c^ — * — ^< 1 1839 Ve^icalSe5>^ A> BV 4811 .G69 1888 v. 2 Goulburn, Edward Meyrick, 1818-1897. Three counsels of the divine THREE COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER THREE COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER FOR THE Contiuct of tfte Spiritual Life PART I.— THE COUNSEL FOR THE COMMENCEMENT PART II.— THE COUNSEL FOR THE VIRTUES PART III.— THE COUNSEL FOR THE CONFLICT By EDWARD MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.D. DEAN OF NORWICH " Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." St. John vi. 68. IN TWO VOLS. — VOL. IL Hondon JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1888 CONTENTS CHAPTER III WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART IN ORDER TO THE INSTANTANEOUS SUPPRESSION OF EVIL THOUGHTS Evil thoughts must be at once suppressed for the sake of others as well as for our own sake, 2, 3 — Our Lord's statement as to the evil issues from the heart, 3, 4 — Comprehensiveness of the term "evil thoughts," 4 — Evil thoughts are evil actions in germ, 6 — (i) Elation at the possession of any gift or advantage dangerous, 7 — The possession of gifts does no moral harm if we regard them as coming from God, and ourselves as accountable to Him for them, 8 — (2) Covetousness with regard to the possessions of others — when tempted by this say the tenth commandment with its Kyrie, 9 — (3) Harbouring of doubts — when these come say Collect for St. Thomas's Day, 9, 10 — The instant suppression of evil sug- gestions the trae policy of resistance, 10, 11, 12 — Every victory over sin the working of the grace of Christ, 13. CHAPTER IV WATCHFULNESS OVER THE TONGUE AGAINST BREACHES -OF THE THIRD COMMANDMENT David's desire to be guarded against sins of the tongue an evidence of his spirituality, 14 — A strong purpose necessary to keep the door of the lips, 14 — And the help of God, 15, 16 — Man's endeavour must co-operate with God's grace, 16 — Watchfulness over the tongue has both a negative and positive side — against evil, for good, 16 — By what criterion we are to distinguish good words VI CONTENTS from bad, 17 — For what end was language given to men, 17 — First to praise God, 17 — Psalm li. 15 a prayer in the original Hebrew, 17 n. — Our P. B. V. from the Vulgate, 17 n. — Secondly, to benefit men, 18 — Thirdly, to recreate the spirits of men under the burden of daily life, 18 — Any word answering to these ends not idle, 18 — Two commandments against wrong words, the Third forbidding wrong words against God, the Ninth wrong words against man, 18, 19— Perjury the extreme form of the first, 19 — Lower forms are (i) making unduly strong asseverations in con- versation, 19, 20 — (2) Irreverent use of Holy Scripture, 21-24 — Speaking lightly of the realities of the spiritual world, 22 — The harm done by attaching light or grotesque associations to the thought of the evil spirits, 23 — (3) Want of attention to the words we use in prayer, 24-26 — All lip-service, whether in church, or in family prayer, or in private prayer, a sin against the Third Com- mandment, 25 — Not to be disquieted if the mind be dry so long as we make a sincere effort to pray, 26 — (4) Rashness in making vows, 26-28 — Danger in these days of multiplied celebrations, lest in our privileges we forget our responsibilities, 27 — Each recep- tion of Holy Communion a renewal of the baptismal vow, a bind- ing ourselves afresh with the Sacrainentit.m, 27 — To imbibe the sanction of the Third Commandment is the best security for our keeping it, 28 — Language a lofty prerogative, 28 — The instru- ment of edification and praise, 28 — To use it for profane talking, or for slandering and tempting others, a direct perversion of the objects for which it was given, 28. CHAPTER V WATCHFULNESS OVER THE TONGUE AGAINST BREACHES OF THE NINTH COMMANDMENT Wrong words are either profane towards God, breaking Third Com- mandment, or slanderous towards man, breaking the Ninth Com- mandment, 30 — Various forms of injury to our neighbour forbidden by the Second Table, 30 — The extreme form of breaking the Ninth Commandment, bearing false witness in a court of justice, 31 — Which involves perjury, and thus is also a sin against God, 31 — This shows how closely our duty towards our neighbour is bound up with our duty towards God, 31 — Force of the words, "to hurt nobody by woi'd nor deed," 32 — Murder committed by the tongue, 32 — St. Francis de Sales on the sin of detraction, 33 — Three grades of sin forbidden by the Ninth Commandment, 34 — The last compounded of the two first, 34 — (i) Evil speaking. CONTENTS VU 34, 35 — ^Yhy it is wrong to speak against others even when true, 345 35 — God the great Coverer of sins, 35 — Symbolism of the Law hidden beneath the Mercy Seat, 35 — Exceptions when it may be right to speak of the fauhs of others, 36 — (2) Lying a sin against our neighbour as well as against God, 37, 38 — Truth- telling a fundamental quality of Christian morality, 37 n. — And the cement of society, 38 — Temptation to depart from tmth in conversation, 38 — Two restrictions necessary for innocent con- versation, 39 — Moderation, 39 — And accuracy, 40 — Method of freeing conversation from detraction and untruthfulness, 40, 41 — To avoid personal subjects, and to stock the mind with other matters, 41 — Our congeniality with Psalm cxix. a test of our spirituality, 42. CHAPTER VI WATCHFULNESS FOR OPPORTUNITIES OF SAYING A WORD IN DUE SEASON The Christian must not only refrain from vice, but must cultivate virtue, 43 — The tongue must utter good words, and not merely abstain from evil words, 43, 44 — Words may be a vehicle of grace, 44 — Life as well as death in the power of the tongue, 45 — " Redeem- ing the time," literally means "buying up the opportunity," 46 — The Christian to be ready to give to each man a reason of his hope, 47 — By the grace of the Holy Spirit he must be able so to discern character that he may meet individual needs, 48 — The capiive maid in Naaman's house an instance of use of opportunities, 48, 49 — Her sympathy and faith, 50 — The absence of narrowness in her, 51, 52 — No person in too humble a position to be useful in this way, 52 — Sympathy and goodwill necessary, 53 — Even the mere expression of genuine sympathy is helpful, 53 — But faith also is needed, 53 — Leading others to Christ the highest form of helping them by our words, 53, 54 — We may help them to realise some special side of divine