SE R  ONS
FO}R THE PEOPLE.
F. D. HUNTINGTON, D.D.,
PREACHIER TO TIlHE UNIVERSITY, AND PLUIMER PROFESSOR OF CHRISTIAN
iOIRALS IN THIE COLLEGE, AT CAMBRIDGEo
FIFTH EDITION.
BOSTON:
CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND  COMPANY.
CINCINNATI:
GEORGE S. BLANCIHARD.
1 8 5 8.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by
CROSBY, NICHOLS,  & CO.,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY METCALF AND COMPANY.




IF I were to say, in the familiar phrase, that these Sermons were
"prepared in the ordinary course of the ministry," and for the most
part at an earlier period of it, and " with no view to their publication,"
I should thus show no cause why they should now be deliberately
printed. If I were to record my sense of their manifold and large
defects, I should but appear to be pronouncing myself, in advance, as
wise as the critics. Let me only remark, therefore, that they have
been both written and printed, because I thoroughly believe the things
affirmed in them to be true, and have hoped that other persons might
be willing to meditate upon them with me.
The title given to the book will probably suggest all that needs to be
said of the principle that has governed the selection of subjects and the
style of their treatment.  One topic, the Reconciliation in Christ,
though by no means neglected here, has a less extended and less complete presentation, because of a desire to discuss it separately, more
at large, and more at leisure, than is possible now. Without bringing
forward any personal claim to the attention of considerable numbers
of " the people," I am earnestly desirous to render a little service to
some of those who are not much in the habit of reading discourses
prepared for the pulpit. Were I to give to this title a more special
and local application, by emphasizing the definite article, I should not
exaggerate my feeling of unmingled and unmeasured gratitude and
love towards my former congregation,- a People that must always be
to me, in a signification that stands alone, THE PEOPLE, -a People
that I tried for thirteen years to help, whose harmony, energy, and
fidelity made my work delightful, and whose constant kindness I cannot
repay, save by these unworthy acknowledgments, and by an attachment that will never be changed.
F. D. H.
CAMBRIDGE, MAY 1, 1856.








CONTENTS.
SERMON I.
PAGE
OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY                               1
SERMON II.
REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS                        16
SERMON III.
ASKING AND RECEIVING.31
SERMON IV.
THE SOUL'S SEARCH.                                        45
SERMON V.
THE SOUL S CORONATION.                                     57
SERMON VI.
HOMEWARD STEPS.71
SERMON VII.
HOLINESS TO THE LORD.........  88
SERMON VIII.
SATAN TRANSFORMED.                                       103




V1                       CONTENTS.
SERMON IX.
FOUR APOSTLES.                                           117
SERMON X.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.134
SERMON XI.
WVOMAN'S POSITION                                         149
SERMON XII.
THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.                                     164
SERMON XIIT.
THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.                                    178
SERMON XIV.
CHILDREN, -HOW TO BE RECEIVED.                     193
SERMON XV.
ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.                                208
SERMON XVI.
TRIALS OF FAITH.........224
SERMON XVII.
SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.... 238
SERMON  XVIII.
DIVINITY OF CHRIST.........      252
SERMON XIX.
DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.                                  271
SERMON XX.
THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST, AND VICTORY BY HIM. 289




CONTENTS.                       vii
SERMON XXI.
TIIE HIDDEN LIFE.. 310
SERMON XXII.
SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.                                    330
SERMON XXIII.
THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.362
SERMON XXIV.
FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.                      400
SERMON XXV.
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION, AND THE NATIONAL SIN.... 418
SERMON XXVI.
THE WORD OF LIFE: A LIVING MINISTRY AND A LIVING CHURCH 433








SERMON S.








SE1RMON  I.
OUR CHRISTIAN. FAITH A REALITY.
VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO THEE, WE SPEAK THAT WE DO
KNOW, AND TESTIFY THAT WE HAVE SEtN. — John iii. 11.
IT seems, at first, but a very moderate claim to set up
for the alleged truths of our religion, to ask that they be
respected as realities. But a second thought will notice
that this demand covers the whole ground. Admit that
these grand affirmations are authentic, —that God is a
real Father and really a Sovereign, while each personal
soul —yours and mine —is his child and his subject;
admit that spiritual separation from him is the most terrible of disasters, and is to be healed at any cost; admit
that Jesus is really the Christ, who achieves that reeconciliation, coming forth out of God, and taking up the whole
experience of man; admit that for a Divine law broken,
which was the real emergency, Divine Love condescending, with a Gospel for its voice and a sacrifice for its
pledge, is the real relief; admit, once more, that a righteous life is really the fulfilment of human destiny, and
that such a life reaching on and expanded into the life
eternal is the real and personal immortality, — and you
have granted the whole conclusion. For the very terms
of the statement imply something beyond intellectual as1




2         OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
sent. Something beyond is certainly wanted. Such is
the frailty of the connection between an abstract conviction and a vital practice, between a concession of the
understanding and a grasp of the affections, that history
affords scarcely a more common spectacle than an ineffectual creed. But the term I take to characterize the
subject implies another element. When we say that we
have come to re'alize a doctrine, we mean that, somehow, that doctrine has been wrought into the roots of our
life. It has passed from a proposition accepted into an
influence that actuates. Instead of lying stored away
among undenied but unprized facts, never brought out
for use, it enters in among cordial and controlling interests, goes into the pulses of the blood, and the changes
of pain and joy. This 1realizingw of Christ's truth takes
place only when the truth in question emerges from the
nebulous haze of conjecture into clear, sharp light, -takes
hold of feeling, and is taken hold of by faith, -is transfigured from a dull guess into a radiant assurance; when
religion rises among the solid verities of existence, a
thing not to be put by, nor gone around, nor reasoned
away, nor even let alone, but to besiege the heart with
that solemn and immediate Presence whose word is,
"Behold I stand at the door and knock,"-to appear
face to face before the whole roused and wakeful vision
of our inward nature, and insist on being owned and
obeyed.
Precisely this is what appears to be most needed now,
and among us, for the true efficiency of religion. Speculative unbelief is not very formidable. The technical
objections long ago lost the flavor of originality, and were
always rather the afterthought and apology of a sceptical state, than the logical producers of it. The quarrel




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.          3
of Reason with Revelation, under the umpireship of just
interpretation, is almost spent. The doubt that is constitutional has little to say; the doubt that is earnest
commonly labors and groans its painful way to the
light; and the doubt that is the offspring of a crude and
conceited intellectual ambition is calmly rebuked by riper
studies, outgrown with a loftier dignity of thought, and
put off with childish things. But is that enough?  Have
we reached, or are we nearing, the victory of faith then?
Is not passive insensibility often as tough an obstruction as positive denial, and unconcern as hopeless morally as opposition? We can hardly afford to boast that
sophistry has not deluded us, if indifference has stupefied
us. How long will it take for Christianity to rise to
the throne of the world, and command its practical energies, where it meets only with the lifeless allowance,
that the objections have been duly considered, and found,
on the whole, not to be valid? For our religion is neither a dogma nor a theory, a thesis nor an hypothesis, a
category nor a dream. It is a spiritual power. It is a
personal presence. It is a governing genius of life. It
is a comforter of actual sorrows. It is a quickener to
every noble work. It is the world's best builder and
planter and legislator and reformer. It is not a stranger
to be scrutinized, but a friend to be loved, because it
has first loved us. It is not a guest to be entertained,
but a leader to be followed; not a secret to be found
out, for its very face is a revelation; not a clever and
promising applicant for a place, which thrift may turn to
account or vanity display, for it speaks in the name of
the Lord; not an institution that can expire by limitation, nor a form that grows old, nor a ceremony that can
give up the ghost and still keep on its feet, but an ever



4         OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
lasting and ever-living law, " vital in every part"; not a
policy that can be shaped, but a principle that, by its own
formative and irresistible spirit, shapeth all things. It is
a reality; and, if a reality at all, then a reality that can
say, " Thou shalt, and thou shalt not "; "' Come unto me
and I will give you rest"; "' Whosoever believeth in me
passes from death unto life"; "' We speak that we do
know, and we testify that we have seen."
I invite you to notice, then, some of the few central
facts in the Christian faith, that authenticate its claim as
a religion of realities. Start with the idea of God;the idea of him, I say, which is a fact of our own humanity. Start, that is, on the ground of personal experience; for, if anything is real, it must be the home-secenery of your own breast. The common arguments, from
the necessary notion of the Infinite, from the universality
of worship in all tribes and times of the globe, I pass by.
Christianity does not create the idea of God, but finds it
extant. In taking the being of God for granted, it simply places itself on the basis of natural reality, - a reality
affirmed by the consenting feelings and philosophies of
the nations, - East and West, North and South, agreeing
to pronounce atheism a monstrosity. But what concerns
us here is, how Christianity deals with this sacred instinct, and proceeds to nourish and satisfy it. I say, it
is after thee manner of reality, unfolding real relations
between this Infinite One and us, filling real wants by
its revelations. " Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you," said not only Paul to the
Athenians, but Messiah to the world. It is a real authority that speaks.  This Jesus, who says to the representative Pharisee of the old Judaism that comes creeping
and hungry to him by night, " We speak that we do




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.        5
know, and we testify that we have seen," is the everliving Immanuel that left the glory he had with the
Father before the world was to manifest that Father,
one with the Ancient of Days, the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever. When he opens his lips, the style is real,
because the spirit is sincere. The message is cordial,
because the motive is love. There is reality in the very
attitudes and occasions: for he sits down weary by a
Samaritan well, in a summer noon, and talks of the worships of ages with the woman that comes to draw water;
he points, as he walks on, to the sparrows that the Heavenly Father feeds; he stoops and plucks a lily, and
shows it clothed of God in a glory passing the imperial
splendors of Solomon.
Then there is reality in the substance of his doctrine.
"God is a spirit ": with that simple announcement vanish old idolatries that materialized the gods, and mythologies that multiplied them, emptying the Pantheon as no
Constans or Urban could, and prostrating the altars of
pagan profanation. " The Lord of the servants cometh
and reckoneth with them; small and great shall stand
before him; there is a right hand and a left; he divideth
the sheep from the goats; whatsoever a man soweth, he
shall reap ": how real this makes his judgment, and houw
genuine his justice! But what is perhaps more special
in the Christian teaching about God than anything be
side, is its tender disclosures of his nearness, and his
condescension to our lowliness. He is no God of distant skies, of enthroned pomp, of royal reserve, but
to believing hearts close as the air and intimate as
the light of day. Nothing so small but it partakes of
his majesty; nothing so obscure but it publishes his paternity.
1*




6         OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
"Teach us that not a leaf can grow,
Till life from thee within it flow;
That not a grain of dust can be,
0 Fount of Being, save by thee!"
This morning's waking was the touch of his hand. Last
week's plan of life or study was looked down upon with
his sympathizing notice.  This worship is engaging his
compassion. When you left your home the other day,
your heart devised your way, but the Lord did really
direct your steps. When you prayed that God would
keep those you left there, your prayer was verily heard,
and, whether by granting or denying, it will be God himself that answers you, - the personal, listening, loving
God. No God that is hid away in heartless laws, or
prisoned in Pantheistic ice, but the friendly God of each
separate soul now, as of the elders and prophets, - of
John and James, of Peter and Simeon, of Mary Magdalen and Jairus's daughter. Judaa did not exhaust his
love. He is the God of these houses, and streets, and
schools, as well; of our parents' solicitude, of our children's happiness, of our own frail feet.  The Christian's
God is a reality. No reality on earth so real!
Out of this opens the true doctrine of human intercourse with this God, or Prayer. It sweeps away the
artificial notions and mechanical customs that have
grown up around this most natural of the soul's acts,
and restores it to its just simplicity. What is natural, if
not that a child should speak to his parent, dependent
weakness to sustaining power, the needy subject to the
gracious king, - speak his wants, his gratitude, his trust,
his hope, - speak in the common language that earnest
feeling always chooses and always finds; should ask for
what none else than this God can give5 tell him the truth




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.        7
because there is a privilege in telling it? And this is
prayer. It is a reality, then. It is something yearned
for, and something satisfying. So speaks the world's
best experience, ever since man has breathed upon it,
and looked up from it to the pitying heavens. And this
is what Christ and the New Testament teach about
prayer: make it real; keep it fresh, simple, true, and
then it will be fervent and constant. Fall under no torpid routine in it. The only safeguard for reverence in
the service is to realize what it is. There is one error of
worshipping God as if he needed anything we can bring;
and another more common error of pretending to worship him without really believing he will grant us what
we ask. To pretend to supplicate things we do not
really desire, but only things that we suspect we ought
to desire, - or things that we have heard others ask for,
and therefore coldly conclude it is proper we should ask
for, - is not prayer. It may be speculation. It may be
imitation.  It may be self-excitation.  But it is not
prayer. It is hearsay. It is traditional mummery. It
is a hollow and ghastly affectation, which murders faith
within, and degrades it abroad. Christ brings back the
doctrine of prayer to reality: " Ask, and ye shall receive." It is all in these five words. And five homely
words out of the heart are better than prolonged and
polished ascriptions on a thoughtless tongue.  Prayer
for the least things, the commonest things, the really
wished-for things, intercessions for others beloved, as little children ask what they know they shall receive, or
what they know a Love wiser than their own will deny!
This was the temper of those brave devotions that went
up through the morning air of the Church, and have been
renewed ever since where trial has kept faith clear, or the




8         OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
searching Spirit has touched the soul; such prayer as heroic and lofty-minded men have found to be the best of
joys, — no weakness of sentiment, no refuge of fear, no
hypocrite's trick, but precisely the manliest, the most rational, the maturest, the sublimest act of man.
Co-ordinate with this open-hearted and loyal communion with Heaven is the love of man, another of the Christian realities. Here again Christianity does not create
the sensibility, or the faculty, but out of it weaves the
bond of spiritual brotherhood. In the handling and training of that social instinct, what would be the brightest
tokens of reality that any teaching could give?  Undoubtedly, that it should stimulate fellowship by the
healthiest motive, regulate it by the wisest law, and direct it to the purest object. Those conditions are satisfied in the New Testament. It inspires, it organizes, it
consecrates charity. Its motive is disinterested mercy,
of which its central and crucified Form is lifted up, the incarnate example. Its law is a broad and far-seeing equity,
saving it fromn wronging one class by righting another,
from destroying without constructing. Its object is the
personal relief, the universal liberation, and the spiritual
rectitude of every soul, and thus the preparation of a
righteous society, or church, which is the coming of the
heavenly kingdom on earth. In all this process, in every
step, reform, advance, does not the action come straight
home to us as the very necessity of history, prophecy, aspiration? Yet this, and only this, is the philanthropy of
Christ. All wanting from this is short-coming from the
Gospel standard.  All added to this comes of mortal
mixtures.  To publish calls to honorable labor in the
kennels of starvation; to equalize work and wages for
the least protected workman and workwoman; to open




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.           9
roads to self-respect from every home in the land; to en,
courage defeated and despairing energies; to bring celestial pity and gentle words into those dismal dens where
a false civilization has too long caged its insane or outcast children; to break the bonds of old oppression and
let the oppressed go free; to measure labor, not by the
traditions of prejudice and pride, or the outside form of
the business, but by the spirit of the workman, and so to
make all lawful toil of impartial estimation; to ward off
cold and hunger from penniless infancy and age; - all
this is of the very substance - is it not the glorious reality? - of our Christian faith, in its action on the mutual life of men.
Turning from the social to the private offices of Christianity, we find the self-witnessing proofs of genuineness
equally bright. For here we encounter the only satisfactory interpretation of what may be called the natural admiration and yearning towards an ideal moral perfection.
It is only in very inferior natures that this sensibility to
exalted goodness is utterly depraved, and its frequent
dulness on the one hand is hardly a more palpable stupidity than the denial of its existence on the other.
Baseness itself secretly confesses the beauty of magnanimity.  A guilty life rarely wipes out the last trace of
childish loyalty to the right and good and true. The
story of triumphant fidelity, of an incorruptible conscience,
of purity coming out white from her walk through foul
intriguings as if "a thousand liveried angels lackeyed
her," - this is the perpetual charm of literature, the undertone of drama and epic, and the unconscious challenge
of every people under the sun; —while with all select
souls, the tantalizing disparity between the aspiring aim
and the lagging performance, is the tragic element that,




10        OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
except for the Gospel, so often throws over our life the
sickening suspicion of total failure after all.  So real is
the passion for the Best. How does the Gospel justify
it? First, by pronouncing its hearty benediction on these
native aspirations, as the very divine seal set on humanity, -its pledge of kinship with heaven, the silent prophecy and infallible foreshining, however baffled for the
present, of a life to come, -a " light lighting every man
that corneth into the world."  By encouraging them:
"' Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right? "
By furnishing them nutriment and a discipline, to ripen
their vigor, and make them strong leaders towards a goodness unattained: " forgetting the things that are behind,
reaching forth unto those that are before." By holding
ever up, before us, one in whom all their promises are
realized, - realized, - a veritable instance of immaculate
sanctity and symmetrical virtue, taking our infirmities,
yet "the master-light of all our seeing," "' tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin." And finally by
giving them an hereafter where they shall mature into
open vision and into calm and balanced power, -thought
running unrestricted into deed,- aspiration playing,
through some finer spiritual organization, into direct
achievement,- and believers who now  see through a
glass darkly, and know but in part, shall see face to face,
and know even as they are known; - the sad reality of
our nature met, fulfilled, satisfied, in the animating reality of faith, by him who is the Resurrection and the Life!
Not less does the New Testament fit the varieties of
human consciousness and experience in its great doctrine
of a ruling choice determining character. It does divide
the world into two sorts of persons, by the inexorable line
of that voluntary consecration. Every life has a prepon



OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.         11
dlerating bias, - a characteristic motive. If our weak
insight fails to read these hidden qualities accurately in
others, it is only because our function is not that of critics on one another, but of stewards answerable for ourselves. Of course Christianity does not stultify itself by
denying the mixtures of disposition, or disallowing the
gradations of virtue and vice. But it fixes a limit where
those mixtures no longer confuse. There is one differeneing point - and it is the point of motive - where the
world's people and God's people divide.  There is a
mark where living for self-gratification, whether sensual
or intellectual, ends, and living for Christ and his righteousness takes its place; where self-will ceases to be the
controlling force, and religious submission or consecrated
principle begins to be.  There may not be, there will
not be, spotless holiness on one side, nor unmitigated
and demoniacal depravity on the other. But there is a
divergence as wide apart in its issues as heaven and hell.
On one side, notions, feelings, acts, which might otherwise seem to be neutral, take a taint of evil from  an ungodly bias of the life. On the other side, actions and
feelings which might otherwise be indifferent are stamped
as good, because the ruling affection, the radical intention of life is right, or Christian. So neutrality ends,
and every least thing has one of two contradictory, characteristic qualities.  And so regeneration is both a philosophical and a Christian fact. "Ye cannot serve God
and mammon." If the Lord be God, follow him; and
if Baal, then follow him. Except ye be born again, out
of the negative natural life into the positive and spirititual, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
Christianity confirms common sense. Just as the world
says of you, " He is a sound, true man, through and




12        OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
through," - or, " He is a false, hollow man at the core,"
- the Bible replies with a scene of judgment where there
is a right hand and a left, and by saying, " I know mine
own; no man can pluck them out of my hand"; " Between Dives the glutton, and Abraham's bosom, there is
a great gulf fixed"; and " Choose ye this day whom ye
will serve."
But there is one reality in human nature darker and
more fearful. That law and guide of life I spoke of, so
real in its uncompromising command, - so benignant in
its protection of our waywardness, has been broken, - is
broken every day. Those soaring aspirations that beckoned us to Heaven are shamefully trailed in the dust.
Or even if the choice has been fixed aright, still the law
is holy, just, and good, for it is the will of that Infinite
Purity before which angels veil their faces, while the
saintliest life ever transfigured by trial or refined by the
fire of martyrdom is not clean. Yet there is no concession in that august command. " Thou shalt, and thou
shalt not," sounds on from age to age, as if obedience were
expected to be. Without speculating on a problem so
vast, the question gathers close home to the breast, and
grows intensely personal, Where am I, and what is for
me? I am daily disgraced by these earthly appetites
and small desires, these petty captivities to temper and
vile surrenders to sense. I am weak, and worse than
weak.  I am  frail and offending and guilty.  The
meanness of ingratitude to my best Benefactor aggravates the iniquity of transgression.  By speech, by
thoughts, by imagination, by things undone that I ought
to have done, by openings of blessed opportunity neglected, by stationary capacities and languid zeal and cold
affections, I am condemned and lost. I look up at the




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.       13
splendor above the stars, the holiness of God, and it is
both too dazzling and too far. WMho shall deliver me
from this death?
Christ shall deliver thee. He has come for that, - to
seek and save the lost, because his Father so loved the
world. And somehow, in ways that I will not be presumptuous enough to try to shut up into my definitions
nor measure by my dogmas, — by his life, teachings,
death, resurrection, intercession, all contributing ineffably
to complete a redemption that no creed can comprehend,
nor critic analyze, - he brings the wandering will back,
the prodigal spirit home. The stern handwriting of
ordinances is blotted out.  Whoso believeth in him
cannot perish, but is passed from death unto life, - eternal life. This is all. Ingenuity can add no supplement
to that. Theologians can make it no plainer. Sects
may fasten on this or that special feature of the redemption, and shape their systems accordingly; but it is the
whole that redeems. The heart of the world has accepted the reconciling mystery, and will not let the divine reality go. " This only I know," said the believing,
wondering, trembling blind man when his eyes were
opened, - " this only, whereas I was blind, now I see."
This only I need to know; the faith that saves is the
faith that inspires, —the faith of practice, working by
love, proved by charity, triumphing in integrity, constant
unto death, making the Christian ever more and more
like the Master, more true to man, humbler before God.
For if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. We have reached the supreme reality, characterizing the Gospel, crowning the cross, satisfying the soul.
From these slight and obvious suggestions, putting forward only what is plainest and most familiar, infer, my
2




14         OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.
friends, what you see I have been attempting to open, of
the reality of our Christian religion.  In its ministry to
the deep cravings of simple, honest hearts; in its marvellous adaptation to the pain and gladness, to the fear
and hope, to the frost and the fire, of our inexplicable humanity; in its unpretending address to our common habits, speaking the language of life and wearing the look
of nature; in its boundless relief for a boundless difficulty; in its expanding and exhaustless fulness for all
glowing souls, - it is the reality of realities. I had almost
said, it is the one only reality of which all visible being is
but the unsubstantial shadow.  It is the closest, dearest,
most undeniable, most human, and divinest fact given
us to feel. Religion is all of this, or it is nothing. Its
claim is valid altogether, genuine from core to surface,
or else it is counterfeit, metal and mould alike. The
pulpit is grounded on this foundation, or it is grounded
nowhere. It stands, not to repeat dead ceremonies, nor
to mutter magical incantations, nor to echo heartless traditions, but to reproclaim and reaffirm verities that enter
in among throbbing hearts, yearning souls, and beat with
all the solemn and joyful pulses of life. It is the dispensation of God, the highest law of man, the determiner of
destiny, the master-thing in thought, and study, and action, - a reality for the lowly and the exalted, for illiterate
and learned, for the slave and the sage, hidden how often
from the wise and prudent, but revealed evermore unto
the childlike heart. I ask you to honor the ministry of
Christ for Christ's sake, and to heed it for your own, —
to honor the office as a reality, spite of the ever-present
and ever-palpable proofs of the infirmities of the administration,- to heed the cause, notwithstanding the
poverty of the plea.  For here it shall not be otherwise




OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH A REALITY.         15
than it has been from the beginning,-that the weakness of God is mightier than man, and the foolishness of
God is wiser than man.
Brethren, in the first conflict between the Gentile darkness and the Christian light, Paganism condescended to
offer Christianity a respectable place in the temple of its
idols.  The poor Galileans knew their poverty; bul-,
shelterless and few  and friendless as they were, they
were too rich for that proud patronage.  They turned
away.  They took up staff and scrip; they tied on their
sandals, and journeyed forth.  Christ vent with them.
Out of weakness they were made strong. They went up
to Rome, the world's centre and strong-hold, as prisoners,
and took it as conquerors. They quenched the violence
of fire, stopped the mouths of lions, waxed valiant in
fight, put to flight the armies of the aliens. They led
captivity captive. They looked on the Pretorian eagles
and were not afraid,- for the Spirit had descended like
a dove. They did not tremble at crosses, for they bore
a cross for their standard, and its banner over them
was love. They turned from  prudent philosophies to
the eager heart of man. They preached, they lived,
they died, they rose again, for a reality. They spake
that they did know; they testified that they had seen.
And unto the end, when all things shall be surrendered
up to the Father, the ministry that avails must be the
ministry of their Christ, and of their sincerity, - of their
reality of faith, as the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.




