with hopes that do not fail4 ,paul thinks that he knows of hope that maketh not ashamed1 that is1 which never disappoints4 ,bildad was right if he was thinking1 as he was1 of hopes fixed on earth2 the ,apostle was right1 for he was thinking of hopes set on ,god4 ,it is a commonplace that 'hope springs immortal in the human breast'2 it is equally a commonplace that hopes are disappointed4 ,what is the conclusion from these two universal experiences8 ,is it the cynical one that it is all illusion1 or is it that somewhere there must be an object on which hope may twine its tendrils without fear8 ,god has given the faculty1 and we may be sure that it is not given to be for ever balked4 ,we must hope4 ,our hope may be our worst enemy2 it may and should be our purest joy4 ,let us then simply consider these two sorts of hope1 the earthly and the heavenly1 in their working in the three great realms of life1 death1 and eternity4 ,i4 ,in life4 ,the faculty is inseparable from man's consciousness of immortality and of an indefinitely expansible nature which ever makes him discontented with the present4 ,it has great purposes to perform in strengthening him for work1 in helping him over sorrows1 in making him buoyant and elastic1 in painting for him the walls of the dungeon1 and hiding for him the weight of the fetters4 ,but for what did he receive this great gift8 ,mainly that he might pass beyond the temporal and hold converse with the skies4 ,its true sphere is the unseen future which is at ,god's right hand4 ,we may run a series of antitheses1 e4g4-- ,earthly hope is so uncertain that its larger part is often fear4 ,heavenly hope is fixed and sure4 ,it is as certain as history4 ,earthly hope realised is always less blessed than we expected4 ,how universal the experience that there is little to choose between a gratified and a frustrated hope6 ,the wonders inside the caravan are never so wonderful as the canvas pictures outside4 ,heavenly hopes ever surpass the most rapturous anticipation4 ',the half hath not been told4' ,earthly hopes are necessarily short-winged4 ,they are settled one way or another1 and sink hull down below our horizon4 ,heavenly hope sets its object far off1 and because a lifetime only attains it in part1 it blesses a lifetime and outlasts it4 ,,ii4 ,hope in death4 ,that last hour ends for us all alike our earthly joys and relations4 ,the slow years slip away1 and each bears with it hopes that have been outlived1 whether fulfilled or disappointed4 ,one by one the lights that we kindle in our hall flicker out1 and death quenches the last of them4 ,but there is one light that burns on clear through the article of death1 like the lamp in the magician's tomb4 ',the righteous hath hope in his death4' ,we can each settle for ourselves whether we shall carry that radiant angel with her white wings into the great darkness1 or shall sadly part with her before we part with life4 ,to the earthly soul that last earthly hour is a black wall beyond which it cannot look4 ,to the ,god-trusting soul the darkness is peopled with bright-faced hopes4 ,,iii4 ,hope in eternity4 ,it is not for our tongues to speak of what must1 in the natural working out of consequences1 be the ultimate condition of a soul which has not set its hopes on the ,god who alone is the right ,object of the blessed but yet awful capacity of hoping1 when all the fleeting objects which it sought as solace and mask of its own true poverty are clean gone from its grasp4 ,dante's tremendous words are more than enough to move wholesome horror in any thinking soul3 ',leave hope behind1 all ye who enter here4' ,they are said to be unfeeling1 grim1 and mediaeval1 incredible in this enlightened age2 but is there any way out of them1 if we take into account what our nature is moulded to need and cling to1 and what 'godless' men have done with it8 ,but let us turn to the brighter of these texts4 ',hope maketh not ashamed4' ,there will be an internal increase of blessedness1 power1 purity in that future1 a fuller possession of ,god1 a reaching out after completer likeness to ,him4 ,so if we can think of days in that calm state where time will be no more1 'to-morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant1' and the angel ,hope1 who kept us company through all the weary marches of earth1 will attend on us still1 only having laid aside the uncertainty that sometime veiled her smiles1 but retaining all the buoyant eagerness for the ever unfolding wonders which gave us courage and cheer in the days of our flesh4 ,,job',s ,,question1 ,,jesus' ,,answer ',if a man die1 shall he live again8'--,,job xiv4 #ad4 '444 ,i am the resurrection1 and the life3 he that believeth in ,me1 though he were dead1 yet shall he live3 #bf4 ,and whosoever liveth and believeth in ,me shall never die4'--,,john xi4 #be1 #bf4 ,job's question waited long for an answer4 ,weary centuries rolled away2 but at last the doubting1 almost despairing1 cry put into the mouth of the man of sorrows of the ,old ,testament is answered by the ,man of ,sorrows of the ,new4 ,the answer in words is this second text which may almost be supposed to allude to the ancient question4 ,the answer1 in fact1 is the resurrection of ,christ4 ,apart from this answer there is none4 ,so we may take these two texts to help us to grasp more clearly and feel more profoundly what the world owes to that great fact which we are naturally led to think of to-day4 ,i4 ,the ancient and ever returning question4 ,the ,book of ,job is probably a late part of the ,old ,testament4 ,it deals with problems which indicate some advance in religious thought4 ,solemn and magnificent1 and for the most part sad2 it is like a ,titan struggling with large problems1 and seldom attaining to positive conclusions in which the heart or the head can rest in peace4 ,here all ,job's mind is clouded with a doubt4 ,he has just given utterance to an intense longing for a life beyond the grave4 ,his abode in ,sheol is thought of as in some sense a breach in the continuity of his consciousness1 but even that would be tolerable1 if only he could be sure that1 after many days1 ,god would remember him4 ,then that longing gives way before the torturing question of the text1 which dashes aside the tremulous hope with its insistent interrogation4 ,it is not denial1 but it is a doubt which palsies hope4 ,but though he has no certainty1 he cannot part with the possibility1 and so goes on to imagine how blessed it would be if his longing were fulfilled4 ,he thinks that such a renewed life would be like the 'release' of a sentry who had long stood on guard2 he thinks of it as his swift1 joyous 'answer' to ,god's summons1 which would draw him out from the sad crowd of pale shadows and bring him back to warmth and reality4 ,his hope takes a more daring flight still1 and he thinks of ,god as yearning for ,his creature1 as ,his creature yearns for ,him1 and having 'a desire to the work of ,his hands1' as if ,his heaven would be incomplete without ,his servant4 ,but the rapture and the vision pass1 and the rest of the chapter is all clouded over1 and the devout hope loses its light4 ,once again it gathers brightness in the twenty-first chapter1 where the possibility flashes out starlike1 that 'after my skin hath been thus destroyed1 yet from my flesh shall ,i see ,god4' ,these fluctuations of hope and doubt reveal to us the attitude of devout souls in ,israel at a late era of the national life4 ,and if they show us their high-water mark1 we need not suppose that similar souls outside the ,old ,testament circle had solid certainty where these had but a variable hope4 ,we know how large a development the doctrine of a future life had in ,assyria and in ,egypt1 and ,i suppose we are entitled to say that men have always had the idea of a future4 ,they have always had the thought1 sometimes as a fear1 sometimes as a hope1 but never as a certainty4 ,it has lacked not only certainty but distinctness4 ,it has lacked solidity also1 the power to hold its own and sustain itself against the weighty pressure of intrusive things seen and temporal4 ,but we need not go to the ends of the earth or to past generations for examples of a doubting1 superficial hold of the truth that man lives through death and after it4 ,we have only to look around us1 and1 alas6 we have only to look within us4 ,this age is asking the question again1 and answering it in many tones1 sometimes of indifferent disregard1 sometimes flaunting a stark negative without reasoned foundation1 sometimes with affirmatives with as little reason as these negatives4 ,the modern world is caught in the rush and whirl of life1 has its own sorrows to front1 its own battles to fight1 and large sections of it have never come as near an answer to ,job's question as ,job did4 ,,ii4 ,christ's all-sufficing answer4 ,he gave it there1 by the grave of ,lazarus1 to that weeping sister1 but ,he spoke these great words of calm assurance to all the world4 ,one cannot but note the difference between ,his attitude in the presence of the great ,mystery and that of all other teachers4 ,how calmly1 certainly1 and confidently ,he speaks6 ,mark that ,jesus1 even at that hour of agony1 turns ,martha's thoughts to ,himself4 ,what ,he is is the all-important thing for her to know4 ,if she understands ,him1 life and death will have no insoluble problems nor any hopelessness for her4 ',i am the ,resurrection and the ,life4' ,she had risen in her grief to a lofty height in believing that 'even now'--at this moment when help is vain and hope is dead--'whatsoever thou wilt ask of ,god1 ,god will give it thee1' but ,jesus offers to her a loftier conception of ,him when ,he lays a sovereign hand on resurrection and life1 and discloses that both inhere in ,him1 and from ,him flow to all who shall possess them4 ,he claims to have in ,himself the fountain of life1 in all possible senses of the word1 as well as in the special sense relevant at that sad hour4 ,further1 ,he tells ,martha that by faith in ,him any and all may possess that life4 ,and then ,he majestically goes on to declare that the life which ,he gives is immune from1 and untouched by1 death4 ,the believer shall live though he dies1 the living believer shall never die4 ,it is clear that1 in these two great statements1 to die is used in two different meanings1 referring in the former case to the physical fact1 and in the latter carrying a heavier weight of significance1 namely the pregnant sense which it usually has in this ,gospel1 of separation from ,god and consequently from the true life of the soul4 ,physical death is not the termination of human life4 ,the grim fact touches only the surface life1 and has nothing to do with the essential1 personal being4 ,he that believes on ,jesus1 and he only1 truly lives1 and his union with ,jesus secures his possession of that eternal life1 which victoriously persists through the apparent1 superficial change which men call death4 ,nothing dies but the death which surrounds the faithful soul4 ,for it to die is to live more fully1 more triumphantly1 more blessedly4 ,so though the act of physical death remains1 its whole character is changed4 ,hence the ,new ,testament euphemisms for death are much more than euphemisms4 ,men christen it by names which drape its ugliness1 because they fear it so much1 but ,faith can play with ,leviathan1 because it fears it not at all4 ,hence such names as 'sleep1' 'exodus1' are tokens of the victory won for all believers by ,jesus4 ,he will show ,martha the hope for all ,his followers which begins to dawn even in the calling of her brother back from the grip of death4 ,and ,he shows us the great truth that ,his being the ',life' necessarily involved ,his being also the ',resurrection1' for ,his life-communicating work could not be accomplished till ,his all-quickening vitality had flowed over into1 and flooded with its own conquering tides1 not only the spirit which believes but its humble companion1 the soul1 and its yet humbler1 the body4 ,a bodily life is essential to perfect manhood1 and ,jesus will not stay ,his hand till every believer is full-summed in all his powers1 and is perfect in body1 soul1 and spirit1 after the image of ,him who redeemed ,him4 ,,iii4 ,the pledge for the truth of the answer4 ,the words of ,jesus are only words4 ,these precious words1 spoken to that one weeping sister in a little ,jewish village1 and which have brought hope to millions ever since1 are as baseless as all the other dreams and longings of the heart1 unless ,jesus confirms them by fact4 ,if ,he did not rise from the dead1 they are but another of the noble1 exalted1 but futile delusions of which the world has many others4 ,if ,christ be not risen1 ,his words of consolation are swelling words of emptiness2 ,his whole claims are ended1 and the age-old question which ,job asked is unanswered still1 and will always remain unanswered4 ,if ,christ be not risen1 the hopeless colloquy between ,jehovah and the prophet sums up all that can be said of the future life3 ',son of man1 can these bones live8' ,and ,i answered1 ',o ,lord ,god1 ,thou knowest6' ,but ,christ's resurrection is a fact which1 taken in connection with ,his words while on earth1 endorses these and establishes ,his claims to be the ,declarer of the name of ,god1 the ,saviour of the world4 ,it gives us demonstration of the continuity of life through and after death4 ,taken along with ,his ascension1 which is but1 so to speak1 the prolongation of the point into a line1 it declares that a glorified body and an abode in a heavenly home are waiting for all who by faith become here partakers in ,jesus and are quickened by sharing in ,his life4 ,so in despite of sense and doubt and fear1 notwithstanding teachers who1 like the supercilious philosophers on ,mars ,hill1 mock when they hear of a resurrection from the dead1 we should rejoice in the great light which has shined into the region of the shadow of death1 we should clasp ,his divine and most faithful answer to that old1 despairing question1 as the anchor of our souls1 and lift up our hearts in thanksgiving in the triumphant challenge1 ',o death6 where is thy sting8 ,o grave6 where is thy victory8' ,,knowledge ,,and ,,peace ',acquaint now thyself with ,him1 and be at peace3 thereby good shall come unto thee4'--,,job xxii4 #ba4 ,in the sense in which the speaker meant them1 these words are not true4 ,they mean little more than ',it pays to be religious4' ,what kind of notion of acquaintance with ,god ,eliphaz may have had1 one scarcely knows1 but at any rate1 the whole meaning of the text on his lips is poor and selfish4 ,the peace promised is evidently only outward tranquillity and freedom from trouble1 and the good that is to come to ,job is plainly mere worldly prosperity4 ,this strain of thought is expressed even more clearly in that extraordinary bit of bathos1 which with solemn irony the great dramatist who wrote this book makes this ,eliphaz utter immediately after the text1 ',the ,almighty shall be thy defence and--thou shalt have plenty of silver6' ,it has not been left for commercial ,englishmen to recommend religion on the ground that it produces successful merchants and makes the best of both worlds4 ,these friends of ,job's all err in believing that suffering is always and only the measure of sin1 and that you can tell a man's great guilt by observing his great sorrows4 ,and so they have two main subjects on which they preach at their poor friend1 pouring vitriol into his wounds3 first1 how wicked he must be to be so haunted by sorrows2 second1 how surely he will be delivered if he will only be religious after their pattern1 that is1 speak platitudes of conventional devotion and say1 ,i submit4 ,this is the meaning of our text as it stands4 ,but we may surely find a higher sense in which it is true and take that to heart4 ,i4 ,what is acquainting oneself with ,god8 ,the first thing to note is that this acquaintance depends on us4 ,so then there must have been a previous objective manifestation on ,his part4 ,of course there must be a ,god to know1 and there must be a way of knowing ,him4 ,for us ,jesus ,christ is the ,revealer4 ,what men know of ,god apart from ,him is dim1 shadowy1 indistinct2 it lacks certainty1 and so is not knowledge4 ,i venture to say that there is nothing between cultivated men and the loss of certain knowledge of ,god and conviction of ,his ,being1 but the historical revelation of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the ,christ reveals the inmost character of ,god1 and that not in words but in deeds4 ,without ,him no man knows ,god2 ',no man knoweth the ,father save the ,son1 and he to whom the ,son will reveal ,him4' ,so then the objective revelation having been made1 we must on our part embrace that revelation as ours4 ,the act of so accepting begins with the familiar act of faith1 which includes both an exercise of the understanding1 as it embraces the facts of ,christ's revelation of the ,father1 and of the will as it casts itself upon and submits to ,him4 ,but that exercise of faith is but the point which has to be drawn out into a golden line1 woven into the whole length of a life4 ,and it is in the continuity of that line that the average ,christian so sadly fails1 and because of that failure his acquaintance with ,god is so distant4 ,how little time or thought we give to the character of ,god as revealed in ,jesus ,christ6 ,we must be on intimate terms with ,him4 ,to know ,god1 as to know a man1 we must 'live with' ,him1 must summer and winter with ,him1 must bring ,him into the pettinesses of daily life1 must let our love set to ,him1 must be in sympathy with ,him1 our wills being tuned to make harmony with ,his1 our whole nature being in accord with ,his4 ,that is work more than enough for a lifetime1 enough to task it1 enough to bless it4 ,,ii4 ,the peace of acquaintance with ,god4 ,eliphaz meant nothing more than mere earthly tranquillity and exemption from trouble1 but his words are true in a far loftier region4 ,knowledge of ,god as ,he really is brings peace1 because ,his heart is full of love4 ,we do but need to know the actual state of the heart of ,god towards us to be lapped and folded in peace that nothing outside of ,god and ourselves can destroy4 ,if we lived under the constant benediction of the deepest truth in the universe1 ',god is love1' our peace would be full4 ,that is enough1 if we believe it to bring peace4 ,the thought of ,god which alarms and terrifies cannot be a true thought4 ,but1 alas6 in proportion as we know ourselves1 it becomes difficult to believe that ,god is love4 ,the stings of conscience hiss prophecies to us of that in ,god which cannot but be antagonistic to that in us which conscience condemns4 ,only when our thought of ,god is drawn from the revelation of ,him in ,jesus ,christ1 does it become possible for any man to grasp in one act of his consciousness the conviction1 ,i am a sinner1 and the conquering conviction1 ,god is ,love1 and only ,love to me4 ,so the old exhortation1 ',acquaint thyself with ,god and be at peace1' comes to be in ,christian language3 ',behold ,god in ,jesus1 and thou shalt possess the peace of ,god to keep thy heart and mind4' ,knowledge of ,god gives peace1 because in it we find the satisfaction of our whole nature4 ,thereby we are freed from the unrest of tumultuous passions and storms of self-will4 ,the internecine war between the better and the worse selves within ceases to rage1 and when we have become ,god's friends1 that in us which is meant to rule rules1 and that in us which is meant to serve serves1 and the inner kingdom is no longer torn asunder but is harmonised with itself4 ,knowledge of ,god brings peace amid all changes1 for he who has ,god for his continual ,companion draws little of his supplies from without1 and can be tranquil when the seas roar and are troubled and the mountains are cast into the midst of the sea4 ,he bears all his treasures with him1 and need fear no loss of any real good4 ,and at last the angel of peace will lead us through the momentary darkness and guide us1 after a passing shadow on our path1 into 'the land of peace wherein we trusted1' while yet in the land of warfare4 ,jesus still whispers the ancient salutation with which ,he greeted the company in the upper room on the evening of the day of resurrection1 as ,he comes to ,his servants here1 and it will be ,his welcome to them when ,he receives them above4 ,,iii4 ,the true good from acquaintance with ,god4 ,as we have already said1 ,eliphaz was only thinking1 on ,old ,testament lines1 that prosperity in material things was the theocratic reward of allegiance to ,jehovah4 ,he was rubbing vitriol into ,job's sores1 and avowedly regarding him as a fear-inspiring instance of the converse principle4 ,but we have a better meaning breathed into his words1 since ,jesus has taught us what is the true good for a man all the days of his life4 ,acquaintance with ,god is1 not merely procures1 good4 ,to know ,him1 to clasp ,him to our hearts as our ,friend1 our ,infinite ,lover1 our ,source of all peace and joy1 to mould our wills to ,his and let ,him dominate our whole selves1 to seek our wellbeing in ,him alone--what else or more can a soul need to be filled with all good8 ,acquaintance with ,god brings ,him in all ,his sufficiency to inhabit else empty hearts4 ,it changes the worst1 according to the judgment of sense1 into the best1 transforming sorrow into loving discipline1 interpreting its meaning1 fitting us to 'bear it1 and securing to us its blessings4 ,to him that is a friend of ,god1 ',all is right that seems most wrong ,if it be ,his sweet will4' ,to be acquainted with ,god is the quintessence of good4 ',this is life eternal1 to know ,thee1 the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ whom ,thou hast sent4' ,,what ,,life ,,may ,,be ,,made ',for then shalt thou have thy delight in the ,almighty1 and shalt lift up thy face unto ,god4 #bg4 ,thou shalt make thy prayer unto ,him1 and ,he shall hear thee1 and thou shalt pay thy vows4 #bh4 ,thou shalt also decree a thing1 and it shall be established unto thee3 and the light shall shine upon thy ways4 #bi4 ,when men are cast down1 then thou shalt say1 444 lifting up2 and ,he shall save the humble person4'--,,job xxii4 #bf-bi4 ,these words are a fragment of one of the speeches of ,job's friends1 in which the speaker has been harping on the old theme that affliction is the consequence and evidence of sin4 ,he has much ado to square his theory with facts1 and especially with the fact which brought him to ,job's dunghill4 ,but he gets over the difficulty by the simple method of assuming that1 since his theory must be true1 there must be unknown facts which vindicate it in ,job's case2 and since affliction is a sign of sin1 ,job's afflictions are proof that he has been a sinner4 ,so he charges him with grossest crimes1 without a shadow of other reason2 and after having poured this oil of vitriol into his wounds by way of consolation1 he advises him to be good1 on the decidedly low and selfish ground that it will pay4 ,his often-quoted exhortation1 ',acquaint thyself with ,god1 and be at peace3 thereby good shall come unto thee1' is1 in his meaning of it1 an undisguised appeal to purely selfish considerations1 and its promise is not in accordance with facts4 ,whether that saying is noble and true or ignoble and false1 depends on the meanings attached to 'peace' and 'good4' ,a similar flaw mars the words of our text1 as understood by the speaker4 ,but they can be raised to a higher level than that on which he placed them1 and regarded as describing the sweet and wonderful prerogatives of the devout life4 ,so understood1 they may rebuke and stimulate and encourage us to make our lives conformed to the ideal here4 ,i4 ,i note1 first1 that life may be full of delight and confidence in ,god4 ',then shalt thou delight thyself in the ,almighty1 and shalt lift up thy face unto ,god4' ,now when we 'delight' in a thing or a person1 we recognise that that thing1 or person1 fits into a cleft in our hearts1 and corresponds to some need in our natures4 ,we not only recognise its good1 sweetness1 and adaptation to ourselves1 but we actually possess in real fruition the sweetness that we recognise1 and the good which we apprehend in it4 ,and so these things1 the recognition of the supreme sweetness and all-perfect adaptation and sufficiency of ,god to all that ,i need2 the suppression of tastes and desires which may conflict with that sweetness1 and the actual enjoyment and fruition of the sweetness and preciousness which ,i apprehend--these things are the very heart of a man's religion4 ,without delight in ,god1 there is no real religion4 ,the bulk of men are so sunken and embruted in animal tastes and sensuous desires and fleeting delights1 that they have no care for the pure and calm joys which come to those who live near ,god4 ,but above these stand the men1 of whom there are a good many amongst us1 whose religion is a matter of fear or of duty or of effort4 ,and above them there stand the men who serve because they trust ,god1 but whose religion is seeking rather than finding1 and either from deficient consecration or from false conceptions of ,him and of their relation to ,him1 is overshadowed by an unnatural and unwholesome gloom4 ,and all these kinds of religion1 the religion of fear1 of duty1 of effort1 of seeking1 and of doubt fighting with faith1 are at the best wofully imperfect1 and are1 some of them1 radically erroneous types of the religious life4 ,he is the truly devout man who not only knows ,god to be great and holy1 but feels ,him to be sweet and sufficient2 who not only fears1 but loves2 who not only seeks and longs1 but possesses2 or1 in one word1 true religion is delighting in ,god4 ,so herein is supplied a very sharp test for us4 ,do our tastes and inclinations set towards ,him1 and is ,he better to us than anything beside8 ,is ,god to me my dearest faith1 the very home of my heart1 to which ,i instinctively turn8 ,is the brightness of my day the light of ,his face8 ,is ,he the gladness of my joy8 ,is my ,christianity a mill-horse round of service that ,i am not glad to render8 ,do ,i worship because ,i think it is duty1 and are my prayers compulsory and mechanical2 or do ,i worship because my heart goes out to ,him8 ,and is my life calm and sweet because ,i 'delight in the ,lord'8 ,the next words of my text will help us to answer4 ',thou shalt lift up thy face unto ,god4' ,that is a clear enough metaphor to express frank confidence of approach to ,him4 ,the head hangs down in the consciousness of demerit and sin4 ',mine iniquities have taken hold upon me1' wailed the ,psalmist1 'so that ,i am not able to look up4' ,but it is possible for men to go into ,god's presence with a sense of peace1 and to hold up their heads before their ,judge and look ,him in the eyes and not be afraid4 ,and unless we have that confidence in ,him1 not because of our merits1 but because of ,his certain love1 there will be no 'delight in the ,lord4' ,and there will be no such confidence in ,him unless we have 'access with confidence by faith' in that ,christ who has taken away our sins1 and prepared the way for us into the ,father's presence1 and by whose death and sacrifice1 and by it alone1 we sinful men1 with open face and uplifted foreheads1 can stand to receive upon our visage the full beams of ,his light1 and expatiate and be glad therein4 ,there is no religion worth naming1 of which the inmost characteristic is not delight in ,god4 ,there is no 'delighting in ,god' possible for sinful men unless they can come to ,him with frank confidence1 and there is no such confidence possible for us unless we apprehend by faith1 and thereby make our own1 the great work of ,jesus ,christ our ,lord4 ,,ii4 ,so1 secondly1 note1 such a life of delighting in ,god will be blessed by the frankest intercourse with ,him4 ',thou shalt make thy prayer unto ,him1 and ,he shall hear thee1 and thou shalt pay thy vows4' ,these are three stages of this blessed communion that is possible for men4 ,and note1 prayer is not regarded in this aspect as duty1 nor is it even dwelt upon as privilege1 but as being the natural outcome and issue of that delighting in ,god and confident access to ,him which have preceded4 ,that is to say1 if a man really has set his heart on ,god1 and knows that in ,him is all that he needs1 then1 of course1 he will tell ,him everything4 ,as surely as the sunshine draws out the odours from the opening petals of the flowers1 will the warmth of the felt divine light and love draw from our hearts the sweet confidence1 which it is impossible not to give to ,him in whom we delight4 ,if you have to be driven to prayer by a sense of duty1 and if there be no impulse in your heart whispering ever to you1 ',tell your ,love about it6' you have much need to examine into the reality1 and certainly into the depth of your religion4 ,for as surely as instinctive impulse1 which needs no spurring from conscience or will1 leads us to breathe our confidences to those that we love best1 and makes us restless whilst we have a secret hid from them1 so surely will a true love to ,god make it the most natural thing in the world to put all our circumstances1 wants1 and feeling into the shape of prayers4 ,they may be in briefest words4 ,they may scarcely be vocalised at all1 but there will be1 if there be a true love to ,him1 an instinctive turning to ,him in every circumstance2 and the single-worded cry1 if it be no more1 for help is sufficient4 ,the arrow may be shot towards ,heaven1 though it be but slender and short1 and it will reach its goal4 ,for my text goes on to the second stage1 ',he shall hear thee4' ,that was not true as ,eliphaz meant it4 ,but it is true if we remember the preceding conditions4 ,the fundamental passage1 which ,i suppose underlies part1 at least1 of our text1 is that great word in the psalm1 ',delight thyself in the ,lord1 and ,he shall give thee the desires of thine heart4' ,does that mean that if a man loves ,god he may get everything he wants8 ,yes6 and ,no6 ,if it is supposed to mean that our religion is a kind of key to ,god's storehouse1 enabling us to go in there and rifle it at our pleasure1 then it is not true2 if it means that a man who delights himself in ,god will have his supreme desire set upon ,god1 and so will be sure to get it1 then it is true4 ,fulfil the conditions and you are sure of the promise4 ,if our prayer in its deepest essence be ',not my will1 but ,thine1' it will be answered4 ,when the desires of our heart are for ,god1 and for conformity to ,his will1 as they will be when we 'delight ourselves in ,him1' then we get our heart's desires4 ,there is no promise of our being able to impose our wills upon ,god1 which would be a calamity1 and not a blessing1 but a promise that they who make ,him their joy and their desire will never be defrauded of their desire nor robbed of their joy4 ,and so the third stage of this frank intercourse comes4 ',thou shalt pay thy vows4' ,all life may become a thank-offering to ,god for the benefits that have flowed unceasing from ,his hands4 ,first a prayer1 then the answer1 then the rendered thank-offering4 ,thus1 in swift alternation and reciprocity1 is carried on the commerce between ,heaven and earth1 between man and ,god4 ,the desires rise to ,heaven1 but ,heaven comes down to earth first2 and prayer is not the initial stage1 but the second1 in the process4 ,god first gives ,his promise1 and the best prayer is the catching up of ,god's promise and tossing it back again whence it came4 ,then comes the second downward motion1 which is the answer to prayer1 in blessing1 and on it follows1 finally1 the reflection upwards1 in thankful surrender and service1 of the love that has descended on us1 in answer to our desires4 ,so like sunbeams from a mirror1 or heat from polished metal1 backwards and forwards1 in continual alternation and reciprocation of influence and of love1 flash and travel bright gleams between the soul and ,god4 ',truth springs out of the earth1 and righteousness looks down from ,heaven4 ,our ,god shall give that which is good1 and the earth shall yield her increase4' ,is there any other life of which such alternation is the privilege and the joy8 ,,iii4 ,then thirdly1 such a life will neither know failure nor darkness4 ',thou shalt also decree a thing1 and it shall be established unto thee1 and the light shall shine upon thy ways4' ,then is my will to be omnipotent1 and am ,i to be delivered from the experiences of disappointments and failures and frustrated plans that are common to all humanity1 and an essential part of its discipline1 because ,i am a ,christian man8 ,eliphaz may have meant that1 but we know something far nobler4 ,again1 ,i say1 remember the conditions precedent4 ,first of all1 there must be the delight in ,god1 and the desire towards ,him1 the submission of the will to ,him1 and the waiting before ,him for guidance4 ,i decree a thing--if ,i am a true ,christian1 and in the measure in which ,i am--only when ,i am quite sure that ,god has decreed it4 ,and it is only ,his decrees1 registered in the chancery of my will1 of which ,i may be certain that they shall be established4 ,there will be no failures to the man whose life's purpose is to serve ,god1 and to grow like ,him2 but if our purpose is anything less than that1 or if we go arbitrarily and self-willedly resolving and saying1 ',thus ,i will2 thus ,i command2 let my will stand instead of all reason1' we shall have our contemptuous 'decrees' disestablished many a time4 ,if we run our heads against stone walls in that fashion1 the walls will stand1 and our heads will be broken4 ,to serve ,him and to fall into the line of ,his purpose1 and to determine nothing1 nor obstinately want anything until we are sure that it is ,his will--that is the secret of never failing in what we undertake4 ,we must understand a little more deeply than we are apt to do what is meant by 'success1' before we predict unfailing success for any man4 ,but if we have obeyed the commandment from the psalm already quoted1 which may be again alluded to in the words of my text--',commit thy way unto the ,lord2 trust also in ,him'--we shall inherit the ancient promise1 'and ,he shall bring it to pass4' ',all things work together for good to them that love ,god1' and in the measure of our love to ,him are our discernment and realisation of what is truly good4 ,religion gives no screen to keep the weather off us1 but it gives us an insight into the truth that storms and rain are good for the only crop that is worth growing here4 ,if we understand what we are here for1 we shall be very slow to call sorrow evil1 and to crown joy with the exclusive title of blessing and good2 and we shall have a deeper canon of interpretation for the words of my text than he who is represented as speaking them ever dreamed of4 ,so with the promise of light to shine upon our paths4 ,it is 'the light which never was on sea or land1' and not the material light which sense-bound eyes can see4 ,that may all go4 ,but if we have ,god in our hearts1 there will be a light upon our way 'which knows no variableness1 neither shadow of turning4' ,the ,arctic winter1 sunless though it be1 has a bright heaven radiant with myriad stars1 and flashing with strange lights born of no material or visible orb4 ,and so you and ,i1 if we delight ourselves 'in the ,lord1' will have an unsetting sun to light our paths2 'and at eventide1' and in the mirkest midnight1 'there will be light' in the darkness4 ,,iv4 ,lastly1 such a life will be always hopeful1 and finally crowned with deliverance4 ',when they'--that is1 the ways that he has been speaking about--'when they are cast down1 thou shalt say1 ,lifting up4' ,that is an exclamation or a prayer1 and we might simply render1 'thou shalt say1 ,up6' ,even in so blessed a life as has been described1 times will come when the path plunges downwards into some 'valley of the shadow of death4' ,but even then the traveller will bate no jot of hope4 ,he will in his heart say ',up6' even while sense says ',down6' either as expressing indomitable confidence and good cheer in the face of depressing circumstances1 or as pouring out a prayer to ,him who 'has showed him great and sore troubles' that ,he would 'bring him up again from the depths of the earth4' ,the devout life is largely independent of circumstances1 and is upheld and calmed by a quiet certainty that the general trend of its path is upward1 which enables it to trudge hopefully down an occasional dip in the road4 ,such an obstinate hopefulness and cheery confidence are the natural result of the experiences already described in the text4 ,if we delight in ,god1 hold communion with ,him and have known ,him as answering prayer1 prospering our purposes and illuminating our paths1 how shall we not hope8 ,nothing need depress nor perturb those whose joys and treasures are safe above the region of change and loss4 ,if our riches are there where neither moth1 rust1 nor thieves can reach1 our hearts will be there also1 and an inward voice will keep singing1 ',lift up your heart4' ,it is the prerogative of experience to light up the future4 ,it is the privilege of ,christian experience to make hope certainty4 ,if we live the life outlined in these verses we shall be able to bring ,june into ,december1 and feel the future warmth whilst our bones are chilled with the present cold4 ',when the paths are made low1 thou shalt say1 ,up6' ,and the end will vindicate such confidence4 ,for the issue of all will be1 ',he will save the humble person'2 namely1 the man who is of the character described1 and who is 'lowly of eyes' in conscious unworthiness1 even while he lifts up his face to ,god in confidence in his ,father's love4 ,the 'saving' meant here is1 of course1 temporary and temporal deliverance from passing outward peril4 ,but we may permissibly give it wider and deeper meaning4 ,continuous partial deliverances lead on to and bring about final full salvation4 ,we read that into the words1 of course4 ,but nothing less than a complete and conclusive deliverance can be the legitimate end of the experience of the ,christian life here4 ,absurdity can no further go than to suppose that a soul which has delighted itself in ,god1 and looked in ,his face with frank confidence1 and poured out his desires to ,him1 and been the recipient of numberless answers1 and the seat of numberless thank-offerings1 has travelled along life's common way in cheerful godliness1 has had the light of heaven shining on the path1 and has found an immortal hope springing as the natural result of present experience1 shall at the last be frustrated of all1 and lie down in unconscious sleep1 which is nothingness4 ,if that were the end of a ,christian life1 then 'the pillared firmament were rottenness1 and earth's base built on stubble4' ,no1 no6 ,a heaven of endless blessedness and close communion with ,god is the only possible ending to the facts of the devout life on earth4 ,we have such a life offered to us all and made possible through faith in ,jesus ,christ1 in whom we may delight ourselves in the ,lord1 by whom we have 'access with confidence1' who is ,himself the light of our hope1 the answer of our prayers1 the joy of our hearts1 and who will 'deliver us from every evil work' as we travel along the road2 'and save us' at last 'into ,his heavenly kingdom1' where we shall be joined to the ,delight of our souls1 and drink for evermore of the fountain of life4 ',,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,lord' ',then ,job answered the ,lord1 and said1 #b4 ,i know that ,thou canst do every thing1 and that no thought can he withholden from ,thee4 #c4 ,who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge8 therefore have ,i uttered that ,i understood not2 things too wonderful for me1 which ,i knew not4 #d4 ,hear1 ,i beseech ,thee1 and ,i will speak3 ,i will demand of ,thee1 and declare ,thou unto me4 #e4 ,i have heard of ,thee by the hearing of the ear3 but now mine eye seeth ,thee4 #f4 ,wherefore ,i abhor myself1 and repent in dust and ashes4 #g4 ,and it was so1 that after the ,lord had spoken these words unto ,job1 the ,lord said to ,eliphaz the ,temanite1 ,my wrath is kindled against thee1 and against thy two friends3 for ye have not spoken of ,me the thing that is right1 as ,my servant ,job hath4 #h4 ,therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams1 and go to ,my servant ,job1 and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering2 and ,my servant ,job shall pray for you3 for him will ,i accept3 lest ,i deal with you after your folly1 in that ye have not spoken of ,me the thing which is right1 like ,my servant ,job4 #i4 ,so ,eliphaz the ,temanite and ,bildad the ,shuhite and ,zophar the ,naamathite went1 and did according as the ,lord commanded them3 the ,lord also accepted ,job4 #aj4 ,and the ,lord turned the captivity of ,job1 when he prayed for his friends3 also the ,lord gave ,job twice as much as he had before4'--,,job xlii4 #a-aj4 ,the close of the ,book of ,job must be taken in connection with its prologue1 in order to get the full view of its solution of the mystery of pain and suffering4 ,indeed the prologue is more completely the solution than the ending is2 for it shows the purpose of ,job's trials as being1 not his punishment1 but his testing4 ,the whole theory that individual sorrows were the result of individual sins1 in the support of which ,job's friends poured out so many eloquent and heartless commonplaces1 is discredited from the beginning4 ,the magnificent prologue shows the source and purpose of sorrow4 ,the epilogue in this last chapter shows the effect of it in a good man's character1 and afterwards in his life4 ,so we have the grim thing lighted up1 as it were1 at the two ends4 ,suffering comes with the mission of trying what stuff a man is made of1 and it leads to closer knowledge of ,god1 which is blessed2 to lowlier self-estimation1 which is also blessed2 and to renewed outward blessings1 which hide the old scars and gladden the tortured heart4 ,job's final word to ,god is in beautiful contrast with much of his former unmeasured utterances4 ,it breathes lowliness1 submission1 and contented acquiescence in a providence partially understood4 ,it does not put into ,job's mouth a solution of the problem1 but shows how its pressure is lightened by getting closer to ,god4 ,each verse presents a distinct element of thought and feeling4 ,first comes1 remarkably enough1 not what might have been expected1 namely1 a recognition of ,god's righteousness1 which had been the attribute impugned by ,job's hasty words1 but of ,his omnipotence4 ,god 'can do everything1' and none of ,his 'thoughts' or purposes can be 'restrained' 7,rev4 ,ver474 ,there had been frequent recognitions of that attribute in the earlier speeches1 but these had lacked the element of submission1 and been complaint rather than adoration4 ,now1 the same conviction has different companions in ,job's mind1 and so has different effects1 and is really different in itself4 ,the ,titan on his rock1 with the vulture tearing at his liver1 sullenly recognised ,jove's power1 but was a rebel still4 ,such had been ,job's earlier attitude1 but now that thought comes to him along with submission1 and so is blessed4 ,its recurrence here1 as in a very real sense a new conviction1 teaches us how old beliefs may flash out into new significance when seen from a fresh point of view1 and how the very same thought of ,god may be an argument for arraigning and for vindicating ,his providence4 ,the prominence given1 both in the magnificent chapters in which ,god answers ,job out of the whirlwind and in this final confession1 to power instead of goodness1 rests upon the unspoken principle that 'the divine nature is not a segment1 but a circle4 ,any one divine attribute implies all others4 ,omnipotence cannot exist apart from righteousness' 7,davidson's ,job1 ,cambridge ,bible for ,schools74 ,a mere naked omnipotence is not ,god4 ,if we rightly understand ,his power1 we can rest upon it as a ,hand sustaining1 not crushing1 us4 ',he doeth all things well' is a conviction as closely connected with ',i know that ,thou canst do all things' as light is with heat4 ,the second step in ,job's confession is the acknowledgment of the incompleteness of his and all men's materials and capacities for judging ,god's providence4 ,verse #c begins with quoting ,god's rebuke 7,job xxxviii #b74 ,it had cut deep1 and now ,job makes it his own confession4 ,we should thus appropriate as our own ,god's merciful indictments1 and when ,he asks1 ',who is it8' should answer with lowliness1 ',lord1 it is ,i4' ,job had been a critic2 he is a worshipper4 ,he had tried to fathom the bottomless1 and been angry because his short measuring-line had not reached the depths4 ,but now he acknowledges that he had been talking about what passed his comprehension1 and also that his words had been foolish in their rashness4 ,is then the solution of the whole only that old commonplace of the unsearchableness of the divine judgments8 ,not altogether2 for the prologue gives1 if not a complete1 yet a real1 key to them4 ,but still1 after all partial solutions1 there remains the inscrutable element in them4 ,the mystery of pain and suffering is still a mystery2 and while general principles1 taught us even more clearly in the ,new ,testament than in this book1 do lighten the 'weight of all this unintelligible world1' we have still to take ,job's language as the last word on the matter1 and say1 ',how unsearchable are ,his judgments1 and ,his ways past finding out6' ,for individuals1 and on the wider field of the world1 ,god's way is in the sea2 but that does not bewilder those who also know that it is also in the sanctuary4 ,job's confession as to his rash speeches is the best estimate of many elaborate attempts to 'vindicate the ways of ,god to man4' ,it is better to trust than to criticise1 better to wait than to seek prematurely to understand4 ,verse #d1 like verse #c1 quotes the words of ,god 7,job xxxviii4 #c2 xl4 #g74 ,they yield a good meaning1 if regarded as a repetition of ,god's challenge1 for the purpose of disclaiming any such presumptuous contest4 ,but they are perhaps better understood as expressing ,job's longing1 in his new condition of humility1 for fuller light1 and his new recognition of the way to pierce to a deeper understanding of the mystery1 by illumination from ,god granted in answer to his prayer4 ,he had tried to solve his problem by much1 and sometimes barely reverent1 thinking4 ,he had racked brain and heart in the effort1 but he has learned a more excellent way1 as the ,psalmist had1 who said1 ',when ,i thought1 in order to know this1 it was too painful for me1 until ,i went into the sanctuary of ,god2 then understood ,i4' ,prayer will do more for clearing mysteries than speculation1 however acute1 and it will change the aspect of the mysteries which it does not clear from being awful to being solemn--veils covering depths of love1 not clouds obscuring the sun4 ,the centre of all ,job's confession is in verse #e1 which contrasts his former and present knowledge of ,god1 as being mere hearsay before1 and eyesight now4 ,a clearer understanding1 but still more1 a sense of ,his nearness1 and an acquaintance at first hand1 are implied in the bold words1 which must not be interpreted of any outward revelation to sense1 but of the direct1 full1 thrilling consciousness of ,god which makes all men's words about ,him seem poor4 ,that change was the master transformation in ,job's case1 as it is for us all4 ,get closer to ,god1 realise ,his presence1 live beneath ,his eye and with your eyes fixed on ,him1 and ancient puzzles will puzzle no longer1 and wounds will cease to smart1 and instead of angry expostulation or bewildered attempts at construing ,his dealings1 there will come submission1 and with submission1 peace4 ,the cure for questionings of ,his providence is experience of ,his nearness1 and blessedness therein4 ,things that loomed large dwindle1 and dangers melt away4 ,the landscape is the same in shadow and sunshine2 but when the sun comes out1 even snow and ice sparkle1 and tender beauty starts into visibility in grim things4 ,so1 if we see ,god1 the black places of life are lighted2 and we cease to feel the pressure of many difficulties of speculation and practice1 both as regards ,his general providence and ,his revelation in law and gospel4 ,the end of the whole matter is ,job's retractation of his words and his repentance4 ',i abhor' has no object expressed1 and is better taken as referring to the previous speeches than to 'myself4' ,he means thereby to withdraw them all4 ,the next clause1 ',i repent in dust and ashes1' carries the confession a step farther4 ,he recognises guilt in his rash speeches1 and bows before his ,god confessing his sin4 ,where are his assertions of innocence gone8 ,one sight of ,god has scattered them1 as it ever does4 ,a man who has learned his own sinfulness will find few difficulties and no occasions for complaint in ,god's dealings with him4 ,if we would see aright the meaning of our sorrows1 we must look at them on our knees4 ,get near to ,god in heart-knowledge of ,him1 and that will teach our sinfulness1 and the two knowledges will combine to explain much of the meaning of sorrow1 and to make the unexplained residue not hard to endure4 ,the epilogue in prose which follows ,job's confession1 tells of the divine estimate of the three friends1 of ,job's sacrifice for them1 and of his renewed outward prosperity4 ,the men who had tried to vindicate ,god's righteousness are charged with not having spoken that which is right2 the man who has passionately impugned it is declared to have thus spoken4 ,no doubt1 ,eliphaz and his colleagues had said a great many most excellent1 pious things1 and ,job as many wild and untrue ones4 ,but their foundation principle was not a true representation of ,god's providence1 since it was the uniform connection of sin with sorrow1 and the accurate proportion which these bore to each other4 ,job1 on the other hand1 had spoken truth in his denials of these principles1 and in his longings to have the righteousness of ,god set in clear relation to his own afflictions4 ,we must remember1 too1 that the friends were talking commonplaces learned by rote1 while ,job's words came scalding hot from his heart4 ,most excellent truth may be so spoken as to be wrong2 and it is so1 if spoken heartlessly1 regardless of sympathy1 and flung at sufferers like a stone1 rather than laid on their hearts as a balm4 ,god lets a true heart dare much in speech2 for ,he knows that the sputter and foam prove that 'the heart's deeps boil in earnest4' ,job is put in the place of intercessor for the three--a profound humiliation for them and an honour for him4 ,they obeyed at once1 showing that they have learned their lesson1 as well as ,job his4 ,an incidental lesson from that final picture of the sufferer become the priest requiting accusations with intercession1 is the duty of cherishing kind feelings and doing kind acts to those who say hard things of us4 ,it would be harder for some of us to offer sacrifices for our ,eliphazes than to argue with them4 ,and yet another is that sorrow has for one of its purposes to make the heart more tender1 both for the sorrows and the faults of others4 ,note1 too1 that it was 'when ,job prayed for his friends' that the ,lord turned his captivity4 ,that is a proverbial expression1 bearing witness1 probably1 to the deep traces left by the ,exodus1 for reversing calamity4 ,the turning-point was not merely the confession1 but the act1 of beneficence4 ,so1 in ministering to others1 one's own griefs may be soothed4 ,the restoration of outward good in double measure is not meant as the statement of a universal law of ,providence1 and still less as a solution of the problem of the book4 ,but it is putting the truth that sorrows1 rightly borne1 yield peaceable fruit at the last1 in the form appropriate to the stage of revelation which the whole book represents2 that is1 one in which the doctrine of immortality1 though it sometimes rises before ,job's mind as an aspiration of faith1 is not set in full light4 ,to us1 living in the blaze of light which ,jesus ,christ has let into the darkness of the future1 the 'end of the ,lord' is that heaven should crown the sorrows of ,his children on earth4 ,we can speak of light1 transitory affliction working out an eternal weight of glory4 ,the book of ,job is expressing substantially the same expectation1 when it paints the calm after the storm and the restoration in double portion of vanished blessings4 ,many desolate yet trusting sufferers know how little such an issue is possible for their grief1 but if they have more of ,god in clearer sight of ,him1 they will find empty places in their hearts and homes filled4 ,,the ,,proverbs ,a ,,young ,,man',s ,,best ,,counsellor ',the proverbs of ,solomon the son of ,david1 king of ,israel2 #b4 ,to know wisdom and instruction2 to perceive the words of understanding2 #c4 ,to receive the instruction of wisdom1 justice1 and judgment1 and equity2 #d4 ,to give subtilty to the simple1 to the young man knowledge and discretion1 #e4 ,a wise man will hear1 and will increase learning2 and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels3 #f4 ,to understand a proverb1 and the interpretation2 the words of the wise1 and their dark sayings4 #g4 ,the fear of the ,lord is the beginning of knowledge3 but fools despise wisdom and instruction4 #h4 ,my son1 hear the instruction of thy father1 and forsake not the law of thy mother3 #i4 ,for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head1 and chains about thy neck4 #aj4 ,my son1 if sinners entice thee1 consent thou not4 #aa4 ,if they say1 ,come with us1 let us lay wait for blood1 let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause3 #ab4 ,let us swallow them up alive as the grave2 and whole1 as those that go down into the pit3 #ac4 ,we shall find all precious substance1 we shall fill our houses with spoil3 #ad4 ,cast in thy lot among us2 let us all have one purse3 #ae4 ,my son1 walk not thou in the way with them2 refrain thy foot from their path3 #af4 ,for their feet run to evil1 and make haste to shed blood4 #ag4 7,surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird37 #ah4 ,and they lay wait for their own blood2 they lurk privily for their own lives4 #ai4 ,so are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain2 which taketh away the life of the owners thereof4'--,,prov4 i4 #a-ai4 ,this passage contains the general introduction to the book of ,proverbs4 ,it falls into three parts--a statement of the purpose of the book 7vs4 #a-f72 a summary of its foundation principles1 and of the teachings to which men ought to listen 7vs4 #g-i72 and an antithetic statement of the voices to which they should be deaf 7vs4 #aj-ai74 ,i4 ,the aim of the book is stated to be twofold--to enable men1 especially the young1 to 'know wisdom1' and to help them to 'discern the words of understanding'2 that is1 to familiarise1 by the study of the book1 with the characteristics of wise teachings1 so that there may be no mistaking seducing words of folly for these4 ,these two aims are expanded in the remaining verses1 the latter of them being resumed in verse #f1 while the former occupies the other verses4 ,we note how emphatically the field in which this wisdom is to be exercised is declared to be the moral conduct of life4 ',righteousness and judgment and equity' are 'wise dealing1' and the end of true wisdom is to practise these4 ,the wider horizon of modern science and speculation includes much in the notion of wisdom which has no bearing on conduct4 ,but the intellectual progress 7and conceit7 of to-day will be none the worse for the reminder that a man may take in knowledge till he is ignorant1 and that1 however enriched with science and philosophy1 if he does not practise righteousness1 he is a fool4 ,we note also the special destination of the book--for the young4 ,youth1 by reason of hot blood and inexperience1 needs such portable medicines as are packed in these proverbs1 many of them the condensation into a vivid sentence of world-wide truths4 ,there are few better guides for a young man than this book of homely sagacity1 which is wisdom about the world without being tainted by the bad sort of worldly wisdom4 ,but unfortunately those who need it most relish it least1 and we have for the most part to rediscover its truths for ourselves by our own1 often bitter1 experience4 ,we note1 further1 the clear statement of the way by which incipient 'wisdom' will grow1 and of the certainty of its growth if it is real4 ,it is the 'wise man' who will 'increase in learning1' the 'man of understanding' who 'attains unto sound counsels4' ,the treasures are thrown away on him who has no heart for them4 ,you may lavish wisdom on the 'fool1' and it will run off him like water off a rock1 fertilising nothing1 and stopping outside him4 ,the ,bible would not have met all our needs1 nor gone with us into all regions of our experience1 if it had not had this book of shrewd1 practical common-sense4 ,christianity is the perfection of common sense4 ',godliness hath promise of the life which now is4' ,the wisdom of the serpent1 which ,jesus enjoins1 has none of the serpent's venom in it4 ,it is no sign of spirituality of mind to be above such mundane considerations as this book urges4 ,if we hold our heads too high to look to our road and our feet1 we are sure to fall into a pit4 ,,ii4 ,verses #g-i may be regarded as a summary statement of the principle on which the whole book is based1 and of the duty which it enjoins4 ,the principle is that true wisdom is based on religion1 and the duty is to listen to parental instruction4 ',my son1' is the address of a teacher to his disciples1 rather than of a father to his child4 ,the characteristic ,old ,testament designation of religion as 'the fear of ,jehovah' corresponds to the ,old ,testament revelation of ,him as the ,holy ,one1--that is1 as ,him who is infinitely separated from creatural being and limitations4 ,therefore is ,he 'to be had in reverence of all' who would be 'about ,him'2 that fear of reverential awe in which no slavish dread mingles1 and which is perfectly consistent with aspiration1 trust1 and love4 ,the ,old ,testament reveals ,him as separate from men2 the ,new ,testament reveals ,him as united to men in the divine man1 ,christ ,jesus4 ,therefore its keynote is the designation of religion as 'the love of ,god'2 but that name is no contradiction of the earlier1 but the completion of it4 ,that fear is the beginning or basis of wisdom1 because wisdom is conceived of as ,god's gift1 and the surest way to get it is to 'ask of ,god' 7,jas4 i4 #e74 ,religion is1 further1 the foundation of wisdom1 inasmuch as irreligion is the supreme folly of creatures so dependent on ,god1 and so hungering after ,him in the depths of their being1 as we are4 ,in whatever directions a godless man may be wise1 in the most important matter of all1 his relations to ,god1 he is unwise1 and the epitaph for all such is ',thou fool6' ,further1 religion is the fountain of wisdom1 in the sense of the word in which this book uses it1 since it opens out into principles of action1 motives1 and communicated powers1 which lead to right apprehension and willing discharge of the duties of life4 ,godless men may be scientists1 philosophers1 encyclopaedias of knowledge1 but for want of religion1 they blunder in the direction of their lives1 and lack wisdom enough to keep them from wrecking the ship on the rocks4 ,the ,israelitish parent was enjoined to teach his or her children the law of the ,lord4 ,here the children are enjoined to listen to the instruction4 ,reverence for traditional wisdom was characteristic of that state of society1 and since a divine revelation stood at the beginning of the nation's history1 it was not unreasonable to look back for light4 ,nowadays1 a belief's being our fathers' is with many a reason for not making it ours4 ,but perhaps that is no more rational than the blind adherence to the old with which this emancipated generation reproaches its predecessors4 ,possibly there are some 'old lamps' better than the new ones now hawked about the streets by so many loud-voiced vendors4 ,the youth of this day have much need of the exhortation to listen to the 'instruction' 7by which is meant1 not only teaching by word1 but discipline by act7 of their fathers1 and to the gentler voice of the mother telling of law in accents of love4 ,these precepts obeyed will be fairer ornaments than jewelled necklaces and wreathed chaplets4 ,,iii4 ,on one side of the young man are those who would point him to the fear of ,jehovah2 on the other are seducing whispers1 tempting him to sin4 ,that is the position in which we all stand4 ,it is not enough to listen to the nobler voice4 ,we have resolutely to stop our ears to the baser1 which is often the louder4 ,facile yielding to the cunning inducements which strew every path1 and especially that of the young1 is fatal4 ,if we cannot say ',no' to the base1 we shall not say ',yes' to the noble voice4 ,to be weak is generally to be wicked2 for in this world the tempters are more numerous1 and to sense and flesh1 more potent than those who invite to good4 ,the example selected of such enticers is not of the kind that most of us are in danger from4 ,but the sort of inducements held out are in all cases substantially the same4 ',precious substance' of one sort or another is dangled before dazzled eyes2 jovial companionship draws young hearts4 ,the right or wrong of the thing is not mentioned1 and even murder and robbery are presented as rather pleasant excitement1 and worth doing for the sake of what is got thereby4 ,are the desirable consequences so sure8 ,is there no chance of being caught red-handed1 and stoned then and there1 as a murderer8 ,the tempters are discreetly silent about that possibility1 as all tempters are4 ,sin always deceives1 and its baits artfully hide the hook2 but the cruel barb is there1 below the gay silk and coloured dressing1 and it--not the false appearance of food which lured the fish--is what sticks in the bleeding mouth4 ,the teacher goes on1 in verses #ae to #ai1 to supply the truth which the tempters tried to ignore4 ,he does so in three weighty sentences1 which strip the tinsel off the temptation1 and show its real ugliness4 ,the flowery way to which they coax is a way of 'evil'2 that should be enough to settle the question4 ,the first thing to ask about any course is not whether it is agreeable or disagreeable1 but ,is it right or wrong8 ,verse #ag is ambiguous1 but probably the 'net' means the tempters' speech in verses #aa to #ad1 and the 'bird' is the young man supposed to be addressed4 ,the sense will then be1 ',surely you are not foolish enough to fly right into the meshes1 and to go with your eyes open into so transparent sin6' ,verse #ah points to the grim possibility already referred to1 that the would-be murderers will be caught and executed4 ,but its lesson is wider than that one case1 and declares the great solemn truth that all sin is suicide4 ,who ever breaks ,god's law slays himself4 ,what is true about 'covetousness1' as verse #ai tells1 is true about all kinds of sin--that it takes away the life of those who yield to it1 even though it may also fill their purses1 or in other ways may gratify their desires4 ,surely it is folly to pursue a course which1 however it may succeed in its immediate aims1 brings real death1 by separation from ,god1 along with it4 ,he is not a very wise man who ties his gold round him when the ship founders4 ,he is not parted from his treasure certainly1 but it helps to sink him4 ,we may get what we want by sinning1 but we get also what we did not want or reckon on--that is1 eternal death4 ',this their way is their folly4' ,yet1 strange to tell1 their posterity 'approve their sayings1' and follow their doings4 ,,wisdom',s ,,call ',wisdom crieth without2 she uttereth her voice in the streets3 #ba4 ,she crieth in the chief place of concourse1 in the openings of the gates3 in the city she uttereth her words1 saying1 #bb4 ,how long1 ye simple ones1 will ye love simplicity8 and the scorners delight in their scorning1 and fools hate knowledge8 #bc4 ,turn you at my reproof3 behold1 ,i will pour out my ,spirit unto you1 ,i will make known my words unto you4 #bd4 ,because ,i have called1 and ye refused2 ,i have stretched out my hand1 and no man regarded2 #be4 ,but ye have set at nought all my counsel1 and would none of my reproof3 #bf4 ,i also will laugh at your calamity2 ,i will mock when your fear cometh2 #bg4 ,when your fear cometh as desolation1 and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind2 when distress and anguish cometh upon you4 #bh4 ,then shall they call upon me1 but ,i will not answer2 they shall seek me early1 but they shall not find me3 #bi4 ,for that they hated knowledge1 and did not choose the fear of the ,lord3 #cj4 ,they would none of my counsel2 they despised all my reproof4 #ca4 ,therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way1 and be filled with their own devices4 #cb4 ,for the turning away of the simple shall slay them1 and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them4 #cc4 ,but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely1 and shall be quiet from fear of evil4'--,,proverbs i4 #bj-cc4 ,our passage begins with a striking picture4 ,a fair and queenly woman stands in the crowded resorts of men1 and lifts up a voice of sweet entreaty--authoritative as well as sweet4 ,her name is ,wisdom4 ,the word is in the plural in the ,hebrew1 as if to teach that in this serene and lovely form all manifold wisdoms are gathered and made one4 ,who then is she8 ,it is easy to say 'a poetical personification1' but that does not add much to our understanding4 ,it is clear that this book means much more by ,wisdom than a human quality merely2 for august and divine attributes are given to her1 and she is the co-eternal associate of ,god ,himself4 ,dwelling in ,his bosom1 she thence comes forth to inspire all human good deeds1 to plead evermore with men1 to enrich those who listen to her with choicest gifts4 ,intellectual clearness1 moral goodness1 religious devotion1 are all combined in the idea of ,wisdom as belonging to men4 ,the divine source of all1 and the correspondence between the human and the divine nature1 are taught in the residence of this personified ,wisdom with ,god before she dwelt with men4 ,the whole of the manifold revelations1 by which ,god makes known any part of ,his will to men1 are her voice4 ,especially the call contained in the ,old ,testament revelation is the summons of ,wisdom4 ,but whether the writer of this book had any inkling of deeper truth still1 or not1 we cannot but connect the incomplete personification of divine ,wisdom here with its complete incarnation in a ,person who is 'the power of ,god and the wisdom of ,god1' and who embodies the lineaments of the grand picture of a ,wisdom crying in the streets1 even while it is true of ,him that ',he does not strive nor cry1 nor cause ,his voice to be heard in the streets'2 for the crying1 which is denied to be ,his1 is ostentatious and noisy1 and the crying which is asserted to be hers is the plain1 clear1 universal appeal of divine love as well as wisdom4 ,the light of ,christ 'lighteth every man that cometh into the world4' ,the call of ,wisdom in this passage begins with remonstrance and plain speech1 giving their right names to men who neglect her voice4 ,the first step in delivering men from evil--that is1 from foolish--courses is to put very clearly before them the true character of their acts1 and still more of their inclinations4 ,gracious offers and rich promises come after2 but the initial message of ,wisdom to such men as we are must be the accusation of folly4 ',when she is come1 she will convict the world of sin4' ,the three designations of men in verse #bb are probably arranged so as to make a climax4 ,first come 'the simple1' or1 as the word means1 'open4' ,there is a sancta simplicitas1 a holy ignorance of evil1 which is sister to the highest wisdom4 ,it is well to be ignorant as well as 'innocent of much transgression'2 and there is no more mistaken and usually insincere excuse for going into foul places than the plea that it is best to know the evil and so choose the good4 ,that knowledge comes surely and soon enough without our seeking it4 ,but there is a fatal simplicity1 open-eared1 like ,eve1 to the ,tempter's whisper1 which believes the false promises of sin1 and as ,bunyan has taught us1 is companion of sloth and presumption4 ,next come 'scorners1' who mock at good4 ,a man must have gone a long way down hill before he begins to gibe at virtue and godliness4 ,but the descent is steep1 though the distance is long2 and the 'simple' who begins to do what is wrong will come to sneer at what is right4 ,then last comes the 'fool1' the name which1 in ,proverbs1 is shorthand for mental stupidity1 moral obstinacy1 and dogged godlessness1--a foul compound1 but one which is realised oftener than we think4 ,a great many very superior intellects1 cultivated ladies and gentlemen1 university graduates1 and the like1 would be unceremoniously set down by divine wisdom as fools2 and surely if account is taken of the whole compass and duration of our being1 and of all our relations to things and persons seen and unseen1 nothing can be more stupid than godlessness1 however cultured4 ,the word literally means coarse or thick1 and may suggest the idea of stolid insensibility as the last stage in the downward progress4 ,but note that the charge is directed1 not against deeds1 but dispositions4 ,perverted love and perverted hatred underlie acts4 ,the simple love simplicity1 preferring to be unwarned against evil2 the scorner finds delight in letting his rank tongue blossom into speech2 and the false direction given to love gives a fatal twist to its corresponding hate1 so that the fool detests 'knowledge' as a thief the policeman's lantern4 ,you cannot love what you should loathe1 without loathing what you should love4 ,inner longings and revulsions settle character and acts4 ,verse #bc passes into entreaty2 for it is vain to rouse conscience by plain speech1 unless something is offered to make better life possible4 ,the divine ,wisdom comes with a rod1 but also with gifts2 but if the rod is kissed1 the rewards are possessed4 ,the relation of clauses in verse #bc is that the first is the condition of the fulfilment of the second and third4 ,if we turn at her reproof1 two great gifts will be bestowed4 ,her spirit within will make us quick to hear and receive her words sounding without4 ,whatever other good follows on yielding to the call of divine ,wisdom 7and the remaining early chapters of ,proverbs magnificently detail the many rich gifts that do follow71 chief of all are spirits swift to hear and docile to obey her voice1 and then actual communications to purged ears4 ,outward revelation without prepared hearts is water spilt upon rock4 ,prepared hearts without a message to them would be but multiplication of vain longings2 and ,god never stultifies ,himself1 or gives mouths without sending meat to fill them4 ,to the submissive spirit1 there will not lack either disposition to hear or clear utterance of ,his will4 ,but now comes a pause4 ,wisdom has made her offers in the crowded streets1 and amid all the noise and bustle her voice has rung out4 ,what is the result8 ,nothing4 ,not a head has been turned1 nor an eye lifted4 ,the bustle goes on as before4 ',they bought1 they sold1' as if no voice had spoken4 ,so1 after the disappointed waiting of ,wisdom1 her voice peals out again1 but this time with severity in its tones4 ,note how1 in verses #bd and #be1 the sin of sins against the pleading ,wisdom of ,god is represented as being simple indifference4 ',ye refused1' 'no man regarded1' 'set at nought1' 'would none of'--these are the things which bring down the heavy judgments4 ,it does not need violent opposition or black crime to wreck a soul4 ,simply doing nothing when ,god speaks is enough to effect destruction4 ,there is no need to lift up angry arms in hostility4 ,if we keep them hanging listless by our sides1 it is sufficient4 ,the gift escapes us1 if we simply keep our hands shut or held behind our backs4 ,alas1 for ears which have not heard1 for seeing eyes which have not seen because they loved evil simplicity and hated knowledge6 ,then note the terrible retribution4 ,that is an awful picture of the mocking laughter of ,wisdom1 accompanying the rush of the whirlwind and the groans of anguish and shrieks of terror4 ,it is even more solemn and dreadful than the parallel representations in ,psalm ii41 for there the laughter indicates ,god's knowledge that the schemes of opponents are vain1 but here it figures pleasure in calamities4 ,of course it is to be remembered that the ,wisdom thus represented is not to be identified with ,god2 but still the imagery is startling1 and needs to be taken along with declarations that ,god has 'no pleasure in the death of the sinner1' and to be interpreted as indicating1 with daring anthropomorphism1 the inevitable character of the 'destruction1' and the uselessness of appeals to the ,wisdom once despised4 ,but we joyfully remember that the ,incarnate ,wisdom1 fairer than the ancient personification1 wept over the city which ,he knew must perish4 ,verses #bh-ca carry on the picture of too late repentance and inevitable retribution4 ,they who let ,wisdom cry1 and paid no heed1 shall cry to her in their turn1 and be unnoticed4 ,they whom she vainly sought shall vainly seek for her4 ,actions have their consequences1 which are not annihilated because the doers do not like them4 ,thoughts have theirs2 for the foolish not only eat of the fruit of their ways or doings1 but are filled with their own devices or counsels4 ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,that inexorable law works1 deaf to all cries1 in the field of earthly life1 both as regards condition and character2 and that field of its operation is all that the writer of this book has in view4 ,he is not denying the possibility of forgiveness1 nor the efficacy of repentance1 nor is he asserting that a penitent soul ever seeks ,god in vain2 but he is declaring that it is too late to cry out for deliverance from consequences of folly when the consequences have us in their grip1 and that wishes for deliverance are vain1 though sighs of repentance are not4 ,we cannot reap where we have not sowed4 ,we must reap what we have4 ,if we are such sluggards that we will 'not plough in winter by reason of the cold1' we shall 'beg in harvest and have nothing4' ,but though the writer had probably only this life in view1 ,jesus ,christ has extended the teaching to the next1 when ,he has told of those who will seek to enter in and not be able4 ,the experience of the fruits of their godlessness will make godless men wish to escape eating the fruits--and that wish shall be vain4 ,it is not for us to enlarge on such words1 but it is for us all to lay them to heart1 and to take heed that we listen now to the beseeching call of the heavenly ,wisdom in its tenderest and noblest form1 as it appeared in ,christ1 the ,incarnate ,word4 ,verses #cb and #cc generalise the preceding promises and warnings in a great antithesis4 ',the backsliding or1 turning away of the simple slays them4' ,there is allusion to ,wisdom's call in verse #bc4 ,the simple had turned1 but in the wrong direction--away from and not towards her4 ,to turn away from heavenly ,wisdom is to set one's face toward destruction4 ,it cannot be too earnestly reiterated that we must make our choice of one of two directions for ourselves--either towards ,god1 to seek whom is life1 to find whom is heaven2 or away from ,him1 to turn our backs on whom is to embrace unrest1 and to be separate from whom is death4 ',the security of fools1' by which is meant1 not their safety1 but their fancy that they are safe1 'destroys them4' ,no man is in such danger as the careless man of the world who thinks that he is all right4 ,a traveller along the edge of a precipice in the night1 who goes on as if he walked a broad road and takes no heed to his footing1 will soon repent his rashness at the bottom1 mangled and bruised4 ,a man who in this changing world fancies that he sits as a king1 and sees no sorrow1 will have a rude wakening4 ,a moment's heed saves hours of pain4 ,the alternative to this suicidal folly is in listening to ,wisdom's call4 ,whoever does that will 'dwell safely1' not in fancied but real security2 and in his quiet heart there need be no unrest from feared evils1 for he will have hold of a charm which turns evils into good1 and with such a guide he cannot go astray1 nor with such a defender be wounded to death1 nor with such a companion ever be solitary4 ,if ,christ be our ,light1 we shall not walk in darkness4 ,if ,he be our ,wisdom1 we shall not err4 ,if ,he be our ,life1 we shall never see death4 ,if ,he is our ,good1 we shall fear no evil4 ,,the ,,secret ,,of ,,well-,,being ',my son1 forget not my law2 but let thine heart keep my commandments4 #b4 ,for length of days1 and long life1 and peace1 shall they add to thee4 #c4 ,let not mercy and truth forsake thee3 bind them about thy neck2 write them upon the table of thine heart3 #d4 ,so shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of ,god and man4 #e4 ,trust in the ,lord with all thine heart2 and lean not unto thine own understanding4 #f4 ,in all thy ways acknowledge ,him1 and ,he shall direct thy paths4 #g4 ,be not wise in thine own eyes3 fear the ,lord1 and depart from evil4 #h4 ,it shall be health to thy navel1 and marrow to thy bones4 #i4 ,honour the ,lord with thy substance1 and with the firstfruits of all thine increase3 #aj4 ,so shall thy barns be filled with plenty1 and thy presses shall burst out with new wine4'--,,proverbs iii4 #a-aj4 ,the first ten verses of this passage form a series of five couplets1 which enforce on the young various phases of goodness by their tendency to secure happiness or blessedness of various sorts4 ,the underlying axiom is that1 in a world ruled by a good ,being1 obedience must lead to well-being2 but while that is in the general true1 exceptions do occur1 and good men do encounter evil times4 ,therefore the glowing promises of these verses are followed by two verses which deal with the explanation of good men's afflictions1 as being results and tokens of ,god's fatherly love4 ,the first couplet is general in character4 ,it inculcates obedience to the precepts of the teacher1 and gives as reason the assurance that thereby long life and peace will be secured4 ,true to the ,old ,testament conception of revelation as a law1 the teacher sets obedience in the forefront4 ,he is sure that his teaching contains the sufficient guide for conduct1 and coincides with the divine will4 ,he calls1 in the first instance1 for inward willing acceptance of ,his commandments2 for it is the heart1 not primarily the hands1 which he desires should 'keep' them4 ,the mother of all graces of conduct is the bowing of the will to divine authority4 ,the will is the man1 and where it ceases to lift itself up in self-sacrificing and self-determining rebellion1 and dissolves into running waters of submission1 these will flow through the life and make it pure4 ,to obey self is sin1 to obey ,god is righteousness4 ,the issues of such obedience are 'length of days 444 and peace4' ,even if we allow for the difference between the ,old and the ,new ,testaments1 it remains true that a life conformed to ,god's will tends to longevity1 and that many forms of sin do shorten men's days4 ,passion and indulged appetites eat away the very flesh1 and many a man's 'bones are full of the sin of his youth4' ,the profligate has usually 'a short life1' whether he succeeds in making it 'merry' or not4 ',peace' is a wide word1 including all well-being4 ,ease-loving ,orientals1 especially when living in warlike times1 naturally used the phrase as a shorthand expression for all good4 ,busy ,westerns1 torn by the distractions and rapid movement of modern life1 echo the sigh for repose which breathes in the word4 ',there is no joy but calm1' and the sure way to deepest peace is to give up self-will and live in obedience4 ,the second couplet deals with our relations to one another1 and puts forward the two virtues of 'loving-kindness and truth'--that is truth1 or faithfulness--as all-inclusive4 ,they are the two which are often jointly ascribed to ,god1 especially in the ,psalms4 ,our attitude to one another should be moulded in ,god's to us all4 ,the tiniest crystal has the same facets and angles as the largest4 ,the giant hexagonal pillars of basalt1 like our ,scottish ,staffa1 are identical in form with the microscopic crystals of the same substance4 ,god is our ,pattern2 goodness is likeness to ,him4 ,these graces are to be bound about the neck1 perhaps as an ornament1 but more probably as a yoke by which the harnessed ox draws its burden4 ,if we have them1 they will fit us to bear one another's burdens1 and will lead to all human duties to our fellows4 ,these graces are also to be written on the 'table of the heart'2 that is1 are to be objects of habitual meditation with aspiration4 ,if so1 they will come to sight in life4 ,he who practises