truth, 54 — These opportunities would oftener occur if we watched for them, 54 — Every trivial detail or chance meeting with others is under the control of Divine Providence, 54 — Pray every morning for opportunities of helping others by our words, 55. VI 11 CONTENTS CHAPTER VII WATCHFULNESS TO REFRAIN THE LIPS FROM A MULTITUDE OF WORDS Watchfulness over the tongue implies not only restraint from evil words, and the seizing opportunities for saying good words, but also re- quires restraint from excess of words, 56, 57 — The New Testament more strict about words than the Old, 57 — Our Lord condemns not only evil, but idle words, 57, 58 — Words of recreation not idle, 58, 59 — The duty of cultivating silence occasionally pre- scribed in Holy Scripture, 60, and confirmed by reason and experience, 60 — Recreation necessary for our healthy life, but must be used with moderation, or will defeat its own object, whether in bodily or mental recreation, 61 — The tongue the special instrument of recreation, so temperance must be observed in its use, 62 — Meaning of " tattlers" in Greek, 62 and «., 63 — Idle words not exclusively from unoccupied persons, — they may come from the reaction after a strain of business or devotion, 63 — We cannot give out without taking in, 64 — The mind must be renewed by spaces of silence before it can take in through prayer and meditation, 64 — Ejaculatory prayer a necessity of the spiritual life, 64 — Mental glances to Christ the aspirations of the soul, 64 — We cannot impress others unless we are impressed ourselves, 65 — Example of the Blessed Virgin, 65 — Constant preaching tends to impoverish the soul, 67, 68. CHAPTER VIII WATCHFULNESS OVER THE SENSES The heart must be guarded not only at the avenue of the tongue, but also of the senses, 70 — By the tongue we impress others, by the senses ourselves, 70 — The temptation of Eve the model of all temptations, 71— It reached her through each of the senses, ear, eye, taste, 71 — Also through the mind by curiosity, 72 — The rational soul is tempted through the senses, — without it there would be no temptation, 72 — The capacity for receiving God's revelation, the perception of right and wrong, and the power of moral choice — all this is involved in a rational soul, 72, qi — Eve CONTENTS IX had received a revelation from God, she was not watchful over her heart and so fell, 73 — St. Paul's quotation from Menander — "Communications" give the idea of "conversation," 74 and n. — temptations to boys at school through evil communica- tions, 74, 75 — Duty of turning our ears away from gossip, 75, 76 — Talebearing an injury to oneself as well as to society, 76 — Yet good as well as evil comes through these avenues of the mind, 77— Temptations through the eye dwelt upon in Holy Scripture, 77, 78 — Covetousness, 79, 80 — Covetousness the root of Socialism, 81 — Means of suppressing covetous desires, 81 — Civilisation, while enlarging the range of temptation, enlarges the means of resisting temptation, 82 — Danger in the ready access to books, 82 — Yet this also gives us the antidote, 83, 84 — The lower senses — the smell, the taste, the touch, all need watchful- ness, as the soul is constantly receiving impressions through them, 84. CHAPTER IX WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART AT THE AVENUE OF MORAL ACTION Evil gets access to us, and passes out of us through the tongue — through the senses it only gets access to us — through moral action it only passes out of us, 86 — I. Moral action in its graver passages, 86 — Holy Scripture warns us against indulgence of temper, 87 — e.g. Moses in losing his temper in smiting the rock lost the wish of his heart, 88 — ^Judas Iscariot having yielded to smaller tempta- tions received the final impulse to his treacheiy, by irritation at our Lord's exposure of his purpose, 89 — One method of restrain- ing temper to regard every trivial thwarting of our will as a cross laid on us by Christ, 90 — If we would live to Christ we must not allow ourselves to be carried away by any strong natural im- pulse, 91, or be too much absorbed in any pursuit, 91, 92 — Every action imperfect which has not God's service for its aim, 93 — 11. Our Lord demands our whole heart, life, energy, interests, 93 — God must be served in actions bound upon us by our own necessities, 93, 94 — The commonest actions, e.g. eating and drinking, can have a lower and nigher motive, 95 — either for mere natural appetite, or to keep the body efficient for God's service, 95 — God may and must be served in actions bound upon us by the necessities of the social system in which we have a part to play, 96 — God has a vast field of service — Wherein men are placed by His Providence in various positions, 96 — ^Vherein every vocation or calling (not only that of the clergy) is a ministry to God, 97 — Holy Scripture CONTENTS emphasizes this by quoting the duties of a slave, 97 — Christ ad- ministers for God in the realm of Providence as well as in that of Nature, 98 — All routine work can be consecrated by doing it for Christ, 98, 99. CHAPTER X ON THE PRAYER WHICH WE MUST COMBINE WITH WATCHFULNESS Pray" a weightier word than Watch, 102 — Solomon teaches the necessity of mingling prayer with watchfulness, 102, 103 — Nehemiah acted upon this in building the walls of Jerusalem, 103 — Christians must pray "in the Holy Ghost," while seeking to build a spiritual fabric, 1 04 — Daniel a martyr in will, though not in deed, 104 — A martyr is a witness, 104 — Daniel witnessed to the truth that continual daily prayer is indispensable to the spiritual life, 105 — Why prayer is indispensable, 106, 107 — Prayer the breath of the soul — an inspiration from God, an aspiration towards God, 107 — The receptive side of prayer is often ignored, 108 — A continual reception of God's grace neces- sary, 108 — Prayer too often confused with meditation, 108 — Re- ciprocity an essential part of the idea of prayer, 109 — This figured in Jacob's ladder, 109 — The Angel of Gethsemane an answer to our Lord's Prayer, 109, no — The strength brought leading Him on to still more earnest prayer, 1 1 o — Noah's dove an emblem of prayer, no — We should especially look for answers to prayer in time of temptations, 1 1 1 — A soul without prayer dead, 112. CHAPTER XI THE DIVINE master's INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRIVATE PRAYER Our Lord not only gave his disciples abstract instructions how to