SERMON II.
REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
SIMPLICITY AND GODLY SINCERITY. -2 Cor. i. 12.
I TAKE these words out fromnt their connection, and pre.
sent them alone, because the rest of the passage is less
suited to my purpose. It is enough to notice that the
Apostle mentions these qualities as attributes of the genuine Christian. He thinks the whole Gospel he is set to
preach and defend is more likely to get a hearing from
the world's common sense, and to lodge itself in the
world's convictions, for being presented in the spirit and
manner of those traits. Whatever may be his own infirmities and short-comings, he rejoices in the consciousness that he has been honest. Gifts and accomplishments aside, he can say without immodesty that he and
his associates have at least this legitimate claim to confidence, -the testimony of a good conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity they have had their conversation in the world. Had it been otherwise, the planting
of the Church might have taken damage from their obliquity, and the tardy triumph of the Christian ideas
might be chargeable upon the messengers.  Such congratulation is not pride, but Christian dignity; not selflaudation, but self-respect, which is the opposite of self



REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MIANIFESTATIONS.       17
laudation; not boasting, but gratitude to the grace of
God.
You will readily recall those aspects of the Christian
faith which offer it to us as the Supreme Reality.  Real
in the positive and eternal objects it reveals; real in determining our relations to that Original and Infinite Spirit,
diffused through all things, creating all, sustaining all,
the ground of all life, and thought, and act, and hope;
real in the style of its address, the tone of its appeal, and
its whole bearing toward our humanity; real in its express adaptations of supply and satisfaction to personal
and universal wants of human nature; and real in the
palpable ends it proposes, as righteousness, charity, beneficence, for earth and heaven, — Christianity cannot be
more viciously misunderstood or foolishly maltreated,
than when it is thrust out of the circle of solid interests,
and held at the arm's length of suspicion. The Church
is a vital, natural, rational, precisely because it is a divine
organization. It has its roots in God's miracles precisely
because of the depth and intensity of man's need of it.
Its fibres are all intertwined with the fibres of human
breasts. The cover is not going to be taken off, some
time, to show us an ingenious contrivance of mechanical
wires, springs, and pulleys, for working up stupendous
stage-effects of Christian impression and Christian history. The tapestry is not going to open, and terrify us
with some ghostly apparition.  The sun is not going to
rise and scatter these sacramental hosts, like airy armies
of morning mist and cloud.  We stand on substance, or
there is no substance, and the universe itself is spectral.
To this way of welcoming the divine message, there
are unquestionably hinderances, partly clinging to the
weaker or worse side of human nature, and partly a facti2*




18      REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
tious result of theologic mismanagement.  One of these
hinderances is the invisibleness of the objects of faith,
though I suppose the prominence of this cause for religious indifference has been popularly overrated. It would
be a sufficient answer to it, that the things most valued,
and clung to, and suffered for by men, are not commonly
things that can be seen or measured. The sacred ties of
friendship are not fastened by the senses.  Would you
allow me to say, Your friend is nothing but his body?
You never saw the national fame for whose unsullied
purity you would die, nor touched nor tasted that fidelity
of love whose defence writes half the tragedies of literature. Money itself, the very symbol of material value, is
rated - by any but the most sottish cupidity - less for
itself than for the imponderable deference, admiration,
self-complacency, independence, which it is thought able
to buy. In fact, so far from the invisible repelling interest, there is no charm so bewitching as a new theory
of its mysteries. The superstition that will pry behind
its veil, or listen for its vaguest noises, is one of the most
permanent and most absorbing passions of the race.
Still, with a portion of mankind, and, in certain materialistic moods, with very many, a degree of dimness does
probably invest spiritual things from their being unembodied; what is seen crowds what is not seen out of
thought, and finally out of faith; heaven remains an abstraction simply because its gates are shut to the senses.
Another unrealizing influence strikes religion, from the
oppressive disparity between the magnitude of the concerns and the infirmity of the treatment. Reverence
fades out, wonder is tamed down, faith is frittered away,
with the familiar belittlement of themes vast as infinity,
by unworthy hands. The Gospel has to be repeated by




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.    19
stammering tongues. Promises that of themselves should
thrill all souls with ecstasies of hope, are pronounced in
our flat, insipid speech. Warnings more tender and awful than a mother's entreaty are uttered in tones that
routine and repetition have rendered thin and dry. The
wisdom of the All-wise has for its advocates frail judgments, dull insight, and men of like passions with the
rest. Shall it never be learned that treasure is none the
less treasure because it is in earthen vessels? In other
matters, the enthusiasm of a close, personal interest is
not deadened by a dull declamation. A science is hardly held responsible for the eloquence of a lecturer, nor
does a tempting speculation go by default if the story of
it happens to be brought across the continent by a poor
specimen of a man. To make Christianity depend on
the power of its preachers, or the skill of theologians, is
at once to measure absolute beauty, truth, and good by
mortal competency, and to stimulate the pulpit with a
spur as foreign from Gospel simplicity as it is insulting
to the authority of God. The function of a clergy is not
the audacious one of representing the Majesty of Heaven,
but to plead generously with the reluctance of men;
not to dole out God's compassion by the petty dimensions of their intelligence, but to be unpretending heralds
of a Christ who makes their weakness his strength, and
even the foolishness of preaching the wisdom of God
unto salvation.
It aggravates this unreality, that there is so imperfect
an adjustment, in the Christian mind, of the relations
between the spiritual world and our present life. By a
twofold error, the object of religion has first been represented as personal happiness, and then that happiness
has been located in an arbitrary future, not beginning till




20     REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
death rids us of bodies.  A selfish salvation, with mechanical conditions! In this sharp-cut division of earth
and heaven an artificial antagonism is created, not betwveen good and evil, or sin and holiness, which are the
tctual opposites, but between two epochs in a chronological succession, the grave being lhe partition line. Heav-.in is wages to be waited for, instead of a nobler play of
lhe disinterested life already begun. Two worlds front
The same perfect Hand are put into contrary sides of the
scale, and hatred of one of them is made a passport to
the other. At once unspiritualizing the motives to piety,
and indiscriminately condemning the present, the doe-.
trine repels all natural confidence.  Shallow minds recoil
from a representation which they instinctively feel to be
false, and seek a wretched refuge in unconcern. Add to
this, sometimes, a technical phraseology, putting the
Tmoving and blessed facts of righteousness and redempiion into language which either to educated tastes or to.nsophisticated common sense sounds like both a provinqialismn in letters and an affectation of theology, and you,have another explanation why these transcendent realities
took unreal to so many eyes. This may be no excuse
for blunders that study would correct; but it is an instructive admonition to direct, simple, every-day speech
in dealing with things so supremely real.
After all, however, there does remain a vast, conscious
indifference to Christian truth, from sheer and guilty impatience of its control.  These realities are purposely
thrown into obscurity, because they interfere with indulgence, cross ambition, yoke the passions, chastise
temper. They not only ask that we should allow the
spiritual world an inert place in our belief, as we might
a new planet or botanic species, but they enter as a




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.    21
prohibition and a compulsion. There must be irksome
self-denial. This Gospel is something more than an
entertaining comer at the table of literary hospitality;
it erects itself into a master of the house; and lo! every
appetite and lust must obey it on penalty of a judgment.
The mouth of slander must be stopped. The jealous
competition must relax.  The profanity must be renounced.  The stubborn, atheistic knees must bend.
The arrogant will must cry out of the dust, " Not as 1
hill, but as Thou wilt, for Thou alone art holy."  So
the struggle begins. Depravity fights this benignant
master. Rebel passions reject that heavenly coercion
Still, the Eternal Voice cannot be put by. What, then
if the coward spirit should feign ignorance, and, by keep
ing the ineffable glory at a distance, gradually make it as
unreal as sin could desire? Let these bright rebukers
fade from me, and be dim! Is there no magic that can
turn substance into shadow? no chemistry that can
transmute facts to phantasms? It appears again, what
I said before, that to realize the Christian facts would be
to take up the Christian consecration, and enter on the
life. Christianity wants nothing so much as a steady
look at it, out of honest, seeing eyes.
The question next before us, then, concerns the manner of operation and manifestation of this Christian
power, in the lives of its believers, and the conversation
of its teachers. The law here appears to be clearly
enough pronounced, by the nature of the power itself.
A spiritual principle and fact, the very essence and inmost soul of real life, Christianity must be offended and
weakened by any other than a look and tone and tem
per of reality in its expression.  After its first supernat
ural incarnation, its agents are men. The organs of its




22     REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
movemenlt are human faculties. Then its action ought
to be according to the natural working of human powers
in their right or normal play. The Christianity that is
meant to be developed on earth, beautifying its life and
blessing its affections, is not an abstract thing, nor an
angelic thing, but a human thing: human, that is, in the
sense of acting through human conditions in free harmonyv with the best human forces, though superhuman in its
source and sanctions, as in fact humanity itself is: so
that the correspondence holds throughout. The kind of
Christian action and Christian speech wanted for the
best exhibition of Christian truth, is that where the word
and the deed just follow and obey the meaning of the
soul; where the feeling or conviction of the truth exactly
measures, spaces, and shapes the outward profession;
where the disciple holds it an equal infidelity to pretend
to more or to less faith than he possesses; where the
spirit of zeal just occupies, fills up, and animates the
body of appearance; where, in fact, the expression is not
nicely regulated by a conscious and special reference to
its external effect, as being exemplary, but by a certain
spontaneous and irresistible impulse of a holy purpose in
the breast. The bearing of a religious man, that is, must
be the bearing of a man withl religion in him and actuating, him; religion, not as a supplement to his manhood,
but infused all through it, hallowing and animating it;
religion, not taken on, but circulating within; not worn,
but informing; not borrowed, but breathed forth; " simplicity and godly sincerity."
To this Christian reality of living there are two principal opponents: hypocrisy on one side, and indifference
on the other. Each needs to be a little analyzed and
illustrated.




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.       23
Hypocrisy, as respects Christian qualities, is the general name we give to the disposition that aims to appear
better than it is.  The hypocrite seeks the credit of
qualities which he not only does not possess, but knows
he does not possess: it is a conscious deception.  To
complete the idea of hypocrisy, there must be a reference
to some selfish advantage, as custom for a trader, or
votes for a politician, or fame for a scholar. The pretention is not only fraudulent, but the fraud of meanness, - the grossest of all forms of insincerity; --  the
lie," as Bacon says, " that sinketh in."  The intensity of
Christ's disgust at this temper may be gathered, as
from the whole spirit of his teaching, so especially from
the vivid rebukes he gave it in the Hebrew Pharisees.
The common instincts of honor accord with the Bible in
declaring it the guiltiest of all sins that are not crimes.
It is the most fatal enemy that Religion has to confront,
and tearing off its mask is her most unwelcome task.
Yet superficial critics persist in making her chargeable
for the very insults it heaps upon her.
On the same side of reality, or departing from it in the
same direction, as professing more faith than there really
is, we find a lifeless formalism.  In the former case,
Christian -vitality had no existence, and the semblance ol
it was a pure fabrication.  Here it lived once, but has
gone into decay, and the semblance of it is the surviving
shape, when the life has gone out. It is to the credit of
human nature that this sin, if more frequent, is less
enormous.  Yet there is no calculating its practical
mischiefs, especially in  repelling from  the  Christian
ranks the sympathies and confidence of the young.
For, notwithstanding its aberrations, the soul retains this
trait of native nobility, that it will knowingly trust none
but true men.




24      REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
There are two branches of this trespass upon reality:
excess of ceremony and excess of dogma.
Like all the great practical interests, religion clothes
itself in a dress or form, - institutional customs, modes
of worship, ordinances.  So long as we inherit forms,
and have in our natures an element to which visible
ceremonies appeal, this tendency will not be eradicated,
though it is constantly being modified. The real argument for religious forms is found in all civilized usages,
- such as the general arrangement of houses, uniformity of fashions in clothing, tokens of recognition, familiar
phrases of salutation, the manners of hospitality. Variety amounts to modifying the form, never to abolishing
it, - those sects which have started with the idea of abolishing it generally ending in a more rigid formality than
the rest. Yet at this very point lies a constant peril to
" simplicity and godly sincerity." Church history shows
a perpetual struggle to keep an honest balance between
the spirit to be expressed and the form expressing it,the faith of the heart and the fashion of the institution. Whenever this proportion is lost, the disorder that
we call formality begins. Observance overlays feelings.
The faith is not vigorous enough to inform and carry
off the institution.  The temple is too big for the divinity. Instead of the grace of nature, you have the awkwardness of imitation; instead of speech, mummery;
instead of expression, grimace; instead of gesture, beating the air. Either there must be an accession of fresh
feeling within, to reinvigorate the old form, or else the
old form must be abated, or changed, to suit the changed
feeling, or buried for decency's sake. Somehow, at any
rate, the man will not enact what he does not believe.
That is the one wrong that kills reality and kills respect.




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.      25
To expect to revive a declining faith merely by multiplying ceremonies, is as hopeless as to multiply pumps in a
dry well, or to try to restore the dead by more garments.
The life to refill these empty veins must come from another source. It must come, by.prayer, from the Spirit of
God. No preservation of the dried shell of the cistern will
cheat nature into thinking there is a fountain beneath.
" Simplicity and godly sincerity" require that every ceremonial observance should be so adjusted as to convey the
real feeling, and no more, - the real faith, and not an artificial faith or a faith such as may have been felt once.
The ceremony was meant for the symbol of a real conviction. When we substitute it for the conviction, and
let that drop out, going coldly and mechanically through
the genuflexion or the manipulation, we destroy reality,
and enter on a mocking falsehood. Yet it is just when
men find their interest failing, and are alarmed at it, that
they are tempted to redouble their assiduity at the ceremony.
A corresponding loss of soul, and sacrifice of reality,
take place in respect to creeds, or statements of belief.
Too much ceremony is acting more than we believe:
too much dogma is affirming more than we believe.
In each case, the expression outruns the sentiment. The
salt has lost its savor. No heartless eloquence ever yet
stole the secret of a sincere conviction.  The reason
that the first period when faith is declining, and before
it has yet gone over to worldliness or sensuality, is generally marked by a multiplication of dogmatic articles,
or definitions, is that the inward consciousness of want
alarms the conscience, and the intellect goes to work to
supply the deficiency. Theologians grow sensitive, exacting, and controversial. An age of dogmatism is, there3




26     REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
fore, an age of morbid self-consciousness, when the understanding is trying to do the heart's neglected business.
The common and offensive form in which these unrealities of religious profession appear is cant.  The
source of all cant seems to be an attempt to speak and
act certain things, which the narrow and perverted mind
has decided should be the proper utterance of religious
emotion, — but with the emotion left out.  The best
that can be said of it is, that it is not always hypocrisy,
but sometimes only stupidity.  Of course it is totally
inconsistent with spirituality, which is always fresh,
always vital, always real.  No  soul that has been
touched with the simple majesty of the Sermon on
the Mount, that has sat at the feet of the truthful
Jesus, that takes its spiritual draughts from that fountain of which if a man drink he shall never thirst again,
can consent to affront the eternal veracity by offering
as a plea for piety, or a prayer to the Father, a hollow
phrase, a sanctimonious manner, a technical expostulation, a language caught from the ancient lips of faith,
but emptied of all its living significance, and dwindled now into the drivel of make-believe. As soon
could a son ask for his lost mother in the pompous and
stilted terms that memory has learned from some printed dialogue.  Let learned unbelief, let sneering scepticism, let ingenious and sophistical infidelity, accumulate all their arguments upon my child's unfortified
intelligence, rather than that this paralyzing cant of an
unfelt devotion should creep with its slow poison into
the reverence and earnestness of his soul. Paul's justification of his apostleship, "I believed, and therefore have
I spoken," is the only decent pretext for any preaching
or any prayer. " Simplicity and godly sincerity."




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.      27
Godly sincerity. The other danger to reality in a religious life and conversation, besides that of its not being
religiously real, is that it will not be really religious. If
there is one false tendency to pretend to more faith than
is felt, there is another, not to let feeling have its free
and natural way. If some men speak more than is honest of religion, others have no religion to speak honestly
of; and the one class is as far from godly sincerity as the
other. Never imagine that a diluted, indifferent, halfworldly character is a more genuine or more conciliating
sort of character than one that is decidedly, thoroughly,
and zealously Christian. If that is the opinion of men
of the world, as they are called, then men of the world
do not know the world they are of. There is no fascination on earth like that of disinterested and steady enthusiasm. Every class of men will pay it at least a secret
homage.  When you would win the confidence and interest of thoughtless persons to the Christian life, do not
introduce them  to professed disciples, who keep their
Christianity as far as possible in the background of their
daily interests, and have practised the art of living so
near the boundary of righteousness as to fraternize with
the levities and ambiguities and sharp practices outside.
You might better hope to engage a young man's interest
in knowledge by being a little ignorant, or in work by
being a little idle, or in philosophy by being a little foolish, than try to make him respect religion by meeting
him half-way and being a little irreligious. I think there
is a deep, silent loyalty in most men's hearts for that inspired maxim, —" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do,
do it with thy might." Even in the most careless breast
I suspect there is a notion which might express itself
something like this: "' No; I am not, I frankly confess it,




28     REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
on Christian ground; I hope I shall be; I know I ought
to be; but whenever I am, it shall be a Christianity that
is thorough, that is definite, that is positive, that is in
earnest; I want that or no religion at all; no lukewarm,
sluggish vacillation between God and Mammon; I would
rather be Mammon's altogether, and know my master:
and wherever I see an earnest, consistent, whole-hearted
Christian, there I find the mightiest argument for the
Gospel." So it is that godly sincerity becomes a silent
missionary everywhere, and converts more hearts to Christ
than all loud and loquacious temporizers and compromisers with the passions and fashions of the world.
For two reasons, my friends, - for our own soundness of
heart, and for the recommendation of the Gospel to others,
we want a type of Christian character that is simple
in its spirituality, and real in all its manifestation. Nothing is surer to consume the health and vigor of the soul,
than the constant acting of an unfelt part, -like the pretender, on the one hand, or the constant denier of his holiest aspirations, the unrepenting worldling, on the other.
There is a reflex influence from every tone and gesture
of insincerity, which strikes back and debilitates the
moral energies. Utter what you do not believe, and you
will have less and less capacity for believing anything.
Pretend what you do not feel, and feeling will die out.
The retribution is dreadful, and sure, and works by an
inevitable law. Or if you stifle the religious life that
really wakes and rises within you, denying it air and
light, you forfeit no less the blessing of the candid and
sincere.
Then a ministry unquestionably gains power, just in
the degree it drops factitious methods and weapons, and
abides by the simple instruments of genuine convictions.




REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.      29
We all know the narcotizing tendency of official repetition.
Pray for the preacher, then, that he may be delivered from
its lethargy. God will never suffer it to be irresistible.
Remember that it is in the power of any audience, by a
responsive and wakeful assistance, to neutralize it, and
almost to compel from their minister the heartiness they
prize. Besides, you yourselves are, in some sense, to be
ministers of heavenly truth. For Christ or against him
all of you are living, speaking, acting, every day. Does
the immortal cause take hinderance from your falsity, or
furtherance from the reality of your righteousness?
The exigencies of the Church, the mixtures of sects, the
progress of theology, all point out the style of life that is
wanted now, to gain, for the ideas and the spirit of our
common faith, a fair and cordial reception. It is a life
that flows evermore from the divine spring of a living
and personal communion with the Father, and goes to
help every brother, and to bless every neighbor; that, while
it is hid with Christ in God, walks among men with the
tenderness and dignity of the Son of Man; that asks
no deference for its profession, but professes simply because it cannot help telling its trust, owning its gratitude,
honoring the Master; that by open and solemn reverence
for the times and places of God's worship obeys the manliest of instincts, and by consecration to the Church confesses the inmost obligation of conscience; that finds an
exercise for its Christian principle in all the companies,
associations, resorts, employments, of the world, and a
temple for its praise in every scene of joy; that brings an
added grace to all the innocent amenities and hopes of
youth, and sets a more splendid crown on the saintly
head of age; that sanctifies society and kneels in the
closet; that hallows study and guards homes, and is not.3 -*




30     REALITY IN RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
afraid to show its sacred spirit of justice and moderation
in places of sinless amusement; and that everywhere
bears with it this meek, brave testimony, that by " simplicity and godly sincerity" it has had its conversation in
the world.
God has graciously relieved us of all concern about the
special shape our Christian life shall put on, that we may
be the more undivided in our care for its spirit. Have
the soul of goodness, and it will fashion its own form,
hour by hour. The best profession of righteousness is
being righteous. The best form of godliness is the form
most naturally taken by the power thereof. The best
temper of church or clergy is " simplicity and godly sincerity." The best bearing for a believer, making confession of his faith, is the bearing with which he comes out
of the closet of a lowly and solemn communion with his
God. The best posture of dignity is the attitude that
yields most friendly service to needy men.  The transcendent and majestic posture of the Son of God was
when he leaned to wash his followers' feet.
When this last, most spiritual, and most evangelical
reformation comes, Christianity will have gone out from
cloisters, fromn creeds, from clerical confinements, into the
open field and broad experience of the people and the
age. But it will never be by breaking the strictness of
its commands, nor lowering the standard of its holiness.
For there is no entrance within the gates of a holier Future, save the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated; nor is there any other name than His given
under heaven among men, whereby labor or learning,
wisdom or simplicity, rich or poor, can be saved.