them will 'find favour with ,god and man1' for ,god looks with complacency on those who display the right attitude to men2 and men for the most part treat us as we treat them4 ,there are surly natures which are not won by kindness1 like black tarns among the hills1 that are gloomy even in sunshine1 and requite evil for good2 but the most of men reflect our feelings to them4 ',good understanding' is another result4 ,it is 'found' when it is attributed to us1 so that the expression substantially means that the possessors of these graces will win the reputation of being really wise1 not only in the fallible judgment of men1 but before the pure eyes of the all-seeing ,god4 ,really wise policy coincides with loving-kindness and truth4 ,the remaining couplets refer to our relations to ,god4 ,the ,new ,testament is significantly anticipated in the pre-eminence given to trust2 that is1 faith4 ,nor less significant and profound is the association of self-distrust with trust in the ,lord4 ,the two things are inseparable4 ,they are but the under and upper sides of one thing1 or like the two growths that come from a seed--one striking downwards becomes the root2 one piercing upwards becomes the stalk4 ,the double attitude of trust and distrust finds expression in acknowledging ,him in all our ways2 that is1 ordering our conduct under a constant consciousness of ,his presence1 in accordance with ,his will1 and in dependence on ,his help4 ,such a relation to ,god will certainly1 and with no exceptions1 issue in ,his 'directing our paths1' by which is meant that ,he will be not only our ,guide1 but also our ,roadmaker1 showing us the way and clearing obstacles from it4 ,calm certitude follows on willingness to accept ,god's will1 and whoever seeks only to go where ,god sends him will neither be left doubtful whither he should go1 nor find his road blocked4 ,the fourth couplet is1 in its first part1 in inverted parallelism with the third2 for it begins with self-distrust1 and proceeds thence to 'fear of the ,lord1' which corresponds to1 and is1 in fact1 but one phase of1 trust in ,him4 ,it is the reverent awe which has no torment1 and is then purest when faith is strongest4 ,it necessarily leads to departing from evil4 ,morality has its roots in religion4 ,there is no such magnet to draw men from sin as the happy fear of ,god1 which is likewise faith4 ,whoever separates devoutness from purity of life1 this teacher does not4 ,he knows nothing of religion which permits association with iniquity4 ,such conduct will tend to physical well-being1 and in a deeper sense will secure soundness of life4 ,godlessness is the true sickness4 ,he only is healthy who has a healthy1 because healed1 soul4 ,the fifth couplet appears at first as being a drop to a lower region4 ,a regulation of the ,mosaic law may strike some as out of place here4 ,but it is to be remembered that our modern distinction of ceremonial and moral law was non-existent for ,israel1 and that the command has a wider application than to ,jewish tithes4 ,to 'honour ,god with our substance' is not necessarily to give it away for religious purposes1 but to use it devoutly and as ,he approves4 ,christianity has more to say about the distribution1 as well as the acquisition1 of wealth1 than professing ,christians1 especially in commercial communities1 practically recognise4 ,this precept grips us tight1 and is much more than a ceremonial regulation4 ,many causes besides the devout use of property tend to wealth in our highly artificial state of society4 ,the world tries to get it by shrewdness1 unscrupulousness1 and by many other vices which are elevated to the rank of virtues2 but he who honours the ,lord in getting and spending will generally have as much as his true needs and regulated desires require4 ,,the ,,gifts ,,of ,,heavenly ,,wisdom ',my son1 despise not the chastening of the ,lord2 neither be weary of ,his correction3 #ab4 ,for whom the ,lord loveth ,he correcteth2 even as a father the son in whom he delighteth4 #ac4 ,happy is the man that findeth wisdom1 and the man that getteth understanding4 #ad4 ,for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver1 and the gain thereof than fine gold4 #ae4 ,she is more precious than rubies3 and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her4 #af4 ,length of days is in her right hand2 and in her left hand riches and honour4 #ag4 ,her ways are ways of pleasantness1 and all her paths are peace4 #ah4 ,she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her3 and happy is every one that retaineth her4 #ai4 ,the ,lord by wisdom hath founded the earth2 by understanding hath ,he established the heavens4 #bj4 ,by ,his knowledge the depths are broken up1 and the clouds drop down the dew4 #ba4 ,my son1 let not them depart from thine eyes3 keep sound wisdom and discretion3 #bb4 ,so shall they be life unto thy soul1 and grace to thy neck4 #bc4 ,then shalt thou walk in thy way safely1 and thy foot shall not stumble4 #bd4 ,when thou liest down1 thou shalt not be afraid3 yea1 thou shalt lie down1 and thy sleep shall be sweet4'--,,proverbs iii4 #aa-bd4 ,the repetition of the words 'my son' at the beginning of this passage marks a new section1 which extends to verse #bj1 inclusively1 another section being similarly marked as commencing in verse #ba4 ,the fatherly counsels of these early chapters are largely reiterations of the same ideas1 being line upon line4 ',to write the same things to you1 to me indeed is not grievous1 but for you it is safe4' ,many strokes drive the nail home4 ,exhortations to get ,wisdom1 based upon the blessings she brings1 are the staple of the whole4 ,if we look carefully at the section 7vers4 #aa-bj71 we find in it a central core 7vers4 #ac-ah71 setting forth the blessings which ,wisdom gives1 preceded by two verses1 inculcating the right acceptance of ,god's chastisements which are one chief means of attaining ,wisdom1 and followed by two verses 7vers4 #ai1 #bj71 which exalt her as being divine as well as human4 ,so the portraiture of her working in humanity is framed by a prologue and epilogue1 setting forth two aspects of her relation to ,god2 namely1 that she is imparted by ,him through the discipline of trouble1 and that she dwells in ,his bosom and is the agent of ,his creative work4 ,the prologue1 then1 points to sorrow and trouble1 rightly accepted1 as one chief means by which we acquire heavenly ,wisdom4 ,note the profound insight into the meaning of sorrows4 ,they are 'instruction' and 'reproof4' ,the thought of the ,book of ,job is here fully incorporated and assimilated4 ,griefs and pains are not tokens of anger1 nor punishments of sin1 but love-gifts meant to help to the acquisition of wisdom4 ,they do not come because the sufferers are wicked1 but in order to make them good or better4 ,tempests are meant to blow us into port4 ,the lights are lowered in the theatre that fairer scenes may become visible on the thin screen between us and eternity4 ,other supports are struck away that we may lean hard on ,god4 ,the voice of all experience of earthly loss and bitterness is1 ',wisdom is the principal thing2 therefore get ,wisdom4' ,god himself becomes our ,schoolmaster1 and through the voice of the human teacher we hear ,his deeper tones saying1 ',my son1 despise not the chastening4' ,note1 too1 the assurance that all discipline is the fruit of ,fatherly love4 ,how many sad hearts in all ages these few words have calmed and braced6 ,how sharp a test of our childlike spirit our acceptance of them1 when our own hearts are sore1 is6 ,how deep the peace which they bring when really believed6 ,how far they go to solve the mystery of pain1 and turn darkness into a solemn light6 ,note1 further1 that the words 'despise' and 'be weary' both imply rather rejection with loathing1 and thus express unsubmissive impatience which gets no good from discipline4 ,the beautiful rendering of the ,septuagint1 which has been made familiar by its adoption in ,hebrews1 makes the two words express two opposite faults4 ,they 'despise' who steel their wills against the rod1 and make as if they did not feel the pain2 they 'faint' who collapse beneath the blows1 which they feel so much that they lose sight of their purpose4 ,dogged insensibility and utter prostration are equally harmful4 ,he who meets life's teachings1 which are a ,father's correction1 with either1 has little prospect of getting ,wisdom4 ,then follows the main part of this section 7vers4 #ac-ah71--the praise of ,wisdom as in herself most precious1 and as bestowing highest good4 ',the man that findeth ,wisdom' reminds us of the peasant in ,christ's parable1 who found treasure hidden in a field1 and the 'merchandise' in verse #ad1 of the trader seeking goodly pearls4 ,but the finding in verse #ac is not like the rustic's in the parable1 who was seeking nothing when a chance stroke of his plough or kick of his heel laid bare the glittering gold4 ,it is the finding which rewards seeking4 ,the figure of acquiring by trading1 like that of the pearl-merchant in the companion parable1 implies pains1 effort1 willingness to part with something in order to attain4 ,the nature of the price is not here in question4 ,we know who has said1 ',i counsel thee to buy of ,me gold tried in the fire4' ,we buy heavenly ,wisdom when we surrender ourselves4 ,the price is desire to possess1 and willingness to accept as an undeserved1 unearned gift4 ,but that does not come into view in our lesson4 ,only this is strongly put in it--that this heavenly ,wisdom outshines all jewels1 outweighs all wealth1 and is indeed the only true riches4 ',rubies' is probably rather to be taken as 'corals1' which seem to have been very highly prized by the ,jews1 and1 no doubt1 found their way to them from the ,indian ,ocean via the ,red ,sea4 ,the word rendered 'things thou canst desire' is better taken as meaning 'jewels4' ,this noble and conclusive depreciation of material wealth in comparison with ,wisdom1 which is not merely intellectual1 but rests on the fear of the ,lord1 and is goodness as well as understanding1 never needed preaching with more emphasis than in our day1 when more and more the commercial spirit invades every region of life1 and rich men are the aristocrats and envied types of success4 ,when will ,england and ,america believe the religion which they profess1 and adjust their estimates of the best things accordingly8 ,how many so-called ,christian parents would think their son mad if he said1 ',i do not care about getting rich2 my goal is to be wise with ,god's ,wisdom'8 ,how few of us order our lives on the footing of this old teacher's lesson1 and act out the belief that ,wisdom is more than wealth6 ,the man who heaps millions together1 and masses it1 fails in life1 however a vulgar world and a nominal church may admire and glorify him4 ,the man who wins ,wisdom succeeds1 however bare may be his cupboard1 and however people may pity him for having failed in life1 because he has not drawn prizes in the ,devil's lottery4 ,his blank is a prize1 and their prizes are blanks4 ,this decisive subordination of material to spiritual good is too plainly duty and common sense to need being dwelt upon2 but1 alas6 like a great many other most obvious1 accepted truths1 it is disregarded as universally as believed4 ,the inseparable accompaniments of ,wisdom are next eloquently described4 ,the picture is the poetical clothing of the idea that all material good will come to him who despises it all and clasps ,wisdom to his heart4 ,some things flow from ,wisdom possessed as usual consequences2 some are inseparable from her4 ,the gift in her right hand is length of days2 that in her left1 which1 by its position1 is suggested as inferior to the former1 is wealth and honour--two goods which will attend the long life4 ,no doubt such promises are to be taken with limitations2 but there need be no doubt that1 on the whole1 loyal devotion to and real possession of heavenly ,wisdom do tend in the direction of lengthening lives1 which are by it delivered from vices and anxieties which cut many a career short1 and of gathering round silver hairs reverence and troops of friends4 ,these are the usual consequences1 and may be fairly brought into view as secondary encouragements to seek ,wisdom4 ,but if she is sought for the sake of getting these attendant blessings1 she will not be found4 ,she must be loved for herself1 not for her dowry1 or she will not be won4 ,at the same time1 the overstrained and fantastic morality1 which stigmatises regard to the blessed results of a religious life as selfishness1 finds no support in ,scripture1 as it has none in common sense4 ,would there were more of such selfishness6 ,sometimes ,wisdom's hands do not hold these outward gifts4 ,but the connection between her and the next blessings spoken of is inseparable4 ,her ways are pleasantness and peace4 ',in keeping'--not for keeping--'her commandments is great reward4' ,inward delight and deep tranquillity of heart attend every step taken in obedience to ,wisdom4 ,the course of conduct so prescribed will often involve painful crucifying of the lower nature1 but its pleasure far outweighs its pain4 ,it will often be strewn with sharp flints1 or may even have red-hot ploughshares laid on it1 as in old ordeal trials2 but still it will be pleasant to the true self4 ,sin is a blunder as well as a crime1 and enlightened self-interest would point out the same course as the highest law of ,wisdom4 ,in reality1 duty and delight are co-extensive4 ,they are two names for one thing--one taken from consideration of its obligation2 the other1 from observation of its issues4 ',calm pleasures there abide4' ,the only complete peace1 which fills and quiets the whole man1 comes from obeying ,wisdom1 or what is the same thing1 from following ,christ4 ,there is no other way of bringing all our nature into accord with itself1 ending the war between conscience and inclination1 between flesh and spirit4 ,there is no other way of bringing us into amity with all circumstances1 so that fortunate or adverse shall be recognised as good1 and nothing be able to agitate us very much4 ,peace with ourselves1 the world1 and ,god1 is always the consequence of listening to ,wisdom4 ,the whole fair picture is summed up in verse #ah3 ',she is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her4' ,this is a distinct allusion to the narrative of ,genesis4 ,the flaming sword of the cherub guard is sheathed1 and access to the tree1 which gives immortal life to those who eat1 is open to us4 ,mark how that great word 'life' is here gathering to itself at least the beginnings of higher conceptions than those of simple existence4 ,it is swelling like a bud1 and preparing to open and disclose the perfect flower1 the life which stands in the knowledge of ,god and the ,christ whom ,he has sent4 ,jesus1 the incarnate ,wisdom1 is ,himself 'the ,tree of ,life in the midst of the paradise of ,god4' ,the condition of access to it is 'laying hold' by the outstretched hand of faith1 and keeping hold with holy obstinacy of grip1 in spite of all temptations to slack our grasp4 ,that retaining is the condition of true blessedness4 ,verses #ai and #bj invest the idea of ,wisdom with still loftier sublimity1 since they declare that it is an attribute of ,god ,himself by which creation came into being4 ,the meaning of the writer is inadequately grasped if we take it to be only that creation shows ,god's ,wisdom4 ,this personified ,wisdom dwells with ,god1 is the agent of creation1 comes with invitations to men1 may be possessed by them1 and showers blessings on them4 ,the planet ,neptune was divined before it was discovered1 by reason of perturbations in the movements of the exterior members of the system1 unaccountable unless some great globe of light1 hitherto unseen1 were swaying them in their orbits4 ,do we not see here like influence streaming from the unrisen light of ,christ8 ,personification prepares for ,incarnation4 ,there is ,one who has been with the ,father from the beginning1 by whom all things came into being1 whose voice sounds to all1 who is the ,tree of ,life1 whom we may all possess1 and with whose own peace we may be peaceful and blessed for evermore4 ,verses #ba-bd belong to the next section of the great discourse or hymn4 ,they add little to the preceding4 ,but we may observe the earnest exhortation to let wisdom and understanding be ever in sight4 ,eyes are apt to stray and clouds to hide the sun4 ,effort is needed to counteract the tendency to slide out of consciousness1 which our weakness imposes on the most certain and important truths4 ,a ,wisdom which we do not think about is as good or as bad as non-existent for us4 ,one prime condition of healthy spiritual life is the habit of meditation1 thereby renewing our gaze upon the facts of ,god's revelation and the bearing of these on our conduct4 ,the blessings flowing from ,wisdom are again dilated on1 from a somewhat different point of view4 ,she is the giver of life4 ,and then she adorns the life she gives4 ,one has seen homely faces so refined and glorified by the fair soul that shone through them as to be1 'as it were1 the face of an angel4' ,gracefulness should be the outward token of inward grace4 ,some good people forget that they are bound to 'adorn the doctrine4' ,but they who have drunk most deeply of the fountain of ,wisdom will find that1 like the fabled spring1 its waters confer strange loveliness4 ,lives spent in communion with ,jesus will be lovely1 however homely their surroundings1 and however vulgar eyes1 taught only to admire staring colours1 may find them dull4 ,the world saw 'no beauty that they should desire ,him1' in ,him whom holy souls and heavenly angels and the divine ,father deemed 'fairer than the sons of men'6 ,safety and firm footing in active life will be ours if we walk in ,wisdom's ways4 ,he who follows ,christ's footsteps will tread surely1 and not fear foes4 ,quiet repose in hours of rest will be his4 ,a day filled with happy service will be followed by a night full of calm slumber1 ',whether we sleep or wake1 we live' with ,him2 and1 if we do both1 sleeping and waking will be blessed1 and our lives will move on gently to the time when days and nights shall melt into one1 and there will be no need for repose2 for there will be no work that wearies and no hands that droop4 ,the last lying down in the grave will be attended with no terrors4 ,the last sleep there shall be sweet2 for it will really be awaking to the full possession of the personal ,wisdom1 who is our ,christ1 our ,life in death1 our ,heaven in heaven4 ,,the ,,two ,,paths ',hear1 ,o my son1 and receive my sayings2 and the years of thy life shall be many4 #aa4 ,i have taught thee in the way of wisdom2 ,i have led thee in right paths4 #ab4 ,when thou goest1 thy steps shall not be straitened2 and when thou runnest1 thou shalt not stumble4 #ac4 ,take fast hold of instruction2 let her not go3 keep her2 for she is thy life4 #ad4 ,enter not into the path of the wicked1 and go not in the way of evil men4 #ae4 ,avoid it1 pass not by it1 turn from it1 and pass away4 #af4 ,for they sleep not1 except they have done mischief2 and their sleep is taken away1 unless they cause some to fall4 #ag4 ,for they eat the bread of wickedness1 and drink the wine of violence4 #ah4 ,but the path of the just is as the shining light1 that shineth more and more unto the perfect day4 #ai4 ,the way of the wicked is as darkness2 they know not at what they stumble4'--,,proverbs iv4 #aj-ai4 ,this passage includes much more than temperance or any other single virtue4 ,it is a perfectly general exhortation to that practical wisdom which walks in the path of righteousness4 ,the principles laid down here are true in regard to drunkenness and abstinence1 but they are intended to receive a wider application1 and to that wider application we must first look4 ,the theme is the old1 familiar one of the two paths1 and the aim is to recommend the better way by setting forth the contrasted effects of walking in it and in the other4 ,the general call to listen in verse #aj is characteristically enforced by the ,old ,testament assurance that obedience prolongs life4 ,that is a ,new ,testament truth as well2 for there is nothing more certain than that a life in conformity with ,god's will1 which is the same thing as a life in conformity with physical laws1 tends to longevity4 ,the experience of any doctor will show that4 ,here in ,england we have statistics which prove that total abstainers are a long-lived people1 and some insurance offices construct their tables accordingly4 ,after that general call to listen comes1 in verse #aa1 the description of the path in which long life is to be found4 ,it is 'the way of ,wisdom'--that is1 that which ,wisdom prescribes1 and in which therefore it is wise to walk4 ,it is always foolish to do wrong4 ,the rough title of an old play is ,the ,devil is an ,ass1 and if that is not true about him1 it is absolutely true about those who listen to his lies4 ,sin is the stupidest thing in the universe1 for it ignores the plainest facts1 and never gets what it flings away so much to secure4 ,another aspect of the path is presented in the designation 'paths of uprightness1' which seems to be equivalent to those which belong to1 or perhaps which consist of1 uprightness4 ,the idea of straightness or evenness is the primary meaning of the word1 and is1 of course1 appropriate to the image of a path4 ,in the moral view1 it suggests how much more simple and easy a course of rectitude is than one of sin4 ,the one goes straight and unswerving to its end2 the other is crooked1 devious1 intricate1 and wanders from the true goal4 ,a crooked road is a long road1 and an up-and-down road is a tiring road4 ,wisdom's way is straight1 level1 and steadily approaches its aim4 ,in verse #ac the image of the path is dropped for the moment1 and the picture of the way of uprightness and its travellers is translated into the plain exhortation to keep fast hold of 'instruction1' which is substantially equivalent to the queenly ,wisdom of these early chapters of ,proverbs4 ,the earnestness of the repeated exhortations implies the strength of the forces that tend to sweep us1 especially those of us who are young1 from our grasp of that ,wisdom4 ,hands become slack1 and many a good gift drops from nerveless fingers2 thieves abound who will filch away 'instruction1' if we do not resolutely hold tight by it4 ,who would walk through the slums of a city holding jewels with a careless grasp1 and never looking at them8 ,how many would he have left if he did8 ,we do not need to do anything to lose instruction4 ,if we will only do nothing to keep it1 the world and our own hearts will make sure that we lose it4 ,and if we lose it1 we lose ourselves2 for 'she is thy life1' and the mere bodily life1 that is lived without her1 is not worth calling the life of a man4 ,verses #ad to #ag give the picture of the other path1 in terrible contrast with the preceding4 ,it is noteworthy that1 while in the former the designation was the 'path of uprightness' or of 'wisdom1' and the description therefore was mainly of the characteristics of the path1 here the designation is 'the path of the wicked1' and the description is mainly of the travellers on it4 ,righteousness was dealt with1 as it were1 in the abstract2 but wickedness is too awful and dark to be painted thus1 and is only set forth in the concrete1 as seen in its doers4 ,now1 it is significant that the first exhortation here is of a negative character4 ,in contrast with the reiterated exhortations to keep wisdom1 here are reiterated counsels to steer clear of evil4 ,it is all about us1 and we have to make a strong effort to keep it at arm's-length4 ',whom resist' is imperative4 ,true1 negative virtue is incomplete1 but there will be no positive virtue without it4 ,we must be accustomed to say ',no1' or we shall come to little good4 ,an outer belt of firs is sometimes planted round a centre of more tender and valuable wood to shelter the young trees2 so we have to make a fence of abstinences round our plantation of positive virtues4 ,the decalogue is mostly prohibitions4 ',so did not ,i1 because of the fear of ,god' must be our motto4 ,in this light1 entire abstinence from intoxicants is seen to be part of the 'way of ,wisdom4' ,it is one1 and1 in the present state of ,england and ,america1 perhaps the most important1 of the ways by which we can 'turn from' the path of the wicked and 'pass on4' ,the picture of the wicked in verses #af and #ag is that of very grossly criminal sinners4 ,they are only content when they have done harm1 and delight in making others as bad as themselves4 ,but1 diabolical as such a disposition is1 one sees it only too often in full operation4 ,how many a drunkard or impure man finds a fiendish pleasure in getting hold of some innocent lad1 and 'putting him up to a thing or two1' which means teaching him the vices from which the teacher has ceased to get much pleasure1 and which he has to spice with the condiment of seeing an unaccustomed sinner's eagerness6 ,such people infest our streets1 and there is only one way for a young man to be safe from them1--'avoid1 pass not by1 turn from1 and pass on4' ,the reference to 'bread' and 'wine' in verse #ag seems simply to mean that the wicked men's living is won by their 'wickedness1' which procures bread1 and by their 'violence1' which brings them wine4 ,it is the way by which these are obtained that is culpable4 ,we may contrast this foul source of a degraded living with verse #ac1 where 'instruction' is set forth as 'the life' of the upright4 ,verses #ah and #ai bring more closely together the two paths1 and set them in final1 forcible contrast4 ,the phrase 'the perfect day' might be rendered1 vividly though clumsily1 'the steady of the day'--that is1 noon1 when the sun seems to stand still in the meridian4 ,so the image compares the path of the just to the growing brightness of morning dawn1 becoming more and more fervid and lustrous1 till the climax of an ,eastern midday4 ,no more sublime figure of the continuous progress in goodness1 brightness1 and joy1 which is the best reward of walking in the paths of uprightness1 can be imagined2 and it is as true as it is sublime4 ,blessed they who in the morning of their days begin to walk in the way of wisdom2 for1 in most cases1 years will strengthen their uprightness1 and to that progress there will be no termination1 nor will the midday sun have to decline westward to diminishing splendour or dismal setting1 but that noontide glory will be enhanced1 and made eternal in a new heaven4 ,the brighter the light1 the darker the shadow4 ,that blaze of growing glory1 possible for us all1 makes the tragic gloom to which evil men condemn themselves the thicker and more doleful1 as some dungeon in an ,eastern prison seems pitch dark to one coming in from the blaze outside4 ',how great is that darkness6' ,it is the darkness of sin1 of ignorance1 of sorrow1 and what adds deeper gloom to it is that every soul that sits in that shadow of death might have been shining1 a sun1 in the spacious heaven of ,god's love4 ,,monotony ,,and ,,crises ',when thou goest1 thy steps shall not be straitened2 and when thou runnest1 thou shalt not stumble4'--,,proverbs iv4 #ab4 ,the old metaphor likening life to a path has many felicities in it4 ,it suggests constant change1 it suggests continuous progress in one direction1 and that all our days are linked together1 and are not isolated fragments2 and it suggests an aim and an end4 ,so we find it perpetually in this ,book of ,proverbs4 ,here the 'way' has a specific designation1 'the way of ,wisdom'--that is to say1 the way which ,wisdom teaches1 and the way on which ,wisdom accompanies us1 and the way which leads to ,wisdom4 ,now1 these two clauses of my text are not merely an instance of the peculiar feature of ,hebrew poetry called parallelism1 in which two clauses1 substantially the same1 occur1 but with a little pleasing difference4 ',when thou goest'--that is1 the monotonous tramp1 tramp1 tramp of slow walking along the path of an uneventful daily life1 the humdrum 'one foot up and another foot down' which makes the most of our days4 ',when thou runnest'--that points to the crises1 the sudden spurts1 the necessarily brief bursts of more than usual energy and effort and difficulty4 ,and about both of them1 the humdrum and the exciting1 the monotonous and the startling1 the promise comes that if we walk in the path of ,wisdom we shall not get disgusted with the one and we shall not be overwhelmed by the other4 ',when thou walkest1 thy steps shall not be straitened2 when thou runnest1 thou shalt not stumble4' ,but before ,i deal with these two clauses specifically1 let me recall to you the condition1 and the sole condition1 upon which either of them can be fulfilled in our daily lives4 ,the book from which my text is taken is probably one of the very latest in the ,old ,testament1 and you catch in it a very significant and marvellous development of the ,old ,testament thought4 ,for there rises up1 out of these early chapters of the ,book of ,proverbs1 that august and serene figure of the queenly ,wisdom1 which is more than a personification and is less than a person and a prophecy4 ,it means more than the wise man that spoke it saw2 it means for us ,christ1 'the ,power of ,god and the ,wisdom of ,god4' ,and so instead of keeping ourselves merely to the word of the ,book of ,proverbs1 we must grasp the thing that shines through the word1 and realise that the writer's visions can only become realities when the serene and august ,wisdom that he saw shimmering through the darkness took to itself a human ,form1 and 'the ,word became flesh1 and dwelt among us4' ,with that heightening of the meaning of the phrase1 'the path of ,wisdom' assumes a heightened meaning too1 for it is the path of the personal ,wisdom1 the ,incarnate ,wisdom1 ,christ ,himself4 ,and what does it then come to be to obey this command to walk in the way of ,wisdom8 ,put it into three sentences4 ,let the ,christ who is not only wise1 but ,wisdom1 choose your path1 and be sure that by the submission of your will all your paths are ,his1 and not only yours4 ,make ,his path yours by following in ,his steps1 and do in your place what you think ,christ would have done if ,he had been there4 ,keep company with ,him on the road4 ,if we will do these three things--if we will say to ,him1 ',lord1 when ,thou sayest go1 ,i go2 when ,thou biddest me come1 ,i come2 ,i am ,thy slave1 and ,i rejoice in the bondage more than in all licentious liberty1 and what ,thou biddest me do1 ,i do'--if you will further say1 ',as ,thou art1 so am ,i in the world'--and if you will further say1 ',leave me not alone1 and let me cling to ,thee on the road1 as a little child holds on by her mother's skirt or her father's hand1' then1 and only then1 will you walk in the path of ,wisdom4 ,now1 then1 these three things--submission of will1 conformity of conduct1 closeness of companionship--these three things being understood1 let us look for a moment at the blessings that this text promises1 and first at the promise for long uneventful stretches of our daily life4 ,that1 of course1 is mainly the largest proportion of all our lives4 ,perhaps nine-tenths at least of all our days and years fall under the terms of this first promise1 ',when thou walkest4' ,for many miles there comes nothing particular1 nothing at all exciting1 nothing new1 nothing to break the plod1 plod1 plod along the road4 ,everything is as it was yesterday1 and the day before that1 and as it will be to-morrow1 and the day after that1 in all probability4 ',the trivial round1 the common task' make up by far the largest percentage of our lives4 ,it is as in wine1 the immense proportion of it is nothing but water1 and only a small proportion of alcohol is diffused through the great mass of the tamer liquid4 ,now1 then1 if ,jesus ,christ is not to help us in the monotony of our daily lives1 what1 in the name of common sense1 is ,his help good for8 ,if it is not true that ,he will be with us1 not only in the moments of crisis1 but in the long commonplace hours1 we may as well have no ,christ at all1 for all that ,i can see4 ,unless the trivial is ,his field1 there is very little field for ,him1 in your life or mine4 ,and so it should come to all of us who have to take up this daily burden of small1 monotonous1 constantly recurring1 and therefore often wearisome1 duties1 as even a more blessed promise than the other one1 that 'when thou walkest1 thy steps shall not be straitened4' ,i remember hearing of a man that got so disgusted with having to dress and undress himself every day that he committed suicide to escape from the necessity4 ,that is a very extreme form of the feeling that comes over us all sometimes1 when we wake in a morning and look before us along the stretch of dead level1 which is a great deal more wearisome when it lasts long than are the cheerful vicissitudes of up hill and down dale4 ,we all know the deadening influence of a habit4 ,we all know the sense of disgust that comes over us at times1 and of utter weariness1 just because we have been doing the same things day after day for so long4 ,i know only one infallible way of preventing the common from becoming commonplace1 of preventing the small from becoming trivial1 of preventing the familiar from becoming contemptible1 and it is to link it all to ,jesus ,christ1 and to say1 ',for ,thy sake1 and unto ,thee1 ,i do this'2 then1 not only will the rough places become plain1 and the crooked things straight1 and not only will the mountains be brought low1 but the valleys of the commonplace will be exalted4 ',thy steps shall not be straitened4' ',i will make his feet as hind's feet1' says one of the old prophets4 ,what a picture of light1 buoyant1 graceful movement that is6 ,and each of us may have that1 instead of the grind1 grind1 grind6 tramp1 tramp1 tramp6 along the level and commonplace road of our daily lives1 if we will4 ,walk in the path of ,christ1 with ,christ1 towards ,christ1 and 'thy steps shall not be straitened4' ,now1 there is another aspect of this same promise--viz4 if we thus are in the path of ,incarnate ,wisdom1 we shall not feel the restrictions of the road to be restraints4 ',thy steps shall not be straitened'2 although there is a wall on either side1 and the road is the narrow way that leads to life1 it is broad enough for the sober man1 because he goes in a straight line1 and does not need half the road to roll about in4 ,the limits which love imposes1 and the limits which love accepts1 are not narrowing4 ',i will walk at liberty1 for--,i do as ,i like4' ,no6 that is slavery2 but1 ',i will walk at liberty1 for ,i keep ,thy precepts'2 and ,i do not want to go vagrantising at large1 but limit myself thankfully to the way which ,thou dost mark out4 ',thy steps shall not be straitened4' ,so much for the first of these promises4 ,now what about the other one8 ',when thou runnest1 thou shalt not stumble4' ,as ,i have said1 the former promise applies to the hours and the years of life4 ,the latter applies to but a few moments of each man's life4 ,cast your thoughts back over your own days1 and however changeful1 eventful1 perhaps adventurous1 and as we people call it1 romantic1 some parts of our lives may have been1 yet for all that you can put the turning-points1 the crises that have called for great efforts1 and the gathering of yourselves up1 and the calling forth of all your powers to do and to dare1 you can put them all inside of a week1 in most cases4 ',when thou runnest1 thou shalt not stumble4' ,the greater the speed1 the greater the risk of stumbling over some obstacle in the way4 ,we all know how many men there are that do very well in the uneventful commonplaces of life1 but bring them face to face with some great difficulty or some great trial1 and there is a dismal failure4 ,jesus ,christ is ready to make us fit for anything in the way of difficulty1 in the way of trial1 that can come storming upon us from out of the dark4 ,and ,he will make us so fit if we follow the injunctions to which ,i have already been referring4 ,without ,his help it is almost certain that when we have to run1 our ankles will give1 or there will be a stone in the road that we never thought of1 and the excitement will sweep us away from principle1 and we shall lose our hold on ,him2 and then it is all up with us4 ,there is a wonderful saying in one of the prophets1 which uses this same metaphor of my text with a difference1 where it speaks of the divine guidance of ,israel as being like that of a horse in the wilderness4 ,fancy the poor1 nervous1 tremulous creature trying to keep its footing upon the smooth granite slabs of ,sinai4 ,travellers dare not take their horses on mountain journeys1 because they are highly nervous and are not sure-footed enough4 ,and1 so says the old prophet1 that gracious ,hand will be laid on the bridle1 and hold the nervous creature's head up as it goes sliding over the slippery rocks1 and so ,he will bring it down to rest in the valley4 ',now unto ,him that is able to keep us from stumbling1' as is the true rendering1 'and to present us faultless 444 be glory4' ,trust ,him1 keep near ,him1 let ,him choose your way1 and try to be like ,him in it2 and whatever great occasions may arise in your lives1 either of sorrow or of duty1 you will be equal to them4 ,but remember the virtue that comes out victorious in the crisis must have been nourished and cultivated in the humdrum moments4 ,for it is no time to make one's first acquaintance with ,jesus ,christ when the eyeballs of some ravenous wild beast are staring into ours1 and its mouth is open to swallow us4 ,unless ,he has kept our feet from being straitened in the quiet walk1 ,he will not be able to keep us from stumbling in the vehement run4 ,one word more4 ,this same distinction is drawn by one of the prophets1 who adds another clause to it4 ,isaiah1 or the author of the second portion of the book which goes by his name1 puts in wonderful connection the two thoughts of my text with analogous thoughts in regard to ,god1 when he says1 ',hast thou not known1 hast thou not heard1 that the everlasting ,god1 the ,lord1 the ,creator of the ends of the earth1 fainteth not1 neither is weary8' and immediately goes on to say1 ',they that wait on the ,lord shall renew their strength4 ,they shall run and not be weary1 they shall walk and not faint4' ,so it is from ,god1 the unfainting and the unwearied1 that the strength comes which makes our steps buoyant with energy amidst the commonplace1 and steadfast and established at the crises of our lives4 ,but before these two great promises is put another one3 ',they shall mount up with wings as eagles1' and therefore both the other become possible4 ,that is to say1 fellowship with ,god in the heavens1 which is made possible on earth by communion with ,christ1 is the condition both of the unwearied running and of unfainting walking4 ,if we will keep in the path of ,christ1 ,he will take care of the commonplace dreary tracts and of the brief moments of strain and effort1 and will bring us at last where ,he has gone1 if1 looking unto ,him1 we 'run with patience the race1' and walk with cheerfulness the road1 'that is set before us4' ,,from ,,dawn ,,to ,,noon ',the path of the just is as the shining light1 that shineth more and more unto the perfect day4'--,,proverbs iv4 #ah4 ',then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father4--,,matt4 xiii4 #dc4 ,the metaphor common to both these texts is not infrequent throughout ,scripture4 ,in one of the oldest parts of the ,old ,testament1 ,deborah's triumphal song1 we find1 ',let all them that love ,thee be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might4' ,in one of the latest parts of the ,old ,testament1 ,daniel's prophecy1 we read1 ',they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament2 and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever4' ,then in the ,new ,testament we have ,christ's comparison of ,his servants to light1 and the great promise which ,i have read as my second text4 ,the upshot of them all is this--the most radiant thing on earth is the character of a good man4 ,the world calls men of genius and intellectual force its lights4 ,the divine estimate1 which is the true one1 confers the name on righteousness4 ,but my first text follows out another analogy2 not only brightness1 but progressive brightness1 is the characteristic of the righteous man4 ,we are to think of the strong ,eastern sun1 whose blinding light steadily increases till the noontide4 ',the perfect day' is a somewhat unfortunate translation4 ,what is meant is the point of time at which the day culminates1 and for a moment1 the sun seems to stand steady1 up in those southern lands1 in the very zenith1 raying down 'the arrows that fly by noonday4' ,the text does not go any further1 it does not talk about the sad diminution of the afternoon4 ,the parallel does not hold2 though1 if we consult appearance and sense alone1 it seems to hold only too well4 ,for1 sadder than the setting of the suns1 which rise again to-morrow1 is the sinking into darkness of death1 from which there seems to be no emerging4 ,but my second text comes in to tell us that death is but as the shadow of eclipse which passes1 and with it pass obscuring clouds and envious mists1 and 'then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in their ,heavenly ,father's kingdom4' ,and so the two texts speak to us of the progressive brightness1 and the ultimate1 which is also the progressive1 radiance of the righteous4 ,i4 ,in looking at them together1 then1 ,i would notice1 first1 what a ,christian life is meant to be4 ,i must not linger on the lovely thoughts that are suggested by that attractive metaphor of life4 ,it must be enough1 for our present purpose1 to say that the light of the ,christian life1 like its type in the heavens1 may be analysed into three beams--purity1 knowledge1 blessedness4 ,and these three1 blended together1 make the pure whiteness of a ,christian soul4 ,but what ,i wish rather to dwell upon is the other thought1 the intention that every ,christian life should be a life of increasing lustre1 uninterrupted1 and the natural result of increasing communion with1 and conformity to1 the very fountain itself of heavenly radiance4 ,remember how emphatically1 in all sorts of ways1 progress is laid down in ,scripture as the mark of a religious life4 ,there is the emblem of my text4 ,there is our ,lord's beautiful one of vegetable growth3 ',first the blade1 then the ear1 then the full corn in the ear4' ,there is the other metaphor of the stages of human life1 'babes in ,christ1' young men in ,him1 old men and fathers4 ,there is the metaphor of the growth of the body4 ,there is the metaphor of the gradual building up of a structure4 ,we are to 'edify ourselves together1' and to 'build ourselves up on our most holy faith4' ,there is the other emblem of a race--continual advance as the result of continual exertion1 and the use of the powers bestowed upon us4 ,and so in all these ways1 and in many others that ,i need not now touch upon1 ,scripture lays it down as a rule that life in the highest region1 like life in the lowest1 is marked by continual growth4 ,it is so in regard to all other things4 ,continuity in any kind of practice gives increasing power in the art4 ,the artisan1 the blacksmith with his hammer1 the skilled artificer at his trade1 the student at his subject1 the good man in his course of life1 and the bad man in his1 do equally show that use becomes second nature4 ,and so1 in passing1 let me say what incalculable importance there is in our getting habit1 with all its mystical power to mould life1 on the side of righteousness1 and of becoming accustomed to do good1 and so being unfamiliar with evil4 ,let me remind you1 too1 how this intention of continuous growth is marked by the gifts that are bestowed upon us in ,jesus ,christ4 ,he gives us--and it is by no means the least of the gifts that ,he bestows--an absolutely unattainable aim as the object of our efforts4 ,for ,he bids us not only be 'perfect1 as our ,father in ,heaven is perfect1' but ,he bids us be entirely conformed to ,his own ,self4 ,the misery of men is that they pursue aims so narrow and so shabby that they can be attained1 and are therefore left behind1 to sink hull down on the backward horizon4 ,but to have before us an aim which is absolutely unreachable1 instead of being1 as ignorant people say1 an occasion of despair and of idleness1 is1 on the contrary1 the very salt of life4 ,it keeps us young1 it makes hope immortal1 it emancipates from lower pursuits1 it diminishes the weight of sorrows1 it administers an anaesthetic to every pain4 ,if you want to keep life fresh1 seek for that which you can never fully find4 ,christ gives us infinite powers to reach that unattainable aim1 for ,he gives us access to all ,his own fullness1 and there is more in ,his storehouses than we can ever take1 not to say more than we can ever hope to exhaust4 ,and therefore1 because of the aim that is set before us1 and because of the powers that are bestowed upon us to reach it1 there is stamped upon every ,christian life unmistakably as ,god's purpose and ideal concerning it1 that it should for ever and for ever be growing nearer and nearer1 as some ascending spiral that ever circles closer and closer1 and yet never absolutely unites with the great central ,perfection which is ,himself4 ,so1 brethren1 for every one of us1 if we are ,christian people at all1 'this is the will of ,god1 even your perfection4' ,,ii4 ,consider the sad contrast of too many ,christian lives4 ,i would not speak in terms that might seem to be reproach and scolding4 ,the matter is far too serious1 the disease far too widespread1 to need or to warrant any exaggeration4 ,but1 dear brethren1 there are many so-called and1 in a fashion1 really ,christian people to whom ,christ and ,his work are mainly1 if not exclusively1 the means of escaping the consequences of sin--a kind of 'fire-escape4' ,and to very many it comes as a new thought1 in so far as their practical lives are concerned1 that these ought to be lives of steadily increasing deliverance from the love and the power of sin1 and steadily increasing appropriation and manifestation of ,christ's granted righteousness4 ,there are1 ,i think1 many of us from whom the very notion of progress has faded away4 ,i am sure there are some of us who were a great deal farther on on the path of the ,christian life years ago1 when we first felt that ,christ was anything to us1 than we are to-day4 ',when for the time ye ought to be teachers1 ye have need that one teach you which be the first principles of the oracles of ,god4' ,there is an old saying of one of the prophets that a child would die a hundred years old1 which in a very sad sense is true about very many folk within the pale of the ,christian ,church who are seventy-year-old babes still1 and will die so4 ,suns 'growing brighter and brighter until the noonday6' ,ah6 there are many of us who are a great deal more like those strange variable stars that sometimes burst out in the heavens into a great blaze1 that brings them up to the brightness of stars of the first magnitude1 for a day or two2 and then they dwindle until they become little specks of light that the telescope can hardly see4 ,and there are hosts of us who are instances1 if not of arrested1 at any rate of unsymmetrical1 development4 ,the head1 perhaps1 is cultivated2 the intellectual apprehension of ,christianity increases1 while the emotional1 and the moral1 and the practical part of it are all neglected4 ,or the converse may be the case2 and we may be full of gush and of good emotion1 and of fervour when we come to worship or to pray1 and our lives may not be a hair the better for it all4 ,or there may be a disproportion because of an exclusive attention to conduct and the practical side of ,christianity1 while the rational side of it1 which should be the basis of all1 and the emotional side of it1 which should be the driving power of all1 are comparatively neglected4 ,so1 dear brethren6 what with interruptions1 what with growing by fits and starts1 and long1 dreary winters like the ,arctic winters1 coming in between the two or three days of rapid1 and therefore brief and unwholesome1 development1 we must all1 ,i think1 take to heart the condemnation suggested by this text when we compare the reality of our lives with the divine intention concerning them4 ,let us ask ourselves1 ',have ,i more command over myself than ,i had twenty years ago8 ,do ,i live nearer ,jesus ,christ today than ,i did yesterday8 ,have ,i more of ,his ,spirit in me8 ,am ,i growing8 ,would the people that know me best say that ,i am growing in the grace and knowledge of my ,lord and ,saviour8' ,astronomers tell us that there are dark suns1 that have burnt themselves out1 and are wandering unseen through the skies4 ,i wonder if there are any extinguished suns of that sort listening to me at this moment4 ,,iii4 ,how the divine purpose concerning us may be realised by us4 ,now the ,alpha and the ,omega of this1 the one means which includes all other1 is laid down by ,jesus ,christ ,himself in another metaphor when ,he said1 ',abide in ,me1 and ,i in you2 so shall ye bring forth much fruit4' ,our path will brighten1 not because of any radiance in ourselves1 but in proportion as we draw nearer and nearer to the ,fountain of heavenly radiance4 ,the planets that move round the sun1 further away than we are on earth1 get less of its light and heat2 and those that circle around it within the limits of our orbit1 get proportionately more4 ,the nearer we are to ,him1 the more we shall shine4 ,the sun shines by its own light1 drawn indeed from the shrinkage of its mass1 so that it gives away its very life in warming and illuminating its subject-worlds4 ,but we shine only by reflected light1 and therefore the nearer we keep to ,him the more shall we be radiant4 ,that keeping in touch with ,jesus ,christ is mainly to be secured by the direction of thought1 and love1 and trust to ,him4 ,if we follow close upon ,him we shall not walk in darkness4 ,it is to be secured and maintained very largely by what ,i am afraid is much neglected by ,christian people of all sorts nowadays1 and that is the devotional use of their ,bibles4 ,that is the food by which we grow4 ,it is to be secured and maintained still more largely by that which ,i1 again1 am afraid is but very imperfectly attained to by ,christian people now1 and that is1 the habit of prayer4 ,it is to be secured and maintained1 again1 by the honest conforming of our lives1 day by day1 to the present amount of our knowledge of ,him and of ,his will4 ,whosoever will make all his life the manifestation of his belief1 and turn all his creed into principles of action1 will grow both in the comprehensiveness1 and in the depths of his ,christian character4 ',ye are the light in the ,lord4' ,keep in ,him1 and you will become brighter and brighter4 ,so shall we 'go from strength to strength1 till we appear before ,god in ,zion4' ,,iv4 ,lastly1 what brighter rising will follow the earthly setting8 ,my second text comes in here4 ,beauty1 intellect1 power1 goodness2 all go down into the dark4 ,the sun sets1 and there is left a sad and fading glow in the darkening pensive sky1 which may recall the vanished light for a little while to a few faithful hearts1 but steadily passes into the ashen grey of forgetfulness4 ,but 'then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun1 in their ,heavenly ,father's kingdom4' ,the momentary setting is but apparent4 ,and ere it is well accomplished1 a new sun swims into the 'ampler ether1 the diviner air' of that future life1 'and with new spangled beams1 flames in the forehead of the morning sky4' ,the reason for that inherent brightness suggested in our second text is that the soul of the righteous man passes from earth into a region out of which we 'gather all things that offend1 and them that do iniquity4' ,there are other reasons for it1 but that is the one which our ,lord dwells on4 ,or1 to put it into modern scientific language1 environment corresponds to character4 ,so1 when the clouds have rolled away1 and no more mists from the undrained swamps of selfishness and sin and animal nature rise up to hide the radiance1 there shall be a fuller flood of light poured from the re-created sun4 ,that brightness thus promised has for its highest and most blessed character that it is conformity to the ,lord ,himself4 ,for1 as you may remember1 the last use of this emblem that we find in ,scripture refers not to the servant but to the ,master1 whom ,his beloved disciple in ,apocalyptic vision saw1 with ,his 'countenance as the sun shining in his strength4' ,thus 'we shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ,and therefore that radiance of the sainted dead is progressive1 too4 ,for it has an infinite fulness to draw upon1 and the soul that is joined to ,jesus ,christ1 and derives its lustre from ,him1 cannot die until it has outgrown ,jesus and emptied ,god4 ,the sun will one day be a dark1 cold ball4 ,we shall outlast it4 ,but1 brethren1 remember that it is only those who here on earth have progressively appropriated the brightness that ,christ bestows who have a right to reckon on that better rising4 ,it is contrary to all probability to believe that the passage from life can change the ingrained direction and set of a man's nature4 ,we know nothing that warrants us in affirming that death can revolutionise character4 ,do not trust your future to such a dim peradventure4 ,here is a plain truth4 ,they who on earth are as 'the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day1' shall1 beyond the shadow of eclipse1 shine on as the sun does1 behind the opaque1 intervening body1 all unconscious of what looks to mortal eyes on earth an eclipse1 and 'shall blaze out like the sun in their ,heavenly ,father's kingdom4' ,for all that we know and are taught by experience1 religious and moral distinctions are eternal4 ',he that is righteous1 let him be righteous still2 and he that is filthy1 let him be filthy still4' ,,keeping ,,and ,,kept ',keep thy heart with all diligence2 for out of it are the issues of life4'--,,proverbs iv4 #bc4 ',kept by the power of ,god through faith unto salvation4'--#a ,,peter #a4 #e4 ,the former of these texts imposes a stringent duty1 the latter promises divine help to perform it4 ,the relation between them is that between the ,law and the ,gospel4 ,the ,law commands1 the ,gospel gives power to obey4 ,the ,law pays no attention to man's weakness1 and points no finger to the source of strength4 ,its office is to set clearly forth what we ought to be1 not to aid us in becoming so4 ',here is your duty1 do it' is1 doubtless1 a needful message1 but it is a chilly one1 and it may well be doubted if it ever rouses a soul to right action4 ,moralists have hammered away at preaching self-restraint and a close watch over the fountain of actions within from the beginning1 but their exhortations have little effect unless they can add to their icy injunctions the warmth of the promise of our second text1 and point to a divine ,keeper who will make duty possible4 ,we must be kept by ,god1 if we are ever to succeed in keeping our wayward hearts4 ,i4 ,without our guarding our hearts1 no noble life is possible4 ,the ,old ,testament psychology differs from our popular allocation of certain faculties to bodily organs4 ,we use head and heart1 roughly speaking1 as being respectively the seats of thought and of emotion4 ,but the ,old ,testament locates in the heart the centre of personal being4 ,it is not merely the home of the affections1 but the seat of will1 moral purpose4 ,as this text says1 'the issues of life' flow from it in all the multitudinous variety of their forms4 ,the stream parts into many heads1 but it has one fountain4 ,to the ,hebrew thinkers the heart was the indivisible1 central unity which manifested itself in the whole of the outward life4 ',as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he4' ,the heart is the man4 ,and that personal centre has a moral character which comes to light in1 and gives unity and character to1 all his deeds4 ,that solemn thought that every one of us has a definite moral character1 and that our deeds are not an accidental set of outward actions but flow from an inner fountain1 needs to be driven home to our consciences1 for most of the actions of most men are done so mechanically1 and reflected on so little by the doers1 that the conviction of their having any moral character at all1 or of our incurring any responsibility for them1 is almost extinct in us1 unless when something startles conscience into protest4 ,it is this shrouded inner self to which supreme care is to be directed4 ,all noble ethical teaching concurs in this--that a man who seeks to be right must keep1 in the sense both of watching and of guarding1 his inner self4 ,conduct is more easily regulated than character--and less worth regulating4 ,it avails little to plant watchers on the stream half way to the sea4 ,control must be exercised at the source1 if it is to be effectual4 ,the counsel of our first text is a commonplace of all wholesome moral teaching since the beginning of the world4 ,the phrase 'with all diligence' is literally 'above all guarding1' and energetically expresses the supremacy of this keeping4 ,it should be the foremost1 all-pervading aim of every wise man who would not let his life run to waste4 ,it may be turned into more modern language1 meaning just what this ancient sage meant1 if we put it as1 ',guard thy character with more carefulness than thou dost thy most precious possessions1 for it needs continual watchfulness1 and1 untended1 will go to rack and ruin4' ,the exhortation finds a response in every heart1 and may seem too familiar and trite to bear dwelling on1 but we may be allowed to touch lightly on one or two of the plain reasons which enforce it on every man who is not what ,proverbs very unpolitely calls 'a fool4' ,that guarding is plainly imposed as necessary1 by the very constitution of our manhood4 ,our nature is evidently not a republic1 but a monarchy4 ,it is full of blind impulses1 and hungry desires1 which take no heed of any law but their own satisfaction4 ,if the reins are thrown on the necks of these untamed horses1 they will drag the man to destruction4 ,they are only safe when they are curbed and bitted1 and held well in4 ,then there are tastes and inclinations which need guidance and are plainly meant to be subordinate4 ,the will is to govern all the lower self1 and conscience is to govern the will4 ,unmistakably there are parts of every man's nature which are meant to serve1 and parts which are appointed to rule1 and to let the servants usurp the place of the rulers is to bring about as wild a confusion within as the ,ecclesiast lamented that he had seen in the anarchic times when he wrote--princes walking and beggars on horseback4 ,as ,george ,herbert has it-- ',give not thy humours way2 ,god gave them to thee under lock and key4' ,then1 further1 that guarding is plainly imperative1 because there is an outer world which appeals to our needs and desires1 irrespective altogether of right and wrong and of the moral consequences of gratifying these4 ,put a loaf before a starving man and his impulse will be to clutch and devour it1 without regard to whether it is his or no4 ,show any of our animal propensities its appropriate food1 and it asks no questions as to right or wrong1 but is stirred to grasp its natural food4 ,and even the higher and nobler parts of our nature are but too apt to seek their gratification without having the license of conscience for doing so1 and sometimes in defiance of its plain prohibitions4 ,it is never safe to trust the guidance of life to tastes1 inclinations1 or to anything but clear reason1 set in motion by calm will1 and acting under the approbation of 'the ,lord ,chief ,justice1 ,conscience4' ,but again1 seeing that the world has more evil than good in it1 the keeping of the heart will always consist rather in repelling solicitations to yielding to evil4 ,in short1 the power and the habit of sternly saying ',no' to the whole crowd of tempters is always the main secret of a noble life4 ',he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down and without walls4' ,,ii4 ,there is no effectual guarding unless ,god guards4 ,the counsel in ,proverbs is not mere toothless moral commonplace1 but is associated1 in the preceding chapter1 with fatherly advice to 'let thine heart keep my commandments' and to 'trust in the ,lord with all thine heart4' ,the heart that so trusts will be safely guarded1 and only such a heart will be4 ,the inherent weakness of all attempts at self-keeping is that keeper and kept being one and the same personality1 the more we need to be kept the less able we are to effect it4 ,if in the very garrison are traitors1 how shall the fortress be defended8 ,if1 then1 we are to exercise an effectual guard over our characters and control over our natures1 we must have an outward standard of right and wrong which shall not be deflected by variations in our temperature4 ,we need a fixed light to steer towards1 which is stable on the stable shore1 and is not tossing up and down on our decks4 ,we shall cleanse our way only when we 'take heed thereto1 according to ,thy word4' ,for even ,god's viceroy within1 the sovereign conscience1 can be warped1 perverted1 silenced1 and is not immune from the spreading infection of evil4 ,when it turns to ,god1 as a mirror to the sun1 it is irradiated and flashes bright illumination into dark corners1 but its power depends on its being thus lit by radiations from the very ,light of ,life4 ,and if we are ever to have a coercive power over the rebellious powers within1 we must have ,god's power breathed into us1 giving grip and energy to all the good within1 quickening every lofty desire1 satisfying every aspiration that feels after ,him1 cowing all our evil and being the very self of ourselves4 ,we need an outward motive which will stimulate and stir to effort4 ,our wills are lamed for good1 and the world has strong charms that appeal to us4 ,and if we are not to yield to these1 there must be somewhere a stronger motive than any that the sorceress world has in its stores1 that shall constrainingly draw us to ways that1 because they tend upward1 and yield no pabulum for the lower self1 are difficult for sluggish feet4 ,to the writer of this ,book of ,proverbs the name of ,god bore in it such a motive4 ,to us the name of ,jesus1 which is ,love1 bears a yet mightier appeal1 and the motive which lies in ,his death for us is strong enough1 and it alone is strong enough1 to fire our whole selves with enthusiastic1 grateful love1 which will burn up our sloth1 and sweep our evil out of our hearts1 and make us swift and glad to do all that may please ,him4 ,if there must be fresh reinforcements thrown into the town of ,mansoul1 as there must be if it is not to be captured1 there is one sure way of securing these4 ,our second text tells us whence the relieving force must come4 ,if we are to keep our hearts with all diligence1 we must be 'kept by the power of ,god1' and that power is not merely to make diversion outside the beleaguered fortress which may force the besiegers to retreat and give up their effort1 but is to enter in and possess the soul which it wills to defend4 ,it is when the enemy sees that new succours have1 in some mysterious way1 been introduced1 that he gives up his siege4 ,it is ,god in us that is our security4 ,,iii4 ,there is no keeping by ,god without faith4 ,peter was an expert in such matters1 for he had had a bitter experience to teach him how soon and surely self-confidence became self-despair4 ',though all should forsake ,thee1 yet will not ,i1' was said but a few hours before he denied ,jesus4 ,his faith failed1 and then the divine guard that was keeping his soul passed thence1 and1 left alone1 he fell4 ,that divine ,power is exerted for our keeping on condition of our trusting ourselves to ,him and trusting ,him for ourselves4 ,and that condition is no arbitrary one1 but is prescribed by the very nature of divine help and of human faith4 ,if ,god could keep our souls without our trust in ,him ,he would4 ,he does so keep them as far as is possible1 but for all the choicer blessings of ,his giving1 and especially for that of keeping us free from the domination of our lower selves1 there must be in us faith if there is to be in ,god help4 ,the hand that lays hold on ,god in ,christ must be stretched out and must grasp ,his warm1 gentle1 and strong hand1 if the tingling touch of it is to infuse strength4 ,if the relieving force is victoriously to enter our hearts1 we must throw open the gates and welcome it4 ,faith is but the open door for ,god's entrance4 ,it has no efficacy in itself any more than a door has1 but all its blessedness depends on what it admits into the hidden chambers of the heart4 ,i reiterate what ,i have tried to show in these poor words4 ,there is no noble life without our guarding our hearts2 there is no effectual guarding unless ,god guards2 there is no divine guarding unless through our faith4 ,it is vain to preach self-governing and self-keeping4 ,unless we can tell the beleaguered heart1 ',the ,lord is thy ,keeper2 ,he will keep thee from all evil2 ,he will keep thy soul1' we only add one more impossible command to a man's burden4 ,and we do not apprehend nor experience the divine keeping in its most blessed and fullest reality1 unless we find it in ,jesus1 who is 'able to keep us from falling1 and to present us faultless before the presence of ,his glory with exceeding joy4' ,,the ,,cords ,,of ,,sin ',his own iniquities shall take the wicked himself1 and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins4'--,,proverbs v4 #bb4 ,in ,hosea's tender picture of the divine training of ,israel which1 alas6 failed of its effect1 we read1 ',i drew them with cords of a man1' which is further explained as being 'with bands of love4' ,the metaphor in the prophet's mind is probably that of a child being 'taught to go' and upheld in its first tottering steps by leading-strings4 ,god drew ,israel1 though ,israel did not yield to the drawing4 ,but if these gentle1 attractive influences1 which ever are raying out from ,him1 are resisted1 another set of cords1 not now sustaining and attracting1 but hampering and fettering1 twine themselves round the rebellious life1 and the man is like a wild creature snared in the hunter's toils1 enmeshed in a net1 and with its once free limbs restrained4 ,the choice is open to us all1 whether we will let ,god draw us to ,himself with the sweet manlike cords of ,his educative and forbearing love1 or1 flinging off these1 which only foolish self-will construes into limitations1 shall condemn ourselves to be prisoned within the narrow room of our own sins4 ,we may choose which condition shall be ours1 but one or other of them must be ours4 ,we may either be drawn by the silken cord of ,god's love or we may be 'holden by the cords' of our sins4 ,in both clauses of our text evil deeds done are regarded as having a strange1 solemn life apart from the doer of them1 by which they become influential factors in his subsequent life4 ,their issues on others may be important1 but their issues on him are the most important of all4 ,the recoil of the gun on the shoulder of him who fired it is certain1 whether the cartridge that flew from its muzzle wounded anything or not4 ',his own iniquities shall take the wicked'--they ring him round1 a grim company to whom he has given an independent being1 and who have now 'taken' him prisoner and laid violent hands on him4 ,a long since forgotten novel told of the fate of 'a modern ,prometheus1' who made and put life into a dreadful creature in man's shape1 that became the curse of its creator's life4 ,that tragedy is repeated over and over again4 ,we have not done with our evil deeds when we have done them1 but they1 in a very terrible sense1 begin to be when they are done4 ,we sow the seeds broadcast1 and the seed springs up dragon's teeth4 ,the view of human experience set forth1 especially in the second clause of this text1 directs our gaze into dark places1 into which it is not pleasant to look1 and many of you will accuse me of preaching gloomily if ,i try to turn a reflective eye inwards upon them1 but no one will be able to accuse me of not preaching truly4 ,it is impossible to enumerate all the cords that make up the net in which our own evil doings hold us meshed1 but let me point out some of these4 ,i4 ,our evil deeds become evil habits4 ,we all know that anything once done becomes easier to do again4 ,that is true about both good and bad actions1 but 'ill weeds grow apace1' and it is infinitely easier to form a bad habit than a good one4 ,the young shoot is green and flexible at first1 but it soon becomes woody and grows high and strikes deep4 ,we can all verify the statement of our text by recalling the tremors of conscience1 the self-disgust1 the dread of discovery which accompanied the first commission of some evil deed1 and the silence of undisturbed1 almost unconscious facility1 that accompanied later repetitions of it4 ,sins of sense and animal passion afford the most conspicuous instances of this1 but it is by no means confined to these4 ,we have but to look steadily at our own lives to be aware of the working of this solemn law in them1 however clear we may be of the grosser forms of evil deeds4 ,for us all it is true that custom presses on us 'with a weight1 heavy as frost and deep almost as life1' and that it is as hard for the ,ethiopian to change his skin or the leopard his spots as for those who 'are accustomed to do evil' to 'do good4' ,but experience teaches not only that evil deeds quickly consolidate into evil habits1 but that as the habit grips us faster1 the poor pleasure for the sake of which the acts are done diminishes4 ,the zest which partially concealed the bitter taste of the once eagerly swallowed morsel is all but gone1 but the morsel is still sought and swallowed4 ,impulses wax as motives wane1 the victim is like an ox tempted on the road to the slaughter-house at first by succulent fodder held before it1 and at last driven into it by pricking goads and heavy blows4 ,many a man is so completely wrapped in the net which his own evil deeds have made for him1 that he commits the sin once more1 not because he finds any pleasure in it1 but for no better reason than that he has already committed it often1 and the habit is his master4 ,there are many forms of evil which compel us to repeat them for other reasons than the force of habit4 ,for instance1 a fraudulent book-keeper has to go on making false entries in his employer's books in order to hide his peculations4 ,whoever steps on to the steeply sloping road to which self-pleasing invites us1 soon finds that he is on an inclined plane well greased1 and that compulsion is on him to go on1 though he may recoil from the descent1 and be shudderingly aware of what the end must be4 ,let no man say1 ',i will do this doubtful thing once only1 and never again4' ,sin is like an octopus1 and if the loathly thing gets the tip of one slender filament round a man1 it will envelop him altogether and drag him down to the cruel beak4 ,let us then remember how swiftly deeds become habits1 and how the fetters1 which were silken at first1 rapidly are exchanged for iron chains1 and how the craving increases as fast as the pleasure from gratifying it diminishes4 ,let us remember that there are many kinds of evil which seem to force their own repetition1 in order to escape their consequences and to hide the sin4 ,let us remember that no man can venture to say1 ',this once only will ,i do this thing4' ,let us remember that acts become habits with dreadful swiftness1 and let us beware that we do not forge chains of darkness for ourselves out of our own godless deeds4 ,,ii4 ,our evil deeds imprison us for good4 ,the tragedy of human life is that we weave for ourselves manacles that fetter us from following and securing the one good for which we are made4 ,our evil past holds us in a firm grip4 ,the cords which confine our limbs are of our own spinning4 ,what but ourselves is the reason why so many of us do not yield to ,god's merciful drawings of us to ,himself8 ,we have riveted the chains and twined the net that holds us captive1 by our own acts4 ,it is we ourselves who have paralysed our wills1 so that we see the light of ,god but as a faint gleam far away1 and dare not move to follow the gleam4 ,it is we who have smothered or silenced our conscience and perverted our tastes1 and done violence to all in us that 'thirsteth for ,god1 even the living ,god4' ,alas6 how many of us have let some strong evil habit gain such a grip of us that it has overborne our higher impulses1 and silenced the voice within us that cries out for the living ,god6 ,we are kept back from ,him by our worse selves1 and whoever lets that which is lowest in him keep him from following after ,god1 who is his 'being's end and aim1' is caught and prisoned by the cords woven and knitted out of his sins4 ,are there none of us who know1 when they are honest with themselves1 that they would have been true ,christians long since1 had it not been for one darling evil that they cannot make up their minds to cast off8 ,wills disabled from strongly willing the good1 consciences silenced as when the tongue is taken out of a bell-buoy on a shoal1 tastes perverted and set seeking amid the transitory treasures of earth for what ,god only can give them1 these are the 'cords' out of which are knotted the nets that hold so many of us captive1 and hinder our feet from following after ,god1 even the living ,god1 in following and possessing whom is the only liberty of soul1 the one real joy of life4 ,,iii4 ,our evil deeds work their own punishment4 ,i do not venture to speak of the issues beyond the grave4 ,it is not for a man to press these on his brethren4 ,but even from the standpoint of this ,book of ,proverbs1 it is certain that 'the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth1 much more the wicked and the sinner4' ,probably it was the earthly consequences of wrongdoing that were in the mind of the proverb-maker4 ,and we are not to let our ,christian enlightenment as to the future rob us of the certainty1 written large on human life here and now1 that with whatever apparent exceptions in regard to prosperous sin and tried righteousness1 it is yet true that 'every transgression and disobedience receives its just recompense of reward4' ,life is full of consequences of evil-doing4 ,even here and now we reap as we have sown4 ,every sin is a mistake1 even if we confine our view to the consequences sought for in this life by it1 and the consequences actually encountered4 ',a rogue is a roundabout fool4' ,true1 we believe that there is a future reaping so complete that it makes the partial harvests gathered here seem of small account4 ,but the framer of this proverb1 who had little knowledge of that future1 had seen enough in the meditative survey of this present to make him sure that the consequences of evil-doing were certain1 and in a very true sense1 penal4 ,and leaving out of sight all that lies in the dark beyond1 surely if we sum up the lamed aspirations1 the perverted tastes1 the ossifying of noble emotions1 the destruction of the balance of the nature1 the blinding of the eye of the soul1 the lowering and narrowing of the whole nature1 and many another wound to the best in man that come as the sure issue of evil deeds1 we do not need to doubt that every sinful man is miserably 'holden with the cords of his sin4' ,life is the time for sowing1 but it is a time for reaping too1 and we do not need to wait for death to experience the truth of the solemn warning that 'he who soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption4' ,let us1 then1 do no deeds without asking ourselves1 ,what will the harvest be8 and if from any deeds that we have done we have to reap sorrow or inward darkness1 let us be thankful that by experience our ,father is teaching us how bitter as well as evil a thing it is to forsake ,him1 and cast off ,his fear from our wayward spirits4 ,,iv4 ,the cords can be loosened4 ,bitter experience teaches that the imprisoning net clings too tightly to be stripped from our limbs by our own efforts4 ,nay rather1 the net and the captive are one1 and he who tries to cast off the oppression which hinders him from following that which is good is trying to cast off himself4 ,the desperate problem that fronts every effort at self-emendation has two bristling impossibilities in it3 one1 how to annihilate the past2 one1 how to extirpate the evil that is part of my very self1 and yet to keep the self entire4 ,the very terms of the problem show it to be insoluble1 and the climax of all honest efforts at making a clean thing of an unclean by means within reach of the unclean thing itself1 is the despairing cry1 ',o wretched man that ,i am6 who shall deliver me out of the body of this death8' ,but to men writhing in the grip of a sinful past1 or paralysed beyond writhing1 and indifferent1 because hopeless1 or because they have come to like their captivity1 comes one whose name is 'the ,breaker1' whose mission it is to proclaim liberty to the captives1 and whose hand laid on the cords that bind a soul1 causes them to drop harmless from the limbs and sets the bondsman free4 ,many tongues praise ,jesus for many great gifts1 but ,his proper work1 and that peculiar to ,himself alone1 is ,his work on the sin and the sins of the world4 ,he deals with that which no man can deal with for himself or by his own power4 ,he can cancel our past1 so that it shall not govern our future4 ,he can give new power to fight the old habits4 ,he can give a new life which owes nothing to the former self1 and is free from taint from it4 ,he can break the entail of sin1 the 'law of the spirit of life in ,christ ,jesus' can make any of us1 even him who is most tied and bound by the chain of his sins1 'free from the law of sin and death4' ,we cannot break the chains that fetter us1 and our own struggles1 like the plungings of a wild beast caught in the toils1 but draw the bonds tighter4 ,but the chains that cannot be broken can be melted1 and it may befall each of us as it befell the three ,hebrews in the furnace1 when the king 'was astonished' and asked1 ',did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire8' and wonderingly declared1 ',lo1 ,i see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire1 and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods4' ,,wisdom',s ,,gift ',that ,i may cause those that love me to inherit substance4'--,,proverbs viii4 #ba4 ,the word here rendered 'substance' is peculiar4 ,indeed1 it is used in a unique construction in this passage4 ,it means 'being' or 'existence1' and seems to have been laid hold of by the ,hebrew thinkers1 from whom the books commonly called 'the ,wisdom ,books' come1 as one of their almost technical expressions4 ',substance' may be used in our translation in its philosophical meaning as the supposed reality underlying appearances1 but if we observe that in the parallel following clause we find 'treasures1' it seems more likely that in the text1 it is to be taken in its secondary1 and much debased meaning of wealth1 material possessions4 ,but the prize held out here to the lovers of heavenly wisdom is much more than worldly good4 ,in deepest truth1 the being which is theirs is ,god ,himself4 ,they who love and seek the wisdom of this book possess ,him1 and in possessing ,him become possessed of their own true being4 ,they are owners and lords of themselves1 and have in their hearts a fountain of life1 because they have ,god dwelling with and in them4 ,i4 ,the quest which always finds4 ',those who love wisdom' might be a ,hebrew translation of 'philosopher1' and possibly the ,jewish teachers of wisdom were influenced by ,greece1 but their conception of wisdom has a deeper source than the ,greek had1 and what they meant by loving it was a widely different attitude of mind and heart from that of the ,greek philosopher4 ,it could never be said of the disciples of a ,plato that their quest was sure to end in finding what they sought4 ,many a man then1 and many a man since1 and many a man to-day1 has 'followed knowledge1 like a sinking star1' and has only caught a glimmer of a far-off and dubious light4 ,there is only one search which is certain always to find what it seeks1 and that is the search which knows where the object of it is1 and seeks not as for something the locality of which is unknown1 but as for that which the place of which is certain4 ,the manifold voices of human aims cry1 ',who will show us any good8' ,the seeker who is sure to find is he who prays1 ',lord1 lift ,thou up the light of ,thy countenance upon us4' ,the heart that truly and supremely affects ,god is never condemned to seek in vain4 ,the ,wisdom of this book herself is presented as proclaiming1 ',they that seek me earnestly shall find me1' and humble souls in every age since then have set to their seal that the word is true to their experience4 ,for there are two seekers in every such case1 ,god and man4 ',the ,father seeketh such to worship ,him1' and ,his love goes through the world1 yearning and searching for hearts that will turn to ,him4 ,the shepherd seeks for the lost sheep1 and lays it on his shoulders to bear it back to the fold4 ,jesus ,christ is the incarnation of the seeking love of ,god4 ,and the human seeker finds ,god1 or rather is found by ,god1 for no aspiration after ,him is vain1 no longing unresponded to1 no effort to find ,him unresponded to4 ,we have as much of ,god as we wish1 as much as our desires have fitted us to receive4 ,the all-penetrating atmosphere enters every chink open to it1 and no seeking soul has ever had to say1 ',i sought ,him but found ,him not4' ,is there any other quest of which the same can be said8 ,are not all paths of human effort strewed with the skeletons of men who have fretted and toiled away their lives in vain attempts to grasp aims that have eluded their grip8 ,do we not all know the sickness of disappointed effort1 or the sadder sickness of successful effort1 which has secured the apparent good and found it not so good after all8 ,the ,christian life is1 amid all the failures of human effort1 the only life in which the seeking after good is but a little less blessed than the finding of it is1 and in which it is always true that 'he that seeketh findeth4' ,nor does such finding deaden the spirit of seeking1 for in every finding there is a fresh discovery of new depths in ,god1 and a consequent quickening of desire to press further into the abyss of ,his ,being1 so that aspiration and fruition ever beget each other1 and the upward1 ,godward progress of the soul is eternal4 ,,ii4 ,the finding that is always blessed4 ,we have seen that being is the gift promised to the lovers of wisdom1 and that the promise may either be referred to the possession of ,god1 who is the fountain of all being1 or to the true possession of ourselves1 which is a consequence of our possession of ,him4 ,in either aspect1 that possession is blessedness4 ,if we have ,god1 we have real life4 ,we truly own ourselves when we have ,god4 ,we really live when ,god lives in us1 the life of our lives4 ,we are ourselves1 when we have ceased to be ourselves1 and have taken ,god to be the ,self of ourselves4 ,such a life1 ,god-possessing1 brings the one good which corresponds to our whole nature4 ,all other good is fragmentary1 and being fragmentary is inadequate1 as men's restless search after various forms of good but too sadly proves4 ,why does the merchantman wander over sea and land seeking for many goodly pearls8 ,because he has not found one of great price1 but tries to make up by their number for the insufficiency of each4 ,but the soul is made1 not to find its wealth in the manifold but in the one1 and no aggregation of incompletenesses will make up completeness1 nor any number of partial satisfactions of this and the other appetite or desire make a man feel that he has enough and more than enough4 ,we must have all good in one ,person1 if we are ever to know the rest of full satisfaction4 ,it will be fatal to our blessedness if we have to resort to a hundred different sources for different supplies4 ,the true blessedness is simple and yet infinitely complex1 for it comes from possessing the one ,person in whom dwell for us all forms of good1 whether good be understood as intellectual or moral or emotional4 ,that which cannot be everything to the soul that seeks is scarcely worth the seeking1 and certainly is not wisely proposed as the object of a life's search1 for such a life will be a failure if it fails to find its object1 and scarcely less tragically1 though perhaps less conspicuously1 a failure if it finds it4 ,all other good is but apparent2 ,god is the one real object that meets all man's desires and needs1 and makes him blessed with real blessedness1 and fills the cup of life with the draught that slakes thirst and satisfies the thirstiest4 ,,iii4 ,the blessedness that always lasts4 ,he who finds ,god1 as every one of us may find ,him1 in ,christ1 has found a ,good that cannot change1 pass1 or grow stale4 ,his blessedness will always last1 as long as he keeps fast hold of that which he has1 and lets no man take his crown4 ,for the ,christian's good is the only one that does not intend to grow old and pall4 ,we can never exhaust ,god4 ,we need never grow weary of ,him4 ,possession robs other wealth of its glamour1 and other pleasures of their poignant sweetness4 ,we grow weary of most good things1 and those which we have long had1 we generally find get somewhat faded and stale4 ,habit is a fatal enemy to enjoyment4 ,but it only adds to the joy which springs from the possession of ,god in ,christ4 ,swedenborg said that the oldest angels look the youngest1 and they who have longest experience of the joy of fellowship with ,god are they who enjoy each instance of it most4 ,we can never drink the chalice of ,his love to the dregs1 and it will be fresh and sparkling as long as we have lips that can absorb it4 ,he keeps the good wine till the last4 ,the ,christian's good is the only good which cannot be taken away4 ,loss and change beggars the millionaire sometimes1 and the possibility of loss shadows all earthly good with pale foreboding4 ,everything that is outside the substance of the soul can be withdrawn1 but the possession of ,god in ,christ is so intimate and inward1 so interwoven with the very deepest roots of the ,christian's personal being1 that it cannot be taken out from these by any shocks of time or change4 ,there is but one hand that can end that possession and that is his own4 ,he can withdraw himself from ,god1 by giving himself over to sin and the world4 ,he can empty the shrine and compel the indwelling deity to say1 as the legend told was heard in the ,temple the night before ,roman soldiers desecrated the ,holy of ,holies3 ,let us depart4 ,but besides himself1 'neither things present1 nor things to come1 nor height nor depth1 nor any other creature' has power to take away that faithful ,god to whom a poor soul clings1 and in whom whoso thus clings finds its unchangeable good4 ,the ,christian's good is the only one from which we cannot be taken4 ,a grim psalm paints for us the life and end of men 'who trust in the multitude of their possessions1' and whose 'inward thought is that they have founded families that will last4' ,it tells how 'this their way is folly1' and yet is approved with acclamations by the crowd4 ,it lets us see the founder of a family1 the possessor of broad acres1 going down to the grave1 carrying nothing away1 stripped of his glory and with ,death for his shepherd1 who has driven his flock from pleasant pastures here into the dreariness of ,sheol4 ,but that shepherd has a double office4 ,some he separates from all their possessions1 hopes1 and joys4 ,some he1 stern though his aspect and harsh though his guidance1 leads up to the green pastures of ,god1 and as the last messenger of the love of ,god in ,christ1 unites the souls that found ,god amid the distractions of earth with the ,god whom they will know better and possess more fully and blessedly1 amid the unending felicities and progressive blessednesses of ,heaven4 ,,wisdom ,,and ,,christ ',then ,i was by him1 as one brought up with him3 and ,i was daily his delight1 rejoicing always before him2 #ca4 ,rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth2 and my delights were with the sons of men4'--,,proverbs viii4 #cj1 #ca4 ,there is a singular difference between the two portions of this ,book of ,proverbs4 ,the bulk of it1 beginning with chapter x41 contains a collection of isolated maxims which may be described as the product of sanctified common sense4 ,they are shrewd and homely1 but not remarkably spiritual or elevated4 ,to these is prefixed this introductory portion1 continuous1 lofty in style1 and in its personification of divine wisdom1 rising to great sublimity both of thought and of expression4 ,it seems as if the main body of the book had been fitted with an introduction by another hand than that of the compilers of the various sets of proverbial sayings4 ,it is apparently due to an intellectual movement1 perhaps not uninfluenced by ,greek thought1 and chronologically the latest of the elements composing the ,old ,testament scriptures4 ,in place of the lyric fervour of prophets1 and the devout intuition of psalmists1 we have the praise of ,wisdom4 ,but that noble portrait is no copy of the ,greek conception1 but contains features peculiar to itself4 ,she stands opposed to blatant1 meretricious ,folly1 and seeks to draw men to herself by lofty motives and offering pure delights4 ,she is not a person1 but she is a personification of an aspect of the divine nature1 and seeing that she is held forth as willing to bestow herself on men1 that queenly figure shadows the great truth of ,god's self-communication as being the end and climax of all ,his revelation4 ,we are on the wrong tack when we look for more or less complete resemblances between the ',wisdom' of ,proverbs and the ',sophia' of ,greek thinkers4 ,it is much rather an anticipation1 imperfect but real1 of ,jesus than a pale reflection of ,greek thought4 ,the way for the perfect revelation of ,god in the incarnation was prepared by prophet and psalmist4 ,was it not also prepared by this vision of a ,wisdom which was always with ,god1 and yet had its delights with the sons of men1 and whilst 'rejoicing always before ,him1' yet rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth8 ,let us then look1 however imperfect our gaze may be1 at the self-revelation in ,proverbs of the personified divine ,wisdom1 and compare it with the revelation of the incarnate divine ,word4 ,i4 ,the ,self-revelation of ,wisdom4 ,the words translated in ,authorised ,version1 ',as one brought up with him1' are rendered in ,revised ,version1 'as a master workman1' and seem intended to represent ,wisdom--that is1 of course1 the divine ,wisdom--as having been ,god's agent in the creative act4 ,in the preceding context1 she triumphantly proclaims her existence before ,his 'works of old1' and that she was with ,god1 'or ever the earth was4' ,before the everlasting mountains she was1 before fountains flashed in the light and refreshed the earth1 her waters flowed4 ,but that presence is not all1 ,wisdom was the divine agent in creation4 ,that thought goes beyond the ancient one3 ',he spake and it was done4' ,genesis regards the divine command as the cause of creatural being4 ,god said1 ',let there be--and there was'3 the forthputting of ,his will was the impulse to which creatures sprang into existence at response4 ,that is a great thought1 but the meditative thinker in our text has pondered over the facts of creation1 and notwithstanding all their apparent incompletenesses and errors1 has risen to the conclusion that they can all be vindicated as 'very good4' ,to him1 this wonderful universe is not only the product of a sovereign will1 but of one guided in its operations by all-seeing ,wisdom4 ,then the relation of this divine ,wisdom to ,god is represented as being a continual delight and a childlike rejoicing in ,him1 or as the word literally means1 a 'sporting' in ,him4 ,whatever energy of creative action is suggested by the preceding figure of a 'master workman1' that energy had no effort4 ,to the divine ,wisdom creation was an easy task4 ,she was not so occupied with it as to interrupt her delight in contemplating ,god1 and her task gave her infinite satisfaction1 for she 'rejoiced always' before ,him1 and she rejoiced in ,his habitable earth4 ,the writer does not shrink from ascribing to the agent of creation something like the glow of satisfaction that we feel over a piece of well-done work1 the poet's or the painter's rapture as he sees his thoughts bodied forth in melody or glowing on canvas4 ,but there is a greater thought than these here1 for the writer adds1 'and my delight was with the sons of men4' ,it is noteworthy that the same word is used in the preceding verse4 ,the 'delight of the heavenly ,wisdom in ,god' is not unlike that directed to man4 ',the sons of men' are the last1 noblest work of ,creation1 and on them1 as the shining apex1 her delight settles4 ,the words describe not only what was true when man came into being1 as the utmost possible climax of creatural excellence1 but are the revelation of what still remains true4 ,one cannot but feel how in all this most striking disclosure of the depths of ,god1 a deeper mystery is on the verge of revelation4 ,there is here1 as we have said1 a personification1 but there seems to be a ,person shining through1 or dimly discerned moving behind1 the curtain4 ,wisdom is the agent of creation4 ,she creates with ease1 and in creating delights in ,god as well as in her work1 which calls for no effort in doing1 and done1 is all very good4 ,she delights most of all in the sons of men1 and that delight is permanent4 ,does not this unknown ,jewish thinker1 too1 belong1 as well as prophet and psalmist1 to those who went before crying1 ,hosanna to ,him that cometh in the name of the ,lord8 ,let us turn to the ,new ,testament and find an answer to the question4 ,,ii4 ,the higher revelation of the divine ,word4 ,there can be no doubt that the ,new ,testament is committed to the teaching that the ,eternal ,word of ,god1 who was incarnate in ,jesus1 was the agent of creation4 ,john1 in his profound prologue to the ,gospel1 utters the deepest truths in brief sentences of monosyllables1 and utters them without a trace of feeling that they needed proof4 ,to him they are axiomatic and self evident4 ',all things were made by ,him4' ,the words are the words of a child2 the thought takes a flight beyond the furthest reach of the mind of men4 ,paul1 too1 adds his ,amen when he proclaims that ',all things have been created through ,him and unto ,him1 and ,he is before all things1 and in ,him all things hold together4' ,the writer of ,hebrews declares a ,son 'through whom also ,he made the worlds1 and who upholds all things by the word of ,his power' and does not scruple at transferring to ,jesus the grand poetry of the ,psalmist who hymned ',thou1 ,lord1 in the beginning1 hast laid the foundation of the earth1 and the heavens are the work of ,thy hands4' ,we speak of things too deep for us when we speak of persons in the ,godhead1 but yet we know that the ,eternal ,word1 which was from the beginning1 was made flesh and dwelt among us4 ,the personified ,wisdom of ,proverbs is the personal ,word of ,john's prologue4 ,john almost quotes the former when he says 'the same was in the beginning with ,god4' for his word recalls the grand declaration1 ',the ,lord possessed me in the beginning of ,his way 444 ,i was set up in the beginning or ever the earth was4' ,then there are two beginnings1 one lost in the depths of timeless being1 one1 the commencement of creative activity1 and that ,word was with ,god in the remotest1 as in the nearer1 beginning4 ,but the ancient vision of the ,jewish thinker anticipated the perfect revelation of the ,new ,testament still further1 in its thought of an unbroken communion between the personified ,wisdom and ,god4 ,that dim thought of perfect communion and interchange of delights flashes into wondrous clearness when we think of ,him who spake of 'the glory which ,i had with ,thee before the foundation of the world1' and calmly declared3 ',thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world4' ,into that depth of mutual love we cannot look1 and our eyes are too dim-sighted to bear the blaze of that flashing interchange of glory1 but we shall rob the earthly life of ,jesus of its pathos and saving power1 if we do not recognise that in ,him the personification of ,proverbs has become a person1 and that when ,he became flesh1 ,he not only took on ,him the garment of mortality1 but laid aside 'the visible robes of ,his imperial majesty1' and that ,his being found in fashion as a man was humbling ,himself beyond all humiliation that afterwards was ,his4 ,but still further1 the ,gospel reality fills out and completes the personification of ,proverbs in that it shows us a divine person who so turned to 'the sons of men' that ,he took on ,him their nature and ,himself bore their sicknesses4 ,the ,jewish writer had great thoughts of the divine condescension1 and was sure that ,god's love still rested on men1 sinful as they were1 but not even he could foresee the miracle of long-suffering love in the ,incarnate ,jesus1 and he had no power of insight into the depths of the heart of ,god1 that enabled him to foresee the sufferings and death of ,jesus4 ,till that supreme self-sacrifice was a fact1 it was inconceivable4 ,alas1 now that it is a fact1 to how many hearts that need it most is it still incredible4 ,but passing all anticipation as it is1 it is the root of all joy1 the ground of all hope1 and to millions of sinful souls it is their only refuge1 and their sovereign example and pattern of life4 ,the ,jewish thinker had a glimpse of a divine wisdom which delighted in man1 but he did not dream of the divine stooping to share in man's sorrows1 or of its so loving humanity as to take on itself its limitations1 not only to pity these as ,god's images1 but to take part of the same and to die4 ,that man should minister to the divine delight is wonderful1 but that ,god should participate in man's grief passes wonder4 ,thereby a new tenderness is given to the ancient personification1 and the august form of the divine ,wisdom softens and melts into the yet more august and tender likeness of the divine ,love4 ,nor is there only an adumbration of the redeeming love of ,jesus as ,he dwells among us here1 but we have to remember that ,jesus delights in the sons of men when they love ,him back again4 ,all the sweet mysteries of our loving communion with ,him1 and of ,his joy in our faith1 love1 and obedience1 all the secret treasures of ,his self-impartation to1 and abiding in1 souls that open themselves to ,his entrance1 are suggested in that thought4 ,we can minister to the joy of ,jesus1 and when ,he is welcomed into any heart1 and any man's love answers ,his1 ,he sees of the travail of ,his soul and is satisfied4 ,,iii4 ,the call of the personal ,word to each of us4 ,the ,wisdom of ,proverbs is portrayed in her queenly dignity1 as calling men to herself1 and promising them the satisfaction of all their needs4 ,she describes herself that the description may draw men to her4 ,the self-revelation of ,god is ,his mightiest means of attracting men to ,him4 ,we but need to know ,him as ,he really is1 in order to love ,him and cling to ,him4 ,a fairer form than hers has drawn near to us1 and calls us with tenderer invitations and better promises4 ,the divine ,wisdom has become ,man with 'sweet human hands and lips and eyes4' ,such was ,his delight in the sons of men that ,he emptied ,himself of ,his glory1 and finished a greater work than that over which he presided when the mountains were settled and the hills brought forth4 ,now ,he calls us1 and ,his summons is tenderer1 and gives promise of loftier blessings than the call of ,wisdom was and did4 ,she called to the simple1 ',come eat ye of my bread1 and drink of the wine which ,i have mingled4' ,he invites us3 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me and drink1' and ,he furnishes a table for us1 and calls us to eat of the bread which is ,his body broken for us1 and to drink of the wine which is ,his blood shed for many for the remission of sins4 ,she promises 'riches and honour1 yea1 durable riches and righteousness4' ,his voice vibrates with sympathy1 and calls the weary and heavy laden1 of whom she scarcely thinks1 and offers to them a gift1 which may seem humble enough beside her more dazzling offers of fruit1 better than gold and revenues1 better than choice silver1 but which come closer to universal wants1 the gift of rest1 which is really what all men long for1 and none but they who take ,his yoke upon them possess4 ',see that ye refuse not ,him that speaketh1' for if they escaped not when they refused her that spake through the ,jewish thinker's lips of old1 'much more shall not we escape1 if we turn away from ,him that beseecheth us from heaven4' ,jesus is the power of ,god and the wisdom of ,god1 and it is in ,him crucified that our weakness and our folly are made strong and wise1 and ,wisdom's ancient promise is fulfilled3 ',whoso findeth me findeth life1 and shall obtain favour of the ,lord4' ,,the ,,two-,,fold ,,aspect ,,of ,,the ,,divine ,,working ',the way of the ,lord is strength to the upright3 but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity4'--,,proverbs x4 #bi4 ,you observe that the words 'shall be1' in the last clause1 are a supplement4 ,they are quite unnecessary1 and in fact they rather hinder the sense4 ,they destroy the completeness of the antithesis between the two halves of the verse4 ,if you leave them out1 and suppose that the 'way of the ,lord' is what is spoken of in both clauses1 you get a far deeper and fuller meaning4 ',the way of the ,lord is strength to the upright2 but destruction to the workers of iniquity4' ,it is the same way which is strength to one man and ruin to another1 and the moral nature of the man determines which it shall be to him4 ,that is a penetrating word1 which goes deep down4 ,the unknown thinkers1 to whose keen insight into the facts of human life we are indebted for this ,book of ,proverbs1 had pondered for many an hour over the perplexed and complicated fates of men1 and they crystallised their reflections at last in this thought4 ,they have in it struck upon a principle which explains a great many things1 and teaches us a great many solemn lessons4 ,let us try to get a hold of what is meant1 and then to look at some applications and illustrations of the principle4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 let me just try to put clearly the meaning and bearing of these words4 ',the way of the ,lord' means1 sometimes in the ,old ,testament and sometimes in the ,new1 religion1 considered as the way in which ,god desires a man to walk4 ,so we read in the ,new ,testament of 'the way' as the designation of the profession and practice of ,christianity2 and 'the way of the ,lord' is often used in the ,psalms for the path which ,he traces for man by ,his sovereign will4 ,but that1 of course1 is not the meaning here4 ,here it means1 not the road in which ,god prescribes that we should walk1 but that road in which ,he ,himself walks2 or1 in other words1 the sum of the divine action1 the solemn footsteps of ,god through creation1 providence1 and history4 ',his goings forth are from everlasting4' ',his way is in the sea4' ',his way is in the sanctuary4' ,modern language has a whole set of phrases which mean the same thing as the ,jew meant by 'the way of the ,lord1' only that ,god is left out4 ,they talk about the 'current of events1' 'the general tendency of things1' 'the laws of human affairs1' and so on4 ,i1 for my part1 prefer the old-fashioned ',hebraism4' ,to many modern thinkers the whole drift and tendency of human affairs affords no sign of a person directing these4 ,they hear the clashing and grinding of opposing forces1 the thunder as of falling avalanches1 and the moaning as of a homeless wind1 but they hear the sounds of no footfalls echoing down the ages4 ,this ancient teacher had keener ears4 ,well for us if we share his faith1 and see in all the else distracting mysteries of life and history1 'the way of the ,lord6' ,but not only does the expression point to the operation of a personal divine ,will in human affairs1 but it conceives of that operation as one1 a uniform and consistent whole4 ,however complicated1 and sometimes apparently contradictory1 the individual events were1 there was a unity in them1 and they all converged on one result4 ,the writer does not speak of 'ways1' but of 'the way1' as a grand unity4 ,it is all one continuous1 connected1 consistent mode of operation from beginning to end4 ,the author of this proverb believed something more about the way of the ,lord4 ,he believed that although it is higher than our way1 still1 a man can know something about it2 and that whatever may be enigmatical1 and sometimes almost heart-breaking1 in it1 one thing is sure--that as we have been taught of late years in another dialect1 it 'makes for righteousness4' ',clouds and darkness are round about ,him1' but the ,old ,testament writers never falter in the conviction1 which was the soul of all their heroism and the life blood of their religion1 that in the hearts of the clouds and darkness1 ',justice and judgment are the foundations of ,his throne4' ,the way of the ,lord1 says this old thinker1 is hard to understand1 very complicated1 full of all manner of perplexities and difficulties1 and yet on the whole the clear drift and tendency of the whole thing is discernible1 and it is this3 it is all on the side of good4 ,everything that is good1 and everything that does good1 is an ally of ,god's1 and may be sure of the divine favour and of the divine blessing resting upon it4 ,and just because that is so clear1 the other side is as true2 the same way1 the same set of facts1 the same continuous stream of tendency1 which is all with and for every form of good1 is all against every form of evil4 ,or1 as one of the ,psalmists puts the same idea1 ',the eyes of the ,lord are upon the righteous1 and ,his ears are open unto their cry4 ,the face of the ,lord is against them that do evil4' ,the same eye that beams in lambent love on 'the righteous' burns terribly to the evil doer4 ',the face of the ,lord' means the side of the divine nature which is turned to us1 and is manifested by ,his self-revealing activity1 so that the expression comes near in meaning to 'the way of the ,lord1' and the thought in both cases is the same1 that by the eternal law of ,his being1 ,god's actions must all be for the good and against the evil4 ,they do not change1 but a man's character determines which aspect of them he sees and has to experience4 ,god's way has a bright side and a dark4 ,you may take which you like4 ,you can lay hold of the thing by whichever handle you choose4 ,on the one side it is convex1 on the other concave4 ,you can approach it from either side1 as you please4 ',the way of the ,lord' must touch your 'way4' ,your cannot alter that necessity4 ,your path must either run parallel in the same direction with ,his1 and then all ,his power will be an impulse to bear you onward2 or it must run in the opposite direction1 and then all ,his power will be for your ruin1 and the collision with it will crush you as a ship is crushed like an egg-shell1 when it strikes an iceberg4 ,you can choose which of these shall befall you4 ,and there is a still more striking beauty about the saying1 if we give the full literal meaning to the word 'strength4' ,it is used by our translators1 ,i suppose1 in a somewhat archaic and peculiar signification1 namely1 that of a stronghold4 ,at all events the ,hebrew means a fortress1 a place where men may live safe and secure2 and if we take that meaning1 the passage gains greatly in force and beauty4 ,this 'way of the ,lord' is like a castle for the shelter of the shelterless good man1 and behind those strong bulwarks he dwells impregnable and safe4 ,just as a fortress is a security to the garrison1 and a frowning menace to the besiegers or enemies1 so the 'name of the ,lord is a strong tower1' and the 'way of the ,lord' is a fortress4 ,if you choose to take shelter within it1 its massive walls are your security and your joy4 ,if you do not1 they frown down grimly upon you1 a menace and a terror4 ,how differently1 eight hundred years ago1 ,normans and ,saxons looked at the square towers that were built all over ,england to bridle the inhabitants6 ,to the one they were the sign of the security of their dominion2 to the other they were the sign of their slavery and submission4 ,torture and prison-houses they might become2 frowning portents they necessarily were4 ',the way of the ,lord' is a castle fortress to the man that does good1 and to the man that does evil it is a threatening prison1 which may become a hell of torture4 ,it is 'ruin to the workers of iniquity4' ,i pray you1 settle for yourself which of these it is to be to you4 ,,ii4 ,and now let me say a word or two by way of application1 or illustration1 of these principles that are here4 ,first1 let me remind you how the order of the universe is such that righteousness is life and sin is death4 ,this universe and the fortunes of men are complicated and strange4 ,it is hard to trace any laws1 except purely physical ones1 at work4 ,still1 on the whole1 things do work so that goodness is blessedness1 and badness is ruin4 ,that is1 of course1 not always true in regard of outward things1 but even about them it is more often and obviously true than we sometimes recognise4 ,hence all nations have their proverbs1 embodying the generalised experience of centuries1 and asserting that1 on the whole1 'honesty is the best policy1' and that it is always a blunder to do wrong4 ,what modern phraseology calls 'laws of nature1' the ,bible calls 'the way of the ,lord'2 and the manner in which these help a man who conforms to them1 and hurt or kill him if he does not1 is an illustration on a lower level of the principle of our text4 ,this tremendous congeries of powers in the midst of which we live does not care whether we go with it or against it1 only if we do the one we shall prosper1 and if we do the other we shall very likely be made an end of4 ,try to stop a train1 and it will run over you and murder you2 get into it1 and it will carry you smoothly along4 ,our lives are surrounded with powers1 which will carry our messages and be our slaves if we know how to command nature by obeying it1 or will impassively strike us dead if we do not4 ,again1 in our physical life1 as a rule1 virtue makes strength1 sin brings punishment4 ',riotous living' makes diseased bodies4 ,sins in the flesh are avenged in the flesh1 and there is no need for a miracle to bring it about that he who sows to the flesh shall 'of the flesh reap corruption4' ,god entrusts the punishment of the breach of the laws of temperance and morality in the body to the 'natural' operation of such breach4 ,the inevitable connection between sins against the body and disease in the body1 is an instance of the way of the ,lord--the same set of principles and facts--being strength to one man and destruction to another4 ,hundreds of young men in ,manchester--some of whom are listening to me now1 no doubt--are killing themselves1 or at least are ruining their health1 by flying in the face of the plain laws of purity and self-control4 ,they think that they must 'have their fling1' and 'obey their instincts1' and so on4 ,well1 if they must1 then another 'must' will insist upon coming into play--and they must reap as they have sown1 and drink as they have brewed1 and the grim saying of this book about profligate young men will be fulfilled in many of them4 ',his bones are full of the iniquity of his youth1 which shall lie down with him in the grave4' ,be not deceived1 ,god is not mocked1 and ,his way avenges bodily transgressions by bodily sufferings4 ,and then1 in higher regions1 on the whole1 goodness makes blessedness1 and evil brings ruin4 ,all the powers of ,god's universe1 and all the tenderness of ,god's heart are on the side of the man that does right4 ,the stars in their courses fight against the man that fights against ,him2 and on the other side1 in yielding thyself to the will of ,god and following the dictates of ,his commandments1 ',thou shalt make a league with the beasts of the field1 and the stones of the field shall be at peace with thee4' ,all things serve the soul that serves ,god1 and all war against him who wars against his ,maker4 ,the way of the ,lord cannot but further and help all who love and serve ,him4 ,for them all things must work together for good4 ,by the very laws of ,god's own being1 which necessarily shape all ,his actions1 the whole 'stream of tendency without us makes for righteousness4' ,in the one course of life we go with the stream of divine activity which pours from the throne of ,god4 ,in the other we are like men trying to row a boat up ,niagara4 ,all the rush of the mighty torrent will batter us back4 ,our work will be doomed to destruction1 and ourselves to shame4 ,for ever and ever to be good is to be well4 ,an eternal truth lies in the facts that the same word 'good' means pleasant and right1 and that sin and sorrow are both called 'evil4' ,all sin is self-inflicted sorrow1 and every 'rogue is a roundabout fool4' ,so ask yourselves the question3 ',is my life in harmony with1 or opposed to1 these omnipotent laws which rule the whole field of life8' ,still further1 this same fact of the two-fold aspect and operation of the one way of the ,lord will be made yet more evident in the future4 ,it becomes us to speak very reverently and reticently about the matter1 but ,i can conceive it possible that the one manifestation of ,god in a future life may be in substance the same1 and yet that it may produce opposite effects upon oppositely disposed souls4 ,according to the old mystical illustration1 the same heat that melts wax hardens clay1 and the same apocalypse of the divine nature in another world may to one man be life and joy1 and to another man may be terror and despair4 ,i do not dwell upon that2 it is far too awful a thing for us to speak about to one another1 but it is worth your taking to heart when you are indulging in easy anticipations that of course ,god is merciful and will bless and save everybody after he dies4 ,perhaps--,i do not go any further than a perhaps--perhaps ,god cannot1 and perhaps if a man has got himself into such a condition as it is possible for a man to get into1 perhaps1 like light upon a diseased eye1 the purest beam may be the most exquisite pain1 and the natural instinct may be to 'call upon the rocks and the hills to fall upon them' and cover them up in a more genial darkness from that ,face1 to see which should be life and blessedness4 ,people speak of future rewards and punishments as if they were given and inflicted by simple and divine volition1 and did not stand in any necessary connection with holiness on the one hand or with sin on the other4 ,i do not deny that some portion of both bliss and sorrow may be of such a character4 ,but there is a very important and wide region in which our actions here must automatically bring consequences hereafter of joy or sorrow1 without any special retributive action of ,god's4 ,we have only to keep in view one or two things about the future which we know to be true1 and we shall see this4 ,suppose a man with his memory of all his past life perfect1 and his conscience stimulated to greater sensitiveness and clearer judgment1 and all opportunities ended of gratifying tastes and appetites1 whose food is in this world1 while yet the soul has become dependent on them for ease and comfort1 ,what more is needed to make a hell8 ,and the supposition is but the statement of a fact4 ,we seem to forget much2 but when the waters are drained off all the lost things will be found at the bottom4 ,conscience gets dulled and sophisticated here4 ,but the icy cold of death will wake it up1 and the new position will give new insight into the true character of our actions4 ,you see how often a man at the end of life has his eyes cleared to see his faults4 ,but how much more will that be the case hereafter6 ,when the rush of passion is past1 and you are far enough from your life to view it as a whole1 holding it at arm's length1 you will see better what it looks like4 ,there is nothing improbable in supposing that inclinations and tastes which have been nourished for a lifetime may survive the possibility of indulging them in another life1 as they often do in this2 and what can be worse than such a thirst for one drop of water1 which never can be tasted more8 ,these things are certain1 and no more is needed to make sin produce1 by necessary consequence1 misery1 and ruin2 while similarly1 goodness brings joy1 peace1 and blessing4 ,but again1 the self-revelation of ,god has this same double aspect4 ',the way of the ,lord' may mean ,his process by which ,he reveals ,his character4 ,every truth concerning ,him may be either a joy or a terror to men4 ,all ,his 'attributes' are builded into 'a strong tower1 into which the righteous runneth1 and is safe1' or else they are builded into a prison and torture-house4 ,so the thought of ,god may either be a happy and strengthening one1 or an unwelcome one4 ',i remembered ,god1 and was troubled' says one ,psalmist4 ,what an awful confession--that the thought of ,god disturbed him6 ,the thought of ,god to some of us is a very unwelcome one1 as unwelcome as the thought of a detective to a company of thieves4 ,is not that dreadful8 ,music is a torture to some ears3 and there are people who have so alienated their hearts and wills from ,god that the ,name which should be 'their dearest faith' is not only their 'ghastliest doubt1' but their greatest pain4 ,o brethren1 the thought of ,god and all that wonderful complex of mighty attributes and beauties which make ,his ,name should be our delight1 the key to all treasures1 the end of all sorrows1 our light in darkness1 our life in death1 our all in all4 ,it is either that to us1 or it is something that we would fain forget4 ,which is it to you8 ,especially the ,gospel has this double aspect4 ,our text speaks of the distinction between the righteous and evil doers2 but how to pass from the one class to the other1 it does not tell us4 ,the ,gospel is the answer to that question4 ,it tells us that though we are all 'workers of iniquity1' and must1 therefore1 if such a text as this were the last word to be spoken on the matter1 share in the ruin which smites the opponent of the divine will1 we may pass from that class2 and by simple faith in ,him who died on the ,cross for all workers of iniquity1 may become of those righteous on whose side ,god works in all ,his way1 who have all ,his attributes drawn up like an embattled army in their defence1 and have ,his mighty name for their refuge4 ,as the very crown of the ways of ,god1 the work of ,christ and the record of it in the ,gospel have most eminently this double aspect4 ,god meant nothing but the salvation of the whole world when ,he sent us this ,gospel4 ,his 'way' therein was pure1 unmingled1 universal love4 ,we can make that great message untroubled blessing by simply accepting it4 ,nothing more is needed but to take ,god at ,his word1 and to close with ,his sincere and earnest invitation4 ,then ,christ's work becomes the fortress in which we are guarded from sin and guilt1 from the arrows of conscience1 and the fiery darts of temptation4 ,but if not accepted1 then it is not passive1 it is not nothing4 ,if rejected1 it does more harm to a man than anything else can1 just because1 if accepted1 it would have done him more good4 ,the brighter the light1 the darker the shadow4 ,the pillar which symbolised the presence of ,god sent down influences on either side2 to the trembling crowd of the ,israelites on the one hand1 to the pursuing ranks of the ,egyptians on the other2 and though the pillar was one1 opposite effects streamed from it1 and it was 'a cloud and darkness to them1 but it gave light by night to these4' ,everything depends on which side of the pillar you choose to see4 ,the ark of ,god1 which brought dismay and death among false gods and their worshippers1 brought blessing into the humble house of ,obed ,edom1 the man of ,gath1 with whom it rested for three months before it was set in its place in the city of ,david4 ,that which is meant to be the savour of life unto life must either be that or the savour of death unto death4 ,jesus ,christ is something to each of us4 ,for you who have heard ,his name ever since you were children1 your relation to ,him settles your condition and your prospects1 and moulds your character4 ,either ,he is for you the tried corner-stone1 the sure foundation1 on which whosoever builds will not be confounded1 or ,he is the stone of stumbling1 against which whosoever stumbles will be broken1 and which will crush to powder whomsoever it falls upon1 ',this ,child is set for the rise' or for the fall of all who hear ,his name4 ,he leaves no man at the level at which ,he found him1 but either lifts him up nearer to ,god1 and purity and joy1 or sinks him into an ever-descending pit of darkening separation from all these4 ,which is ,he to you8 ,something ,he must be--your strength or your ruin4 ,if you commit your souls to ,him in humble faith1 ,he will be your peace1 your life1 your ,heaven4 ,if you turn from ,his offered grace1 ,he will be your pain1 your death1 your torture4 ',what maketh ,heaven1 that maketh hell4' ,which do you choose ,him to be8 ,,the ,,many-,,sided ,,contrast ,,of ,,wisdom ,,and ,,folly ',whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge3 but he that hateth reproof is brutish4 #b4 ,a good man obtaineth favour of the ,lord3 but a man of wicked devices will he condemn4 #c4 ,a man shall not be established by wickedness2 but the root of the righteous shall not be moved4 #d4 ,a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband3 but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones4 #e4 ,the thoughts of the righteous are right3 but the counsels of the wicked are deceit4 #f4 ,the words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood3 but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them4 #g4 ,the wicked are overthrown1 and are not3 but the house of the righteous shall stand4 #h4 ,a man shall be commended according to his wisdom3 but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised4 #i4 ,he that is despised1 and hath a servant1 is better than he that honoureth himself1 and lacketh bread4 #aj4 ,a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast3 but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel4 #aa4 ,he that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread3 but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding4 #ab4 ,the wicked desireth the net of evil men3 but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit4 #ac4 ,the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips3 but the just shall come out of trouble4 #ad4 ,a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth2 and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him4 #ae4 ,the way of a fool is right in his own eyes3 but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise4'--,,proverbs xii4 #a-ae4 ,the verses of the present passage are a specimen of the main body of the ,book of ,proverbs4 ,they are not a building1 but a heap4 ,the stones seldom have any mortar between them1 and connection or progress is for the most part sought in vain4 ,but one great antithesis runs through the whole--the contrast of wisdom or righteousness with folly or wickedness4 ,the compiler or author is never weary of setting out that opposition in all possible lights4 ,it is1 in his view1 the one difference worth noting between men1 and it determines their whole character and fortunes4 ,the book traverses with keen observation all the realm of life1 and everywhere finds confirmation of its great principle that goodness is wisdom and sin folly4 ,there is something extremely impressive in this continual reiteration of that contrast4 ,as we read1 we feel as if1 after all1 there were nothing in the world but it and its results4 ,that profound sense of the existence and far-reaching scope of the division of men into two classes is not the least of the benefits which a thoughtful study of ,proverbs brings to us4 ,in this lesson it is useless to attempt to classify the verses4 ,slight traces of grouping appear here and there2 but1 on the whole1 we have a set of miscellaneous aphorisms turning on the great contrast1 and setting in various lights the characters and fates of the righteous and the wicked4 ,the first mark of difference is the opposite feeling about discipline4 ,if a man is wise1 he will love 'knowledge'2 and if he loves knowledge1 he will love the means to it1 and therefore will not kick against correction4 ,that is another view of trials from the one which inculcates devout submission to a ,father4 ,it regards only the benefits to ourselves4 ,if we want to be taught anything1 we shall not flinch from the rod4 ,there must be pains undergone in order to win knowledge of any sort1 and the man who rebels against these shows that he had rather be comfortable and ignorant than wise4 ,a pupil who will not stand having his exercises corrected will not learn his faults4 ,on the other hand1 hating reproof is 'brutish' in the most literal sense2 for it is the characteristic of animals that they do not understand the purpose of pain1 and never advance because they do not4 ,men can grow because they can submit to discipline2 beasts cannot improve because1 except partially and in a few cases1 they cannot accept correction4 ,the first proverb deals with wisdom or goodness in its inner source2 namely1 a docile disposition4 ,the two next deal with its consequences4 ,it secures ,god's favour1 while its opposite is condemned2 and then1 as a consequence of this1 the good man is established and the wicked swept away4 ,the manifestations of ,god's favour and its opposite are not to be thrown forward to a future life4 ,continuously the sunshine of divine love falls on the one man1 and already the other is condemned4 ,it needs some strength of faith to look through the shows of prosperity often attending plain wickedness1 and believe that it is always a blunder to do wrong4 ,but a moderate experience of life will supply many instances of prosperous villainy in trade and politics which melted away like mist4 ,the shore is strewn with wrecks1 dashed to pieces because righteousness did not steer4 ,every exchange gives examples in plenty4 ,how many seemingly solid structures built on wrong every man has seen in his lifetime crumble like the cloud masses which the wind piles in the sky and then dissipates6 ,the root of the righteous is in ,god1 and therefore he is firm4 ,the contrast is like that of ,psalm i4--between the tree with strong roots and waving greenery1 and the chaff1 rootless1 and therefore whirled out of the threshing-floor4 ,the universal contrast is next applied to women2 and in accordance with the subordinate position they held in old days1 the bearing of her goodness is principally regarded as affecting her husband4 ,that does not cover the whole ground1 of course4 ,but wherever there is a true marriage1 the wife will not think that woman's rights are infringed because one chief issue of her beauty of virtue is the honour and joy it reflects upon him who has her heart4 ',a virtuous woman' is not only one who possesses the one virtue to which the phrase has been so miserably confined1 but who is 'a woman of strength'--no doll or plaything1 but ',a perfect woman1 nobly planned ,to warn1 to comfort1 and command4' ,the gnawing misery of being fastened like two dogs in a leash to one who 'causes shame' is vividly portrayed by that strong figure1 that she is like 'rottenness in his bones1' eating away strength1 and inflicting disfigurement and torture4 ,then come a pair of verses describing the inward and outward work of the two kinds of men as these affect others4 ,the former verses dealt with their effects on the actors2 the present1 with their bearing on others4 ,inwardly1 the good man has thoughts which scrupulously keep the balance true and are just to his fellows1 while the wicked plans to deceive for his own profit4 ,when thoughts are translated into speech1 deceit bears fruit in words which are like ambushes of murderers1 laying traps to destroy1 while the righteous man's words are like angels of deliverance to the unsuspecting who are ready to fall into the snare4 ,selfishness1 which is the root of wickedness1 will be cruelty and injustice when necessary for its ends4 ,the man who is wise because ,god is his centre and aim will be merciful and helpful4 ,the basis of philanthropy is religion4 ,the solemn importance attached to speech is observable4 ,words can slay as truly as swords4 ,now that the press has multiplied the power of speech1 and the world is buzzing with the clatter of tongues1 we all need to lay to heart the responsibilities and magic power of spoken and printed words1 and 'to set a watch on the door of our lips4' ,then follow a couple of verses dealing with the consequences to men themselves of their contrasted characters4 ,the first of these 7verse #g7 recurs to the thought of verse #c1 but with a difference4 ,not only the righteous himself1 but his house1 shall be established4 ,the solidarity of the family and the entail of goodness are strongly insisted on in the ,old ,testament1 though limitations are fully recognised4 ,if a good man's son continues his father's character1 he will prolong his father's blessings2 and in normal conditions1 a parent's wisdom passes on to his children4 ,something is wrong when1 as is so often the case1 it does not2 and it is not always the children's fault4 ,the overthrow of the wicked is set in striking contrast with their plots to overthrow others4 ,their mischief comes back1 like an ,australian boomerang1 to the hand that flings it2 and contrariwise1 delivering others is a sure way of establishing one's self4 ,exceptions there are1 for the world-scheme is too complicated to be condensed into a formula2 but all proverbs speak of the average usual results of virtue and vice1 and those of this book do the same4 ,verse #h asserts that1 on the whole1 honour attends goodness1 and contempt wickedness4 ,of course1 companions in dissipation extol each other's vices1 and launch the old threadbare sneers at goodness4 ,but if wisdom were not set uppermost in men's secret judgment1 there would be no hypocrites1 and their existence proves the truth of the proverb4 ,verse #i seems suggested by 'despised' in verse #h4 ,there are two kinds of contempt--one which brands sin deservedly1 one which vulgarly despises everybody who is not rich4 ,a man need not mind1 though his modest household is treated with contempt1 if quiet righteousness reigns in it4 ,it is better to be contented with little1 and humble in a lowly place1 than to be proud and hungry1 as many were in the writer's time and since4 ,a foolish world set on wealth may despise1 but its contempt breaks no bones4 ,self-conceit is poor diet4 ,this seems to be the first of a little cluster of proverbs bearing on domestic life4 ,it prefers modest mediocrity of station1 such as ,agur desired4 ,its successor shows how the contrasted qualities come out in the two men's relation to their domestic animals4 ,goodness sweeps a wide circle touching the throne of ,god and the stall of the cattle4 ,it was not ,coleridge who found out that ',he prayeth best who loveth best' but this old proverb-maker2 and he could speak the thought without the poet's exaggeration1 which robs his expression of it of half its value4 ,the original says 'knoweth the soul' which may indeed mean1 'regardeth the life' but rather seems to suggest sympathetic interest in leading to an understanding of the dumb creature1 which must precede all wise care for its well-being4 ,it is a part of religion to try to enter into the mysterious feelings of our humble dependants in farmyard and stable4 ,on the other hand1 for want of such sympathetic interest1 even when the 'wicked' means to be kind1 he does harm2 or the word rendered 'tender mercies' may here mean the feelings 7literally1 'bowels'7 which1 in their intense selfishness1 are cruel even to animals4 ,verse #aa has no connection with the preceding1 unless the link is common reference to home life and business4 ,it contrasts the sure results of honest industry with the folly of speculation4 ,the ,revised ,version margin 'vain things' is better than the text 'vain persons1' which would give no antithesis to the patient tilling of the first clause4 ,that verse would make an admirable motto to be stretched across the ,stock ,exchange1 and like places on both sides of the ,atlantic4 ,how many ruined homes and heart-broken wives witness in ,america and ,england to its truth6 ,the vulgar ,english proverb1 ',what comes over the ,devil's back goes under his belly1' says the same thing4 ,the only way to get honest wealth is to work for it4 ,gambling in all its forms is rank folly4 ,so the next proverb 7verse #ab7 continues the same thought1 and puts it in a somewhat difficult phrase4 ,it goes a little deeper than the former1 showing that the covetousness which follows after vain things1 is really wicked lusting for unrighteous gain4 ',the net of evildoers' is better taken as in the margin 7,rev4 ,ver47 'prey' or 'spoil1' and the meaning seems to be as just stated4 ,such hankering for riches1 no matter how obtained1 or such envying of the booty which admittedly has been won by roguery1 is a mark of the wicked4 ,how many professing church members have known that feeling in thinking of the millions of some railway king6 ,would they like the proverb to be applied to them8 ,the contrast to this is 'the root of the righteous yields fruit1' or 'shoots forth1' ,we have heard 7verse #c7 that it shall never be moved1 being fixed in ,god2 now we are told that it will produce all that is needful4 ,a life rooted in ,god will unfold into all necessary good1 which will be better than the spoil of the wicked4 ,there are two ways of getting on--to struggle and fight and trample down rivals2 one1 to keep near ,god and wait for him4 ',ye fight and war2 ye have not1 because ye ask not4' ,the next two proverbs have in common a reference to the effect of speech upon the speaker4 ',in the transgression of the lips is an evil snare'2 that is1 sinful words ensnare their utterer1 and whoever else he harms1 he himself is harmed most4 ,the reflex influence on character of our utterances is not present to us1 as it should be4 ,they leave stains on lips and heart4 ,thoughts expressed are more definite and permanent thereby4 ,a vicious thought clothed in speech has new power over the speaker4 ,if we would escape from that danger1 we must be righteous1 and speak righteousness2 and then the same cause will deepen our convictions of 'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report4' ,verse #ad insists on this opposite side of the truth4 ,good words will bring forth fruit1 which will satisfy the speaker1 because1 whatever effects his words may have on others1 they will leave strengthened goodness and love of it in himself4 ',if the house be worthy1 your peace shall rest upon it2 if not1 it shall return to you again4' ,that reaction of words on oneself is but one case of the universal law of consequences coming back on us4 ,we are the architects of our own destinies4 ,every deed has an immortal life1 and returns1 either like a raven or a dove1 to the man who sent it out on its flight4 ,it comes back either croaking with blood on its beak1 or cooing with an olive branch in its mouth4 ,all life is at once sowing and reaping4 ,a harvest comes in which retribution will be even more entire and accurate4 ,the last proverb of the passage gives a familiar antithesis1 and partially returns to the thought of verse #a4 ,the fool has no standard of conduct but his own notions1 and is absurdly complacent as to all his doings4 ,the wise seeks better guidance than his own1 and is docile1 because he is not so ridiculously sure of his infallibility4 ,no type of weak wickedness is more abominable to the proverbialist than that of pert self-conceit1 which knows so little that it thinks it knows everything1 and is 'as untameable as a fly4' ,but in the wisest sense1 it is true that a mark of folly is self-opinionativeness2 that a man who has himself for teacher has a fool for scholar2 that the test of wisdom is willingness to be taught2 and1 especially1 that to bring a docile1 humble spirit to the ,source of all wisdom1 and to ask counsel of ,god1 is the beginning of true insight1 and that the self-sufficiency which is the essence of sin1 is never more fatal than when it is ignorant of guilt1 and therefore spurns a ,saviour4 ,,the ,,poor ,,rich ,,and ,,the ,,rich ,,poor ',there is that maketh himself rich1 yet hath nothing2 there is that maketh himself poor1 yet hath great riches4'--,,proverbs xiii4 #g4 ,two singularly-contrasted characters are set in opposition here4 ,one1 that of a man who lives like a millionaire and is a pauper2 another1 that of a man who lives like a pauper and is rich4 ,the latter character1 that of a man who hides and hoards his wealth1 was1 perhaps1 more common in the days when this collection of ,proverbs was put together1 because in all ill-governed countries1 to show wealth is a short way to get rid of it4 ,but they have their modern representatives4 ,we who live in a commercial community have seen many a blown-out bubble soaring and glittering1 and then collapsing into a drop of soapsuds1 and on the other hand1 we are always hearing of notes and bank-books being found stowed away in some wretched hovel where a miser has died4 ,now1 ,i do not suppose that the author of this proverb attached any kind of moral to it in his own mind4 ,it is simply a jotting of an observation drawn from a wide experience2 and if he meant to teach any lesson by it1 ,i suppose it was nothing more than that in regard to money1 as to other things1 we should avoid extremes1 and should try to show what we are1 and to be what we seem4 ,but whilst thus ,i do not take it that there is any kind of moral or religious lesson in the writer's mind1 ,i may venture1 perhaps1 to take this saying as being a picturesque illustration1 putting in vivid fashion certain great truths which apply in all regions of life1 and which find their highest application in regard to ,christianity1 and our relation to ,jesus ,christ4 ,there1 too1 'there is that maketh himself rich1 and yet hath nothing2 and there is that maketh himself poor1 and yet'--or one might1 perhaps1 say therefore--'hath great riches4' ,it is from that point of view that ,i wish to look at the words at this time4 ,i must begin with recalling to your mind1 ,i4 ,our universal poverty4 ,whatever a man may think about himself1 however he may estimate himself and conceit himself1 there stand out two salient facts1 the fact of universal dependence1 and the fact of universal sinfulness1 which ought to bear into every heart the consciousness of this poverty4 ,a word or two about each of these two facts4 ,first1 the fact of universal dependence4 ,now1 wise men and deep thinkers have found a very hard problem in the question of how it is possible that there should be an infinite ,god and a finite universe standing1 as it were1 over against ,him4 ,i am not going to trouble you with the all-but-just-succeeding answers to that great problem which the various systems of thinking have given4 ,these lie apart from my present purpose4 ,but what ,i would point out is that1 whatever else may be dark and difficult about the co-existence of these two1 the infinite ,god and the finite universe1 this at least is sun-clear1 that the creature depends absolutely for everything on that infinite ,creator4 ,people talk sometimes1 and we are all too apt to think1 as if ,god had made the world and left it4 ,and we are all too apt to think that1 however we may owe the origination of our own personal existence to a divine act1 the act was done when we began to be1 and the life was given as a gift that could be separated from the ,bestower4 ,but that is not the state of the case at all4 ,the real fact is that life is only continued because of the continued operation on every living thing1 just as being is only continued by reason of the continued operation on every existing thing1 of the ,divine ,power4 ',in ,him we live1' and the life is the result of the perpetual impartation from ,himself 'in whom all things consist1' according to the profound word of the ,apostle4 ,their being depends on their union with ,him4 ,if it were possible to cut a sunbeam in two1 so that the further half of it should be separated from its vital union with the great central fire from which it rushed long1 long ago1 that further half would pale into darkness4 ,and if you cut the connection between ,god and the creature1 the creature shrivels into nothing4 ,by ,him the spring buds around us unfold themselves2 by ,him all things are4 ,so1 at the very foundation of our being there lies absolute dependence4 ,in like manner1 all that we call faculties1 capacities1 and the like1 are1 in a far deeper sense than the conventional use of the word 'gift' implies1 bestowments from ,him4 ,the ,old ,testament goes to the root of the matter when1 speaking of the artistic and aesthetic skill of the workers in the fine arts in the ,tabernacle1 it says1 'the ,spirit of the ,lord' taught ,bezaleel2 and when1 even in regard to the brute strength of ,samson--surely the strangest hero of faith that ever existed--it says that when 'the ,spirit of the ,lord came upon him1' into his giant hands there was infused the strength by which he tore the lion's jaws asunder4 ,in like manner1 all the faculties that men possess they have simply because ,he has given them4 ',what hast thou that thou hast not received8 ,if thou hast received1 why dost thou boast thyself8' ,so there is a great psalm that gathers everything that makes up human life1 and traces it all to ,god1 when it says1 ',they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of ,thy house1' for from ,god comes all that sustains us2 ',thou shalt make them drink of the river of ,thy pleasures1' for from ,god comes all that gladdens us2 'with ,thee is the fountain of life1' for from ,him flow all the tiny streams that make the life of all that live2 'in ,thy light shall we see light1' for every power of perceiving1 and all grace and lustre of purity1 owe their source to ,him4 ,as well1 then1 might the pitcher boast itself of the sparkling water that it only holds1 as well might the earthen jar plume itself on the treasure that has been deposited in it1 as we make ourselves rich because of the riches that we have received4 ',let not the wise man glory in his wisdom1 neither let the mighty man glory in his strength4 ,let not the rich man glory in his riches2 but he that glorieth1 let him glory in the ,lord4' ,then1 turn for a moment to the second of the facts on which this universal poverty depends1 and that is the fact of universal sinfulness4 ,ah6 there is one thing that is our own-- ',if any power we have1 it is to will4' ,we have that strange faculty1 which nobody has ever thoroughly explained yet1 but which we all know to exist1 of wrenching ourselves so far away from ,god1 'in whom we live and move and have our being1' that we can make our thoughts and ways1 not merely lower than1 but contradictory of1 and antagonistic to1 ,his thoughts1 and ,his ways4 ,conscience tells us1 and we all know it1 that we are the causes of our own actions1 though from ,him come the powers by which we do them4 ,the electricity comes from the central powerstation1 but it depends on us what sort of wheels we make it drive1 and what kind of work we set it to do4 ,make all allowances you like for circumstances--what they call nowadays 'environment1' by which formidable word some people seem to think that they have explained away a great many difficulties--make all allowances you like for inheritance--what they now call 'heredity1' by which other magic word people seem to think that they may largely obliterate the sense of responsibility and sin--allow as much as you like1 in reason1 for these1 and there remains the indestructible consciousness in every man1 ',i did it1 and it was my fault that ,i did it2 and the moral guilt remains4' ,so1 then1 there are these two things1 universal dependence and universal sinfulness1 and on them is built the declaration of universal poverty4 ,duty is debt4 ,everybody knows that the two words come from the same root4 ,what we ought is what we owe4 ,we all owe an obedience which none of us has rendered4 ,ten thousand talents is the debt and--'they had nothing to pay4' ,we are like bankrupts that begin business with a borrowed capital1 by reason of our absolute dependence2 and so manage their concerns as to find themselves inextricably entangled in a labyrinth of obligations which they cannot discharge4 ,we are all paupers4 ,and so ,i come to the second point1 and that is-- ,,ii4 ,the poor rich man4 ',there is that maketh himself rich1 and yet hath nothing4' ,that describes accurately the type of man of whom there are thousands2 of whom there are dozens listening to me at this moment2 who ignores dependence and is not conscious of sin1 and so struts about in self-complacent satisfaction with himself1 and knows nothing of his true condition4 ,there is nothing more tragic--and so it would be seen to be if it were not so common--than that a man1 laden1 as we each of us are1 with a burden of evil that we cannot get rid of1 should yet conceit himself to possess merits1 virtues1 graces1 that ought to secure for him the admiration of his fellows1 or1 at least1 to exempt him from their censure1 and which he thinks1 when he thinks about it at all1 may perhaps secure for him the approbation of ,god4 ',the deceitfulness of sin' is one of its mightiest powers4 ,there is nothing that so blinds a man to the real moral character of actions as that obstinate self-complacency which approves of a thing because it is mine4 ,you condemn in other people the very things you do yourself4 ,you see all their ugliness in them2 you do not recognise it when it is your deed4 ,many of you have never ventured upon a careful examination and appraisement of your own moral and religious character4 ,you durst not1 for you are afraid that it would turn out badly4 ,so1 like some insolvent who has not the courage to face the facts1 you take refuge in defective bookkeeping1 and think that that is as good as being solvent4 ,then you have far too low a standard1 and one of the main reasons why you have so low a standard is just because the sins that you do have dulled your consciences1 and like the ,styrian peasants that eat arsenic1 the poison does not poison you1 and you do not feel yourself any the worse for it4 ,dear brethren6 these are very rude things for me to say to you4 ,i am saying them to myself as much as to you1 and ,i would to ,god that you would listen to them1 not because ,i say them1 but because they are true4 ,the great bulk of us know our own moral characters just as little as we know the sound of our own voices4 ,i suppose if you could hear yourself speak you would say1 ',i never knew that my voice sounded like that4' ,and ,i am quite sure that many of you1 if the curtain could be drawn aside which is largely woven out of the black yarn of your own evil thoughts1 and you could see yourselves as in a mirror1 you would say1 ',i had no notion that ,i looked like that4' ',there is that maketh himself rich1 and yet hath nothing4' ,ay6 and more than that4 ,the making of yourself rich is the sure way to prevent yourself from ever being so4 ,we see that in all other regions of life4 ,if a student says to himself1 ',oh6 ,i know all that subject1' the chances are that he will not get it up any more2 and the further chance is that he will be 'ploughed' when the examination-day comes4 ,if the artist stands before the picture1 and says to himself1 ',well done1 that is the realisation of my ideal6' he will paint no more anything worth looking at4 ,and in any department1 when a man says ',lo6 ,i have attained1' then he ceases to advance4 ,now1 bring all that to bear upon religion1 upon ,christ and ,his salvation1 upon our own spiritual and religious and moral condition4 ,the sense of imperfection is the salt of approximation to perfection4 ,and the man that says ',i am rich' is condemning himself to poverty and pauperism4 ,if you do not know your need1 you will not go to look for the supply of it4 ,if you fancy yourselves to be quite well1 though a mortal disease has gripped you1 you will take no medicine1 nor have recourse to any physician4 ,if you think that you have enough good to show for man's judgment and for ,god's1 and have not been convinced of your dependence and your sinfulness1 then ,jesus ,christ will be very little to you1 and ,his great work as the ,redeemer and ,saviour of ,his people from their sins will be nothing to you4 ,and so you will condemn yourselves to have nothing unto the very end4 ,i believe that this generation needs few things more than it needs a deepened consciousness of the reality of sin and of the depth and damnable nature of it4 ,it is because people feel so little of the burden of their transgression that they care so little for that gentle ,hand that lifts away their burden4 ,it is because from much of popular religion--and1 alas6 that ,i should have to say it1 from much of popular preaching--there has vanished the deep wholesome sense of poverty1 that1 from so much of popular religion1 and preaching too1 there has faded away the central light of the ,gospel1 the proclamation of the ,cross by which is taken away the sin of the whole world4 ,so1 lastly1 my text brings before us-- ,,iii4 ,the rich poor man4 ',there is that maketh himself poor and yet'--or1 as varied1 the expression is1 'therefore hath great riches4' ,jesus ,christ has lifted the thoughts in my text into the very region into which ,i am trying to bring them1 when in the first of all the ,beatitudes1 as they are called1 ',he opened ,his mouth and said1 ,blessed are the poor in spirit1 for theirs is the ,kingdom of ,heaven4' ,poor1 and therefore an owner of a kingdom6 ,now ,i need not1 at this stage of my sermon1 insist upon the fact that that consciousness of poverty is the only fitting attitude for any of us to take up in view of the two facts with which ,i started1 the fact of our dependence and the fact of our sinfulness4 ,what absurdity it seems for a man about whom these two things are true1 that1 as ,i said1 he began with a borrowed capital1 and has only incurred greater debts in his transactions1 there should be any foothold left in his own estimation on which he can stand and claim to be anything but the pauper that he is4 ,oh6 brethren1 of all the hallucinations that we put upon ourselves in trying to believe that things are as we wish1 there is none more subtle1 more obstinate1 more deeply dangerous than this1 that a man full of evil should be so ignorant of his evil as to say1 like that ,pharisee in our ,lord's parable1 ',i thank ,thee that ,i am not as other men are4 ,i give tithes 444 ,i pray 444 ,i am this1 that1 and the other thing2 not like that wretched publican over there4' ,yes1 this is the fit attitude for us1--',he would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven4' ,then let me remind you that this wholesome recognition of facts about ourselves as they are is the sure way to possess the wealth4 ,of course1 it is possible for a man by some mighty influence or other brought to bear upon him1 to see himself as ,god sees him1 and then1 if there is nothing more than that1 he is tortured with 'the sorrow that worketh death4' ,judas 'went out and hanged himself'2 ,peter 'went out and wept bitterly4' ,the one was sent 'to his own place1' wherever that was2 the other was sent foremost of the ,twelve4 ,if you see your poverty1 let self-distrust be the nadir1 the lowest point1 and let faith be the complementary high point1 the zenith4 ,the rebound from self-distrust to trust in ,christ is that which makes the consciousness of poverty the condition of receiving wealth4 ,and what wealth it is6--the wealth of a peaceful conscience1 of a quiet heart1 of lofty aims1 of a pure mind1 of strength according to our need1 of an immortal hope1 of a treasure in the heavens that faileth not1 'where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt2 where thieves do not break through nor steal4' ,blessed be ,god6 the more we have the riches of glory in ,christ ,jesus1 the more shall we feel that we have nothing1 and that all is ,his1 and none of it ours4 ,and so1 as the rivers run in the valleys1 and the high mountain-tops are dry and barren1 the grace which makes us rich will run in the low ground of our conscious humiliation and nothingness4 ,dear brother6 do you estimate yourself as you are8 ,have you taken stock of yourself8 ,have you got away from the hallucination of possessing wealth8 ,has your sense of need led you to cease from trust in yourself1 and to put all your trust in ,jesus ,christ8 ,have you taken the wealth which ,he freely gives to all who sue in forma pauperis8 ,he does not ask you to bring anything but debts and sins1 emptiness and weakness1 and penitent faith4 ,he will strengthen the weakness1 fill the emptiness1 forgive the sins1 cancel the debts1 and make you 'rich toward ,god4' ,i beseech you to listen to ,him1 speaking from heaven1 and taking up the strain of this text3 ',because thou sayest ,i am rich1 and increased with goods1 and have need of nothing2 and knowest not that thou art wretched1 and miserable1 and poor1 and blind1 and naked1 ,i counsel thee to buy of ,me gold tried in the fire1 that thou mayest be rich4' ,and then you will be of those blessed poor ones who are 'rich through faith1 and heirs of the ,kingdom4' ,,the ,,tillage ,,of ,,the ,,poor ',much food is in the tillage of the poor4'--,,proverbs xiii4 #bc4 ,palestine was a land of small peasant proprietors1 and the institution of the ,jubilee was intended to prevent the acquisition of large estates by any ,israelite4 ,the consequence1 as intended1 was a level of modest prosperity4 ,it was 'the tillage of the poor1' the careful1 diligent husbandry of the man who had only a little patch of land to look after1 that filled the storehouses of the ,holy ,land4 ,hence the proverb of our text arose4 ,it preserves the picture of the economical conditions in which it originated1 and it is capable of1 and is intended to have1 an application to all forms and fields of work4 ,in all it is true that the bulk of the harvested results are due1 not to the large labours of the few1 but to the minute1 unnoticed toils of the many4 ,small service is true service1 and the aggregate of such produces large crops4 ,spade husbandry gets most out of the ground4 ,the labourer's allotment of half an acre is generally more prolific than the average of the squire's estate4 ,much may be made of slender gifts1 small resources1 and limited opportunities if carefully cultivated1 as they should be1 and as their very slenderness should stimulate their being4 ,one of the psalms accuses 'the children of ,ephraim' because1 'being armed and carrying bows1 they turned back in the day of battle4' ,that saying deduces obligation from equipment1 and preaches a stringent code of duty to those who are in any direction largely gifted4 ,power to its last particle is duty1 and not small is the crime of those who1 with great capacities1 have small desire to use them1 and leave the brunt of the battle to half-trained soldiers1 badly armed4 ,but the imagery of the fight is not sufficient to include all aspects of ,christian effort4 ,the peaceful toil of the 'husbandman that labours' stands1 in one of ,paul's letters1 side by side with the heroism of the 'man that warreth4' ,our text gives us the former image1 and so supplements that other4 ,it completes the lesson of the psalm in another respect1 as insisting on the importance1 not of the well endowed1 but of the slenderly furnished1 who are immensely in the majority4 ,this text is a message to ordinary1 mediocre people1 without much ability or influence4 ,i4 ,it teaches1 first1 the responsibility of small gifts4 ,it is no mere accident that in our ,lord's great parable ,he represents the man with the one talent as the hider of his gift4 ,there is a certain pleasure in doing what we can do1 or fancy we can do1 well4 ,there is a certain pleasure in the exercise of any kind of gift1 be it of body or mind2 but when we know that we are but very slightly gifted by ,him1 there is a temptation to say1 ',oh6 it does not matter much whether ,i contribute my share to this1 that1 or the other work or no4 ,i am but a poor man4 ,my half-crown will make but a small difference in the total4 ,i am possessed of very little leisure4 ,the few minutes that ,i can spare for individual cultivation1 or for benevolent work1 will not matter at all4 ,i am only an insignificant unit2 nobody pays any attention to my opinion4 ,it does not in the least signify whether ,i make my influence felt in regard of social1 religious1 or political questions1 and the like4 ,i can leave all that to the more influential men4 ,my littleness at least has the prerogative of immunity4 ,my little finger would produce such a slight impact on the scale that it is indifferent whether ,i apply it or not4 ,it is a good deal easier for me to wrap up my talent--which1 after all1 is only a threepenny bit1 and not a talent--and put it away and do nothing4' ,yes1 but then you forget1 dear friend6 that responsibility does not diminish with the size of the gifts1 but that there is as great responsibility for the use of the smallest as for the use of the largest1 and that although it does not matter very much to anybody but yourself what you do1 it matters all the world to you4 ,but then1 besides that1 my text tells us that it does matter whether the poor man sets himself to make the most of his little patch of ground or not4 ',there is much food in the tillage of the poor4' ,the slenderly endowed are the immense majority4 ,there is a genius or two here and there1 dotted along the line of the world's and the ,church's history4 ,the great men and wise men and mighty men and wealthy men may be counted by units1 but the men that are not very much of anything are to be counted by millions4 ,and unless we can find some stringent law of responsibility that applies to them1 the bulk of the human race will be under no obligation to do anything either for ,god or for their fellows1 or for themselves4 ,if ,i am absolved from the task of bringing my weight to bear on the side of right because my weight is infinitesimal1 and ,i am only one in a million1 suppose all the million were to plead the same excuse2 what then8 ,then there would not be any weight on the side of the right at all4 ,the barns in ,palestine were not filled by farming on a great scale like that pursued away out on the western prairies1 where one man will own1 and his servants will plough a furrow for miles long1 but they were filled by the small industries of the owners of tiny patches4 ,the 'tillage of the poor1' meaning thereby not the mendicant1 but the peasant owner of a little plot1 yielded the bulk of the 'food4' ,the wholesome old proverb1 'many littles make a mickle1' is as true about the influence brought to bear in the world to arrest evil and to sweeten corruption as it is about anything besides4 ,christ has a great deal more need of the cultivation of the small patches that ,he gives to the most of us than ,he has even of the cultivation of the large estates that ,he bestows on a few4 ,responsibility is not to be measured by amount of gift1 but is equally stringent1 entire1 and absolute whatsoever be the magnitude of the endowments from which it arises4 ,let me remind you1 too1 how the same virtues and excellences can be practised in the administering of the smallest as in that of the greatest gifts4 ,men say--,i dare say some of you have said--',oh6 if ,i were eloquent like ,so-and-so2 rich like somebody else2 a man of weight and importance like some other1 how ,i would consecrate my powers to the ,master6 ,but ,i am slow of speech1 or nobody minds me1 or ,i have but very little that ,i can give4' ,yes6 ',he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much4' ,if you do not utilise the capacity possessed1 to increase the estate would only be to increase the crop of weeds from its uncultivated clods4 ,we never palm off a greater deception on ourselves than when we try to hoodwink conscience by pleading bounded gifts as an excuse for boundless indolence1 and to persuade ourselves that if we could do more we should be less inclined to do nothing4 ,the most largely endowed has no more obligation and no fairer field than the most slenderly gifted lies under and possesses4 ,all service coming from the same motive and tending to the same end is the same with ,god4 ,not the magnitude of the act1 but the motive thereof1 determines the whole character of the life of which it is a part4 ,the same graces of obedience1 consecration1 quick sympathy1 self-denying effort may be cultivated and manifested in the spending of a halfpenny as in the administration of millions4 ,the smallest rainbow in the tiniest drop that hangs from some sooty eave and catches the sunlight has precisely the same lines1 in the same order1 as the great arch that strides across half the sky4 ,if you go to the ,giant's ,causeway1 or to the other end of it amongst the ,scotch ,hebrides1 you will find the hexagonal basaltic pillars all of identically the same pattern and shape1 whether their height be measured by feet or by tenths of an inch4 ,big or little1 they obey exactly the same law4 ,there is 'much food in the tillage of the poor4' ,,ii4 ,but now1 note1 again1 how there must be a diligent cultivation of the small gifts4 ,the inventor of this proverb had looked carefully and sympathetically at the way in which the little peasant proprietors