pray, but also furnished them with a model of prayer, 114 — His Counsel for private prayer in St. Matt. vi. 6, 1 15 — Based on his observation of the prayer of the Pharisees, 115, 116 — "They have their reward " suggests the idea of adequate compensation, 116 71. — Modern form of the Pharisaic spirit, 116 — Successful prayer must be a secret transaction between God and the soul, CONTENTS XI 117 — Solitude the first requisite for private prayer, 118 — This shown in our Lord's life in his busiest days, 11 8- 120 — Diffi- culty of solitude in the case of the poor, 121 — Remedy to keep all churches open, 121, 122 — Churches should be kept open for those who cannot have privacy at home, 123, 124 — If solitude not possible, there must be at all events privacy of the spirit, 125, 126 — This needful for all prayer, 126, 127 — The promise to prayer not an answer but a recompense, 127, 128 — The same to fasting and alms-giving, 128, 129 — If thwarted in the effort for privacy, by work for others, recall our Lord's example in St. Mark vi. , 129, 130 — If by other causes, have greater recourse to ejaculatory prayer, 130, 131. CHAPTER XII THE DIVINE master's INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMMON PRAYER Appropriateness of Divine punishments and rewards, 132 — St. Matthew xviii. 19, 20 — Our Lord's promise to united prayer, 132 — Promise made to the smallest number, 132, 133 — Blessing attached to quality not quantity, 133 — Agreement together the first condition attached to the promise, 133, 134 — This agree- ment implies a movement of the mind to comprehend the blessing, and of the heart to desire it, 135 — Importance of understanding the Prayer-book, 135 — The two agreeing together meet in Christ's name as his disciples, so " anything " they ask would be under his instructions, 136, 137 — The higher spirituality of the New Dis- pensation above the old, 137 — The blessing not attached to a place or building, but to " where " believers meet in Christ's name, 138 — "in My name," literally "into My name, 138 and n. — as his disciples, 138 — This involves a perception of the blessings flowing from united prayer, 139, 140 — What is the blessing promised? The presence of Christ as the God-man, over and above his omnipresence as God, 140 — In this light public worship is a sort of Sacrament, 141 — Christ's appearance after his Resurrection was training the disciples to realise by faith his unseen pre- sence with them, 142 — The olessing is the all-prevailing presence of the great High Priest, 143 — Significance that the Father must be approached with closed doors, but the Son to be found where the human presence is the symbol and Sacrament of his, 144 — The blessing of united prayer not to be confounded with the higher blessing of Holy Communion, 144 — The distinguishing blessing of the Eucharist not so much the presence of Christ as XU CONTENTS union with Him, 144, 145 — This distinction a preservation from the doctrinal error of locaHsing the presence of Christ, and the practical error of non-communicating attendance, 145 — The privilege of daily worship, 145-148 — Our characters either im- prove or deteriorate under privileges, 146 — Delight of the saints of the Old Dispensation in the Temple Services, 147 — A far higher blessing given to Christian Services, 147, 148. APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XII The Spiritual Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist distinct on the one hand from the carnal and localised presence maintained by the Church of Rome, and from the merely figurative presence of the Zwinglian error, 149 — The leading idea of Holy Communion not the Real Presence of Christ, but the union with Him, 149-151 — The thought of union while it involves the Real Presence goes far beyond it, 151 — His Presence covenanted to the far lower act of united prayer, 151. CHAPTER XIII THE CHARACTER OF SUCCESSFUL PRAYER Two aspects of prayer — homage done to God, and a means of supply- ing human needs, 152 — The subject twice dealt with in the Sermon on the Mount, 152 — In St. Matt. vi. is the warning against vain repetitions, 152 — Implying that all repetitions are not vain, 153 — Our Lord's prayer in Gethsemane, 153 — St. Paul's prayer about the thorn in the flesh, 153 — Importunity in prayer taught by Our Lord in St. Matt. vii. 7, and enforced by the parable of the Unjust Judge, 154 — (i) Asking, implying tell- ing God our specific needs and wishes, 155 — ^Jacob's prayer for deliverance from Esau, 155-157 — (2) Seeking, distinct from ask- ing, is prayer in the shape of effort after the thing prayed for, 157, 158 — We must fight against the devil as well as pray, 158 — Prayer is a mockery without watchfulness and resistance, 159 — These a presumption without prayer, 159 — (3) Knocking denotes expectation of an answer, 159 — This emphasised in the parable of the Friend at Midnight, whose perseverance in knocking obtains its object, 160 — Prayer only lives in an atmosphere of hope, 162 — True prayer involves the will to strive after, and the expecta- tion to anticipate, no less than the wish to obtain the blessing prayed for, 162. CONTENTS Xlll CHAPTER XIV PRAYER AN INSTRUMENT OF DIVINE DISCIPLINE The largeness of the offer made by God to Solomon, 165 — Partly an acknowledgment of the King's devotion, 165 — Principally a test or trial of character, 166 — The chief wish of a man's heart a good test of his chai'acter, 166 — e.g. Herodias' daughter, 166 — The option given to Solomon a divine trial, like that of Abraham, though in a different form, 167 — Solo- mon comes out of it unscathed, 167-169 — (i) Limitations to the promises to prayer, 170, 171 — Which arise out of God's character and his relation to his people, 171 — Though a hearer of prayer, He has also other relations to us, 171 — His hearing of prayer a means to an end, 171 — e.g. Moses, David, St. Paul, 171 -173 — God makes his answers and refusals to prayer an instrument of moral discipline, 173 — (2) Answers to prayer conditioned by the character of the petitioner, 174 — Several conditions mentioned in Holy Scripture, 1 74 — Per- severance, 174 — Faith, 174, 175 — Love, 175 — To abide in Christ, St. John xv. 7, 175 — (3) Answers to prayer conditioned by the nature of the thing prayed for, 1 76 — Our wills must be subordinated to God's will, 176, 177 — Solomon's petition com- plies with the main conditions of successful prayer, 177, 178 — Impossibility of ascertaining the results of prayer by any human test, 178, 179 — Belief in the efficacy of prayer the best anchor of Christian piety, 180 — Irresistible attractiveness in the conception of a God who hears and answers prayer, 1 80. xiv CONTENTS SUPPLEMENTAL HELPS TOWARDS THE SOLUTION OF FOUR UNSETTLING QUESTIONS Profound connexion between pardon and peace, 183 — Peace flows from a sense of pardon, 183 — Impossible to serve God acceptably with- out "a quiet mind," 183 — The supplemental Chapters deal with four questions which often disturb peace of mind — the first relat- ing to self, the next two to our duty to our neighbour, the last to our duty towards God, 183, 184. CHAPTER I ON SEEKING GOD's GUIDANCE IN PERPLEXITIES The exact method of the revelation by the Urim and Thummim obscure ; the form of it very simple, 185, 186 — Its meaning, 186 — Only to be consulted in public matters, 186 — Consequences of Joshua's neglect, in Joshua ix. 3, 186 — David's use of the privilege, 187 — Jewish tradition that the Urim and Thummim only existed under the first temple, 187 — Mentioned in Nehemiah vii. 65, 188 — The saying of Caiaphas, St. John xi. 49-52, the last vestige of the prophetic gift of the high priest, 189 — The full revelation of God made by our Lord as the great High Priest, 189, 190 — The Christian antitype of the Urim and Thummim the Holy " Spirit of Counsel," 190 — Available for us at all times and on all occasions, 1 91- 193 — If we seek God's guidance, our will must be prepared to follow it, 193-195 — After praying for guidance we must use our own judgment, 196, 197. CHAPTER n OF THE RECONCILIATION OF COURTESY AND SINCERITY The Revised Version changes "courteous" for humble-minded, 199 — The word retained in Acts xxviii. 7, 200 — Real courtesy a form CONTENTS XV of substantial kindness or of love, 201 — So used in Shakespeare, 201 n. — Forms of social courtesy sanctioned by Holy Scripture in St. Paul's Epistles, 201-203 — Difficulty of "speaking the truth in love," 203 — Flattery, or sacrificing truth to love, a serious fault, 203 — Herod's fate a warning against flattery, 203, 204 — Easy to sacrifice love to truth, not heeding what pain we give to others, 204, 205 — St. Paul's behaviour before Felix a model of truthful- ness, 206 — He does not flatter Felix like Tertullus, 206 — But conciliates him by saying what is true, 207 — St. Paul's courtesy before Festus and Agrippa, 208-210 — Practical advice on how to speak the truth in love, 210-213. CHAPTER III OUR DISLIKES How to overcome our dislike to certain persons, 214 — Temptation to dislike others stronger in proportion to our strength of character, 214 — Most of God's Saints men of an ardent type of character, 215 — St. John, the Apostle of love, one of the Boanerges, 2 1 5 — Tra- dition of his conduct with regard to Cerinthus, 216 and n. — How the precept of love is to be understood, 216-218 — True love com- patible with indignation against evil, 217, 218 — In one sense all men are to be loved equally, 218 — All are on the same level, created by God, redeemed by Christ, and capable of sanctification by the Holy Spirit, 218 — But there may be preference for some characters above others, 219 — Our Lord's love for St. John, for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, 219 — Thereby consecrating friend- ship, 219, 220 — We are not required to love the faults of others any more than our own, 220, 221 — God's love for us is com- patible with his hatred of our sins, 221 — The Cross the measure of his love for the sinner, and his hatred of the sin, 221, 222 — We are forbidden to judge the faults of others, 222 — We violate law of love by being quick to see and exaggerate the faults of others, and blind to our own, 222, 223 — Rules — i. Do not speak of those you dislike, 223 — 2. Remember how precious they are in the sight of God, 224 — 3. Consider your own faults, 225 — 4. Pray for those you dislike, 225 — Prayer can only live in an atmo- sphere of faith, hope, and love, 226 — Strive above all for the grace of love, 227. .XVI CONTENTS « CHAPTER IV god's claim upon our substance The proportion of our alms-giving a crucial point in our spiritual con- dition, 229, 230 — God's distinct claim on part of our property set forth in Malachi, 231 — God there tells us that withholding tithes and offerings is robbery, 232 — The people having withheld their tithes were punished by barrenness of the earth, 232, 233 — Free- will ofteringsnot regarded in the Law as dues, 234 — The only rule in Scripture for the proportion of God's due is the tenth of all our income from whatever source, 234 — Objection that this is an obligation of the Levitical law, and therefore not binding on Chris- tians, 236 — The Levitical Law is not entirely abolished, only the ceremonial law, 236 — The Ten Commandments still binding on us, 236 — The principle of the tenth being given to God comes under the spirit and principle of the Fourth Commandment, 236 — The practice of giving a tenth to God existed before the Mosaic Law was given, 237 — Objection that the requirement to give the tenth presses so unequally in different cases, 238 — All duties are more trying to some persons than to others, 239 — The more trying God's demand on us is, the stronger the faith needed to meet it, 240 — The regarding the tenth as God's due gives a definiteness and zest to our free-will offerings over and above the tenth, 241 — It is shown in the people of Israel, Ex. xxxvi,, 5-7, 241 — a stimulus to liberality in the thought of our Lord accepting a free-will offer- ing, 241, 242 — If all Christians set aside the tenth, the Church would have enough funds for all needs, 242. CHAPTER III WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART, IN ORDER TO THE INSTANTANEOUS SUPPRESSION OF EVIL THOUGHTS 31t sfjall ttui^t tlbp IdeaD.