SERMON  III.
ASKING AND RECEIVING.
ASK, AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU. - Matt. vii. 7.
SIMPLE words, but covering the deepest facts in our
life! Consider how much they imply: — the being of
God; the dependence of man; a communion, or intercourse, between their spirits; a feeling of want on the
part of man; a faith, with him, that God can fill that
want; and the absolute truth, independent on his notions, that God is able to fill it, out of his infinitude.
These are certainly great facts. They are as impressive
to a rational intellect by their grandeur, as they are affecting to the heart by their tenderness. They are at
once majestic ideas and comforting promises.
I have sought in the New Testament for my present
use some expression that should not only contain an injunction to pray, as a duty, but should offer a motive,
also, turning it into a privilege. This is precisely the
significance brought out by the turn of the text's language. " Ask, and it shall be given you," conveys a reason that moves the affections, as well as a precept issued
to our will. " Ask," which is bare command, borrows
persuasion, and so couples with itself a new force, from
the assurance, "It shall be given you."  This is the




32             ASKING AND RECEIVING.
form, I suspect, which the doctrine of Prayer takes oftenest, in the minds of those that really feel what it is.
They are less conscious of being constrained by a sense
that they ought to pray, than by a feeling that that is the
way of gaining what they crave. The authority that
prompts the service is not external, but within.  And
when they would draw their companions into the same
devout habit, they are more anxious to illustrate it as a
satisfaction than as an obligation.
This Discourse will aim to exhibit not so much the
entire compass of the subject as certain specific and salient points in it, - some of them of the nature of difficulties,- which, as having engaged themselves with some
interest in one experience, may be fairly supposed to have
a practical value to more than one. Even of a spiritual
exercise so permanent among men as prayer, it is true
that it presents different phases and questions at different times, according to the genius of that period, the
mental fashions of the day, and the tendencies of religious speculation. Whatever affects devotion, affects the
prime power, the root, and cardinal element of religion
itself.
In the study of any subject that deserves to be studied
at all, we wish to go to competent and authentic sources
of knowledge.  These sources, in respect to spiritual intercourse between the soul and God, must be two,biblical authority, and experience. Each of these interprets the other.  If they both agree, they produce a
double certainty of conviction, so far forth. Whatever
exceptions reason might take to the report of either one
alone, they are so beautifully fitted to complete and confirm each other, that reason cannot reject their united
testimony, without becoming unreason.  Outside of




ASKING AND RECEIVING.            33
these two, we cannot expect much light. Abstract reasoning cannot inform us reliably about prayer, because
prayer is an act eminently and essentially personal; it is
an act lying aside from the province of abstractions, between two persons, and involves all along personal attributes, relations, and emotions. On the other hand, mere
mortal insight is an incompetent teacher here, because
one of the parties necessary to this high commerce is
above Nature, the very centre and impersonation of the
Supernatural. So far as that part of prayer is concerned
which relates to the feeling of want in us, natural insight suffices as an expounder; but the moment we look
over, to inquire about the answer, - what ground we
have for confidence that we shall be answered at all, who
is to answer, and on what conditions the answer is
gained, - simple intuition leaves us in the dark. Experience and Scripture combined, then, exactly meet our
case, - sufficient guides. Experience suits the personal
character of prayer, - satisfying the heart as to the actual interchange of feeling in it. Revelation lays open
the supernatural secret, — telling us explicitly of the
God we pray to, how to worship him, and how infallible
the guaranty, that, if we ask believing, we shall receive.
It may be inquired, of what use experience can be in
teaching us the nature and privilege of praying, when
the presumption is that the practice has not been begun,
and the very object of the knowledge sought is to establish the habit by which experience comes. The reply
is twofold. In the first place, by the effect of testimony, one person's experience is carried over and made
good for another. One devout soul, bearing simple and
earnest witness what it has received by asking, reporting,
with tokens of voice and manner too sincere to be mis



34             ASKING AND RECEIVING.
taken, the actual peace and strength God has sent it,
will inevitably act, as by a kind of holy contagion, on the
consciousness of others, kindling at least a transient flush
of sympathy, quickening, often, a deeper faith, and initiating possibly some young or impressible spirit into the
heavenly life. Herein lies the pious efficacy of much religious biography, modest relations of experience, and the
friendship of faithful men. They cast private joys into
a commonwealth of hope, and multiply one real believer's prayers into the thanksgivings and supplications of a
Church.
In the second place, the act of praying, as fast as it is
encouraged, is found to fit itself in, by a remarkable and
beautiful harmony, with all our better moods, and all
higher states of the soul. In other words, the experience
of prayer, even in its feebler beginnings, is suited to all
other moral experience, and so seems to gain confirmations from every purer feeling we are conscious of.
When any soul truly asks God for a spiritual gift, —
truly, I say, that is, with those dispositions of heart that
are indispensable to such an act, humility and trust, —
not only is it thereby better prepared to renew this particular act of prayer, but all its Christian traits are
strengthened at the same moment.  Purity becomes
more transparent, forbearance more patient, charity
more catholic, uprightness more inflexible, conscience
more vigilant. Such a divine provision has God made
to tempt the least stirring of devout inclinations on, -to
comfort the disciple's earliest resolution, and to lead his
hesitating feet forward into the steadiness and serenity
of sainthood. Of course the consciousness of such inward blessings will be faint, according to the dimness of
an undisciplined faculty; but a delicate perception will




ASKING AND RECEIVING.             35
discern them, and an honest perseverance will bring
them  to maturity.  A fact of such large and striking
effects, so uniform as to become a law of our constitution, rewarding the first real petition with the germs of
many reformations and the budding of a cluster of
graces, justifies us, I think, in saying that prayer is
enjoined and supported by human experience.
You will observe that this view discards the maxim,
which some creeds have dogmatically pronounced, that
it is a sin for a man to pray till he is sure he is already
in a state of grace; discards it, at least, unless it be
granted that the very impulse he feels to ask God's help
is evidence that he is already in a state of grace. It cannot be wise, not evangelical, not promotive of healthy
effort, to draw these bars of forbidding iron across the
avenue to the mercy-seat. The moment man or child
feels one earnest impulse lifting his desire heavenward,
that is the providential moment for him to cry, " Our
Father," and pour out his heart's emotion to the last
drop, whether of penitence, thanksgiving, or anxiety.
The Father never rebuffs such eager confidence.  To
deny that holy yearning, to bid it wait, and cautiously
examine, inspect, and analyze itself to see if it is fit, is
only to throw a door open to chilling doubts and altered
moods. It is to refuse a divine call. It is to wrong the
soul's friendliest angel. It is quenching the Holy Spirit.
How are we, weak children of vanity, ever to be thoroughly renewed, except we entreat the " Spirit that helpeth our
infirmities"? Shall we despise the means, expecting to
leap miraculously to the end?  Shall we wait, before
asking, for that elevated frame of the soul, which only
asking obtains?  Let no such sophistry of perverted
theologies, and inverted reason, betray us. You would




36            ASKING AND RECEIVING.
not deem it wise, nor filial, to postpone begging your
injured mother's forgiveness, after the penitent thought
had once waked in your breast, till your mended life had
quite recompensed for your disobedience, or till her love
had overcome your sullen reluctance by violence. Confession first, peace afterwards. You will not " ask " too
soon, -if you must " ask" before it is given. The instant for thee to enter into thy closet is when the first
thrill of repentant sorrow or holy faith shoots down from
above, to make the soul mindful of its immortal destiny,
and its account.
I have spoken of praying as an act between two persons, man and God. If we adhere to such language as is
used in the text, -or to the representation, exactly according with this, that runs through the whole Bible,we shall wonder, probably, that any other philosophy of
prayer should have ever come into vogue in Christendom,
than what stands out so plainly in this simple statement.
Asking, on the one side, and giving, in answer to that asking, on the other, would seem to be nearly as unmistakable
an account of a direct transaction as speech is capable of
composing. Especially would it appear to stand clear
of all possible ambiguity, when we remember that the
whole Revelation, from end to end of its records, offers
no hint of any different theory; that it was precisely in
this spirit, and with this understanding, that every biblical believer prayed, from Adam in Eden to John in Patmos;- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all patriarchs speaking to Jehovah, and answered by Him; Moses, Samuel,
Elijah, and the whole line of valiant, praying prophets;
David, whose devotions have been the common language
of worship through both dispensations, and bear to-day
fresher marks of perpetuity than when his own tears fell




ASKING AND PECEIVING.            37
upon the lines he wrote, - whose petitions were accounted worthy to be taken upon the lips of the Redeemer
himself amidst the tortures of the crucifixion; the disciples, the mother, evangelists, apostles, — all, with undivided agreement, asking the Father for what their soul
craved, and receiving at God's invisible hand, immediately, blessings, that, but for such asking, could not have
been bestowed. Not a doubt hangs over a phrase of the
narrative. The witnesses are explicit. There are placed
before us two parties. One is just as literally and exactly a person as the other; the divine side of the mutual
transaction involving precisely the same attributes of
personality as the human, - no hint to the contrary; and
— mark especially —the fact of conscious request and
conscious compliance every way as distinct — the difference between faith and sense being of course granted —
as if a hand were visibly stretched out on one side open,
and were visibly filled from the other.
Now, if the biblical authority did not settle this truth
in exactly this form, falling back on experience some of
us certainly would have facts to produce, which, however they might affect sceptics, must, for us, for ever
place the literal doctrine of asking and receiving beyond
all misgiving, as the only possible theory of prayer.
Yet into such labyrinths of confusion, and such mazes
of perplexity, has theological thinking brought itself, that
a stark rejection of this doctrine is no very rare phenomenon in modern theology, so called. Prayer, instead of
that distinct, specific, blessed thing, - an asking for the
sake of receiving,- finding its clear and touching image
in the daily beauty saluting all our eyes of the confiding
and hearkening communion between child and parent, -
instead of this, it is - what shall we say? or rather, what
4




38             ASKING AND RECEIVING.
do some men not say it is?- a convenient name for almost any reputable deed or any innocent state: prayer is
want; prayer is well-doing or well-wishing; a good life
is prayer: to work morally is to pray; to have a general
sense of subjection to the Infinite, is to pray. There is
no enumerating these loose, rhetorical, paradoxical, and
superficial definitions. The only radical feature in which
they are all agreed, is in shading off prayer into some
other thing that is not prayer, and should have another
name; in confounding things that differ; in destroying
that one essential ingredient without which no prayer
can be, -an asking on the part of man for a granting
on the part of God.
There is one abuse of the term, however, that takes a
different shade, and lurks under specious pretences. It
is this, -that what we call prayer is nothing but a
mode of self-excitation. We are exhorted to take the
attitudes, and use all forms and words of prayer, -just
as if what the act pretends were really true, and there
were literally a God to hear and answer, only because
it has been found on experiment that this is a successful
way of stirring us up to do better. We exert ourselves
more, and so are more blessed by Nature, who loves to
see her children toil. We are refreshed by making our
supplications to Heaven, only so far as we impose on
ourselves the trick of asking of a God what man is just as
competent to give himself. It might seem to be enough,
with single-minded persons, to explode this heresy, that
it inextricably involves a duplicity, - such a one as to
implicate our veneration and profane worship, - insulting
the God that we only approach in a rhetorical device,
and pretend to pray to for effect. I say nothing of the
impossibility of a soul's elevating itself above itself, with




ASKING AND RECEIVING.             39
no purchase outside of itself. The moral objection is
enough. The error only illustrates the working of a philosophy that cuts itself loose from the New Testament.
" Ask, and it shall be given you." It is enough for us to
pray as Jesus prayed. This entangles us in no subtleties,
and freezes us with no negations. It takes us straight to
our Father, with no misgiving that he veritably hears what
we pray. This places the object of our religious confidence beyond ourselves, and so clears us of that besetting
sin of egotism, which is as destructive of church life as it
is of nobleness of character ana personal piety. It centres faith outside this narrow region of self, —even our
better self, -and gives assurance and comfort, "which
only he that feels it knows," by hanging every circumstance of life, the most minute or most afflicting, on the
direct and immediate word of our Lord, in whose spirit
we are embosomed, in whose foresight our little plans
are lost, in whose hand we are only instruments, moved
hither and thither as he will.  This Christianizes our
prayers; for it makes them with their answers that veritable communion, that literal asking and receiving between the soul and God, which is as strictly personal as
the petition of any child and the answer of any parent, -
a precious praying, - real praying, - the Bible's praying.
At this point another question has been sometimes
started: How such specific answers to prayer can comport with the regularity of Providence and the government of the world by appointed laws. Unquestionably
this is one of the deep secrets passing our limited knowledge, and belonging to the Infinite Mind. It is no deeper,
nor harder to reconcile, than a hundred other facts in the
Divine economy, which yet we must admit, or deny sense
and faith both: such, for example, as the fact that we are




40             ASKING AND RECEIVING.
all free to choose how we shall act, and yet are completely bound in the hands of Omnipotence; that God is
almighty and all-good, and yet leaves his children liberty to
do wrong. These are transcendent mysteries, simply because they are the doings of a transcendent Being, - God.
In the end, we shall find, I suppose, that there is no more
contradiction between a fixed order of laws and special
answers to our asking, than there is between a general
household arrangement for their children's good, on the
part of earthly parents, and their daily favors granted in
answer to particular requests. Through all this stable
and mighty system of irreversible decrees, -laws of
growth and decay, summer and winter, evening and
morning, centripetal and centrifugal forces, regimen and
health, cause and consequence,- there plays for ever the
silent presence of God, the unrestricted action of God's
free will. So has he built the world, and organized its
constitution.  The balance of these two forces -Law
and Liberty - is the wonder of the universe, the supernal sign set upon it. Before we pray, he is Love itself;
yet he hears the prayer, and sends a blessing that could
not have come without.  The uniform  shelter of laws
that we can rely upon in our every-day business is merciful; and so are those direct, impressive tokens of his
listening spirit, which make a part of the experience of
devout souls that no reasoning can take away.
This care extends to the least particle of creation, - to
the windings of a worm, as much as to the circle of a
planet; to the eyeball of a fly, as much as to the splendor
of the sun; to your lowly path each morning from street
to street, as much as to the august pilgrimage of Arcturus along the " streets of stars," or to the rise and fall of
empires, the battle that captures an old fortress, or the




ASKING AND RECEIVING.             41
reformation that liberates nations. Believing this, I can
no more hesitate to ask a Divine direction for the details
of my common life, than for the salvation of my soul.
Indeed, do we not know that the salvation of the soul is
nothing else than the safety of the soul, and so that it is
bound up inextricably with these very familiar incidents,
-their effects upon the soul, and, in turn, the soul's use of
them, determining its salvation or its perdition? What
companions I shall be thrown among, what tasks I shall
have brought me to do, what difficulties I shall have to
encounter, what misunderstandings and consequent alienations I shall be rescued from, what words I shall be inwardly prompted to speak, what temptations I may be
spared each time I go out of my house or return to it, -
these, and all the class of events they belong to, are the
very material out of which salvation or ruin is wrought;
and so they are fit subjects of prayer. They are things
wherein God answers. For over the motions of heart and
mind - others as well as my own - he holds an unceasing control. And if you watch the history of almost any
hour, you will see many junctures in it where two ways
parted before you, and the choice was more with God than
yourself. In this spirit, and with this faith, a Christian
wvill find no difficulty in asking for earthly good. If he
does it regarding its moral connections and influences on
character, it is lawful, reverent prayer; such prayer as was
often on the lips of righteous men of old, and had signal
answers; such prayer- for life, health, rain, fruitful seasons - as James enjoins, citing Elijah as an example.
The mode of the answer rests with God. If he sees it
will strengthen faith, and, taking all bearings into view,
fulfil his will, he may answer it directly, according to the
form of the request. If he sees that this would encourage
4*




42            ASKING AND RECEIVING.
worldly-mindedness, or hinder any of his broader purposes,
he will send a secret response into the heart. One thing
we may always know beforehand; if the earthly advantage holds a higher place in our desires than spiritual purity or God's truth, it is no prayer of faith, and carries in
its own nature the forewarning, that, even for our own
sake, we must be denied.
This leads in the last great feature of the present Doctrine of Devotion. Every asking that expects to receive
must be an asking with submission, - willing to wait
long before receiving, -willing to be utterly refused.
For along with every act of such communion goes this
attendant truth, never to be forgotten,- that it is mortal
weakness, ignorance, and imperfection communing with
everlasting Power, boundless Knowledge, perfect Holiness. No doubt, " Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief," is a right, and often our most becoming supplication; and some confession must be implied in every
worship. But unless we can feel, while we are asking,
that we could cheerfully give up the things we ask for, at
God's command, I suppose we are not in the true attitude of prayer. This must be that spirit of believing, or
faith, that Christ refers to, where he says, "Whatsoever
ye ask believing, ye shall receive."  Thomas a Kempis,
who seems to have entered farther into the inmost shrine
of devotion than any writer since the Apostle John, has
this passage:-" Let this be the language of all thy requests:' Lord, if it be pleasing to thee, may this be
granted, or that withheld; but if thou knowest it will conduce not to the health of my soul, remove far from me
my desire. Give me what thou wilt, and in what measure, and at what time. Place me where thou wilt, and
freely dispose of me in all things. Do thou lead and turn




ASKING AND RECEIVING.             43
me whithersoever thou pleasest.' For," he adds, " every
desire that appeareth to man to be right and good, is not
born from heaven; and it is difficult always to determine
truly whether the desire is prompted by the good spirit of
God, or thy own selfish spirit." I have known devout
persons to stand year after year, in utter wonder that
their prayers, so reasonable in appearance, brought no
visible return; yet the faith that came at last out of that
trial and proving, in a furnace seven times hotter than
fire, "more precious than gold that perisheth," finally
justified such patience by its splendor.
For, even while we wait, through all the breathings of
our aspiration, from the first hesitating, stammering whisper of entreaty, on to the last strong syllable of praise
when faith triumphs over the failing flesh, — prayer is
ever, moment by moment, its own sufficing recompense.
Its words do react on your soul like a benediction. Its
every struggle is a consolation, and every sigh is peace.
It puts the world under your feet. It makes all things
yours, while ye are Christ's and Christ is God's. The
spirit comes back from its seasons of converse with God,
into the strife of the world, its interior face radiant with
a veil of glory like that Moses wore when he came down
from the mount. Every calamity is disenabled to agitate, and every cross to terrify you. You say, with the
brave serenity of Paul: " What can separate me from this
unspeakable joy? Shall tribulation, or famine, or sword?
Shall loss of goods, or pain, or bereavement by death?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors! "
The very intellectual interest that will be shed over a life
where this mutual interacting of prayer and fulfilment so
stimulates the soul, rewards the understanding, while a
far profounder and holier satisfaction descends into, illumines, and inspires the heart.




44             ASKING AND RECEIVING.
Not for ourselves alone are these heavenly gifts attainable, but by one for another. Intercession, - that too
often neglected privilege of prayer, even among those who
have learned the Christian lessons, — intercession, it is
the divinest gift of friendship. By its celestial ministry,
conquering all distances, the thoughts of separated spirits
meet, in God. When patient love, in its reserve or its
baffled hope, can do no more, it can ask on all it loves
the love of Christ. When ingratitude makes self-sacrifice itself helpless, and repulses all tenderness with malignant hate, or unconcern almost as torturing, Prayer can
still watch, and guard, and supplicate, and weep; and
God counts its tears. Mothers for their erring sons; sisters for their falling brothers; companions for each other;
believing children for worldly fathers; all souls for all
souls, - prayer is their sure refuge, the one office of
affection and faith that no indifference can deny.
In the lives of the Fathers there is an account of Abbot
Lucius. To a company of young men that were boasting how they prayed continually, but never worked, he
said:'" Not so; for if you never work, then, while you
eat and sleep, you neither work nor pray. I will show
you how you may pray continually. I am not ashamed
to labor with my hands; and while I work, I send forth
still, between, some short petitions to my gracious God.
When I have some quantity of finished work, I give
away about a third thereof to the poor. And now, these
poor men praying for me while I eat or sleep, through
them I pray without ceasing."
Over every day's life, let us write the twofold inscription,- " Not slothful in business"; and " Continuing
instant in prayer."




SEtRMON  IV.
THE SOUL'S SEARCH.
SEEIK, AND YE SHALL FIND. -Matt. vii. 7.
AN intelligent criticism has often pointed it out as one
of the secrets of moral impression, as well as of rhetorical effect, that the true power of eloquence may be almost as strikingly displayed in what is omitted from a
discourse as in its contents. That is to say, an orator
may accomplish his persuasion as well by knowing what
to leave out as what to put in. Of course, this skill presupposes a wise acquaintance with the structure of language, and its relations to thought, a delicate perception
of the laws of association, and the knowledge how to
make what is said suggest that richer part of wisdom
which must for ever remain unsaid. But whatever we
may think of the maxim as a judgment on the art of expression, it certainly refers to a great and yet a simple
fact in our spiritual economy. It might be shown, ]
think, that there are' omissions in the New Testament
more spiritually significant than any speech out of it.
An example occurs in this passage. The Son of God
says to the world, " Seek, and ye shall find." He does
not there tell us what we are to seek. It is enough that
he urges us, with such condensed concern, to seek,- for




46               THE SO UL S SEARCH.
we shall find.  What the object of this ceaseless and
infinite quest shall be,  so far as the immediate language goes, - is left sublimely unuttered. In this case,
as in many of the utterances that break the. most solemn
pauses, and declare the grandest truths, the unmentioned thing is the supreme thing.  Precisely because
there is but one word that can fill the blank, no word is
needed.
Observe now how impressive the inevitable inference.
It is like saying that the one true search of man can have
but one object, - God.  What it is to find God, we may
try to state in different forms of words. But they must
all have one meaning.  To live daily under the conscious inspiration and guidance of his Spirit, is to find
him.  To believe in Christ, provided that belief embraces practice as well as faith, and engages the affections
as well as the intellect, - which it must do if it is living
and sincere, — this is to find God; because God is in
Christ. To keep a conscious harmony of one's own will
with God's will, so as to gain spiritual liberty, patient
submission, is to find him. To blend justice and mercy
toward man with prayeri is to find him. To live so that
the ruling aim, or uppermost purpose, shall be under the
constant control of the principles of Christianity, is to
find him.' To be spiritually-minded, and so discern spiritual things, is to find him. Of course, then, to be really
seeking' any of these things,- which, after all, are essentially the same thing, -is to seek God.
But in the fact that Jesus does not specify in words
what we are to seek, we may find this truth hidden;
namely, that if you once fairly bring yourself to the inquiry what you shall seek, with a resolve to seek it, you
can come to but one reasonable answer. There is only




THE SOUL S SEARCH.              47
one aim large enough, and noble enough, to satisfy your
soul's hunger, when you make a fair, free, deliberate decision. I believe that, if we could all see how we choose,
when we hesitate between God and Mammon, we must
choose aright; especially if the choice is made before a
corrupt habit has hardened the wrong growth, and stiffened the twist of sin into a permanent deformity, and
partially crippled the will. Really and reasonably to
choose, will be to choose for eternal life over the loss of
it. That glorious necessity God has wrought into the
very texture of our being, -a bright and everlasting witness of his own truth. Otherwise, reason is a mockery,
the invitations of Heaven are a dismal satire on our helplessness, and our very nature is a fallacy.
What shall we conclude, then, looking at mankind as
they are, but that many of them have not fairly chosen?
When you see a life whose inmost motive is clearly selfishness, and whose whole face is stripped of every impress of the sense of spiritual obligation, you may safely
say that life has never passed under any experience that
deserved to be called a choice. No doubt it has a direction, and a motion. So has every vessel that floats
adrift. We live on waters that are never at a dead calm.
If we neither sail nor row, we are driven. But such a
man either follows the current that the world's fashion
has set, or is the plaything of gusty appetites. He has
not grasped the helm in the hand of a strong, individual,
and morally independent will, conquering at once the tide
of social example and the caprices of his own passion.
He has not lifted his look to the immortal lights that
burn fixed and serene in the sky, and laid his course by
their heavenly admonition.  Who shall measure the
guilt of that wretched refusal to choose?