worked2 and he saw in that a pattern for all life4 ,it is not always the case1 of course1 that a little holding means good husbandry1 but it is generally so2 and you will find few waste corners and few unweeded patches on the ground of a man whose whole ground is measured by rods instead of by miles4 ,there will usually be little waste time1 and few neglected opportunities of working in the case of the peasant whose subsistence1 with that of his family1 depends on the diligent and wise cropping of the little patch that does belong to him4 ,and so1 dear brethren6 if you and ,i have to take our place in the ranks of the one-talented men1 the commonplace run of ordinary people1 the more reason for us to enlarge our gifts by a sedulous diligence1 by an unwearied perseverance1 by a keen look-out for all opportunities of service1 and above all by a prayerful dependence upon ,him from whom alone comes the power to toil1 and who alone gives the increase4 ,the less we are conscious of large gifts the more we should be bowed in dependence on ,him from whom cometh 'every good and perfect gift'2 and who gives according to ,his wisdom2 and the more earnestly should we use that slender possession which ,god may have given us4 ,industry applied to small natural capacity will do far more than larger power rusted away by sloth4 ,you all know that it is so in regard of daily life1 and common business1 and the acquisition of mundane sciences and arts4 ,it is just as true in regard to the ,christian race1 and to the ,christian ,church's work of witness4 ,who are they who have done the most in this world for ,god and for men8 ,the largely endowed men8 ',not many wise1 not many mighty1 not many noble are called4' ,the coral insect is microscopic1 but it will build up from the profoundest depth of the ocean a reef against which the whole ,pacific may dash in vain4 ,it is the small gifts that1 after all1 are the important ones4 ,so let us cultivate them the more earnestly the more humbly we think of our own capacity4 ',play well thy part2 there all the honour lies4' ,god1 who has builded up some of the towering ,alps out of mica-flakes1 builds up ,his ,church out of infinitesimally small particles--slenderly endowed men touched by the consecration of ,his love4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 let me remind you of the harvest reaped from these slender gifts when sedulously tilled4 ,two great results of such conscientious cultivation and use of small resources and opportunities may be suggested as included in that abundant 'food' of which the text speaks4 ,the faithfully used faculty increases4 ',to him that hath shall be given4' ',oh6 if ,i had a wider sphere how ,i would flame in it1 and fill it6' ,then twinkle your best in your little sphere1 and that will bring a wider one some time or other4 ,for1 as a rule1 and in the general1 though with exceptions1 opportunities come to the man that can use them2 and roughly1 but yet substantially1 men are set in this world where they can shine to the most advantage to ,god4 ,fill your place2 and if you1 like ,paul1 have borne witness for the ,master in little ,jerusalem1 ,he will not keep you there1 but carry you to bear witness for ,him in imperial ,rome itself4 ,the old fable of the man who told his children to dig all over the field and they would find treasure1 has its true application in regard to ,christian effort and faithful stewardship of the gifts bestowed upon us4 ,the sons found no gold1 but they improved the field1 and secured its bearing golden harvests1 and they strengthened their own muscles1 which was better than gold4 ,so if we want larger endowments let us honestly use what we possess1 and use will make growth4 ,the other issue1 about which ,i need not say more than a word1 is that the final reward of all faithful service--',enter thou into the joy of thy ,lord' is said1 not to the brilliant1 but to the 'faithful' servant4 ,in that great parable1 which is the very text-book of this whole subject of gifts and responsibilities and recompense1 the men who were entrusted with unequal sums used these unequal sums with equal diligence1 as is manifest by the fact that they realised an equal rate of increase4 ,he that got two talents made two more out of them1 and he that had five did no more2 for he1 too1 but doubled his capital4 ,so1 because the poorer servant with his two1 and the richer with his ten1 had equally cultivated their diversely-measured estates1 they were identical in reward2 and to each of them the same thing is said3 ',enter thou into the joy of thy ,lord4' ,it matters little whether we copy some great picture upon a canvas as big as the side of a house1 or upon a thumbnail2 the main thing is that we copy it4 ,if we truly employ whatsoever gifts ,god has given to us1 then we shall be accepted according to that we have1 and not according to that we have not4 ,,sin ,,the ,,mocker ',fools make a mock at sin2 but among the righteous there is favour4'--,proverbs xiv1 #i4 ,the wisdom of this ,book of ,proverbs is not simply intellectual1 but it has its roots in reverence and obedience to ,god1 and for its accompaniment1 righteousness4 ,the wise man is the good man1 and the good man is the godly man4 ,and as is wisdom1 so its opposite1 folly1 is not only intellectual feebleness--the bad man is a fool1 and the godless is a bad man4 ,the greatest amount of brain-power cultivated to the highest degree does not make a man wise1 and about many a student and thinker ,god pronounces the sentence ',thou fool6' ,that does not mean that all sin is ignorance1 as we sometimes hear it said with a great show of tolerant profundity4 ,there is some ignorance in all sin1 but the essence of sin is the aversion of the will from a law and from a ,person1 not the defect of the understanding4 ,so far from all sin being but ignorance1 and therefore blameless1 there is no sin without knowledge1 and the measure of ignorance is the measure of blamelessness2 unless the ignorance be itself1 as it often is1 criminal4 ,ignorance is one thing1 folly is another4 ,one more remark by way of introduction must be made on the language of our text4 ,the margin of the ,revised ,version correctly turns it completely round1 and for 'the foolish make a mock at guilt1' would read1 'guilt mocketh at the foolish4' ,in the original the verb in our text is in the singular1 and the only singular noun to go with it is 'guilt4' ,the thought then here is1 that sin tempts men into its clutches1 and then gibes and taunts them4 ,it is a solemn and painful subject1 but perhaps this text rightly pondered may help to save some of us from hearing the mocking laugh which echoes through the empty chambers of many an empty soul4 ,i4 ,sin mocks us by its broken promises4 ,the object immediately sought by any wrong act may be attained4 ,in sins of sense1 the appetite is gratified2 in other sins1 the desire that urged to them attains its end4 ,but what then8 ,the temptation lay in the imagination that1 the wrong thing being done1 an inward good would result1 and it does not2 for even if the immediate object be secured1 other results1 all unforeseen1 force themselves on us which spoil the hoped for good4 ,the sickle cuts down tares as well as wheat1 and the reaper's hands are filled with poisonous growths as well as with corn4 ,there is a revulsion of feeling from the thing that before the sin was done attracted4 ,the hideous story of the sin of ,david's son1 ,amnon1 puts in ugliest shape the universal experience of men who are tempted to sin and are victims of the revulsion that follows--,he 'hated her exceedingly1 so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her4' ,conscience1 which was overpowered and unheard amid the loud cries of desire1 speaks4 ,we find out the narrow limits of satisfaction4 ,the satisfied appetite has no further driving power1 but lies down to sleep off its debauch1 and ceases to be a factor for the time4 ,inward discord1 the schism between duty and inclination1 sets up strife in the very sanctuary of the soul4 ,we are dimly conscious of the evil done as robbing us of power to do right4 ,we cannot pray1 and would be glad to forget ,god4 ,and a self thus racked1 impoverished1 and weakened1 is what a man gains by the sin that promised him so much and hid so much from him4 ,or if these consequences are in any measure silenced and stifled1 a still more melancholy mockery betrays him1 in the continuance of the illusion that he is happy and all is well1 when all the while he is driving headlong to destruction4 ,many a man orders his life so that it is like a ship that sails with huzzas and bedizened with flags while a favouring breeze fills its sails1 but comes back to port battered and all but waterlogged1 with its canvas 'lean1 rent1 and beggared by the strumpet wind4' ,it is always a mistake to try to buy happiness by doing wrong4 ,the price is rigorously demanded1 but the quid pro quo is not given1 or if it seems to be so1 there is something else given too1 which takes all the savour out of the composite whole4 ,the ',folly' of the earlier half of this book woos men by her sweet invitations1 and promises the sweetness of stolen waters and the pleasantness of bread eaten in secret1 but she hides the fact1 which the listener to her seducing voice has to find out for himself after he has drunk of the stolen waters and tasted the maddening pleasantness of her bread eaten in secret1 that 'her guests are in the depths of ,sheol4' ,the temptations that seek to win us to do wrong and dazzle us by fair visions are but 'juggling fiends that keep the word of promise to the ear1 and break it to the hope4' ,,ii4 ,sin mocks fools by making them its slaves4 ,there is not only a revulsion of feeling from the evil thing done that was so tempting before1 but there is a dreadful change in the voice of the temptress4 ,before her victim had done the sin1 she whispered hints of how little a thing it was4 ',don't make such a mountain of a molehill4 ,it is a very small matter4 ,you can easily give it up when you like4' ,but when the deed is done1 then her mocking laugh rings out1 ',i have got you now and you cannot get away4' ,the prey is seduced into the trap by a carefully prepared bait1 and as soon as its hesitating foot steps on to the slippery floor1 down falls the door and escape is impossible1 ,we are tempted to sin by the delusion that we are shaking off restraints that fetter our manhood1 and that it is spirited to do as we like1 and as soon as we have sinned we discover that we were pleasing not ourselves but a taskmaster1 and that while the voice said1 ',show yourself a man1 beyond these petty1 old-fashioned maxims'2 the meaning of it was1 ',become my slave4' ,sin grows in accordance with an awful necessity1 so that it is never in a sinner's power to promise himself ',it is only this one time that ,i will do the wrong thing4 ,let me have one lapse and ,i will abjure the evil for ever after4' ,we have to reckon with the tremendous power of habit1 and to bethink ourselves that a man may never commit a given sin1 but that if he has committed it once1 it is all but impossible that he will stop there4 ,the incline is too slippery and the ice too smooth to risk a foot on it4 ,habit dominates1 outward circumstances press1 there springs up a need for repeating the draught1 and for its being more highly spiced4 ,sin begets sin as fast as the green flies which infest rose-bushes4 ,one has heard of slavers on the ,african coast speaking negroes fair1 and tempting them on board by wonderful promises1 but once the poor creatures are in the ship1 then on with the hatches and1 if need be1 the chains4 ,,iii4 ,sin mocks fools by unforeseen consequences4 ,these are carefully concealed or madly disregarded1 while we are in the stage of merely being tempted1 but when we have done the evil1 they are unmasked1 like a battery against a detachment that has been trapped4 ,the previous denial that anything will come of the sin1 and the subsequent proclamation that this ugly issue has come of it1 are both parts of sin's mockery1 and one knows not which is the more fiendish1 the laugh with which she promises impunity or that with which she tells of the certainty of retribution4 ,we may be mocked1 but ',god is not mocked4 ,whatever a man soweth1 that'--and not some other growth--'shall he also reap4' ,we dwell in an all-related order of things1 in which no act but has its appropriate consequences1 and in which it is only fools who say to themselves1 ',i did not think it would matter much4' ,each act of ours is at once sowing and reaping2 a sowing1 inasmuch as it sets in motion a train the issues of which may not be realised by us till the act has long been forgotten2 a reaping1 inasmuch as what we are and do to-day is the product of what we were and did in a forgotten past4 ,we are what we are1 because we were long ago what we were4 ,as in these composite photographs1 which are produced by laying one individual likeness on another1 our present selves have our past selves preserved in them4 ,we do not need to bring in a divine ,judge into human life in order to be sure that1 by the play of the natural laws of cause and effect1 'every transgression and disobedience receives its just recompense of reward4' ,given the world as it is1 and the continuous identity of a man1 and you have all that is needed for an ,iliad of woes flowing from every life that makes terms with sin4 ,if we gather into one dismal pile the weakening of power for good1 the strengthening of impulses to evil1 the inward poverty1 the unrest1 the gnawings of conscience or its silence1 the slavery under evil often loathed even while it is being obeyed1 the dreary sense of inability to mend oneself1 and often the wreck of outward life which dog our sins like sleuth-hounds1 surely we shall not need to imagine a future tribunal in order to be sure that sin is a murderess1 or to hear her laugh as she mocks her helpless victims4 ,but as surely as there are in this present world experiences which must be regarded as consequences of sin1 so surely do they all assume a more dreadful character and take on the office of prophets of a future4 ,if man lives beyond the grave1 there is nothing to suggest that he will there put off character as he puts off the bodily life4 ,he will be there what he has made himself here4 ,only he will be so more intensely1 more completely4 ,the judgments of earth foretell and foreshadow a judgment beyond earth4 ,there is but one more word that ,i would say1 and it is this4 ,jesus has come to set the captives of sin free from its mockery1 its tyranny1 its worst consequences4 ,he breaks the power of past evil to domineer over us4 ,he gives us a new life within1 which has no heritage of evil to pervert it1 no memories of evil to discourage it1 no bias towards evil to lead it astray4 ,as for the sins that we have done1 ,he is ready to forgive1 to seal to us ,god's forgiveness1 and to take from our own self-condemnation all its bitterness and much of its hopelessness4 ,for the past1 ,his blood has taken away its guilt and power4 ,for the future it sets us free from the mockery of our sin1 and assures us of a future which will not be weakened or pained by remembrances of a sinful past4 ,sin mocks at fools1 but they who have ,christ for their ,redeemer1 their ,righteousness1 and their ,life can smile at her impotent rage1 and mock at her and her impotent attempts to terrify them and assert her lost power with vain threats4 ,,hollow ,,laughter1 ,,solid ,,joy ',even in laughter the heart is sorrowful2 and the end of that mirth is heaviness4'--,,proverbs xiv4 #ac4 ',these things have ,i spoken unto you1 that ,my joy may be in you1 and that your joy may be fulfilled4'--,,john xv4 #aa 7,r4,v474 ,a poet1 who used to be more fashionable than he is now1 pronounces 'happiness' to be our being's end and aim4 ,that is not true1 except under great limitations and with many explanations4 ,it may be regarded as ,god's end1 but it is ruinous to make it man's aim4 ,it is by no means the highest conception of the ,gospel to say that it makes men happy1 however true it may be4 ,the highest is that it makes them good4 ,i put these two texts together1 not only because they bring out the contrast between the laughter which is hollow and fleeting and the joy which is perfect and perpetual1 but also because they suggest to us the difference in kind and object between earthly and heavenly joys2 which difference underlies the other between the boisterous laughter in which is no mirth and no continuance and the joy which is deep and abiding4 ,in the comparison which ,i desire to make between these two texts we must begin with that which is deepest1 and consider-- ,i4 ,the respective objects of earthly and heavenly joy4 ,our ,lord's wonderful words suggest that they who accept ,his sayings1 that they who have ,his word abiding in them1 have in a very deep sense ,his joy implanted in their hearts1 to brighten and elevate their joys as the sunshine flashes into silver the ripples of the lake4 ,what then were the sources of the calm joys of 'the ,man of ,sorrows'8 ,surely ,his was the perfect instance of 'rejoicing in the ,lord always'--an unbroken communion with the ,father4 ,the consciousness that the divine pleasure ever rested on ,him1 and that all ,his thoughts1 emotions1 purposes1 and acts were in perfect harmony with the perfect will of the perfect ,god1 filled ,his humanity up to the very brim with gladness which the world could not take away1 and which remains for us for ever as a type to which all our gladness must be conformed if it is to be worthy of ,him and of us4 ,as one of the ,psalmists says1 ,god is to be 'the gladness of our joy4' ,it is in ,him1 gazed upon by the faith and love of an obedient spirit1 sought after by aspiration and possessed inwardly in peaceful communion1 confirmed by union with ,him in the acts of daily obedience1 that the true joy of every human life is to be realised4 ,they who have drunk of this deep fountain of gladness will not express their joy in boisterous laughter1 which is the hollower the louder it is1 and the less lasting the more noisy1 but will manifest itself 'in the depth and not the tumult of the soul4' ,nor must we forget that ',my joy' co-existed with a profound experience of sorrow to which no human sorrow was ever like4 ,let us not forget that1 while ,his joy filled ,his soul to the brim1 ,he was 'acquainted with grief'2 and let us not wonder if the strange surface contradiction is repeated in ourselves4 ,it is more ,christlike to have inexpressibly deep joy with surface sorrow1 than to have a shallow laughter masking a hurtful sorrow4 ,we have to set the sources of earthly gladness side by side with those of ,christ's joy to be aware of a contrast4 ,his sprang from within1 the world's is drawn from without4 ,his came from union with the ,father1 the world's largely depends on ignoring ,god4 ,his needed no supplies from the gratifications ministered by sense1 and so independent of the presence or absence of such2 the world's need the constant contributions of outward good1 and when these are cut off they droop and die4 ,he who depends on outward circumstances for his joy is the slave of externals and the sport of time and chance4 ,,ii4 ,the ,christian's joy is full1 the world's partial4 ,all human joys touch but part of our nature1 the divine fills and satisfies all4 ,in the former there is always some portion of us unsatisfied1 like the deep pits on the moon's surface into which no light shines1 and which show black on the silver face4 ,no human joys wait to still conscience1 which sits at the banquet like the skeleton that ,egyptian feasters set at their tables4 ,the old story told of a magician's palace blazing with lighted windows1 but there was always one dark2--what shrouded figure sat behind it8 ,is there not always a surly 'elder brother' who will not come in however the musicians may pipe and the servants dance8 ,appetite may be satisfied1 but what of conscience1 and reason1 and the higher aspirations of the soul8 ,the laughter that echoes through the soul is the hollower the louder it is1 and reverberates most through empty spaces4 ,but when ,christ's joy remains in us our joy will be full4 ,its flowing tide will rush into and placidly occupy all the else oozy shallows of our hearts1 even into the narrowest crannies its penetrating waters will pass1 and everywhere will bring a flashing surface that will reflect in our hearts the calm blue above4 ,we need nothing else if we have ,christ and ,his joy within us4 ,if we have everything else1 we need ,his joy within us1 else ours will never be full4 ,,iii4 ,the heavenly joys are perpetual1 the earthly joys transient4 ,many of our earthly joys die in the very act of being enjoyed4 ,those which depend on the gratification of some appetite expire in fruition1 and at each recurrence are less and less complete4 ,the influence of habit works in two ways to rob all such joys of their power to minister to us--it increases the appetite and decreases the power of the object to satisfy4 ,some are followed by swift revulsion and remorse2 all soon become stale2 some are followed by quick remorse2 some are necessarily left behind as we go on in life4 ,to the old man the pleasures of youth are but like children's toys long since outgrown and left behind4 ,all are at the mercy of externals4 ,those which we have not left we have to leave4 ,the saddest lives are those of pleasure-seekers1 and the saddest deaths are those of the men who sought for joy where it was not to be found1 and sought for their gratification in a world which leaves them1 and which they have to leave4 ,there is a realm where abide 'fullness of joy and pleasures for ever more4' ,surely they order their lives most wisely who look for their joys to nothing that earth holds1 and have taken for their own the ancient vow3 ',though the fig-tree shall not blossom1 neither shall fruit be in the vine4444 ,yet ,i will rejoice in the ,lord1 ,i will joy in the ,god of my salvation4' ,if ',my joy' abides in us in its calm and changeless depth1 our joy will be 'full' whatever our circumstances may be2 and we shall hear at last the welcome3 ',enter thou into the joy of thy ,lord4' ,,satisfied ,,from ,,self '444 ,a good man shall be satisfied from himself4'--,,proverbs xiv4 #ad4 ,at first sight this saying strikes one as somewhat unlike the ordinary ,scripture tone1 and savouring rather of a ,stoical self-complacency2 but we recall parallel sayings1 such as ,christ's words1 ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water'2 and the ,apostle's1 ',then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone4' ,we further note that the text has an antithetic parallel in the preceding clause1 where the picture is drawn of 'a backslider in heart1' as 'filled with his own ways'2 so that both clauses set forth the familiar but solemn thought that a man's deeds react upon the doer1 and apart from all thoughts of divine judgment1 themselves bring certain retribution4 ,to grasp the inwardness of this saying we must note that-- ,i4 ,goodness comes from godliness4 ,there is no more striking proof that most men are bad than the notion which they have of what is good4 ,the word has been degraded to mean in common speech little more than amiability1 and is applied with little discrimination to characters of which little more can be said than that they are facile and indulgent of evil4 ',a good fellow' may be a very bad man4 ,at the highest the epithet connotes merely more or less admirable motives and more or less admirable deeds as their results1 whilst often its use is no more than a piece of unmeaning politeness4 ,that was what the young ruler meant by addressing ,christ as ',good ,master'2 and ,christ's answer to him set him1 and should set us1 on asking ourselves why we call very ordinary men and very ordinary actions 'good4' ,the scriptural notion is immensely deeper1 and the scriptural employment of the word is immensely more restricted4 ,it is more inward3 it means that motives should be right before it calls any action good2 it means that our central and all-influencing motive should be love to ,god and regard to ,his will4 ,that is the ,old ,testament point of view as well as the ,new4 ,or to put it in other words1 the 'good man' of the ,bible is a man in whom outward righteousness flows from inward devotion and love to ,god4 ,these two elements make up the character3 godliness is an inseparable part of goodness1 is the inseparable foundation of goodness1 and the sole condition on which it is possible4 ,but from this conception follows1 that a man may be truly called good1 although not perfect4 ,he may be so and yet have many failures4 ,the direction of his aspirations1 not the degree to which these are fulfilled1 determines his character1 and his right to be reckoned a good man4 ,why was ,david called 'a man after ,god's own heart1' notwithstanding his frightful fall8 ,was it not because that sin was contrary to the main direction of his life1 and because he had struggled to his feet again1 and with tears and self-abasement1 yet with unconquerable desire and hope1 'pressed toward the mark for the prize of his high calling'8 ,david in the ,old ,testament and ,peter in the ,new bid us be of good cheer1 and warn us against the too common error of thinking that goodness means perfection4 ',the new moon with a ragged edge' is even in its imperfections beautiful1 and in its thinnest circlet prophesies the perfect round4 ,remembering this inseparable connection between godliness and goodness we further note that-- ,,ii4 ,godliness brings satisfaction4 ,there is a grim contrast between the two halves of this verse4 ,the former shows us the backslider in heart as filled 'with his own ways4' ,he gets weary with satiety2 with his doings he 'will be sick of them'2 and the things which at first delighted will finally disgust and be done without zest4 ,there is nothing sadder than the gloomy faces often seen in the world's festivals4 ,but1 on the other hand1 the godly man will be satisfied from within4 ,this is no ,stoical proclamation of self-sufficingness4 ,self by itself satisfies no man1 but self1 become the abiding-place of ,god1 does satisfy4 ,a man alone is like 'the chaff which the wind driveth away'2 but1 rooted in ,god1 he is 'like a tree planted by the rivers of water1 whose leaf does not wither4' ,he has found all that he needs4 ,god is no longer without him but within2 and he who can say1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' has within him the secret of peace and the source of satisfaction which can never say ',i thirst4' ,such an inward self1 in which ,god dwells and through which ,his sweet presence manifests itself in the renewed nature1 sets man free from all dependence for blessedness on externals4 ,we hang on them and are in despair if we lose them1 because we have not the life of ,god within us4 ,he who has such an indwelling1 and he only1 can truly say1 ',all my possessions ,i carry with me4' ,take him and strip from him1 film after film1 possessions1 reputation1 friends2 hack him limb from limb1 and as long as there is body enough left to keep life in him1 he can say1 ',i have all and abound4' ',ye took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions1 knowing that ye have your own selves for a better possession4' ,,iii4 ,godly goodness brings inward satisfaction4 ,no man is satisfied with himself until he has subjugated himself4 ,what makes men restless and discontented is their tossing1 anarchical desires4 ,to live by impulse1 or passion1 or by anything but love to ,god1 is to make ourselves our own tormentors4 ,it is always true that he 'who loveth his life shall lose it1' and loses it by the very act of loving it4 ,most men's lives are like the troubled sea1 'which cannot rest1' and whose tossing surges1 alas6 'cast up mire and dirt1' for their restless lives bring to the surface much that was meant to lie undisturbed in the depths4 ,but he who has subdued himself is like some still lake which 'heareth not the loud winds when they call1' and mirrors the silent heavens on its calm surface4 ,but further1 goodness brings satisfaction1 because1 as the ,psalmist says1 'in keeping ,thy commandments there is great reward4' ,there is a glow accompanying even partial obedience which diffuses itself with grateful warmth through the whole being of a man4 ,and such goodness tends to the preservation of health of soul as natural1 simple living to the health of the body4 ,and that general sense of well-being brings with it a satisfaction compared with which all the feverish bliss of the voluptuary is poor indeed4 ,but we must not forget that satisfaction from one's self is not satisfaction with one's self4 ,there will always be the imperfection which will always prevent self-righteousness4 ,the good man after the ,bible pattern most deeply knows his faults1 and in that very consciousness is there a deep joy4 ,to be ever aspiring onwards1 and to know that our aspiration is no vain dream1 this is joy4 ,still to press 'toward the mark1' still to have 'the yet untroubled world which gleams before us as we move1' and to know that we shall attain if we follow on1 this is the highest bliss4 ,not the accomplishment of our ideal1 but the cherishing of it1 is the true delight of life4 ,such self-satisfying goodness comes only through ,christ4 ,he makes it possible for us to love ,god and to trust ,him4 ,only when we know 'the love wherewith ,he has loved us1' shall we love with a love which will be the motive power of our lives4 ,he makes it possible to live outward lives of obedience1 which1 imperfect as it is1 has 'great reward4' ,he makes it possible for us to attain the yet unattained1 and to be sure that we 'shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ,he has said1 ',the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life4' ,only when we can say1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' will it be true of us in its fullest sense1 ',a good man shall be satisfied from himself4' ,,what ,i ,,think ,,of ,,myself ,,and ,,what ,,god ,,thinks ,,of ,,me ',all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes2 but the ,lord weigheth the spirits4'--,,proverbs xvi4 #b4 ',all the ways of a man'--then there is no such thing as being conscious of having gone wrong1 and having got into miry and foul ways8 ,of course there is2 and equally of course a broad statement such as this of my text is not to be pressed into literal accuracy1 but is a simple1 general assertion of what we all know to be true1 that we have a strange power of blinding ourselves as to what is wrong in ourselves and in our actions4 ,part of the cure for that lies in the thought in the second clause of the text--',but the ,lord weigheth the spirits4' ,he weighs them in a balance1 or as a man might take up something and poise it on his palm1 moving his hand up and down till his muscles by their resistance gave him some inkling of its weight4 ,but what is it that ,god weighs8 ',the spirits4' ,we too often content ourselves with looking at our ways2 ,god looks at ourselves4 ,he takes the inner man into account1 estimates actions by motives1 and so very often differs from our judgment of ourselves and of one another4 ,now so far the verse of my text carries me1 and as a rule we have to keep ourselves within the limits of each verse in reading this ,book of ,proverbs1 for two adjoining verses have very seldom anything to do with each other4 ,but in the present case they have1 for here is what follows3 ',commit thy works unto the ,lord1 and thy thoughts' 7about thyself and everything else7 'shall be established4' ,that is to say1 since we make such terrible blunders about the moral character of our own works1 and since side by side with these erroneous estimates there is ,god's absolutely correct and all-penetrating one1 common sense says3 ',put yourself into ,his hands1 and then it will be all right4' ,so we consider now these very well-worn and familiar thoughts as to our strange blunders about ourselves1 as to the contemporaneous divine estimate1 which is absolutely correct1 and as to the practical issues that come from two facts4 ,i4 ,our strange power of blinding ourselves4 ,it is difficult to make so threadbare a commonplace at all impressive4 ,but yet if we would only take this thought1 ',all the ways of a man'--that is me--'are right in his own eyes'--that is1 my eyes--and apply it directly to our own personal experience and thoughts of ourselves1 we should find that1 like every other commonplace of morality and religion1 the apparently toothless generality has sharp enough teeth1 and that the trite truth flashes up into strange beauty1 and has power to purify and guide our lives4 ,some one says that 'recognised truths lie bedridden in the dormitory of the soul1 side by side with exploded errors4' ,and ,i am afraid that that is true of this thought1 that we cannot truly estimate ourselves4 ',all the ways of a man are right in his own eyes4' ,for to begin with1 we all know that there is nothing that we so habitually neglect as the bringing of conscience to bear right through all our lives4 ,sometimes it is because there is a temptation that appeals very strongly1 perhaps to sense1 perhaps to some strong inclination which has been strengthened by indulgence4 ,and when the craving arises1 that is no time to begin asking1 ',is it right1 or is it wrong to yield8' ,that question stands small chance of being wisely considered at a moment when1 under the goading of roused desire1 a man is like a mad bull when it charges4 ,it drops its head and shuts its eyes1 and goes right forward1 and no matter whether it smashes its horns against an iron gate1 and damages them and itself1 or not1 on it will go4 ,so when great temptations rise--and we all know such times in our lives--we are in no condition to discuss that question with ourselves4 ,sometimes the craving is so vehement that if we could not get this thing that we want without putting our hands through the sulphurous smoke of the bottomless pit1 we should thrust them out to grasp it4 ,but in regard to the smaller commonplace matters of daily life1 too1 we all know that there are whole regions of our lives which seem to us to be so small that it is hardly worth while summoning the august thought of 'right or wrong8' to decide them4 ,yes1 and a thousand smugglers that go across a frontier1 each with a little package of contraband goods that does not pay any duty1 make a large aggregate at the year's end4 ,it is the trifles of life that shape life1 and it is to them that we so frequently fail in applying1 honestly and rigidly1 the test1 ',is this right or wrong8' ',he that is faithful in that which is least1' and conscientious down to the smallest things1 'is faithful also in much4' ,the legal maxim has it1 ',the law does not care about the very smallest matters4' ,what that precisely means1 as a legal maxim1 ,i do not profess to know1 but it is rank heresy in regard to conduct and morality4 ,look after the pennies1 and the pounds will look after themselves4 ,get the habit of bringing conscience to bear on little things1 or you will never be able to bring it to bear when great temptations come and the crises emerge in your lives4 ,thus1 by reason of that deficiency in the habitual application of conscience to bur lives1 we slide through1 and take for granted that all our ways are right in our eyes4 ,then there is another thing3 we not only neglect the rigid application of conscience to all our lives1 but we have a double standard1 and the notion of right and wrong which we apply to our neighbours is very different from that which we apply to ourselves4 ,no wonder that the criminal is acquitted1 and goes away from the tribunal 'without a stain on his character1' when he is his own judge and jury4 ',all the ways of a man are right in his own eyes1' but the very same 'ways' that you allow to pass muster and condone in yourselves1 you visit with sharp and unfailing censure in others4 ,that strange self-complacency which we have1 which is perfectly undisturbed by the most general confessions of sinfulness1 and only shies when it is brought up to particular details of faults1 we all know is very deep in ourselves4 ,then there is another thing to be remembered1 and that is--the enormous and the tragical influence of habit in dulling the mirror of our souls1 on which our deeds are reflected in their true image4 ,there are places in ,europe where the peasantry have become so accustomed to minute and constantly repeated doses of arsenic that it is actually a minister of health to them1 and what would poison you is food for them4 ,we all know that we may sit in a hall like this1 packed full and steaming1 while the condensed breath is running down the windows1 and never be aware of the foulness of the odours and the air4 ,but when we go out and feel the sweet1 pure breath of the unpolluted atmosphere1 then we know how habit has dulled the lungs4 ,and so habit dulls the conscience4 ,according to the old saying1 the man that began by carrying a calf can carry an ox at the end1 and feel no burden4 ,what we are accustomed to do we scarcely ever recognise to be wrong1 and it is these things which pass because they are habitual that do more to wreck lives than occasional outbursts of far worse evils1 according to the world's estimate of them4 ,habit dulls the eye4 ,yes2 and more than that1 the conscience needs educating just as much as any other faculty4 ,a man says1 ',my conscience acquits me'2 then the question is1 ',and what sort of a conscience have you got1 if it acquits you8' ,all that your conscience says is1 ',it is right to do what is right1 it is wrong to do what is wrong4' ,but for the explanation of what is wrong and what is right you have to go somewhere else than to your consciences4 ,you have to go to your reason1 and your judgment1 and your common sense1 and a hundred other sources4 ,and then1 when you have found out what is right and what is wrong1 you will hear the voice saying1 ',do that1 and do not do this4' ,every one of us has faults that we know nothing about1 and that we bring up to the tribunal of our consciences1 and wipe our mouths and say1 ',we have done no harm4' ',i thought within myself that ,i verily ought to do many things contrary to the name of ,jesus of ,nazareth4' ',they think that they do ,god service4' ,many things that seem to us virtues are vices4 ,and as for the individual so for the community4 ,the perception of what is right and what is wrong needs long educating4 ,when ,i was a boy the whole ,christian ,church of ,america1 with one voice1 declared that 'slavery was a patriarchal institution appointed by ,god4' ,the ,christian ,church of to-day has not awakened either to the sin of war or of drink4 ,and ,i have not the smallest doubt that there are hosts of things which public opinion1 and ,christian public opinion1 regards to-day as perfectly allowable and innocent1 and1 perhaps1 even praiseworthy1 and over which it will ask ,god's blessing1 at which1 in a hundred years our descendants will hold up their hands in wonder1 and say1 ',how did good people--and good people they no doubt were--tolerate such a condition of things for a moment8' ',all a man's ways are right in his own eyes1' and he needs a great deal of teaching before he comes to understand what1 according to ,god's will1 really1 is right and what is wrong4 ,now let me turn for a moment to the contrasted picture1 with which ,i can only deal in a sentence or two4 ,,ii4 ,the divine estimate4 ,i have already pointed out the two emphatic thoughts that lie in that clause1 ',god weigheth1' and 'weigheth the spirits4' ,i need not repeat what ,i said1 in the introduction to these remarks1 upon this subject4 ,just let us take with us these two thoughts1 that the same actions which we sometimes test1 in our very defective and loaded balances1 have also to go into the infallible scales1 and that the actions go with their interpretation in their motive4 ',god weighs the spirits4' ,he reads what we do by ,his knowledge of what we are4 ,we reveal to one another what we are by what we do1 and1 as is a commonplace1 none of us can penetrate1 except very superficially and often inaccurately1 to the motives that actuate4 ,but the motive is three-fourths of the action4 ,god does not go from without1 as it were1 inwards2 from our actions to estimate our characters2 but ,he starts with the character and the motive--the habitual character and the occasional motive--and by these ,he reads the deed4 ,he weighs1 ponders1 penetrates to the heart of the thing1 and ,he weighs the spirits4 ,so on the one hand1 ',i obtained mercy1 because ,i did it ignorantly in unbelief1' and many a deed which the world would condemn1 and in which we onlookers would see evil1 ,god does not wholly condemn1 because ,he1 being the ,inlooker as well as the ,onlooker1 sees the albeit mistaken yet pure motives that underlay it4 ,so it is conceivable that the inquisitor1 and the heretic that he sent to the stake1 may stand side by side in ,god's estimate2 the one if he were actuated by pure zeal for the truth1 the other because he was actuated by self-sacrifice in loyalty to his ,lord4 ,and1 on the other hand1 many a deed that goes flaunting through the world in 'purple and fine linen' will be stripped of its gauds1 and stand naked and ugly before the eyes of ',him with whom we have to do4' ,he 'weighs the spirits4' ,lastly1 a word about-- ,,iii4 ,the practical issues of these thoughts4 ',commit thy works unto the ,lord'--that is to say1 do not be too sure that you are right because you do not think you are wrong4 ,we should be very distrustful of our own judgments of ourselves1 especially when that judgment permits us to do certain things4 ',i know nothing against myself1' said the ,apostle1 'yet am ,i not hereby justified4' ,and again1 still more emphatically1 he lays down the principle that ,i would have liked to have enlarged upon if ,i had had time4 ',happy is he that condemneth not himself in the things which he alloweth4' ,you may have made the glove too easy by stretching4 ,it is possible that you may think that something is permissible and right which a wiser and more rigid and ,christlike judgment of yourself would have taught you was wrong4 ,look under the stones for the reptiles1 and remember the prayer1 ',cleanse thou me from secret faults1' and distrust a permitting and easy conscience4 ,then1 again1 let us seek the divine strengthening and illumination4 ,we have to seek that in some very plain ways4 ,seek it by prayer4 ,there is nothing so powerful in stripping off from our besetting sins their disguises and masks as to go to ,god with the honest petition3 ',search me 444 and try me 444 and see if there be any wicked way in me1 and lead me in the way everlasting4' ,brethren6 if we will do that1 we shall get answers that will startle us1 that will humble us1 but that will be blessed beyond all other blessedness1 and will bring to light the 'hidden things of darkness4' ,then1 after they are brought to light and cast out1 'then shall every man have praise of ,god4' ,we ought to keep ourselves in very close union with ,jesus ,christ1 because if we cling to ,him in simple faith1 ,he will come into our hearts1 and we shall be saved from walking in darkness1 and have the light of life shining down upon our deeds4 ,christ is the conscience of the ,christian man's conscience1 who1 by ,his voice in the hearts that wait upon ,him1 says1 ',do this1' and they do it4 ,it is when ,he is in our spirits that our estimate of ourselves is set right1 and that we hear the voice saying1 ',this is the way1 walk ye in it'2 and not merely do we hear the voice1 but we get help to our feet in running in the way of ,his commandments1 with enlarged and confirmed hearts4 ,brethren6 for the discovery of our faults1 which we ought all to long for1 and for the conquest of these discovered faults1 which1 if we are ,christians1 we do long for1 our confidence is in ,him4 ,and if you trust ,him1 'the blood of ,christ will cleanse'--because it comes into our life's blood--'from all sin4' ,and the last thing that ,i would say is this4 ,we must punctiliously obey every dictate that speaks in our own consciences1 especially when it urges us to unwelcome duties or restrains us from too welcome sins4 ',to him that hath shall be given'--and the sure way to condemn ourselves to utter blindness as to our true selves is to pay no attention to the glimmers of light that we have1 whilst1 on the other hand1 the sure way to be led into fuller illumination is to follow faithfully whatsoever sparkles of light may shine upon our hearts4 ',do the duty that lies nearest thee4' ,put thy trust in ,jesus ,christ4 ,distrust thine own approbation or condonation of thine actions1 and ever turn to ,him and say1 ',show me what to do1 and make me willing and fit to do it4' ,then there will be little contrariety between your estimate of your ways and ,god's judgments of your spirits4 ,a ,,bundle ,,of ,,proverbs ',understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it3 but the instruction of fools is folly4 #bc4 ,the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth1 and addeth learning to his lips4 #bd4 ,pleasant words are as an honeycomb1 sweet to the soul1 and health to the bones4 #be4 ,there is a way that seemeth right unto a man1 but the end thereof are the ways of death4 #bf4 ,he that laboureth laboureth for himself2 for his mouth craveth it of him4 #bg4 ,an ungodly man diggeth up evil3 and in his lips there is as a burning fire4 #bh4 ,a froward man soweth strife3 and a whisperer separateth chief friends4 #bi4 ,a violent man enticeth his neighbour1 and leadeth him into the way that is not good4 #cj4 ,he shutteth his eyes to devise froward things3 moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass4 #ca4 ,the hoary head is a crown of glory1 if it be found in the way of righteousness4 #cb4 ,he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty2 and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city4 #cc4 ,the lot is cast into the lap2 but the whole disposing thereof is of the ,lord4'--,,proverbs xvi4 #bb-cc4 ,a slight thread of connection may be traced in some of the proverbs in this passage4 ,verse #bb1 with its praise of ',wisdom1' introduces one instance of ,wisdom's excellence in verse #bc1 and that again1 with its reference to speech1 leads on to verse #bd and its commendation of 'pleasant words4' ,similarly1 verses #bg-cj give four pictures of vice1 three of them beginning with 'a man4' ,we may note1 too1 that1 starting with verse #bf1 every verse till verse #cj refers to some work of 'the mouth' or 'lips4' ,the passage begins with one phase of the contrast between ,wisdom and ,folly1 which this book is never weary of emphasising and underscoring4 ,we shall miss the force of its most characteristic teaching unless we keep well in mind that the two opposites of ,wisdom and ,folly do not refer only or chiefly to intellectual distinctions4 ,the very basis of ',wisdom1' as this book conceives it1 is the 'fear of the ,lord1' without which the man of biggest1 clearest brain1 and most richly stored mind1 is1 in its judgment1 'a fool4' ,such 'understanding1' which apprehends and rightly deals with the deepest fact of life1 our relation to ,god and to ,his law1 is a 'well-spring of life4' ,the figure speaks still more eloquently to ,easterns than to us4 ,in those hot lands the cool spring1 bursting through the baked rocks or burning sand1 makes the difference between barrenness and fertility1 the death of all green things and life4 ,so where true ,wisdom is deep in a heart1 it will come flashing up into sunshine1 and will quicken the seeds of all good as it flows through the deeds4 ',everything liveth whithersoever the river cometh4' ,productiveness1 refreshment1 the beauty of the sparkling wavelets1 the music of their ripples against the stones1 and all the other blessings and delights of a perpetual fountain1 have better things corresponding to them in the life of the man who is wise with the true ,wisdom which begins with the fear of ,god4 ,just as it is active in the life1 so is ,folly4 ,but its activity is not blessing and gladdening1 but punitive4 ,for all sin automatically works its own chastisement1 and the curse of ,folly is that1 while it corrects1 it prevents the 'fool' from profiting by the correction4 ,since it punishes itself1 one might expect that it would cure itself1 but experience shows that1 while it wields a rod1 its subjects 'receive no correction4' ,that insensibility is the paradox and the ,nemesis of ',folly4' ,the ,old ,testament ethics are remarkable for their solemn sense of the importance of words1 and ,proverbs shares in that sense to the full4 ,in some aspects1 speech is a more perfect self-revelation than act4 ,so the outflow of the fountain in words comes next4 ,wise heart makes wise speech4 ,that may be looked at in two ways4 ,it may point to the utterance by word as the most precious1 and incumbent on its possessor1 of all the ways of manifesting ,wisdom2 or it may point to the only source of real 'learning1'--namely1 a wise heart4 ,in the former view1 it teaches us our solemn obligation not to hide our light under a bushel1 but to speak boldly and lovingly all the truth which ,god has taught us4 ,a dumb ,christian is a monstrosity4 ,we are bound to give voice to our ',wisdom4' ,in the other aspect1 it reminds us that there is a better way of getting ,wisdom than by many books1--namely1 by filling our hearts1 through communion with ,god1 with ,his own will4 ,then1 whether we have worldly 'learning' or no1 we shall be able to instruct many1 and lead them to the light which has shone on us4 ,there are many kinds of pleasant words1 some of which are not like 'honey1' but like poison hid in jam4 ,insincere compliments1 flatteries when rebukes would be fitting1 and all the brood of civil conventionalities1 are not the words meant here4 ,truly pleasant ones are those which come from true ,wisdom1 and may often have a surface of bitterness like the prophet's roll1 but have a core of sweetness4 ,it is a great thing to be able to speak necessary and unwelcome truths with lips into which grace is poured4 ,a spoonful of honey catches more flies than a hogshead of vinegar4 ,verse #be has no connection with its context4 ,it teaches two solemn truths1 according to the possible double meaning of 'right4' ,if that word means ethically right1 then the saying sets forth the terrible possibility of conscience being wrongly instructed1 and sanctioning gross sin4 ,if it means only straight1 or level--that is1 successful and easy--the saying enforces the not less solemn truth that sin deceives as to its results1 and that the path of wrong-doing1 which is flowery and smooth at first1 grows rapidly thorny1 and goes fast downhill1 and ends at last in a cul-de-sac1 of which death is the only outlet4 ,we are not to trust our own consciences1 except as enlightened by ,god's ,word4 ,we are not to listen to sin's lies1 but to fix it well in our minds that there is only one way which leads to life and peace1 the narrow way of faith and obedience4 ,the ,revised ,version's rendering of verse #bf gives the right idea4 ',the appetite1' or hunger1 'of the labourer labours for him' 7that is1 the need of food is the mainspring of work71 and it lightens the work to which it impels4 ,so hunger is a blessing4 ,that is true in regard to the body4 ,the manifold material industries of men are1 at bottom1 prompted by the need to earn something to eat4 ,the craving which drives to such results is a thing to be thankful for4 ,it is better to live where toil is needful to sustain life than in lazy lands where an hour's work will provide food for a week4 ,but the saying reaches to spiritual desires1 and anticipates the beatitude on those who 'hunger and thirst after righteousness4' ,happy they who feel that craving1 and are driven by it to the labour for the bread which comes down from heaven6 ',this is the work of ,god1 that ye believe on ,him whom ,he hath sent4' ,the next three proverbs 7vs4 #bg-bi7 give three pictures of different types of bad men4 ,first1 we have 'the worthless man' 7,rev4 ,ver471 literally 'a man of ,belial1' which last word probably means worthlessness4 ,his work is 'digging evil'2 his words are like scorching fire4 ,to dig evil seems to have a wider sense than has digging a pit for others 7,ps4 vii4 #ae71 which is usually taken as a parallel4 ,the man is not merely malicious toward others1 but his whole activity goes to further evil4 ,it is the material in which he delights to work4 ,what mistaken spade husbandry it is to spend labour on such a soil6 ,what can it grow but thistles and poisonous plants8 ,his words are as bad as his deeds4 ,no honey drops from his lips1 but scorching fire1 which burns up not only reputations but tries to consume all that is good4 ,as ,james says1 such a tongue is 'set on fire of hell4' ,the picture is that of a man bad through and through4 ,but there may be indefinitely close approximations to it1 and no man can say1 ',thus far will ,i go in evil ways1 and no further4' ,the second picture is of a more specific kind4 ,the 'froward man' here seems to be the same as the slanderer in the next clause4 ,he utters perverse things1 and so soweth strife and parts friends4 ,there are people whose mouths are as full of malicious whispers as a sower's basket is of seed1 and who have a base delight in flinging them broadcast4 ,sometimes they do not think of what the harvest will be1 but often they chuckle to see it springing in the mistrust and alienation of former friends4 ,a loose tongue often does as much harm as a bitter one1 and delight in dwelling on people's faults is not innocent because the tattler did not think of the mischief he was setting agoing4 ,in verse #bi another type of evil-doer is outlined--the opposite1 in some respects1 of the preceding4 ,the slanderer works secretly2 this mischief-maker goes the plain way to work4 ,he uses physical force or 'violence4' ,but how does that fit in with 'enticeth'8 ,it may be that the enticement of his victim into a place suitable for robbing or murder is meant1 but more probably there is here the same combination of force and craft as in chapter i4 #aj-ad4 ,criminals have a wicked delight in tempting innocent people to join their gangs4 ,a lawless desperado is a hotbed of infection4 ,verse #cj draws a portrait of a bad man4 ,it is a bit of homely physiognomical observation4 ,a man with a trick of closing his eyes has something working in his head2 and1 if he is one of these types of men1 one may be sure that he is brewing mischief4 ,compressed lips mean concentrated effort1 or fixed resolve1 or suppressed feeling1 and in any of these cases are as a danger signal1 warning that the man is at work on some evil deed4 ,two sayings follow1 which contrast goodness with the evils just described4 ,the 'if' in verse #ca weakens the strong assertion of the proverb4 ',the hoary head is a crown of glory2 it is found in the way of righteousness4' ,that is but putting into picturesque form the ,old ,testament promise of long life to the righteous--a promise which is not repeated in the new dispensation1 but which is still often realised4 ',whom the gods love1 die young1' is a heathen proverb2 but there is a natural tendency in the manner of life which ,christianity produces to prolong a man's days4 ,a heart at peace1 because stayed on ,god1 passions held well in hand1 an avoidance of excesses which eat away strength1 do tend to length of life1 and the opposites of these do tend to shorten it4 ,how many young men go home from our great cities every year1 with their 'bones full of the iniquities of their youth1' to die6 ,if we are to tread the way of righteousness1 and so come to 'reverence and the silver hair1' we must govern ourselves4 ,so the next proverb extols the ruler of his own spirit as 'more than conquerors1' whose triumphs are won in such vulgar fields as battles and sieges1 ,our sorest fights and our noblest victories are within4 ',unless above himself he can ,erect himself1 how poor a thing is man6' ,verse #ca takes the casting of the lot as one instance of the limitation of all human effort1 in all which we can but use the appropriate means1 while the whole issue must be left in ,god's hands4 ,the ,jewish law did not enjoin the lot1 but its use seems to have been frequent4 ,the proverb presents in the sharpest relief a principle which is true of all our activity4 ,the old proverb-maker knew nothing of chance4 ,to him there were but two real moving forces in the world--man and ,god4 ,to the one belonged sowing the seed1 doing his part1 whether casting the lot or toiling at his task4 ,his force was real1 but derived and limited4 ,efforts and attempts are ours2 results are ,god's4 ,we sow2 ,he 'gives it a body as it pleases ,him4' ,nothing happens by accident4 ,man's little province is bounded on all sides by ,god's1 and the two touch4 ,there is no neutral territory between1 where godless chance rules4 ,,two ,,fortresses ',the name of the ,lord is a strong tower3 the righteous runneth into it1 and is safe4 #aa4 ,the rich man's wealth is his strong city1 and as an high wall in his own conceit'--,,proverbs xviii4 #aj1aa4 ,the mere reading of these two verses shows that1 contrary to the usual rule in the ,book of ,proverbs1 they have a bearing on each other4 ,they are intended to suggest a very strong contrast1 and that contrast is even more emphatic in the original than in our translation2 because1 as the margin of your ,bibles will tell you1 the last word of the former verse might be more correctly rendered1 'the righteous runneth into it1 and is set on high4' ,it is the same word which is employed in the next verse--'a high wall4' ,so we have 'the strong tower' and 'the strong city'2 the man lifted up above danger on the battlements of the one1 and the man fancying himself to be high above it 7and only fancying himself7 in the imaginary safety of the other4 ,i4 ,consider then1 first1 the two fortresses4 ,one need only name them side by side to feel the full force of the intended contrast4 ,on the one hand1 the name of the ,lord with all its depths and glories1 with its blaze of lustrous purity1 and infinitudes of inexhaustible power2 and on the other1 'the rich man's wealth4' ,what contempt is expressed in putting the two side by side6 ,it is as if the author had said1 ',look on this picture and on that6' ,two fortresses6 ,yes6 ,the one is like ,gibraltar1 inexpugnable on its rock1 and the other is like a painted castle on the stage2 flimsy canvas that you could put your foot through--solidity by the side of nothingness4 ,for even the poor appearance of solidity is an illusion1 as our text says with bitter emphasis--'a high wall in his own conceit4' ',the name of the ,lord1' of course1 is the ,biblical expression for the whole character of ,god1 as ,he has made it known to us1 or in other words1 for ,god ,himself1 as ,he has been pleased to reveal ,himself to mankind4 ,the syllables of that name are all the deeds by which ,he has taught us what ,he is2 every act of power1 of wisdom1 of tenderness1 of grace that has manifested these qualities and led us to believe that they are all infinite4 ,in the name1 in its narrower sense1 the name of ,jehovah1 there is much of 'the name' in its wider sense4 ,for that name ',jehovah1' both by its signification and by the circumstances under which it was originally employed1 tells us a great deal about ,god4 ,it tells us1 for instance1 by virtue of its signification1 that ,he is self-existent1 depending upon no other creature4 ',i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am6' ,no other being can say that4 ,all the rest of us have to say1 ',i am that which ,god made me4' ,circumstances and a hundred other things have made me2 ,god finds the law of ,his being and the fountain of ,his being within ,himself4 ',he sits on no precarious throne1 ,nor borrows leave to be4' ,his name proclaims ,him to be self-existent1 and as self-existent1 eternal2 and as eternal1 changeless2 and as self-existent1 eternal1 changeless1 infinite in all the qualities by which ,he makes ,himself known4 ,this boundless ,being1 all full of wisdom1 power1 and tenderness1 with whom we can enter into relations of amity and concord1 surely ,he is 'a strong tower into which we may run and be safe4' ,but far beyond even the sweep of that great name1 ,jehovah1 is the knowledge of ,god's deepest heart and character which we learn in ,him who said1 ',i have declared ,thy name unto ,my brethren1 and will declare it4' ,christ in ,his life and death1 in ,his meekness1 sweetness1 gentleness1 calm wisdom1 infinite patience1 attractiveness2 yearning over sinful hearts1 weeping over rebels1 in the graciousness of ,his life1 in the sacredness and the power of ,his ,cross1 is the ,revealer to our hearts of the heart of ,god4 ,if ,i may so say1 ,he has builded 'the strong tower' broader1 has expanded its area and widened its gate1 and lifted its summit yet nearer the heavens1 and made the name of ,god a wider name and a mightier name1 and a name of surer defence and blessing than ever it was before4 ,and so1 dear brethren6 it all comes to this1 the name that is 'the strong tower' is the name ',my ,father6' a ,father of infinite tenderness and wisdom and power4 ,oh6 where can the child rest more quietly than on the mother's breast1 where can the child be safer than in the circle of the father's arms8 ',the name of the ,lord is a strong tower4' ,now turn to the other for a moment3 ',the rich man's wealth is' 7with great emphasis on the next little word7 'his strong city1 and as a high wall in his own conceit4' ,of course we have not to deal here only with wealth in the shape of money1 but all external and material goods1 the whole mass of the 'things seen and temporal1' are gathered together here in this phrase4 ,men use their imaginations in very strange fashion1 and make1 or fancy they make1 for themselves out of the things of the present life a defence and a strength4 ,like some poor lunatic1 out upon a moor1 that fancies himself ensconced in a castle2 like some barbarous tribes behind their stockades or crowding at the back of a little turf wall1 or in some old tumble-down fort that the first shot will bring rattling down about their ears1 fancying themselves perfectly secure and defended--so do men deal with these outward things that are given them for another purpose altogether3 they make of them defences and fortresses4 ,it is difficult for a man to have them and not to trust them4 ,so ,jesus said to ,his disciples once3 ',how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the ,kingdom'2 and when they were astonished at ,his words1 ,he repeated them with the significant variation1 ',how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the ,kingdom of ,god4' ,so ,he would teach that the misuse and not the possession of wealth is the barrier1 but so1 too1 ,he would warn us that1 nine times out of ten1 the possession of them in more than a very modest measure1 tempts a man into confidence in them4 ,the illusion is one that besets us all4 ,we are all tempted to make a defence of the things that we can see and handle4 ,is it not strange1 and is it not sad1 that most of us just turn the truth round about and suppose that the real defence is the imaginary1 and that the imaginary one is the real8 ,how many men are there in this chapel who1 if they spoke out of their deepest convictions1 would say3 ',oh yes6 the promises of ,god are all very well1 but ,i would rather have the cash down4 ,i suppose that ,i may trust that ,he will provide bread and water1 and all the things that ,i need1 but ,i would rather have a good solid balance at the banker's4' ,how many of you would rather honestly1 and at the bottom of your hearts1 have that than ,god's word for your defence8 ,how many of you think that to trust in a living ,god is but grasping at a very airy and unsubstantial kind of support2 and that the real solid defence is the defence made of the things that you can see8 ,my brother6 it is exactly the opposite way4 ,turn it clean round1 and you get the truth4 ,the unsubstantial shadows are the material things that you can see and handle2 illusory as a dream1 and as little able to ward off the blows of fate as a soap bubble4 ,the real is the unseen beyond--'the things that are1' and ,he who alone really is1 and in ,his boundless and absolute ,being is our only defence4 ,in one aspect or another1 that false imagination with which my last text deals is the besetting sin of ,manchester4 ,not the rich man only1 but the poor man just as much1 is in danger of it4 ,the poor man who thinks that everything would be right if only he were rich1 and the rich man who thinks that everything is right because he is rich1 are exactly the same man4 ,the circumstances differ1 but the one man is but the other turned inside out4 ,and all round about us we see the fierce fight to get more and more of these things1 the tight grip of them when we have got them1 the overestimate of the value of them1 the contempt for the people who have less of them than ourselves4 ,our aristocracy is an aristocracy of wealth2 in some respects1 one by no means to be despised1 because there often go a great many good qualities to the making and the stewardship of wealth2 but still it is an evil that men should be so largely estimated by their money as they are here4 ,it is not a sound state of opinion which has made 'what is he worth8' mean 'how much of it has he8' ,we are taught here to look upon the prizes of life as being mainly wealth4 ,to win that is 'success'--'prosperity'--and it is very hard for us all not to be influenced by the prevailing tone4 ,i would urge you1 young men1 especially to lay this to heart--that of all delusions that can beset you in your course1 none will work more disastrously than the notion that the summum bonum1 the shield and stay of a man1 is the 'abundance of the things that he possesses4' ,i fancy ,i see more listless1 discontented1 unhappy faces looking out of carriages than ,i see upon the pavement4 ,and ,i am sure of this1 at any rate1 that all which is noble and sweet and good in life can be wrought out and possessed upon as much bread and water as will keep body and soul together1 and as much furniture as will enable a man to sit at his meal and lie down at night4 ,and as for the rest1 it has many advantages and blessings1 but oh6 it is all illusory as a defence against the evils that will come1 sooner or later1 to every life4 ,,ii4 ,consider next how to get into the true ,refuge4 ',the righteous runneth into it and is safe1' says my text4 ,you may get into the illusory one very easily4 ,imagination will take you there4 ,there is no difficulty at all about that4 ,and yet the way by which a man makes this world his defence may teach you a lesson as to how you can make ,god your defence4 ,how does a man make this world his defence8 ,by trusting to it4 ,he that says to the fine gold1 ',thou art my confidence1' has made it his fortress--and that is how you will make ,god your fortress--by trusting to ,him4 ,the very same emotion1 the very same act of mind1 heart1 and will1 may be turned either upwards or downwards1 as you can turn the beam from a lantern which way you please4 ,direct it earthwards1 and you 'trust in the uncertainty of riches4' ,flash it heavenwards1 and you 'trust in the living ,god4' ,and that same lesson is taught by the words of our text1 ',the righteous runneth into it4' ,i do not dwell upon the word 'righteous4' ,that is the ,old ,testament point of view1 which could not conceive it possible that any man could have deep and close communion with ,god1 except on condition of a pure character4 ,i will not speak of that at present1 but point to the picturesque metaphor1 which will tell us a great deal more about what faith is than many a philosophical dissertation4 ,many a man who would be perplexed by a theologian's talk will understand this3 ',the righteous runneth into the name of the ,lord4' ,the metaphor brings out the idea of eager haste in betaking oneself to the shelter1 as when an invading army comes into a country1 and the unarmed peasants take their portable belongings and their cattle1 and catch up their children in their arms1 and set their wives upon their mules1 and make all haste to some fortified place2 or as when the manslayer in ,israel fled to the city of refuge1 or as when ,lot hurried for his life out of ,sodom4 ,there would be no dawdling then2 but with every muscle strained1 men would run into the stronghold1 counting every minute a year till they were inside its walls1 and heard the heavy door close between them and the pursuer4 ,no matter how rough the road1 or how overpowering the heat--no time to stop to gather flowers1 or even diamonds on the road1 when a moment's delay might mean the enemy's sword in your heart6 ,now that metaphor is frequently used to express the resolved and swift act by which1 recognising in ,jesus ,christ1 who declares the name of the ,lord1 our hiding-place1 we shelter ourselves in ,him1 and rest secure4 ,one of the picturesque words by which the ,old ,testament expresses 'trust' means literally 'to flee to a refuge4' ,the ,old ,testament trust is the ,new ,testament faith1 even as the ,old ,testament ',name of the ,lord' answers to the ,new ,testament ',name of ,jesus4' ,and so we run into this sure hiding-place and strong fortress of the name of the ,lord1 when we betake ourselves to ,jesus and put our trust in ,him as our defence4 ,such a faith--the trust of mind1 heart1 and will--laying hold of the name of the ,lord1 makes us 'righteous1' and so capable of 'dwelling with the devouring fire' of ,god's perfect purity4 ,the ,old ,testament point of view was righteousness1 in order to abiding in ,god4 ,the ,new ,testament begins1 as it were1 at an earlier stage in the religious life1 and tells us how to get the righteousness1 without which1 it holds as strongly as the ,old ,testament1 'no man shall see the ,lord4' ,it shows us that our faith1 by which we run into that fortress1 fits us to enter the fortress1 because it makes us partakers of ,christ's purity4 ,so my earnest question to you all is--,have you 'fled for refuge to lay hold' on that ,saviour in whom ,god has set ,his name8 ,like ,lot out of ,sodom1 like the manslayer to the city of refuge1 like the unwarlike peasants to the baron's tower1 before the border thieves1 have you gone thither for shelter from all the sorrows and guilt and dangers that are marching terrible against you8 ,can you take up as yours the old grand words of exuberant trust in which the ,psalmist heaps together the names of the ,lord1 as if walking about the city of his defence1 and telling the towers thereof1 ',the ,lord is my rock1 and my fortress1 and my deliverer2 my ,god1 my strength1 in whom ,i will trust2 my buckler1 and the horn of my salvation1 and my high tower'8 ,if you have1 then 'because you have made the ,lord your refuge1 there shall no evil befall you4' ,,iii4 ,so we have1 lastly1 what comes of sheltering in these two refuges4 ,as to the former of them1 ,i said at the beginning of these remarks that the words 'is safe' were more accurately as well as picturesquely rendered by 'is set aloft4' ,they remind us of the psalm which has many points of resemblance with this text1 and which gives the very same thought when it says1 ',i will set him on high1 because he hath known ,my name4' ,the fugitive is taken within the safe walls of the strong tower1 and is set up high on the battlements1 looking down upon the baffled pursuers1 and far beyond the reach of their arrows4 ,to stand upon that tower lifts a man above the region where temptations fly1 above the region where sorrow strikes2 lifts him above sin and guilt and condemnation and fear1 and calumny and slander1 and sickness1 and separation and loneliness and death2 'and all the ills that flesh is heir to4' ,or1 as one of the old ,puritan commentators has it3 ',the tower is so deep that no pioneer can undermine it1 so thick that no cannon can breach it1 so high that no ladder can scale it4' ',the righteous runneth into it1' and is perched up there2 and can look down like ,lear from his cliff1 and all the troubles that afflict the lower levels shall 'show scarce so gross as beetles' from the height where he stands1 safe and high1 hidden in the name of the ,lord4 ,i say little about the other side4 ,brethren6 the world in any of its forms1 the good things of this life in any shape1 whether that of money or any other1 can do a great deal for us4 ,they can keep a great many inconveniences from us1 they can keep a great many cares and pains and sorrows from us4 ,i was going to say1 to carry out the metaphor1 they can keep the rifle-bullets from us4 ,but1 ah6 when the big siege-guns get into position and begin to play2 when the great trials that every life must have1 sooner or later1 come to open fire at us1 then the defence that anything in this outer world can give comes rattling about our ears very quickly4 ,it is like the pasteboard helmet which looked as good as if it had been steel1 and did admirably as long as no sword struck it4 ,there is only one thing that will keep us peaceful and unharmed1 and that is to trust our poor shelterless lives and sinful souls to the ,saviour who has died for us4 ,in ,him we find the hiding-place1 in which secure1 as beneath the shadow of a great rock1 dreaded evils will pass us by1 as impotent to hurt as savages before a castle fortified by modern skill4 ,all the bitterness of outward calamities will be taken from them before they reach us4 ,their arrows will still wound1 but ,he will have wiped the poison off before ,he lets them be shot at us4 ,the force of temptation will be weakened1 for if we live near ,him we shall have other tastes and desires4 ,the bony fingers of the skeleton ,death1 who drags men from all other homes1 will not dislodge us from our fortress-dwelling4 ,hid in ,him we shall neither fear going down to the grave1 nor coming up from it1 nor judgment1 nor eternity4 ,then1 ,i beseech you1 make no delay4 ,escape6 flee for your life6 ,a growing host of evil marches swift against you4 ,take ,christ for your defence and cry to ,him1 ',lo6 from sin and grief and shame1 ,hide me1 ,jesus6 in ,thy name4' ,a ,,string ,,of ,,pearls ',wine is a mocker1 strong drink is raging3 and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise4 #b4 ,the fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion3 whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul4 #c4 ,it is an honour for a man to cease from strife3 but every fool will be meddling4 #d4 ,the sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold2 therefore shall he beg in harvest1 and have nothing4 #e4 ,counsel in the heart of man is like deep water2 but a man of understanding will draw it out4 #f4 ,most men will proclaim every one his own goodness3 but a faithful man who can find8 #g4 ,the just man walketh in his integrity3 his children are blessed after him4'--,,proverbs xx4 #a-g4 ,the connection between the verses of this passage is only in their common purpose to set forth some details of a righteous life1 and to brand the opposite vices4 ,a slight affinity may be doubtfully traced in one or two adjacent proverbs1 but that is all4 ,first comes temperance1 enforced by the picture of a drunkard4 ,wine and strong drink are1 as it were1 personified1 and their effects on men are painted as their own characters4 ,and an ugly picture it is1 which should hang in the gallery of every young man and woman4 ',wine is a mocker4' ,intemperance delights in scoffing at all pure1 lofty1 sacred things4 ,it is the ally of wild profanity1 which sends up its tipsy and clumsy ridicule against ,heaven itself4 ,if a man wants to lose his sense of reverence1 his susceptibility for what is noble1 let him take to drink1 and the thing is done4 ,if he would fain keep these fresh and quick1 let him eschew what is sure to deaden them4 ,of course there are other roads to the same end1 but there is no other end to this road4 ,nobody ever knew a drunkard who did not scoff at things that should be reverenced1 and that because he knew that he was acting in defiance of them4 ',a brawler1' or1 as ,delitzsch renders it1 'boisterous'--look into a liquor-store if you want to verify that1 or listen to a drunken party coming back from an excursion and making night hideous with their bellowings1 or go to any police court on a ,monday morning4 ,we in ,england are familiar with the combination on police charge-sheets1 'drunk and disorderly4' ,so does the old proverb-maker seem to have been4 ,drink takes off the brake1 and every impulse has its own way1 and makes as much noise as it can4 ,the word rendered in ,authorised ,version 'is deceived1' and in ,revised ,version 'erreth1' is literally 'staggers' or 'reels1' and it is more graphic to keep that meaning4 ,there is a world of quiet irony in the unexpectedly gentle close of the sentence1 'is not wise4' ,how much stronger the assertion might have been6 ,look at the drunkard as he staggers along1 scoffing at everything purer and higher than himself1 and ready to fight with his own shadow1 and incapable of self-control4 ,he has made himself the ugly spectacle you see4 ,will anybody call him wise8 ,the next proverb applies directly to a state of things which most nations have outgrown4 ,kings who can give full scope to their anger1 and who inspire mainly terror1 are anomalies in civilised countries now4 ,the proverb warns that it is no trifle to rouse the lion from his lair1 and that when he begins to growl there is danger4 ,the man who stirs him 'forfeits his own life1' or1 at all events1 imperils it4 ,the word rendered 'sins' has for its original meaning 'misses1' and seems to be so used here1 as also in ,proverbs viii4 #cf4 ',against' is a supplement4 ,the maxim inculcates the wisdom of avoiding conduct which might rouse an anger so sure to destroy its object4 ,and that is a good maxim for ordinary times in all lands1 monarchies or republics4 ,for there is in constitutional kingdoms and in republics an uncrowned monarch1 to the full as irresponsible1 as easily provoked1 and as relentless in hunting its opponents to destruction1 as any old-world tyrant4 ,its name is ,public ,opinion4 ,it is not well to provoke it4 ,if a man does1 let him well understand that he takes his life1 or what is sometimes dearer than life1 in his hand4 ,not only self-preservation1 which the proverb and ,scripture recognise as a legitimate motive1 but higher considerations1 dictate compliance with the ruling forces of our times1 as far as may be4 ,conscience only has the right to limit this precept1 and to say1 ',let the brute roar1 and never mind if you do forfeit your life4 ,it is your duty to say ,no1 though all the world should be saying ,yes4' ,a slight thread of connection may be established between the second and third proverbs4 ,the latter1 like the former1 commends peacefulness and condemns pugnacity4 ,men talk of 'glory' as the warrior's meed1 and the so-called ,christian world has not got beyond the semi-barbarous stage which regards 'honour' as mainly secured by fighting4 ,but this ancient proverb-maker had learned a better conception of what 'honour' or 'glory' was1 and where it grew4 ',peace hath her victories ,no less renowned than war1' said ,milton4 ,but our proverb goes farther than 'no less1' and gives greater glory to the man who never takes up arms1 or who lays them down4 ,the saying is true1 not only about warfare1 but in all regions of life4 ,fighting is generally wasted time4 ,controversialists of all sorts1 porcupine-like people1 who go through the world all sharp quills sticking out to pierce1 are less to be admired than peace-loving souls4 ,any fool can 'show his teeth1' as the word for 'quarrelling' means4 ,but it takes a wise man1 and a man whose spirit has been made meek by dwelling near ,god in ,christ1 to withhold the angry word1 the quick retort4 ,it is generally best to let the glove flung down lie where it is4 ,there are better things to do than to squabble4 ,verse #d is a parable as well as a proverb4 ,if a man sits by the fireside because the north wind is blowing1 when he ought to be out in the field holding the plough with frost-nipped fingers1 he will beg 7or1 perhaps1 seek for a crop7 in harvest1 and will find nothing1 when others are rejoicing in the slow result of winter showers and of their toilsome hours4 ,so1 in all life1 if the fitting moments for preparation are neglected1 late repentance avails nothing4 ,the student who dawdles when he should be working1 will be sure to fail when the examination comes on4 ,it is useless to begin ploughing when your neighbours are driving their reaping machines into the fields4 ',there is a time to sow1 and a time to reap4' ,the law is inexorable for this life1 and not less certainly so for the life to come4 ,the virgins who cried in vain1 ',lord1 ,lord1 open to us6' and were answered1 ',too late1 too late1 ye cannot enter now6' are sisters of the man who was hindered from ploughing because it was cold1 and asked in vain for bread when harvest time had come4 ',to-day1 if ye will to hear ,his voice1 harden not your hearts4' ,the next proverb is a piece of shrewd common sense4 ,it sets before us two men1 one reticent1 and the other skilful