— Gen. iii. 15. We are engaged now in expanding into particulars that counsel of the Divine Master's for the conduct of the spiritual life, which He wrapped up in the single word, " Watch." We saw in our last Chapter that this counsel opens itself out in the inspired precept of the Book of Proverbs, " Keep thy heart above all keeping," ^ and its context, — that context teaching that each of the avenues is to be kept, by which the heart communicates with the outer world ; the sally-port of the tongue (" Put away from thee a froward mouth "), the gate of the senses (" Let thine eyes look right on "), and the sally-port of moral action (" Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established "). We are now to take up each of these points more in detail. " Keep thy heart with all diligence." The heart is to be guarded against the sallying forth of evil thoughts, whether in the shape of word or action. ^ Prov. iv. 23 {??iar^.) VOL. II B i 2 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER Perhaps it might be asked, Why ? What is really needed is, it might be argued, that evil thoughts should be altogether killed, extinguished, extermin- ated ; the mere suppression of them, the merely not allowing them to find vent in the way of utterance, or in the way of action, will simply concentrate and intensify their power. Steam which is allowed no safety valve explodes and works mischief And angry, proud, or lustful tempers, if they are allowed no indulgence, either in word or action, will only gather intensity, until at length by such suppression they become uncontrollable. It may be worth while to answer this objection before we proceed. First, then, even if it should be allowed that suppressed thoughts and feelings become more intense by sup- pression, and so far more mischievous to the person harbouring them, it is not of his interests only that we have to think, but of those of his neighbours also. An unprincipled man is prompted by a feeling of hatred and revenge to commit murder. Possibly the wicked feeling might be considerably allayed, at all events it might be tempered, by some relentings of compassion, if the murder were actually committed. But it is plain to every one that no wrong to another person can be justified or excused by the consider- ation that a bad passion of the wrong-doer has been soothed and appeased by doing the wrong. *' None of us liveth to himself";^ our utterances and our conduct necessarily exercise an influence on those who surround us ; and even supposing that the in- dulgence of a wrong feeling were to ourselves a moral gain, we should have no right to indulge it at our ^ Rom. xiv. 7. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART 3 neighbour's expense. But the truth is that, though a wrong feehng may be temporarily allayed by its gratification, its permanent power over us, so far from being weakened, is increased thereby. The gratifi- cation has riveted another link in the chain of evil habit. The demon of hatred or lust, who seems to have gone out for a time, returns to his house whence he came out, reinforced by other demons, and with a larger mastery over the mansion. And it should be observed also that the suppression of wrong feelings, which we are counselling, is suppression by moral and Christian principle, not by mere external con- straint. The man who is restrained from publishing a slander merely by fear of the legal penalty of libel, the man who attends church simply out of deference to the fashion of good society, may be none the better man, none the more virtuous or God-fearing, the one for the restraint upon his tongue, the other for the observance of the ordinance. But it by no means follows from hence that he who curbs his tongue from a sense of duty to his neighbour, and he who goes to church from a sense of duty to God, is not greatly the gainer thereby. The motive, as it changes the moral character of an action, so it also affects its influence upon the doer. " Keep thy heart," then, "with all diligence," so as to suppress all its evil issues. And what are these evil issues ? We will take the statement of them as given by the Divine Master Himself in St. Mark vii., and study it. " There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him " (a posi- tion requiring a word, which shall be said in due course, to adjust it with the other equally Scriptural 4 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER truth, that evil may find access to man from the world outside him ^) ; " but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile " (or pollute) " the man.'' - (Observe the distinct asseveration of our Blessed Lord that the mere passing out from the heart of a wrong thought or a wrong feeling, the merely allowing it to find vent in word or in action, not only exercises an evil influence upon others, but re-acts upon the man himself who gives it passage, and pollutes his moral nature). " For from within, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, murders, thefts, covetings, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : all these evil things proceed from within, and defile the man." ^ " Evil thoughts " stand at the head of the black catalogue. The term is a wide and comprehensive one, and will embrace, not only reasonings and doubts, as when " thoughts arose in the hearts of the disciples " as to the reality and palpability of Christ's risen body,^ — not only unworthy imaginations, as when St. Paul says that the Gentiles, lapsing into idolatry, " became vain in their imaginations," ^ but also unworthy feel- ings and emotions, such as the secular ambition of the disciples, when " there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest." ^ In all these cases, as in St. Mark vii. 21, the word used in the original is hia\o^/LcriJLo<;, — ol. A sceptical sug- gestion, an impure fancy, a revengeful desire, will all come under the category of " evil thoughts." It is ^ See below Part III., chap viii. - Verse 15. 3 Verses 21, 22, 23, R.V. (except that I have taken the Authorised Version of the Avord /SXacr^Tj/ita, — "blasphemy," instead of "railing.") * See wSt. Luke xxiv. 38. ^ j^qj^^ j^ 21. ^ St. Luke ix. 46. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART 5 observable that most of the words which follow denote sinful actions, and not merely sinful thoughts, — " fornications," breaches of the seventh command- ment ; " murders," breaches of the sixth ; " thefts," breaches of the eighth ; " covetings " (for so it should be rendered, the word in the original being in the plural), such acts as Ahab's setting his eyes of envy on Naboth's vineyard,^ breaches of the tenth ; " wickednesses," such acts as the crafty attempt to entangle our Saviour in his talk by the question about tribute to Caesar, of which attempt it is said, " But Jesus perceived their wickedness " ; - " an evil eye " of jealousy and dislike, such as that wherewith Saul " eyed David " from the day when the women sang, on his return from the slaughter of the Philis- tine, " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands " ; ^ " blasphemy," a breach of the third commandment, such acts as that of Sennacherib when he sent Rabshakeh to reproach the living God."