48              THE SOUL'S SEARCH.
Some kinds of election such men have undoubtedly
made. They have chosen, perhaps, which one of the
many modes of self-enrichment or self-gratification they
will take. They have chosen the path and the scene of
their property-search, or their pleasure-search. They have
chosen whether they will be rich by one set of tools or
another, -by dry goods, or hard-ware, or jewelry, or
stocks, — by a hammer and chisel, or a plough. They
have chosen whether they will be famous at the bar, or
in the medical faculty, or in a pulpit, or in Congress.
They have chosen whether they will get gain in New
York or Boston, San Francisco or Calcutta. Have they
chosen between self-service and God's service? Have
they chosen whether their property shall be got according to the New Testament, or according to the Satanic
text-book of expediency? Have they chosen whether
their chief pleasure shall be that of a luxurious table and
the pride of a handsome establishment, or the pleasure
of blessing their fellows and feeling the beat of a satisfied
heart? Have they chosen whether, by whatever instruments, in whatever city or village or country, through
whatever calling, with fortune or without, admired or
neglected, courted or despised, they will be brave for the
right, and carry out of the world a conscience undefiled?
In one phrase, have they chosen- have you chosen —
between the servile obedience to interests that all terminate in earthly comfort, and the nobility of a character
upright before all men, bending with humble devotion
only before God, rich in good works, a disciple of Christ?
Is there one among us all that hesitates an instant which
he ought to choose, if he choose at all? How true is it,
then, that where our spiritual safety is perilled, it is not
so much that we do not come to the true life when our




THE SOUL S SEARCH.             49
faces have once been turned to seek for it, as that we do
not turn them to seek for it! The one primary, fundamental, underlying question is the question we have left
unsettled. Seek, really seek, and ye shall find.
Christian faith is the most appropriate action of the
soul; and the way of a righteous life, as it is thrown
open by the Son of God, is the answer of Heaven to the
soul's wants. Now if this be true; if the heart of man
wants the Gospel as much as the body wants food, and
is the organ of holy feeling; if the spiritual atmosphere of
religious belief and principle is as exactly and beautifully
fitted to our inward life, as the outward air is to the
lungs, or light to the eye; and if every irreligious person
is out of nature, disordered and disorderly, a morbid and
abnormal creature, till he stands in reconciliation with
his Maker, -then the seeking for the way must be the
foremost concern of all health-desiring and rational souls.
How to find and keep it is the simple question, beside
which all the decoration and ambition of our material estate, all dress and bargaining, all opulence and office,
even all learning and accomplishments of the mind, are
humbled into secondary things.
I said secondary. I ought to use some stronger word.
The distinction is more than one of degrees. The alternative between a life taking its law from Heaven and a
life taking its law from any of the forms of self-interest,
— ranging as these forms do over all grades of guilt and
shame, from the beastly sensuality that eats and drinks
and lusts, all the more reckless to-day because its to-morrow looks so ghastly, on to the passion for power and
splendor which is the "last infirmity of noble minds,"
but none the less ungodly because it is the last, -this
alternative is always the simple one between piety and
5




50              THE SOUL'S SEARCH.
atheism. We cannot keep a deity that shall simply wait
on our table, or whisper to us beforehand the favorable
chances of a speculation. There are no wages, whether
occasional attendance at a sanctuary, or any other professions, that can suborn Providence into a skilful steward and butler, or an intelligent foreign correspondent
to keep you advised of commercial prospects. God must
have the heart or nothing, - and have its direct loyalty
and love, or none that is accepted. He looks in to see
which way the inmost spirit kneels, - and not Sunday
only, but all days, - whether towards the Father of
Righteousness, or some idol of the popular admiration.
He lifts the folds that are plaited so cunningly over our
inmost selves, and judges what that inner rule is by
which we refuse or accept bribes from the hand of man or
woman, by which we do or scorn to do an unclean deed.
So that, in reality, the difference between seeking God,
and seeking him not, is something more than a relative
or comparative difference. It is absolute and decisive.
It supposes a distinct centre of attraction, and so another
sort of life; what the New Testament calls a "new
man." You may ascend from the flattest plain to the
adjoining hill, from the hill to the loftier table-land, from
that to the proud range that puts its snowy shoulder
against the arch of blue, and up still from that to the solitary and imperial peak that seems to soar quite thlroughLt
the sky, but still you remain a citizen of the earth, and
your climbing feet are held fast by the old gravitation.
It is not till you spring over to another planet that you
are clear of the sublunary imprisonment, and become an
inhabitant of the heavens. Now God is willing that our
home should be on this world; places are nothing; he even
offers to send heaven down to us. But the heart must




THE SOUL'S SEARCH.             51
confess to an attraction from beyond the little globe of
self. We " cast anchor upwards."  " No man ever went
to heaven whose heart was not there before him."  If
we would "' find" the life eternal, we must " seek " something better than the best kind of material good.
All our life is a search. We are a race of seekers.
The eyes planted in the front of the head are a symbol
of our inquisitive constitution. With some of us the
aim is consciously taken, is clear, is fixed, and embraces,
in one, the perfecting of character and the glory of God.
These, call them by whatever name, of whatever sect or
no sect, of whatever nation or rank, are the men that
God loves and honors. They are the saints, modern or
ancient; as good if they walk our streets to-day, as if
they held sweet counsel with Fenelon in Cambray, or
knelt with St. Cecilia, or wept with Paul on the shore
at Mliletus. And because they find the Christ the only
way unto the Father, they are the true Church of the
living Lord. All of us, I hope, have been privileged to
know such.
Then there are others who seek nothing so noble,
nlothing so generous, nothing so holy. They seek how
much they can call their own, by whatever means, - of
how much benefit they can hold a monopoly, from how
large a place in God's universe they can keep other men
off, and how much envy they can rouse in rivals and
neighbors. These have never mastered their baser and
greedier instincts, and so have never known the divine
joy of being blessed for their benefactions, and have
never tasted of the peace that passeth understanding.
Very often God punishes us, by letting us have what we
seek. And so such persons seem to succeed. Men of
that stamp are affluent and respected; or rather, the ac



52               THE SOUL'S SEARCH.
cessories, under which the man is concealed, are respected.
It requires a spiritual judgment to uncover their emptiness, and show how real ruin is compatible with apparent success.
There are none, I suppose, who can be said literally to
seek nothing; but there are those - and these, too, you
have seen - who come so near to that, that no man, looking on, can guess what it is they seek. The aims are so
minute and so variable as not to be easily detected, -
one thing this morning, another this evening, all trifling,
and all ineffectual. Find what the magnet is that draws
each one on, and you have discovered his character.
His supreme desire fixes his value. To know what he
seeks is to know what manner of man he is, better than
by knowing in what way he seeks it: just as you can judge
a traveller's destination better by seeing which way his
face is set, than by observing his mode of conveyance.
To the seekers of mere material and selfish comfort,
one serious consideration is presented by the progress of
history. That kind of search is sinking. Every new
day that breaks into the sky degrades it; both because
new lights are stationed about it, in our educational and
industrial wakefulness, to show its shame, and because
the practical tendencies of the time force upon materialism a more and more hard and sottish character. In
more imaginative periods, romance threw about idolatry
at least the. graces of fancy, and made it poetical. Now
it is either shrewd or stolid. It is the idolatry of the
arithmetic, the stock-list, and the palate; not of fable
and heroism. The noblest element has vanished. It is
bare gluttony. If you are going to worship the animal,
then return to the inventions of Egyptian and Grecian
genius,  " the fair humanities of old religion."  Give




THE SOUL S SEARCH.             53
us back at least the simplicity of feticism with its sensuality. Rebuild the Pantheon.  Relight the fires on
Pagan altars. Repeople the woods with dryads, and the
waters with nymphs. Anything, rather than the gross
surfeit of appetite, and the clinking creed of dollars!
And if you cannot do that, take it as a sober hint that
God's providence does not mean to have materialists in
the world at all. Seek something worthier of your humanity. Seek a larger and purer spirit from the Father,
who grants such gifts by his Son, and ye shall find.
In the text there is a task enjoined, and there is a
promise published. The task is for man; the promise is
from God.
The task is for man. Seeking is a labor. We are
cast upon our faculties. Faith itself is not passive.
Why is that pearl of great price, a Christian character,
concealed behind so many counterfeits that glitter, and
perplexities that hinder, if not to stimulate our zeal in
seeking it?  Self-denial is a part of that search. So is
drudgery, familiar as our own hands.  So is patience
under contradiction, and the crucifixion of pride. If a
young man asks me how he shall be a Christian in the
midst of the sorceries of politics, the temptations of merchandise, and the profligacy of convivial manners, and yet
is not willing to brace himself against the reproof or ridicule of his elders and the blandishments of seducing
companions, to begin every day with Bible and prayer,
and even to persevere through loss of income, I only
remind him of another young man who had it said to
him, c" How hardly shall they that have riches enter into
the kingdom of Heaven," because he was not equal to
the sacrifice.  And if a distressed spirit in woman,
scourged by the pain of doubt, or entreated by the Holy
5*




54               THE SOUL'S SEARCH.
Spirit, inquires for the way of life, and yet will not bend
her vanity or her self-reliance lowly at her Redeemer's
feet, I remind her of the sister that was more careful and
troubled to display her hospitality to Jesus, than to give
up all, and put her heart into the Saviour's hand, and sit
satisfied with his love.  These do not truly seek, and
cannot find.
The promise is from God. Seek, and ye shall find.
Was a Divine promise ever broken or forgotten? There
is a secret misgiving, or uncertainty, whether a thorough
consecration, a righteous character, will bring the peace,
or strength, or glory, which the Almighty has engaged it
shall. I believe Christian people themselves do not duly
weigh the affront of distrusting God's pledges.  We
deem it an insult to doubt man's word, yet discredit
the Unchangeable's. The loss is double. We dwarf
the proportions of our own goodness.  We alienate the
blessing that falls only on believers. So seek eternal
life, then, as those that know they shall find it.
You know the ways and the helps of this seeking.
They are fixed and definite as the rules for any human
attainment.  They are studious  and  self-examining
meditation, the exclusion from the heart of conflicting
affections, a daily intimacy, through the record, with the
perfect Christ and the whole body of Revelation, prayers
as punctual as the sun, the dashing away of that one
dear dark idol which stands between almost every heart
and the light of Heaven, and the faithful applying of the
spirit of holiness given straight from God to one district
after another of the practical territory of experience.
Was there ever one who so sought, and did not find?
Do not say the object of this infinite and immortal
search is vague or obscure; and that you do not know




THE SOUL S SEARCH.            55
what to seek, because the precept does not define it. As
well say you do not know where the upward look of the
pleading and weeping eye of the Magdalen is directed,
because the Master's form is not painted on the canvas
above her head. As well wonder why the name of the
Unnamable, to whom the vast dome is reared, and
whose silent praise every arch and pillar speaks, is not
stamped in gilded letters on the front of St. Peter's.
There are meanings at once so plain and so august, that
to encase them in syllables is to belittle their dignity.
The design of the whole framework of your human being
is as evidently God's worship, as that of the cathedral.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God? And yet
what proportion of the souls passing forward to man's
estate and dangers and duties in this Christian community, what proportion of the young men that enter
Christian sanctuaries, have seized on the grand purpose
so manifestly held out to them? have taken a religious
stand, —I do not say before men, but before themselves, - and so determined their lives towards the glorious end? The question is not put querulously, nor as
from a pulpit's formality, but as from one erring man to
his fellows, in a common need of strength. Character,
spirituality, righteousness, is the end. Christ is the way.
" Seek, and ye shall find."
There is something in this inspiriting call for every
stage of our spiritual progress. The youngest child that
hears me is not too young to be a seeker under Christ,
for Christ took younger children into his arms. The
maturest manhood or saintliest womanhood among you
ought to be seeking still, and for ever seeking, - because
the best are weak, truth is boundless, and the highest
soul stands at an infinite remove from God. They that




56              THE SOUL S SEARCH.
have not yet steadfastly set their faces as though they
would go up higher, are encouraged and solicited. They
that have gone some way are bidden to press on. They
that have mastered the worst enemies are cheered forward to be more than conquerors through Him who hath
loved them, —whose face they have beheld, whose breath
they have felt. Nor is it said to one of them more than
to another, "Seek, and ye shall find."
From all the fountains of religious feeling, whose living waters leap as if an angel troubled them, - from all
trees of wise thought, whose leaves are for the healing of
the nations, - from all the lights in the starry heavens of
the elder time, the ages of faith, - from the spirits about
us, on the right and the left, purer and calmer than our
own, and shaming our uncertain steps, - from our own
failures and mortifications, - from prayer and communion, from Bible and Providence, from Church and life,
above all, direct from that mighty and loving heart of
Jesus, out of which flows the spirit without measure, - let
us continually and faithfully seek,- seek summit above
summit of gracious attainment, — seek depth below
depth of God's unfathomable love. So shall we not lose
the way, and miss our Father's house, nor come halting
and maimed there, but erect and healthful souls, save as
we are bended in gratitude at the mercy that forgives, in
penitence for the sins to be forgiven, and in reverence at
the vision of Him who makes his people whole.




SERMIM O N  V.
THE SOUL'S CORONATION.
THE LIFE IS MIORE THAN MIEAT.- Luke xii. 23.
YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE. - Rom. xii. 1.
I HAVE drawn the two members of the text together,
out of their separate places in the New Testament, as
they proceeded from the lips of Jesus and the pen of
Paul, because the precise thought by which I wish to
direct my discourse is more clearly brought out by their
combination than by any single passage.  The compound force of the two phrases is this: to keep the claims
and the interests of the spiritual nature in us paramount
over all other claims and all other interests, is to act
according to the strictest rule of what is reasonable.
Paramount, for in the divine economy of our constitution there is unquestionably an order of preferments. No
human society has ever adjusted its ranks, nor any government allotted its privileges, according to that heavenly
gradation, because no legislature has ever fully copied
its principle, and no community has embodied its spirit.
But God has distributed creation in a series of ascending
honors. Christianity, his interpreter, tells us how they
range and where they culminate. That uncrowned and
often unacknowledged king, the human soul, stands nev



58             THE SOUL S CORONATION.
ertheless the native and hereditary sovereign of our mortal estate. We may rob it of its titles; we may trample
its royalty under the feet of our passions; we may fill its
throne with-those vile usurpers, our sensual desires; yet
through all abuses, through ages of treachery and malfeasance, the soul waits, pleading its inborn majesty, asserting its divine pedigree, appealing to its parentage in
God, showing its inalienable and immortal right to rule,
and expecting its final coronation. " The life is more
than meat." Through the inspiration of the spirit, the
seat of this life is the soul.  There is the centre of all
movement, the spring of power, the point of intense
concern.  All greatness proceeds thence.  All well-directed anxieties converge thither.  Blind as we become
to the magnificent fact, whatever interests agitate markets and families and states, -whatever influences play
through street, shop, congress, the academy and college,
no less than the Church, - terminate at last in the
soul. For that, in the original design, however we as
individuals pervert or come short of it, the farmer's
tillage rears and reaps the summer's grain on all the
quiet meadows and slopes; for that the arms of labor
swing in ten thousand workshops; for that the printingpress is worked and types are cast; for that, at last, if
the Sermon on the Mount is true, the lily blossoms and
the sparrow flies. Institutions are founded, whether their
founders remember it or not, statute-books are written,
cities are built, new  countries are colonized, factories
occupy the streams, exploring expeditions animate the
commercial map of the world, for the soul. It is not,
after all, for the fortunes that are made, the fabrics
woven, the speed attained, the money multiplied, the
world's-fairs exhibited. These are only means to an end;




THE SOUL'S CORONATION.            59
and that end is man's spiritual education. By far the
deepest question you can ask respecting any of these
mighty agencies is, What kind of souls is it helping to
rear? what sort of characters is it fashioning? Is it leaving men with a larger or leaner humanity, with a purer or
weaker piety? And the most momentous question any
individual can put to himself, respecting all these forms
of outward activity and acquisition, is the old evangelical and personal one, — " What shall it profit a man,
though he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"
" The life is more than meat."
I need not tell you how apt the immediate operators
of all this vast enterprise are to forget its real import.
In their eagerness to keep the machinery in motion, and
to harvest its tangible rewards, they overlook its grandest
purpose. The men who flatter themselves they manage
these gigantic forces, fail, how often! to discern the final
object of such a splendid apparatus. They practically
invert the true saying; they act as if the meat were more
than the life. Colonizers of Melbourne and San Francisco fancy the only office of those gates to golden palaces is to open avenues for worldly ambition to stride
through more ambitiously; while God would make them
theatres for the development, hereafter, of nobler specimens of moral beauty. Some man of science comes
among us and expounds the mysteries of Arctic navigation. Avaricious eyes see nothing in this penetrating of Polar oceans but an enlargement of the sphere
of traffic, or a new facility for transportation; but Providence is only getting the earth ready, from pole to pole,
for the discipline of righteous men and the triumph of
Christian truth. So the individual merchant may think
only of the luxury of riches, and the politician only of the




60            THE SOUL S CORONATION.
emoluments of office; but none the less, under all their
selfish schemes, live on the everlasting will and sublime
design of Almighty God. In every wonderful discovery
of the age, the deepest wonder is the part it is yet to be
made to play in redeeming the earth from wrong and
purifying it from sin. The brains that contrive, as well
as the capital that equips and the governments that
organize, these forth-putting expeditions which pry into
all the territory and treasure of the globe, are only servants of a vaster Power behind them, - the pages and
messengers, the waiting-men and operatives, of the Eternal Providence that will have mankind for his own. The
end of all this labor and thought is to bring men's souls
into harmony with God, through their resemblance to
Christ.  One day, as sure as that Saviour's prophecy
that his kingdom shall come, this human soul shall appear in its renewed glory, in a perfected humanity, and
enter in and take possession of the heritage which
all this selfish enterprise and this material civilization
have unconsciously prepared, " building better than they
knew."
Meantime what we, humble toilsmen at our several
obscure posts, need to do to make us faithful servants of
this reformation, is to take back our eyes from this wide
prospect, and find out how the same great law —that
spiritual life deserves more study, effort, and prayer, with
every one of us, than all external interests - is to be applied to our personal convictions; how the deep saying
of the Saviour, " The life is more than meat," is to
be so wrought into our daily habits, that we shall
feel a spiritual regeneration, a heart thoroughly consecrated to the holiness in Christ, to be our " reasonable
service."




THE SOULLS CORONATION.             61
Enter, therefore, into a brief analysis of your own composition; see if a fair analogy between the general conduct and management of our life in relation to other
great interests and religion will not hold us to keep our
spiritual redemption a vital and the foremost concern.
If you make even a moderate examination of the original contents or faculties of your nature, regarding them
simply as facts, or in the light of science, you will not
deny that you presently come upon two capacities, one a
capacity for distinguishing between right and wrong, or
a conscience, and the other a capacity for distinguishing
between man and God, or finite and infinite, that is,
a capacity for piety. You find these organs in your
nature: a moral sense, or a capacity for knowing and
choosing between the right and the wrong; and a religious sense, or a capacity for adoring and worshipping
God. And if you admit the existence of these capacities at all, none of you that is sane will deny that they
are inherently, and are instinctively felt to be, the highest
and noblest of all your capacities. One of them implies
a law of obligation towards men, and supposes unlimited
measures of justice, charity, and purity, in all the forms
of a beautiful and blameless morality. The other implies a law of obligation towards God, and supposes unlimited measures of dependence, devout love, and holy
aspiration in all the sanctities of piety. Observe, I appeal only to consciousness. I say nothing yet of attainments; of use or abuse of these capacities. But if there
is any person that does not confess to these things as
simple facts existing in his nature, I do not reach his
case, and cannot expect his sympathy.
Given these capacities, then, for Christian duty and
for prayer, and granting that a certain essential elevation
6




62            THE SOUL'S CORONATION.
or superiority belongs to them, our next point is, that
every capacity has connected with it a want, pushing out
into some expression of desire and an effort for gratification. These wants organize themselves, and work
towards their several objects systematically. The body
wants sustenance, -food for its mouth, clothing for its
exposure, a shelter from the storms and sun. Hence
agriculture, fisheries, manufactures, and commerce. The
mind wants knowledge.  Hence schools, universities,
printing-presses, libraries.  Taste wants beauty, -not
only clothing, but handsome clothing, - not only a shelter, but a house of fair proportions, inviting furniture,
and pictured walls. Hence the arts of design, disposing form and color. The heart wants objects to repose
in, and affections responsive to its own. Hence marriage and home. And so, leaving out religion, we have
society as it is, -the apparatus and furnishings of a civilized state.  Human wants have found their natural
expression, and taken shape in institutions. All these
institutions are vital, and of universal interest, so long
as the wants that organized them are real wants.
But why leave out religion? The capacities and the
wants for that, we have seen, are planted in human
nature, as much as the others. Conscience wants an
upright life; faith wants worship and communion with
God; penitence, aching with remorse, wants a Saviour.
Hence there must be, to preserve the analogy, a culture
of these, to keep them alive, to enlarge their power, and
to gratify them. An institution for that culture will be
a Church.
See, now, the conclusions to which the argument thus
far has conducted us. 1. By our original constitution, by
the very nature with which we are all alike born, we are




THE SOUL'S CORONATION.             63
just as distinctly required to recognize and worship God
and obey his commands, as we are required to supply
our physical necessities, improve our minds, or cherish
affectionate relations with parents or children, neighbors
or friends, husband or wife. 2. Christ's Church, which
is the great nursery and bond of these spiritual obligations, has just as clear claims on the personal respect and
personal membership of every one of you, as business or
schools or family; and, in a community like ours, a man
or woman standing aloof from the consistent and thorough practice of Christian morality and Christian piety
ought to be just as singular and anomalous and reproachable an object, as a person that should refuse to learn to
read, or to get food for his hunger, or to love his kindred.
3. The instinctive feeling I have alluded to, which I suppose is common to most of us, that there is a certain superior nobleness and sacredness belonging to our religious emotions, challenges in their behalf a devotion more
constant, a more cheerful and uniform exercise, than the
instinct for bodily sustenance, for intellectual cultivation,
or for domestic joy. " The life is more than meat."
Are you prepared to bring your individual lives, one
by one, and compare them with this demand of your
natures, —this law  of your God?  Or will you point
to any error in the reasoning which compels us to the
result?
This, however, does not by any means complete a fair
representation of the case. I need not feel the least
hesitation in asking you to admit, that, on independent
grounds, a Christian life, including both righteousness
and prayer, brings higher claims to bear on your heart
than any one, or all, of those other interests to which it
sustains this analogy.




64            THE SOUL S CORONATION.
In the first place, religion, embracing both its branches,
is a spirit, and such a spirit, that, while it keeps its own
province sacred, it is capable of being infused into all
these other departments and interests of life, helping,
strengthening, brightening, and blessing every one. Agriculture and commerce nourish and equip the body; but
while they do it, a spiritual life in the laborers and merchants, instead of hindering, furthers them. While they
are busy in the field and the market, Christianity may
make as beautiful manifestations of itself in their upright
toil, as in conventicle or council-roonl. Religion is an invisible angel, standing by them at their posts of daily
sacrifice, encouraging them. It puts the light of another
world into their eyes. It puts a manly serenity upon
their features. It charms away the worst anxieties, compunction, and despair. In a wide reach, and the long trial,
industry thrives better, and material prosperity is more
stable, in Christian hands, than in the hands of men who
love themselves better than God, and will not review
their weekly weights and measures by the balances of
the sanctuary. So, in turn, the body is wanted for, and
serves, the mind and the taste. But religion honors the
body. The New Testament has the most precise directions for its lawful uses and healthful management.
You remember the Apostle's striking language, asking
veneration for it as the temple of God. Coming up a
step higher, the mind and the taste are necessary to furnish an elevated tone to household experience. But at
this hour of history, no thinking person need be told, that.
if religion belongs anywhere, it belongs in the schoolhouse and the state-house, in newspapers and books, and
in the parlor, chambers, and kitchen of a Christian's dwelling. Conscience and faith go into everything. Higher




THE SOUL'S CORONATION.             65
than all, like fountains in the sky, they send their sweet
nourishment down into all the ridges and furrows of our
employments; they penetrate every pore of humanity;
for, like those words of Jesus which give them point and
power, they are spirit and they are life.  They are
greater, infinitely, than the earthly labors they bless.
" The life is more than meat."
Again, the spiritual life asks of you a more intense and
regular concern than any other interest, because it not
only penetrates all other interests, but outlives them. It
is the interest, and the only interest, that cleaves to your
immortality. Signs are continually appearing across the
scenery of material activity which foreshadow its decay.
All that is permanent about these buildings, pursuits, possessions, is the influence they leave on character as they
vanish; that is fresh as ever, when the world has withered
and dropped off. The most patent feature in every deathchamber is, that it is a final leave-taking between the man
and his property, - not only his hands, and lungs, and
feet, but his investments, his business, his relationships to
the world. You will not wish me to enlarge on reflections so familiar as those that distinguish between transient goods and the eternity of the soul. The difficulty,
I suspect, is not that any of us denies this contrast, but
that we fail to realize it, because in order to realize it we
need the very faith which it is presented to produce. It
takes a spiritual vision to see that nothing but what is
invisible is indestructible. Only truth, love, purity, spiritual affections, and spiritual attainments, survive that
fire which shall try every man's work, of what sort it is.
The soul is holier than the scene and the instruments
amidst which it is trained, because it has an everlasting
consciousness, responsibility, judgment. " The life is more
6*




66            THE SOUL S CORONATION.
than meat," because the one cannot abdicate the august
birthright of its immortality, and the other sinks into corruption by a necessity of its nature. It is not written of
our reputation, our trade, or our estate, but of our souls, that
they shall "all stand before the judgment-seat of God."
Still another and the most impressive of witnesses to
the superior claims over body, intellect, or friendship of
the religious nature God has planted in us, is the special
revelation that has broken through the order of history,
to put into the world a fresh conviction of the fact. The
incarnation of Divine Holiness in Christ, — what a miraculous attestation it is to the transcendent value of the
spiritual life! Man had forgotten his Maker.  Sin had
distorted his constitution.  Passion had perverted his
reason. Indulgence had weakened his will. Self-love
had bewildered his conscience. What went under the
name of his religion was a ghost of dead ceremonies,
kept on exhibition by traditions of the Past,- not a living reality, giving a vital communion with a present God.
The Law had shed its virtue, and gone barren; and the
world, when God thus manifested himself for its renova.tion, was only a type of every unrenovated, irreligious
heart. What has happened for no other department of
human welfare took place for the lost soul. The mediatorship of Christ breathed a new vitality into these torpid
capacities of conscience and faith. By his person and
his Gospel, by death and resurrection, this Messiah, this
Immanuel, this Son of God, quickened these slumbering
powers. God so loved the world. Is not the life, then, -
the life for which Christ died, - more than meat? Gethsemane, Calvary, the cross, - they stand for ever, before
the ages, mighty tokens of the soul's worth. That spectacle of infinite compassion. changing the face of the




THE SOUL S CORONATION.              67
world, by first changing the heart of man, is proof enough
how awful the issue is between spiritual life and spiritual
death. It restored Religion to its throne, and planted a
Church for its nurture, against which the gates of hell
shall not finally prevail.
The Church, then, in a right understanding of it, - for
I am not using the word in any technical or theological
sense, — is at once a divine institution, in that it is the
perpetuated body of Christ and witness of his redeeming
power; and it is also a practical manifestation of whatever spiritual life resides among us. It is the appointed
means for unfolding and nourishing our capacities for
morality and for piety. It is a nursery of goodness. It
is a school for the conscience. It is an oratory for prayer.
It is the soul's house, collecting, protecting, cherishing,
multiplying, spiritual life. This is what the Church is
by intention,- the ideal Church, - the Church of God's
design.  It is an organization for giving practical efficacy
and triumphant power to the deepest truth we know;
namely, that life is more than meat; the soul too precious
to be bartered for the world. But come, then, into the
Church as it is. Come, that is, into the region of men's
spiritual purposes and doings as they are,- into that department of their life which they call religion. What do
we see? Life? interest? energy? reality? Pass in there
from the streets of travel and the shops of merchandise.
Is there life before you like the eager, throbbing intensity of life you leave behind you? Pass in there from
the halls of legislation and political debate. Is there interest in duty and worship like the interest in the problems of public economy and the questions of party success? Pass in there from the school-house and the university.  Is there energy spent on forming righteous




68            THE SOUL'S CORONATION.
characters like the energy that beams in the faces and
animates the ambition of students and their teachers?
Pass in there from the joyous groups of kindred in their
homes. Is there reality like the reality of the love and
games, the sympathy and talk, the fellowship and fervor,
of families and wedlock, of parental devotion and filial
gratitude?
Why not?  Is it not a reasonable service?  Where is
the fallacy in the argument?  WThat is the falsehood in
the New Testament? Was the Saviour mistaken, when
he declared the supremacy of spiritual interests, - said it
would be profitable to sell all the world beside for the
soul, - and bade men seek the kingdom of Heaven and
its righteousness first? Were the Apostles exaggerated
in their zeal? Is sin a matter of small concern to us,
when God cannot look upon the slightest stain of it without abhorrence? Is spiritual ruin less dreadful to us than
it was to the immaculate Lord who was crucified to save
us from it? Is repentance an indifferent matter, when
veery prophet Heaven has ever sent has made it the burden of his message? Why then do spiritual concerns
languish and dwindle beside the strong activities of business, the onward march of learning, the vital forces of
the world?
It must be because the lower nature has overborne the
higher. Conscience and faith are absorbed and quenched
by appetite and ambition. The carnal life enslaves the
spiritual. In the noise and pressure of our weekly gaingetting and gayety, we lose our perception of the true
proportions and objects of our being. We exchange our
immortality for a fortune, our Saviour for pieces of silver,
and prize the inmost and eternal life less than the body,
its raiment and its meat.