in worming out designs which he wishes to penetrate4 ,the former is like a deep draw-well2 the latter is like a man who lets down a bucket into it1 and winds it up full4 ',still waters are deep4' ,the faculty of reading men may be abused to bad ends1 but is worth cultivating1 and may be allied to high aims1 and serve to help in accomplishing these4 ,it may aid good men in detecting evil1 in knowing how to present ,god's truth to hearts that need it1 in pouring comfort into closely shut spirits4 ,not only astute business men or politicians need it1 but all who would help their fellows to love ,god and serve ,him--preachers1 teachers1 and the like4 ,and there would be more happy homes if parents and children tried to understand one another4 ,we seldom dislike a man when we come to know him thoroughly4 ,we cannot help him till we do4 ,the proverb in verse #f is susceptible of different renderings in the first clause4 ,delitzsch and others would translate1 ',almost every man meets a man who is gracious to him4' ,the contrast will then be between partial 'grace' or kindness1 and thoroughgoing reliableness or trustworthiness4 ,the rendering of the ,authorised and ,revised ,versions1 on the other hand1 makes the contrast between talk and reality1 professions of goodwill and acts which come up to these4 ,in either case1 the saying is the bitter fruit of experience4 ,even charity1 which 'believeth all things1' cannot but admit that soft words are more abundant than deeds which verify them4 ,it is no breach of the law of love to open one's eyes to facts1 and so to save oneself from taking paper money for gold1 except at a heavy discount4 ,perhaps the reticence1 noted in the previous proverb1 led to the thought of a loose-tongued profession of kindliness as a contrast4 ,neither the one nor the other is admirable4 ,the practical conclusion from the facts in this proverb is double--do not take much heed of men's eulogiums on their own benevolence2 do not trumpet your own praises4 ,caution and modesty are parts of ,christian perfection4 ,the last saying points to the hereditary goodness which sometimes1 for our comfort1 we do see1 as well as to the halo from a saintly parent which often surrounds his children4 ,note that there may be more than mere succession in time conveyed by the expression 'after him4' ,it may mean following in his footsteps4 ,such children are blessed1 both in men's benedictions and in their own peaceful hearts4 ,weighty responsibilities lie upon the children of parents who have transmitted to them a revered name4 ,a ,christian's children are doubly bound to continue the parental tradition1 and are doubly criminal if they depart from it4 ,there is no sadder sight than that of a godly father wailing over an ungodly son1 unless it be that of the ungodly son who makes him wail4 ,absalom hanging by his curls in the oak-tree1 and ,david groaning1 ',my son1 my son6' touch all hearts4 ,alas that the tragedy should be so often repeated in our homes to-day6 ,,the ,,sluggard ,,in ,,harvest ',the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold2 therefore shall he beg in harvest1 and have nothing4'--,,proverbs xx4 #d4 ,like all the sayings of this book1 this is simply a piece of plain1 practical common sense1 intended to inculcate the lesson that men should diligently seize the opportunity whilst it is theirs4 ,the sluggard is one of the pet aversions of the ,book of ,proverbs1 which1 unlike most other manuals of ,eastern wisdom1 has a profound reverence for honest work4 ,he is a great drone1 for he prefers the chimney-corner to the field1 even although it cannot have been very cold if the weather was open enough to admit of ploughing4 ,and he is a great fool1 too1 for he buys his comfort at a very dear price1 as do all men who live for to-day1 and let to-morrow look out for itself4 ,but like most of the other sayings of this book1 my text contains principles which are true in the highest regions of human life1 for the laws which rule up there are not different from those which regulate the motions of its lower phases4 ,religion recognises the same practical common-sense principles that daily business does4 ,i venture to take this as my text now1 in addressing young people1 because they have special need of1 and special facilities for1 the wisdom which it enjoins2 and because the words only want to be turned with their faces heavenwards in order to enforce the great appeal1 the only one which it is worth my while to make1 and worth your while to come here to listen to2 the appeal to each of you1 ',i beseech you1 by the mercies of ,god1 that ye yield yourselves to ,god' now4 ,my object1 then1 will be perhaps best accomplished if ,i simply ask you to look1 first1 at the principles involved in this quaint proverb2 and1 secondly1 to apply them in one or two directions4 ,i4 ,first1 then1 let us try to bring out the principles which are crystallised in this picturesque saying4 ,the first thought evidently is3 present conduct determines future conditions4 ,life is a series of epochs1 each of which has its destined work1 and that being done1 all is well2 and that being left undone1 all is ill4 ,now1 of course1 in regard to many of the accidents of a man's condition1 his conduct is only one1 and by no means the most powerful1 of the factors which settle them4 ,the position which a man fills1 the tasks which he has to perform1 and the whole host of things which make up the externals of his life1 depend upon far other conditions than any that he brings to them4 ,but yet on the whole it is true that what a man does1 and is1 settles how he fares4 ,and this is the mystical importance and awful solemnity of the most undistinguished moments and most trivial acts of this awful life of ours1 that each of them has an influence on all that comes after1 and may deflect our whole course into altogether different paths4 ,it is not only the moments that we vulgarly and blindly call great which settle our condition1 but it is the accumulation of the tiny ones2 the small deeds1 the unnoticed acts1 which make up so large a portion of every man's life4 ,it is these1 after all1 that are the most powerful in settling what we shall be4 ,there come to each of us supreme moments in our lives4 ,yes6 and if in all the subordinate and insignificant moments we have not been getting ready for them1 but have been nurturing dispositions and acquiring habits1 and cultivating ways of acting and thinking which condemn us to fail beneath the requirements of the supreme moment1 then it passes us by1 and we gain nothing from it4 ,tiny mica flakes have built up the ,matterhorn1 and the minute acts of life after all1 by their multiplicity1 make up life to be what it is4 ',sand is heavy1' says this wise book of ,proverbs4 ,the aggregation of the minutest grains1 singly so light that they would not affect the most delicate balance1 weighs upon us with a weight 'heavy as frost1 and deep almost as life4' ,the mystic significance of the trivialities of life is that in them we largely make destiny1 and that in them we wholly make character4 ,and now1 whilst this is true about all life1 it is especially true about youth4 ,you have facilities for moulding your being which some of us older men would give a great deal to have again for a moment1 with our present knowledge and bitter experience4 ,the lava that has solidified into hard rock with us is yet molten and plastic with you4 ,you can1 ,i was going to say1 be anything you make up your minds to2 and1 within reasonable limits1 the bold saying is true4 ',ask what thou wilt and it shall be given to thee' is what nature and ,providence1 almost as really as grace and ,christ1 say to every young man and woman1 because you are the arbiters1 not wholly1 indeed1 of your destiny1 and are the architects1 altogether1 of your character1 which is more4 ,and so ,i desire to lay upon your hearts this threadbare old truth1 because you are living in the ploughing time1 and the harvest is months ahead4 ,whilst it is true that every day is the child of all the yesterdays1 and the parent of all the to-morrows1 it is also true that life has its predominant colouring1 varying at different epochs1 and that for you1 though you are largely inheriting1 even now1 the results of your past1 brief as it is1 still more largely is the future1 the plastic future1 in your hands1 to be shaped into such forms as you will4 ',the child is father of the man1' and the youth has the blessed prerogative of standing before the mouldable to-morrow1 and possessing a nature still capable of being cast into an almost infinite variety of form4 ,but then1 not only do you stand with special advantages for making yourselves what you will1 but you specially need to be reminded of the terrible importance and significance of each moment4 ,for this is the very irony of human life1 that we seldom awake to the sense of its importance till it is nearly ended1 and that the period when reflection would avail the most is precisely the period when it is the least strong and habitual4 ,what is the use of an old man like me thinking about what he could make of life if he had it to do over again1 as compared with the advantage of your doing it8 ,yet ,i dare say that for once that you think thus1 my contemporaries do it fifty times4 ,so1 not to abate one jot of your buoyancy1 not to cast any shadow over joys and hopes1 but to lift you to a sense of the blessed possibilities of your position1 ,i want to lay this principle of my text upon your consciences1 and to beseech you to try to keep it operatively in mind--you are making yourselves1 and settling your destiny1 by every day of your plastic youth4 ,there is another principle as clear in my text--viz41 the easy road is generally the wrong one4 ,the sluggard was warmer at the fireside than he would be in the field with his plough in the north wind1 and so he stopped there4 ,there are always obstacles in the way of noble life4 ,it is always easier1 as flesh judges1 to live ignobly than to live as ,jesus ,christ would have us live4 ',endure hardness' is the commandment to all who would be soldiers of any great cause1 and would not fling away their lives in low self-indulgence4 ,if a man is going to be anything worth being1 or to do anything worth doing1 he must start with1 and adhere to this1 'to scorn delights and live laborious days4' ,and only then has he a chance of rising above the fat dull weed that rots in ,lethe's stream1 and of living anything like the life that it becomes him to live4 ,be sure of this1 dear young friends1 that self-denial and rigid self-control1 in its two forms1 of stopping your ears to the attractions of lower pleasures1 and of cheerily encountering difficulties1 is an indispensable condition of any life which shall at the last yield a harvest worth the gathering1 and not destined to be ',cast as rubbish to the void1 ,when ,god hath made the pile complete4' ,never allow yourselves to be turned away from the plain path of duty by any difficulties4 ,never allow yourselves to be guided in your choice of a road by the consideration that the turf is smooth1 and the flowers by the side of it sweet4 ,remember1 the sluggard would have been warmer1 with a wholesome warmth1 at the ploughtail than cowering in the chimney corner4 ,and the things that seem to be difficulties and hardships only need to be fronted to yield1 like the east wind in its season1 good results in bracing and hardening4 ,fix it in your minds that nothing worth doing is done but at the cost of difficulty and toil4 ,that is a lesson that this generation wants1 even more than some that have lived4 ,i suppose it is one of the temptations of older men to look askance upon the amusements of younger ones1 but ,i cannot help lifting up here one word of earnest appeal to the young men and women of this congregation1 and beseeching them1 as they value the nobleness of their own lives1 and their power of doing any real good1 to beware of what seems to me the altogether extravagant and excessive love1 and following after1 of mere amusement which characterises this day to so large an extent4 ,better toil than such devotion to mere relaxation4 ,the last principle here is that the season let slip is gone for ever4 ,whether my text1 in its second picture1 intends us to think of the sluggard when the harvest came as 'begging' from his neighbours2 or whether1 as is possibly the construction of the ,hebrew1 it simply means to describe him as going out into his field1 and looking at it1 and asking for the harvest and seeing nothing there but weeds1 the lesson it conveys is the same--the old1 old lesson1 so threadbare that ,i should be almost ashamed of taking up your time with it unless ,i believed that you did not lay it to heart as you should4 ,opportunity is bald behind1 and must be grasped by the forelock4 ,life is full of tragic might-have-beens4 ,no regret1 no remorse1 no self-accusation1 no clear recognition that ,i was a fool will avail one jot4 ,the time for ploughing is past2 you cannot stick the share into the ground when you should be wielding the sickle4 ',too late' is the saddest of human words4 ,and1 my brother1 as the stages of our lives roll on1 unless each is filled as it passes with the discharge of the duties1 and the appropriation of the benefits which it brings1 then1 to all eternity1 that moment will never return1 and the sluggard may beg in harvest1 that he may have the chance to plough once more1 and have none4 ,the student that has spent the term in indolence1 perhaps dissipation1 has no time to get up his subject when he is in the examination-room1 with the paper before him4 ,and life1 and nature1 and ,god's law1 which is the ,christian expression for the heathen one of nature1 are stern taskmasters1 and demand that the duty shall be done in its season or left undone for ever4 ,,ii4 ,in the second place1 let me1 just in a few words1 carry the lamp of these principles of my text and flash its rays upon one or two subjects4 ,let me say a word1 first1 about the lowest sphere to which my text applies4 ,i referred at the beginning of this discourse to this proverb as simply an inculcation of the duty of honest work1 and of the necessity of being wide awake to opportunities in our daily work4 ,now1 the most of you young men1 and many of you young women1 are destined for ordinary trades1 professions1 walks in commerce2 and ,i do not suppose it to be beneath the dignity of the pulpit to say this3 ,do not trust to any way of getting on by dodges or speculation1 or favour1 or anything but downright hard work4 ,don't shirk difficulties1 don't try to put the weight of the work upon some colleague or other1 that you may have an easier life of it4 ,set your backs to your tasks1 and remember that 'in all labour there is profit'2 and whether the profit comes to you in the shape of advancement1 position1 promotion in your offices1 partnerships perhaps1 wealth1 and the like1 or no1 the profit lies in the work4 ,honest toil is the key to pleasure4 ,then1 let me apply the text in a somewhat higher direction4 ,carry these principles with you in the cultivation of that important part of yourself--your intellects4 ,what would some of us old students give if we had the flexibility1 the power of assimilating new truth1 the retentive memories1 that you young people have8 ,some of you1 perhaps1 are students by profession2 ,i should like all of you to make a conscience of making the best of your brains1 as ,god has given them to you1 a trust4 ',the sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold4' ,the dawdler will read no books that tax his intellect1 therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing4 ,amidst all the flood of feeble1 foolish1 flaccid literature with which we are afflicted at this day1 ,i wonder how many of you young men and women ever set yourselves to some great book or subject that you cannot understand without effort4 ,unless you do you are not faithful stewards of the supreme gift of ,god to you of that great faculty which apprehends and lives upon truth4 ,so remember the sluggard by his fireside2 and do you get out with your plough4 ,again ,i say1 apply these principles to a higher work still--that of the formation of character4 ,nothing will come to you noble1 great1 elevating1 in that direction1 unless it is sought1 and sought with toil4 ',in woods1 in waves1 in wars1 she wont to dwell1 ,and will be found with peril and with pain2 ,before her gate high ,heaven did sweat ordain1 ,and wakeful watches ever to abide4' ,wisdom and truth1 and all their elevating effects upon human character1 require absolutely for their acquirement effort and toil4 ,you have the opportunity still4 ,as ,i said a moment ago--you may mould yourselves into noble forms4 ,but in the making of character we have to work as a painter in fresco does1 with a swift brush on the plaster while it is wet4 ,it sets and hardens in an hour4 ,and men drift into habits which become tyrannies and dominant before they know where they are4 ,don't let yourselves be shaped by accident1 by circumstance4 ,remember that you can build yourselves up into forms of beauty by the help of the grace of ,god1 and that for such building there must be the diligent labour and the wise clutching at opportunity and understanding of the times which my text suggests4 ,and1 lastly1 let these principles applied to religion teach us the wisdom and necessity of beginning the ,christian life at the earliest moment4 ,i am by no means prepared to say that the extreme tragedy of my text can ever be wrought out in regard to the religious experience of any man here on earth1 for ,i believe that at any moment in his career1 however faultful and stained his past has been1 and however long and obstinate has been his continuance in evil1 a man may turn himself to ,jesus ,christ1 and beg1 and not in vain1 nor ever find 'nothing' there4 ,but whilst all that is quite true1 ,i want you1 dear young friends1 to lay this to heart1 that if you do not yield yourselves to ,jesus ,christ now1 in your early days1 and take ,him for your ,saviour1 and rest your souls upon ,him1 and then take ,him for your ,captain and ,commander1 for your ,pattern and ,example1 for your ,companion and your ,aim1 you will lose what you can never make up by any future course4 ,you lose years of blessedness1 of peaceful society with ,him1 of illumination and inspiration4 ,you lose all the sweetness of the days which you spend away from ,him4 ,and if at the end you did come to ,him1 you would have one regret1 deep and permanent1 that you had not gone to ,him before4 ,if you put off1 as some of you are putting off1 what you know you ought to do--namely1 give your hearts to ,jesus ,christ and become ,his--think of what you are laying up for yourselves thereby4 ,you get much that it would be gain to lose--bitter memories1 defiled imaginations1 stings of conscience1 habits that it will be very hard to break1 and the sense of having wasted the best part of your lives1 and having but the fag end to bring to ,him4 ,and if you put off1 as some of you are disposed to do1 think of the risk you run4 ,it is very unlikely that susceptibilities will remain if they are trifled with4 ,you remember that ,felix trembled once1 and sent for ,paul often2 but we never hear that he trembled any more4 ,and it is quite possible1 and quite likely1 more likely than not1 that you will never be as near being a ,christian again as you are now1 if you turn away from the impressions that are made upon you at this moment1 and stifle the half-formed resolution4 ,but there is a more solemn thought still4 ,this life as a whole is to the future life as the ploughing time is to the harvest1 and there are awful words in ,scripture which seem to point in the same direction in reference to the irrevocable and irreversible issue of neglected opportunities on earth1 as this proverb does in regard to the ploughing and harvests of this life4 ,i dare not conceal what seems to me the ,new ,testament confirmation and deepening of the solemn words of our text1 ',he shall beg in harvest and have nothing1' by the ,master's words1 ',many shall say to me in that day1 ,lord6 ,lord ,i and ,i will say1 ,i never knew you4' ,the five virgins who rubbed their sleepy eyes and asked for oil when the master was at hand got none1 and when they besought1 ',lord6 ,lord6 open to us1' all the answer was1 ',too late6 too late6 ye cannot enter now4' ,now1 while it is called day1 harden not your hearts4 ,,bread ,,and ,,gravel ',bread of deceit is sweet to a man2 but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel4'--,,proverbs xx4 #ag4 ',bread of deceit' is a somewhat ambiguous phrase1 which may mean either of two things1 and perhaps means both4 ,it may either mean any good obtained by deceit1 or good which deceives in its possession4 ,in the former signification it would appear to have reference primarily to unjustly gotten gain1 while in the latter it has a wider meaning and applies to all the worthless treasures and lying delights of life4 ,the metaphor is full of homely vigour1 and the contrast between the sweet bread and the gravel that fills the mouth and breaks the teeth1 carries a solemn lesson which is perpetually insisted upon in this book of ,proverbs1 and confirmed in every man's experience4 ,i4 ,the first lesson here taught is the perpetuity of the most transient actions4 ,we are tempted to think that a deed done is done with1 and to grasp at momentary pleasure1 and ignore its abiding consequences4 ,but of all the delusions by which men are blinded to the true solemnity of life none is more fatal than that which ignores the solemn 'afterwards' that has to be taken into account4 ,for1 whatever issues in outward life our actions may have1 they have all a very real influence on their doers2 each of them tends to modify character1 to form habits1 to drag after itself a whole trail of consequences4 ,each strikes inwards and works outwards4 ,the whole of a life may be set forth in the pregnant figure1 ',a sower went forth to sow1' and ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,the seed may lie long dormant1 but the green shoots will appear in due time1 and pass through all the stages of 'first the blade1 and then the ear1 and after that the full corn in the ear4' ,the sower has to become the reaper1 and the reaper has to eat of the bread made from the product of the long past sowing4 ,shall we have to reap a harvest of poisonous tares1 or of wholesome wheat8 ',if 'twere done when 'tis done1 'twere well it were done quickly'2 but since it begins to do when 'tis done1 it were often better that it were not done at all4 ,a momentary pause to ask ourselves when tempted to evil1 ',and what then8' would burst not a few of the painted bubbles after which we often chase4 ,is there any reason to suppose that these permanent consequences of our transient actions are confined in their operation to this life8 ,does not such a present1 which is mainly the continuous result of the whole past1 seem at least to prophesy and guarantee a similar future8 ,most of us1 ,i suppose1 believe in the life continuous through and after death retributive in a greater degree than life here4 ,whatever changes may be involved in the laying aside of the 'earthly house of this tabernacle1' it seems folly to suppose that in it we lay aside the consequences of our past inwrought into our very selves4 ,surely wisdom suggests that we try to take into view the whole scope of our actions1 and to carry our vision as far as the consequences reach4 ,we should all be wiser and better if we thought more of the 'afterwards1' whether in its partial form in the present1 or in its solemn completion in the future beyond4 ,,ii4 ,the bitterness of what is sweet and wrong4 ,there is no need to deny that 'bread of deceit is sweet to a man4' ,there is a certain pleasure in a lie1 and the taste of the bread purchased by it is not embittered because it has been bought by deceit4 ,if we succeed in getting the good which any strong desire hungers after1 the gratification of the desire ministers pleasure4 ,if a man is hungry1 it matters not to his hunger how he has procured the bread which he devours4 ,and so with all forms of good which appeal to sense4 ,the sweetness of the thing desired and obtained is more subtle1 but not less real1 if it nourishes some inclination or taste of a higher nature4 ,but such sweetness in its very essence is momentary1 and even1 whilst being masticated1 'bread of deceit' turns into gravel2 and a mouthful of it breaks the teeth1 excoriates the gums1 interferes with breathing1 and ministers no nourishment4 ,the metaphor has but too familiar illustrations in the experience of us all4 ,how often have we flattered ourselves with the thought1 ',if ,i could but get this or that1 how happy ,i should be'8 ,how often when we got it have we been as happy as we expected8 ,we had forgotten the voice of conscience1 which may be overborne for a moment1 but begins to speak more threateningly when its prohibitions have been neglected2 we had forgotten that there is no satisfying our hungry desires with 'bread of deceit1' but that they grow much faster than it can be presented to them2 we had forgotten the evil that was strengthened in us when it has been fed2 we had forgotten that the remembrance of past delights often becomes a present sorrow and shame2 we had forgotten avenging consequences of many sorts which follow surely in the train of sweet satisfactions which are wrong4 ,so1 even in this life nothing keeps its sweetness which is wrong1 and nothing which is sweet and wrong avoids a tang of intensest bitterness 'afterwards4' ,and all that bitterness will be increased in another world1 if there is another1 when ,god gives us to read the book of our lives which we ourselves have written4 ,many a page that records past sweetness will then be felt to be written1 'within and without1' with lamentation and woe4 ,all bitterness of what is sweet and wrong makes it certain that sin is the stupidest1 as well as the wickedest1 thing that a man can do4 ,,iii4 ,the abiding sweetness of true bread4 ,in a subordinate sense1 the true bread may be taken as meaning our own deeds inspired by love of ,god and approved by conscience4 ,they may often be painful to do1 but the pain merges into calm pleasure1 and conscience whispers a foretaste of heaven's ',well done6 good and faithful servant4' ,the roll may be bitter to the lips1 but1 eaten1 becomes sweet as honey2 whereas the world's bread is sweet at first but bitter at last4 ,the highest wisdom and the most exacting conscience absolutely coincide in that which they prescribe1 and ,scripture has the warrant of universal experience in proclaiming that sin in its subtler and more refined forms1 as well as in its grosser1 is a gigantic mistake1 and the true wisdom and reasonable regard for one's own interest alike point in the same direction1--to a life based on the love of ,god in ,christ ,jesus our ,lord1 as being the life which yields the happiest results today and perpetual bliss hereafter4 ,but let us not forget that in the highest sense ,christ ,himself is the 'true bread that cometh down from heaven4' ,he may be bitter at first1 being eaten with tears of penitence and painful efforts at conquering sin1 but even in the first bitterness there is sweetness beyond all the earth can give4 ,he 'spreads a table before us in the presence of our enemies1' and the bread which ,he gives tastes as the manna of old did1 like wafers made of honey4 ,only perverted appetites loathe this light bread and prefer the strong-favoured leeks and garlics of ,egypt4 ,they who sit at the table in the wilderness will finally sit at the table prepared in the kingdom of the heavens4 ,a ,,condensed ,,guide ,,for ,,life ',my son1 if thine heart be wise1 my heart shall rejoice1 even mine4 #af4 ,yea1 my reins shall rejoice1 when thy lips speak right things4 #ag4 ,let not thine heart envy sinners3 but be thou in the fear of the ,lord all the day long4 #ah4 ,for surely there is an end2 and thine expectation shall not be cut off4 #ai4 ,hear thou1 my son1 and be wise1 and guide thine heart in the way4 #bj4 ,be not among winebibbers2 among riotous eaters of flesh3 #ba4 ,for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty3 and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags4 #bb4 ,hearken unto thy father that begat thee1 and despise not thy mother when she is old4 #bc4 ,buy the truth and sell it not2 also wisdom1 and instruction1 and understanding4'--,,proverbs xxiii4 #ae-bc4 ,the precepts of this passage may be said to sum up the teaching of the whole ,book of ,proverbs4 ,the essentials of moral character are substantially the same in all ages1 and these ancient advices fit very close to the young lives of this generation4 ,the gospel has1 no doubt1 raised the standard of morals1 and1 in many respects1 altered the conception and perspective of virtues2 but its great distinction lies1 not so much in the novelty of its commandments as in the new motives and powers to obey them4 ,reverence for parents and teachers1 the habitual 'fear of the ,lord1' temperance1 eager efforts to win and retain 'the truth1' have always been recognised as duties2 but there is a long weary distance between recognition and practice1 and he who draws inspiration from ,jesus ,christ will have strength to traverse it1 and to do and be what he knows that he should4 ,the passage may be broken up into four parts1 which1 taken together1 are a young life's directory of conduct which is certain to lead to peace4 ,i4 ,there is1 first1 an appeal to filial affection1 and an unveiling of paternal sympathy 7verses #ae1 #af74 ,the paternal tone characteristic of the ,book of ,proverbs is most probably regarded as that of a teacher addressing his disciples as his children4 ,but the glimpse of the teacher's heart here given may well apply to parents too1 and ought to be true of all who can influence other and especially young hearts4 ,little power attends advices which are not sweetened by manifest love4 ,many a son has been kept back from evil by thinking1 ',what would my mother say8' and many a sound admonition has been nothing but sound1 because the tone of it betrayed that the giver did not much care whether it was taken or not4 ,a true teacher must have his heart engaged in his lessons1 and must impress his scholars with the conviction that their failure drives a knife into it1 and their acceptance of them brings him purest joy4 ,on the other hand1 the disciple1 and still more the child1 must have a singularly cold nature who does not respond to loving solicitude and does not care whether he wounds or gladdens the heart which pours out its love and solicitude over him4 ,may we not see shining through this loving appeal a truth in reference to the heart of the great ,father and ,teacher1 who1 in the depths of ,his divine blessedness1 has no greater joy than that ,his children should walk in the truth8 ,god's heart is glad when man's is wise4 ,note1 also1 the wide general expression for goodness--a wise heart1 lips speaking right things4 ,the former is source1 the latter stream4 ,only a pure fountain will send forth sweet waters4 ',if thy heart become wise' is the more correct rendering1 implying that there is no inborn wisdom1 but that it must be made ours by effort4 ,we are foolish2 we become wise4 ,what the writer means by wisdom he will tell us presently4 ,here he lets us see that it is a good to be attained by appropriate means4 ,it is the foundation of 'right' speech4 ,nothing is more remarkable than the solemn importance which ,scripture attaches to words1 even more1 we might almost say than to deeds1 therein reversing the usual estimate of their relative value4 ,putting aside the cases of insincerity1 falsehood1 and the like1 a man's speech is a truer transcript of himself than his deeds1 because less hindered and limited by externals4 ,the most precious wine drips from the grapes by their own weight in the vat1 without a turn of the screw4 ',by thy words thou shalt be justified1 and by thy words thou shalt be condemned4' ',god's great gift of speech abused' is one of the commonest1 least considered1 and most deadly sins4 ,,ii4 ,we have next the one broad precept with its sure reward1 which underlies all goodness 7verses #ag1 #ah74 ,the supplement 'be thou1' in the second clause of verse #ag1 obscures the close connection of clauses4 ,it is better to regard the verb of the first clause as continued in the second4 ,thus the one precept is set forth negatively and positively3 ',strive not after that is1 seek not to imitate or be associated with sinners1 but after the fear of the ,lord4' ,the heart so striving becomes wise4 ,so1 then1 wisdom is not the result of cultivating the intellect1 but of educating the desires and aspirations4 ,it is moral and religious1 rather than simply intellectual4 ,the magnificent personification of ,wisdom at the beginning of the book influences the subsequent parts1 and the key to understanding that great conception is1 ',the fear of the ,lord is the beginning of ,wisdom4' ,the ,greek goddess of ,wisdom1 noble as she is1 is of the earth earthy when contrasted with that sovereign figure4 ,pallas ,athene1 with her clear eyes and shining armour1 is poor beside the ,wisdom of the ,book of ,proverbs1 who dwelt with ,god 'or ever the earth was1' and comes to men with loving voice and hands laden with the gifts of 'durable riches and righteousness4' ,he is the wise man who fears ,god with the fear which has no torment and is compact of love and reverence4 ,he is on the way to become wise whose seeking heart turns away from evil and evil men1 and feels after ,god1 as the vine tendrils after a stay1 or as the sunflower turns to the light4 ,for such wholehearted desire after the one supreme good there must be resolute averting of desire from 'sinners4' ,in this world full of evil there will be no vigorous longing for good and ,god1 unless there be determined abstention from the opposite4 ,we have but a limited quantity of energy1 and if it is frittered away on multifarious creatures1 none will be left to consecrate to ,god4 ,there are lakes which discharge their waters at both ends1 sending one stream east to the ,atlantic and one west to the ,pacific2 but the heart cannot direct its issues of life in that fashion4 ,they must be banked up if they are to run deep and strong4 ',all the current of my being' must 'set to thee' if my tiny trickle is to reach the great ocean1 to be lost in which is blessedness4 ,and such energy of desire and direction is not to be occasional1 but 'all the day long4' ,it is possible to make life an unbroken seeking after and communion with ,god1 even while plunged in common tasks and small cares4 ,it is possible to approximate indefinitely to that ideal of continually 'dwelling in the house of the ,lord'2 and without some such approximation there will be little realising of the ,lord1 sought by fits and starts1 and then forgotten in the hurry of business or pleasure4 ,a photographic plate exposed for hours will receive the picture of far-off stars which would never show on one exposed for a few minutes4 ,the writer is sure that such desires will be satisfied1 and in verse #ah says so4 ,the 'reward' 7,rev4 ,ver47 of which he is sure is the outcome of the life of such seekers after ,god4 ,it does not necessarily refer to the future after death1 though that may be included in it4 ,but what is meant is that no seeking after the fear of the ,lord shall be in vain4 ,there is a tacit emphasis on 'thy1' contrasting the sure fulfilment of hopes set on ,god with the as sure 'cutting of' of those mistakenly fixed upon creatures and vanities4 ,psalm xxxvii4 #ch1 has the same word here rendered 'reward' and declares that 'the future or reward of the wicked shall be cut off4' ,the great fulfilment of this assurance is reserved for the life beyond2 but even here among all disappointments and hopes of which fulfilment is so often disappointment also1 it remains true that the one striving which cannot be fruitless is striving for more of ,god1 and the one hope which is sure to be realised1 and is better when realised than expected1 is the hope set on ,him4 ,surely1 then1 the certainty that if we delight ourselves in ,god ,he will give us the desires of our hearts1 is a good argument1 and should be with us an operative motive for directing desire and effort away from earth and towards ,him4 ,,iii4 ,special precepts as to the control of the animal nature follow in verses #ai-ba4 ,first1 note that general one of verse #ai1 ',guide thine heart in the way4' ,in most general terms1 the necessity of self-government is laid down4 ,there is a 'way' in which we should be content to travel4 ,it is a definite path1 and feet have to be kept from straying aside to wide wastes on either hand4 ,limitation1 the firm suppression of appetites1 the coercing of these if they seek to draw aside1 are implied in the very conception of 'the way4' ,and a man must take the upper hand of himself1 and1 after all other guidance1 must be his own guide2 for ,god guides us by enabling us to guide ourselves4 ,temperance in the wider sense of the word is prominent among the virtues flowing from fear of the ,lord1 and is the most elementary instance of 'guiding the heart4' ,other forms of self-restraint in regard to animal appetites are spoken of in the context1 but here the two of drunkenness and gluttony are bracketed together4 ,they are similarly coupled in ,deuteronomy xxi4 #bj1 in the formula of accusation which parents are to bring against a degenerate son4 ,allusion to that passage is probable here1 especially as the other crime mentioned in it--namely1 refusal to 'hear' parental reproof--is warned against in verse #bb4 ,the picture1 then1 here is that of a prodigal son1 and we have echoes of it in the great parable which paints first riotous living1 and then poverty and misery4 ,drunkenness had obviously not reached the dimensions of a national curse in the date when this lesson was written4 ,we should not put over-eating side by side with it4 ,but its ruinous consequences were plain then1 and the bitter experience of ,england and ,america repeats on a larger scale the old lesson that the most productive source of poverty1 wretchedness1 rags1 and vice1 is drink4 ,judges and social reformers of all sorts concur in that now1 though it has taken fifty years to hammer it into the public conscience4 ,perhaps in another fifty or so society may have succeeded in drawing the not very obscure inference that total abstinence and prohibition are wise4 ,at any rate1 they who seek after the fear of the ,lord should draw it1 and act on it4 ,,iv4 ,the last part is in verses #bb and #bc4 ,the appeal to filial duty cannot here refer to disciple and teacher1 but to child and parents4 ,it does not stand as an isolated precept1 but as underscoring the important one which follows4 ,but a word must be spared for it4 ,the habits of ancient days gave a place to the father and mother which modern family life woefully lacks1 and suffers in many ways for want of4 ,many a parent in these days of slack control and precocious independence might say1 ',if ,i be a father1 where is mine honour8' ,there was perhaps not enough of confidence between parent and child in former days1 and authority on the one hand and submission on the other too much took the place of love2 but nowadays the danger is all the other way--and it is a very real danger4 ,but the main point here is the earnest exhortation of verse #bc1 which1 like that to the fear of the ,lord1 sums up all duty in one4 ,the 'truth' is1 like 'wisdom1' moral and religious1 and not merely intellectual4 ',wisdom' is subjective1 the quality or characteristic of the devout soul2 'truth' is objective1 and may also be defined as the declared will of ,god4 ,the possession of truth is wisdom4 ',the entrance of ,thy words giveth light4' ,it makes wise the simple4 ,there is1 then1 such a thing as 'the truth' accessible to us4 ,we can know it1 and are not to be for ever groping amid more or less likely guesses1 but may rest in the certitude that we have hold of foundation facts4 ,for us1 the truth is incarnate in ,jesus1 as ,he has solemnly asserted4 ,that truth we shall1 if we are wise1 'buy1' by shunning no effort1 sacrifice1 or trouble needed to secure it4 ,in the lower meanings of the word1 our passage should fire us all1 and especially the young1 to strain every muscle of the soul in order to make truth for the intellect our own4 ,the exhortation is needed in this day of adoration of money and material good4 ,nobler and wiser far the young man who lays himself out to know than he who is engrossed with the hungry desire to have6 ,but in the highest region of truth1 the buying is 'without money and without price1' and all that we can give in exchange is ourselves4 ,we buy the truth when we know that we cannot earn it1 and forsaking self-trust and self-pleasing1 consent to receive it as a free gift4 ',sell it not1'--let no material good or advantage1 no ease1 slothfulness1 or worldly success1 tempt you to cast it away2 for its 'fruit is better than gold1' and its 'revenue than choice silver4' ,we shall make a bad bargain if we sell it for anything beneath the stars2 for 'wisdom is better than rubies1' and he has been cheated in the transaction who has given up 'the truth' and got instead 'the whole world4' ,,the ,,afterwards ,,and ,,our ,,hope ',be thou in the fear of the ,lord all the day long4 #ah4 ,for surely there is an end and thine expectation shall not be cut off4'--,,proverbs xxiii4 #ag1 #ah4 ,the ,book of ,proverbs seldom looks beyond the limits of the temporal1 but now and then the mists lift and a wider horizon is disclosed4 ,our text is one of these exceptional instances1 and is remarkable1 not only as expressing confidence in the future1 but as expressing it in a very striking way4 ',surely there is an end1' says our ,authorised ,version1 substituting in the margin1 for end1 'reward4' ,the latter word is placed in the text of the ,revised ,version4 ,but neither 'end' nor 'reward' conveys the precise idea4 ,the word so translated literally means 'something that comes after4' ,so it is the very opposite of 'end'1 it is really that which lies beyond the end--the 'sequel1' or the 'future'--as the margin of the ,revised ,version gives alternatively1 or1 more simply still1 the afterwards4 ,surely there is an afterwards behind the end4 ,and then the proverb goes on to specify one aspect of that afterwards3 ',thine expectation'--or1 better1 because more simply1 thy hope--shall not be cut off4 ,and then1 upon these two convictions that there is1 if ,i might so say1 an afterclap1 and that it is the time and the sphere in which the fairest hopes that a man can paint to himself shall be surpassed by the reality1 it builds the plain partial exhortation3 ',be thou in the fear of the ,lord all the day long4' ,so then1 we have three things here1 the certainty of the afterwards1 the immortality of hope consequent thereon1 and the bearing of these facts on the present4 ,i4 ,the certainty of the hereafter4 ,now1 this ,book of ,proverbs1 as ,i have said in the great collection of popular sayings which makes the bulk of it1 has no enthusiasm1 no poetry1 no mysticism4 ,it has religion1 and it has a very pure and lofty morality1 but1 for the most part1 it deals with maxims of worldly prudence1 and sometimes with cynical ones1 and represents1 on the whole1 the wisdom of the market-place1 and the 'man in the street4' ,but now and then1 as ,i have said1 we hear strains of a higher mood4 ,my text1 of course1 might be watered down and narrowed so as to point only to sequels to deeds realised in this life4 ,and then it would be teaching us simply the very much needed lessons that even in this life1 ',whatever a man soweth that shall he also reap4' ,but it seems to me that we are entitled to see here1 as in one or two other places in the ,book of ,proverbs1 a dim anticipation of a future life beyond the grave4 ,i need not trouble you with quoting parallel passages which are sown thinly up and down the book1 but ,i venture to take the words in the wider sense to which ,i have referred4 ,now1 the question comes to be1 where did the coiners of ,proverbs1 whose main interest was in the obvious maxims of a prudential morality1 get this conviction8 ,they did not get it from any lofty experience of communion with ,god1 like that which in the seventy-third ,psalm marks the very high-water mark of ,old ,testament faith in regard to a future life1 where the ,psalmist finds himself so completely blessed and well in present fellowship with ,god1 that he must needs postulate its eternal continuance1 and just because he has made ,god the portion of his heart1 and is holding fellowship with ,him1 is sure that nothing can intervene to break that sweet communion4 ,they did not get it from any clear definite revelation1 such as we have in the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 which has made that future life far more than an inference for us1 but they got it from thinking over the facts of this present life as they appeared to them1 looked at from the standpoint of a belief in ,god1 and in righteousness4 ,and so they represent to us the impression that is made upon a man's mind1 if he has the 'eye that hath kept watch o'er man's mortality1' that is made by the facts of this earthly life--viz4 that it is so full of onward-looking1 prophetic aspect1 so manifestly and tragically1 and yet wonderfully and hopefully4 ,incomplete and fragmentary in itself1 that there must be something beyond in order to explain1 in order to vindicate1 the life that now is4 ,and that aspect of fragmentary incompleteness is what ,i would insist upon for a moment now4 ,you sometimes see a row of houses1 the end one of them has1 in its outer gable wall1 bricks protruding here and there1 and holes for chimney-pieces that are yet to be put in4 ,and just as surely as that external wall says that the row is half built1 and there are some more tenements to be added to it1 so surely does the life that we now live here1 in all its aspects almost1 bear upon itself the stamp that it1 too1 is but initial and preparatory4 ,you sometimes see1 in the bookseller's catalogue1 a book put down 'volume one2 all that is published4' ,that is our present life--volume one1 all that is published4 ,surely there is going to be a sequel1 volume two4 ,volume two is due1 and will come1 and it will be the continuation of volume one4 ,what is the meaning of the fact that of all the creatures on the face of the earth only you and ,i1 and our brethren and sisters1 do not find in our environment enough for our powers8 ,what is the meaning of the fact that1 whilst 'foxes have holes' where they curl themselves up1 and they are at rest1 'and the birds of the air have roosting-places1' where they tuck their heads beneath their wings and sleep1 the 'son of man' hath not where to lay his head1 but looks round upon the earth and says1 ',the earth1 ,o ,lord1 is full of ,thy mercy4 ,i am a stranger on the earth4' ,what is the meaning of it8 ,here is the meaning of it3 ',surely there is a hereafter4' ,what is the meaning of the fact that lodged in men's natures there lies that strange power of painting to themselves things that are not as though they were8 ,so that minds and hearts go out wandering through ,eternity1 and having longings and possibilities which nothing beneath the stars can satisfy1 or can develop8 ,the meaning of it is this3 ,surely there is a hereafter4 ,the man that wrote the book of ,ecclesiastes1 in his sceptical moment ere he had attained to his last conclusion1 says1 in a verse that is mistranslated in our rendering1 ',he hath set ,eternity in their hearts1 therefore the misery of man is great upon him4' ,that is true1 because the root of all our unrest and dissatisfaction is that we need ,god1 and ,god in ,eternity1 in order that we may be at rest4 ,but whilst on the one hand 'therefore the misery of man is great upon him1' on the other hand1 because ,eternity is in our hearts1 therefore there is the answer to the longings1 the adequate sphere for the capacities in that great future1 and in the ,god that fills it4 ,you go into the quarries left by reason of some great convulsion or disaster1 by forgotten races1 and you will find there half excavated and rounded pillars still adhering to the matrix of the rock from which they were being hewn4 ,such unfinished abortions are all human lives if1 when ,death drops its curtain1 there is an end4 ,but1 brethren1 ,god does not so clumsily disproportion ,his creatures and their place4 ,god does not so cruelly put into men longings that have no satisfaction1 and desires which never can be filled1 as that there should not be1 beyond the gulf1 the fair land of the hereafter4 ,every human life obviously has in it1 up to the very end1 the capacity for progress4 ,every human life1 up to the very end1 has been educated and trained1 and that1 surely1 for something4 ,there may be masters in workshops who take apprentices1 and teach them their trade during the years that are needed1 and then turn round and say1 ',i have no work for you1 so you must go and look for it somewhere else4' ,that is not how ,god does4 ,when ,he has trained ,his apprentices ,he gives them work to do4 ,surely there is a hereafter1 ,but that is only part of what is involved in this thought4 ,it is not only a state subsequent to the present1 but it is a state consequent on the present1 and the outcome of it4 ,the analogy of our earthly life avails here4 ,to-day is the child of all the yesterdays1 and the yesterdays and to-day are the parent of tomorrow4 ,the past1 our past1 has made us what we are in the present1 and what we are in the present is making us what we shall be in the future4 ,and when we pass out of this life we pass out1 notwithstanding all changes1 the same men as we were4 ,there may be much on the surface changed1 there will be much taken away1 thank ,god6 dropped1 necessarily1 by the cessation of the corporeal frame1 and the connection into which it brings us with things of sense4 ,there will be much added1 ,god only knows how much1 but the core of the man will remain untouched4 ',we all are changed by still degrees1' and suddenly at last ',all but the basis of the evil4' ,and so we carry ourselves with us into that future life1 and1 'what a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,oh that they were wise1 that they understood this1 that they would consider their afterward6 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 my text suggests the immortality of hope4 ',thine expectation'--or rather1 as ,i said1 'thy hope'--'shall not be cut off4' ,this is a characteristic of that hereafter4 ,what a wonderful saying that is which also occurs in this ,book of ,proverbs1 ',the righteous hath hope in his death4' ,ah6 we all know how swiftly1 as years increase1 the things to hope for diminish1 and how1 as we approach the end1 less and less do our imaginations go out into the possibilities of the sorrowing future4 ,and when the end comes1 if there is no afterwards1 the dying man's hopes must necessarily die before he does4 ,if when we pass into the darkness we are going into a cave with no outlet at the other end1 then there is no hope1 and you may write over it ,dante's grim word3 ',all hope abandon1 ye who enter here4' ,but let in that thought1 'surely there is an afterwards1' and the enclosed cave becomes a rock-passage1 in which one can see the arch of light at the far end of the tunnel2 and as one passes through the gloom1 the eye can travel on to the pale radiance beyond1 and anticipate the ampler ether1 the diviner air1 'the brighter constellations burning1 mellow moons and happy stars1' that await us there4 ',the righteous hath hope in his death4' ',thine expectation shall not be cut off4' ,but1 further1 that conviction of the afterward opens up for us a condition in which imagination is surpassed by the wondrous reality4 ,here1 ,i suppose1 nobody ever had all the satisfaction out of a fulfilled hope that he expected4 ,the fish is always a great deal larger and heavier when we see it in the water than when it is lifted out and scaled4 ,and ,i suppose that1 on the whole1 perhaps as much pain as pleasure comes from the hopes which are illusions far more often than they are realities4 ,they serve their purpose in whirling us along the path of life and in stimulating effort1 but they do not do much more4 ,but there does come a time1 if you believe that there is an afterwards1 when all we desired and painted to ourselves of possible good for our craving spirits shall be felt to be but a pale reflex of the reality1 like the light of some unrisen sun on the snowfields1 and we shall have to say 'the half was not told to us4' ,and1 further1 if that afterwards is of the sort that we1 through ,jesus ,christ and ,his resurrection and glory1 know to be1 then all through the timeless eternity hope will be our guide4 ,for after each fresh influx of blessedness and knowledge we shall have to say 'it doth not yet appear what we shall be4' ',thus now abideth'--and not only now1 but then and eternally--'these three--faith1 hope1 and charity1' and hope will never be cut off through all the stretch of that great afterwards4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 finally1 notice the bearing of all this on the daily present4 ',be thou in the fear of the ,lord all the day long4' ,the conviction of the hereafter1 and the blessed vision of hopes fulfilled1 are not the only reasons for that exhortation4 ,a great deal of harm has been done1 ,i am afraid1 by well-meaning preachers who have drawn the bulk of their strongest arguments to persuade men to ,christian faith from the thought of a future life4 ,why1 if there were no future1 it would be just as wise1 just as blessed1 just as incumbent upon us to 'be in the fear of the ,lord all the day long4' ,but seeing that there is that future1 and seeing that only in it will hope rise to fruition1 and yet subsist as longing1 surely there comes to us a solemn appeal to 'be in the fear of the ,lord all the day long1' which being turned into ,christian language1 is to live by habitual faith1 in communion with1 and love and obedience to1 our ,lord and ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4 ,surely1 surely the very climax and bad eminence of folly is shutting the eyes to that future that we all have to face2 and to live here1 as some of you are doing1 ignoring it and ,god1 and cribbing1 cabining1 and confining all our thoughts within the narrow limits of the things present and visible4 ,for to live so1 as our text enjoins1 is the sure way1 and the only way1 to make these great hopes realities for ourselves4 ,brethren1 that afterwards has two sides to it4 ,the prophet ,malachi1 in almost his last words1 has a magnificent apocalypse of what he calls 'the day of the ,lord1' which he sets forth as having a double aspect4 ,on the one hand1 it is lurid as a furnace1 and burns up the wicked root and branch4 ,i saw a forest fire this last autumn1 and the great pine-trees stood there for a moment pyramids of flame1 and then came down with a crash4 ,so that hereafter will be to godless men4 ,and on the other side1 that 'day of the ,lord' in the prophet's vision was radiant with the freshness and dew and beauty of morning1 and the ,sun of ,righteousness arose with healing in his wings4 ,which of the two is it going to be to us8 ,we have all to face it4 ,we cannot alter that fact1 but we can settle how we shall face it4 ,it will be to either the fulfilment of blessed hope1 the 'appearance of the glory of the great ,god and our ,saviour1' or else1 as is said in this same ,book of ,proverbs3 ',the hope of the godless' shall be like one of those water plants1 the papyrus or the flag1 which1 when the water is taken away1 'withereth up before any other herb4' ,it is for us to determine whether the afterwards that we must enter upon shall be the land in which our hopes shall blossom and fruit1 and blossom again immortally1 or whether we shall leave behind us1 with all the rest that we would fain keep1 the possibility of anticipating any good4 ',surely there is an afterwards1' and if thou wilt 'be in the fear of the ,lord all the day long1' then for evermore 'thy hope shall not be cut off4' ,,the ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,drunkyard ',who hath woe8 who hath sorrow8 who hath contentions8 who hath babbling8 who hath wounds without cause8 who hath redness of eyes8 #cj4 ,they that tarry long at the wine2 they that go to seek mixed wine4 #ca4 ,look not thou upon the wine when it is red1 when it giveth his colour in the cup1 when it moveth itself aright4 #cb4 ,at the last it biteth like a serpent1 and stingeth like an adder4 #cc4 ,thine eyes shall behold strange women1 and thine heart shall utter perverse things4 #cd4 ,yea1 thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea1 or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast4 #ce4 ,they have stricken me1 shalt thou say1 and ,i was not sick2 they have beaten me1 and ,i felt it not3 when shall ,i awake6 ,i will seek it yet again4'--,,proverbs xxiii4 #bi-ce4 ,this vivid picture of the effects of drunkenness leaves its sinfulness and its wider consequences out of sight1 and fixes attention on the sorry spectacle which a man makes of himself in body and mind when he 'puts an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brains4' ,disgust and ridicule are both expressed4 ,the writer would warn his 'son' by impressing the ugliness and ludicrousness of drunkenness4 ,the argument is legitimate1 though not the highest4 ,the vehement questions poured out on each other's heels in verse #bi are hot with both loathing and grim laughter4 ,the two words rendered 'woe' and 'sorrow' are unmeaning exclamations1 very like each other in sound1 and imitating the senseless noises of the drunkard4 ,they express discomfort as a dog might express it4 ,they are howls rather than words4 ,that is one of the prerogatives won by drunkenness1--to come down to the beasts' level1 and to lose the power of articulate speech4 ,the quarrelsomeness which goes along with certain stages of intoxication1 and the unmeaning maudlin misery and whimpering into which it generally passes1 are next coupled together4 ,then come a pair of effects on the body4 ,the tipsy man cannot take care of himself1 and reeling against obstacles1 or falling over them1 wounds himself1 and does not know where the scratches and blood came from4 ',redness of eyes' is1 perhaps1 rather 'darkness1' meaning thereby dim sight1 or possibly 'black eyes1' as we say1--a frequent accompaniment of drunkenness1 and corresponding to the wounds in the previous clause4 ,it is a hideous picture1 and one that should be burned in on the imagination of every young man and woman4 ,the liquor-sodden1 miserable wrecks that are found in thousands in our great cities1 of whom this is a picture1 were1 most of them1 in ,sunday-schools in their day4 ,the next generation of such poor creatures are1 many of them1 in ,sunday-schools now1 and may be reading this passage to-day4 ,the answer to these questions has a touch of irony in it4 ,the people who win as their possessions these six precious things have to sit up late to earn them4 ,what a noble cause in which to sacrifice sleep1 and turn night into day6 ,and they pride themselves on being connoisseurs in the several vintages2 they 'know a good glass of wine when they see it4' ,what a noble field for investigation6 ,what a worthy use of the faculties of comparison and judgment6 ,and how desirable the prizes won by such trained taste and delicate discrimination6 ,in verses #ca and #cb weighty warning and dehortation follow1 based in part on the preceding picture4 ,the writer thinks that the only way of sure escape from the danger is to turn away even the eyes from the temptation4 ,he is not contented with saying 'taste not1' but he goes the whole length of 'look not'2 and that because the very sparkle and colour may attract4 ',when it is red' might perhaps better be rendered 'when it reddens itself1' suggesting the play of colour1 as if put forth by the wine itself4 ,the word rendered in the ,authorised ,version and ,revised ,version 'colour' is literally 'eye1' and probably means the beaded bubbles winking on the surface4 ',moveth itself aright' 7,authorised ,version7 is not so near the meaning as 'goeth down smoothly' 7,revised ,version74 ,the whole paints the attractiveness to sense of the wine-cup in colour1 effervescence1 and taste4 ,and then comes in1 with startling abruptness1 the end of all this fascination1--a serpent's bite and a basilisk's sting4 ,the kind of poisonous snake meant in the last clause of verse #cb is doubtful1 but certainly is one much more formidable than an adder4 ,the serpent's lithe gracefulness and painted skin hide a fatal poison2 and so the attractive wine-cup is sure to ruin those who look on it4 ,the evil consequences are pursued in more detail in what follows4 ,but here we must note two points4 ,the advice given is to keep entirely away from the temptation4 ',look not' is safe policy in regard of many of the snares for young lives that abound in our modern society4 ,it is not at all needful to 'see life1' or to know the secrets of wickedness1 in order to be wise and good4 ',simple concerning evil' is a happier state than to have eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge4 ,many a young man has been ruined1 body and soul1 by a prurient curiosity to know what sort of life dissipated men and women led1 or what sort of books they were against which he was warned1 or what kind of a place a theatre was1 and so on4 ,eyes are greedy1 and there is a very quick telephone from them to the desires4 ',the lust of the eye' soon fans the 'lust of the flesh' into a glow4 ,there are plenty of depths of ,satan gaping for young feet2 and on the whole1 it is safer and happier not to know them1 and so not to have defiling memories1 nor run the risk of falling into fatal sins4 ,whether the writer of this stern picture of a drunkard was a total abstainer or not1 the spirit of his counsel not to 'look on the wine' is in full accord with that practice4 ,it is very clear that if a man is a total abstainer1 he can never be a drunkard4 ,as much cannot be said of the moderate man4 ,note too1 how in all regions of life1 the ultimate results of any conduct are the important ones4 ,consequences are hard to calculate1 and they do not afford a good guidance for action4 ,but there are many lines of conduct of which the consequences are not hard to calculate1 but absolutely certain4 ,it is childish to take a course because of a moment's gratification at the beginning1 to be followed by protracted discomfort afterwards4 ,to live for present satisfaction of desires1 and to shut one's eyes tight against known and assured results of an opposite sort1 cannot be the part of a sensible man1 to say nothing of a religious one4 ,so moralists have been preaching ever since there was such a thing as temptation in the world2 and men have assented to the common sense of the teaching1 and then have gone straight away and done the exact opposite4 ',what shall the end be8' ought to be the question at every beginning4 ,if we would cultivate the habit of holding present satisfactions in suspense1 and of giving no weight to present advantages until we saw right along the road to the end of the journey1 there would be fewer failures1 and fewer weary1 disenchanted old men and women1 to lament that the harvest they had to reap and feed on was so bitter4 ,there are other and higher reasons against any kind of fleshly indulgence than that at the last it bites like a serpent1 and with a worse poison than serpent's sting ever darted2 but that is a reason1 and young hearts1 which are by their very youth blessedly unused to look forward1 will be all the happier to-day1 and all the surer of to-morrow's good1 if they will learn to say1 ',and afterwards--what8' ,the passage passes to a renewed description of the effects of intoxication1 in which the disgusting and the ludicrous aspects of it are both made prominent4 ,verse #cc seems to describe the excited imagination of the drunkard1 whose senses are no longer under his control1 but play him tricks that make him a laughingstock to sober people4 ,one might almost take the verse to be a description of delirium tremens4 ',strange things' are seen1 and perverse things 7that is1 unreal1 or ridiculous7 are stammered out4 ,the writer has a keen sense of the humiliation to a man of being thus the fool of his own bewildered senses1 and as keen a one of the absurd spectacle he presents2 and he warns his 'son' against coming down to such a depth of degradation4 ,it may be questioned whether the boasted quickening and brightening effects of alcohol are not always1 in a less degree1 that same beguiling of sense and exciting of imagination which1 in their extreme form1 make a man such a pitiable and ridiculous sight4 ,it is better to be dull and see things as they are1 than to be brilliant and see things larger1 brighter1 or any way other than they are1 because we see them through a mist4 ,imagination set agoing by such stimulus1 will not work to as much purpose as if aroused by truth4 ,god's world1 seen by sober eyes1 is better than rosy dreams of it4 ,if we need to draw our inspiration from alcohol1 we had better remain uninspired4 ,if we desire to know the naked truth of things1 the less we have to do with strong drink the better4 ,clear eyesight and self-command are in some degree impaired by it always4 ,the earlier stages are supposed to be exhilaration1 increased brilliancy of fancy and imagination1 expanded good-fellowship1 and so on4 ,the latter stages are these in our passage1 when strange things dance before cheated eyes1 and strange words speak themselves out of lips which their owner no longer controls4 ,is that a condition to be sought after8 ,if not1 do not get on to the road that leads to it4 ,verse #cd adds another disgusting and ridiculous trait4 ,a man who should try to lie down and go to sleep in the heart of the sea or on the masthead of a ship would be a manifest fool1 and would not keep life in him for long4 ,one has seen drunken men laying themselves down to sleep in places as exposed and as ridiculous as these2 and one knows the look of the heavy lump of insensibility lying helpless on public roads1 or on railway tracks1 or anywhere where the fancy took him4 ,the point of the verse seems to be the drunken man's utter loss of sense of fitness1 and complete incapacity to take care of himself4 ,he cannot estimate dangers4 ,the very instinct of self-preservation has forsaken him4 ,there he lies1 though as sure to be drowned as if he were in the depth of the sea1 though on as uncomfortable a bed as if he were rocking on a masthead1 where he could not balance himself4 ,the torpor of verse #cd follows on the unnatural excitement of verse #cc1 as1 in fact1 the bursts of uncontrolled energy in which the man sees and says strange things1 are succeeded by a collapse4 ,one moment raging in excitement caused by imaginary sights1 the next huddled together in sleep like death1--what a sight the man is6 ,the teacher here would have his 'son' consider that he may come to that1 if he looks on the wine-cup4 ',thou shalt be' so and so4 ,it is very impolite1 but very necessary1 to press home the individual application of pictures like this1 and to bid bright young men and women look at the wretched creatures they may see hanging about liquor shops1 and remember that they may come to be such as these4 ,verse #ce finishes the picture4 ,the tipsy man's soliloquy puts the copestone on his degradation4 ,he has been beaten1 and never felt it4 ,apparently he is beginning to stir in his sleep1 though not fully awake2 and the first thing he discovers when he begins to feel himself over is that he has been beaten and wounded1 and remembers nothing about it4 ,a degrading anaesthetic is drink4 ,better to bear all ills than to drown them by drowning consciousness4 ,there is no blow which a man cannot bear better if he holds fast by ,god's hand and keeps himself fully exposed to the stroke1 than if he sought a cowardly alleviation of it1 softer the drunkard's fashion4 ,but the pains of his beating and the discomforts of his waking do not deter the drunkard4 ',when shall ,i awake8' ,he is not fully awake yet1 so as to be able to get up and go for another drink4 ,he is in the stage of feeling sorry for himself1 and examining his bruises1 but he wishes he were able to shake off the remaining drowsiness1 that he might 'seek yet again' for his curse4 ,the tyranny of desire1 which wakes into full activity before the rest of the man does1 and the enfeebled will1 which1 in spite of all bruises and discomforts1 yields at once to the overmastering desire1 make the tragedy of a drunkard's life4 ,there comes a point in lives of fleshly indulgence in which the craving seems to escape from the control of the will altogether4 ,doctors tell us that the necessity for drink becomes a physical disease4 ,yes2 but it is a disease manufactured by the patient1 and he is responsible for getting himself into such a state4 ,this tragic picture proves that there were many originals of it in the days when it was painted4 ,probably there are far more1 in proportion to population1 in our times4 ,the warning it peals out was never more needed than now4 ,would that all preachers1 parents1 and children laid it to heart and took the advice not even to 'look upon the wine'6 ,,the ,,crime ,,of ,,negligence ',if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death1 and those that are ready to be slain2 #ab4 ,if thou sayest1 ,behold1 we knew it not2 doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it8 and he that keepeth thy soul1 doth not he render to every man according to his works8'--,,proverbs xxiv4 #aa1 #ab4 ,what is called the missionary spirit is nothing else than the ,christian church working in a particular direction4 ,if a man has a conviction1 the health of his own soul1 his reverence for the truth he has learnt to love1 his necessary connection with other men1 make it a duty1 a necessity1 and a joy to tell what he has heard1 and to speak what he believes4 ,on these common grounds rests the whole obligation of ,christ's followers to speak the ,gospel which they have received2 only the obligation presses on them with greater force because of the higher worth of the word and the deeper misery of men without it4 ,the text contains nothing specially bearing on ,christian missions1 but it deals with the fault which besets us all in our relations and in life3 and the wholesome truths which it utters apply to our duties in regard to ,christian missions because they apply to our duties in regard to every misery within our reach4 ,they speak of the murderous cruelty and black sin of negligence to save any whom we can help from any sort of misery which threatens them4 ,they appear to me to suggest four thoughts which ,i would now deal with3-- ,i4 ,the crime of negligence4 ,not to use any power is a sin2 to omit to do anything that we can do is a crime3 to withhold a help that we can render is to participate in the authorship of all the misery that we have failed to relieve4 ,he who neglects to save a life1 kills4 ,there are more murderers than those who lift violent hands with malice aforethought against a hated life4 ,rulers or communities who leave people uncared for to die1 who suffer swarming millions to live where the air is poison and the light is murky1 and first the soul and then the body1 are dwarfed and die2 the incompetent men in high places1 and the indolent ones in low1 whose selfishness brings1 and whose blundering blindness allows to continue1 the conditions that are fatal to life--on these the guilt of blood lies4 ,violence slays its thousands1 but supine negligence slays its tens of thousands4 ,and when we pass from these merely physical conditions to think of the world and of the ,church in the world1 where shall we find words weighty and burning enough to tell what fatal cruelty lies in the unthinking negligence so characteristic of large portions of ,christ's professed followers8 ,there is nothing which the ordinary type of ,christian1 so called1 more needs than to be aroused to a living sense of personal responsibility for all the unalleviated misery of the world4 ,for every one who has laid the sorrows of humanity on his heart1 and has felt them in any measure as his own1 there are a hundred to whom these make no appeal and give no pang4 ,within ear-shot of our churches and chapels there are squalid aggregations of stunted and festering manhood1 of whom it is only too true that they are 'drawn unto death' and 'ready to be slain1' and yet it would be an exaggeration to say that the bulk of our congregations cast even a languid eye of compassion upon those1 to say nothing of stretching out a hand to help4 ,it needs to be dinned1 far more than it is at present1 into every professing ,christian that each of us has an obligation which cannot be ignored or shuffled off1 to acquaint ourselves with the glaring facts that force themselves upon all thoughtful men1 and that the measure of our power is the measure of our obligation4 ,the question1 ,has the church done its best to deliver these8 needs to be sharpened to the point of ',have ,i done my best8' ,and the vision of multitudes perishing in the slums of a great city needs to be expanded into the vision of dim millions perishing in the wide world4 ,,ii4 ,the excuse of negligence4 ,the shuffling plea1 ',behold we knew it not1' is a cowardly lie4 ,it admits the responsibility to knowledge and pretends an ignorance which it knows to be partly a false excuse1 and in so far as it is true1 to be our own fault4 ,we are bound to know1 and the most ignorant of us does know1 and cannot help knowing1 enough to condemn our negligence4 ,how many of us have ever tried to find out how the pariahs of civilisation live who live beside us8 ,our ignorance so far as it is real is the result of a sinful indolence4 ,and there is a sadder form of it in an ignorance which is the result of familiarity4 ,we all know how custom dulls our impressions4 ,it is well that it should be so1 for a surgeon would be fit for little if he trembled and was shaken at the sight of the tumour he had to work to remove1 as we should be2 but his familiarity with misery does not harden him1 because he seeks to remove the suffering with which he has become familiar4 ,but that same familiarity does harden and injure the whole nature of the onlooker who does nothing to alleviate it4 ,then there is an ignorance of other suffering which is the result of selfish absorption in one's own concerns4 ,the man who is caring for himself only1 and whose thoughts and feelings all flow in the direction of his own success1 may see spread before him the most poignant sorrows without feeling one throb of brotherly compassion and without even being aware of what his eyes see4 ,so1 in so far as the excuse 'we knew it not' is true1 it is no excuse1 but an indictment4 ,it lays bare the true reason of the criminal negligence as being a yet more criminal callousness as to the woe and loss in which such crowds of men whom we ought to recognise as brethren are sunken4 ,,iii4 ,the condemnation of negligence4 ,the great example of ,god is put forward in the text as the contrast to all this selfish negligence4 ,note the twofold description of ,him given here1 ',he that pondereth the heart1' and ',he that keepeth thy soul4' ,the former of these presents to us ,god's sedulous watching of the hearts of men1 in contrast to our indolent and superficial looks2 and in this divine attitude we find the awful condemnation of our disregard of our fellows4 ,god 'takes pain1' so to speak1 to see after ,his children4 ,are they not bound to look lovingly on each other8 ,god seeks to know them4 ,are they not bound to know one another8 ,lofty disregard of human suffering is not ,god's way4 ,is it ours8 ,he 'looks down from the height of ,his sanctuary to hear the crying of the prisoner4' ,should not we stoop from our mole-hill to see it8 ,god has not too many concerns on ,his hands to mark the obscurest sorrow and be ready to help it4 ,and shall we plead that we are too busy with petty personal concerns to take interest in helping the sorrows and fighting against the sins of the world8 ,no less eloquently does the other name which is here applied to ,god rebuke our negligence4 ',he preserveth thy soul4' ,by ,his divine care and communication of life1 we live2 and surely the soul thus preserved is thereby bound to be a minister of preservation to all that are 'ready to be slain4' ,the strongest motive for seeking to save others is that ,god has saved us4 ,thus this name for ,god touches closely upon the great ,christian thought1 ',christ has given ,himself for me4' ,and in that thought we find the true condemnation of a ,christianity which has not caught from ,him the enthusiasm for self-surrender1 and the passion for saving the outcast and forlorn4 ,if to be a ,christian is to imitate ,christ1 then the name has little application to those who see 'them that are drawn to death1' and turn from them unconcerned and unconscious of responsibility4 ,,iv4 ,the judgment of negligence4 ',doth not ,he render to every man according to his works8' ,there is such a judgment both in the present and in the future for ,christian men as for others4 ,and not only what they do1 but what they inconsistently fail to do1 comes into the category of their works1 and influences their position4 ,it does so in the present1 for no man can cherish such a maimed ,christian life as makes such negligence possible without robbing himself of much that would tend to his own growth in grace and likeness to ,jesus ,christ4 ,the unfaithful servant is poorer by the pound hidden in the napkin which might all the while have been laid out at interest with the money-changers1 which would have increased the income whilst the lord was absent4 ,we rob ourselves of blessed sympathies and of the still more blessed joy of service1 and of the yet more blessed joy of successful effort1 by our indolence and our negligence4 ,let us not forget that our works do follow us in this life as in the life to come1 and that it is here as well as hereafter1 that he that goeth forth with a full basket and scatters the precious seed with weeping1 and yet with joy1 shall doubtless come again bringing his sheaves with him4 ,and if we stretch our view to take in the life beyond1 what gladness can match that of the man who shall enter there with some who will be his joy and crown of rejoicing in that day1 and of whom he shall be able to say1 ',behold ,i and the children whom ,thou hast given me6' ,i venture earnestly to appeal to all my hearers for more faithful discharge of this duty4 ,i pray you to open your ears to hear1 and your eyes to see1 and your hearts to feel1 and last of all1 your hands to help1 the miseries of the world4 ,solemn duties wait upon great privileges4 ,it is an awful trust to have ,christ and ,his gospel committed to our care4 ,we get it because from ,one who lived no life of luxurious ease1 but felt all the woes of humanity which ,he redeemed1 and forbore not to deliver us from death1 though at the cost of ,his own4 ,we get it for no life of silken indolence or selfish disregard of the sorrows of our brethren4 ,if there is one tear we could have dried and didn't1 or one wound we could have healed and didn't1 that is a sin2 if we could have lightened the great heap of sorrow by one grain and didn't1 that is a sin2 and if there be one soul that perishes which we might have saved and didn't1 the negligence is not merely the omission of a duty1 but the doing of a deed which will be 'rendered to us according to our works4' ,,the ,,sluggard',s ,,garden ',i went by the field of the slothful1 and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding2 #ca4 ,and1 lo1 it was all grown over with thorns1 and nettles had covered the face thereof1 and the stone wall thereof was broken down4'--,,proverbs xxiv4 #cj1 #ca4 ,this picture of the sluggard's garden seems to be intended as a parable4 ,no doubt its direct simple meaning is full of homely wisdom in full accord with the whole tone of the ,book of ,proverbs2 but we shall scarcely do justice to this saying of the wise if we do not see in 'the ground grown over with thorns1' and 'the stone wall thereof broken down1' an apologue of the condition of a soul whose owner has neglected to cultivate and tend it4 ,i4 ,note first who the slothful man is4 ,the first plain meaning of the word is to be kept in view4 ,the whole ,book of ,proverbs brands laziness as the most prolific source of poverty4 ,honest toil is to it the law of life4 ,it is never weary of reiterating ',in the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread'2 and it condemns all swift modes of getting riches without labour4 ,no doubt the primitive simplicity of life as set forth in this book seems far behind the many ingenuities by which in our days the law is evaded4 ,how much of ,stock ,exchange speculation and ',company promoters' gambling would survive the application of the homely old law8 ,but it is truer in the inward life than in the outward that 'the hand of the diligent maketh rich4' ,after all1 the differences