* It would seem as if by the four remaining words, " deceit, lasciviousness, pride, and foolishness," our Lord meant rather to indicate some act or acts than merely the state of mind ; as, for example, the deceit practised by the old prophet at Bethel upon the man of God that came from Judah,^ the lasci- viousness of Amnon,*^ the pride of Nebuchadnezzar,''' the foolishness of Rehoboam in rejecting the counsel of the old men.^ Anyhow, it is noteworthy that after " evil thoughts " have been mentioned generally as the noxious produce of the heart, different kinds, ^ See I Kings xxi. 2. - See St. iNIatt. xxii. 18 \Trovy\pia.-aC\. ^ See I Sam. xviii. 8, 9. ^ See 2 Kings xix. 3, 4. ^ See I Kings xiii. 18. ^ See 2 Sam. xiii. 2, ii, 14. ^ See Dan. iv. 30, 31. ^ See i Kings xii. 6, 7, 8,10,11, 13, 14. 6 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER not of evil thoughts, but of evil actions, should be specified. The probable explanation of this circum- stance is instructive. The Divine Master would show to his disciples at once the desperate wicked- ness of the human heart, and the spirituality of God's estimate of sin. Being under the dominion of the senses and of external things, we are apt to be more shocked by criminal deeds than by criminal thoughts. To say that " out of the heart proceed murders " thrills us much more with horror at the heart's depravity, than to say that out of the heart proceed hatreds, though in truth hatred is only murder in germ, as murder is only hatred consummated in act. And again, the Lord would have his disciples know, as He had already taught them in the Sermon on the Mount, that God, the Heart Searcher, sees adultery in the lustful look,^ and murder in cherished hatred and revenge.^ " Whosoever hateth his brother," says the disciple of the Lord of love, following exactly the lines of the Lord's own teach- ing, — that is, whosoever wilfully admits hatred to the precinct of his heart, not resisting its impulses, but nursing and cherishing them, and pondering the in- juries and slights for which the hatred is supposed to be due, — " is a murderer," ^ — is pronounced a mur- derer in the court of Heaven, though man's tribunals cannot recognise him as such, has the guilt and stain of murder upon him in the eyes of the Divine Judge. Is this accounted a hard saying ? If God accepts the will for the deed in the case of a good action, and accounts that as done in his service, which He sees that 1 See St. Matt. v. 28. - See St. Matt. v. 22. ^ I John iii. 15. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART 7 his people intend to do, and would have done, had they found the opportunity,^ shall we complain if He acts on a similar principle in the case of the perverse will, and sees in it too the evil deed which it would perpetrate, if it were not fettered by the restraints of human law ? The first thing to be done, then, in the way of keeping the heart, is to watch over its reasonings, its imaginations, its movements of desire. Every train of thought must be challenged and scrutinised before it is indulged in, under the conviction that a wrong frame of mind, even if it does not pass into action, but is simply persisted in, is offensive to God. One or two instances must suffice as examples. Other applications of the same principle the reader will be able to make for himself I. That elation of heart, which we are all apt to feel in the consciousness of possessing some gift of God, whether mental or external, some talent, or some special endowment of fortune, is always dangerous. The flattery of friends as to our powers and attain- ments, however kindly meant, and however accept- able as a mark of their sympathy, augments the danger a hundredfold ; for our hearts are apt to grow turgid and self-complacent on the slightest provoca- tion. But perhaps you may ask, " If God has given me abilities or advantages, which He has denied to others, how can I help being conscious of possessing such abilities and advantages?" You cannot help being conscious of it, but you can suppress by prayer, and looking at the subject from the right side, any undue elation of spirit. You can stop your ears ^ See I Kincrs viii. 18. 8 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER against flattery and discourage it. You can call to mind the fearful and instantaneous judgment which Nebuchadnezzar called down upon himself by his arrogance, when, walking in his palace, he spake and said, " Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?"-^ and that other still more awful, because irreversible, judgment which Herod, the persecutor of the Church, drew down by the swelling of his heart, when the people gave a shout, as he made his oration to them, " // is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." ^ You can secretly bless God for your talent, and confess to Him how little you have hitherto put it out to interest for his glory, and pray for grace to improve it more for the future, so that at the last you may have a good account of it to render in, when the Master cometh and reckoneth with you. If any of God's gifts is realised as his gift, which we received from Him, which we shall have to account to Him for the use of, and which may be withdrawn at any moment, the mere con- sciousness of possessing it cannot do us the smallest moral harm. 2. When we come across (as, living in the world, we must occasionally come across) displays of wealth and luxury, vast and beautifully situated mansions, sumptuously furnished, gardens which almost deserve to be called paradises of pleasure, and the thought crosses us that this command of worldly resources, ^ Dan. iv. 30. - See Acts xii. 21, 22, 23. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART 9 SO far more than enough for all the wants of the pro- prietor and his family, is enjoyed by him as an inheritance not toiled for by hand and brain, and the wish rises up in the heart, " Oh that so much of all this lavish plenty had fallen to my lot, that I might be at all events free from the necessity of working for my livelihood, and from anxiety about the future of myself and those who are near and dear to me ! " there is spiritual danger in that thought, in that wish, and, if the heart is to be kept with all diligence, the covetous desire must be forthwith resisted. Reflect on the absolutely certain truth, a truth estab- lished by the universal experience of mankind, that positions of the greatest affluence and the greatest eminence are usually the most encumbered with cares and responsibilities. Say mentally with the wise man, " When goods increase, they are increased that eat them : and what good zs there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes ?"