THE SOUL S CORONATION.             69
Here, then, is the inevitable conclusion we are brought
to, looking straight on from our starting-point. What is
wanted is to restore the spiritual life to the sovereignty
God has designed for it; to recrown the soul and malke
it master of the flesh; to estimate it as God estimates it;
to seek its regeneration as He did who laid down his life
for its sake, and declared, that except a man be thus born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.
What shall reawaken the sleeping heart?  WVhat shall
restore the alienated estate?  What shall lift men into
the honor they were designed for, - persuade them that
to be Christians is nobler than to be capitalists? What
shall subordinate comfort to character, exalt the spiritual
capacities over the fleshly, and give back to the soul its
lost throne?
The question is personal, and not abstract. It is to be
answered by each for himself, and not by public demonstrations, nor any voting in assemblies. We must take
it home with us into a private meditation. Self-examination must furnish the key to it. What shall it profit
me - is the searching word- if I gain the world and
lose my soul?  Will that be a reasonable service? And
then, remembering the weakness of your best resolves,
and casting off your pride of will, like the blind man at
the road-side, lift your arms in patient trust to Christ,
saying, " Lord, that mine eyes might be opened, that I
might see these spiritual realities as they are, and apprehend the way whereby thou canst lead me to immortal
peace."
There must be personal effort. There must be personal energy.  There must be watching and prayer.
There must be a roused, a diligent, an urgent seeking, --
as much more earnest, profound, systematic, and perse



70            THE SOUL'S CORONATION.
vering than all our worldly enterprise, as the life is more
than meat. It is your reasonable service. The kingdom of Heaven comes not into any breast by accident,
by sloth, by unconcern.
Riches must begin in the feeling of poverty. And the
vilest poverty is that of the rich man who fancies he has
need of nothing. Poor and blind and miserable, the heart
must feel itself, before it can possess itself of all things by
reconciliation to God. And man is never so destitute as
when his outward opulence and comfort mock an empty,
aching breast. All that is external and material is never
really possessed, till it is made to serve the soul, which
is independent of its favors. Learn to look on the splendor of your physical prosperity as only the fading raiment of your spiritual substance. Not the garments, not
the meat, not the skill, nor the pleasure, but the life they
strengthen and discipline for eternity! Then, gaining or
losing, you are rich; living or dying, you are immortal.
Believe this: believe in the Christ who revealed and established it. All things are yours the moment you are
Christ's. That will be the soul's coronation. For to be
faithful unto the body's death, is to put on the crown of
an undying life.




SERMON VI.
HOMEWARD STEPS.
FOR YE WVERE AS SHEEP GOING ASTRAY; BUT ARE NOW RETURNED UNTO THE SHEPHERD AND BISHOP OF YOUR SOULS.
-1 Peter ii. 25.
IT is a common habit, both of the popular mind and
of the pulpit, to look at Christian truth by fragments,
rather than as a whole. We take it up in its parts, get
interested in special aspects of it as they are presented
by passing events or a personal experience, give our
attention to its duties or its doctrines, one by one, without special regard to order or system. Even when we
consider our religion as a practical power, working on
the heart, turning it from darkness to light, and leading
it along all the way of change and growth from sin to
holiness, we are not very apt to bring the whole process
under our view at once, so as to take in the full sweep
of that sublime renewal at a single glance. We fail to
observe the connection of one step with another, marking
the beautiful continuity and the consistent progress from
the beginning to the end.
Such modes of inquiry are to some extent inevitable.
For, with our narrow reach of vision and our fallible
reason, when we have proudly compacted our scheme




72               IIOMEWARD STEPS.
and adjusted its harmony, the Holy Spirit is very apt to
show us that his powers for converting the world are
too large and too free for our comprehension, and that
his path to the sinning heart transcends our poor contrivances. Besides, the way I spoke of has its advantages.
A true and vital religion has so much to do with variable emotions, is so much a thing of the heart, partakes
necessarily so much of the ever-shifting nature of life
itself, that perhaps we treat it as profitably when we
seize vigorously on the vivid points it presents to our
faith and practice, one at a time, in the path of Providence, as if we stopped in cooler blood to arrange our
notions into a very formal and rigid system. For it is
one of the undoubted lessons of history, that what a
theology gains by the anatomical precision of its framework, it often loses in life-blood, healthy lungs, and freedom of motion.
But, on the other hand, there is a positive good to be
gained by occasionally taking the less familiar course;
by laying the whole field under a single rapid survey,
looking along the complete line of advance, and seeing
how the soul is conducted on, under its Divine Guide,
from the far country to its Father's house. To gather
up, in this way, the principal points of a Christian experience, and to present them together in an outline of
spiritual biography, is what I now propose.  Such a
statement must be in some sense a confession of faith, a
doctrine of salvation; only it is presented to you, not in
the abstract language and forbidding formulas of a scholastic theology, but in an actual and living history, such
as may belong to any one of you. So your own heart,
answering as far as it goes along, will either sanction or
rectify the representation.




HOMIEWARD STEPS.              73
I first sum up these successive stages, through which
Christ leads his followers, under the several terms that
represent them, taken in their order. They are the Need,
the Difficulty, the Warning, the Relief, the Application
of the Relief, the Fruit, and the Result.
1. What is the Need? It is the need of feeling one's
self in friendship with God.  As respects our religious
nature and prospects, that is the one radical, universal,
undermost necessity. If you look deliberately down into
your own heart, and think, you will find that, provided
only you could feel confident that you and God were
agreed, were desiring the same things, were working towards the same objects, were in a certain divine partnership, were mutually pledged to one another, and had one
heart, mind, and will, then you would be perfectly safe
and happy. You would be at peace. Nothing could
harm and nothing could greatly terrify you. Let any
possibility happen, this Almighty Friend would instantly
come to your rescue. You could bear any sorrow, and
any pain, and any mortal uncertainty. With that assurance, you would know, that, even if you were to commit an occasional sin, this perfect Friend, so wise,
so affectionate, so gracious, would understand, would
pity, would forgive. Heaven and earth might combine
against you, temptation and trial, poverty and disease,
desertion and death, tempest and earthquake, - you know
you could stand untroubled and secure. Why?  Because you are on the side of the Eternal Builder and
Ruler of all, who will yet bring out order, beauty, sunshine, through the earth and sky.
This, then, is the soul's one great need. Men have
different names for it. Ask one, and he will say, " Reconciliation"; another, "Harmony with the Infinite "; an7




74               HOMEWARD STEPS.
other will call it a " Hope," and another a " Faith," and
another a " New Heart," and another " Religion " in general. Some persons will not allow that they need any
such thing.  This is only because they have not yet
looked far enough into themselves to be conscious of
what they do want, or else their pride will not let them
confess. It stands to reason, it stands to common sense,
it stands to Scripture, - no logic and no folly can get
away from it, - the first want of a created spirit is to be
on friendly terms with its Creator, child with Father,
man with God. I say nothing yet of the difficulty of
reaching that assurance, nor how it is done. But it is
the want; and there wvill be uneasiness, there will be secret restlessness, there will be inward tossing and trouble,
till it is had. Friendship, or reconciliation, with God:
it was what Paul needed, with all his Pharisaic propriety and excellent education, when he went to Damascus. It was what Peter and Cornelius, what the jailer
and Magdalen, what the prodigal son and the fallen
woman needed. Profligate Augustine with his scholarship, profane John Newton in his hammock on shipboard, the accomplished, blameless Chalmers, needed it;
all men, however upright, without piety, and all women
amiable without consecration, - all among us that have
it not, - need it. Thousands need it who only know,
miserably enough, that they need something; thousands
more, whom some appetite or vanity is robbing of their
peace, who are trying desperately to live without it; unsatisfied hearts in this church, empty hearts all around it,
and aching hearts over the whole earth, - this is their
Need.
2. What is the Difficulty? The difficulty, of course,
is having something in us that is opposite to God, some



HOMEWARD STEPS.                 75
thing that does not assimilate with his holiness, something that refuses to harmonize with his love, and that
therefore keeps us apart from him. In other words, the
difficulty is sin. If there were no sin, our natures would
stand naturally and constantly in accord with his, because
he made man, - made man to resemble himself, made
man after his own likeness and pleasure. Unless, then,
something had come in to create a separation, we should
dwell in the bosom of his favor from our birth.
Drop out, entirely, the question how this sin got in;
it is there. The problem of its origin is one with which
our present practical discussion has no concern. Theories on that point are as thick in the Church as withered
leaves in a forest path in October, and often as dry.
Two facts are enough: one is, that sin is actually found
in every one of us, from the moment he wakes to consciousness, that is, the moment he knows that he exists
at all; the other is, that it is to be got rid of, or its burden is, by personal effort. It is inside of us, an internal
disease, and not on the surface. It is of the heart, and
not of the hands and feet. It belongs to character before it belongs to conduct, or else it would never seriously estrange us from God. It is a vitiated state of the
spiritual system and its circulations. It is bad blood in
the veins of the soul. Its forms are manifold; it breaks
out into avarice, lust, temper, falsehood, slander, vanity,
selfishness, profanity, - the whole brood of vices, crimes,
impieties, worldlinesses. But they all have one organic
root in the heart. They press and goad us, they beset
us in society and solitude, they follow after and irritate
and corrupt us. And just so far as they master us, they
drag us apart from God. Just as far as we yield to them,
we lose sight of him, and the blessed feeling of friendship which is our need. The difficulty is sin.




76               HOMEWARD STEPS.
3. What is the Warning?  It is the law. That is
God's voice, telling us when we are out of his friendship; in other words, telling us what this sin is. The
law is what shows us the eternal distinction between
being onl God's side and being against him; that is, between the right and the wrong. How many voices this
law has! It speaks from Sinai, from Jerusalem, from the
Mount of Olives, from Calvary. It speaks from dwelling-houses among us where passion has darkened every
windowv  with a curtain of shame; from the dishonest
merchant's disgrace; from the death-scene of the debauchee; from the funeral of the early victim of fashionable pleasure. It whispers through our secret fears of
punishment; it makes a dramatic exhibition in our trembling nerves; it turns our sick-bed into a pulpit; it sends
those shrieks that are rather felt than heard through the
soul's remorse. Wherever law is violated, there law is
reproclaimed. The Bible is its prolonged and solemn
cry. It is written out all over the world. Sun and
darkness are its light and shade. In every man and
woman and child it finds some hearing, because it finds
a conscience. If we ever start the treacherous inquiry
whether we cannot be friends with God, and get the benefits of his favor, without renouncing our sin,- whether
we cannot be one with him without giving up what is
opposite and hateful to him, - this law rebukes our presumption. It is our warning. It never temporizes nor
parleys. It offers no compromise and no postponement.
It requires perfect obedience, immaculate purity, undeviating justice. There is no provision in it for anything
but penalty and suffering upon the violator. It is clear
as the sunbeam, sure as gravitation, terribly sincere.
"This do, and thou shalt live."  " Do that, and die."




IIOMEWARD STEPS.               77
Another attribute of law, making it yet more intensely
a warning, is that it constantly keeps in advance of our
performance, and yet condemns us for not keeping up
with it. With the august and awful splendor of its purity, it frowns upon our pollution, shames our inconsistencies, threatens our guilt.  The farther we go in
complying with its demands, the keener our sense of its
perfection grows; the higher the standard rises, the
clearer the command sounds, and the more hopeless our
self-disgust and our agony become. There is no satisfaction there. Just in proportion as we come consciously
under law, and law alone, we are wretched. It is warning, and nothing but warning. Paul's wondrous spiritual insight saw that; and so he says, in his energetic
phrase, that sin comes by the law; the strength of sin
is the law; when the commandment came, sin revived.
That is, by the law, the rule of right, comes a knowledge
of transgression. No law, no violation of law, - and so
no accusing conscience. And the more law, that is, the
more clearly you see the command, the more sin. This
is logical; and it is experimental. When you have fathomed the spiritual argument in the first eight chapters
to the Romans, you have learned the profoundest lesson
of personal and practical wisdom you are likely to find
in the present life. The difficulty with our prevailing
style of religion lies precisely here. We are legalists,
and not children of grace; we are Jews, and not Christians; in fact, though not in form, we take after Moses,
and not Jesus. We think to be saved simply by performances, by moral regularity, by following a rule of
decency, by correct habits, by a respectable deportment.
And certainly we must try with all our might to keep the
law, or else we are not fit for grace, and have no promise
7 *




78               HOMEWARD STEPS.
of forgiveness. But unless we have something beyond
and after law, it is plain we are only warned.
4. With such a Need, such a Difficulty, and such a
Warning, it is not strange that we look for a Relief.
What is that Relief? What must it be, by the very conditions of the case? In the first place, whatever it is, it
must come forth out of God himself. The offended one
must forgive. The harmony our sin has destroyed cannot be restored by the act of one party. Reconciliation
can come only from the Infinite and Unchangeable Will
restoring us, mercy and justice both being kept inviolate.
Then the Relief must be a living person. No dead expiation, nor mercantile bargain, can heal that deadly and
moral alienation. There must be personal affections,
personal influence, personal mediation. It must be a
person like us, as well as from God, - of human sensibility, as well as of divine authority and power.  All
the plenitude of God's wisdom and truth and love must
be there, and all the sacrifice and suffering and temptation of humanity. There must be a perfect life, revealing and incarnating the divine. There must be a
death, melting, moving, redeeming, by a transcendent
sacrifice. You turn from the image in the mind to the
historic reality, and behold! Jesus of Nazareth. He is
the relief. You listen, and a voice out of heaven, over
his head, " This is my beloved Son; whoso believeth
in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."' You
listen again, and a voice at his side, " Behold the Iamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world."  You
listen again, and in his own voice, " Come unto me";
"' The Son quickeneth whom he will"; "' Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die";'" All that the
Father hath are mine."  Here is an answer to the Need.




HOMEWARD STEPS.               79
Here is a way out of the Difficulty. Here is peace after
the Warning. The words spoken are the Father's words.
For reconciliation he is the Reconciler. To save sinners
this Saviour came into the world. To satisfy, and
supersede, and fulfil the Law, he brings a living Gospel. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him, because he
preaches that Gospel to the poor, and opens prison-doors,
and lets in light upon dungeons, and unfastens chains,
and anoints the fretted limbs. And this Saviour is not
only making intercession for his Church to-day, in the
heavens, being ascended into that glory which he had
with the Father before the world was, but he is literally
and personally present in the midst of his Church, fulfilling his own promise, the life of every believer's heart;
not a dead Christ, but a living; not a departed Redeemer, but keeping personal relations with his own
who love him. What infinite inspiration in that faith!
In the great conflict, where victory is immortal life, our
Leader watches us.
There is a touching fact related in history of a Highland chief, of the noble house of M'Gregor, who fell
wounded at the battle of Preston Pans. Seeing their
chief fall, it is said, the clan wavered, and gave the
enemy an advantage. The old chieftain, beholding this,
raised himself up on his elbow, while the blood gushed
in streams from his wounds, and cried aloud: " I am
not dead, my children; I am looking at you to see you
do your duty."  These words revived the sinking courage of his brave Highlanders. " There was a charm in
the fact that they still fought under the eye of their chief.
It roused them to put forth their mightiest energies, and
they did all that human strength could do, to stem and
turn the dreadful tide of battle.




80               HOMEWARD STEPS.
Now they do it to win a corruptible crown, but we an
incorruptible. When our strength falters, or confidence
wavers, the Prince of Peace, with no vengeance but love
only in his voice, says to us also: " I am not dead, my
children, though my blood has once been shed for 3'-,u.
Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world."  Law is melted in love. Instead of commandments graved on tables of stone, we have a cross whose
blood is mercy. We are no longer under law, but grace.
Christ is the Relief, our Redeemer.
5. What is the Application of this Relief? I ask again,
How does a child "' apply " his mother's love? He opens
his heart and lets the blessed influence stream in. How
does the young man, struggling with a hard fortune, in a
crowd of strangers,'" apply" the good-will of the generous benefactor who offers him sympathy and counsel
and credit? He stretches out his confidence, and welcomes the timely friendship that saves him. These are
fair illustrations. All our spiritual affections are under
one law. If we would have the benefits of Christ's divine mediation and ministry cleave to our hearts, and
regenerate our natures, and build us up into strong and
noble and beautiful characters, we must, first of all,
throw open our breasts to him. We must believe on him.
We must trust in him. We must drop our doubts of
his own promises. The grand condition of being saved
is, after all, simple willingness to be saved. We have
not to go after a Saviour, nor to invent one by our ingenuity, nor to purchase one by our performances, nor to
propitiate one by persuasion, but simply to receive one
who waits, to unbar the heart's door where he stands
even now and knocks, to let him freely in.




IIOMEWARD STEPS.                 81
"Let not justice make you linger,
Nor of fitness idly dream;
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him."
We must sit at his feet, not to criticise his claims, but
to listen; not to speculate, but to be renewed; not to
use the scale and dividers of a metaphysic or dogmatic
scheme upon him, but to adore the blessed mystery, to
drink in his spirit, to catch the heavenly sympathy of his
love, to yield ourselves up to his inspiring and moulding
touch, to bend the knee, and lay our heads in his bosom,
and so be ready to rise up daily to do his work, and press
on after him into his kingdom. That is, the application
of the Relief is Faith. Again and again the Apostle said,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved." Believe, that is, not with the brain, but with the
heart, -with that kind of faith in which love is a larger
element than intellect, and trust is more than assent.
This is the faith that completes the whole work of regeneration. It carries penitence deeper down among the
springs of feeling. It heightens the blush of shame at
living a selfish and worldly life, because it is so alien to
the disinterested and devout temper of the Master.  It
makes the new life a reality, because it founds it in the
deepest motives. It changes the whole inner man. It
works by love.  It enters the invisible, and dwells in the
secret tabernacle of a most holy joy.
And so it is commonly found that the beginning of a
real and right religious life is a penitent and humble
renunciation of self, - self-will, self-confidence, self-guidance, self-love.  Only he that thus humbleth himself
shall be exalted. Before we can lay hold on the Master's hand, we must let go money, dress, wine-cups,
worldly honors. Before we are lifted up, we must be




82               HOMEWARD STEPS.
cast down. A young artist at Rome went down into the
vast, dark Catacombs alone, to copy some of the designs
on the tablets of the sepulchres. After he had groped
his way through many intricate and winding passages,
led on by the fascination of his discoveries, suddenly his
lamp went out. Not a ray of light penetrated those subterranean acres. It was the blackness of darkness. In
increasing terror, he felt his stumbling way among the
labyrinths of tombs and dead men's bones, not knowing
whether he was nearing the outlet or receding from it.
At last, faint with effort, choked with dust, and in an agony of despair, he gave up all reliance, and fell prostrate
to the ground to die. But as he fell, his hand accidentally grasped the thread which had been placed as a clew
to the pilgrim; hope revived; and he regained the open
air and the day. How often it happens, that some distress or misfortune, some nearness to the tomb almost as
literal as his, must create in us the feeling of utter helplessness first, before we are ready to lean with faith on
our Guide. When we renounce ourselves, we seize the
clew; and then we rise, in the energy of a new-born and
confident hope, and work steadfastly on into the light.
6. What is the Fruit? It is righteousness. Infallibly and invariably, it is righteousness. If that fruit does
not grow, some one of the previous links in the line of
causes has been left out. The penitence was not sincere. The reform was not true. The faith was not genuine. By their fruits ye shall know them. Not righteousness always in one style of its manifestations. It
may be in a tradesman's bargains, or a mechanic's jobs;
in a scholar's simplicity, or a clerk's fidelity. It may be
in a forbearing disposition, where there are daily provocations; it may be in magnanimity toward a mean com



HOMEWARD STEPS.                 83
petitor; it may be on a couch of slow and patient suffering, where needed energies are crippled, and a dependent
family are left unprovided for. But it is none the less
righteousness in one case than the other,- as dear to
God, as resplendent to the spiritual eyesight of angels.
It has equally glorious exhibitions in the statesman that
carries an incorrupt breast through the lobbies of a statehouse or through the bribes of the capitol, and in the
woman that sways with patient justice the perplexing
politics of the nursery, or is daring enough to resist the
tyranny of fashion. It is in the politician that refuses to
mortgage his conscience to the Devil, and in the freeman
that cannot be hired by office, nor persuaded by sophistry, to make his brother-man a slave. It is in the preachers that reverence their message more than their salaries,
and in parishes that keep a soul as well as a sanctuary.
The lustre of a saintly heart needs no artificial reflectors
to enhance its glory. It is splendid by its own original
radiance. That panoply of sacred principle that lets no
arrow of the adversary through any joint of its harness
is the Christian's every-day garment. Every Christian
cause is stronger for his hand and his tongue.  No
tempter is cunning enough to wring a scandal from his
behavior. No neighbor shall hesitate on which side, in
the grand division of the world, to reckon him. He is
committed frankly. He is pledged irrevocably. He is
consecrated manfully. If he is Christ's man, there is no
situation, nor turn, nor emergency, where Christ is not
honored in his life. And that because the Master's spirit
is in him.
Christianity patronizes no system of half-education.
It asks a form of manhood embodying every natural idea
that philosophy has propounded, genius represented, or