between men who truly 'succeed' and the human failures1 which are so frequent1 are more moral than intellectual4 ,it has been said that genius is1 after all1 'the capacity for taking infinite pains'2 and although that is an exaggerated statement1 and an incomplete analysis1 there is a great truth in it1 and it is the homely virtue of hard work which tells in the long run1 and without which the most brilliant talents effect but little4 ,however gifted a man may be1 he will be a failure if he has not learned the great secret of dogged persistence in often unwelcomed toil4 ,no character worth building up is built without continuous effort4 ,if a man does not labour to be good1 he will surely become bad4 ,it is an old axiom that no man attains superlative wickedness all at once1 and most certainly no man leaps to the height of the goodness possible to his nature by one spring4 ,he has laboriously1 and step by step1 to climb the hill4 ,progress in moral character is secured by long-continued walking upwards1 not by a jump4 ,we note that in our text 'the slothful' is paralleled by 'the man void of understanding'2 and the parallel suggests the stupidity in such a world as this of letting ourselves develop according to whims1 or inclinations1 or passions2 and also teaches that 'understanding' is meant to be rigidly and continuously brought to bear on actions as director and restrainer4 ,if the ship is not to be wrecked on the rocks or to founder at sea1 ,wisdom's hand must hold the helm4 ,diligence alone is not enough unless directed by 'understanding4' ,,ii4 ,what comes of sloth4 ,the description of the sluggard's garden brings into view two things1 the abundant1 because unchecked1 growth of profitless weeds1 and the broken down stone wall4 ,both of these results are but too sadly and evidently true in regard to every life where rigid and continuous control has not been exercised4 ,it is a familiar experience known1 alas6 to too many of us1 that evil things1 of which the seeds are in us all1 grow up unchecked if there be not constant supervision and self-command4 ,if we do not carefully cultivate our little plot of garden ground1 it will soon be overgrown by weeds4 ',ill weeds grow apace' as the homely wisdom of common experience crystallises into a significant proverb4 ,and ,jesus has taught the sadder truth that 'thorns spring up and choke the word and it becometh unfruitful4' ,in the slothful man's soul evil will drive out good as surely as in the struggle for existence the thorns and nettles will cover the face of the slothful man's garden4 ,in country places we sometimes come across a ruined house with what was a garden round it1 and here and there still springs up a flower seeking for air and light in the midst of a smothering mass of weeds4 ,they needed no kindly gardener's hand to make them grow luxuriantly2 can barely put out a pale petal unless cared for and guarded4 ,but not only is there this unchecked growth1 but 'the stone wall thereof was broken down4' ,the soul was unfenced4 ,the solemn imperative of duty ceases to restrain or to impel in proportion as a man yields slothfully to the baser impulses of his nature4 ,nothing is hindered from going out of1 nor for coming into1 an unfenced soul1 and he that 'hath no rule over his own spirit1' but is like a 'city broken down without walls1' is certain sooner or later to let much go forth from that spirit that should have bean rigidly shut up1 and to let many an enemy come in that will capture the city4 ,it is not yet safe to let any of the fortifications fall into disrepair1 and they can only be kept in their massive strength by continuous vigilance4 ,,iii4 ,how sloth excuses itself4 ,our text is followed at the distance of one verse with what seemed to be the words of the sluggard in answer to the attempt to awake him3 ',yet a little sleep1 a little slumber1 a little folding of the hands to sleep4' ,they are a quotation from an earlier chapter 7ch4 vi47 where ',his ,laziness' is sent to 'consider the ways of the ant and be wise4' ,they are a drowsy petition which does not dispute the wisdom of the call to awake1 but simply craves for a little more luxurious laziness from which he has unwillingly been aroused4 ,and is it not true that we admit too late the force of the summons and yet shrink from answering it8 ,do we not cheat ourselves and try to deceive ,god with the promise that we will set about amendment soon8 ,this indolent sleeper asks only for a little3 ',a little sleep1 a little slumber1 a little folding of the hands to sleep4' ,do we not all know that mood of mind which confesses our slothfulness and promises to be wide awake tomorrow but would fain bargain to be left undisturbed today8 ,the call ',awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead6' rings from ,christ's lips in the ears of every man1 and he who answers1 ',i will presently1 but must sleep a little longer1' may seem to himself to have complied with the call1 but has really refused it4 ,the 'little more' generally becomes much more2 and the answer 'presently' alas6 too often becomes the answer 'never4' ,when a man is roused so as to be half awake1 the only safety for him is immediately to rise and clothe himself2 the head that drowsily droops back on the pillow after he has heard the morning's call1 is likely to lie there long4 ,now1 not 'by-and-by' is the time to shake off the bonds of sloth to cultivate our garden4 ,,iv4 ,how sloth ends4 ,the sleeper's slumber is dramatically represented as being awakened by armed robbers who bring a grim awakening4 ',poverty' and 'want' break in on his 'folding hands to sleep4' ,that is true as regards the outward life1 where indulgence in literal slothfulness brings want1 and the whole drift of things executes on the sluggard the sentence that if 'any man will not work1 neither shall he eat4' ,but the picture is more sadly and fatally true concerning the man who has made his earthly life 'a little sleep' as concerns heavenly things1 and in spite of his beseechings1 is roused to life and consciousness of himself and of ,god by death4 ,that man's 'poverty' in his lack of all that is counted as wealth in the world of realities to which he goes will indeed come as a robber4 ,i would press upon you all the plain question1 ,is this fatal slothfulness characteristic of me8 ,it may co-exist with1 and indeed is often the consequence of vehement energy and continuous work to secure wealth1 or wisdom1 or material good2 and the contrast between a man who is all eagerness in regard to the things that don't matter1 and all carelessness in regard to the things that do1 is the tragedy of life amongst us4 ,my friend6 if your garden has been suffered by you to be overgrown with weeds1 be sure of this1 that one day you will be awakened from the slumber that you would fain continue1 and will find yourself in a life where your 'poverty' will come as a robber and your want of all which there is counted treasure 'as an armed man4' ,one word more4 ,christ's parable of the sower may be brought into relationship with this parable4 ,he sows the true seed in our hearts1 but when sown1 it1 too1 has to be cared for and tended4 ,if it is sown in the sluggard's garden1 it will bring forth few ears1 and the tares will choke the wheat4 ,,an ,,unwalled ,,city ',he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down1 and without walls4'--,,proverbs xxv4 #bh4 ,the text gives us a picture of a state of society when an unwalled city is no place for men to dwell in4 ,in the ,europe of today there are still fortified places1 but for the most part1 battlements are turned into promenades2 the gateways are gateless2 the sweet flowers blooming where armed feet used to tread2 and men live securely without bolts and bars4 ,but their spirits cannot yet afford to raise their defences and fling themselves open to all comers4 ,we may see here three points3 the city defenceless1 or human nature as it is2 the city defended1 human nature as it may be in ,christ2 the city needing no defence1 human nature as it will be in heaven4 ,i4 ,the city defenceless1 or human nature as it is4 ,here we are in a state of warfare which calls for constant shutting out of enemies4 ,temptations are everywhere2 our foes compass us like bees2 evils of many sorts seduce4 ,we can picture to ourselves some little garrison holding a lonely outpost against lurking savages ready to attack if ever the defenders slacken their vigilance for a moment4 ,and that is the truer picture of human nature as it is than the one by which most men are deluded4 ,life is not a playground1 but an arena of grim1 earnest fighting4 ,no man does right in his sleep2 no man does right without a struggle4 ,the need for continual vigilance and self-control comes from the very make of our souls1 for our nature is not a democracy1 but a kingdom4 ,in us all there are passions1 desires1 affections1 all of which may lead to vice or to virtue3 and all of which evidently call out for direction1 for cultivation1 and often for repression4 ,then there are peculiarities of individual character which need watching lest they become excessive and sinful4 ,further1 there are qualities which need careful cultivation and stimulus to bring them into due proportion4 ,we each of us receive1 as it were1 an undeveloped self1 and have entrusted to us potential germs which come to nothing1 or shoot up with a luxuriance that stifles unless we exercise a controlling power4 ,besides all this1 we all carry in us tendencies which are positively1 and only1 sinful4 ,there would be no temptation if there were no such4 ,but the slightest inspection of our own selves clearly points out1 not only what in us needs to be controlled1 but that in us which is meant to control4 ,the will is regal2 conscience is meant to govern the will1 and its voice is but the echo of ,god's law4 ,but1 while all this is true1 it is too sadly true that the accomplishment of this ideal is impossible in our own strength4 ,our own sad experience tells us that we cannot govern ourselves2 and our observations of our brethren but too surely indicate that they too are the prey of rebellious1 anarchical powers within1 and of temptations1 against the rush of which they and we are as powerless as a voyager in a bark-canoe1 caught in the fatal drift of ,niagara4 ,conscience has a voice1 but no hands2 it can speak1 but if its voice fails1 it cannot hold us back4 ,from its chair it can bid the waves breaking at our feet roll back1 as the ,saxon king did1 but their tossing surges are deaf4 ,as helpless as the mud walls of some ,indian hill-fort against modern artillery1 is the defence1 in one's own strength1 of one's own self against the world4 ,we would gladly admit that the feeblest may do much to 'keep himself unspotted from the world'2 but we must1 if we recognise facts1 confess that the strongest cannot do all4 ,no man can alone completely control his own nature2 no man1 unenlightened by ,god1 has a clear1 full view of duty1 nor a clear view of himself4 ,always there is some unguarded place3 ',unless above himself he can ,erect himself1 how mean a thing is man6' but no man can so lift himself so as that self will not drag him down4 ,the walls are broken down and the troops of the spoilers sack the city4 ,,ii4 ,the defended city1 or human nature as it may be in ,christ4 ,if our previous remarks are true1 they give us material for judging how far the counsels of some very popular moral teachers should be followed4 ,it is a very old advice1 'know thyself2 and it is a very modern one that ',self-reverence1 self-knowledge1 self-control ,lead life to sovereign power4' ,but if these counsels are taken absolutely and without reference to ,christ and ,his work1 they are 'counsels of despair1' demanding what we cannot give1 and promising what they cannot bestow4 ,when we know ,christ1 we shall know ourselves2 when ,he is the self of ourselves1 then1 and only then1 shall we reverence and can we control the inner man4 ,the city of ,mansoul will then be defended when 'the peace of ,god keeps our hearts and minds in ,jesus4' ,he who submits himself to ,christ is lord of himself as none else are4 ,he has a light within which teaches him what is sin4 ,he has a love within which puts out the flame of temptation1 as the sun does a coal fire4 ,he has a motive to resist2 he has power for resistance2 he has hope in resisting4 ,only thus are the walls broken down rebuilded4 ,and as ,christ builds our city on firmer foundations1 ,he will appear in ,his glory1 and will 'lay the windows in agates1 and all thy borders in precious stones4' ,the sure way to bring our ruined earth1 'without form and void1' into a cosmos of light and beauty1 is to open our spirit for the ,spirit of ,god to 'brood upon the face of the waters4' ,otherwise the attempts to rule over our own spirit will surely fail2 but if we let ,christ rule over our spirit1 then it will rule itself4 ,but let us ever remember that he who thus submits to ,christ1 and can truly say1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me1' still needs defence4 ,the strife does not thereby cease2 the enemies still swarm2 sin is not removed4 ,there will be war to the end1 and war for ever2 but ,he will 'keep our heads in the day of battle'2 and though often we may be driven from the walls1 and outposts may be lost1 and gaping breaches made1 yet the citadel shall be safe4 ,if only we see to it that ',he is the glory in the midst of us1' ,he will be 'a wall of fire round about us4' ,our nature as it may be in ,christ is a walled city as needing defence1 and as possessing the defence which it needs4 ,,iii4 ,the city defenceless1 and needing no defence2 that is1 human nature as it will be hereafter4 ',the gates shall not be shut day nor night1' for 'every thing that defileth' is without4 ,we know but little of that future1 what we know will1 surely1 be theirs who here have been 'guarded by the power of ,god1 through faith1 unto salvation4' ,that salvation will bring with it the end for the need of guardianship2 though it leaves untouched the blessed dependence1 we shall stand secure when it is impossible to fall4 ,and that impossibility will be realised1 partly1 as we know1 from change in surroundings1 partly from the dropping away of flesh1 partly from the entire harmony of our souls with the will of ,god4 ,our ignorance of that future is great1 but our knowledge of it is greater1 and our certainty of it is greatest of all4 ,this is what we may become4 ,dear friends6 toil no longer at the endless1 hopeless task of ruling those turbulent souls of yours2 you can never rebuild the walls already fallen4 ,give up toiling to attain calmness1 peace1 self-command4 ,let ,christ do all for you1 and let ,him in to dwell in you and be all to you4 ,builded on the true ,rock1 we shall stand stately and safe amid the din of war4 ,he will watch over us and dwell in us1 and we shall be as 'a city set on a hill1' impregnable1 a virgin city4 ,so may it be with each of us while strife shall last1 and hereafter we may quietly hope to be as a city without walls1 and needing none2 for they that hated us shall be far away1 for between us and them is 'a great gulf fixed1' so that they cannot cross it to disturb us any more2 and we shall dwell in the city of ,god1 of which the name is ,salem1 the city of peace1 whose ,king is ,himself1 its ,defender and its ,rock1 its ,fortress and its high ,tower4 ,,the ,,weight ,,of ,,sand ',the sand is weighty4'--,,proverbs1 xxvii4 #c4 ,this ,book of ,proverbs has a very wholesome horror of the character which it calls 'a fool'2 meaning thereby1 not so much intellectual feebleness as moral and religious obliquity1 which are the stupidest things that a man can be guilty of4 ,my text comes from a very picturesque and vivid description1 by way of comparison1 of the fatal effects of such a man's passion4 ,the proverb-maker compares two heavy things1 stones and sand1 and says that they are feathers in comparison with the immense lead-like weight of such a man's wrath4 ,now ,i have nothing more to do with the immediate application of my text4 ,i want to make a parable out of it4 ,what is lighter than a grain of sand8 ,what is heavier than a bagful of it8 ,as the grains fall one by one1 how easily they can be blown away6 ,let them gather1 and they bury temples1 and crush the solid masonry of pyramids4 ',sand is weighty4' ,the accumulation of light things is overwhelmingly ponderous4 ,are there any such things in our lives8 ,if there are1 what ought we to do8 ,so you get the point of view from which ,i want to look at the words of our text4 ,i4 ,the first suggestion that ,i make is that they remind us of the supreme importance of trifles4 ,if trivial acts are unimportant1 what signifies the life of man8 ,for ninety-nine and a half per cent4 of every man's life is made up of these light nothings2 and unless there is potential greatness in them1 and they are of importance1 then life is all 'a tale told by an idiot1 full of sound and fury1 signifying nothing4' ,small things make life2 and if are small1 then it is so too4 ,but remember1 too1 that the supreme importance of so-called trivial actions is seen in this1 that there may be every bit as much of the noblest things that belong to humanity condensed in1 and brought to bear upon1 the veriest trifle that a man can do1 as on the greatest things that he can perform4 ,we are very poor judges of what is great and what is little4 ,we have a very vulgar estimate that noise and notoriety and the securing of1 not great but 'big1' results of a material kind make the deeds by which they are secured1 great ones4 ,and we think that it is the quiet things1 those that do not tell outside at all1 that are the small ones4 ,well6 here is a picture for you4 ,half-a-dozen shabby1 travel-stained ,jews1 sitting by a river-side upon the grass1 talking to a handful of women outside the gates of a great city4 ,years before that1 there had been what the world calls a great event1 almost on the same ground--a sanguinary fight1 that had settled the emperorship of the then civilised world1 for a time4 ,i want to know whether the first preaching of the ,gospel in ,europe by the ,apostle ,paul1 or the battle of ,philippi1 was the great event1 and which of the two was the little one4 ,i vote for the ,jews on the grass1 and let all the noise of the fight1 though it reverberated through the world for a bit1 die away1 as 'a little dust that rises up1 and is lightly laid again4' ,not the noisy events are the great ones2 and as much true greatness may be manifested in a poor woman stitching in her garret as in some of the things that have rung through the world and excited all manner of vulgar applause4 ,trifles may be1 and often are1 the great things in life4 ,and then remember1 too1 how the most trivial actions have a strange knack of all at once leading on to large results1 beyond what could have been expected4 ,a man shifts his seat in a railway carriage1 from some passing whim1 and five minutes afterwards there comes a collision1 and the bench where he had been sitting is splintered up1 and the place where he is sitting is untouched1 and the accidental move has saved his life4 ,according to the old story a boy1 failing in applying for a situation1 stoops down in the courtyard and picks up a pin1 and the millionaire sees him through the window1 and it makes his fortune4 ,we cannot tell what may come of anything2 and since we do not know the far end of our deeds1 let us be quite sure that we have got the near end of them right4 ,whatever may be the issue1 let us look after the motive1 and then all will be right4 ,small seeds grow to be great trees1 and in this strange and inexplicable network of things which men call circumstances1 and ,christians call ,providence1 the only thing certain is that 'great' and 'small' all but cease to be a tenable1 and certainly altogether cease to be an important distinction4 ,then another thing which ,i would have you remember is1 that it is these trivial actions which1 in their accumulated force1 make character4 ,men are not made by crises4 ,the crises reveal what we have made ourselves by the trifles4 ,the way in which we do the little things forms the character according to which we shall act when the great things come4 ,if the crew of a man-of-war were not exercised at boat and fire drill during many a calm day1 when all was safe1 what would become of them when tempests were raging1 or flames breaking through the bulk-heads8 ,it is no time to learn drill then4 ,and we must make our characters by the way in which1 day out and day in1 we do little things1 and find in them fields for the great virtues which will enable us to front the crises of our fate unblenching1 and to master whatsoever difficulties come in our path4 ,geologists nowadays distrust1 for the most part1 theories which have to invoke great forces in order to mould the face of a country4 ,they tell us that the valley1 with its deep sides and wide opening to the sky1 may have been made by the slow operation of a tiny brooklet that trickles now down at its base1 and by erosion of the atmosphere4 ,so we shape ourselves--and that is a great thing--by the way we do small things4 ,therefore1 ,i say to you1 dear friends6 think solemnly and reverently of this awful life of ours4 ,clear your minds of the notion that anything is small which offers to you the alternative of being done in a right way or in a wrong2 and recognise this as a fact--'sand is weighty1' trifles are of supreme importance4 ,,ii4 ,now1 secondly1 let me ask you to take this saying as suggesting the overwhelming weight of small sins4 ,that is only an application in one direction of the general principle that ,i have been trying to lay down2 but it is one of such great importance that ,i wish to deal with it separately4 ,and my point is this1 that the accumulated pressure upon a man of a multitude of perfectly trivial faults and transgressions makes up a tremendous aggregate that weighs upon him with awful ponderousness4 ,let me remind you1 to begin with1 that1 properly speaking1 the words 'great' and 'small' should not be applied in reference to things about which 'right' or 'wrong' are the proper words to employ4 ,or1 to put it into plainer language1 it is as absurd to talk about the 'size' of a sin1 as it is to take the superficial area of a picture as a test of its greatness4 ,the magnitude of a transgression does not depend on the greatness of the act which transgresses--according to human standards--but on the intensity with which the sinful element is working in it4 ,for acts make crimes1 but motives make sins4 ,if you take a bit of prussic acid1 and bruise it down1 every little microscopic fragment will have the poisonous principle in it2 and it is very irrelevant to ask whether it is as big as a mountain or small as a grain of dust1 it is poison all the same4 ,so to talk about magnitude in regard to sins1 is rather to introduce a foreign consideration4 ,but still1 recognising that there is a reality in the distinction that people make between great sins and small ones1 though it is a superficial distinction1 and does not go down to the bottom of things1 let us deal with it now4 ,i say1 then1 that small sins1 by reason of their numerousness1 have a terrible accumulative power4 ,they are like the green flies on our rose-bushes1 or the microbes that our medical friends talk so much about nowadays4 ,like them1 their power of mischief does not in the least degree depend on their magnitude1 and like them1 they have a tremendous capacity of reproduction4 ,it would be easier to find a man that had not done any one sin than to find out a man that had only done it once4 ,and it would be easier to find a man that had done no evil than a man who had not been obliged to make the second edition of his sin an enlarged one4 ,for this is the present ,nemesis of all evil1 that it requires repetition1 partly to still conscience1 partly to satisfy excited tastes and desires2 so that animal indulgence in drink and the like is a type of what goes on in the inner life of every man1 in so far as the second dose has to be stronger than the first in order to produce an equivalent effect2 and so on ad infinitum4 ,and then remember that all our evil doings1 however insignificant they may be1 have a strange affinity with one another1 so that you will find that to go wrong in one direction almost inevitably leads to a whole series of consequential transgressions of one sort or another4 ,you remember the old story about the soldier that was smuggled into a fortress concealed in a hay cart1 and opened the gates of a virgin citadel to his allies outside4 ,every evil thing1 great or small1 that we admit into our lives1 still more into our hearts1 is charged with the same errand as he had3--' ,set wide the door when you are inside1 and let us all come in after you4' ',he taketh with him seven other spirits worse than himself1 and they dwell there4' ',none of them1' says one of the prophets1 describing the doleful creatures that haunt the ruins of a deserted city1 'shall by any means want its mate1' and the satyrs of the islands and of the woods join together6 and hold high carnival in the city4 ,and so1 brethren6 our little transgressions open the door for great ones1 and every sin makes us more accessible to the assaults of every other4 ,so let me remind you how here1 in these little unnumbered acts of trivial transgression which scarcely produce any effect on conscience or on memory1 but make up so large a portion of so many of our lives1 lies one of the most powerful instruments for making us what we are4 ,if we indulge in slight acts of transgression be sure of this1 that we shall pass from them to far greater ones4 ,for one man that leaps or falls all at once into sin which the world calls gross1 there are a thousand that slide into it4 ,the storm only blows down the trees whose hearts have been eaten out and their roots loosened4 ,and when you see a man having a reputation for wisdom and honour all at once coming crash down and disclosing his baseness1 be sure that he began with small deflections from the path of right4 ,the evil works underground2 and if we yield to little temptations1 when great ones come we shall fall their victims4 ,let me remind you1 too1 that there is another sense in which 'sand is weighty4' ,you may as well be crushed under a sandhill as under a mountain of marble4 ,it matters not which4 ,the accumulated weight of the one is as great as that of the other4 ,and ,i wish to lay upon the consciences of all that are listening to me now this thought1 that an overwhelming weight of guilt results from the accumulation of little sins4 ,dear friends6 ,i do not desire to preach a gospel of fear1 but ,i cannot help feeling that1 very largely1 in this day1 the ministration of the ,christian ,church is defective in that it does not give sufficient1 though sad and sympathetic1 prominence to the plain teaching of ,christ and of the ,new ,testament as to future retribution for present sin4 ,we shall 'every one of us give account of himself to ,god'2 and if the account is long enough it will foot up to an enormous sum1 though each item may be only halfpence4 ,the weight of a lifetime of little sins will be enough to crush a man down with guilt and responsibility when he stands before that ,judge4 ,that is all true1 and you know it1 and ,i beseech you1 take it to your hearts1 ',sand is weighty4' ,little sins have to be accounted for1 and may crush4 ,,iii4 ,and now1 lastly1 let me ask you to consider one or two of the plain1 practical issues of such thoughts as these4 ,and1 first1 ,i would say that these considerations set in a very clear light the absolute necessity for all-round and ever-wakeful watchfulness over ourselves4 ,a man in the tropics does not say1 ',mosquitoes are so small that it does not matter if two or three of them get inside my bed-curtains4' ,he takes care that not one is there before he lays himself down to sleep4 ,there seems to be nothing more sad than the complacent1 easy-going way in which men allow themselves to keep their higher moral principles and their more rigid self-examination for the 'great' things1 as they suppose1 and let the little things often take care of themselves4 ,what would you think of the captain of a steamer who in calm weather sailed by rule of thumb1 only getting out his sextant when storms began to blow8 ,and what about a man that lets the myriad trivialities that make up a day pass in and out of his heart as they will1 and never arrests any of them at the gate with a ',how camest thou in hither8' ',look after the pence1 and the pounds will look after themselves4' ,look after your trivial acts1 and1 take my word for it1 the great ones will be as they ought to be4 ,again1 may not this thought somehow take down our easy-going and self-complacent estimate of ourselves8 ,i have no doubt that there are a number of people in my audience just now who have been more or less consciously saying to themselves whilst ,i have been going on1 ',what have ,i to do with all this talk about sin1 sin1 sin8 ,i am a decent kind of a man4 ,i do all the duties of my daily life1 and nobody can say that the white of my eyes is black4 ,i have done no great transgressions4 ,what is it all about8 ,it has nothing to do with me4' ,well1 my friend6 it has this to do with you--that in your life there are a whole host of things which only a very superficial estimate hinders you from recognising to be what they are--small deeds1 but great sins4 ,is it a small thing to go1 as some of you do go on from year to year1 with your conduct and your thoughts and your loves and your desires utterly unaffected by the fact that there is a ,god in heaven1 and that ,jesus ,christ died for you8 ,is that a small thing8 ,it manifests itself in a great many insignificant actions4 ,that ,i grant you2 and you are a most respectable man1 and you keep the commandments as well as you can4 ,but 'the ,god in whose hand thy breath is1 and whose are all thy ways1 hast thou not glorified4' ,i say that that is not a small sin4 ,so1 dear brethren6 ,i beseech you judge yourselves by this standard4 ,i charge none of you with gross iniquities4 ,i know nothing about that4 ,but ,i do appeal to you all1 as ,i do to myself1 whether we must not recognise the fact that an accumulated multitude of transgressions which are only superficially small1 in their aggregate weigh upon us with 'a weight heavy as frost1 and deep almost as life4' ,last of all1 this being the case1 should we not all turn ourselves with lowly hearts1 with recognition of our transgressions1 acknowledging that whether it be five hundred or fifty pence that we owe1 we have nothing to pay1 and betake ourselves to ,him who alone can deliver us from the habit and power of these small accumulated faults1 and who alone can lift the burden of guilt and responsibility from off our shoulders8 ,if you irrigate the sand it becomes fruitful soil4 ,christ brings to us the river of the water of life2 the inspiring1 the quickening1 the fructifying power of the new life that ,he bestows1 and the sand may become soil1 and the wilderness blossom as the rose4 ,a heavy burden lies on our shoulders4 ,ah6 yes6 but ',behold the ,lamb of ,god that beareth away the sins of the world6' ,what was it that crushed ,him down beneath the olives of ,gethsemane8 ,what was it that made ,him cry1 ',my ,god6 ,why hast ,thou forsaken me8' ,i know no answer but one1 for which the world's gratitude is all too small4 ',the ,lord hath laid on ,him the iniquity of us all4' ',sand is weighty1' but ,christ has borne the burden1 ',cast thy burden upon the ,lord1' and it will drop from your emancipated shoulders1 and they will henceforth bear only the light burden of ,his love4 ,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,matron ',who can find a virtuous woman8 for her price is far above rubies4 #aa4 ,the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her1 so that he shall have no need of spoil4 #ab4 ,she will do him good1 and not evil1 all the days of her life4 #ac4 ,she seeketh wool1 and flax1 and worketh willingly with her hands4 #ad4 ,she is like the merchants' ships2 she bringeth her food from afar4 #ae4 ,she riseth also while it is yet night1 and giveth meat to her household1 and a portion to her maidens4 #af4 ,she considereth a field1 and buyeth it3 with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard4 #ag4 ,she girdeth her loins with strength1 and strengtheneth her arms4 #ah4 ,she perceiveth that her merchandise is good3 her candle goeth not out by night4 #ai4 ,she layeth her hands to the spindle1 and her hands hold the distaff4 #bj4 ,she stretcheth out her hand to the poor2 yea1 she reacheth forth her hands to the needy4 #ba4 ,she is not afraid of the snow for her household3 for all her household are clothed with scarlet4 #bb4 ,she maketh herself coverings of tapestry2 her clothing is silk and purple4 #bc4 ,her husband is known in the gates1 when he sitteth among the elders of the land4 #bd4 ,she maketh fine linen1 and selleth it2 and delivereth girdles unto the merchant4 #be4 ,strength and honour are her clothing2 and she shall rejoice in time to come4 #bf4 ,she openeth her mouth with wisdom2 and in her tongue is the law of kindness4 #bg4 ,she looketh well to the ways of her household1 and eateth not the bread of idleness4 #bh4 ,her children arise up1 and call her blessed2 her husband also1 and he praiseth her4 #bi4 ,many daughters have done virtuously1 but thou excellest them all4 #cj4 ,favour is deceitful1 and beauty is vain3 but a woman that feareth the ,lord1 she shall be praised4 #ca4 ,give her of the fruit of her hands2 and let her own works praise her in the gates4'-,,proverbs xxxi #aj-ca4 ,this description of a good 'house-mother' attests the honourable position of woman in ,israel4 ,it would have been impossible in ,eastern countries1 where she was regarded only as a plaything and a better sort of slave4 ,the picture is about equally far removed from old-world and from modern ideas of her place4 ,this 'virtuous woman' is neither a doll nor a graduate nor a public character4 ,her kingdom is the home4 ,her works 'praise her in the gates'2 but it is her husband1 and not she1 that 'sits' there among the elders4 ,there is no sentiment or light of wedded love in the picture4 ,it is neither the ideal woman nor wife that is painted1 but the ideal head of a household1 on whose management1 as much as on her husband's work1 its well-being depends4 ,there is plenty of room for modern ideals by the side of this old one1 but they are very incomplete without it4 ,if we take the 'oracle which his mother taught' ,king ,lemuel to include this picture1 the artist is a woman1 and her motive may be to sketch the sort of wife her son should choose4 ,in any case1 it is significant that the book which began with the magnificent picture of ,wisdom as a fair woman1 and hung beside it the ugly likeness of ,folly1 should end with this charming portrait4 ,it is an acrostic1 and the fetters of alphabetic sequence are not favourable to progress or continuity of thought4 ,but ,i venture to suggest a certain advance in the representation which removes the apparent disjointed character and needless repetition4 ,there are1 first1 three verses forming a kind of prologue or introduction 7vers4 #aj-ab74 ,then follows the picture proper1 which is brought into unity if we suppose that it describes the growing material success of the diligent housekeeper1 beginning with her own willing work1 and gradually extending till she and her family are well to do and among the magnates of her town 7vers4 #ac-bi71 ,then follow two verses of epilogue or conclusion 7vers4 #cj1 #ca74 ,the rendering 'virtuous' is unsatisfactory2 for what is meant is not moral excellence1 either in the wider sense or in the narrower to which1 in reference to woman1 that great word has been unfortunately narrowed4 ,our colloquialism 'a woman of faculty' would fairly convey the idea1 which is that of ability and general capacity4 ,we have said that there was no light of wedded love in the picture4 ,that is true of the main body of it2 but no deeper1 terser expression of the inmost blessedness of happy marriage was ever spoken than in the quiet words1 ',the heart of her husband trusteth in her1' with the repose of satisfaction1 with the tranquillity of perfect assurance4 ,the bond uniting husband and wife in a true marriage is not unlike that uniting us with ,god4 ,happy are they who by their trust in one another and the peaceful joys which it brings are led to united trust in a yet deeper love1 mirrored to them in their own6 ,true1 the picture here is mainly that of confidence that the wife is no squanderer of her husband's goods1 but the sweet thought goes far beyond the immediate application4 ,so with the other general feature in verse #ab4 ,a true wife is a fountain of good1 and good only1 all the days of her life--ay1 and beyond them too1 when her remembrance shines like the calm west after a cloudless sunset4 ,this being1 as it were1 the overture1 next follows the main body of the piece4 ,it starts with a description of diligence in a comparatively humble sphere4 ,note that in verse #ac the woman is working alone4 ,she toils 'willingly1' or1 as the literal rendering is1 'with the pleasure of her hands4' ,there is no profit in unwilling work4 ,love makes toil delightful1 and delighted toil is successful4 ,throughout its pages the ,bible reverences diligence4 ,it is the condition of prosperity in material and spiritual things4 ,vainly do men and women try to dodge the law which makes the 'sweat of the brow' the indispensable requisite for 'eating bread4' ,when commerce becomes speculation1 which is the polite name for gambling1 which1 again1 is a synonym for stealing1 it may yield much more dainty fare than bread to some for a time1 but is sure to bring want sooner or later to individuals and communities4 ,the foundation of this good woman's fortune was that she worked with a will4 ,there is no other foundation1 either for fortune or any other good1 or for self-respect1 or for progress in knowledge or goodness or religion4 ,then her horizon widened1 and she saw a way of increasing her store4 ',she is like the merchants' ships2 she bringeth her food from afar4' ,she looks afield1 and sees opportunities for profitable exchange4 ,promptly she avails herself of these1 and is at work while it is yet dark4 ,she has a household now1 and does not neglect their comfort1 any more than she does their employment4 ,their food and their tasks are both set them in the early morning1 and their mistress is up as soon as they4 ,her toil brings in wealth1 and so verse #af shows another step in advance4 ',she considereth a field1 and buyeth it1' and has made money enough to stock it with vines1 and so add a new source of revenue1 and acquire a new position as owning land4 ,but prosperity does not make her relax her efforts so we are told again in verses #ag-ai of her abridging the hours of sleep1 and toiling with wool and flax1 which would be useless tautology if there were not some new circumstances to account for the repetition4 ,encouraged by success1 she 'girdeth her loins with strength1' and1 since she sees that 'her merchandise is profitable1' she is the more induced to labour4 ,she still works with her own hands 7ver4 #ai74 ,but the hands that are busy with distaff and spindle are also stretched out with alms in the open palm1 and are extended in readiness to help the needy4 ,a woman made unfeeling by wealth is a monster4 ,prosperity often leads men to niggardliness in charitable gifts2 but if it does the same for a woman1 it is doubly cursed4 ,pity and charity have their home in women's hearts4 ,if they are so busy holding the distaff or the pen that they become hard and insensible to the cry of misery1 they have lost their glory4 ,then follow a series of verses describing how increased wealth brings good to her household and herself4 ,the advantages are of a purely material sort1 ,her children are 'clothed with scarlet1' which was not only the name of the dye1 but of the stuff4 ,evidently thick material only was dyed of that hue1 and so was fit for winter clothing1 even if the weather was so severe for ,palestine that snow fell4 ,her house was furnished with 'carpets1' or rather 'cushions' or 'pillows1' which are more important pieces of furniture where people recline on divans than where they sit on chairs4 ,her own costume is that of a rich woman4 ',purple and fine linen' are tokens of wealth1 and she is woman enough to like to wear these4 ,there is nothing unbecoming in assuming the style of living appropriate to one's position4 ,her children and herself thus share in the advantages of her industry2 and the husband1 who does not appear to have much business of his own1 gets his share in that he sits among the wealthy and honoured inhabitants of the town1 'in the gates1' the chief place of meeting for business and gossip4 ,verse #bd recurs to the subject of the woman's diligence4 ,she has got into a 'shipping business1' making for the export trade with the 'merchants'--literally1 ',canaanites' or ,phoenicians1 the great traders of the ,east1 from whom1 no doubt1 she got the 'purple' of her clothing in exchange for her manufacture4 ,but she had a better dress than any woven in looms or bought with goods4 ',strength and dignity' clothe her4 ',she laugheth at the time to come'2 that is1 she is able to look forward without dread of poverty1 because she has realised a competent sum4 ,such looking forward may be like that of the rich man in the parable1 a piece of presumption1 but it may also be compatible with devout recognition of ,god's providence4 ,as in verse #bj1 beneficence was coupled with diligence1 so in verse #bf gentler qualities are blended with strength and dignity1 and calm anticipation of the future4 ,a glimpse into 'the very pulse' of the woman's nature is given4 ,a true woman's strength is always gentle1 and her dignity attractive and gracious4 ,prosperity has not turned her head4 ',wisdom1' the heaven-descended virgin1 the deep music of whose call we heard sounding in the earlier chapters of ,proverbs1 dwells with this very practical woman4 ,the collocation points the lesson that heavenly ,wisdom has a field for its display in the common duties of a busy life1 does not dwell in hermitages1 or cloisters1 or studies1 but may guide and inspire a careful housekeeper in her task of wisely keeping her husband's goods together4 ,the old legend of the descending deity who took service as a goat-herd1 is true of the heavenly ,wisdom1 which will come and live in kitchens and shops4 ,but the ideal woman has not only wisdom in act and word1 but 'the law of kindness is on her tongue4' ,prosperity should not rob her of her gracious demeanour4 ,her words should be glowing with the calm flame of love which stoops to lowly and undeserving objects4 ,if wealth leads to presumptuous reckoning on the future1 and because we have 'much goods laid up for many years1' we see no other use of leisure than to eat and drink and be merry1 we fatally mistake our happiness and our duty4 ,but if gentle compassion and helpfulness are on our lips and in our hearts and deeds1 prosperity will be blessed4 ,nor does this ideal woman relax in her diligence1 though she has prospered4 ,verse #bg seems very needless repetition of what has been abundantly said already1 unless we suppose1 as before1 new circumstances to account for the reintroduction of a former characteristic4 ,these are1 as it seems to me1 the increased wealth of the heroine1 which might have led her to relax her watchfulness4 ,some slacking off might have been expected and excused2 but at the end1 as at the beginning1 she looks after her household and is herself diligent4 ,the picture refers only to outward things4 ,but we may remember that the same law applies to all1 and that any good1 either of worldly wealth or of intellectual1 moral1 or religious kind1 is only preserved by the continuous exercise of the same energies which won it at first4 ,verses #bh and #bi give the eulogium pronounced by children and husband4 ,the former 'rise up' as in reverence2 the latter declares her superiority to all women1 with the hyperbolical language natural to love4 ,happy the man who1 after long years of wedded life1 can repeat the estimate of his early love with the calm certitude born of experience6 ,the epilogue in verses #cj and #ca is not the continuation of the husband's speech4 ,it at once points the lesson from the whole picture for ,king ,lemuel1 and unveils the root of the excellences described4 ,beauty is skin deep4 ,let young men look deeper than a fair face4 ,let young women seek for that beauty which does not fade4 ,the fear of the ,lord lies at the bottom of all goodness that will last through the tear and wear of wedded life1 and of all domestic diligence which is not mere sordid selfishness or slavish toil4 ,the narrow arena of domestic life affords a fit theatre for the exercise of the highest gifts and graces2 and the woman who has made a home bright1 and has won and kept a husband's love and children's reverence1 may let who will grasp at the more conspicuous prizes which women are so eager after nowadays4 ,she has chosen the better part1 which shall not be taken from her4 ,she shall receive 'of the fruit of her hands' both now and hereafter1 if the fear of the ,lord has been the root from which that fruit has grown2 and 'her works shall praise her in the gate1' though she sits quietly in her home4 ,it is well when our deeds are the trumpeters of our fame1 and when to tell them is to praise us4 ,the whole passage is the hallowing of domestic life1 a directory for wives and mothers1 a beautiful ideal of how noble a thing a busy mother's life may be1 an exhibition to young men of what they should seek1 and of young women of what they should aim at4 ,it were well for the next generation if the young women of this one were as solicitous to make cages as nets1 to cultivate qualities which would keep love in the home as to cultivate attractions which lure him to their feet4 ,,ecclesiastes2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,preacher ,,what ,,passes ,,and ,,what ,,abides ',one generation passeth away1 and another generation cometh3 but the earth abideth for ever4'--,,eccles4 i4 #d4 ',and the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof2 but he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4'--#a ,,john ii4 #ag4 ,a great river may run through more than one kingdom1 and bear more than one name1 but its flow is unbroken4 ,the river of time runs continuously1 taking no heed of dates and calendars4 ,the importance that we attach to the beginnings or endings of years and centuries is a sentimental illusion1 but even an illusion that rouses us to a consciousness of the stealthy gliding of the river may do us good1 and we need all the helps we can find to wise retrospect and sober anticipation4 ,so we must let the season colour our thoughts1 even whilst we feel that in yielding to that impulse we are imagining what has no reality in the passing from the last day of one century to the first day of another4 ,i do not mean to discuss in this sermon either the old century or the new in their wider social and other aspects4 ,that has been done abundantly4 ,we shall best do our parts in making the days1 and the years1 and the century what they should be1 if we let the truths that come from these combined texts sink into and influence our individual lives4 ,i have put them together1 because they are so strikingly antithetical1 both true1 and yet looking at the same facts from opposite points of view1 ,but the antithesis is not really so complete as it sounds at first hearing1 because what the ,preacher means by 'the earth' that 'abideth for ever' is not quite the same as what the ,apostle means by the 'world' that 'passes' and the 'generations' that come and go are not exactly the same as the men that 'abide for ever4' ,but still the antithesis is real and impressive4 ,the bitter melancholy of the ,preacher saw but the surface2 the joyous faith of the ,apostle went a great deal deeper1 and putting the two sets of thoughts and ways of looking at man and his dwelling-place together1 we get lessons that may well shape our individual lives4 ,so let me ask you to look1 in the first place1 at-- ,i4 ,the sad and superficial teaching of the ,preacher4 ,now in reading this ,book of ,ecclesiastes--which ,i am afraid a great many people do not read at all--we have always to remember that the wild things and the bitter things which the ,preacher is saying so abundantly through its course do not represent his ultimate convictions1 but thoughts that he took up in his progress from error to truth4 ,his first word is3 ',all is vanity6' ,that conviction had been set vibrating in his heart1 as it is set vibrating in the heart of every man who does as he did1 viz41 seeks for solid good away from ,god4 ,that is his starting-point4 ,it is not true4 ,all is not vanity1 except to some blase cynic1 made cynical by the failure of his voluptuousness1 and to whom 'all things here are out of joint1' and everything looks yellow because his own biliary system is out of order4 ,that is the beginning of the book1 and there are hosts of other things in the course of it as one-sided1 as cynically bitter1 and therefore superficial4 ,but the end of it is3 ',let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter2 fear ,god1 and keep ,his commandments3 for this is the whole duty of man4' ,in his journey from the one point to the other my text is the first step1 ',one generation goeth1 and another cometh3 the earth abideth for ever4' ,he looks out upon humanity1 and sees that in one aspect the world is full of births1 and in another full of deaths4 ,coffins and cradles seem the main furniture1 and he hears the tramp1 tramp1 tramp of the generations passing over a soil honeycombed with tombs1 and therefore ringing hollow to their tread4 ,all depends on the point of view4 ,the strange history of humanity is like a piece of shot silk2 hold it at one angle1 and you see dark purple1 hold at another1 and you see bright golden tints4 ,look from one point of view1 and it seems a long history of vanishing generations4 ,look to the rear of the procession1 and it seems a buoyant spectacle of eager1 young faces pressing forwards on the march1 and of strong feet treading the new road4 ,but yet the total effect of that endless procession is to impress on the observer the transiency of humanity4 ,and that wholesome thought is made more poignant still by the comparison which the writer here draws between the fleeting generations and the abiding earth4 ,man is the lord of earth1 and can mould it to his purpose1 but it remains and he passes4 ,he is but a lodger in an old house that has had generations of tenants1 each of whom has said for a while1 ',it is mine'2 and they all have drifted away1 and the house stands4 ,the ,alps1 over which ,hannibal stormed1 over which the ,goths poured down on the fertile plains of ,lombardy1 through whose passes mediaeval emperors led their forces1 over whose summits ,napoleon brought his men1 through whose bowels this generation has burrowed its tunnels1 stand the same1 and smile the same amid their snows1 at the transient creatures that have crawled across them4 ,the primrose on the rock blooms in the same place year after year1 and nature and it are faithful to their covenant1 but the poet's eyes that fell upon them are sealed with dust4 ,generations have gone1 the transient flower remains4 ',one generation cometh and another goeth1' and the tragedy is made more tragical because the stage stands unaltered1 and 'the earth abides for ever4' ,that is what sense has to say--'the foolish senses'--and that is all that sense has to say4 ,is it all that can be said8 ,if it is1 then the ,preacher's bitter conclusion is true1 and 'all is vanity and chasing after wind4' ,he immediately proceeds to draw from this undeniable1 but1 as ,i maintain1 partial fact1 the broad conclusion which cannot be rebutted1 if you accept what he has said in my text as being the sufficient and complete account of man and his dwelling-place4 ,if1 says he1 it is true that one generation comes and another goes1 and the earth abides for ever1 and if that is all that has to be said1 then all things are full of labour4 ,there is immense activity1 and there is no progress2 it is all rotary motion round and round and round1 and the same objects reappear duly and punctually as the wheel revolves1 and life is futile4 ,yes2 so it is unless there is something more to be said1 and the life that is thus futile is also1 as it seems to me1 inexplicable if you believe in ,god at all4 ,if man1 being what he is1 is wholly subject to that law of mutation and decay1 then not only is he made 'a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death1' but he is also inferior to that persistent1 old mother-earth from whose bosom he has come4 ,if all that you have to say of him is1 ',dust thou art1 and unto dust shalt thou return1' then life is futile1 and ,god is not vindicated for having produced it4 ,and there is another consequence that follows1 if this is all that we have got to say4 ,if the cynical wisdom of ,ecclesiastes is the ultimate word1 then ,i do not assert that morality is destroyed1 because right and wrong are not dependent either upon the belief in a ,god1 or on the belief in immortality4 ,but ,i do say that to declare that the fleeting1 transient life of earth is all does strike a staggering blow at all noble ethics and paralyses a great deal of the highest forms of human activity1 and that1 as has historically been the case1 so on the large scale1 and1 speaking generally1 it will be the case1 that the man whose creed is only ',to-morrow we die' will very speedily draw the conclusion1 ',let us eat and drink1' and sensuous delights and the lower side of his nature will become dominant4 ,so1 then1 the ,preacher had not got at the bottom of all things1 either in his initial conviction that all was vanity1 or in that which he laid down as the first step towards establishing that1 that man passes and the earth abides4 ,there is more to be said2 the sad1 superficial teaching of the ,preacher needs to be supplemented4 ,now turn for a moment to what does supplement it4 ,,ii4 ,the joyous and profounder teaching of the ,apostle4 ,the cynic never sees the depths2 that is reserved for the mystical eye of the lover4 ,so ,john says3 ',no1 no2 that is not all4 ,here is the true state of affairs3 ,the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof3 but he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4' ,the doctrine of the passing generations and the abiding earth is fronted squarely in my second text by the not contradictory1 but complementary doctrine of the passing world and the abiding men4 ,i do not suppose that ,john had this verse of ,ecclesiastes in his mind1 for the word 'abide' is one of his favourite expressions1 and is always cropping up4 ,but even though he had not1 we find in his utterance the necessary correction to the first text4 ,as ,i have said1 and now need not do more than repeat in a sentence1 the antithesis is not so complete as it seems4 ,john's 'world' is not the ,preacher's 'earth1' but he means thereby1 as we all know1 the aggregate of created things1 including men1 considered apart from ,god1 and in so far as it includes voluntary agents set in opposition to ,god and the will of ,god4 ,he means the earth rent away from ,god1 and turned to be what it was not meant to be1 a minister of evil1 and he means men1 in so far as they have parted themselves from ,god and make up an alien1 if not a positively antagonistic company4 ,perhaps he was referring1 in the words of our text1 to the break-up of the existing order of things which he discerned as impending and already begun to take effect in consequence of the coming of ,jesus ,christ1 the shining of the true ,light4 ,for you may remember that in a previous part of the epistle he uses precisely the same expression1 with a significant variation4 ,here1 in our text1 he says1 ',the world passeth away'2 there he says1 ',the darkness has passed and the true light now shineth4' ,he sees a process installed and going on1 in which the whole solid-seeming fabric of a godless society is being dissolved and melted away4 ,and says he1 in the midst of all this change there is one who stands unchanged1 the man that does ,god's will4 ,but just for a moment we may take the lower point of view1 and see here a flat contradiction of the ,preacher4 ,he said1 ',men go1 and the world abides4' ',no1' says ,john2 'your own psalmists might have taught you better3 ,as a vesture shalt ,thou change them1 and they shall be changed4' ,the world1 the earth1 which seems so solid and permanent1 is all the while in perpetual flux1 as our later science has taught us1 in a sense of which neither ,preacher nor ,apostle could dream4 ,for just as from the beginning forces were at work which out of the fire-mist shaped sun and planets1 so the same forces1 continuing in operation1 are tending towards the end of the system which they began2 and a contracting sun and a diminished light and a lowered temperature and the narrower orbits in which the planets shall revolve1 prophesy that 'the elements shall melt with fervent heat1' and that all things which have been made must one day cease to be4 ,nature is the true ,penelope's web1 ever being woven and ever being unravelled1 and in the most purely physical and scientific sense the world is passing away4 ,but then1 because you and ,i belong1 in a segment of our being1 to that which thus is passing away1 we come under the same laws1 and all that has been born must die4 ,so the generations come1 and in their very coming bear the prophecy of their going4 ,but1 on the other hand1 there is an inner nucleus of our being1 of which the material is but the transient envelope and periphery1 which holds nought of the material1 but of the spiritual1 and that 'abides for ever4' ,but let us lift the thought rather into the region of the true antithesis which ,john was contemplating1 which is not so much the crumbling away of the material1 and the endurance of the spiritual1 as the essential transiency of everything that is antagonism to the will of ,god1 and the essential eternity of everything which is in conformity with that will4 ,and so1 says he1 ',the world is passing1 and the lust thereof4' ,the desires that grasp it perish with it1 or perhaps1 more truly still1 the object of the desire perishes1 and with it the possibility of their gratification ceases1 but the desire itself remains4 ,but what of the man whose life has been devoted to the things seen and temporal1 when he finds himself in a condition of being where none of these have accompanied him8 ,nothing to slake his lusts1 if he be a sensualist4 ,no money-bags1 ledgers1 or cheque-books if he be a plutocrat or a capitalist or a miser4 ,no books or dictionaries if he be a mere student4 ,nothing of his vocations if he lived for 'the world4' ,but yet the appetite is abiding4 ,will that not be a thirst that cannot be slaked8 ',the world is passing and the lust thereof1' and all that is antagonistic to ,god1 or separated from ,him1 is essentially as 'a vapour that appeareth for a little time1 and then vanishes away1' whereas the man who does the will of ,god abideth for ever1 in that he is steadfast in the midst of change4 ',his hand the good man fastens on the skies1 ,and lets earth roll1 nor heeds its idle whirl4' ,he shall 'abide for ever1' in the sense that his work is perpetual4 ,in one very deep and solemn sense1 nothing human ever dies1 but in another all that is not running in the same direction as1 and borne along by the impulse of1 the will of ,god1 is destined to be neutralised and brought to nothing at last4 ,there may be a row of figures as long as to reach from here to the fixed stars1 but if there is not in front of them the significant digit1 which comes from obedience to the will of ,god1 all is but a string of ciphers1 and their net result is nothing4 ,and he 'abideth for ever1' in the most blessed and profound sense1 in that through his faith1 which has kindled his love1 and his love which has set in motion his practical obedience1 he becomes participant of the very eternity of the living ,god4 ',this is eternal life1' not merely to know1 but 'to do the will' of our ,father4 ,nothing else will last1 and nothing else will prosper1 any more than a bit of driftwood can stem ,niagara4 ,unite yourself with the will of ,god1 and you abide4 ,and now let me1 as briefly as ,i can1 throw together-- ,,iii4 ,the plain1 practical lessons that come from both these texts4 ,may ,i say1 without seeming to be morbid or unpractical1 one lesson is that we should cultivate a sense of the transiency of this outward life8 ,one of our old authors says somewhere1 that it is wholesome to smell at a piece of turf from a churchyard4 ,i know that much harm has been done by representing ,christianity as mainly a scheme which is to secure man a peaceful death1 and that many morbid forms of piety have given far too large a place to the contemplation of skulls and cross-bones4 ,but for all that1 the remembrance of death present in our lives will often lay a cool hand upon a throbbing brow2 and1 like a bit of ice used by a skilful physician1 will bring down the temperature1 and stay the too tumultuous beating of the heart4 ',so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom4' ,it will minister energy1 and lead us to say1 like our ,lord1 ',we must work the works of ,him that sent ,me while it is day2 the night cometh4' ,let me say again--a very plain1 practical lesson is to dig deep down for our foundations below the rubbish that has accumulated4 ,if a man wishes to build a house in ,rome or in ,jerusalem he has to go fifty or sixty feet down1 through potsherds and broken tiles and triturated marbles1 and the dust of ancient palaces and temples4 ,we have to drive a shaft clear down through all the superficial strata1 and to lay the first stones on the ,rock of ,ages4 ,do not build on that which quivers and shakes beneath you4 ,do not try to make your life's path across the weeds1 or as they call it in ,egypt1 the 'sudd1' that floats on the surface of the ,nile1 compacted for many a mile1 and yet only a film on the surface of the river1 to be swept away some day4 ,build on ,god4 ,and the last lesson is1 let us see to it that our wills are in harmony with ,his1 and the work of our hands ,his work4 ,we can do that will in all the secularities of our daily life4 ,the difference between the work that shrivels up and disappears and the work that abides is not so much in its external character1 or in the materials on which it is expended1 as in the motive from which it comes4 ,so that1 if ,i might so say1 if two women are sitting at the same millstone face to face1 and turning round the same handle1 one of them for one half the circumference1 and the other for the other1 and grinding out the same corn1 the one's work may be 'gold1 silver1 precious stones1' which shall abide the trying fire2 and the other's may be 'wood1 hay1 stubble1' which shall be burnt up4 ',he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4' ,so let us set ourselves1 dear friends6 to our several tasks for this coming year4 ,never mind about the century1 it will take care of itself4 ,do your little work in your little corner1 and be sure of this1 that amidst changes you will stand unchanged1 amidst tumults you may stand calm1 in death you will be entering on a fuller life1 and that what to others is the end will be to you the beginning4 ',if any man's work abide1 he shall receive a reward1' and he himself shall abide with the abiding ,god4 ,the bitter cynic said half the truth when he said1 ',one generation goeth1 and another cometh2 but the earth abides4' ,the mystic ,apostle saw the truth steadily1 and saw it whole when he said1 ',lo6 the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof2 but he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4' ,,the ,,past ,,and ,,the ,,future ',the thing that hath been1 it is that which shall he2 and that which is done is that which shall be done3 and there is no new thing under the sun4'--,,eccles4 i4 #i4 ',that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men1 but to the will of ,god4 #c4 ,for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the ,gentiles4'--l ,,peter iv4 #b1 #c4 ,if you will look at these two passages carefully you will1 ,i think1 see that they imply two different1 and in some respects contradictory1 thoughts about the future in its relation to the past4 ,the first of them is the somewhat exaggerated utterance of a dreary and depressing philosophy1 which tells us that1 as in the outer world1 so in regard to man's life1 there is an enormous activity and no advance1 that it is all moving round like the scenes in some circular panorama1 that after it has gone the round back it comes again1 that it is the same thing over and over again1 that life is a treadmill1 so to speak1 with an immense deal of working of muscles2 but it all comes to nothing over again4 ',the rivers run into the sea and the sea is not full1 and where the rivers come from they go back to2 and the wind goes to the south1 turns to the north1 and whirls about continually4 ,everything is full of labour1 and it has all been done before1 and there is nothing fresh2 everything is flat1 stale1 and unprofitable4' ,well that is not true altogether1 but though it be not true altogether--though it be an exaggeration1 and though the inference that is built upon it is not altogether satisfactory and profound--yet the thought itself is one that has a great deal in it that is true and important1 and may be very helpful and profitable to us now2 for there is a religious way1 as well as an irreligious way1 of saying there is nothing new under the sun4 ,it may be the utterance of a material1 blase1 unprofitable1 spurious philosophy1 or it may be the utterance of the profoundest1 and the happiest1 and the most peaceful religious trust and confidence4 ,the other passage implies the opposite notion of man's life1 that however much in my future may be just the same as what my past has been1 there is a region in which it is quite possible to make to-morrow unlike to-day1 and so to resolve and so to work as that 'the time past of our lives' may be different from 'the rest of our time in the flesh'2 that a great revolution may come upon a man1 and that whilst the outward life is continuous and the same1 and the tasks to be done are the same1 and the joys the same1 there may be such a profound and radical difference in the spirit and motive in which they are done as that the thing that has been is not that which shall be1 and for us there may be a new thing under the sun4 ,and so just now ,i think we may take these two passages in their connection--their opposition1 and in their parallelism--as suggesting to us two very helpful1 mutually completing thoughts about the unknown future that stretches before us--first1 the substantial identity of the future with the past2 second1 the possible total unlikeness of the future and the past4 ,first then1 let us try to get the impress from the first phrase of that conviction1 so far as it is true1 as to the sameness of the things that are going to be with the things that have been4 ,the immediate connection in which the words are spoken is in regard1 mainly1 to the outer world1 the physical universe1 and only secondarily and subordinately in regard to man's life4 ,and ,i need not remind you how that thought of the absolute sameness and continuous repetition of the past and the future has gained by the advance of physical science in modern times4 ,it seems to be contradicted no doubt by the continual emergence of new things here and there1 but they tell us that the novelty is only a matter of arrangement1 that the atoms have never had an addition to them since the beginning of things1 that all stand just as they were from the very commencement and foundation of all things1 and that all that seems new is only a new arrangement1 so that the thing which has been is that which shall be4 ,and then there comes up the other thought1 upon which ,i need not dwell for a moment1 that the present condition of things round about us is the result of the uniform forces that have been working straight on from the very beginning4 ,and yet1 whilst all that is quite true1 we come to our own human lives1 and we find there the true application of such words as these3 to-morrow is to be like yesterday4 ,there is one very important sense in which the opposite of that is true1 and no to-morrow can ever be like any yesterday for however much the events may be the same1 we are so different that1 in regard even to the most well trodden and beaten of our paths of daily life1 we may all say1 ',we have not passed this way before6' ,we cannot bring back that which is gone--that which is gone is gone for good or evil1 irrevocable as the snow or the perfume of last year's flowers4 ,i dare say there are many here before me who are saying to themselves1 ',no6 life can never again be what life has been for me1 and the only thing that ,i am quite sure about in regard to to-morrow is that it is utterly impossible that it should ever be as yesterday was6' ,notwithstanding1 the word of my text is a true word1 the thing that hath been is that which shall be4 ,i need not dwell on the grounds upon which the certainty rests1 such1 for instance1 as that the powers which shape to-morrow are the same as the powers which shaped yesterday2 that you and ,i1 in our nature1 are the same1 and that the mighty ,hand up there that is moulding it is the same2 that every to-morrow is the child of all the yesterdays2 that the same general impression will pervade the future as has pervaded the past4 ,though events may be different the general stamp and characteristics of them will be the same1 and when we pass into a new region of human life we shall find that we are not walking in a place where no footprints have been before us1 but that all about us the ground is trodden down smooth4 ',that which hath been is that which shall be4' ,thus1 while this is proximately true in regard to the future1 let me just for a moment or two give you one or two of the plain1 simple pieces of well-worn wisdom which are built upon such a thought4 ,and first of all let me give you this1 ',well1 then1 let us learn to tone down our expectations of what may be coming to us4' ,especially ,i speak now to the younger portion of my congregation1 to whom life is beginning1 and to whom it is naturally tinted with roseate hue1 and who have a great deal stretching before them which is new to them1 new duties1 new relationships1 new joys4 ,but whilst that is especially true for them it is true for all4 ,it is a strange illusion under which we all live to the very end of our lives1 unless by reflection and effort we become masters of it and see things in the plain daylight of common sense1 that the future is going somehow or other to be brighter1 better1 fuller of resources1 fuller of blessings1 freer from sorrow than the past has been4 ,we turn over each new leaf that marks a new year1 and we cannot help thinking3 ',well6 perhaps hidden away in its storehouses there may be something brighter and better in store for me4' ,it is well1 perhaps1 that we should have that thought1 for if we were not so drawn on1 even though it be by an illusion1 ,i do not know that we should be able to live on as we do4 ,but don't let us forget in the hours of quiet that there is no reason at all to expect that any of these arbitrary1 and conventional1 and unreal distinctions of calendars and dates make any difference in that uniform strand of our life which just runs the same1 which is reeled off the great drum of the future and on to the great drum of the past1 and that is all spun out of one fibre and is one gauge1 and one sort of stuff from the beginning to the end4 ,and so let us be contented where we are1 and not fancy that when ,i get that thing that ,i am looking forward to1 when ,i get into that position ,i am waiting for1 things will be much different from what they are to-day4 ,life is all one piece1 the future and the past1 the pattern runs right through from the beginning to the end1 and the stuff is the same stuff4 ,so don't you be too enthusiastic1 you people who have an eager ambition for social and political advancement4 ,things will be very much as they are used to be1 with perhaps some slow1 gradual1 infinitesimal approximation to a higher ideal and a nobler standard2 but there will be no jump1 no breaks1 no spasmodic advance4 ,we must be contented to accept the law1 that there is no new thing under the sun4 ,as you would lay a piece of healing ice upon the heated forehead1 lay that law upon the feverish anticipations some of you have in regard to the future1 and let the heart beat more quietly1 and with the more contentment for the recognition of that law4 ,and then ,i may say1 at the same time1 though ,i won't dwell upon it for more than a moment1 let us take the same thought to teach us to moderate our fears4 ,don't be afraid that anything whatever may come that will destroy the substantial likeness between the past and the future2 and so leave all those jarring and terrifying thoughts that mingle with all our anticipations of the time to come1 leave them very quietly on one side and say1 ',thou hast been my ,help leave me not1 neither forsake me1 ,o ,god of my salvation4' ,and then there are one or two other points ,i mean to touch upon1 and let me just name them4 ,do not let us so exaggerate that thought of the substantial sameness of the future and the past as to flatten life and make it dreary and profitless and insignificant4 ,let us rather feel1 as ,i shall have to say presently1 that whilst the framework remains the same1 whilst the general characteristics will not be much different1 there is room within that uniformity for all possible play of variety and interest1 and earnestness and enthusiasm1 and hope4 ,they make the worst possible use of this fixity and steadfastness of things who say1 as the dreary man at the beginning of the ,book of ,ecclesiastes is represented as saying1 that because things are the same as they will and have been1 all is vanity4 ,it is not true4 ,don't let the uniformity of life flatten your interest in the great miracle of every fresh day1 with its fresh continuation of ancient blessings and the steadfast mercies of our ,lord4 ,and let us hold firmly to the far deeper truth that the future will be the same as the past1 because ,god is the same4 ,god's yesterday is ,god's to-morrow--the same love1 the same resources1 the same wisdom1 the same power1 the same sustaining ,hand1 the same encompassing ,presence4 ',a thousand years are as one day1 and one day as a thousand years'2 and when we say there is no new thing under the sun let us feel that the deepest way of expressing that thought is1 ',thou art the same1 and ,thy steadfast purposes know no alteration4' ,turn to the other side of the thought suggested by the second passage of the text4 ,it speaks to us1 as ,i have said1 of the possible entire unlikeness between the future and the past4 ,to-morrow is the child of yesterday--granted2 'whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he reap'--certainly2 there is a persistent uniformity of nature1 and the same causes working make the future much of the same general structure as all the past has been--be it so2 and yet within the limits of that identity there may be breathed into the self-sameness of to-morrow such an entire difference of disposition1 temper1 motive1 direction of life1 that my whole life may be revolutionised1 my whole being1 ,i was going to say1 cleft in twain1 my old life buried and forgotten1 and a new life may emerge from chaos and from the dead4 ,of course1 the question1 ,is such an alteration possible8 rises up very solemnly to men1 to most of them1 for ,i suppose we all of us know what it is to have been beaten time after time in the attempt to shake off the dominion of some habit or evil1 and to alter the bearing and the direction of the whole life1 and we have to say1 ',it is no good trying any longer my life must run on in the channel which ,i have carved for it2 ,i have made my bed and ,i must lie on it2 ,i cannot get rid of these things4' ,and1 no doubt1 in certain aspects1 change is impossible4 ,there are certain limitations of natural disposition which ,i never can overcome4 ,for instance1 if ,i have no musical ear ,i cannot turn myself into a musician4 ,if ,i have no mathematical faculty it is no good poring over ,euclid1 for1 with the best intentions in the world1 ,i shall make nothing of it4 ,we must work within the limits of our natural disposition1 and cut our coat according to our cloth4 ,in that respect to-morrow will be as yesterday1 and there cannot be any change4 ,and it is quite true that character1 which is the great precipitate from the waters of conduct1 gets rocky1 that habits become persistent1 and man's will gets feeble by long indulgence in any course of life4 ,but for all that1 admitting to the full all that1 ,i am here now to say to every man and woman in this place1 ',friend1 you may make your life from this moment so unlike the blotted1 stained1 faultful1 imperfect1 sinful past that no words other than the words of the ,new ,testament will be large enough to express the fact4 ,if any man be in ,christ he is a new creature1 old things are passed away4' ,for we all know how into any life the coming of some large conviction not believed in or perceived before1 may alter the whole bias1 current1 and direction of it2 how into any life the coming of a new love not cherished and entertained before1 may ennoble and transfigure the whole of its nature2 how into any life the coming of new motives1 not yielded to and recognised before1 may make all things new and different4 ,these three plain principles1 the power of conviction1 the power of affection1 the power of motive1 are broad enough to admit of building upon them this great and helpful and hopeful promise to us all--',the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the ,gentiles1' that 'henceforth we may live the rest of our time in the flesh according to the will of ,god4' ,to you who have been living in the past with little regard to the supreme powers and principles of ,christ's love and ,god's ,gospel in ,him1 ,i bring the offer of a radical revolution2 and ,i tell you that if you like you may this day begin a life which1 though it shall be like yesterday in outward things1 in the continuity of some habits1 in the continuance of character1 shall be all under the influence of an entirely new1 and innovating1 and renovating power4 ,i ask you whether you don't think that you have had enough1 to use the language of my text1 in the part of obeying the will of the flesh2 and ,i beseech you that you will let these great principles1 these grand convictions which cluster round and explain the cross of ,jesus ,christ1 influence your mind1 character1 habits1 desires1 thoughts1 actions2 that you will yield yourself to the new power of the ,spirit of life in ,christ1 which is granted to us if only we submit ourselves to it and humbly desire it4 ,and to you who have in some measure lived by this mighty influence ,i come with the message for you and for myself that the time to come may1 if we will1 be filled very much fuller than it is2 ',to-morrow may be as this day1 and much more abundant4' ,i believe in a patient1 reflecting1 abundant examination of the past4 ,the old proverb says that ',every man by the time he is forty is either a fool or a physician'2 and any man or woman by the time they get ten years short of that age1 ought to know where they are weakest1 and ought to be able to guard against the weak places in their character4 ,i do not believe in self-examination for the purpose of finding in a man's own character reasons for answering the question1 ',am ,i a ,christian8' ,but ,i do believe that no people will avail themselves fully of the power ,god has given them for making the future brighter and better than the past who have not a very clear1 accurate1 comprehensive1 and penetrating knowledge of their faults and their failures in the past4 ,i suppose if the ,tay ,bridge is to be built again1 it won't be built of the same pattern as that which was blown into the water last week2 and you and ,i ought to learn by experience the places in our souls that give in the tempests1 where there is most need for strengthening the bulwarks and defending our natures4 ,and so ,i say1 begin with the abundant recognition of the past1 and then a brave confidence in the possibilities of the future4 ,let us put ourselves under that great renovating ,power which is conviction and affection and motive all in one4 ',he loved me and gave ,himself for me4' ,and so while we front the future we can feel that1 ,god being in us1 and ,christ being in us1 we shall make it a far brighter and fairer thing than the blurred and blotted past which to-day is buried1 and life may go on with grand blessedness and power until we shall hear the great voice from the ,throne say1 ',there shall be no more death1 no more sorrow1 no more crying1 no more pain1 for the