^ and then, turning to the Father of thy spirit, say the tenth commandment with its accompanying Kyrie, " Lord, have mercy upon me, and incline my heart to keep this law ; write this thy law in my heart, I beseech thee." . . . " O turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity : and quicken thou me in thy way. 3. Once more. If you would keep your heart with all diligence, and if your mind has long been made up on the truth of the Christian religion, as set forth in Holy Scripture, interpreted by the Book of ^ Eccles. V. II. - Psalm cxix. 37, P. B. V. Some of the thoughts of this section will be found given more at large, and in a different connexion (that of the temptations which enter through the eye), in Chapter viii. of this Part. 10 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER Common Prayer, do not give a moment's harbour either to doubts which may insinuate themselves, or to curious but unpractical questions. When such doubts suggest themselves, say secretly the Collect for St. Thomas's Day. Ground thyself well in the truth, that a religion, whose foundations are laid in doctrines so far above man's reason as the Incar- nation and Atonement, must necessarily present many impenetrable mysteries to the human under- standing, and that God has purposely left many diffi- culties in Holy Scripture, by way of proving the humility and the faith of his children. And as to curious questions, which, if solved, would have no practical bearing, and contribute nothing to edifi- cation, discipline thy mind by sternly refusing it permission to pursue them. " The end of the commandment," we are told, " is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."^ The keeping that steadily before thee as thy mark and aim will secure thee from pursuing such speculations as, however interesting, and even provocative to curiosity, do not conduce to that end. But supposing the evil of a particular train of thought, or at least the dangerous tendency of it, to be detected, one counsel still remains to be given as to the policy to be pursued in suppressing it. That policy is immediate resistance : parley with the evil thought but for a moment, allow it but for a moment to plead for itself, and you are undone. It is not as if we were in a position to try fairly a questionable 1 I Tim. i. 5. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART ii train of thought, holding the balance even between what might be said against, and what in favour of, admitting it. " The infection of nature, which doth still remain, yea, in them that are regenerated,"^ includes a decided bias to evil, which must neces- sarily warp the judgment. Therefore, as soon as ever mischief or danger are detected in an evil thought, as soon as ever it becomes clear to the con- science that the devil lurks in it, it must be crushed, — crushed in its earliest germ. For from the very beginning of human history this was indicated as the true policy for defeating the devil. Eve parleyed with him, listened first to his insinuation against God, replied to it with an appearance of candour, and with a show of vindicating her Maker, was replied to by an impeachment of God's truth and goodness, and, admitting that fatal lie of the evil one's, fell an easy prey to him, and did what he solicited.^ Her Seed, it was predicted, the Divine-Human Champion who should spring from her, should conduct his war- fare against the Evil One in a manner the very opposite of hers. He should bruise the serpent's head, placing his heel upon it.^ In the head of a serpent are its fangs and its venom. And in its head, too, is its vitality. You might sever the body of the reptile, without immediately destroying its life and power of movement ; but crush its head, and you put an end to its existence. And, again, the head of a serpent makes the way, and procures access, for its whole body. Give it but a slight aperture wherein to insinuate its head, and with its wonderful power ^ Art. ix. Of Original or Birth-sin. 2 Gen. iii. 1-7. ^ Ibid, verse 15. 12 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER of convolution it will wreathe its folds into the recess where the head has already penetrated. When our Blessed Lord, the Seed of the woman, became sen- sible of the assaults of the devil, He repelled them instantaneously with " Get thee hence, Satan." ^ St. Peter once spoke smooth things to Him, counselling Him to spare Himself that pain and shame of the Cross, which were by some mysterious necessity indispensable for the salvation of man. Under the soothing and flattering words of the Apostle the Lord detected the venom, which the old serpent thought to instil into his mind, and turning upon him with holy horror and hatred. He said to the organ, through which the devil then spoke to Him, " Get thee behind me, Satan : thou art an offence unto me : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."^ Our policy must be his, if we would fight successfully against our spiritual foes. The motion of pride, or covetousness, or lust, or doubt, or malice, which is indeed only an instigation of the devil, using our corrupt nature as his instru- ment and organ, must be instantaneously suppressed. The serpent's head, which contains its venom, must be bruised, and himself thus rendered powerless. " Am I sufficient for this," thinks the timid soul, " with so strong a bias towards sin as constantly dis- covers itself in my heart ?" The very passage, which indicates that the true method of resisting the devil is by nipping his instigations in the bud, furnishes the answer. For it is the Seed of the woman, and He alone, who can bruise the serpent's head. The victory over sin won by the weakest saint is in truth ^ See St. Matt. iv. lo. - See St. Matt. xvi. 22, 23. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE HEART 13 the victory of Christ working in him, teaching his hands to war and his fingers to fight. It is the grace of Christ, or (to say the same thing in other words) the grace of God through Christ, which both gives to the will the first impulse to resist, and then confirms it in its resistance ; as it is said, " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."^ There- fore, when by thy watchfulness thou becomest sen- sible of the movement of the evil one in thy heart, pray at once to Him, who counsels us in temptation both to *' watch and pray ;" " O Lord Jesus, who hast gloriously defeated the devil for me in thy Fasting and Temptation, in thine Agony and bloody Sweat, in thy Cross and Passion, and thy precious Death, defeat him now in me, that thy triumph may be consummated." Wait upon Him thus in prayer, laying thy will at his feet, that He may use it as his weapon. And it shall be to thee in due time according to that sure promise, '' The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." - ^ Phil. iv. 13. 2 Rom. xvi. 20. CHAPTER IV WATCHFULNESS OVER THE TONGUE, AGAINST BREACHES OF THE THIRD COMMANDMENT %zt a itjatc!), © JLorn, licforc inp moutO ; Jtcep tl^e Door of mp lips*— Psalm cxli. 3. Among the many evidences of David's spirituality of mind which his Psalms exhibit, his desire to be guarded against sins of the tongue, and his thorough understanding of the way in which alone such guar- dianship can be achieved, are perhaps the foremost. It is hopeless, in the first place, he teaches us, to keep the door of the lips witJioiU a stro7ig piirpose to keep it. This strong purpose he professes himself to have made in two other Psalms, both of which, like the hundred and forty-first, are ascribed to him as their author. Thus he speaks in the thirty-ninth Psalm : " I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue" (observe the Psalmist's con- sciousness that circumspectness in a man's walk or conduct is tested by his refraining from sins of the tongue, quite agreeing with what St. James says, " If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body"^) : " I ^ St. James iii. 2. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE TONGUE 15 will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me " ^ (and to those who sojourn in the world, as it is God's will that his people should do, contact with the wicked is unavoidable). And again in Psalm xvii. : " Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing:" (nothing emphatically; not only nothing in action, but nothing in words ; for he immediately adds), " I am purposed tJiat my mouth shall not transgress"^ (how evidently was he conscious that sins of the tongue are no such slight matters as men esteem them, that for every idle word an account will have to be rendered ! ^) But David was well aware that, in order to the government of the tongue, not only was strength of purpose necessary, but that the purpose should be " strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might ;""^ for, conscious that he is all unable himself to govern his tongue, he implores God in the passage which stands at the head of this Chapter to undertake the guardianship of it. He had just been asking for the acceptance of his prayers at a time when he was in banishment, and precluded from access to the house of God ; " Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." And then it seems to strike him that, if his prayer was to find acceptance, there must be between it and the words spoken by him in social intercourse no inconsistency of tone, no cursing of men with those lips, which had just been used for the blessing of God ; ^ so he adds, "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth" (I am ^ Psalm xxxix. I. - Psalm xvii. 3. 3 See St. Matt. xii. 36. •* See Eph. vi. 10. ^ St. James iii. 9. i6 COUNSELS OF THE DIVINE MASTER unequal to so arduous a task myself) ; " keep the door of my lips." ^ What an interesting illustration have we, in David's method of governing his tongue, of the compatibility — nay, I should rather say the mutual interdependence and interaction — of man's endeavour and God's grace, the same lesson which the Apostle teaches, when he bids the Philippians " work out their own salvation with fear and trem- bling," because it was God that wrought in them '' both to will and to do of his good pleasure." ^ And now to resume in a few words the course of our argument. We are expanding the spiritual counsel, which our Blessed Lord gave to his disciples in the course of his Agony, that they should " watch." Following out this counsel into its details, as traced in the fourth chapter of the Book of Proverbs, we have seen that the heart is to be kept with all diligence at each avenue of access to it. We considered in our last Chapter that watchfulness over the thoughts, which constitutes the keeping of the heart ; and now we come to the guarding of the avenue of the tongue, the first of those enumerated by the wise man in the passage referred to. Now the duty of watchfulness over the tongue has evidently both a negative and a positive side. We must watch against evil words, so as not to allow them to escape from our mouth. But this is not enough. We must watch also for the opportunity of saying good words. The Apostle mentions both sides of the duty in the same breath in the Epistle to the Ephesians ; " Let no corrupt communication 1 Psalm cxli. 2, 3. 2 ^^^ pj-j^j^ \i ^2, 13. WATCHFULNESS OVER THE TONGUE 17 proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." ^ These then will be the two great divisions of our present subject. But before we enter upon the consideration of the first of them, we must know clearly what are good words and what evil, — what criterion we are to apply in discriminating the good from the evil. And here we must recur once again to the passage in the Book of Proverbs, which prescribes the watching of the heart at the avenue of the tongue. The words are ; " Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee." - "A froward mouth," ''perverse lips;" — these words, "froward," " perverse," give the idea of something which does not subserve the uses for which it was made, some- thing perverted from that which is its true end. And so arises the question, for what end was language given to man, what objects was it designed to sub- serve ? The answer is, first, that it was meant to be the instrument of blessing and praising God, as it is written ; " O Lord, open thou my lips ; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." ^ A tongue so 1 Eph. iv. 29. T:po