84                HOMEWARD STEPS.
history disciplined. It is no ally of a stationary intelli.
gence, nor of a sluggish will, nor of a timid heart.
Growth is its law, - growth in wisdom and growth in
love. It is not satisfied, therefore, with conversion, but
is quite as exacting of sanctification, bidding the convert
forget the elements and go on to perfection.  Christianity wants to build after the pattern of a divine beauty, a
symmetry without blemish, and a wholeness without defect. It is itself incarnated in a living example of that
completeness. It has a welcome for every contribution of
science, only requiring that science shall remember its
ministerial office, not exalting its telescopes and crucibles
into an apparatus of will-worship, displacing dependence and redemption.  It has nothing but contempt for
that complacent, Pharisaic-style of piety, which fancies
its only needed work is done when it has just grazed the
gates of hell by sliding into a lazy church; which identifies
entering the ark of the covenant with escaping from the
vineyards of brave toil, and goes shuffling and dozing
through a life that vibrates between formalities on Sunday and intense vitalities all the week, —alive in the
shop and caucus, but asleep at church; — character all
the while rotting away under those obscene inconsistencies, a cowardly conscience and a voluble confession, - a
brain boiling with the plots of politics or the bargains of
trade, and a heart hard as the nether millstone to all the
sufferings of humanity; - a prayerless life, or else a lifeless prayer.
The Need does not tend more directly to the Difficulty;
sin is not more certainly assailed by the Warning; the
Law does not more naturally -waken the longing for the
Relief; Christ does not more gladly enter in where faith
applies for him, than faith itself acts its noble energy




HOMEwVARD STEPS.                85
forth into righteousness, works by love, bears the Fruit of
philanthropy, integrity, patience, temperance, emancipation, brotherly-kindness, charity.
7. What is the Result? Let the noble and animating
words of Paul answer: " But now, being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end, everlasting life."   Everlasting
life is the result. The soul has reached its period of victory. From the far country, through these seven stages,
it has travelled back, till it has come home, - home,O word of unspeakable and unexhausted meaning! The
door of the Father's house was open, and it has entered
in. To hear that sentence of forgiving welcome, — as
if all the sighs of a parent's anxious and agonized affection were suddenly melted into one musical and joyous anthem of thanksgiving, - " This my son was dead,
and is alive again; he was lost, and is found," - to hear
that from the Father's lips is heaven enough.  After
conflict, there is peace. Now is " the rest that remaineth
for the people of God." This is life eternal. Henceforth, there shall be labor, indeed, because labor is the
best satisfaction of a spiritual being. There shall be trial,
because only by trial come strength and progress, which
are the very honors of our immortality. But it shall be
labor no longer outside the kingdom of Heaven. It is
labor in the Master's society, labor under the encouragements of his friendship, labor with the crown on the
head, and the seal in the forehead, and the reconciliation
in the heart. Faithful continuance in well-doing, not for
the sake of the reward, but for the brave relish of fidelity's own sake, has brought the disciple to his Lord; and
when he looks up, behold! glory and honor and immortality are the spiritual trophies that adorn his dwelling.
8




86               HOMEWARD STEPS.
Thus falls the sweet benediction of the Apostle: " Ye
were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto
the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."  Have I drawn,
with any traces of truth, the homeward steps of a human
soul, -its need of reconciliation, its difficulty in its inward sin, its warning from a law so unbending and so pure
as to be dreadful, its divine deliverance in the appointed
Reconciler, its reception of his inspiring and renewing and
redeeming spirit by a penitent and lowly faith, its fruit in
a humane and holy life, its end in its salvation?
Homeward steps: without these can we ever see our
home? Is there any encouragement, anywhere, to think
we can have an answer to the momentary impulse which
sometimes says, " Let me die the death of the righteous!"
if we have not tried to live the life of the righteous 
When Stephen, first of martyrs, falling bruised and
bloody under the stones hurled by Jewish bigotry, exclaimed in rapture, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! " was
the image of his Lord an unfamiliar vision, or the thought
of meeting him a new suggestion?  The last words of
the mother of John Wresley to her family were, 1" Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of praise to
God"; could that be the farewell of a spirit to which
psalms of praise were strange before? Could any tongue
not familiar with the language of Christian hope say
what Philip Doddridge said: " Let me be thankful that,
though God loves my departed child too well to permit
it to return to me, he will, erelong, bring me to my
child?"  As Owen, the author of the 1" Meditations on
the Glory of Christ," lay dying, he said to a brother-believer, "' The long-wished-for day has come at last, when
I shall see that glory in another manner than I have ever
done or was capable of doing in this world." Does that




HOMEWARD STEPS.                87
sound like the speech of a faith extemporized for the occasion?  Margaret Wilson, "a young martyr of eighteen," in the reign of James II., fastened by her persecutors to a stake in the bay at low water, to be drowned by
the rising tide, repeated in a clear, full voice the twentythird Psalm, and then, as the water choked her, added,
after Stephen,' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Could
that tone of triumph have sounded over the waves, if the
steadfastness of a long and patient confession had not
inspired her lips?
In some one of these seven stages of spiritual pilgrimage every soul among us is found to-day; for beneath
alienation from God there is no lower depravity, and
above eternal life and love there is no more perfect holiness or joy. Which one of us shall be too cowardly or
too careless to bring the wholesome questions personally
home: At which point am I? Which way do my steps
tend? Is my journey towards the far country, or towards
my Father's house? Or do I stand weak, irresolute, and
despicable, looking now this way, and now that, halting
between husks with the swine, and the honors of glory
everlasting? Shall I go farther astray, or shall I return,
a grateful penitent, to the Shepherd and Bishop of souls?




SERMON VII.
HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
AND TIIOU SIIALT MAKE A PLATE OF PURE GOLD, AND GRAVE
UPON IT, LIKE THE ENGRAVINGS OF A SIGNET, IIOLINESS TO THE
LORD.- Exod. xxviii. 36.
FIRST, an examination of the word Holiness, and its
meaning; then the question, how holiness, the spiritual element in character, is gained, - or what is the law
of its growth; and thirdly, the question where it is to be
exercised, - or what is the law of its manifestation.
How much meaning, after all our abuses of it, clings
to one of these old biblical words!  We pervert it, we
make false applications of it, we mix it in with the deceptions of our current speech, we let it slip into our
practice of that terrible social dishonesty which makes so
much of our fashionable conversation what an observing
satirist once described all language to be,- a contrivance
for concealing our thoughts; and yet, in spite of so many
frauds and forgeries upon it, we never wholly sift out the
original value.  And there are some words which are
slower to be vulgarized by these familiarities than others,
retaining an awfulness which forbids their desecration,
almost like a sanctuary, or a mother's Bible, or a dead
child's memory. One of these words is holiness. That




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.             89
term carries with it a strict and solitary individuality.
Let us keep it, the more reverently and affectionately,
for that reason. If any unnatural and artificial associations have crept up about it, by formal usage, let us take
it back out of the vocabulary of cant, into the property of
common sense. If it sounds somewhat vague and indefinite, let us try to fix upon it an exacter definition. It
has a signification altogether its own. We are not likely
to hear it where its real sense is wholly out of the speaker's thoughts. Indeed, it is rather remarkable how many
men's lips there are that never can speak it. What special and sacred grandeur lingers in it, appealing to a fine
instinct even in very thoughtless minds, forbidding them
to pronounce it? We all know some men and women
by whom it would startle us to hear this word holiness
deliberately uttered, and who would themselves find a
kind of embarrassment in forcing it from their lips. Is
this because there is a certain spiritual quality suggested
by it which is foreign from their characters, and a shade
of religious conviction, to which nothing in their habit of
life and feeling answers?
Preparatory to a fresh appreciation of the power and
the beauty of holiness, we certainly want a clear understanding of the thing.
Holiness, then, in the first place, is not to be confounded
with virtue. Nor is any disparagement cast upon virtue
by affirming this distinction. They are names of two
things, not one and the same. They do not express the
same quality in character. They rest on different capacities in human nature, -virtue on the conscience, holiness on faith. They are fed from different fountains,virtue from moral principle, holiness from communion
with God in Christ. They may be guided by different
8*




90            HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
directors; virtue depending more on self-will, as is intimated in the classical origin of the word, where it expressed the special characteristic of the Roman mind,
which was a certain honorable, proud high-mindedness,
but Pagan and not Christian, and where it was nearly
synonymous with valor, or such fidelity as depends on
personal courage. Holiness, on the other hand, implies
a subjection of self-will, and the presence of those spiritual attributes, like humility, forgiveness, and religious
submission, which are peculiar to Christianity. Holiness
requires virtue, as one of its ingredients; no man can be
holy without being virtuous. But virtue, on the contrary,
is often found, temporarily and in individuals, dissociated
from holiness; an ordinary congregation embraces two
or three times as many virtuous hearts as holy ones.
You can mark this distinction among professions not
theological. Wherever an individual comes whose life
is under the influence of daily communion with his God,
you feel that there is a signet on his character, differing
from that of the best man whose conduct acknowledges
no higher principle than a correct morality; and most of
us, I presume, would readily agree that the former character is of the nobler stamp. Before his conversion, there is
no evidence that Paul was not rigidly, even Pharisaically,
virtuous. But he did not ascend into the purer dignity
of holiness, till the voice and the light from heaven unsealed his spiritual eyesight, and converted him to Christ.
His conscience was scrupulous, but not sanctified, and so
it let him persecute and hate Christians. Simon Magus,
for anything that appears to the contrary, may have been
a virtuous citizen of Samaria; yet he thought the gift of
the Holy Spirit could be purchased with money, and had
to learn from Peter that he needed repentance and




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.              91
prayers for forgiveness before he could have part or lot
in holiness, because his heart was not right in the
sight of God. This, I suppose, was the distinction in
the Apostle's mind, when he said that for a righteous,
correct, or virtuous man, one would scarcely volunteer to
die; while for a good or holy man, —so much more
impressive and affecting is that type of character, - some
would even dare to die. Holiness to the Lord is not
ccmplacency towards men.
Do not suspect me of exalting Paul at the expense of
James, — nor of pleading for religion by the poor trick
of undervaluing morality. I think Christ's Church will
never return to that error. What I claim for the spiritual principle is that it is the natural root, and in a wide
reach, and the long run, the only infallible supporter,
of the moral principle. If I wanted to convert a pagan
people to virtue, I would first try to rouse in them some
vital sense of God. And in behalf of that method, I
wvould be as willing to pledge philosophy as the Gospel.
As fast as our nominal Christendom loses its hold on
God, by faith, it is preparing the final downfall of its
good morals. Holiness is the essential root. Virtue is
the essential fruit.
The same discrimination ought to be made, only
more sharply, between all those negative epithets whereby we describe persons that avoid trespasses against the
conventional rules of honesty, or against the common
canons of respectability, on one side, and holiness on the
other. It is an offence against the Eternal Spirit, to confound these mixtures of prudence, self-esteem, worldly
sagacity, natural benevolence, or refined Epicureanism,
or even moral innocence, with that spiritual affection
which is as real and as positive and as practical as any




92            HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
of them, diviner than any, and which comes only by devout communion with the spirit God gives through his
Son, creating a new life. We ought not to be long in
learning that it is a very insufficient tribute we pay to
the finished life of a companion, when we can only say
over his grave, that he paid his debts, provided well for
his family, and escaped disgrace. If we lived in a community of Calmuc Tartars, or had received our notions
of character under Arabs and brigands, this would be a
legitimate title to distinction. But what an equivocal
comment on all our Christian civilization, if by this time
it has only educated us up to the point of eulogizing, as
signal examples of a right life, men that have not cheated, nor robbed, nor broken their marriage vows, nor
abused their lips by lying and profanity! Brethren,
Providence has called us children of a purer light. It
becomes us to be awake to it. Our funeral honors, and
our admirations of the living, ought to be graduated by
a stricter scale. A nation that has been turning over the
leaves of the New Testament, writing commentaries,
establishing Sunday schools, organizing Bible societies,
supporting churches, for two hundred years and more,
with no religious disabilities to compromise its progress,
ought to have marched beyond the childishness of rating
its saints by the standard of social decency, and of canonizing honesty. Honesty is no mean thing, and not too
common; but because the rutdiments of Christian character are noble, is that a reason why we should linger in
the rudiments for ever, and not press forward, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God? " These ought ye to have
done, and not to leave the other undone." The whole aim
of Christ's teachings is to carry up the purposes and lives
of his disciples, above the legal virtue of Jews and Phar



HOLINESS TO THE LORD.             93
isees, to that spiritual purity which is the express product
of repentance, prayer, and faith. " God hath called us to
holiness."
Holiness, then, is that attribute which is the very
crown of all the culture of humanity; for it carries the
soul up nearest to the everlasting Fountain of wisdom,
power, goodness, from which it came. It enters in only
where repentance opens the way, and spiritual renewal
puts the heart into wholesome relations with the Divine
will. It is the peculiar gift for which the Nworld stands
indebted to revelation, and it is multiplied just in proportion as the heart is formed into the likeness of Christ's.
It is the summit of manhood, but no less the grace of
God. It is achieved by effort, because your free-will
must use the means that secure it; and it is equally the
benignant inspiration of that Father who hears every
patient petition. It belongs to that statesman, and only
that one, who worships in his closet before he ascends
the tribunal, and who feels the hall of legislation, as
often as he enters it, to be a fore-court of the heavenly
audience-chamber, whose foundations are justice and
judgment; it belongs to that magistrate, and only that
one, who is made fit to govern or to judge by personal
consecration to the Master, who will reckon for his stewardship by immaculate statutes; to that merchant, and
only that one, who holds a daily commerce with the Almighty Author of just balances and the Avenger of wrong,
and wh5se trading-house, with its least transactions, lies
consciously open to the inspection of the undeceived
Accountant; to that laborer, and only that one, who
labors for the meat that perisheth with less zeal than
for that which endureth unto everlasting life; to that
woman, and only to her, whose morning devotions dedi



94            HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
cate the house she keeps as a domestic temple, and who,
remembering that favor is deceitful and beauty vain,
prizes no favor like His who was the friend of Mary and
Martha, nor any beauty like the beauty of holiness.
My second inquiry asks how holiness, the spiritual
element in character, is gained. Not by enchantments.
Not by mystical openings that pour it into the passive
soul, as summer showers fill lifeless cisterns. Not by
constitutional predispositions; for it fits every organization, and is impartially designed for every experience.
Not by strange, anomalous, interior spasms, that set
aside all the regular action of our powers, and jerk the
heart into conversion hysterically. It is as much conformed to regular methods as any accomplishment or
enterprise in the world. It is as beautifully reducible to
order and fixed conditions, as the mastery of a science
or the planting of a colony. Holiness is subject to Law,
both in its birth and its growth.
And the first principle of that spiritual economy is
this: it must be taken up as an express, specific work.
Holiness, I say, — nay, God says, - must be a special
object. It is very essential, as the progress of the subject
will remind us presently, to diffuse it, when we have it,
into all parts of our life; but the first purpose is to get it,
to know what it is that we may get it, and not so to mix
it confusedly with mere proprieties of behavior and amiabilities of temper, that we shall imagine we have kept all
that holy law which is exceeding broad when wve have
only washed the outside of our conventional cups and
platters, or swept up and down the aisles of a church
covered with invisible phylacteries, - phylacteries which
will some day show, under hotter trial, just as the fire
brings out the characters of an invisible ink. The young




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.              95
man who has not begun to take into special and particular concern the discipline of his character into holiness,
has left out the chief element in his being, and has laid
his plans for living, forgetting his inmost life. Holiness
presents that side of us which joins on upon eternity,
opens into heaven, and makes us kindred to God. It
is not to be had without an aim, a purpose, a steady
looking and striving to that end. It never was obtained
by a few desultory snatches of sober reflection, hastily
dismissed,- a few vague impressions, in churches or
cemeteries, — a few intermittent demonstrations iln the
way of a charity collection, after-dinner good-nature, or
summer-evening philosophy. It must be treated like an
interest, a pursuit, a profession. It is the great livelihood
of your heart. It is the vocation of your soul. It is the
practical handicraft of your inner man. It must be begun, followed, and never ended. Resolve, deliberation,
continuous effort, are its motor powers. All your fnembers are its flexile instruments.  The Bible is its textbook.  Morning, evening, noon, all the circling hours,
are its periods of exercise. Prayer is its rehearsal. God
answering is its Teacher. Christ is its Pattern. Special, express, intentional, must the striving after holiness
be, in order to secure it, like every glorious consummation in the world's history, like every solid triumph in
individual advancement.
And then this crowning grace and central strength of
character must be sought by a direct process. Astrononly is not learned by probing down among the soils
and rocks of the planet we occupy.  Chemistry is not
mastered by studying trigonometry.  Painting is not
learned by handling a chisel.  Men aspiring to excellence in mechanics do not go to sea; nor do sailors take




96            HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
their apprenticeship in a smithery. Yet there seems to be
a common conceit, that, by hard following after all manner of material success and welfare, the spiritual nature
in us will grow strong and beautiful. Now, for spiritual
attainments there are spiritual faculties; just as for mechanical attainments there are mechanical faculties, and
for success in acquisition, acquisitive faculties. Nothing
need be said of their rank; for if you admit their existence at all, you must grant their supremacy. But they
are to be waked and opened. They await nurture and
expansion. Do not come to the recognition and training of them by any sidelong indirection, nor imagine
it impossible. Do not suppose your love of God will
grow, because you are faithful to your counting-room.
Do not think your feeble reverence for the Everlasting
Right and Good will strengthen, because you excel in
your art, or take a premium for mechanism or horticulture,
or foresee next month's market. Do not hope for the
peace unspeakable which passeth knowledge and dwells
in the meek and contrite spirit, by merely dealing about
as fairly as your neighbors, and paying what the law
says you owe.  Rise to loftier designs.  Remember,
spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Answers to
prayer cannot be had without being prayed for. Faith
will not increase, unless you provide for faith's exercise.
You will not enter into fellowship with Christ Jesus,
except you seek his society. You will not behold the
kingdom of Heaven, unless you direct your eye, and
fix it there. And it is the universal maxim of all manly
and candid seeking, to go straight to the very object
you would gain. By the same rule only is the new man
created in holiness.
Still another means of forming this highest grace




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.              97
upon character, is to place ourselves in contact with the
providential instruments that foster it,- those divine
helps that favor it. It was on the high-priest's frontlet, — the plate of pure gold before his mitre, surmounting all his holy garments, the splendid investiture of his
office, the robe and ephod, the girdle, the Urim and
Thummim, the onyx-stones whereon the names of the
twelve tribes were written, -it was over all these, that
the august inscription was graven, like the engravings of
a signet, Holiness to the Lord. According to that Levitic ritual, the priest passing away prefigured the ever.
living Messiah, and the furniture of his sacerdotal function
symbolized the simpler and grander forms of the Christian Church. For every peculiar organized work there
is wanted a system of means. Culture implies a cultus;
education, a school; agriculture, a seed-time and harvest,
as well as a soil and sun; chemistry, a laboratory; literature, a library; moral experience, a moral disciplihe.
So the spiritual life wants certain appointments, ordinances, to be the outlines of an institution where it shall
get nurture. God has not mocked the soul with a false
aspiration. As we have our being under the two grand
external conditions of time and space, he has carved a
monument and a treasury out of each, for the replenishing of our fidelity; a holy day, and a holy place, through
which the Holy Spirit may multiply holiness in us. A
supernatural philosophy, adapting the framework of our
worship to our worshipping necessities! The Church,
with its simple ceremonies, its Sabbath and Sanctuary,
its Baptism and Communion, meeting the soul's unperverted wants, is the house built for the new man, as convenient and genial to his regenerate life as the dwelling
that welcomes the new-born child, and shelters the natu9




98             HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
ral one. These venerable, permanent ordinances are like
fixed channels, through which our Lord has poured his
selectest influences down the field of the world.  If we,
workers in the vineyard, would receive the gift, drink of
that water of life which slakes the immortal thirst, we
must come where the channel runs, reach out our hand
to the stream, touch and taste at the brink. Specific
means for a specific result. The Church organizes our
spiritual life, drills its desultory habits, systematizes
its irregular impulses, turns it into peace, order, efficiency.  Without conscious vitality in themselves, its
observances act through laws of association and impression wrought into the fibre of our being, so as to enkindle
that life in the believer.  Their influence depends on
two things, - a cordial, receptive heart, and a faithful use.
Nothing in themselves, they are clothed with power by
the spiritual reaction they stimulate in our souls. Holiness is of the spirit; but these are God's way, and suited
to our constitution, of making the spirit holier.
I have mentioned a third question, lying in the path
of my subject:- Where is this Holiness to be exercised? The fountain being replenished by the pouring
out of the Holy Spirit, in answer to our seekings and
our struggles, Christ's holiness is to be reproduced in us,
and sent forth again to bless the world. And so there is
a law of its manifestation. Indeed, the exercise or practice of holiness, as I have intimated, is a chief means of
its reduplication. To use what we possess is the surest
way of being enriched with more; for unto him that
hath shall be given; and the best preparation for right
living to-morrow, is to live rightly to-day.
Holiness was meant, our New Testament tells us, for
every-day use. It is home-made and home-worn.  Its




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.            99
exercise hardens the bone, and strengthens the muscle,
in the body of character. Holiness is religion shining.
It is the candle lighted, and not hid under a bushel, but
lighting the house. It is religious principle put into motion. It is the love of God sent forth into circulation, on
the feet, and with the hands, of love to man. It is faith
gone to work. It is charity coined into actions, and devotion breathing benedictions on human suffering, while
it goes up in intercessions to the Father of all pity.
Prayers that show no answers in better lives are not true
prayers. We took some pains at the outset to see that
holiness is not to be confounded with mere kind and correct behaving, since the love of God is not to be obscured in the love of man, and morality without piety
has lost its root; but also with the qualification, which
we must now revive and keep before us, that, of these
two forces in the Christian life, both are indispensable.
Of religion without holiness - or the spurious pretence
current under that name - the world has seen enough;
it has more than once made society, with all its reforms,
go backward; it has sharpened the spear of the scorner,
and sealed the sceptic's unbelief. It has hidden the
Church from the market. It has gone to the conference
and the communion-table, as to a sacred wardrobe,
where badges are borrowed to cloak the iniquities of
trade. It has said to many an outcast and oppressed
class,'" Stand by thyself; the Master's feast is for me,
and not for you." It has thinned the ranks of open disciples, and treacherously offered to objectors the vantageground of honesty. iMy friends, get faith, and then use
it. Gain holiness, and wear it. Pray; and watch while
you pray. Keep the Sabbath; keep it so carefully that
it shall keep you all the week, —a mutual friendship.




100           HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
Come to the church; come to carry the church back with
you, not in its professions nor its external credit, but its
interior substance, into a consistent holiness.
Constant, then, but earnest,- even, but laborious,familiar, but positive,- and universal, but also decided, - must that manifestation of holiness be, if it is
to bear the tests of Christ's inspection.
Holiness to the Lord! where is that inscription to be
stamped now? Not on the vestments of any Levitical
order; not on plates of sacerdotal gold, worn upon the
forehead. Priest and Levite have passed by. The Jewish tabernacle has expanded into that world-wide brotherhood, where whosoever doeth righteousness is accepted.
Morning has risen into day. Are we children of that
day? For form, we have spirit; for Gerizim and Zion,
our common scenery. The ministry of Aaron is ended.
His ephod, with its gold, and blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine twined linen, and cunning work, has
faded and dropped. The curious girdle, and its chains
of wreathen gold, are broken. The breastplate of judgment that lay against his heart, and its fourfold row
of triple jewels, - of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle,
of emerald, sapphire, and diamond, - of ligure, agate,
and amethyst, - of beryl, onyx, and jasper, - has been
crushed and lost. The pomegranates are cast aside like
untimely fruit. The golden bells are silent. Even the
mitre, with its sacred signet, and the grace of the fashion
of it, has perished. All the outward glory and beauty of
that HIebrew worship which the Lord commanded Moses
has vanished into the eternal splendors of the Gospel,
and been fulfilled in Christ. What teaching has it left?
What other than this? - that we are to engrave our " Holiness to the Lord," first on the heart, and then on all that




HOLINESS TO THE LORD.              101
the heart goes out into, through the brain and the hand:
on the plates of gold our age of enterprise is drawing up
from mines and beating into currency; on bales of merchandise and books of account; on the tools and bench
of every handicraft; on your weights and measures; on
pen and plough and pulpit; on the door-posts of your
houses, and the utensils of your table, and the walls of
your chambers; on cradle and playthings and schoolbooks; on the locomotives of enterprise, and the bells of
the horses, and the ships of navigation; on music-halls
and libraries; on galleries of art, and the lyceum desk;
on all of man's inventing and building, all of his using
and enjoying; for all these are trusts in a stewardship,
for which the Lord of the servants reckoneth.
Brethren, it is written that, while our fathers according
to the flesh have corrected us after their pleasure, God
chastens us for our profit, - and for what, but that we
might be partakers of his own holiness?  The transcendent privileges of sorrow! It is for you and me to consider, whether this peculiar trait in a Christian character
is losing anything of its primary honor; whether, in the
deserved esteem rendered to upright and philanthropic
men, to useful and benevolent women, Christians themselves are letting the higher order of holy men and holy
women cease and be forgotten. If holiness is gradually
lost in civil accomplishments, be sure God will finally
be forgotten in his creature. Then human reputation is
supplanting the divine favor. Comfort is usurping the
throne of faith.  Humanity is losing its grandeur.  Introductions to the court of fashion will be preferred before
the penitence that kneels at the foot of the cross.  Certificates of office and inventories of wealth will be dearer
possessions than the secret witnessings of the spirit.