former things are passed away1 ',behold6 ,i make all things new4' ,,two ,,views ,,of ,,life ',this sore travail hath ,god given to the sons of man1 to be exercised therewith4--,,eccles4 i4 #ac4 ',he for our profit1 that we might be partakers of ,his holiness4'--,,hebrews xii4 #aj4 ,these two texts set before us human life as it looks to two observers4 ,the former admits that ,god shapes it2 but to him it seems sore travail1 the expenditure of much trouble and efforts2 the results of which seem to be nothing beyond profitless exercise4 ,there is an immense activity and nothing to show for it at the end but wearied limbs4 ,the other observer sees1 at least1 as much of sorrow and trouble as the former1 but he believes in the ',father of spirits1' and in a hereafter2 and these1 of course1 bring a meaning and a wider purpose into the 'sore travail1' and make it1 not futile but1 profitable to our highest good4 ,i4 ,note first the ,preacher's gloomy half-truth4 ,the word rendered in our text 'travail' is a favourite one with the writer4 ,it means occupation which costs effort and causes trouble4 ,the phrase 'to be exercised therewith1' rather means to fatigue themselves1 so that life as looked upon by the ,preacher consists of effort without result but weariness4 ,if he knew it at all1 it was very imperfectly and dimly2 and whatever may be thought of teaching on that subject which appears in the formal conclusion of the book1 the belief in a future state certainly exercises no influence on its earlier portions4 ,these represent phases through which the writer passes on his way to his conclusion4 ,he does believe in ',god1' but1 very significantly1 he never uses the sacred name ',lord4' ,he has shaken himself free1 or he wishes to represent a character who has shaken himself free from ,revelation1 and is fighting the problem of life1 its meaning and worth1 without any help from ,law1 or ,prophet1 or ,psalm4 ,he does retain belief in what he calls ',god1' but his pure ,theism1 with little1 if any1 faith in a future life1 is a creed which has no power of unravelling the perplexed mysteries of life1 and of answering the question1 ',what does it all mean8' ,with keen and cynical vision he looks out not only over men1 as in this first chapter1 but over nature2 and what mainly strikes him is the enormous amount of work that is being done1 and the tragical poverty of its results4 ,the question with which he begins his book is1 ',what profit hath a man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun8' ,and for answer he looks at the sun rising and going down1 and being in the same place after its journey through the heavens2 and he hears the wind continually howling and yet returning again to its circuits2 and the waters now running as rivers into the sea and again drawn up in vapours1 and once more falling in rain and running as waters4 ,this wearisome monotony of intense activity in nature is paralleled by all that is done by man under heaven1 and the net result of all is ',vanity and a strife after wind4' ,the writer proceeds to confirm his dreary conclusion by a piece of autobiography put into the mouth of ,solomon4 ,he is represented as flinging himself into mirth and pleasure1 into luxury and debauchery1 and as satisfying every hunger for any joy1 and as being pulled up short in the midst of his rioting by the conviction1 like a funeral bell1 tolling in his mind that all was vanity4 ',he gave himself to wisdom1 and madness1 and folly'2 and in all he found but one result--enormous effort and no profit4 ,there seemed to be a time for everything1 and a kind of demonic power in men compelling them to toil as with equal energy1 now at building up1 and now at destroying4 ,but to every purpose he saw that there was 'time and judgment1' and therefore1 'the misery of man was great upon him4' ,to his jaundiced eye the effort of life appeared like the play of the wind in the desert1 always busy1 but sometime busy in heaping the sands in hillocks1 and sometimes as busy in levelling them to a plain4 ,we may regard such a view of humanity as grotesquely pessimistic2 but there is no doubt that many of us do make of life little more than what the ,preacher thought it4 ,it is not only the victims of civilisation who are forced to wearisome monotony of toil which barely yields daily bread2 but we see all around us men and women wearing out their lives in the race after a false happiness1 gaining nothing by the race but weariness4 ,what shall we say of the man who1 in the desire to win wealth1 or reputation1 lives laborious days of cramping effort in one direction1 and allows all the better part of his nature to be atrophied1 and die1 and passes1 untasted1 brooks by the way1 the modest joys and delights that run through the dustiest lives4 ,what is the difference between a squirrel in the cage who only makes his prison go round the faster by his swift race1 and the man who lives toilsome days for transitory objects which he may never attain8 ,in the old days every prison was furnished with a tread-mill1 on which the prisoner being set was bound to step up on each tread of the revolving wheel1 not in order to rise1 but in order to prevent him from breaking his legs4 ,how many men around us are on such a mill1 and how many of them have fastened themselves on it1 and by their own misreading and misuse of life have turned it into a dreary monotony of resultless toil4 ,the ,preacher may be more ingenious than sound in his pessimism1 but let us not forget that every godless man does make of life ',vanity and strife after wind4' ,,ii4 ,the higher truth which completes the ,preacher's4 ,of course the fragmentary sentence in our second text needs to be completed from the context1 and so completed will stand1 ',god chastens us for our profit1 that we should be partakers of ,his holiness4' ,now let us consider for a moment the thought that the true meaning of life is discipline4 ,i say discipline rather than 'chastening1' for chastening simply implies the fact of pain1 whereas discipline includes the wholesome purpose of pain4 ,the true meaning of life is not to be found by estimating its sorrows or its joys1 but by trying to estimate the effects of either upon us4 ,the true value of life1 and the meaning of all its tears and of all its joys1 is what it makes us4 ,if the enormous effort which struck the ,preacher issues in strengthened muscles and braced limbs1 it is not 'vanity4' ,he who carries away with him out of life a character moulded as ,god would have it1 does not go in all points 'naked as he came4' ,he bears a developed self1 and that is the greatest treasure that a man can carry out of multitudinous toils of the busiest life4 ,if we would think less of our hard work and of our heavy sorrows1 and more of the loving purpose which appoints them all1 we should find life less difficult1 less toilsome1 less mysterious4 ,that one thought taken to our hearts1 and honestly applied to everything that befalls us1 would untie many a riddle1 would wipe away many a tear1 would bring peace and patience into many a heart1 and would make still brighter many a gladness4 ,without it our lives are a chaos2 with it they would become an ordered world4 ,but the recognition of the hand that ministers the discipline is needed to complete the peacefulness of faith4 ,it would be a dreary world if we could only think of some inscrutable or impersonal power that inflicted the discipline2 but if in its sharpest pangs we give 'reverence to the ,father of spirits1' we shall 'live4' ,of course1 a loving father sees to his children's education1 and a loving child cannot but believe that the father's single purpose in all his discipline is his good4 ,the good that is sought to be attained by the sharpest chastisement is better than the good that is given by weak indulgence4 ,when the father's hand wields the rod1 and a loving child receives the strokes1 they may sting1 but they do not wound4 ,the 'fathers of our flesh chasten us after their own pleasure1' and there may be error and arbitrariness in their action2 and the child may sometimes nourish a right sense of injustice1 but 'the ,father of spirits' makes no mistakes1 and never strikes too hard4 ',he for our profit' carries with it the declaration that the deep heart of ,god doth not willingly afflict1 and seeks in afflicting for nothing but ,his children's good4 ,nor are these all the truths by which the ,new ,testament completes and supersedes the ,preacher's pessimism1 for our text closes by unveiling the highest profit which discipline is meant to secure to us as being that we should be 'partakers of ,his holiness4' ,the ,biblical conception of holiness in ,god is that of separation from and elevation above the creature4 ,man's holiness is separation from the world and dedication to ,god4 ,he is separated from the world by moral perfection yet more than by ,his other attributes1 and men who have yielded themselves to ,him will share in that characteristic4 ,this assimilation to ,his nature is the highest 'profit' to which we can attain1 and all the purpose of ,his chastening is to make us more completely like ,himself4 ',the fathers of our flesh' chasten with a view to the brief earthly life1 but ,his chastening looks onwards beyond the days of 'strife and vanity' to a calm eternity4 ,thus1 then1 the immortality which glimmered doubtfully in the end of his book before the eyes of the ,preacher is the natural inference for the ,christian thought of moral discipline as the great purpose of life4 ,no doubt it might be possible for a man to believe in the supreme importance of character1 and in all the discipline of life as subsidiary to its development1 and yet not believe in another world1 where all that was tendency1 often thwarted1 should be accomplished result1 and the schooling ended the rod should be broken4 ,but such a position will be very rare and very absurd4 ,to recognise moral discipline as the greatest purpose of life1 gives quite overwhelming probability to a future4 ,surely ,god does not take such pains with us in order to make no more of us than ,he makes of us in this world4 ,surely human life becomes 'confusion worse confounded' if it is carefully1 sedulously1 continuously tended1 checked1 inspired1 developed by all the various experiences of sorrow and joy1 and then1 at death1 broken short off1 as a man might break a stick across his knee1 and the fragments tossed aside and forgotten4 ,if we can say1 ',he for our profit that we might be partakers of ,his holiness1' we have the right to say ',we shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ',a ,,time ,,to ,,plant' ',a time to plant4'--,eccles4 iii4 #b4 ,the writer enumerates in this context a number of opposite courses of conduct arranged in pairs1 each of which is right at the right time4 ,the view thus presented seems to him to be depressing1 and to make life difficult to understand1 and aimless4 ,we always appear to be building up with one hand and pulling down with the other4 ,the ship never heads for two miles together in the same direction4 ,the history of human affairs appears to be as purposeless as the play of the wind on the desert sands1 which it sometimes piles into huge mounds and then scatters4 ,so he concludes that only ,god1 who appoints the seasons that demand opposite courses of conduct1 can understand what it all means4 ,the engine-driver knows why he reverses his engine1 and not the wheels that are running in opposite directions in consecutive moments according to his will4 ,now that is a one-sided view1 of course1 for it is to be remembered that the ,book of ,ecclesiastes is the logbook of a voyager after truth1 and tells us all the wanderings and errors of his thinking until he has arrived at the haven of the conclusion that he announces in the final word3 ',hear the sum of the whole matter3 ,fear ,god1 and keep ,his commandments1 for this is the whole duty of man4' ,i have nothing to do just now with the conclusion which he arrives at1 but the facts from which he starts are significant and important4 ,there are things in life1 ,god has so arranged it1 which can only be done fittingly1 and for the most part of all1 at certain seasons2 and the secret of success is the discernment of present duty1 and the prompt performance of it4 ,and this is especially true about your time of life1 my young friends4 ,there are things1 very important things1 which1 unless you do them now1 the overwhelming probability is that you will never do at all2 and the certainty is that you will not do them half as well4 ,and so ,i want to ask you to look at these words1 which1 by a legitimate extension of the writer's meaning1 and taking them in a kind of parabolic way1 may sum up for us the whole of the special duties of youth4 ',a time to plant4' ,i4 ,now1 my first remark is this3 that you are now in the planting time of your lives4 ,no wise forester will try to shift shrubs or to put them into his gardens or woods1 except in late autumn or early spring4 ,and our lives are as really under the dominion of the law of seasons as the green world of the forest and the fields4 ,speaking generally1 and admitting the existence of many exceptions1 the years between childhood and1 say1 two or three-and-twenty1 for a young man or woman1 for the most part settle the main outline of their character1 and thereby determine their history1 which1 after all1 is mainly the outcome of their character4 ,you have wide possibilities before you1 of moulding your characters into beauty1 and purity1 holiness1 and strength4 ,for one thing1 you have got no past1 or next to none written all over1 which it is hard to erase4 ,you have substantially a clean sheet on which to write what you like4 ,your stage of life predisposes you in favour of novelty4 ,new things are glad things to you1 whereas to us older people a new thought coming into some of our brains is like a new bit of furniture coming into a crowded room4 ,all the other pieces need to be arranged1 and it is more of a trouble than anything else4 ,you are flexible and plastic as yet1 like the iron running out of the blast furnace in a molten stream1 which in half an hour's time will be a rigid bar that no man can bend4 ,you have all these things in your favour1 and so1 dear young friends1 whether you think of it or not1 whether voluntarily or not1 ,i want you to remember that this awful process is going on inevitably and constantly in every one of you4 ,you are planting1 whether you recognise the fact or no4 ,what are you planting8 ,well1 for one thing1 you are making habits1 which are but actions hardened1 like the juice that exudes from the pine-tree1 liquid1 or all but liquid1 when it comes out1 and when exposed to the air1 is solidified and tenacious4 ,the old legend of the man in the tower who got a slim thread up to his window1 to which was attached one thicker and then thicker1 and so on ever increasing until he hauled in a cable1 is a true parable of what goes on in every human life4 ,some one deed1 a thin film like a spider's thread1 draws after it a thicker1 by that inevitable law that a thing done once tends to be done twice1 and that the second time it is easier than the first time4 ,a man makes a track with great difficulty across the snow in a morning1 but every time that he travels it1 it is a little harder1 and the track is a little broader1 and it is easier walking4 ,you play with the tiger's whelp of some pleasant1 questionable enjoyment1 and you think that it will always keep so innocent1 with its budding claws not able to draw blood1 but it grows--it grows4 ,and it grows according to its kind1 and what was a plaything one day is a full-grown and ravening wild beast in a while4 ,you are making habits1 whatever else you are making1 and you are planting in your hearts seeds that will spring and bear fruit according to their kind4 ,then remember1 you are planting belief4--,most of us1 ,i am afraid1 get our opinions by haphazard2 like the child in the well-known story1 whose only account of herself was that 'she expected she growed4' ,that is the way by which most of you come to what you dignify by the name of your opinions4 ,they come in upon you1 you do not know how4 ,youth is receptive of anything new4 ,you can learn a vast deal more easily than many of us older people can4 ,set down a man who has never learned the alphabet1 to learn his letters1 and see what a task it is for him4 ,or if he takes a pen in his hand for the first time1 look how difficult the stiff wrist and thick knuckles find it to bend4 ,yours is the time for forming your opinions1 for forming some rational and intelligent account of yourself and the world about you4 ,see to it1 that you plant truth in your hearts1 under which you may live sheltered for many days4 ,then again1 you are planting character1 which is not only habit1 but something more4 ,you are making yourselves1 whatever else you are making4 ,you begin with almost boundless possibilities1 and these narrow and narrow and narrow1 according to your actions1 until you have laid the rails on which you travel--one narrow line that you cannot get off4 ,a man's character is1 if ,i may use a chemical term1 a 'precipitate' from his actions4 ,why1 it takes acres of roses to make a flask of perfume2 and all the long life of a man is represented in his ultimate character4 ,character is formed like those chalk cliffs in the south1 built up eight hundred feet1 beetling above the stormy sea2 and all made up of the relics of microscopic animals4 ,so you build up a great solid structure--yourself--out of all your deeds4 ,you are making your character1 your habits1 your opinions4--,and you are making your reputation too4 ,and you will not be able to get rid of that4 ,this is the time for you to make a good record or a bad one1 in other people's opinions4 ,and so1 young men and women1 boys and girls1 ,i want you to remember the permanent effects of your most fleeting acts4 ,nothing ever dies that a man does4 ,nothing6 ,you go into a museum1 and you will see standing there a slab of red sandstone1 and little dints and dimples upon it4 ,what are they8 ,marks made by a flying shower that lasted for five minutes1 nobody knows how many millenniums ago4 ,and there they are1 and there they will be until the world is burned up4 ,so our fleeting deeds are all recorded here1 in our permanent character4 ,everything that we have done is laid up there in the testimony of the rocks3-- ',through our soul the echoes roll1 ,and grow for ever and for ever4' ,you are now living in 'a time to plant4' ,,ii4 ,notice1 in the next place1 that as surely as now is the time to plant1 then will be a time to reap4 ,i do not know whether the writer of my text meant the harvest1 when he put in antithesis to my text the other clause1 'and a time to pluck up that which is planted4' ,probably1 as most of the other pairs are opposites1 here1 too1 we are to see an opposite rather than a result2 the destructive action of plucking up1 and not the preservative action of gathering a harvest4 ,but1 however that may be1 let me remind you that there stands1 irrefragable1 for every human soul and every human deed1 this great solemn law of retribution4 ,now what lies in that law8 ,two things--that the results are similar in kind1 and more in number4 ,the law of likeness1 and the law of increase1 both of them belong to the working of the law of retribution4 ,and so1 be sure that you will find out that all your past lives on into your present2 and that the present1 in fact1 is very little more than the outcome of the past4 ,what you plant as a youth you will reap as a man4 ,this mysterious life of ours is all sowing and reaping intermingled1 right away on to the very end4 ,each action is in turn the child of all the preceding and the parent of all that follows4 ,but still1 though that be true1 your time of life is predominantly the time of sowing2 and my time of life1 for instance1 is predominantly the time of reaping4 ,there are a great many things that ,i could not do now if ,i wished4 ,there are a great many things in our past that ,i1 and men of my age1 would fain alter2 but there they stand1 and nothing can do away the marks of that which once has been4 ,we have to reap1 and so will you some day4 ,and ,i will tell you what you will have to reap1 as sure as you are sitting in those pews4 ,you will have the enlarged growth of your present characteristics4 ,a man takes a photograph upon a sensitive plate1 half the size of the palm of my hand2 and then he enlarges it to any size he pleases4 ,and that is what life does for all of us4 ,the pictures1 drawn small on the young man's imagination1 on the young woman's dreaming heart1 be they of angels or of beasts1 are permanent2 and they will get bigger and bigger and bigger1 as get older4 ,you do not reap only as much as you sowed1 but 'some sixty fold1 and some an hundred fold4' ,and you will reap the increased dominion of your early habits4 ,there is a grim verse in the ,book of ,proverbs that speaks about a man being tied and bound by the chains of his sins4 ,and that is just saying that the things which you chose to do when you were a boy1 many of them you will have to do when you are a man2 because you have lost the power1 though sometimes not the will1 of doing anything else4 ,there be men that sow the wind1 and they do not reap the wind1 but the law of increase comes in and they reap the whirlwind4 ,there be men who1 according to the old ,greek legend1 sow dragon's teeth and they reap armed soldiers4 ,there are some of you that are sowing to the flesh1 and as sure as ,god lives1 you will 'of the flesh reap corruption4' ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that1' even here1 'shall he also reap4' ,and let me remind you that that law of inheriting the fruit of our doings is by no means exhausted by the experience of life4 ,whenever conscience is awakened it at once testifies not only of a broken law1 but of a living ,law-giver2 and not only of retribution here1 but of retribution hereafter4 ,and ,i for my part believe that the modern form of ,christianity and the tendencies of the modern pulpit1 influenced by some theological discussions1 about details in the notion of retribution that have been going on of late years1 have operated to make ministers of the ,gospel too chary of preaching1 and hearers indisposed to accept1 the message of 'the terror of the ,lord4' ,my dear friends6 retribution cannot stop on this side of the grave1 and if you are going yonder you are carrying with you the necessity in yourself for inheriting the results of your life here4 ,i beseech you1 do not put away such thoughts as this1 with the notion that ,i am brandishing before you some antiquated doctrine1 fit only to frighten old women and children4 ,the writer of the ,book of ,ecclesiastes was no weak-minded1 superstitious fanatic4 ,he was far more disposed to scepticism than to fanaticism4 ,but for all that1 with all his sympathy for young men's breadth and liberality1 with his tolerance for all sorts and ways of living1 with all his doubts and questionings1 he came to this1 and this was his teaching to the young men whom in idea he had gathered round his chair1--',rejoice1 oh young man1 in thy youth4 ,and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth1 and walk in the ways of thine heart1 and in the sight of thine eyes4' ,by all means1 ,god has put you into a fair world1 and meant you to get all the good out of it4 ',but1' and that not as a kill-joy1 'know thou1 that for all these things ,god will bring thee into judgment1' and shape your characters accordingly4 ,,iii4 ,still further1 let me say1 these things being so1 you especially need to ponder them4 ,that is so1 because you especially are in danger of forgetting them4 ,it is meant that young people should live by impulse much more than by reflection4 ',if nature put not forth her power ,about the opening of the flower1 ,who is there that could live an hour8' ,the days of calculation will come soon enough2 and ,i do not want to hurry them4 ,i do not want to put old heads upon young shoulders4 ,i would rather see the young ones1 a great deal4 ,but ,i want you not to go down to the level of the beast1 living only by instinct and by impulse4 ,you have got brains1 you are meant to use them4 ,you have the great divine gift of reason1 that looks before and after1 and though you have not much experience yet1 you can1 if you will1 reflect upon such things as ,i have just been saying to you1 and take them into your hearts1 and live accordingly4 ,my dear young friend6 enjoy yourself1 live buoyantly1 yield to your impulses1 be glad for the beautiful life that is unfolding around you1 and the strong nature that is blossoming within you4 ,and then take this other lesson1 ',ponder the path of thy feet1' and remember that all the while you dance along the flowery path1 you are planting what you will have to reap4 ,then1 still further1 it is especially needful for you that you should ponder these things1 because unless you do you will certainly go wrong4 ,if you do not plant good1 somebody else will plant evil4 ,an untilled field is not a field that nothing grows in1 but it is a field full of weeds2 and the world and the flesh and the devil1 the temptations round about you and the evil tendencies in you1 unless they are well kept down and kept off1 are sure to fill your souls full of all manner of seeds that will spring up to bitterness1 and poison1 and death4 ,oh6 think1 think6 for it is the only chance of keeping your hearts from being full of wickedness--think what you are sowing1 and think what will the harvest be4 ,there are some of you1 as ,i said1 sowing to the flesh1 young men living impure and wicked lives1 and 'their bones are full of the sins of their youth4' ,there are some of you letting every wind bring the thistledown of vanities1 and scatter them all across your hearts1 that they may spring up prickly1 and gifted with a fatal power of self-multiplication4 ,there are some of you1 young men1 and young women too1 whose lives are divided between ,manchester business and that ignoble thirst for mere amusement which is eating all the dignity and the earnestness out of the young men of this city4 ,i beseech you1 do not slide into habits of frivolity1 licentiousness1 and sin1 for want of looking after yourselves4 ,remember1 if you do not ponder the path of your feet1 you are sure to take the turn to the left4 ,again1 it is needful for you to ponder these things1 for if you waste this time1 it will never come back to you any more4 ,it is useless to sow corn in ,august4 ,there are things in this world that a man can only get when he is young1 such as sound education1 for instance2 business habits1 habits of industry1 of application1 of concentration1 of self-control1 a reputation which may avail in the future4 ,if you do not begin to get these before you are five-and-twenty1 you will never get them4 ,and although the certainty is not so absolute in regard to spiritual and religious things1 the dice are frightfully weighted1 and the chances are terribly small that a young man who1 like some of you1 has passed his early years in church or chapel1 in weekly contact with earnest preaching1 and has not accepted the ,saviour1 will do it when he grows old4 ,he may2 he may4 ,but it is a great deal more likely that he will not4 ,,iv4 ,the conclusion of the whole matter is1 ,begin on the spot1 to trust and to serve ,jesus ,christ4 ,these are the best things to plant--simple reliance upon ,his death for your forgiveness1 upon ,his power to make you pure and clean2 simple submission to ,his commandment4 ,oh6 dear young friend2 if you have these in your hearts everything will come right4 ,you will get habit on your side1 and that is much2 and you will be saved from a great deal of misery which would be yours if you went wrong first1 and then came right4 ,if you will plant a cutting of the tree of life in your heart it will yield everything to you when it grows4 ,the people in the ,south ,seas1 if they have a palm-tree1 can get out of it bread and drink1 food1 clothing1 shelter1 light1 materials for books1 cordage for their boats1 needles to sew with1 and everything4 ,if you will take ,jesus ,christ1 and plant ,him in your hearts1 everything will come out of that4 ,that ,tree 'bears twelve manners of fruits1 and yields ,his fruit every month4' ,with ,christ in your heart all other fair things will be planted there2 and with ,him in your heart1 all evil things which you may already have planted there1 will be rooted out4 ,just as when some strong exotic is carried to some distant land and there takes root1 it exterminates the feebler vegetation of the place to which it comes2 so with ,christ in my heart the sins1 the evil habits1 the passions1 the lusts1 and all other foul spawn and offspring1 will die and disappear4 ,take ,him1 then1 dear friend6 by simple faith1 for your ,saviour4 ,he will plant the good seed in your spirit1 and 'instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle4' ,your lives will become fruitful of goodness and of joy1 according to that ancient promise3 ',the righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree2 he shall grow like a cedar in ,lebanon4 ,those that be planted in the house of the ,lord shall flourish in the courts of our ,god4 ,they shall still bring forth fruit in old age4' ,,eternity ,,in ,,the ,,heart ',he hath made every thing beautiful in his time3 also ,he hath set the world in their heart4'--,,eccles4 iii4 #aa4 ,there is considerable difficulty in understanding what precise meaning is to be attached to these words1 and what precise bearing they have on the general course of the writer's thoughts2 but one or two things are1 at any rate1 quite clear4 ,the ,preacher has been enumerating all the various vicissitudes of prosperity and adversity1 of construction and destruction1 of society and solitude1 of love and hate1 for which there is scope and verge enough in one short human life2 and his conclusion is1 as it always is in the earlier part of this book1 that because there is such an endless diversity of possible occupation1 and each of them lasts but for a little time1 and its opposite has as good a right of existence as itself2 therefore1 perhaps1 it might be as well that a man should do nothing as do all these opposite things which neutralise each other1 and the net result of which is nothing4 ,if there be a time to be born and a time to die1 nonentity would be the same when all is over4 ,if there be a time to plant and a time to pluck1 what is the good of planting8 ,if there be a time for love and a time for hate1 why cherish affections which are transient and may be succeeded by their opposites8 ,and then another current of thought passes through his mind1 and he gets another glimpse somewhat different1 and says in effect1 ',no6 that is not all true--,god has made all these different changes1 and although each of them seems contradictory of the other1 in its own place and at its own time each is beautiful and has a right to exist4' ,the contexture of life1 and even the perplexities and darknesses of human society1 and the varieties of earthly condition--if they be confined within their own proper limits1 and regarded as parts of a whole--they are all co-operant to an end4 ,as from wheels turning different ways in some great complicated machine1 and yet fitting by their cogs into one another1 there may be a resultant direct motion produced even by these apparently antagonistic forces4 ,but the second clause of our text adds a thought which is in some sense contrasted with this4 ,the word rendered 'world' is a very frequent one in the ,old ,testament1 and has never but one meaning1 and that meaning is eternity4 ',he hath set eternity in their heart4' ,here1 then1 are two antagonistic facts4 ,they are transient things1 a vicissitude which moves within natural limits1 temporary events which are beautiful in their season4 ,but there is also the contrasted fact1 that the man who is thus tossed about1 as by some great battledore wielded by giant powers in mockery1 from one changing thing to another1 has relations to something more lasting than the transient4 ,he lives in a world of fleeting change1 but he has 'eternity' in 'his heart4' ,so between him and his dwelling-place1 between him and his occupations1 there is a gulf of disproportion4 ,he is subjected to these alternations1 and yet bears within him a repressed but immortal consciousness that he belongs to another order of things1 which knows no vicissitude and fears no decay4 ,he possesses stifled and misinterpreted longings which1 however starved1 do yet survive1 after unchanging ,being and eternal ,rest1 ,and thus endowed1 and by contrast thus situated1 his soul is full of the 'blank misgiving of a creature moving about in worlds not realised4' ,out of these two facts--says our text--man's where and man's what1 his nature and his position1 there rises a mist of perplexity and darkness that wraps the whole course of the divine actions--unless1 indeed1 we have reached that central height of vision above the mists1 which this ,book of ,ecclesiastes puts forth at last as the conclusion of the whole matter--',fear ,god1 and keep ,his commandments4' ,if transitory things with their multitudinous and successive waves toss us to solid safety on the ,rock of ,ages1 then all is well1 and many mysteries will be clear4 ,but if not1 if we have not found1 or rather followed1 the one ,god-given way of harmonising these two sets of experiences--life in the transient1 and longings for the eternal--then their antagonism darkens our thoughts of a wise and loving ,providence1 and we have lost the key to the confused riddle which the world then presents4 ',he hath made everything beautiful in his time3 also ,he hath set ,eternity in their heart1 so that no man can find out the work that ,god maketh from the beginning to the end4' ,such1 then1 being a partial but1 perhaps1 not entirely inadequate view of the course of thought in the words before us1 ,i may now proceed to expand the considerations thus brought under our notice in them4 ,these may be gathered up in three principal ones3 the consciousness of ,eternity in every heart2 the disproportion thence resulting between this nature of ours and the order of things in which we dwell2 and finally1 the possible satisfying of that longing in men's hearts--a possibility not indeed referred to in our text1 but unveiled as the final word of this ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 and made clear to us in ,jesus ,christ4 ,i4 ,consider that eternity is set in every human heart4 ,the expression is1 of course1 somewhat difficult1 even if we accept generally the explanation which ,i have given4 ,it may be either a declaration of the actual immortality of the soul1 or it may mean1 as ,i rather suppose it to do1 the consciousness of eternity which is part of human nature4 ,the former idea is no doubt closely connected with the latter1 and would here yield an appropriate sense4 ,we should then have the contrast between man's undying existence and the transient trifles on which he is tempted to fix his love and hopes4 ,we belong to one set of existences by our bodies1 and to another by our souls4 ,though we are parts of the passing material world1 yet in that outward frame is lodged a personality that has nothing in common with decay and death4 ,a spark of eternity dwells in these fleeting frames4 ,the laws of physical growth and accretion and maturity and decay1 which rule over all things material1 do not apply to my true self4 ',in our embers is something that doth live4' ,whatsoever befalls the hairs that get grey and thin1 and the hands that become wrinkled and palsied1 and the heart that is worn out by much beating1 and the blood that clogs and clots at last1 and the filmy eye1 and all the corruptible frame2 yet1 as the heathen said1 ',i shall not all die1' but deep within this transient clay house1 that must crack and fall and be resolved into the elements out of which it was built up1 there dwells an immortal guest1 an undying personal self4 ,in the heart1 the inmost spiritual being of every man1 eternity1 in this sense of the word1 does dwell4 ',commonplaces1' you say4 ,yes2 commonplaces1 which word means two things--truths that affect us all1 and also truths which1 because they are so universal and so entirely believed1 are all but powerless4 ,surely it is not time to stop preaching such truths as long as they are forgotten by the overwhelming majority of the people who acknowledge them4 ,thank ,god6 the staple of the work of us preachers is the reiteration of commonplaces1 which ,his goodness has made familiar1 and our indolence and sin have made stale and powerless4 ,my brother6 you would be a wiser man if1 instead of turning the edge of statements which you know to be true1 and which1 if true1 are infinitely solemn and important1 by commonplace sarcasm about pulpit commonplaces1 you would honestly try to drive the familiar neglected truth home to your mind and heart4 ,strip it of its generality and think1 ',it is true about me4 ,i live for ever4 ,my outward life will cease1 and my dust will return to dust--but ,i shall last undying4' ,and ask yourselves--,what then8 ',am ,i making provision for the flesh1 to fulfil the lusts thereof1 in more or less refined fashion1 and forgetting to provide for that which lives for evermore8 ,eternity is in my heart4 ,what a madness it is to go on1 as if either ,i were to continue for ever among the shows of time1 or when ,i leave them all1 to die wholly and be done with altogether6' ,but1 probably1 the other interpretation of these words is the truer4 ,the doctrine of immortality does not seem to be stated in this ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 except in one or two very doubtful expressions4 ,and it is more in accordance with its whole tone to suppose the ,preacher here to be asserting1 not that the heart or spirit is immortal1 but that1 whether it is or no1 in the heart is planted the thought1 the consciousness of eternity--and the longing after it4 ,let me put that into other words4 ,we1 brethren1 are the only beings on this earth who can think the thought and speak the word--,eternity4 ,other creatures are happy while immersed in time2 we have another nature1 and are disturbed by a thought which shines high above the roaring sea of circumstance in which we float4 ,i do not care at present about the metaphysical puzzles that have been gathered round that conception1 nor care to ask whether it is positive or negative1 adequate or inadequate4 ,enough that the word has a meaning1 that it corresponds to a thought which dwells in men's minds4 ,it is of no consequence at all for our purpose1 whether it is a positive conception1 or simply the thinking away of all limitations4 ',i know what ,god is1 when you do not ask me4' ,i know what eternity is1 though ,i cannot define the word to satisfy a metaphysician4 ,the little child taught by some grandmother ,lois1 in a cottage1 knows what she means when she tells him 'you will live for ever1' though both scholar and teacher would be puzzled to put it into other words4 ,when we say eternity flows round this bank and shoal of time1 men know what we mean4 ,heart answers to heart2 and in each heart lies that solemn thought--for ever6 ,like all other of the primal thoughts of men's souls1 it may be increased in force and clearness1 or it may be neglected and opposed1 and all but crushed4 ,the thought of ,god is natural to man1 the thought of right and wrong is natural to man--and yet there may be atheists who have blinded their eyes1 and there may be degraded and almost animal natures who have seared their consciences and called sweet bitter and evil good4 ,thus men may so plunge themselves into the present as to lose the consciousness of the eternal--as a man swept over ,niagara1 blinded by the spray and deafened by the rush1 would see or hear nothing outside the green walls of the death that encompassed him4 ,and yet the blue sky with its peaceful spaces stretches above the hell of waters4 ,so the thought is in us all--a presentiment and a consciousness2 and that universal presentiment itself goes far to establish the reality of the unseen order of things to which it is directed4 ,the great planet that moves on the outmost circle of our system was discovered because that next it wavered in its course in a fashion which was inexplicable1 unless some unknown mass was attracting it from across millions of miles of darkling space4 ,and there are 'perturbations' in our spirits which cannot be understood1 unless from them we may divine that far-off and unseen world1 that has power from afar to sway in their orbits the little lives of mortal men4 ,it draws us to itself--but1 alas6 the attraction may be resisted and thwarted4 ,the dead mass of the planet bends to the drawing1 but we can repel the constraint which the eternal world would exercise upon us--and so that consciousness which ought to be our nobleness1 as it is our prerogative1 may become our shame1 our misery1 and our sin4 ,that ,eternity which is set in our hearts is not merely the thought of ever-during ,being1 or of an everlasting order of things to which we are in some way related4 ,but there are connected with it other ideas besides those of mere duration4 ,men know what perfection means4 ,they understand the meaning of perfect goodness2 they have the notion of infinite ,wisdom and boundless ,love4 ,these thoughts are the material of all poetry1 the thread from which the imagination creates all her wondrous tapestries4 ,this 'capacity for the ,infinite1' as people call it--which is only a fine way of putting the same thought as that in our text--which is the prerogative of human spirits1 is likewise the curse of many spirits4 ,by their misuse of it they make it a fatal gift1 and turn it into an unsatisfied desire which gnaws their souls1 a famished yearning which 'roars1 and suffers hunger4' ,knowing what perfection is1 they turn to limited natures and created hearts for their rest4 ,having the haunting thought of an absolute ,goodness1 a perfect ,wisdom1 an endless ,love1 an eternal ,life--they try to find the being that corresponds to their thought here on earth1 and so they are plagued with endless disappointment4 ,my brother6 ,god has put eternity in your heart4 ,not only will you live for ever1 but also in your present life you have a consciousness of that eternal and infinite and all-sufficient ,being that lives above4 ,you have need of ,him1 and whether you know it or not1 the tendrils of your spirits1 like some climbing plant not fostered by a careful hand but growing wild1 are feeling out into the vacancy in order to grasp the stay which they need for their fruitage and their strength4 ,by the make of our spirits1 by the possibilities that dawn dim before us1 by the thoughts 'whose very sweetness yieldeth proof that they were born for immortality1'--by all these and a thousand other signs and facts in every human life we say1 ',god has set eternity in their hearts6' ,,ii4 ,and then turn to the second idea that is here4 ,the disproportion between this our nature1 and the world in which we dwell4 ,the writer of this book 7whether ,solomon or no we need not stay to discuss7 looks out upon the world2 and in accordance with the prevailing tone of all the earlier parts of his contemplations1 finds in this prerogative of man but another reason for saying1 ',all is vanity and vexation of spirit4' ,two facts meet him antagonistic to one another3 the place that man occupies1 and the nature that man bears4 ,this creature with eternity in his heart1 where is he set8 what has he got to work upon8 what has he to love and hold by1 to trust to1 and anchor his life on8 ,a crowd of things1 each well enough1 but each having a time--and though they be beautiful in their time1 yet fading and vanishing when it has elapsed4 ,no multiplication of times will make eternity4 ,and so with that thought in his heart1 man is driven out among objects perfectly insufficient to meet it4 ,christ said1 ',foxes have holes1 and birds of the air have nests1 but the ,son of man hath not where to lay ,his head'--and while the words have their proper and most pathetic meaning in the history of ,his own earthly life of travail and toil for our sakes1 we may also venture to give them the further application1 that all the lower creatures are at rest here1 and that the more truly a man is man1 the less can he find1 among all the shadows of the present1 a pillow for his head1 a place of repose for his heart4 ,the animal nature is at home in the material world1 the human nature is not4 ,every other creature presents the most accurate correspondence between nature and circumstances1 powers and occupations4 ,man alone is like some poor land-bird blown out to sea1 and floating half-drowned with clinging plumage on an ocean where the dove 'finds no rest for the sole of her foot1' or like some creature that loves to glance in the sunlight1 but is plunged into the deepest recesses of a dark mine4 ,in the midst of a universe marked by the nicest adaptations of creatures to their habitation1 man alone1 the head of them all1 presents the unheard-of anomaly that he is surrounded by conditions which do not fit his whole nature1 which are not adequate for all his powers1 on which he cannot feed and nurture his whole being4 ',to what purpose is this waste8' ',hast thou made all men in vain8' ,everything is 'beautiful in its time4' ,yes1 and for that very reason1 as this ,book of ,ecclesiastes says in another verse1 ',because to every purpose there is time and judgment1 therefore the misery of man is great upon him4' ,it was happy when we loved2 but the day of indifference and alienation and separation comes4 ,our spirits were glad when we were planting2 but the time for plucking up that which was planted is sure to draw near4 ,it was blessed to pour out our souls in the effluence of love1 or in the fullness of thought1 and the time to speak was joyous2 but the dark day of silence comes on4 ,when we twined hearts and clasped hands together it was glad1 and the time when we embraced was blessed2 but the time to refrain from embracing is as sure to draw near4 ,it is good for the eyes to behold the sun1 but so certainly as it rolls to its bed in the west1 and 'leaves the world to darkness' and to us1 do all earthly occupations wane and fade1 and all possessions shrivel and dwindle1 and all associations snap and drop and end1 and the whirligig of time works round and takes away everything which it once brought us4 ,and so man1 with eternity in his heart1 with the hunger in his spirit after an unchanging whole1 an absolute good1 an ideal perfectness1 an immortal being--is condemned to the treadmill of transitory revolution4 ,nothing continueth in one stay1 ',for all that is in the world1 the lust of the flesh1 and the lust of the eyes1 and the pride of life1 is not of the ,father1 but is of the world4 ,and the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof4' ,it is limited1 it is changeful1 it slips from under us as we stand upon it1 and therefore1 mystery and perplexity stoop down upon the providence of ,god1 and misery and loneliness enter into the heart of man4 ,these changeful things1 they do not meet our ideal1 they do not satisfy our wants1 they do not last even our duration4 ',the misery of man is great upon him1' said the text quoted a moment ago4 ,and is it not8 ,is this present life enough for you8 ,sometimes you fancy it is4 ,many of us habitually act on the understanding that it is1 and treat all that ,i have been saying about the disproportion between our nature and our circumstances as not true about them4 ',this world not enough for me6' you say--',yes6 it is2 only let me get a little more of it1 and keep what ,i get1 and ,i shall be all right4' ,so then--'a little more' is wanted1 is it8 ,and that 'little more' will always be wanted1 and besides it1 the guarantee of permanence will always be wanted1 and failing these1 there will be a hunger that nothing can fill which belongs to earth4 ,do you remember the bitter experience of the poor prodigal1 'he would fain have filled his belly with the husks'8 ,he tried his best to live upon the horny1 innutritious pods1 but he could not2 and after them he still was 'perishing with hunger4' ,so it is with us all when we try to fill the soul and satisfy the spirit with earth or aught that holds of it4 ,it is as impossible to still the hunger of the heart with that1 as to stay the hunger of the body with wise sayings or noble sentiments4 ,i appeal to your real selves1 to your own past experience4 ,is it not true that1 deep below the surface contentment with the world and the things of the world1 a dormant but slightly slumbering sense of want and unsatisfied need lies in your souls8 ,is it not true that it wakes sometimes at a touch2 that the tender1 dying light of sunset1 or the calm abysses of the mighty heavens1 or some strain of music1 or a line in a book1 or a sorrow in your heart1 or the solemnity of a great joy1 or close contact with sickness and death1 or the more direct appeals of ,scripture and of ,christ1 stir a wistful yearning and a painful sense of emptiness in your hearts1 and of insufficiency in all the ordinary pursuits of your lives8 ,it cannot but be so2 for though it be true that our natures are in some measure subdued to what we work in1 and although it is possible to atrophy the deepest parts of our being by long neglect or starvation1 yet you will never do that so thoroughly but that the deep-seated longing will break forth at intervals1 and the cry of its hunger echo through the soul4 ,many of us do our best to silence it4 ,but ,i1 for my part1 believe that1 however you have crushed and hardened your souls by indifference1 by ambition1 by worldly cares1 by frivolous or coarse pleasures1 or by any of the thousand other ways in which you can do it--yet there is some response in your truest self to my poor words when ,i declare that a soul without ,god is an empty and an aching soul6 ,these things which1 even in their time of beauty1 are not enough for a man's soul--have all but a time to be beautiful in1 and then they fade and die4 ,a great botanist made what he called 'a floral clock' to mark the hours of the day by the opening and closing of flowers4 ,it was a graceful and yet a pathetic thought4 ,one after another they spread their petals1 and their varying colours glow in the light4 ,but one after another they wearily shut their cups1 and the night falls1 and the latest of them folds itself together1 and all are hidden away in the dark4 ,so our joys and treasures1 were they sufficient did they last1 cannot last4 ,after a summer's day comes a summer's night1 and after a brief space of them comes winter1 when all are killed and the leafless trees stand silent4 ',bare1 ruined choirs1 where late the sweet birds sang4' ,we cleave to these temporal possessions and joys1 and the natural law of change sweeps them away from us one by one4 ,most of them do not last so long as we do1 and they pain us when they pass away from us4 ,some of them last longer than we do1 and they pain us when we pass away from them4 ,either way our hold of them is a transient hold1 and one knows not whether is the sadder--the bare garden beds where all have done blowing1 and nothing remains but a tangle of decay1 or the blooming beauty from which a man is summoned away1 leaving others to reap what he has sown4 ,tragic enough are both at the best--and certain to befall us all4 ,we live and they fade2 we die and they remain4 ,we live again and they are far away4 ,the facts are so4 ,we may make them a joy or a sorrow as we will4 ,transiency is stamped on all our possessions1 occupations1 and delights4 ,we have the hunger for eternity in our souls1 the thought of eternity in our hearts1 the destination for eternity written on our inmost being1 and the need to ally ourselves with eternity proclaimed even by the most short-lived trifles of time4 ,either these things will be the blessing or the curse of our lives4 ,which do you mean that they shall be for you8 ,,iii4 ,these thoughts lead us to consider the possible satisfying of our souls4 ,this ,book of ,ecclesiastes is rather meant to enforce the truth of the weariness and emptiness of a godless life1 than of the blessedness of a godly one4 ,it is the record of the struggles of a soul--'the confessions of an inquiring spirit'--feeling and fighting its way through many errors1 and many partial and unsatisfactory solutions of the great problem of life1 till he reaches the one in which he can rest4 ,when he has touched that goal his work is done4 ,and so the devious way is told in the book at full length1 while a sentence sets forth the conclusion to which he was working1 even when he was most bewildered4 ',the conclusion of the whole matter' is ',fear ,god and keep ,his commandments4' ,that is all that a man needs4 ,it is 'the whole of man4' ',all is' not 'vanity and vexation of spirit' then--but 'all things work together for good to them that love ,god4' ,the ,preacher in his day learned that it was possible to satisfy the hunger for eternity1 which had once seemed to him a questionable blessing4 ,he learned that it was a loving ,providence which had made man's home so little fit for him1 that he might seek the 'city which hath foundations4' ,he learned that all the pain of passing beauty1 and the fading flowers of man's goodliness1 were capable of being turned into a solemn joy4 ,standing at the centre1 he saw order instead of chaos1 and when he had come back1 after all his search1 to the old simple faith of peasants and children in ,judah1 to fear ,god and keep ,his commandments1 he understood why ,god had set eternity in man's heart1 and then flung him out1 as if in mockery1 amidst the stormy waves of the changeful ocean of time4 ,and we1 who have a further word from ,god1 may have a fuller and yet more blessed conviction1 built upon our own happy experience1 if we choose1 that it is possible for us to have that deep thirst slaked1 that longing appeased4 ,we have ,christ to trust to and to love4 ,he has given ,himself for us that all our many sins against the eternal love and our guilty squandering of our hearts upon transitory treasures may be forgiven4 ,he has come amongst us1 the ,word in human flesh1 that our poor eyes may see the ,eternal walking amidst the things of time and sense1 and may discern a beauty in ,him beyond 'whatsoever things are lovely4' ,he has come that we through ,him may lay hold on ,god1 even as in ,him ,god lays hold on us4 ,as in mysterious and transcendent union the divine takes into itself the human in that person of ,jesus1 and ,eternity is blended with ,time2 we1 trusting ,him and yielding our hearts to ,him1 receive into our poor lives an incorruptible seed1 and for us the soul-satisfying realities that abide for ever mingle with and are reached through the shadows that pass away4 ,brethren1 yield yourselves to ,him6 ,in conscious unworthiness1 in lowly penitence1 let us cast ourselves on ,jesus ,christ1 our ,sacrifice1 for pardon and peace6 ,trust ,him and love ,him6 ,live by ,him and for ,him6 ,and then1 the loftiest thoughts of our hearts1 as they seek after absolute perfection and changeless love1 shall be more than fulfilled in ,him who is more than all that man ever dreamed1 because ,he is the perfection of man1 and the ,son of ,god4 ,love ,christ and live in ,him1 taking ,him for the motive1 the spring1 and the very atmosphere of your lives1 and then no capacities will languish for lack of either stimulus or field1 and no weariness will come over you1 as if you were a stranger from your home4 ,for if ,christ be near us1 all things go well with us4 ,if we live for ,him1 the power of that motive will make all our nature blossom like the vernal woods1 and dry branches break into leafage4 ,if we dwell in ,him1 we shall be at home wherever we are1 like the patriarch who pitched his tent in many lands1 but always had the same tent wherever he went4 ,so we shall have the one abode1 though its place in the desert may vary--and we shall not need to care whether the encampment be beneath the palm-trees and beside the wells of ,elim1 or amidst the drought of ,marah1 so long as the same covering protects us1 and the same pillar of fire burns above us4 ,love ,christ1 and then the eternity in the heart will not be a great aching void1 but will be filled with the everlasting life which ,christ gives1 and is4 ,the vicissitude will really become the source of freshness and progress which ,god meant it to be4 ,everything which1 when made our all-sufficient portion1 becomes stale and unprofitable1 even in its time1 will be apparelled in celestial light4 ,it shall all be lovely and pleasant while it lasts1 and its beauty will not be saddened by the certainty of its decay1 nor its empty place a pain when it has passed away4 ,take ,christ for ,saviour and ,friend1 your ,guide and ,support through time1 and ,himself1 your ,eternity and ,joy1 then all discords are reconciled--and 'all things are yours--whether the world1 or life1 or death1 or things present1 or things to come2 all are yours1 and ye are ,christ's1 and ,christ is ,god's4' ,,lessons ,,for ,,worship ,,and ,,for ,,work ',keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of ,god1 and be more ready to hear1 than to give the sacrifice of fools3 for they consider not that they do evil4 #b4 ,be not rash with thy mouth1 and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before ,god3 for ,god is in heaven1 and thou upon earth2 therefore let thy words be few4 #c4 ,for a dream cometh through the multitude of business2 and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words4 #d4 ,when thou vowest a vow unto ,god1 defer not to pay it2 for ,he hath no pleasure in fools3 pay that which thou hast vowed4 #e4 ,better is it that thou shouldest not vow1 than that thou shouldest vow and not pay4 #f4 ,suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin2 neither say thou before the angel1 that it was an error3 wherefore should ,god be angry at thy voice1 and destroy the work of thine hands8 #g4 ,for in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities3 but fear thou ,god4 #h4 ,if thou seest the oppression of the poor1 and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province1 marvel not at the matter3 for he that is higher than the highest regardeth2 and there be higher than they4 #i4 ,moreover1 the profit of the earth is for all3 the king himself is served by the field4 #aj4 ,he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver2 nor he that loveth abundance with increase4 ,this is also vanity4 #aa4 ,when goods increase1 they are increased that eat them3 and what good is there to the owners thereof1 saving the beholding of them with their eyes8 #ab4 ,the sleep of a labouring man is sweet1 whether he eat little or much3 but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep4'--,,eccles4 v4 #a-ab4 ,this passage is composed of two or perhaps three apparently disconnected sections4 ,the faults in worship referred to in verses #a-g have nothing to do with the legalised robbery of verse #h1 nor has the demonstration of the folly of covetousness in verses #aj-ab any connection with either of the preceding subjects4 ,but they are brought into unity1 if they are taken as applications in different directions of the bitter truth which the writer sets himself to prove runs through all life4 ',all is vanity4' ,that principle may even be exemplified in worship1 and the obscure verse #g which closes the section about the faults of worship seems to be equivalent to the more familiar close which rings the knell of so many of men's pursuits in this book1 ',this also is vanity4' ,it stands in the usual form in verse #aj4 ,we have in verses #a-g a warning against the faults in worship which make even it to be 'vanity1' unreal and empty and fruitless4 ,these are of three sorts1 arranged1 as it were1 chronologically4 ,the worshipper is first regarded as going to the house of ,god1 then as presenting his prayers in it1 and then as having left it and returned to his ordinary life4 ,the writer has cautions to give concerning conduct before1 during1 and after public worship4 ,note that1 in all three parts of his warnings1 his favourite word of condemnation appears as describing the vain worship to which he opposes the right manner4 ,they who fall into the faults condemned are 'fools4' ,if that class includes all who mar their worship by such errors1 the church which holds them had need to be of huge dimensions2 for the faults held up in these ancient words flourish in full luxuriance to-day1 and seem to haunt long-established ,christianity quite as mischievously as they did long-established ,judaism4 ,if we could banish them from our religious assemblies1 there would be fewer complaints of the poor results of so much apparently ,christian prayer and preaching4 ,fruitful and acceptable worship begins before it begins4 ,so our passage commences with the demeanour of the worshipper on his way to the house of ,god4 ,he is to keep his foot2 that is1 to go deliberately1 thoughtfully1 with realisation of what he is about to do4 ,he is to 'draw near to hear' and to bethink himself1 while drawing near1 of what his purpose should be4 ,our forefathers ,sunday began on ,saturday night1 and partly for that reason the hallowing influence of it ran over into ,monday1 at all events4 ,what likelihood is there that much good will come of worship to people who talk politics or scandal right up to the church door8 ,is reading newspapers in the pews1 which they tell us in ,england is not unknown in ,america1 a good preparation for worshipping ,god8 ,the heaviest rain runs off parched ground1 unless it has been first softened by a gentle fall of moisture4 ,hearts that have no dew of previous meditation to make them receptive are not likely to drink in much of the showers of blessing which may be falling round them4 ,the formal worshipper who goes to the house of ,god because it is the hour when he has always gone2 the curious worshipper 787 who draws near to hear indeed1 but to hear a man1 not ,god2 and all the other sorts of mere outward worshippers who make so large a proportion of every ,christian congregation--get the lesson they need1 to begin with1 in this precept4 ,note1 that right preparation for worship is better than worship itself1 if it is that of 'fools4' ,drawing near with the true purpose is better than being near with the wrong one4 ,note1 too1 the reason for the vanity of the 'sacrifice of fools' is that 'they know not'2 and why do they not know1 but because they did not draw near with the purpose of hearing8 ,therefore1 as the last clause of the verse says1 rightly rendered1 'they do evil4' ,all hangs together4 ,no matter how much we frequent the house of ,god1 if we go with unprepared minds and hearts we shall remain ignorant1 and because we are so1 our sacrifices will be 'evil4' ,if the winnowing fan of this principle were applied to our decorous congregations1 who dress their bodies for church much more carefully than they do their souls1 what a cloud of chaff would fly off6 ,then comes the direction for conduct in the act of worship4 ,the same thoughtfulness which kept the foot in coming to1 should keep the heart when in1 the house of ,god4 ,his exaltation and our lowliness should check hasty words1 blurting out uppermost wishes1 or in any way outrunning the sentiments and emotions of prepared hearts4 ,not that the lesson would check the fervid flow of real desire4 ,there is a type of calm worship which keeps itself calm because it is cold4 ,propriety and sobriety are its watchwords--both admirable things1 and both dear to tepid ,christians4 ,other people besides the crowds on ,pentecost think that men whose lips are fired by the ,spirit of ,god are 'drunken1' if not with wine1 at all events with unwholesome enthusiasm4 ,but the outpourings of a soul filled1 not only with the sense that ,god is in heaven and we on earth1 but also with the assurance that ,he is near to it1 and it to ,him1 are not rash and hasty1 however fervid4 ,what is condemned is words which travel faster than thoughts or feelings1 or which proceed from hearts that have not been brought into patient submission1 or from such as lack reverent realisation of ,god's majesty2 and such faults may attach to the most calm worship1 and need not infect the most fervent4 ,those prayers are not hasty which keep step with the suppliant's desires1 when these take the time from ,god's promises4 ,that mouth is not rash which waits to speak until the ear has heard4 ',let thy words be few4' ,the heathen 'think that they shall be heard for much speaking4' ,it needs not to tell our wants in many words to ,one who knows them altogether1 any more than a child needs many when speaking to a father or mother4 ,but 'few' must be measured by the number of needs and desires4 ,the shortest prayer1 which is not animated by a consciousness of need and a throb of desire1 is too long2 the longest1 which is vitalised by these1 is short enough4 ,what becomes of the enormous percentage of public and private prayers1 which are mere repetitions1 said because they are the right thing to say1 because everybody always has said them1 and not because the man praying really wants the things he asks for1 or expects to get them any the more for asking8 ,verse #c gives a reason for the exhortation1 ',a dream comes through a multitude of business'--when a man is much occupied with any matter1 it is apt to haunt his sleeping as well as his waking thoughts4 ',a fool's voice comes through a multitude of words4' ,the dream is the consequence of the pressure of business1 but the fool's voice is the cause1 not the consequence1 of the gush of words4 ,what1 then1 is the meaning8 ,probably that such a gush of words turns1 as it were1 the voice of the utterer1 for the time being1 into that of a fool4 ,voluble prayers1 more abundant than devout sentiments or emotions1 make the offerer as a 'fool' and his prayer unacceptable4 ,the third direction refers to conduct after worship4 ,it lays down the general principle that vows should be paid1 and that swiftly4 ,a keen insight into human nature suggests the importance of prompt fulfilment of the vows2 for in carrying out resolutions formed under the impulse of the sanctuary1 even more than in other departments1 delays are dangerous4 ,many a young heart touched by the truth has resolved to live a ,christian life1 and has gone out from the house of ,god and put off and put off till days have thickened into months and years1 and the intention has remained unfulfilled for ever4 ,nothing hardens hearts1 stiffens wills1 and sears consciences so much as to be brought to the point of melting1 and then to cool down into the old shape4 ,all good resolutions and spiritual convictions may be included under the name of vows2 and of all it is true that it is better not to have formed them1 than to have formed and not performed them4 ,verses #f and #g are obscure4 ,the former seems to refer to the case of a man who vows and then asks that he may be absolved from his vow by the priest or other ecclesiastical authority4 ,his mouth--that is1 his spoken promise--leads him into sin1 if he does not fulfil it 7comp4 ,deut4 xxiii1 #ba1 #bb74 ,he asks release from his promise on the ground that it is a sin of weakness4 ,the 'angel' is best understood as the priest 7messenger71 as in ,malachi ii4#g4 ,such a wriggling out of a vow will bring ,god's anger2 for the 'voice' which promised what the hand will not perform1 sins4 ,verse #g is variously rendered4 ,the ,revised ,version supplies at the beginning1 ',this comes to pass1' and goes on 'through the multitude of dreams and vanities and many words4' ,but this scarcely bears upon the context1 which requires here a reason against rash speech and vows4 ,the meaning seems better given1 either by the rearranged text which ,delitzsch suggests1 ',in many dreams and many words there are also many vanities' 7so1 substantially1 the ,auth4 ,ver471 or as ,wright1 following ,hitzig1 etc41 has it1 ',in the multitude of dreams are also vanities1 and in many words as well4' ,the simile of verse #c is recurred to1 and the whirling visions of unsubstantial dreams are likened to the rash words of voluble prayers in that both are vanity4 ,thus the writer reaches his favourite thought1 and shows how vanity infects even devotion4 ,the closing injunction to 'fear ,god' sets in sharp contrast with faulty outward worship the inner surrender and devotion1 which will protect against such empty hypocrisy4 ,if the heart is right1 the lips will not be far wrong4 ,verses #h and #i have no direct connection with the preceding1 and their connection with the following 7vs4 #aj-ab7 is slight4 ,their meaning is dubious4 ,according to the prevailing view now1 the abuses of government in verse #h are those of the period of the writer2 and the last clauses do not1 as might appear at first reading1 console sufferers by the thought that ,god is above rapacious dignitaries1 but bids the readers not be surprised if small officials plunder1 since the same corruption goes upwards through all grades of functionaries4 ,with such rotten condition of things is contrasted1 in verse #i1 the happy state of a people living under a patriarchal government1 where the king draws his revenues1 not from oppression1 but from agriculture4 ,the ,revised ,version gives in its margin this rendering4 ,the connection of these verses with the following may be that they teach the vanity of riches under such a state of society as they describe4 ,what is the use of scraping wealth together when hungry officials are 'watching' to pounce on it8 ,how much better to be contented with the modest prosperity of a quiet country life6 ,if the translation of verse #i in the ,authorised ,version and the ,revised ,version is retained1 there is a striking contrast between the rapine of the city1 where men live by preying on each other 7as they do still to a large extent1 for 'commerce' is often nothing better71 and the wholesome natural life of the country1 where the kindly earth yields fruit1 and one man's gain is not another's loss4 ,thus the verses may be connected with the wise depreciation of money which follows4 ,that low estimate is based on three grounds1 which great trading nations like ,england and the ,united ,states need to have dinned into their ears4 ,first1 no man ever gets enough of worldly wealth4 ,the appetite grows faster than the balance at the banker's4 ,that is so because the desire that is turned to outward wealth really needs something else1 and has mistaken its object4 ,god1 not money or money's worth1 is the satisfying possession4 ,it is so because all appetites1 fed on earthly things1 increase by gratification1 and demand ever larger draughts4 ,the jaded palate needs stronger stimulants4 ,the seasoned opium-eater has to increase his doses to produce the same effects4 ,second1 the race after riches is a race after a phantom1 because the more one has of them the more people there spring up to share them4 ,the poor man does with one servant2 the rich man has fifty2 and his own portion of his wealth is a very small item4 ,his own meal is but a small slice off the immense provisions for which he has the trouble of paying4 ,it is so1 thirdly1 because in the chase he deranges his physical nature2 and when he has got his wealth1 it only keeps him awake at night thinking how he shall guard it and keep it safe4 ,that which costs so much to get1 which has so little power to satisfy1 which must always be less than the wish of the covetous man1 which costs so much to keep1 which stuffs pillows with thorns1 is surely vanity4 ,honest work is rewarded by sweet sleep4 ,the old legend told of unslumbering guards who kept the treasure of the golden fruit4 ,the millionaire has to live in a barred house1 and to be always on the lookout lest some combination of speculators should pull down his stocks1 or some change in the current of population should make his city lots worthless4 ,black care rides behind the successful man of business4 ,better to have done a day's work which has earned a night's repose than to be the slave of one's wealth1 as all men are who make it their aim and their supreme good4 ,would that these lessons were printed deep on the hearts of young ,englishmen and ,americans6 ,,naked ,,or ,,clothed8 ',as he came forth of his mother's womb1 naked shall he return to go as he came1 and shall take nothing of his labour1 which he may carry away in his hand4'--,,eccles4 v4 #ae4 '444 ,their works do follow them4'--,,rev4 xiv4 #ac4 ,it is to be observed that these two sharply contrasted texts do not refer to the same persons4 ,the former is spoken of a rich worldling1 the latter of 'the dead who die in the ,lord4' ,the unrelieved gloom of the one is as a dark background against which the triumphant assurance of the other shines out the more brightly1 and deepens the gloom which heightens it4 ,the end of the man who has to go away from earth naked and empty-handed acquires new tragic force when set against the lot of those 'whose works do follow them4' ,well-worn and commonplace as both sets of thought may be1 they may perhaps be flashed up into new vividness by juxtaposition2 and if in this sermon we have nothing new to say1 old truth is not out of place till it has been wrought into and influenced our daily practice4 ,we shall best gather the lessons of our text if we consider what we must leave1 what we must take1 and what we may take4 ,i4 ,what we must leave4 ,the ,preacher in the context presses home a formidable array of the limitations and insufficiencies of wealth4 ,possessed1 it cannot satisfy1 for the appetite grows with indulgence4 ,its increase barely keeps pace with the increase of its consumers4 ,it contributes nothing to the advantage of its so-called owner except 'the beholding of it with his eyes1' and the need of watching it keeps them open when he would fain sleep4 ,it is often kept to the owner's hurt1 it often disappears in unfortunate speculation1 and the possessor's heirs are paupers4 ,but1 even if all these possibilities are safely weathered1 the man has to die and leave it all behind4 ',he shall take nothing of his labour which he can carry away in his hand'2 that is to say1 death separates from all with whom the life of the body brings us into connection4 ,the things which are no parts of our true selves are ours in a very modified sense even whilst we seem to possess them1 and the term of possession has a definite close4 ',shrouds have no pockets1' as the stern old proverb says4 ,how many men have lived in the houses which we call ours1 sat on our seats1 walked over our lands1 carried in their purses the money that is in ours6 ,is 'the game worth the candle' when we give our labour for so imperfect and brief a possession as at the fullest and the longest we enjoy of all earthly good8 ,surely a wise man will set little store by possessions of all which a cold1 irresistible hand will come to strip him4 ,surely the life is wasted which spends its energy in robing itself in garments which will all be stripped from it when the naked self 'returns to go as he came4' ,but there are other things than these earthly possessions from which death separates us4 ,it carries us far away from the sound of human voices and isolates us from living men4 ,honour and reputation cease to be audible4 ,when a prominent man dies1 what a clatter of conflicting judgments contends over his grave6 and how utterly he is beyond them all6 ,praise or blame1 blessing or banning are equally powerless to reach the unhearing ear or to agitate the unbeating heart4 ,and when one of our small selves passes out of life1 we hear no more the voice of censure or of praise1 of love or of hate4 ,is it worth while to toil for the 'hollow wraith of dying fame1' or even for the clasp of loving hands which have to be loosened so surely and so soon8 ,then again1 there are other things which must be left behind as belonging only to the present order1 and connected with bodily life4 ,there will be no scope for material work1 and much of all our knowledge will be antiquated when the light beyond shines in4 ,as we shall have occasion to see presently1 there is a permanent element in the most material work1 and if in handling the transient we have been living for the eternal1 such work will abide2 but if we think of the spirit in which a sad majority do their daily tasks1 whether of a more material or of a more intellectual sort1 we must recognise that a very large proportion of all the business of life must come to an end here4 ,there is nothing in it that will stand the voyage across the great deep1 or that can survive in the order of things to which we go4 ,what is a man to do in another world1 supposing there is another world1 where ledgers and mills are out of date8 ,or what has a scholar or scientist to do in a state of things where there is no place for dictionaries and grammars1 for acute criticism1 or for a careful scientific research8 ,physical science1 linguistic knowledge1 political wisdom1 will be antiquated4 ,the poetry which glorifies afresh and interprets the present will have lost its meaning4 ,half the problems that torture us here will cease to have existence1 and most of the other half will have been solved by simple change of position4 ',whether there be tongues1 they shall cease2 whether there be knowledge1 it shall vanish away'2 and it becomes us all to bethink ourselves whether there is anything in our lives that we can carry away when all that is 'of the earth earthy' has sunk into nothingness4 ,,ii4 ,what we must take4 ,we must take ourselves4 ,it is the same 'he' who goes 'naked as he came'2 it is the same 'he' who 'came from his mother's womb1' and is 'born again' as it were into a new life1 only 'he' has by his earthly life been developed and revealed4 ,the plant has flowered and fruited4 ,what was mere potentiality has become fact4 ,there is now fixed character4 ,the transient possessions1 relationships1 and occupations of the earthly life are gone1 but the man that they have made is there4 ,and in the character there are predominant habits which insist upon having their sway1 and a memory of which1 as we may believe1 there is written indelibly all the past4 ,whatever death may strip from us1 there is no reason to suppose that it touches the consciousness and personal identity1 or the prevailing set and inclination of our characters4 ,and if we do indeed pass into another life 'not in entire forgetfulness1 and not in utter nakedness1' but carrying a perfected memory and clothed in a garment woven of all our past actions1 there needs no more to bring about a solemn and continuous act of judgment4 ,,iii4 ,what we may take4 ',their works do follow them4' ,these are the words of the ,spirit concerning 'the dead who die in the ,lord4' ,we need not fear marring the great truth that 'not by works of righteousness but by ,his mercy ,he saved us1' if we firmly grasp the large assurance which this text blessedly contains4 ,a ,christian man's works are perpetual in the measure in which they harmonise with the divine will1 in the measure they have eternal consequences in himself whatever they may have on others4 ,if we live opening our minds and hearts to the influx of the divine power 'that worketh in us both to will and to do of ,his good pleasure1' then we may be humbly sure that these 'works' are eternal2 and though they will never constitute the ground of our acceptance1 they will never fail to secure 'a great recompence of reward4' ,to many a humble saint there will be a moment of wondering thankfulness when he sees these his 'children whom ,god hath given him' clustered round him1 and has to say1 ',lord1 when saw ,i ,thee naked1 or in prison1 and visited ,thee8' ,there will be many an apocalypse of grateful surprise in the revelations of the heavens4 ,we remember ,milton's noble explanation of these great words which may well silence our feeble attempts to enforce them-- ',thy works and alms and all thy good endeavour ,stood not behind1 nor in the grave were trod1 ,but as faith pointed with her golden rod1 ,followed them up to joy and bliss for ever4' ,so then1 life here and yonder will for the ,christian soul be one continuous whole1 only that there1 while 'their works do follow them1' 'they rest from their labours4' ,,finis ,,coronat ,,opus ',better is the end of a thing than the beginning4'--,,eccles4 vii4 #h4 ,this ,book of ,ecclesiastes is the record of a quest after the chief good4 ,the ,preacher tries one thing after another1 and tells his experiences4 ,amongst these are many blunders4 ,it is the final lesson which he would have us learn1 not the errors through which he reached it4 ',the conclusion of the whole matter' is what he would commend to us1 and to it he cleaves his way through a number of bitter exaggerations and of partial truths and of unmingled errors4 ,the text is one of a string of paradoxical sayings1 some of them very true and beautiful1 some of them doubtful1 but all of them the kind of things which used-up men are wont to say--the salt which is left in the pool when the tide is gone down4 ,the text is the utterance of a wearied man who has had so many disappointments1 and seen so many fair beginnings overclouded1 and so many ships going out of port