102           HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
The old sentence out of Heaven, " Except ye repent, ye
perish," will be rendered into the softer invitation of the
Tempter, — " Soul, take thine ease; much goods and
manly years are heaven enough."
Such tendencies it is our part to resist, by a personal
correction of our hearts. Personal motives enough plead
for it, - motives that lie closest to the conscience: personal immortality and personal peace. For now, says
the Apostle, when ye are made "free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness,
and the end, everlasting life."  " Without holiness, no
man shall see the Lord."
And now, may God himself make you to increase and
abound in love toward all men, to the end he may stablish your hearts unblamably in holiness, at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ!




SERMON VIII.
SATAN  TRANSFORMED.
FOR SATAN HIMSELF IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN ANGEL OF
LIGHT. -2 Cor. xi. 14.
I SHALL best open my subject by two Scriptural examples, which both define and illustrate it.
Early in the night before the crucifixion, Jesus has retired from the chamber of the Last Supper in Jerusalem
to a lonely spot on the Mount of Olives, with a few of
his followers. His prophetic mind foresees the awful
scenes of the next day, - scenes in which he is himself
to be the victim and the sufferer. It is impossible that
some feeling of desolation should not come over the spirit
even of the Son of Man, in such an hour and with such
a prospect. His sense of loneliness is only made deeper
by knowing that one of his chosen disciples is at that
very moment betraying him, and that before morning
another, and one of the trustiest and most ardent of
them all, shall disown him. The touching words of one
of the old prophets of his nation come solemnly to his
mind, and, as the night-wind of the mountain moans by
the anxious group, he repeats them, with a calm voice,
aloud: "All ye shall be offended because of me this
night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and




104             SATAN TRANSFORMED.
the sheep shall be scattered." The pathos of this mournful quotation affects the quick sensibilities of the affectionate, impulsive Peter, and he breaks out into an impassioned and confident pledge of devotion:' Though
all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never
be offenlded." Jesus replies, in the same sad but serene
and premonitory tone: " This night, before the cock-crowing announces another day, thou shalt deny me thrice."
Peter returns a warmer and intenser affirmation: " Though
I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee."
So far the temptation has not tried Peter. The shameful sin he is about to commit has only been put before
him in words. He is appalled at its enormity; recoils
from it; and, if it should only come to him in that open,
direct way, that undisguised shape, he would be able to
say firmly,' Get thee behind me," and cling faithfully
to his Master. But the real temptation when it comes
does not come openly, directly; it almost never comes
so. It comes to him when he is off his guard, comes obliquely, comes under another name, comes in a maid-servant's impertinence irritating his pride, and in the taunts
of the by-standers insulting his honor. And thus it masters him. The crime that looked so hateful in its own
features he embraces in its thin disguise. The tempter
came obliquely; and he is false to the beloved Christ he
was ready to die for. Cursing and swearing crowned
the guilt of his perfidy; and while the day was breaking
in the sky, the bitter tears of his remorse were falling on
the pavement of the palace.
There is a parallel instance in one of the old Syrian
kings. When Hazael was only an officer in King Benhadad's court, the Prophet Elisha one day wept before
him. And when Hazael asked, " Why weepeth my




SATAN TRANSFORMED.              105
lord?"  "Because I know," answered the prophet, "the
evil that thou wilt hereafter do unto the children of Israel,"
— and proceeded to picture before him the pillage, the
slaughter, the burnings, the murders, and all the savage
cruelties the young man shluld be guilty of, when he
should sit on Benhadad's throne. Hazael is shocked at
this bald statement of his future crimes, and exclaims,
" Is thy servant a dog, that he should do these inhuman
things?"  Time ran on; temptation began to put on its
various disguises; it came in the fascinating forms of the
love of power, empire, splendor, royal authority, national
honor, military prowess,- came, that is, circuitously; and
in the historic sequel we find Hazael with the blood of
murder on his hands, and the oppressor's infamy upon
his grave.
We shall do quite well to personify the forces of sin
and the seductive influences of temptation under the
concrete term, Satan.  So long as we all know what we
mean, so long as we understand perfectly that this kingdom of darkness and the prince of it, this " Devil and his
angels," are all carried about within the unholy heart, it
will be quite as true to the fact, as much according to the
analogies of all forcible language, to say Satan, as to use
certain abstract words standing for vague tendencies and
general qualities.
But we need a new theory of Satan, more profound
and more penetrating than the old fables of nursery tradition give us; more in accordance with the spiritual insight gained under our Christian culture. This power
of evil that besets us, this compound force of passion and
materialism, selfishness and appetite, an unhallowed ambition and an unspiritual flesh, is not a less fearful, but a
much more terrible, because a more cunning adversary,




106             SATAN TRANSFORMED.
than the old imagery represented it. It was but a shallow device, and showed a very inadequate conception of
devilish art, to represent Satan a hideous and repulsive
figure, with frightful marks to be recognized by, with a
beastly foot to certify his track, and all concentrated malignities on his distorted features. Why, men would run
from such ugliness by instinct; and if this were the type
of evil, it could never come near enough to tempt us.
Our virtue would be safe against a seducer that inspired
nothing but disgust. In the real Satan, we must look
for a shrewder cunning, a more subtle diplomacy, a more
politic disguise. Whatever he may have been to the superstitious fears of ruder ages, to try the temper of the
nineteenth century he takes on the address of a courtier,
the self-possession of a man of the world, the royal dignity of a prince, the beauty of a seraph, and the manners
of a gentleman. If you meet him now, - and meet him
you certainly will to-morrow and to-day, - he will be
transformed into an angel of light.  And as with Peter
and Hazael, so with you and me, it is the policy of the
tempter to steal upon us by degrees, little by little, and
by roundabout approaches, till we are taken in his net.
Except he is utterly lost from decency, and abandoned
to the infernal passions, which very few even of bad men
are, a man will not set up an atrocious aim before
his own eyes, and move straight towards it. He must
partly conceal his wrong purpose, even from himself. He
must find an honest name to associate with his dishonest
dealings, even in his own habits of thinking about them,
or else, in some careless moment, he will betray his secret
to the acquaintances he is practising upon. He must
tamper a little with his own conscience, and half convince
himself that the evil in him can bear some favorable con



SATAN TRANSFORMED.               107
struction, or he will not be able to put on the saintly
look to impose on the world about him  with.  The
treacherous demon in him xwill peer out through his
guilty eyes, or tremble in his lying tongue, or give some
public advertisement of itself by the twitch of his agitated muscles. For God has so made all the parts of
this human creature to sympathize together, that when
the spirit in us sins, the body over it is shaken; when
the inward law is violated, the material vesture is disturbed.  A  pallid face reveals the corruption of the
heart; tremulous nerves, like magnetic wires, convey
abroad the swift exposure of the criminal intent; —just
as sympathetic earthquakes undulated through the solid
frame of the world when ingratitude crucified its Redeemer; -just as when Eve reached forth her hand to the
fatal fruit in Eden, and plucked and ate,
"Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat,
Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe,
That all was lost."
It is not enough, then, for the success of bad intentions,
that they deceive the surrounding public; they must to
some extent, and first, deceive the breast that harbors
them. It is the understood condition of all stage effect.
The skilful actor must lose himself in the character he
assumes. The appointments and the costume of the
theatre must beguile his own imagination, till, in the
magic of their transforming power, even his own identity loses its reality, and he is no longer himself, but the
Richard or Shylock or Tago that he personates. Without
this he will forget his part, the charm of the illusion vanishes, and all the pains and the splendors of the posturemaster and the scene-shifter are reduced to plain dealboards and plaster and gas and paint. The kingdom of




108            SATAN TRANSFORMED.
iniquity would never make its way in the world one
inch farther forward, if the wrong-doers that swell its
ranks did not first deceive themselves. Men do not
plunge into infamy for infamy's sake. They must have
a pretext, and go sideways to perdition. We are not a
race of diabolic fiends, seeking hell; but we are a race
of assailable and tempted mortals, by our careless yieldings to the sorceries of appetite turned away from
Heaven.
The peculiarity of temptation that I would fix your
thoughts upon now is the indirectness of it, - the circurnventing policy by which it conducts us to shoals of
shame, and into a vortex of tempests, while we are all
the while flattering ourselves that we are making a prosperous voyage.
Come down, then, below the plane of action to the
subterranean springs of action, —below superficial behavior to the primitive stratum of motive,- below appearances put on, to the living soul that a man is.
When a man begins to sin, he begins with something
of the original simplicity and sensibility of his nature.
Accordingly, whatever the wrong he is about to do, he
does not go about it as being wrong; he tries first to
give it some color of right. He must throw over it some
pretext or apology to make it tolerable to the unperverted part of his moral sense. He must fasten to it
some excusing title, make out for it some sort of claim
to respect, and thus provide a palliation to that conscience in him which would revolt at it if it stood before
him as naked guilt. By a succession of such artifices
we are led on, step by step and little by little, to degrees
of sin which would have shocked us if we had seen their
full enormity from the beginning. Few men follow sin




SATAN TRANSFORMED.             109
as sin; and yet how many follow it. Fewer still leap
into the depths of degradation or crime by one plunge;
but they are not few that are degraded, and that are
criminal. The Bible account of the Fall in paradise
gives us a key to the whole secret of the way and the
power of temptation. Sin besieged the human heart,
and carried it, and made its fatal entrance into the world,
not as sin, but as the means to the knowledge of good
and evil: Satan transformed into an angel of light.
For want of an unscrupulous and a hardened conscience, to set clearly before him the low aim he is following, the transgressor seeks out one a little more
honorable which it will do to avow. Thus, by living
always below his profession rather than above it, his professions themselves will come down to the miry level of
a besotted worldliness. What is best in him is not set
up as his rule and his law, - his best knowledge, purest
conceptions, loftiest visions of goodness, most spiritual
aspirations, - but only something that is not quite the
worst. And by this means he surely comes to the worst
at last. He is tempted down by a circuitous process.
He is dragged down through a series of moral obliquities, as by a winding staircase, and, for want of a steady
principle and an upward faith, he drops at last, through
the gyrations of his self-deception, into perdition.
The young merchant, that has not a thoroughly Christian purpose to govern him, tells you he would become
a prosperous capitalist that he may dispense public benefits; but he ends with being a wealthy miser. The lawstudent will aim at the bench, he says, for the sake of
vindicating justice and elevating jurisprudence, or at
the senate for the purifying of legislation; and he becomes a pettifogger in law, or a turncoat in politics. The
10




110             SATAN TRANSFORMED.
young physician's triple sign points to a votary who ponders the enlargement of medical science and the deliverance of mortality from its disorders; but as he grows older,
he grows rich on a bigoted opposition to all therapeutical reforms, and traffics in the fears and superstition and
ignorance of the miserable.  The crafty excuse under
which preachers are tempted to keep back salutary truth.
to prophesy smooth things, to lay private plots for reputation, and to condescend to cowardly and humiliating
arts, is that they may increase their influence, - forgetting to ask how much influence so got is worth, —forgetting that God will not let the merit of any good end
be carried over to lend a sanction to the unrighteous
means.
Satan does not march his victim up to face perdition
point-blank.  He leads him  to it by easy stages, and
through a labyrinth that shows no danger. Round and
round go those circling currents of the Northern Sea
that swallow the ship; and by the same winding coil
goes the spiritual decline that ends in spiritual death. It
is gayety, not the grave, that youth is seeking, when it
steps inside the circle of forbidden pleasure. It is for
social cheer, for good-companionship, because he would
not be morose, because he would scatter his despondency, that the drunkard drinks damnation, not for damnation's sake. It is to pay his debt, the gambler urges,
that he plays, -to pay one debt that he forfeits all his
credit. The first falsehood of a practised liar may have
been told to save a friend's reputation,- a generous
motive he thinks: Satan transformed into an angel of
light! A worldly life is begun for the more decent uses
that wealth may be put to; but it is followed afterwards
in servitude to that unscrupulous task-master. avarice.




SATAN TRANSFORMED.             111
How much idleness that is full of guilt, under the plausible apology of husbanding our strength! The sluggard
will save himself for future labor, he says; and in the
very economy of his purpose acquires a lazy habit that
drains all the strength out of his sinews. When envy
would detract from a rival, it puts itself into the chair
of impartial criticism. When prejudice would stab a
blameless character, it pretends to be indignant at hypocrisy. Many a man and many a woman have been
thought righteously opposed to sin, when they were only
maliciously opposed to some particular sinner.  Spite
against an erring brother or sister was the feeling. Zeal
against vice was the cloak put over it.  Jealousy or revenge is the motive; but itborrows a mask of morality. Out of the general maxim that books make us
wise, an unwholesome and prurient imagination fabricates a flimsy apology for reading flimsier profligacy.
A patriotic pretence of loyalty to good government
covers over the vulgar lampoon, the chicanery of the caucus, the systematic detraction of the party newspaper.
Satan is transformed into an angel of light. Truth is
compromised, from the slavish fear of losing office or
custom or popularity, - and it is called prudence.  The
luxurious aristocrat embroiders his estates with unpaid
toil, wrung from the muscles of his starving tenants or
slaves, and pleads allegiance to the ancient usage of his
ancestors. The thief explains his stealing by the hunger
of his children.  Murder itself disclaims all thirst for
blood: it was revenge for insult; it was desperation;
it was a paroxysm of wounded pride, or of ungoverned
anger. If a man fears that reform will disturb his comfort, or interrupt his immoral traffic, he would have you
believe he is a stanch conservatist on principle. But if




112             SATAN TRANSFORMED.
he can realize private profits out of a new movement, he
first makes a merit of radicalism. " When I the most
strictly and religiously confess myself," said Montaigne.
"I find that the best virtue I have has in it some tincture of vice; and I am afraid that Plato, in his purest
virtue, if he had listened and laid his ear close to himself,
would have heard some jarring sound of human mixture."
Be sure that the attack of temptation is most apt to
be oblique, not open and direct. It destroys our moral
foothold by a sidelong onset on our principles.  When
the Russian troops were retreating across a frozen lake
before Napoleon's army, Bonaparte stationed his artillery
on a neighboring elevation, and ordered them to fire on
the ice and break it up, and thus engulf the enemy's
regiments. The guns were levelled and discharged, but
the balls glanced and rolled on the ice without breaking
it. Suddenly one of his colonels thought to elevate his
howitzers and fire into the air. The momentum of the
descending projectiles, a falling shower of iron and lead,
shattered the ice, and sent down the host into the waters
of the lake. It is not the only instance in which the arts
of war have followed precisely the arts of the Devil. It
is by the oblique shot of our tempters that
" The meanest foe of all the train
Has thousands and ten thousands slain."
Satan never plays a bold game. He wins by not
showing his worst at first, by concealing his tricks,
transformed into an angel of light.  It takes a great
deal of effort to put us thoroughly on our guard against
his wiles; but when it is done, it is worth the pains.
Tempting men imitate their great leader and proto



SATAN TRANSFORAED.                 113
type. They never go directly and openly to their object.
If they would bend you from  your integrity, they will
flatter your self-respect by holding out to you a moral
inducement. If they would corrupt your purity, they
insinuate the poison through some appeal to your better
affections.  If they would weaken the holy restraints
that gird in, with their blessed zone, the innocence of
childhood, they will urge some sly argument to an honorable pride, or else to a friendly sympathy, or else to a
praiseworthy love of independence; and the first battery
that has been plied against many a boy's virtue has been
the cunning caution that bade him not be afraid of his
elders. They may say, as Milton makes the Archfiend
say, sitting like a cormorant on a tree that overlooked
the sinless Eden and the yet innocent inmates, deceiving even his own black heart:
"Should I at your harmless innocence
Melt, as I do, yet public reason just,
Honor and empire with revenge enlarged
By conquering this new world compels me now
To do what else, though damned, I should abhor."
Theologians can cover their sectarian misrepresentations with the plea of "zeal for the cause," and controversialists baptize their bigotry with language of Holy
Writ wrested from  its meaning.
"The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose......
0 what a goodly outside falsehood hath! "
Says the Apostle Paul: " If Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, - whose end shall be according to their works."
Unrighteous souls are like performers at a masquerade; only all the costumes are chosen out of the ward10 




114              SATAN TRANSFORMED.
robe of religion, while all the living figures under them
are disciples of Belial. Every iniquity that is done under the sun would be glad to furnish itself out of the
haberdashery of respectable appearances. No apostle of
holiness ever lived, perhaps, but has had his likeness
taken, his deportment mimicked, and his features copied
by hypocrisy, to palm  off depravity with.  Every noble
look and gesture of heroic virtue has been mocked by
villany and shame.
"There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on its outward parts."
For Satan transforms himself into an angel of light.
And now, if it shall be allowed to stand for our excusing, that temptation came to us circuitously, veiled with
the mask of virtue, then history has recorded few crimes
that can be condemned.  The business of our moral vigilance, and the test of our moral strength, is to penetrate
the delusion, to tear off the mask, to recognize Satanl
even through his transformations. We should know our
tempters as the sure instincts of innocent hearts know
hypocrites, " through the disguise they wear." Perhaps
no tyrant, traitor, debauchee, or robber ever lived, who
chose depravity for its own sake, or loved sin for its ugliness. If we are to be exculpated because temptation is
cunning, oblique, crafty, then Herod was innocent, and
Judas has been harshly judged; Nero is an injured man;
Benedict Arnold has been misrepresented; and Jeffries
and Rochester were rather sinned against than sinning.
All our sins creep on us under concealment, creep on us
circuitously.  Our first lesson of resistance is to learn
that Satan is a deceiver, transforms himself, looks an
angel.
Ever since the first mother gave her ear to the serpent,




SATAN TRANSFORMED.            115
his approach to his victim has been " with tract oblique";
"in circling spires, fold above fold, sidelong he works his
way."
It is so on the rough pavements of our modern cities,
in these dusty streets, in the homely warehouse and the
familiar dwelling, as much as among the hyacinths and
asphodels of Paradise.
This assembly! where are your temptations?  You
sit in God's house, with no signs of peril; you will go
to your homes, as you came up from them, with no
alarms of danger ringing in your afrighted ears. Where
are your temptations? Not marching down your streets,
a bannered host, with trumpets to proclaim their siege,
and with warlike notes of preparation. Virtue's victories would then be comparatively easy. But your temptations hover about you in wary ambush. They are not
in great emergencies, heralded by horrid threatenings, but
in the little things of your daily life, and hidden under
unsuspected appearances. They lurk in the luxuries on
which you repose; in the pillows of comfort on which you
lay your thoughtless heads; in the emulation where you
mistake the pride of excelling for the love of wisdom,
and superiority for scholarship; in the common labor
where the world gambles for your soul; in the merchandise where you are offered gain for falsehood; in the
social fellowship where criminality corrupts under the
name of cordiality; in the flatteries of your beauty, or
your talents, or your disposition, which borrow the silver
tones of friendship, and sound so like them that you
listen; in the familiar pleasures that make the feet of the
hours so swift, and the earth so satisfying, that you feel
lto need of heaven. Here are your tempters. They are
disguised; they take circuitous paths; they carry gifts




116            SATAN TRANSFORMED.
in their hands, and place crowns on your heads; they
are clothed like angels of light.
Examine yourselves. You are put upon your selfscrutiny. To know your enemy is half the battle.
Examine yourselves. " But ourselves only?" do you
say?  " Shall we not go and watch Satan's kingdom,
and the gates whence his legions issue, as well? " No;
yourselves, watch yourselves only. For the kingdom of
hell, as well as the kingdom of heaven, is within us.
All the mischief is there, its origin there, its power there,
its fatal result there. There Satan's seat is. No harm
can come nigh you, but through the gate of your own
yielding heart, set open by your own perverted will.




SERMO N IX.
FOUR APOSTLES.
THERE ARE DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS, BUT TIIE SAME SPIRIT. AND
THIERE ARE DIFFERENCES OF AD31INISTRATIO]NS, BUT TIIE SAME
LORD. -1 Cor. xii. 4, 5.
IT seems to be a method of the Divine Economy to
bring out the complete circle of Truth by a variety of
characters. Christianity is not so disobliging a system,
that it requires of all its disciples that they have one
temperament; not so angular, that it must mould every
constitution into one fixed shape, and condemn all our
differences from one another as departures from itself.
On the contrary, it rejoices in diversity, grafts its heavenly spirit on constitutions the most contrasted, and uses
the peculiarities that distinguish one good man from another as only a more copious language for illustrating its
illimitable doctrine.
Just as God shows the world the fulness of his great
historical ideas, and pushes forwxard the plans of his providence, by bringing upon the grand theatre a multiplicity
of nations, each marked by its own national characteristics; just as he supplies a defect in one by an abundance
in another, corrects the excesses of a past age by the an



118               FOUR APOSTLES.
tagonistic tendencies of the next, and sets off the traits of
this country to balance the opposite traits of that; just
as he appoints Judeea to represent reverence, Athens intelligence, and Rome law, counteracts tropical luxury
by Northern simplicity, quickens Italian indolence by
Scandinavian enterprise, outweighs the dreamy Oriental
mysticism by the practical genius of the West, opens
industrious America to atone for military Europe, and
checks Ultramontane sentiment by Saxon logic, thus
combining an educational apparatus of many climates
and a normal school of many kingdoms to teach the lesson of universal wisdom;- so does he convey that higher
and diviner gift, the religion of his Son, which is finally
to conquer, penetrate, and outlive them all, through many
forms of living example, and many kinds of statement
corresponding.
After Christ, the Gospel was not planted on earth by
one man, but by several men. And these several men
were not alike altogether. There were striking contrasts
between them, and this did not happen by accident. The
more minds, and the more unlike each other, chosen as
channels for putting the new life into human society, the
more certain was that life to gain access to all classes,
lay hold of different sets of thoughts and feelings, and
act broadly on the consciousness and convictions of the
whole.  It exemplifies the inexhaustible richness and
depth, as well as the wonderful flexibility of Christian
truth, I think, that its Apostles bore so slight resemblance
to each other. Perhaps we shall find reason to regard it
as a cause for personal gratitude.
Out of the thirteen men that acted as Christian Apostles, there were four, the most active, the most conspicuous, and the most efficient in founding the Church. I




FOUR APOSTLES.                11t9
select these four- Peter, Paul, James, and John -as representing respectively four prominent qualities in a wellproportioned disciple, four branches of individual character, as well as four classes of persons. The points that
I would have fasten your attention especially are these:
1. That, while these four teachers were stamped emphatically with Christ's doctrine, so that the faith of a true
believer was their first distinction, rising above and subordinating all their separate peculiarities, yet that the
Christian life took in each of them a distinctive form and
color, modified by their several organizations, so that,
though holiness was the supreme principle and end with
every one, it wore a peculiar aspect in each; 2. That the
combination of these four presented Christianity in its
wholeness, blending their personal diversities in a comprehensive unity; and 3. That, by a personal imitation of
what was paramount in each, and adjusting together the
elements of character they represent, we may approach
to something like a symmetrical life.
I. First appears Peter, ardent, impetuous, vehement
Peter. Neither the most effectual nor the most attractive
type of discipleship will be manifest, without a good allowance of his fervor. A character where that quality
predominates is liable to glaring faults; because the energy of the impulsive nature may act with equal force in
any direction, and unless principle and judgment sustain the proportion, there will be plenty of follies to be
ashamed of, and hasty sins to be atoned for by remorse.
Considering, too, that Simon Peter was summoned to
follow his Master when he was already somewhat advanced in years, it is not singular - indeed, unless we
suppose a miracle to have been wrought to transform
him, it would have been quite singular otherwise - that