with flying flags and foundering at sea1 that he thinks nothing good till it is ended2 little worth beginning--rest and freedom from all external cares and duties best2 and1 best of all1 to be dead1 and have done with the whole coil4 ,obviously1 'the end of a thing' here is the parallel to 'the day of death' in verse #a1 which is there preferred to 'the day of one's birth4' ,that is the godless1 worn-out worlding's view of the matter1 which is infinitely sad1 and absolutely untrue4 ,but from another point of view there is a truth in these words4 ,the life which is lived for ,god1 which is rooted in ,christ1 a life of self-denial1 of love1 of purity1 of strenuous 'pressing towards the mark1' is better in its 'end' than in its 'beginning4' ,to such a life we are all called1 and it is possible for each4 ,may my poor words help some of us to make it ours4 ,i4 ,then our life has an end4 ,it is hard for any of us to realise this in the midst of the rush and pressure of daily duty2 and it is not altogether wholesome to think much about it2 but it is still more harmful to put it out of our sight1 as so many of us do1 and to go on habitually as if there would never come a time when we shall cease to be where we have been so long1 and when there will no more arise the daily calls to transitory occupations4 ,the thought of the certainty and nearness of that end has often become a stimulus to wild1 sensuous living1 as the history of the relaxation of morality in pestilences1 and in times when war stalked through the land1 has abundantly shown4 ',let us eat and drink1 for tomorrow we die1' is plainly a way of reasoning that appeals to the average man4 ,but the entire forgetfulness that there is an end is no less harmful1 and is apt to lead to over-indulgence in sensuous desires as the other extreme4 ,perhaps the young need more especially to be recalled to the thought of the 'end' because they are more especially likely to forget it1 and because it is specially worth their while to remember it4 ,they have still the long stretch before the 'end' before them1 to make of it what they will4 ,whereas for us who are further on in the course1 there is less time and opportunity to shape our path with a view to its close1 and to those of us in old age1 there is but little need to preach remembrance of what has come so close to us4 ,it is to the young man that the ,preacher proffers his final advice1 to 'rejoice in his health1 and to walk in the ways of his heart1 and in the sight of his eyes1' but withal to know that 'for these ,god will bring him into judgment4' ,and in that counsel is involved the thought that 'the end which is better than the beginning' is neither old age1 with its limitations and compulsory abstinences1 nor death1 which is1 as the dreary creed of the book in its central portions believes it to be1 the close of all things1 but1 beyond these1 the state in which men will reap as they have sown1 and inherit what they have earned4 ,it is that condition which gives all its importance to death--the porter who opens the door into a future life of recompence4 ,,ii4 ,the end will1 in many respects1 not be better than the beginning4 ,put side by side the infant and the old man4 ,think of the undeveloped strength1 the smooth cheek1 the ruddy complexion1 the rejoicing in physical well-being1 of the one1 with the failing senses1 the tottering limbs1 the lowered vitality1 the many pains and aches1 of the other4 ,in these respects the end is worse than the beginning4 ,or go a step further onwards in life1 and think of youth1 with its unworn energy1 and the wearied longing for rest which comes at the end2 of youth1 with its quick1 open receptiveness for all impressions1 and the horny surface of callousness which has overgrown the mind of the old2 of youth1 with its undeveloped powers and endless possibilities1 which in the old have become rigid and fixed2 of youth1 with the rich gift before it of a continent of time1 which in the old has been washed away by the ocean1 till there is but a crumbling bank still to stand on2 of youth1 with its wealth of hopes1 and of the hopes of the old1 which are solemn ventures1 few and scanty--and then say if the end is not worse than the beginning4 ,and if we go further1 and think of death as the end1 is it not in a very real and terrible sense1 loss1 loss8 ,it is loss to be taken out of the world1 to 'leave the warm precincts and the cheerful day1' to lose friends and lovers1 and to be banned into a dreary land4 ,yet1 further1 the thought of the end as being a state of retribution strikes upon all hearts as being solemn and terrible4 ,,iii4 ,yet the end may be better4 ,the sensuous indulgence which ,ecclesiastes preaches in its earlier portions will never lead to such an end4 ,it breeds disgust of life1 as the examples of in all ages1 and today1 abundantly shows4 ,epicurean selfishness leads to weariness of all effort and work4 ,if we are unwise enough to make either of these our guides in life1 the only desirable end will be the utter cessation of being and consciousness4 ,but there is a better sense in which this paradoxical saying is simple truth1 and that sense is one which it is possible for us all to realise4 ,what sort of end would that be1 the brightness of which would far outshine the joy when a man-child is born into the world8 ,would it not be a birth into a better life than that which fills and often disturbs the 'threescore years and ten' here8 ,would it not be an end to a course in which all our nature would be fully developed and all opportunities of growth and activity had been used to the full8 which had secured all that we could possess8 which had happy memories and calm hopes8 ,would it not be an end which brought with it communion with the ,highest--joys that could never fade1 activities that could never weary8 ,surely the ,christian heaven is better than earth2 and that heaven may be ours4 ,that supreme and perfect end will be reached by us through faith in ,christ1 and through union by faith with ,him4 ,if we are joined to the ,lord and are one with ,him1 our end in glory will be as much better than this our beginning on earth as the full glory of a summer's day transcends the fogs and frosts of dreary winter4 ',the path of the just is as the shining light1 which shineth more and more unto the perfect day4' ,if the end is not better than the beginning1 it will be infinitely worse4 ,golden opportunities will be gone2 wasted years will be irrevocable4 ,bright lights will be burnt out2 sin will be graven on the memory2 remorse will be bitter2 evil habits which cannot be gratified will torment2 a wearied soul1 a darkened understanding1 a rebellious heart1 will make the end awfully1 infinitely1 always worse than the beginning4 ,from all these ,jesus ,christ can save us2 and1 full as ,he fills the cup of life as we travel along the road1 ,he keeps the best wine till the last1 and makes 'the end of a thing better than the beginning4' ,,misused ,,respite ',because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily1 therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil'--,,eccles4 viii4 #aa4 ,when the ,pharaoh of the ,exodus saw there was respite1 he hardened his heart4 ,abject in his fear before ,moses1 he was ready to promise anything2 insolent in his pride1 he swallows down his promises as soon as fear is eased1 his repentance and his retractation of it combined to add new weights about his neck4 ,he was but a conspicuous example of a universal fault4 ,every nation1 ,i suppose1 has its proverb scoffing at the contrast between the sick man's vow and the recovered man's sins4 ,the bitter moralist of the ,old ,testament was sure not to let such an instance of man's inconceivable levity pass unnoticed4 ,his settled habit of dragging to light the seamy side of human nature was sure to fall on this illustration of it as congenial food4 ,he has wrapped up here in these curt1 bitter words a whole theory of man's condition1 of ,god's providence1 of its abuse1 and of the end to which it all tends4 ,i4 ,note the delay in executing sentence4 ,every 'evil work' is already sentenced4 ',he that believeth not1' said ,christ1 'is condemned already'2 and that is one case of a general truth4 ,the text writes the sentence as passed1 though the execution is for a time suspended4 ,what is the underlying fact expressed by this metaphor8 ,god's thorough knowledge of1 and displeasure at1 every evil4 ,when one sees vile things done on earth1 and no bolt coming out of the clear sky1 it is not easy to believe that all the foulness is known to ,god2 but ,his eye reaches further than ,he wills to stretch ,his arm4 ,he sits a silent ,onlooker and beholds2 the silence does not argue indifference4 ,the sentence is pronounced1 but the execution is delayed4 ,it is not wholly delayed1 for there are consequences which immediately dog our evil deeds1 and are1 as it were1 premonitions of a yet more complete penalty4 ,but in the present order of things the connection between a man's evil-doing and suffering is1 on the whole1 slight1 obscure1 and partial4 ,evil triumphs2 goodness not seldom suffers4 ,if one thinks for a moment of the manifold evils of the world1 which swathe it1 as it were1 in an atmosphere of woe--the wars1 the slavery1 the oppressions1 the private sorrows--and then thinks that there is a ,god who lets all these go on from generation to generation1 we seem to be in the presence of a mystery of mysteries4 ,the ,psalmist of old exclaimed in adoring wonder1 ',thy judgments are a great deep'2 but the absence of ,his judgments seems to open a profounder abyss into which even the great mountains of ,his righteousness appear in danger of falling4 ,,ii4 ,the reasons for this delay4 ,it is not only a mystery1 but it is a 'mystery of love4' ,we can see but a little way into it1 but we can see so far as to be sure that the apparent passivity of ,god1 which looks like leaving evil to work its unhindered will1 is the silence of a ,god who 'doth not willingly afflict1' and is 'slow to anger1' because ,he is perfect love4 ,the ground of necessity for the delay in executing the sentence lies1 partly1 in the probationary character of this present life4 ,if evil-doing was always followed by swift retribution1 obedience would be only the obedience of fear1 and ,god does not desire such obedience4 ,it would be impossible that testing could go on at all if at every instant the whole of the consequences of our actions were being realised4 ,such a condition of things is unthinkable1 and would be as confusing1 in the moral sphere1 as if harvest weather and spring weather were going on together4 ,again1 the great reason why sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily lies in ,god's own heart1 and ,his desire to win us to ,himself by benefits4 ,he does not seek enforced obedience2 ,he neither desires our being wedded to evil1 nor our being weighed upon by the consequences of our sin1 and so ,he holds back ,his hand4 ,it is to be remembered that ,he not merely does thus restrain the forthcoming of ,his hand of judgment1 but1 instead of it1 puts forth a hand of blessing4 ,he moves around us wooing us to ,himself1 and1 in patience possessing ,his spirit1 marks all our sins1 but loves and blesses still4 ,he gives us the vineyard1 though we do not give ,him the fruit4 ,still ,he is not angry1 but sends ,his messengers1 and we stone them4 ,still ,he waits3 we go on heaping year upon year of rebellious forgetfulness1 and no lightning flashes from ,his eye1 no exclamation of wearied-out patience1 comes from ,his lips1 no rush of the sudden arrow from ,his long-stretched bow4 ,the endless patience of ,god has no explanation but only this1 that ,he loves us too well to leave any means untried to bring us to ,him1 and that ,he lingers round us to win our hearts4 ,o rare and unspeakable love1 the patient love of the patient ,god6 ,,iii4 ,the abuse of this delay4 ,we have the knack of turning ,god's pure gifts into poison1 and practise a devilish chemistry by which we distil venom from the flowers of ,eden and the roses of the garden of ,god4 ,i don't suppose that to many men the respite which marks ,god's dealing with them actually tends to doubts of ,his righteousness1 or of ,his power1 or of ,his being4 ,we have evidence enough of these2 and the apparently counter evidence1 arising from the impunity of evil-doers1 is fairly enough laid aside by our moral instincts and consciousness1 and by the consideration that the mighty sweep of ,god's providence is too great for us to decide on the whole circle by the small portion of the circumference which we have seen4 ,but what most men do is simply that they permit impunity to deaden their sense of right and wrong1 and go on in their course without any serious thought of ,god's blessings1 to jostle ,him out of their mind2 they 'despise the riches of ,his long-suffering goodness1' and never suffer it to 'lead them to repentance4' ,to the unthinking minds of most of us1 the long continuance of impunity lulls us into a dream of its perpetuity4 ,man's godless ingratitude is as deep a mystery as is ,god's loving patience4 ,it is strange that1 with such constant failure of ,his love to win1 ,god should still persevere in it4 ,for more than seventy times seven ,he persists in forgiving the rebellious child who sins against ,him1 and for more than seventy times seven the child persists in the abuse of the ,father's love1 which still remains-an abuse of sin above all sins4 ,,iv4 ,the end of the delay4 ,the sentence is passed4 ,it is impossible that it should not be executed4 ,when ,god has done all1 and sees that the point of hopelessness is reached1 or when the time has for other reasons come1 then ,he lets the sentence take effect4 ,he kept back the destroying angels from ,sodom1 but ,he sent them forth at last4 ,there is a point in the history of nations and of men when iniquity is 'full1' and when ,god sees that it is best1 on world-wide grounds or personal ones1 to end it4 ,so there come for nations and for individuals crises2 and the law for the divine working is1 ',a short work will the ,lord make on the earth4' ,for long years ,noah was building the ark1 and exposed to the scoffs of a generation whose sentence had been pronounced and not yet executed2 but the day came when he entered into its covert1 and 'the flood came and destroyed them all4' ,for generations ,he would fain have gathered the people of ,jerusalem to ,his bosom 'as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings1 and they would not'2 but the day came when the ,roman soldiers cast their torches into the beautiful house where their fathers had praised ,him1 and sinned against ,him1 and it was left unto them desolate4 ,let us not be high-minded nor victims of our levity and inconsiderateness1 but fear4 ,let us remember too that the intensity of the execution is aggravated by all the sins committed during the delay4 ,by them we 'treasure wrath against the day of wrath4' ,he says to ,his angels at last ',now1' and the sword falls1 and justice is done4 ',the mills of ,god grind slowly1 but they grind exceeding small4' ,the sum of the whole matter is1 every evil of ours is sentenced already2 the punishment is delayed for our sins1 and because ,christ has died4 ,god is wooing our hearts1 and trying to win us to love ,him by the holding back of the sentence which we are daily abusing4 ,shall we not accept ,his forbearance and take ,his gifts as tokens of the patient tenderness of ,his heart8 ,or are we to be like 'the brutes that perish1' knowing neither the hand that feeds them1 nor the hand that kills them4 ,the delay in rendering 'the just recompence of reward' only aggravates its weight when it falls4 ,as in some levers1 the slower the motion1 the greater the force of the lift4 ,,fences ,,and ,,serpents '444 ,whoso breaketh an hedge1 a serpent shall bite him4'--,,eccles4 x4 #h4 ,what is meant here is1 probably1 not such a hedge as we are accustomed to see1 but a dry-stone wall1 or1 perhaps1 an earthen embankment1 in the crevices of which might lurk a snake to sting the careless hand4 ,the connection and purpose of the text are somewhat obscure4 ,it is one of a string of proverb-like sayings which all seem to be illustrations of the one thought that every kind of work has its own appropriate and peculiar peril4 ,so1 says the ,preacher1 if a man is digging a pit1 the sides of it may cave in and he may go down4 ,if he is pulling down a wall he may get stung4 ,if he is working in a quarry there may be a fall of rock4 ,if he is a woodman the tree he is felling may crush him4 ,what then8 ,is the inference to be1 ,sit still and do nothing1 because you may get hurt whatever you do8 ,by no means4 ,the writer of this book hates idleness very nearly as much as he does what he calls 'folly1' and his inference is stated in the next verse--',wisdom is profitable to direct4' ,that is to say1 since all work has its own dangers1 work warily1 and with your brains as well as your muscles1 and do not put your hand into the hollow in the wall1 until you have looked to see whether there are any snakes in it4 ,is that very wholesome maxim of prudence all that is meant to be learned8 ,i think not4 ,the previous clause1 at all events1 embodies a well-known metaphor of the ,old ,testament4 ',he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it1' often occurs as expressing the retribution in kind that comes down on the cunning plotter against other men's prosperity1 and the conclusion that wisdom suggests in that application of the sentence is1 ',dig judiciously1' but ',do not dig at all4' ,and so in my text the 'wall' may stand for the limitations and boundary-lines of our lives1 and the inference that wisdom suggests in that application of the saying is not ',pull down judiciously1' but ',keep the fence up1 and be sure you keep on the right side of it4' ,for any attempt to pull it down--which being interpreted is1 to transgress the laws of life which ,god has enjoined--is sure to bring out the hissing snake with its poison4 ,now it is in that aspect that ,i want to look at the words before us4 ,i4 ,first of all1 let us take that thought which underlies my text--that all life is given us rigidly walled up4 ,the first thing that the child learns is1 that it must not do what it likes4 ,the last lesson that the old man has to learn is1 you must do what you ought4 ,and between these two extremes of life we are always making attempts to treat the world as an open common1 on which we may wander at our will4 ,and before we have gone many steps1 some sort of keeper or other meets us and says to us1 ',trespassers1 back again to the road6' ,life is rigidly hedged in and limited4 ,to live as you like is the prerogative of a brute4 ,to live as you ought1 and to recognise and command by obeying the laws and limitations stamped upon our very nature and enjoined by our circumstances1 is the freedom and the glory of a man4 ,there are limitations1 ,i say--fences on all sides4 ,men put up their fences2 and they are often like the wretched wooden hoardings that you sometimes see limiting the breadth of a road4 ,but in regard to these conventional limitations and regulations1 which own no higher authority or lawgiver than society and custom1 you must make up your mind even more certainly than in regard of loftier laws1 that if you meddle with them1 there will be plenty of serpents coming out to hiss and bite4 ,no man that defies the narrow maxims and petty restrictions of conventional ways1 and sets at nought the opinions of the people round about him1 but must make up his mind for backbiting and slander and opposition of all sorts4 ,it is the price that we pay for obeying at first hand the laws of ,god and caring nothing for the conventionalities of men4 ,but apart from that altogether1 let me just remind you1 in half a dozen sentences1 of the various limitations or fences which hedge up our lives on every side4 ,there are the obligations which we owe1 and the relations in which we stand1 to the outer world1 the laws of physical life1 and all that touches the external and the material4 ,there are the relations in which we stand1 and the obligations which we owe1 to ourselves4 ,and ,god has so made us as that obviously large tracts of every man's nature are given to him on purpose to be restrained1 curbed1 coerced1 and sometimes utterly crushed and extirpated4 ,god gives us our impulses under lock and key4 ,all our animal desires1 all our natural tendencies1 are held on condition that we exercise control over them1 and keep them well within the rigidly marked limits which ,he has laid down1 and which we can easily find out4 ,there are1 further1 the relations in which we stand1 and the obligations and limitations1 therefore1 under which we come1 to the people round about us4 ,high above them all1 and in some sense including them all1 but loftier than these1 there is the all-comprehending relation in which we stand to ,god1 who is the fountain of all obligations1 the source and aim of all duty1 who encompasses us on every side1 and whose will makes the boundary walls within which alone it is safe for a man to live4 ,we sometimes foolishly feel that a life thus hedged up1 limited by these high boundaries on either side1 must be uninteresting1 monotonous1 or unfree4 ,it is not so4 ,the walls are blessings1 like the parapet on a mountain road1 that keeps the travellers from toppling over the face of the cliff4 ,they are training-walls1 as our hydro-graphical engineers talk about1 which1 built in the bed of a river1 wholesomely confine its waters and make a good scour which gives life1 instead of letting them vaguely wander and stagnate across great fields of mud4 ,freedom consists in keeping willingly within the limits which ,god has traced1 and anything else is not freedom but licence and rebellion1 and at bottom servitude of the most abject type4 ,,ii4 ,so1 secondly1 note that every attempt to break down the limitations brings poison into the life4 ,we live in a great automatic system which1 by its own operation1 largely avenges every breach of law4 ,i need not remind you1 except in a word1 of the way in which the transgression of the plain physical laws stamped upon our constitutions avenges itself2 but the certainty with which disease dogs all breaches of the laws of health is but a type in the lower and material universe of the far higher and more solemn certainty with which 'the soul that sinneth1 it shall die4' ,wherever a man sets himself against any of the laws of this material universe1 they make short work of him4 ,we command them1 as ,i said1 by obeying them2 and the difference between the obedience and the breach of them is the difference between the engineer standing on his engine and the wretch that is caught by it as it rushes over the rails4 ,but that is but a parable of the higher thing which ,i want to speak to you about4 ,the grosser forms of transgression of the plain laws of temperance1 abstinence1 purity1 bring with them1 in like manner1 a visible and palpable punishment in the majority of cases4 ,whoso pulls down the wall of temperance1 a serpent will bite him4 ,trembling hands1 broken constitutions1 ruined reputations1 vanished ambitions1 wasted lives1 poverty1 shame1 and enfeebled will1 death--these are the serpents that bite1 in many cases1 the transgressor4 ,i have a man in my eye at this moment that used to sit in one of these pews1 who came into ,manchester a promising young man1 a child of many prayers1 with the ball at his foot1 in one of your great warehouses1 the only hope of his house1 professedly a ,christian4 ,he began to tamper with the wall4 ,first a tiny little bit of stone taken out that did not show the daylight through2 then a little bigger1 and a bigger4 ,and the serpent struck its fangs into him1 and if you saw him now1 he is a shambling wreck1 outside of society1 and1 as we sometimes tremblingly think1 beyond hope4 ,young men6 'whoso breaketh an hedge1 a serpent shall bite him4' ,in like manner there are other forms of 'sins of the flesh avenged in kind1' which ,i dare not speak about more plainly here4 ,i see many young men in my congregation1 many strangers in this great city1 living1 ,i suppose1 in lodgings1 and therefore without many restraints4 ,if you were to take a pair of compasses and place one leg of them down at the ,free ,trade ,hall1 and take a circle of half a mile round there1 you would get a cavern of rattlesnakes4 ,you know what ,i mean4 ,low theatres1 low music-halls1 casinos1 haunts of yet viler sorts--there the snakes are1 hissing and writhing and ready to bite4 ,do not 'put your hand on the hole of the asp4' ,take care of books1 pictures1 songs1 companions that would lead you astray4 ,oh for a voice to stand at some doors that ,i know in ,manchester1 and peal this text into the ears of the fools1 men and women1 that go in there6 ,i heard only this week of one once in a good position in this city1 and in early days1 ,i believe1 a member of my own congregation1 begging in rags from door to door4 ,and the reason was1 simply1 the wall had been pulled down and the serpent had struck4 ,it always does2 not with such fatal external effects always1 but be ye sure of this1 ',god is not mocked2 whatsoever a man1 or a woman either1 soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,for remember that there are other ways of pulling down walls than these gross and palpable transgressions with the body2 and there are other sorts of retributions which come with unerring certainty besides those that can be taken notice of by others4 ,i do not want to dwell upon these at any length1 but let me just remind you of one or two of them4 ,some serpents' bites inflame1 some paralyse2 and one or other of these two things--either an inflamed conscience or a palsied conscience--is the result of all wrongdoing4 ,i do not know which is the worst4 ,there are men and women now in this chapel1 sitting listening to me1 perhaps half interested1 without the smallest suspicion that ,i am talking about them4 ,the serpent's bite has led to the torpor of their consciences4 ,which is the worse--to loathe my sin and yet to find its slimy coils round about me1 so that ,i cannot break it1 or to have got to like it and to be perfectly comfortable in it1 and to have no remonstrance within when ,i do it8 ,be sure of this1 that every transgression and disobedience acts immediately upon the conscience of the doer1 sometimes to stir that conscience into agonies of gnawing remorse1 more often to lull it into a fatal slumber4 ,i do not speak of the retributions which we heap upon ourselves in loading our memories with errors and faults1 in polluting them often with vile imaginations1 or in laying up there a lifelong series of actions1 none of which have ever had a trace of reference to ,god in them4 ,i do not speak1 except in a sentence1 of the retribution which comes from the habit of evil which weighs upon men1 and makes it all but impossible for them ever to shake off their sin4 ,i do not speak1 except in a sentence1 of the perverted relations to ,god1 the incapacity of knowing ,him1 the disregard1 and even sometimes the dislike1 of the thought of ,him which steal across the heart of the man that lives in evil and sin2 but ,i put all into two words--every sin that ,i do tells upon myself1 inasmuch as its virus passes into my blood as guilt and as habit4 ,and then ,i remind you of what you say you believe1 that beyond this world there lies the solemn judgment-seat of ,god1 where you and ,i have to give account of our deeds4 ,o brother1 be sure of this1 'whoso breaketh an hedge'--here and now1 and yonder also--'a serpent shall bite him'6 ,that is as far as my text carries me4 ,it has nothing more to say4 ,am ,i to shut the book and have done8 ,there is only one system that has anything more to say1 and that is the gospel of ,jesus ,christ4 ,,iii4 ,and so1 passing from my text1 ,i have to say1 lastly1 ,all the poison may be got out of your veins if you like4 ,our ,lord used this very same metaphor under a different aspect1 and with a different historical application1 when ,he said1 ',as ,moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness1 so must the ,son of ,man be lifted up1 that whosoever believeth in ,him should not perish1 but have eternal life4' ,there is ,christ's idea of the condition of this world of ours--a camp of men lying bitten by serpents and drawing near to death4 ,what ,i have been speaking about1 in perhaps too abstract terms1 is the condition of each one of us4 ,it is hard to get people1 when they are gathered by the hundred to listen to a sermon flung out in generalities1 to realise it4 ,if ,i could get you one by one1 and 'buttonhole' you2 and instead of the plural 'you' use the singular 'thou1' perhaps ,i could reach you4 ,but let me ask you to try and realise each for himself that this serpent bite1 as the issue of pulling down the wall1 is true about each soul in this place1 and that ,christ endorsed the representation4 ,how are we to get this poison out of the blood8 ,reform your ways8 ,yes2 ,i say that too2 but reforming the life will deliver from the poison in the character1 when you cure hydrophobia by washing the patient's skin1 and not till then4 ,it is all very well to repaper your dining-rooms1 but it is very little good doing that if the drainage is wrong4 ,it is the drainage that is wrong with us all4 ,a man cannot reform himself down to the bottom of his sinful being4 ,if he could1 it does not touch the past4 ,that remains the same4 ,if he could1 it does not affect his relation to ,god4 ,repentance--if it were possible apart from the softening influence of faith in ,jesus ,christ--repentance alone would not solve the problem4 ,so far as men can see1 and so far as all human systems have declared1 ',what ,i have written ,i have written4' ,there is no erasing it4 ,the irrevocable past stands stereotyped for ever4 ,then comes in this message of forgiveness and cleansing1 which is the very heart of all that we preachers have to say1 and has been spoken to most of you so often that it is almost impossible to invest it with any kind of freshness or power4 ,but once more ,i have to preach to you that ,christ has received into ,his own inmost life and self the whole gathered consequences of a world's sin2 and by the mystery of ,his sympathy1 and the reality of ,his mysterious union with us men1 ,he1 the sinless ,son of ,god1 has been made sin for us1 that we might be made the righteousness of ,god in ,him4 ,the brazen serpent lifted on the pole was in the likeness of the serpent whose poison slew1 but there was no poison in it4 ,christ has come1 the sinless ,son of ,god1 for you and me4 ,he has died on the ,cross1 the ,sacrifice for every man's sin1 that every man's wound might be healed1 and the poison cast out of his veins4 ,he has bruised the malignant1 black head of the snake with ,his wounded heel2 and because ,he has been wounded1 we are healed of our wounds4 ,for sin and death launched their last dart at ,him1 and1 like some venomous insect that can sting once and then must die1 they left their sting in ,his wounded heart1 and have none for them that put their trust in ,him4 ,so1 dear brother1 here is the simple condition--namely1 faith4 ,one look of the languid eye of the poisoned man1 howsoever bloodshot and dim it might be1 and howsoever nearly veiled with the film of death1 was enough to make him whole4 ,the look of our consciously sinful souls to that dear ,christ that has died for us will take away the guilt1 the power1 the habit1 the love of evil2 and1 instead of blood saturated with the venom of sin1 there will be in our veins the ,spirit of life in ,christ1 which will 'make us free from the law of sin and death4' ',look unto ,him and be ye saved1 all the ends of the earth6' ,,the ,,way ,,to ,,the ,,city ',the labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them1 because he knoweth not how to go to the city4'--,,eccles4 x4 #ae4 ,on the surface this seems to be merely a piece of homely1 practical sagacity1 conjoined with one of the bitter things which ,ecclesiastes is fond of saying about those whom he calls 'fools4' ,it seems to repeat1 under another metaphor1 the same idea which has been presented in a previous verse1 where we read3 ',if the iron be blunt1 and he do not whet the edge1 then must he put to more strength2 but wisdom is profitable to direct4' ,that is to say1 skill is better than strength2 brain saves muscle2 better sharpen your axe than put yourself into a perspiration1 hitting fierce blows with a blunt one4 ,the prerogative of wisdom is to guide brute force4 ,and so in my text the same general idea comes under another figure4 ,immense effort may end in nothing but tired feet if the traveller does not know his road4 ,a man lost in the woods may run till he drops1 and find himself at night in the place from which he started in the morning4 ,the path must be known1 and the aim clear1 if any good is to come of effort4 ,that phrase1 'how to go to the city1' seems to be a kind of proverbial comparison for anything that is very plain and conspicuous1 just as our forefathers used to say about any obvious truth1 that it was 'as plain as the road to ,london town4' ,the road to the capital is sure to be a well-marked one1 and he must be a fool indeed who cannot see that4 ,so our text1 though on the surface1 as ,i say1 is simply a sarcasm and a piece of homely1 practical sagacity1 yet1 like almost all the sayings in this ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 it has a deeper meaning than appears on the surface2 and may be applied in higher and more important directions4 ,it carries with it large truths1 and enshrines in a vivid metaphor bitter experiences which1 ,i suppose1 we can all confirm4 ,i4 ,we consider1 first1 the toil that tires4 ',the labour wearies every one of them4' ,the word translated 'labour' seems to carry with it both the idea of effort and of trouble4 ,or to recur to a familiar distinction in modern ,english1 the word really covers both the ground of work and of worry4 ,and it is a sad and solemn thought that a word with that double element in it should be the one which is most truly applicable to the efforts of a large majority of men4 ,i suppose there never was a time in the world's history when life went so fast as it does in these great centres of civilisation and commerce in which you and ,i live4 ,and it is awful to have to think that the great mass of it all ends in nothing else but tired limbs and exhaustion4 ,that is a truth to be verified by experience1 and ,i am bold to believe that every man and woman in this chapel now can say more or less distinctly ',amen6' to the assertion that every life1 except a distinctly and supremely religious one1 is worry and work without adequate satisfying result1 and with no lasting issue but exhaustion4 ,let us begin at the bottom4 ,for instance1 take a man who has avowedly flung aside the restraints of right and wrong and conscience1 and does things habitually that he knows to be wrong4 ,every sin is a blunder as well as a crime4 ,no man who aims at an end through the smoke of hell gets the end that he aims at4 ,or if he does1 he gets something that takes all the gilt off the gingerbread1 and all the sweetness out of the success4 ,they put a very evil-tasting ingredient into spirits of wine to prevent its being drunk4 ,the cup that sin reaches to a man1 though the wine moveth itself aright and is very pleasant to look at before being tasted1 cheats with methylated spirits4 ,men and women take more pains and trouble to damn themselves than ever they do to have their souls saved4 ,the end of all work1 which begins with tossing conscience on one side1 is simply this--',the labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them4' ,take a step higher--a respectable1 well-to-do ,manchester man1 successful in business4 ,he has made it his aim to build up a large concern1 and has succeeded4 ,he has a fine house1 carriages1 greenhouses2 he has ',j4,p4' to his name2 he stands high in credit and on ,change4 ,his name is one that gives respectability to anything that it is connected with4 ,has he 'come to the city'8 ,has he got what he thought he would get when he began his career8 ,he has succeeded in his immediate and smaller purpose2 has that immediate and smaller purpose succeeded in bringing him what he thought it would bring him8 ,or has he fallen a victim to those-- 'juggling fiends 444 ,that palter with us in a double sense2 ,that keep the word of promise to the ear1 ,and break it to the hope8' ,they tell us that if you put down in one column the value of the ore that has been extracted from all the ,australian gold-mines1 and in another the amount that it has cost to get it1 the latter sum will exceed the former4 ,there are plenty of people in ,manchester who have put more down into the pit from which they dig their wealth than ever they will get out of it4 ,and their labour1 too1 leaves a very dark and empty aching centre in their lives1 'and wearieth every one of them4' ,and so ,i might go the whole round4 ,we students1 so long as our pursuit of knowledge has not in it as supreme1 directing motive1 and ultimate aim and issue1 the glory and the service of ,god1 come under the lash of the same condemnation as those grosser and lower forms of life of which ,i have been speaking4 ,but wherever we look1 if there be not in the heart and in the life a supreme regard to ,god and a communion with ,him1 then this characteristic is common to all the courses1 that1 whilst they may each meet some immediate and partial necessity of our natures1 none of them is adequate for the whole circumference of a man's being1 nor any of them able1 during the whole duration of that being1 to be his satisfaction and his rest4 ,therefore1 ,i say1 all toil1 however successful to the view of a shorter range of vision1 and however noble--excluding the noblest of all--all toil that ends only in securing that which perishes with the using1 or that which we leave behind us here when we pass hence1 is condemned for folly and labour that wearies the men who are fools enough to surrender themselves to it4 ,i need not remind you of the wonderful variety of metaphor under which that threadbare thought1 which yet it is so hard for us to believe and make operative in our lives1 is represented to us in ,scripture4 ,just let me recall one or two of them in the briefest way4 ',why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread1 and your labour for that which profiteth not8' ',they have hewn for themselves cisterns1 broken cisterns that can hold no water4' ',their webs shall not become garments4' ,that may want a word of explanation4 ,the metaphor is this4 ,you are all like spiders spinning carefully and diligently your web4 ,there is not substance enough in it to make a coat out of4 ,you will never cover yourselves with the product of your own brains or your own efforts4 ,there is no clothing in the spider's webs of a godless life4 ,ah6 brother1 all these earthly aims which some of my friends listening to me now have for the sole aims of their lives1 are as foolish and as inadequate to accomplish that which is sought for by them1 as it would be to seek to quench raging thirst by lifting to the lips a golden cup that is empty4 ,some of us have a whole sideboard full of such1 and vary our pursuits according to inclination and task4 ,some of us have only one such1 but they are all empty1 and the lip is parched after the cup has been lifted to it as it was before4 ,,ii4 ,and so1 consider now1 secondly1 the foolish ignorance that makes the toil tiresome4 ,the metaphor of my text says that the reason why the 'fool' is so wearied after the day's march is that he does not in the morning settle where he is going1 and how he is to get there2 and so1 having started to go nowhither1 he has got where he started for4 ,he 'does not know how to go to the city'--which1 being translated into plain and unmetaphorical ,english1 is just this1 that many men wreck their lives for want of a clear sight of their true aim1 and of the way to secure it4 ,there is nothing more tragical than the absence1 in the great bulk of men1 of anything like deliberate1 definite views as to their aim in life1 and the course to be taken to secure it4 ,there are two things obviously necessary for success in any enterprise4 ,one is1 that there shall be the most definite and clear conception of what is aimed at2 and the other1 that there shall be a wisely considered plan to get at it4 ,unless there be these1 if you go at random1 running a little way for a moment in this direction1 and then heading about and going in the other1 you cannot expect to get to the goal4 ,now1 what ,i want to ask some of my friends here is1 ,did you ever give ten deliberate minutes to try to face for yourselves1 and put into plain words1 what you are living for1 and how you mean to secure it8 ,of course ,i know that you have given thought and planning in plenty to the nearer aims1 without which material life cannot be lived at all4 ,i do not suppose that anybody here is chargeable with not having thought enough about how to get on in business1 or in their chosen walk of life4 ,it is not that kind of aim which ,i mean at all2 but it is a point beyond it that ,i want to press upon you4 ,you are like men who would carefully victual a ship and take the best information for their guide as to what course to lie1 and had never thought what they were going to do when they got to the port4 ,so you say1 ',i am going to be such-and-such a thing4' ,well1 what then8 ',well1 ,i am going to lay myself out for success4' ,be it commercial1 be it intellectual1 be it social1 be it in the sphere of the affections1 or whatever it may be4 ,well1 what then8 ',well1 then ,i am going to advance in material prosperity1 ,i hope1 or in wisdom1 or to be surrounded by loving faces of children and those that are dear to me4' ,what then8 ',then ,i am going to die4' ,what then8 ,it is not till you get to that last question1 and have faced it and answered it1 that you can be said to have taken the whole sweep of the circumstances into view1 and regulated your course according to the dictates of common sense and right reason4 ,and a terribly large number of us live with careful adaptation of means to ends in regard of all the smaller and more immediately to be realised aims of life1 but have never faced the larger question which reduces all these smaller aims to insignificance4 ,the simple child's interrogation which in the well-known ballad ripped the tinsel off the skeleton1 and showed war in its hideousness1 strips many of your lives of all pretence to be reasonable4 ',what good came of it at the last8' ,can you answer the question that the infant lips asked1 and say1 ',this good will come of it at last4 ,that ,i shall have ,god for my own1 and ,jesus ,christ in my heart'8 ,brother6 if ,i could only get you to this point1 that you would take half an hour now to think over what you ought to be1 and to ask yourself whether your aims in life correspond to what your aims should be1 ,i should have done more than ,i am afraid ,i shall do with some of you4 ,the naturalist can tell when he picks up a skeleton something of the habits and the element of the creature to which it belonged4 ,if it has a hollow sternum he knows it is meant to fly4 ,on your nature is impressed unmistakably that your destiny is not to creep1 but to soar4 ,not in vain does the ,westminster ,catechism lay the foundation of everything in this1 the prime question for all men1 ',what is the chief end of man8' ,ask that1 and do not rest till you have answered it4 ,then there is another idea connected with this ignorance of my text--viz4 that it is the result of folly4 ,now the words 'folly' and 'foolish' and 'foolishness1' and their opposites1 'wisdom' and 'wise1' in this ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 as in the ,book of ,proverbs1 do not mean merely dull stupidity intellectually1 which is a thing for which a man is to be pitied rather than to be blamed1 but they always carry besides the idea of intellectual defect1 also the idea of moral obliquity4 ',the fear of the ,lord is the beginning of wisdom'2 and1 conversely1 the absence of that fear is the foundation of that which this writer stigmatises as 'folly' ,he is not merely sneering at men with small brains and little judgments4 ,there may be plenty of us who are so1 and yet are wise unto salvation and possessed of a far higher wisdom than that of this world4 ,but he tells us that so strangely intertwined are the intellectual and moral parts of our nature1 that wheresoever there is the obscuration of the latter there is sure to be the perversion of the former1 and the man knows not 'how to go to the city' because he is 'foolish4' ,that is to say1 you go wrong in your judgment about your conduct because you have gone wrong morally4 ,and your blunders about life1 and your ignorance of its true end and aim1 and your mistakes as to how to secure happiness and blessedness1 are your own faults1 and are owing to the aversion of your nature from that which is highest and noblest1 even ,god and ,his service4 ,therefore you are not only to be pitied because you are out of the road1 but to be blamed because you have darkened the eyes of your mind by loving the darkness rather than the light4 ,and you 'do not know how to go to the city1' because you do not want to go to the city1 and would rather huddle here in the wilderness1 and live upon its poor supplies1 than pass within the golden gates4 ,my brethren6 the folly which blinds a man to his true aim and mission in life is a folly which has in it the darker aspect of sin1 and is punishable as such4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 note the plain path which the foolish miss4 ,he 'does not know how to go to the city4' ,what on earth will he be able to see if he cannot see that broad highway1 beaten and white1 stretching straight before him1 over hill and dale1 and going right to the gates8 ,a man must be a fool who cannot find the way to ,london4 ,the principles of moral conduct are trite and obvious4 ,it is plain that it is better to be good than bad4 ,it is better to be unselfish than selfish4 ,it is better not to live for things that perish1 seeing that we are going to last for ever4 ,it is better not to make the flesh our master here1 seeing that the spirit will have to live without the flesh some day4 ,it is better to get into training for the world to coma1 seeing that we are all drifting thither4 ,all these things are plain and obvious4 ,man's destiny for ,god is unmistakable4 ',whose image and superscription hath it8' said ,christ about the coin4 ',caesar's6' ',then give it to ,caesar4' ,whose image and superscription hath my heart1 this restless heart of mine1 this spirit that wanders on through space and time1 homeless and comfortless1 until it can grasp the ,eternal8 ,who are you meant for8 ,god6 ,and every fibre of your nature has a voice to say so to you if you listen to it4 ,so1 then1 a godless life such as some of you1 my hearers1 are contentedly living1 ignores facts that are most patent to every man's experience4 ,and while before you1 huge 'as a mountain1 open1 palpable1' are the commonplaces and undeniable verities which declare that every man who is not a ,god-fearing man is a fool1 you admit them all1 and1 bowing your heads in reverence1 let them all go over you and produce no effect4 ,the road is clearer than ever since ,jesus ,christ came4 ,he has shown us the city1 for ,he has brought life and immortality to light by the ,gospel4 ,he has shown us the road1 for ,his life is the pattern of all that men ought to aim at and to be4 ,the motto of the eternal ,son of ,god1 if ,i may venture upon such a metaphor1 is like the motto of the heir-apparent of the ,english throne1 ',i serve4' ,lo6 ',i come to do ,thy will'--and that is the only word which will make a human life peaceful and strong and beautiful4 ,in the presence of ,his radiant and solitary perfection1 men no longer need to wonder1 ,what is the ideal to which conduct and character should be conformed8 ,and ,jesus ,christ has come to make it possible to go to the city1 by that cross on which ,he bore the burden of all sin1 and takes away the sin of the world1 and by that ,spirit of life which ,he will impart to our weakness1 and which makes our sluggish feet run in the way of ,his commandments1 and not be weary1 and walk and not faint4 ,take that dear ,lord for your revelation of duty1 for your ,pattern of conduct1 for the forgiveness of your sins1 for the ,inspirer with power to do ,his will1 and then you will see stretching before you1 high up above the surrounding desert1 so that no lion nor ravenous beast shall go up there1 the highway on which the ransomed of the ,lord shall walk1 'and the wayfaring man1 though a fool1 shall not err therein4' ',blessed are they that wash their robes1 that they may enter in through the gates into the ,city4' ,a ,,new ,,years ,,sermon ,,to ,,the ,,young ',rejoice1 ,o young man1 in thy youth1 and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth1 and walk in the ways of thine heart1 and in the sight of thine eyes3 but know thou1 that for all these things ,god will bring thee into judgment4444 ,remember now thy ,creator in the days of thy youth1 while the evil days come not1 nor the years draw nigh1 when thou shalt say1 ,i have no pleasure in them4'--,,eccles4 xi4 #i2 xii4 #a4 ,this strange1 and in some places perplexing ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 is intended to be the picture of a man fighting his way through perplexities and half-truths to a clear conviction in which he can rest4 ,what he says in his process of coming to that conviction is not always to be taken as true4 ,much that is spoken in the earlier portion of the ,book is spoken in order to be confuted1 and its insufficiency1 its exaggerations1 its onesidedness1 and its half-truths1 to be manifest in the light of the ultimate conclusion to which he comes4 ,through all these perplexities he goes on 'sounding his dim and perilous way1' with pitfalls on this side of him and bogs on that1 till he comes out at last upon the open way1 with firm ground under foot and a clear sky overhead4 ,these phrases which ,i have taken are the opening sentences and the final conclusion on which he rests4 ,how then are they meant to be understood8 ,is that saying1 ',rejoice1 ,o young man6 in the days of thy youth1 and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth1 and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes1' to be taken as a bit of fierce irony8 ,is this a man taking the maxims of the foolish world about him and seeming to approve of them in order that he may face round at the end with a quick turn and a cynical face and hand them back their maxims along with that which will shatter them to pieces--as if he said1 ',oh1 yes6 go on1 talk your fill about making the best of this world1 and rejoicing and doing as you like1 dancing on the edge of a precipice1 and fiddling1 like ,nero1 whilst a worse fire than that of ,rome is burning'8 ,well1 ,i do not think that is the meaning of it4 ,though there is irony to be found in the ,bible1 ,i do not think that fierce irony like that which might do for the like of ,dean ,swift1 is the intention of the ,preacher4 ,so ,i take these words to be said in good faith1 as a frank recognition of the fact that1 after all we have been hearing about vanity and vexation of spirit1 life is worth living for1 and that ,god means young people to be glad and to make the best of the fleeting years that will never come back with the same buoyancy and elasticity all their lives long4 ,and then ,i take it that the words added are not meant to destroy or neutralise the concession of the first sentence1 but only to purify and ennoble a gladness which1 without them1 would be apt to be stained by many a corruption1 and to make permanent a joy which1 without them1 would be sure to die down into the miserable1 peevish1 and feeble old age of which the grim picture follows1 and to be quenched at last in death4 ,so there are three words that ,i take out of this text of mine1 and that ,i want to bring before my young friends as exhortations which it is wise to follow4 ,these are ,rejoice1 ,reflect1 ,remember4 ,rejoice--the fitting gladness of youth2 reflect--the solemn thought that will guard the gladness from stain2 remember--the religion which will make these things ever last4 ,first of all ',rejoice4' ,do as you like1 for that is the ,english translation of the words1 ',walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes4' ,buoyantly and cheerfully follow the inclinations and the desires which are stamped upon your nature and belong to your time of life4 ,all young things are joyful1 from the lamb in the pastures upwards1 and are meant to be so4 ,the mere bounding sense of physical strength which leads so many of you young men astray is a good thing and a blessed thing--a blessing to be thankful for and to cherish4 ,your smooth cheeks1 so unlike those of old age1 are only an emblem of the comparative freedom from care which belongs to your happy condition4 ,your memories are not yet like some--a book written within and without with the records of mourning and disappointment and crosses4 ,there are in all probability long years stretching before you1 instead of a narrow strip of barren sand1 before you come to the great salt sea that is going to swallow you up1 as is the case with some of us4 ,christianity looks with complacency on your gladness1 and does not mean to clip the wing of one white-winged pleasure1 or to breathe one glimmer of blackness on your atmosphere4 ,you are meant to be glad1 but it is gladness in a far higher sense that ,i want to secure for you1 or rather to make you secure for yourselves4 ,god delights in the prosperity and light-hearted buoyancy of ,his children1 especially of ,his young children4 ,ah6 but ,i know there are young lives over which poverty or ill-health or sorrows of one kind or another have cast a gloom as incongruous to your time of life as snow in the garden in the spring1 that pinches the crocuses and weighs down young green beech-leaves1 would be4 ,and if ,i am speaking to any young man or young woman at this time who by reason of painful outward circumstances has had but a chilling spring and youth1 ,i would say to them1 'don't lose heart'2 a cloudy morning often breaks into a perfect day4 ,it is good for a man to have to 'bear the yoke in his youth1' and if you miss joy1 you may get grace and strength and patience1 which will be a blessing to you all your days4 ,for all that1 the ordinary course of things is that the young should be glad1 and that the young life should be as the rippling brook in the sunshine4 ,i want to leave upon your minds this impression1 that it is all right and all in the order of ,god's providence1 who means every one of you to rejoice in the days of your youth4 ,the text says further1 ',walk in the ways of thine heart4' ,that sounds very like the unwholesome teaching1 ',follow nature2 do as you like2 let passions and tastes and inclinations be your guides4' ,well1 that needs to be set round with a good many guards to prevent it becoming a doctrine of devils4 ,but for all that1 ,i wish you to notice that that has a great and a religious side to it4 ,you have come into possession of this mystical life of yours1 a possession which requires that you must choose what kind of life you will follow4 ,every one has this awful prerogative of being able to walk in the way of their heart4 ,you have to answer for the kind of way that is1 and the kind of heart out of which it has come4 ,but ,i want to go to more important things1 and so with a clear understanding that the joy of youth is all right and legitimate1 that you are intended to be glad1 and to feel the physical and intellectual spring and buoyancy of early days1 let us go on to the next thing4 ',rejoice1' says my text1 and it adds1 ',reflect4' ,it is one of the blessings of your time of life1 my young friends1 that you do not do much of that4 ,it is one of your happy immunities that you are not yet in the habit of looking at life as a whole1 and considering actions and consequences4 ,keep that spontaneity as long as you can2 it is a good thing to keep4 ,but for all that1 do not forget this awful thing1 that it may turn to exaggeration and excess1 and that it needs1 like all other good things1 to be guarded and rightly used4 ,and so1 ',rejoice1' and 'walk in the sight of thine eyes'2 but--'know that for all these things ,god will bring thee to judgment4' ,well1 now1 is that thought to come in 7,i was going to say1 like a mourning-coach driven through a wedding procession7 to kill the joys we have been seeming to receive from the former words8 ,are we taking back all that we have been giving1 and giving out instead something that will make them all cower and be quiet1 like the singing birds that stop their singing and hide in the leaves when they see the kite in the sky8 ,no1 there is no need for anything of the sort4 ',for all these things ,god will bring thee to judgment'3 that is not the thought that kills1 but that purifies and ennobles4 ,regard being had to the opinions expressed at various points in the earlier portion of this ,book1 we may be allowed to think of this testimony as having reference to the perpetual judgment that is going on in this world always over every man's life4 ,a great ,german thinker has it1 in reference to the history of nations1 that the history of the world is the judgment of the world1 and although that is not true if it is a denial of a physical day of judgment1 it is true in a very profound and solemn sense with regard to the daily life of every man1 that whether there be a judgment-seat beyond the grave or not1 and whether this ,preacher knew anything about that or no1 there is going on through the whole of a man's life1 and evolving itself1 this solemn conviction1 that we are to pass away from this present life4 ,all our days are knit together as one whole4 ,yesterday is the parent of today1 and today is the parent of all the tomorrows4 ,the meaning and the deepest consequence of man's life is that no feeling1 no thought that flits across the mirror of his life and heart dies utterly1 leaving nothing behind it4 ,but rather the metaphor of the ,apostle is the true one1 ',that which thou sowest1 that shalt thou also reap4' ,all your life a seed-time1 all your life a harvest-time too1 for the seed which ,i sow today is the seed which ,i have reaped from all my former sowings1 and so cause and consequence go rolling on in life in extricable entanglement1 issuing out in this1 that whatever a man does lives on in him1 and that each moment inherits the whole consequence of his former life4 ,and now1 you young men and women1 you boys and girls1 mind6 this seed-time is the one that will be most powerful in your lives1 and there is a judgment you do not need to die to meet4 ,if you are idle at school1 you will never learn ,latin when you go to business4 ,if you are frivolous in your youth1 if you stain your souls and soil your lives by outward coarse sin here in ,manchester in your young days1 there will be a taint about you all your lives4 ,you cannot get rid of that brave law that ',whatever a man sows1 that1 thirtyfold1 sixtyfold1 an hundredfold1 that shall he also reap'--the same kind1 but infinitely multiplied in quantity4 ,let me therefore name some of the ways in which your joys or pleasures1 as lads1 as boys and girls1 as growing young men and women1 will bring you to judgment4 ,health1 that is one2 position1 that is two2 reputation1 that is three2 character1 that is four4 ,did you ever see them build one of those houses they make in some parts of the country1 with concrete instead of stones8 ,take a spadeful of the mud1 and put it into a frame on the wall4 ,when it is dry1 take away the frame and the supports1 and it hardens into rock4 ,you take your single deeds--the mud sometimes1 young men6--pop them on the wall1 and think no more about it4 ,ay1 but they stop there and harden there1 and lo6 a character--a house for your soul to live in--health1 position1 memory1 capacity1 and all that4 ,if you have not done certain things which you ought to have done1 you will never be able to do them1 and there are the materials for a judgment4 ,that is going on every moment1 and especially is it going on in the region of your pleasures4 ,if they are unworthy1 you are unworthy2 if they are gross1 and coarse1 and low1 and animal1 they are dragging you down2 if they are frivolous and foolish1 they are making you a poor butterfly of a creature that is worth nothing and will be of no good to anybody2 if they are pure1 and chaste1 and lofty1 and virginal and white1 they will make your souls good and gracious and tender with the tenderness and beauty of ,god4 ,but that is not all4 ,i am not going to travel beyond the limits of this present life with any words of mine1 but as ,i read this final conclusion in this ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 ,i think ,i can perceive that the doubts and the scepticisms about a future life1 and the difference between a man and a beast which are spoken of in the earlier chapters1 have all been overcome1 and the clear conviction of the writer is expressed in these twofold great sayings3 ',the spirit shall return unto ,god who gave it1 and the words with which ,he stamps all ,his message upon our hearts1 the final words of ,his book'2 ',god shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing4' ,and ,i come to you and say1 ',i suppose you believe in a state of retribution beyond8' ,i suppose that most of the young folk ,i am speaking to now at all events believe that ',thou wilt come to be our judge1' as the ,te ,deum has it2 and that it is this same personal self of mine that is to stand there who is sitting here8 ,god shall bring thee into judgment4 ,never mind what is to come of the body1 the quivering1 palpitating1 personal centre4 ,the very same self that ,i know myself to be will be carried there4 ,now1 take that with you and lay it to heart1 and let it have a bearing on your pleasure4 ,it will kill nothing that deserves to live1 it will take no real joy out of a man's life4 ,it will only strain out the poison that would kill you4 ,you turn that thought upon your heart1 my friends4 ,is it like a policeman's bull's-eye turned upon a lot of bad characters hiding under a railway arch in the corner there8 ,if so1 the sooner you get rid of the pleasures and inclinations that slink away when that beam of light strikes their ugly faces1 the better for yourselves and for your lives4 ',rejoice in the way of thine heart and1 that thy joy may be pure1 know that for all this ,god will bring thee into judgment4' ,and now my last word1 ',remember ,god1' says my text4 ,the former two sayings1 if taken by themselves1 would make a very imperfect guide to life4 ,self-indulgence regulated by the thought of retribution is a very low kind of life after all4 ,there is something better in this world1 and that is work2 something higher1 and that is duty2 something nobler than self-indulgence1 and that is self-sacrifice4 ,and so no religion worthy the name contents itself by saying to a man1 ',be good and you will be glad'2 but1 ',never mind whether you are glad2 be good at any rate1 and such gladness as is good for you will come to you1 and you can want the rest4' ',remember thy ,creator in the days of thy youth4' ,recall ,god to your thoughts1 and keep ,him in your mind all the day long4 ,that is wonderfully unlike your life1 is it not8 ,remember thy ,creator2 shift the centre of your life4 ,what ,i have been saying might be true of a man1 the centre of whose life was himself1 and such a man is next door to a devil1 for1 ,i suppose1 the definition of devil is 'self-engrossed still1' and whosoever lives for himself is dead4 ,don't let the earth be the centre of your system1 but the sun4 ,do not live to yourselves1 or your pleasures will all be ignoble and creeping1 but live to ,god4 ',remember4' ,well1 then1 you and ,i know a good deal more about ,god than the writer of the ,book of ,ecclesiastes did--both about what ,he is and how to remember ,him4 ,i am not going to content myself by taking his point of view1 but ,i must take a far higher and a far better one4 ,if he had been here he would have said ',remember ,god4' ,he would have said1 ',look at ,god in ,jesus ,christ1 and trust ,him and love ,him2 go to ,him as your ,saviour1 and take all the burden of your past sin and lay it upon ,his merciful shoulders1 and for ,his dear sake look for forgiveness and cleansing2 and then for ,his dear sake live to serve and bless ,him4 ,never mind about yourself1 and do not think much about your gladness4 ,follow in the footsteps of ,him who has shown us that the highest joy is to give oneself utterly away4 ,love ,jesus ,christ and trust ,him and serve ,him1 and that will make all your gladness permanent4' ,there is one thing ,i want to teach you4 ,look at that description1 or rather read when you go home the description which follows my text1 of that wretched old man who has got no hope in ,god and no joy1 feeble in body1 going down to the grave1 and dying out at last4 ,that is what rejoicing in the days of thy youth1 and walking in the ways of thine own heart1 come to when you do not remember ,god4 ,there is nothing more miserable on the face of this earth than an ill-conditioned old man1 who is ill-conditioned because he has lost his early joys and early strength1 and has got nothing to make up for them4 ,how many of your joys1 my dear young friends1 will last when old age comes to you8 ,how many of them will survive when your eye is no longer bright1 and your hand no longer strong1 and your foot no longer fleet8 ,how many of them1 young woman6 when the light is out of your eye1 and the beauty and freshness out of your face and figure1 when you are no longer able for parties1 when it is no longer a pastime to read novels1 and when the ballroom is not exactly the place for you1--how many of your pleasures will survive8 ,young man6 how many of yours will last when you can no longer go into dissipation1 and stomach and system will no longer stand fast living1 nor athletics1 and the like8 ,oh6 let me beseech thee1 go to the ant and consider her ways1 who in the summer layeth up for the winter2 and do ye likewise in the days of your youth1 store up for yourselves that which knows no change and laughs at the decay of flesh and sense4 ,a thousand motives coincide and press on my memory if ,i had words and time to speak them4 ,let me beseech you--especially you young men and women of this congregation1 of some of whom ,i may venture to speak as a father to his children1 whom ,i have seen growing up1 as it were1 from your mothers' arms1 and the rest of you whom ,i do not know so well--,oh6 carry away with you this beseeching entreaty of mine at the end4 ,love ,jesus ,christ and trust to ,him as your ,saviour2 serve ,him as your ,captain and your ,king in the days of your youth4 ,do not offer ,him the fag end of a life--the last inch of the candle that is burning down into the socket4 ,do it now1 for the moments are flying1 and you may never have ,him offered to you any more4 ,if there is any softening1 any touch of conscience in your heart1 yield to the impulse and do not stifle it4 ,take ,christ for your ,saviour1 take ,him now--',now is the accepted time1 now is the day of salvation4' ,,the ,,conclusion ,,of ,,the ,,matter ',remember now thy ,creator in the days of thy youth1 while the evil days come not1 nor the years draw nigh1 when thou shalt say1 ,i have no pleasure in them2 #b4 ,while the sun1 or the light1 or the moon1 or the stars1 be not darkened1 nor the clouds return after the rain2 #c4 ,in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble1 and the strong men shall bow themselves1 and the grinders cease because they are few1 and those that look out of the windows be darkened1 #d4 ,and the doors shall be shut in the streets1 when the sound of the grinding is low1 and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird1 and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low2 #e4 ,also when they shall be afraid of that which is high1 and fears shall be in the way1 and the almond tree shall flourish1 and the grasshopper shall be a burden1 and desire shall fail3 because man goeth to his long home1 and the mourners go about the streets3 #f4 ,or ever the silver cord be loosed1 or the golden bowl be broken1 or the pitcher be broken at the fountain1 or the wheel broken at the cistern4 #g4 ,then shall the dust return to the earth as it was3 and the spirit shall return unto ,god who gave it4444 #ac4 ,let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter3 ,fear ,god1 and keep ,his commandments3 for this is the whole duty of man4 #ad4 ,for ,god shall bring every work into judgment1 with every secret thing1 whether it be good1 or whether it be evil4'--,,eccles4 xii4 #a-g1ac1ad4 ,the ,preacher has passed in review 'all the works that are done under the sun1' and has now reached the end of his long investigation4 ,it has been a devious path4 ,he has announced many provisional conclusions1 which are not intended for ultimate truths1 but rather represent the progress of the soul towards the final1 sufficient ground and object of belief and aim of all life1 even ,god ,himself4 ',vanity of vanities' is a cheerless creed and a half-truth4 ,its completion lies in being driven1 by recognising vanity as stamped on all creatures1 to clasp the one reality4 ',all is vanity' apart from ,god1 but ,he is fullness1 and possessed and enjoyed and endured in ,him1 life is not 'a striving after wind4' ,leave out this last section1 and this book of so-called ',wisdom' is one-sided and therefore error1 as is modern pessimism1 which only says more feebly what the ,preacher had said long ago4 ,take the rest of the book as the autobiography of a seeker after reality1 and this last section as his declaration of where he had found it1 and all the previous parts fall into their right places4 ,our passage omits the first portion of the closing section1 which is needed in order to set the counsel to remember the ,creator in its right relation4 ,observe that1 properly rendered1 the advice in verse #a is 'remember also1' and that takes us back to the end of the preceding chapter4 ,there the young are exhorted to enjoy the bright1 brief blossom-time of their youth1 withal keeping the consciousness of responsibility for its employment4 ,in earlier parts of the book similar advice had been given1 but based on different grounds4 ,here religion and full enjoyment of youthful buoyancy and delight in fresh1 unhackneyed1 homely pleasures are proclaimed to be perfectly compatible4 ,the ,preacher had no idea that a devout young man or woman was to avoid pleasures natural to their age4 ,only he wished their joy to be pure1 and the stern law that 'whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap' to be kept in mind4 ,subject to that limitation1 or rather that guiding principle1 it is not only allowable1 but commanded1 to 'put away sorrow and evil4' ,young people are often liable to despondent moods1 which come over them like morning mists1 and these have to be fought against4 ,the duty of joy is the more imperative on the young because youth flies so fast1 or1 as the ,preacher says1' is vanity4' ,now these advices sound very like the base incitements to sensual and unworthy delight which poets of the meaner sort1 and some1 alas6 of the nobler in their meaner moments1 have presented4 ,but this writer is no teacher of ',gather ye rosebuds while ye may1' and wicked trash of that sort4 ,therefore he brings side by side with these advices the other of our passage4 ,that 'also' saves the former from being misused1 just as the thought of judgment did4 ,that possible combination of hearty1 youthful glee and true religion is the all-important lesson of this passage4 ,the word for ,creator is in the plural number1 according to the ,hebrew idiom1 which thereby expresses supremacy or excellence4 ,the name of ',creator' carries us back to ,genesis1 and suggests one great reason for the injunction4 ,it is folly to forget ,him on whom we depend for being2 it is ingratitude to forget1 in the midst of the enjoyments of our bright1 early days1 ,him to whom we owe them all4 ,the advice is specially needed2 for youth has so much1 that is delightful in its novelty1 to think about1 and the world1 on both its innocent and its sinful side1 appeals to it so strongly1 that the ,creator is only too apt to be crowded out of view by ,his works4 ,the temptation of the young is to live in the present4 ,reflection belongs to older heads2 spontaneous action is more characteristic of youth4 ,therefore1 they specially need to make efforts to bring clearly to their thoughts both the unseen future and ,him who is invisible4 ,the advice is specially suitable for them2 for what is begun early is likely to last and be strong4 ,it is hard for older men1 stiffened into habits1 and with less power and love of taking to new courses1 to turn to ,god1 if they have forgotten ,him in early days4 ,conversion is possible at any age1 but it is less likely as life goes on4 ,the most of men who are ,christians have become so in the formative period between boyhood and thirty4 ,after that age1 the probabilities of radical change diminish rapidly4 ,so1 ',remember 444 in the days of thy youth1' or the likelihood is that you will never remember4 ,to say1 ',i mean to have my fling1 and ,i shall turn over a new leaf when ,i am older1' is to run dreadful risk4 ,perhaps you will never be older4 ,probably1 if you are1 you will not want to turn the leaf4 ,if you do1 what a shame it is to plan to give ,god only the dregs of life6 ,you need ,him1 quite as much1 if not more1 now in the flush of youth as in old age4 ,why should you rob yourself of years of blessing1 and lay up bitter memories of wasted and polluted moments8 ,if ever you turn to ,god in your older days1 nothing will be so painful as the remembrance that you forgot ,him so long4 ,the advice is further important1 because it presents the only means of delivering life from the 'vanity' which the ,preacher found in it all4 ,therefore he sets it at the close of his meditations4 ,this is the practical outcome of them all4 ,forget ,god1 and life is a desert4 ,remember ,him1 and 'the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose4' ,the verses from the middle of verse #a to the end of verse #g enforce the exhortation by the consideration of what will certainly follow youth1 and advise remembrance of the ,creator before that future comes4 ,so much is clear1 but the question of the precise meaning of these verses is much too large for discussion here4 ,the older explanation takes them for an allegory representing the decay of bodily and mental powers in old age1 whilst others think that in them the advance of death is presented under the image of an approaching storm4 ,wright1 in his valuable commentary1 regards the description of the gradual waning away of life in old age1 in the first verses1 as being set forth under images drawn from the closing days of the ,palestinian winter1 which are dreaded as peculiarly unhealthy1 while verse #d;b and verse #e present the advent of spring1 and contrast the new life in animals and plants with the feebleness of the man dying in his chamber and unable to eat4 ,still another explanation is that the whole is part of a dirge1 to be taken literally1 and describing the mourners in house and garden4 ,i venture1 though with some hesitation1 to prefer1 on the whole1 the old allegorical theory1 for reasons which it would be impossible to condense here4 ,it is by no means free from difficulty1 but is1 as ,i think1 less difficult than any of its rivals4 ,interpreters who adopt it differ somewhat in the explanation of particular details1 but1 on the whole1 one can see in most of the similes sufficient correspondence for a poet1 however foreign to modern taste such a long-drawn and minute allegory may be4 ',the keepers of the house' are naturally the arms2 the 'strong men1' the legs2 the 'grinding women1' the teeth2 the 'women who look out at the windows1' the eyes2 'the doors shut towards the street1' either the lips or1 more probably1 the ears4 ',the sound of the grinding1' which is 'low1' is by some taken to mean the feeble mastication of toothless gums1 in which case the 'doors' are the lips1 and the figure of the mill is continued4 ',arising at the voice of the bird' may describe the light sleep or insomnia of old age2 but1 according to some1 with an alteration of rendering 7',the voice riseth into a sparrow's'71 it is the 'childish treble' of ,shakespeare4 ,the former is the more probable rendering and reference4 ,the allegory is dropped in verse #e;a1 which describes the timid walk of the old1 but is resumed in 'the almond trees shall flourish'2 that is1 the hair is blanched1 as the almond blossom1 which is at first delicate pink1 but fades into white4 ,the next clause has an appropriate meaning in the common translation1 as vividly expressing the loss of strength1 but it is doubtful whether the verb here used ever means 'to be a burden4' ,the other explanations of the clause are all strained4 ,the next clause is best taken1 as in the ,revised ,version1 as describing the failure of appetite1 which the stimulating caper-berry is unable to rouse4 ,all this slow decay is accounted for1 'because the man is going to his long home1' and already the poet sees the mourners gathering for the funeral procession4 ,the connection of the long-drawn-out picture of senile decay with the advice to remember the ,creator needs no elucidation4 ,that period of failing powers is no time to begin remembering ,god4 ,how dreary1 too1 it will be1 if ,god is not the 'strength of the heart1' when 'heart and flesh fail'6 ,therefore it is plain common sense1 in view of the future1 not to put off to old age what will bless youth1 and keep the advent of old age from being wretched4 ,verses #f and #g still more stringently enforce the precept by pointing1 not to the slow approach1 but to the actual arrival of death4 ,if a future of possible weakness and gradual creeping in on us of death is reason for the exhortation1 much more is the certainty that the crash of dissolution will come4 ,the allegory is partially resumed in these verses4 ,the 'golden bowl' is possibly the head1 and1 according to some1 the 'silver cord' is the spinal marrow1 while others think rather of the bowl or lamp as meaning the body1 and the cord the soul which1 as it were1 holds it up4 ,the 'pitcher' is the heart1 and the 'wheel' the organs of respiration4 ,be this as it may1 the general thought is that death comes1 shivering the precious reservoir of light1 and putting an end to drawing of life from the ,fountain of bodily life4 ,surely these are weighty reasons for the ,preacher's advice4 ,surely it is well for young hearts sometimes to remember the end1 and to ask1 ',what will ye do in the end8' and to do before the end what is so hard to begin doing at the end1 and so needful to have done if the end is not to be worse than 'vanity4' ,the collapse of the body is not the end of the man1 else the whole force of the argument in the preceding verses would disappear4 ,if death is annihilation1 what reason is there for seeking ,god before it comes8 ,therefore verse #g is no interpolation to bring a sceptical book into harmony with orthodox ,jewish belief1 as some commentators affirm4 ,the 'contradiction' between it and ,ecclesiastes iii4 #ba is alleged as proof of its having been thus added4 ,but there is no contradiction4 ,the former passage is interrogative1 and1 like all the earlier part of the book1 sets forth1 not the ,preacher's ultimate convictions1 but a phase through which he passed on his way to these4 ,it is because man is twofold1 and at death the spirit returns to its divine ,giver1 that the exhortation of verse #a is pressed home with such earnestness4 ,the closing verses are confidently asserted to be1 like verse #g1 additions in the interests of ,jewish 'orthodoxy4' ,but ,ecclesiastes is made out to be a 'sceptical book' by expelling these from the text1 and then the character thus established is taken to prove that they are not genuine4 ,it is a remarkably easy but not very logical process4 ',the end of the matter' when all is heard1 is1 to 'fear ,god and keep ,his commandments4' ,the inward feeling of reverent awe which does not exclude love1 and the outward life of conformity to ,his will1 is 'the whole duty of man1' or 'the duty of every man4' ,and that plain summary of all that men need to know for practical guidance is enforced by the consideration of future judgment1 which1 by its universal sweep and all-revealing light1 must mean the judgment in another life4 ,happy they who1 through devious mazes of thought and act1 have wandered seeking for the vision of any good1 and having found all to be vanity1 have been led at last to rest1 like the dove in the ark1 in the broad simplicity of the truth that all which any man needs for blessedness in the buoyancy of fresh youthful strength and in the feebleness of decaying age1 in the stress of life1 in the darkness of death1 and in the day of judgment1 is to 'fear ,god and keep ,his commandments'6