12a               FOUR APOSTLES.
some of the faults incident to that sort of temperament,
faults that his old religion had not disciplined into restraint, should be often reappearing to dishonor his profession. Accordingly we find, in tracing his career, that
his zeal was mixed with many inconsistencies. Inconstancy compromised his ardor; temper lurked in close
alliance with his impetuosity; and violence of speech
was a mortifying appendage to his vehemence. But
Christ saw that he had in him the noble material of a vital and victorious apostleship, and it is most interesting
for us to see how the benignant spirit of the new faith
worked upon him, till it finally purged out the old bitter
leaven, refashioned him into a self-commanding as well
as an eager champion, and at last made him first and
foremost of the twelve companions of his Lord. It was
a long battle, however, as it must be with many a Peterlike disposition among us, between spontaneous activity
and calm control. Standing by the sea-side, at his business as a fisherman, he was one of the first that Jesus
called to come with him; and there at the very outset,
ready as ever after, he did not hesitate an instant to leave
his nets bleaching on the sand, abandoning his property
and his home, for the uncertain fortunes of a leader that
had not where to lay his head. It was he that cried out
in an abundance of self-confidence almost childish, when
he saw Jesus walking on the waves, " Let me come to
thee on the water," but the next moment, by a revulsion
as rapid, screamed, " Lord, save me, for I sink." It was
he that, when Christ asked sorrowfully, seeing some disaffected adherents forsaking him, " Will ye also go
away?" broke out into that passionate pledge of devotion, " Lord, to whom shall we go? we believe and are
sure that thou art the Son of God."  It was he that, an



FOUR APOSTLES.              121
other time, answered so promptly to the question, " Whom
say ye that I am?" — " Thou art the Christ, Son of the
living God."  It was he that interrupted that serene and
majestic prophecy, " The Son of Man must go up to Jerusalemn, suffer, and be killed," with his impatient protest,' Far be it from thee, Lord," and had to be rebuked for
his worldly ambition. It was Peter - it could not have
been any other, and we should have known it to be he if
no name were given- that rejected the menial service
whereby the condescending Redeemer symbolized the
humility of his religion, and exclaimed, " Thou shalt
never wash my feet "; but the next moment, at the
touching reproof,'" If I wash thee not, thou hast no part
with me," sprang to the opposite extreme, and was ready
for any amount of superfluous submission, begging,
" Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head."
With fortitude enough to draw his sword and smite the
high-priest's servant at the arrest, he yet fell asleep from
fatigue amidst the solemnities of the garden, and could
not watch one hour when the traitor was leading on the
officers.  Above all, you will remember that most flagrant proof of his unregulated impulses, when, after all
the privileges of his earlier and constant intimacy with
the beloved Messiah, - after having been admitted to the
confidence of sharing his dwelling at Capernaum, - having been one of the three favored friends permitted to be
present at the raising of Jairus's daughter, when all others
were shut out, and to witness the glory of the Mount of
Transfiguration, and to share in the awful hour at Gethsemane, - having been put forward to speak on every occasion for the Twelve as their acknowledged head, and
having resolutely promised, " Though all men should be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended," -
11




122               FOUR APOSTLES.
he three times declared, when stung by insult and ridicule,
"' I know not the man." And yet, so far as subsequent
fidelity, both in intensity and perseverance, could atone,.he washed out the stain of these sad disgraces, by deeds
as well as tears. When that burning, fiery spirit once
took the steady poise of principle, it wrought out splendid triumphs of virtue; it pierced the Gentile idolatries
with an impassioned eloquence that turned them from
Jupiter and Diana to the living God, from pride and sensuality to repentance and immortality.  It quickened
this brave Apostle, till he shook the Eastern world; made
him the first to spring down into the empty tomb out of
which his Lord had risen, and first to proclaim the resurrection among the living; plunged him into the sea to
greet Jesus at his reappearance in the body; brought three
thousand converts into the Church by a single speech at
Pentecost; enabled him to sleep calmly as an infant between the two soldiers and under the double chain in the
prison; braced him to that magnificent assertion of the
everlasting truth of a Law higher than any of man's
making, when, standing arraigned for speaking the truth,
before high-priest and rulers, he said firmly, "Whether
it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye"; and, at last, inspired him with that characteristic courage that.prompted him, as the traditions tell, to
request at his execution that he might be crucified with
the head downwards, because he deserved to die in greater
agony than the Saviour that he had once denied. His
Epistles overflow with the same zealous devotion. Did
not his fervor finally justify, then, the title given him by
one who knew what was in him,- Peter, - Cephas, -
a rock, - the rock on which he should build his Church?
Peter was an enthusiast. He was much else besides,




FOUR APOSTLES.               123
but pre-erinently he was that. In the culture of our
spiritual life, and the exercise of it, both, we need this
Petrine element. We want the glow, the warmth, the
flame, of this energetic, fervent, resistless zeal. No individual heart, nor any system of theology, will have
vital power without it. Selfish frigidity and worldly indifference are its enemies. If we grow cold, we shall
freeze; if we grow torpid, we shall go to sleep. Doubtless, we are liable to the same errors in it that the Apostle was. Such errors are in private places as in public.
If we had known Peter in his house, we should probably
have overheard him retorting angrily to his housemate, or
giving some unreasonable indulgence to Petronica, his
daughter. The place is nothing, and does not much vary
the temptation. To guide the impulse, wherever you
are, by carefulness; to steady the wayward transport of
feeling, at home or abroad, by sober meditation; to hallow the hot enthusiasm by the sanctities of prayer; - this
is the task of all of you that have Peter's ardent temperament, and would share his moral victory.
II. And to that very end, we must call in a new element, the element that had its peculiar impersonation in
Peter's fellow-Apostle, Paul. A Greek by birth and a
Jew by ancestral blood, a Pharisee, by education, of the
strictest sect, and a Christian by one of the most wonderful of conversions, he was a man to understand both the
Judaism he was to pull down and the Gospel he was to
build up and spread abroad. His fierce natural temper
made him a fearfully alert persecutor, under the Sanhedrirn, and his elegant literary culture fitted him to dispute powerfully with Greek sophists at Mars' Hill.
Whether as Jew or Christian, he believed with all his
soul. The same earnestness of conviction, strength of




124               FOUR APOSTLES.
will, and vitality of allegiance, went into his Judaism
and his Christianity; for after the straitest sect lie lived
a Pharisee, and yet was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision of the light above the brightness of the sun. He
was a man to look on with cool consent at Stephen's
martyrdom, before he heard the voice from heaven; and
after the Word, like a two-edged sword, had pierced the
joints and marrow of his spirit, to accuse himself as the
chief of sinners, and cry, " O twretched man that I am!
what I would not, that I do; who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? "  His strong passions made all
his religious experience vivid as the lightning, and his
comprehensive intellect made his eloquence reverberate
like the thunder. His moods were various, but all intense. He could with equal skill sport satire with the
Corinthians, or foil such dignitaries as Agrippa and Felix with his polished rhetoric, or smite Elymas the sorcerer and the backsliders at Galatia with the battle-axe
of his indignation. Too rapid in his style to balance an
antithesis, or limit a parenthesis, or modulate his sentences, he forgets all the rules of composition in the thing
to be said. He was resolute enough to withstand Barnabas, his associate, to the face, in a question of principle, yet tender enough to restore Eutychus and comfort
afflicted women; a man to confound equally the Jews
who required a sign, and the idolaters that sought after
worldly wisdom; a man to spend three years in Arabia
to prove whether the inspiration was genuine, and its
pulse healthy; a man to sing praises at midnight in a
jail, and, when an earthquake opened the walls, calmly
to tell the jailer to do himself no harm, for he had not
availed himself of his liberty; and then to preach Christ
there to the frightened keepers, and the next day, when




FOUR APOSTLES.               125
the magistrates were troubled at their illegal arrest, to
stand upon his dignity, and refuse to go out till he had
humiliated them by compelling them to come and beseech him to go; a man that could tell, and tell without
complaining, but with a light heart and in a cheerful
tone, of stripes and stonings, shipwrecks and perils by
the wilderness, of robbers and false brethren, of watchings
and nakedness, of escaping by a basket from a window,
of hunger and thirst and weariness daily, glorying in his
tribulations, - could tell also of visions and revelations in
the third heavens, of joy unspeakable, and the peace that
passeth understanding.
The secret of all this steadfastness of spirit was faith
in God, - Paul's leading doctrine. He had known the
tossings and wrestlings of a sinful nature, and pictures
them in his terrible description of the warfare between
the lusts and the spirit. " Chief of sinners" was the
dark background that contrasted the radiant mercy of
the cross. He had tried legal righteousness, or keeping
the letter of the law, and found no man living could keep
it inviolate; there was no satisfaction there. Like all
men since of very deep and intense moral experience, -
and such always find themselves interpreted and satisfied
only by Paul, - he came out at last upon the ground of
acceptance on account of faith in Christ, and entire giving up of the soul to the free mercy of God;  the only
permanent ground for Christian theology to rest upon.
Here, then, for the second element of Christian character, with Paul as its exemplar, is faith, a belief,
resident, in his case, in a mind of such logical acuteness and dialectical address, as could shape it into a system for the understanding, and reason it into the convictions of the churches by his argumentation. Something
11*




L26               FOUR APOSTLES.
to believe,-something definite, - this is the Pauline
contribution to Christian completeness. Its grandest effect is seen in himself; but in humbler degrees it may
work results of inconceivable greatness and blessedness
in us. It gives steadiness to fervor and permanence to a
Peter's impulsiveness.  It was by its uplifting power
that Paul could break forth into those triumphant strains,
ringing like sublime anthems down through all history
to this hour. Listen to two or three whose lyric modulations show a poet's nature throbbing under the logician's armor: " And now I go bound in the spirit unto
Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me
there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none
of these things move me; neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy."
" For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, finished
my course, kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord shall
give rue at that day."  " For I am persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God."  " This corruptible must put
on incorruption; this mortal must put on immortality.
Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ."
III. This doctrine of faith, however, so dear to Paul,
is capable of being urged to an extreme; or rather,
though faith itself cannot possibly be too abundant, we
may hold a particular notion of it in such disproportion
as to exclude another element, quite as necessary. We




FOUR APOSTLES.              127
begin to feel that we must call in an apostle of works,
practical righteousness, an external life of integrity and
charity, to keep the balance even; but before we call, he
has already come. James, a near kinsman of Jesus, a
man upright from his youth, of irreproachable manners
and respected character, even before the new splendor of
the Gospel standard broke upon him, was that Apostle.
James was the representative of the right life, as Paul
was of the right mind; and so consistently did he exemplify in his person the doctrine he preached in his ministry and wrote in his Epistle, that he received from his
acquaintances the noble title James the Just. Not very
much is said of him in the narratives, but, as often happens with silent men, a great deal was done by him.
He clung to a quiet, straight path in his ministry at
Jerusalem. Believing that usefulness is the best test
of piety, he was content to be unostentatiously useful.
Some honors, to be sure, could not be kept away from
so trustworthy a mind, however modest. He was chosen
moderator of the first Christian Council, convened at
Jerusalem to consider the question whether Gentile
converts should be admitted to equal privileges in the
Church with converts of Jewish education, and without
circumcision. He summed up the merits of the case in
a short speech, which, curiously enough, contains in its
brief compass a clear assertion of his cherished idea that
a right line of life is of more consequence than any form.
There is a tradition, that he was so spotless in conduct
that he was suffered to enter the Holy of holies in the
temple, where none but the high-priest entered. And
as his death at the hands of his persecutors took place
just before the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews used
to refer the ruin of their city to the vengeance of Heaven




128               FOUR APOSTLES.
for the slaughter of so holy a saint. Doubtless James,
from his correct habits, was shocked at the occasional
sins of Peter, and perhaps he was not quite satisfied with
the sharp reasonings and metaphysical theology of Paul.
His single brief letter, full of concise, epigrammatic expressions, runs in a direction not to controvert Paul's,
but to provide for a want Paul's left open. Whether or
not it was designed, as some of the ancients thought, to
be a reply to Paul, it is at any rate an admirable sequel.
It is a plea, in language, for the noble righteousness
of action that distinguished his character. Paul had
said, and truly, " Ye are saved by faith." James added,
" Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show
thee my faith by my works." This is the burden of his
doctrine, - not works independent of faith, not mere external morality, not dry, legal obedience, with no moisture and no root, —but works as expressing faith, manifesting it, its natural fruit, and in turn re-acting upon it,
to confirm and multiply it. Paul bids us believe and
we shall be saved; James says " Amen" to this, but reminds us, that, if we deal justly, and follow conscience,
and show mercy to the poor, and keep the law, we shall
find our faith increasing thereby, and without these is
no salvation. Paul says, " Faith cometh by hearing";
James exhorts, " Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only," and goes on to explain, that mere careless hearing will no more change a man, than looking in a glass
and going away to forget the image. Paul passes a glorious eulogy upon charity; James explains what charity
is, and is not, insisting that merely to say to the hungry
and naked, " Go along and be warmed and fed," is no
charity, just as a faith which lies inoperative in the outward letter, -letting the man cheat, or deceive, or op



FOUR APOSTLES.               129
press, or practise dishonest politics, or play the hypocrite
in his daily business while he professes it, is a dead faith.
Paul proclaims the immortal truth, lying, as I believe,
at the very heart of the Gospel, " By God's grace are
ye saved, and that not of yourselves; it is free gift."
Jamres accepts this declaration, but urges us to remember that the spirit must have a body; that God's free
grace is granted only on conditions, and may be detected
by certain signs; and that where it really has a vital seat
within, it will inevitably bud and blossom into the pure
and undefiled religion, which visits the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and keeps itself unspotted
from the world.
Here, then, we have morality. James is a teacher of
ethics. We are to obey the commandments, as well as
feel and believe. Alone, this legal righteousness will be
hard, barren, and Jewish. Doing things only because
they are commanded, is not inspiring, and does not bring
peace. It needs the infusion of Peter's animating impulse, and Paul's vivid reliance on God; needs Peter's
warm  blood, and Paul's unshaken confidence. These
will yield vitality and earnest persistency. We have
then ardor, conviction, and morality; but one thing is
wanting yet, and that is love. We get, by these three,
zeal, faith, and works, but not yet perfect peace.
IV. We must summon, therefore, a fourth witness;
and he is at hand in the person of John, - John, whose
love for Jesus earned for him the epithet, unequalled in
all the honors and dignities of the world's nobilities,
" the Beloved Disciple," - gentle, affectionate, contemplative, seraphic John. We have already seen him very
near the Saviour, on more than one occasion of unusual
solemnity, in private, tender fellowship. It was he who




130              FOUR APOSTLES.
leaned his head on Jesus's bosom at the Supper; he who
received from the lips quivering on the cross that dying
charge, " Behold thy mother," - and thenceforth took
Mary to his own home; he that first believed, out of the
fulness of his trusting heart, after the stone was rolled
from the sepulchre; he that, with Peter, wrought the
merciful miracle, and healed the lame man at the gate of
the temple named Beautiful, and made it more worthy
the name by that beautiful compassion; he that, in the
infirmity of extreme age, when his voice could utter no
more, stretched out his hands, every Sabbath morning,
over the assembly, and said that simple precept, - the
rich substance of many longer sermons, -" Little children, love one another."  His Gospel and his Epistles
are constant breathings of spiritual aspiration and benignant charity. His Gospel, so unlike the other three,
relates few incidents, but gives us more of Christ's devout meditations and lofty discourses. It opens with the
mystical passage on the Logos, or Word made flesh; gives
the midnight conversation, couched in terms that seem
to borrow mystery from the shaded scene, with Nicodemus, on the New Birth; repeats all that symbolical
language of Jesus, since become so precious to spiritual
minds in his Church, where he describes himself and his
truth under the analogy of Light, Life, Living Bread, a
Fountain of Water, and pictures sin under the strong
figures of Darkness and Death. It is from John that we
have the divine prayer of Jesus before his agony; the
mystical words about the soul that is born of God and
dwells in God; the whole unfathomable doctrine of
oneness with the Father and the Son; the touching account of the raising of Lazarus at Bethany; that blessed
chapter of consolation, known so well to every Christian




FOUR APOSTLES.                131
heart that ever suffered by pain or by bereavement, beginning, " Let not your heart be troubled "; all the pathos that pervades the sorrowful record of what took
place before the crucifixion; and the full reports, so overflowing with the fond memories of Christian grief, of
what was spoken after the resurrection. His main Epistle is almost a repetition of these few comprehensive
thoughts: God is love; beloved, now are we the sons of
God; love one another; walk in the light of life; every
man hath the witness in himself; the light lighting every
man that cometh into the world.
In one word, John is the Apostle of spirituality. He
goes, for evidence, proof, satisfaction, within, into the
breast; not, like Paul, with dialectics and metaphysics,
but with simple love. His wisdom is of the heart; his
faith is less of belief than trust; less by argument than
by intuition. His view of Christianity was introspective
and subjective, in the terms of philosophy; but he was
no rationalist; for with all his soul he loved a supernatural Christ; and his doctrine was as simple as a child's
thanksgiving. No Apostle seems to have clung with
such reverential affection to the person of Jesus. His
faith is all bound up in that personal attachment. For
him there wxas not, as for any of us there cannot be, any
Christianity without the Jesus of Nazareth, any institutional, or philosophical, or intellectual Gospel, without
the Son of Mary crucified and ascended, gone from the
Bethlehem stable to the right hand of his Father.
John, then, completes the full Apostolic manifestation
of Christian character. He is the fourth of that united
quaternion that show us what we ought to be.  He
adds to Peter's fervor, and Paul's belief, and James's morality, his own affection. He is a reconciler, and brings




132               FOUR APOSTLES.
in that crowning and harmonizing element of love without which zeal and faith and conscience are all wanting.
The churches blessed with his living superintendence
were scattered over Lesser Asia. Let us see to it that
over all churches, this our church, and over every heart,
broods the benignant blessing of his heavenly spirit.
IHis countenance has been portrayed by the arts as radiant with inspiration. Let the beauty of his gentleness
shine in our lives. " His thoughts," says Jerome, one of
the old Fathers, " mounted, like an eagle, to the very
throne of God." It is not too much to believe, that, if
we commit ourselves cordially to their guidance, they
well bear our souls up, on their wings, to the same
heaven.
Here, then, let us rest. You need no lengthened application of so suggestive a subject. Peter, Paul, James,
John: the zealot, the believer, the moralist, the spiritualist; Impulse, Conviction, Law, and Love; will, intellect, conscience, affection; a good disposition, a clear
faith, a right life, a pure heart. These are the constituents of the perfect man.
I said these qualities are not found alone, nor without
some admixture of all the rest, in the several Apostles
that exemplify them; nor is any of them held as by adverse title against the others. Every one shares, in some
less degree, in the ruling peculiarity of his companions.
I speak only of the trait that predominates in each, and
the symmetry that comes by the mutual counterbalancing of their defects.
Peter's vacillation is offset by Paul's steadfastness;
James's regularity, by Peter's impulsiveness; John's mysticism, by James's common sense; Paul's logical understanding, by John's affectionate heart.




FOUR APOSTLES.                133
We should go to Peter for animation, to Paul for a
creed, to James for rules of behavior, to John for peace.
Peter supplies hope; Paul, steadfastness; James, selfcontrol; John, sensibility.
In your own lives, take something excellent from each.
Whether your natural temperament be Petrine or Pauline, Jacobean or Johannean, copy what is imitable in all.
Blend their virtues and graces together.  Count it high
honor to share largely in the attainments of any one, -
but better still to gain generous proportions by following
so many. Strive to expand your obedience, and stretch,
by ever loftier examples, your aspiration. Quicken zeal,
strengthen faith, enlarge beneficence, and deepen love.
Rejoice that the Christian standard is so high, is infinite,
is unattainable here; yet struggle none the less to rise
to it hereafter. Above all, labor, and watch, and pray,
that, looking to Him who is greater than Apostles, and
Head over all churches, you may be changed into the
same image, finding the fulness of the measure of the
stature of Christ. For though' there are differences of
administrations, there is the same Lord."
12




SERMON X.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.
SHE HATII DONE WHAT SHE COULD. -Mark xiv. 8.
IN many aspects of it, I regard this simple sentence as
one of the most encouraging expressions that fell from
our Lord's lips. It was uttered in defence of a woman
who ventured to approach the Messiah under the unceremonious impulse of affection, destitute, so far as
we know, of any recommendation from family circumstance or social distinction, but urged solely by an irresistible longing to do something, however humble or
irregular, in behalf of this divine friend, who has gained
the unutterable, enthusiastic devotion of her soul. Had
she brought those badges of high position which are so
potent to hush the criticism and rouse the admiration of
the multitude, had she come bearing the recognized authority of some official alliance or lordly husband's estate, we should have heard no complaints of the waste
of the ointment that she poured on the venerated head.
Still, the inherent grace and beauty of the act forbade any
direct reproof; and so jealousy meanly suggests that the
precious perfume might have been better sold, the price
given to the poor, and this woman have rendered her
demonstrations of gratitude in some more "practical"




ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.           135
or active way. The answer of Jesus not only rebukes
the littleness which these censures betrayed, but it instructively vindicates the woman's cordial, unstudied sacrifice, and not hers only, but the offerings of humble
loyalty and silent love to him ill all time and over all
the earth. " Let her alone: why trouble ye her?  She
hath wrought a good work on me. She hath done what
she could. Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world, this that she hath done
shall be told for a memorial of her." It is the acceptance, by the Son of God, of lowly and retiring goodness. It is the legitimation and approval of all hearty
gifts to the Master, by the Master's voice.  It is the
eternal benediction of the Gospel on despised fidelity
and neglected love.
I proceed to mention some of the bearings of this significant saying, which show it to be full of encouragement, and full of instruction.
I. The first of these is, that it so plainly and powerfully asserts the superior worth of the heart's feeling
over any outward acts.  The implication of Christ's
language certainly is, that, so far as doing- went, this
woman had but small title to consideration. If she
were to be judged by visible achievements, by showy
enterprises, by notable charities or literary fame, her life
might be called a failure. Nothing in the way of performances marked her out for pre-eminence. But "' she
had done what she could."  That alone made her preeminent. The very form of the expression implies that,
in one sense, she had done but little. Yet that little
was enough. It was a test of her sincerity.  It said
distinctly that she was in earnest. The costliness of her
gift in proportion to her means, while it was nothing to




136         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.
Him she would honor, was a guaranty that she was not
trifling. In fact, by a more correct rendering of the
original, the Greek word translated here " very precious "
would read simply "pure" or "unadulterated" spikenard, - not " costly."  Had it been far less than it was,
and had it been all she could bring, his blessing would
have been the same. For mind, he does not say, " Stop,
consider, this alabaster-box really cost a good deal of
money; it could not have been bought for less than
three hundred denarii." No; but he says, " She hath
done what she could "; that is, she hath demonstrated
the deep and tender attachment of her soul. She believes on her Lord. She loves the Saviour for his holiness, his mercy, his divine benignity.  One penny's
worth, if it is only the utmost that self-denial can do, is
as good for that as ten thousand shekels. Did he not
declare as much, in what he said of the two mites that
the poor widow cast into the temple-treasury?  Nay,
did he not equally accept, and bless with the same favor,
another woman, poorer and frailer still, who had nothing to give him but tears and kisses for his feet? The
whole spiritual meaning of gifts consists in the disposition of the giver. Distinctions of weight and measure,
standards of currency, tables of value, rates of exchange,
calculations of outlay, color, material, and shape, vanish
before that simple and royal touchstone in the breast.
It is felt to be so, even in the presents of human friendship; and spiritual sincerity does not pass for less in
the eyes of Him who searches and sees the heart, than
with us.
Had the question been between actions and professions, Christ's decision would have been different.
Here is a point of constant mistake. Professions and




ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.           137
feelings are not equivalent. As compared with professions, good deeds are put into ever-lustrous eminence,
both by their solid quality, and by that grand refutation of all talking hypocrisy and ceremonial cant,
from the mouth of the Judge himself, " Not every one
that saith  unto me,'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into
the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will
of my Father."  We cannot be wrong - if there is
such a thing as truth in God's universe, we must be
right —in esteeming one palpable and ponderable action in Christ's name before a library of dogmatic
credos, subscription to the straitest ecclesiastical vows,
or the handsomest adjustment of the mantle of public
conformity. If we must have one without the other,
an acre of statements must be let go rather than an
ounce of life.  This, however, is not the alternative
put before us in this homage of the Hebrew woman.
Christ's eye falls, not on the box of ointment, as if to
weigh its pretension or spell out some article of a Rabbinical creed graven on its cover, but it falls on Mary's
secret, inmost soul.  That being sound, all is sound.
She believes, she trusts, she loves; therefore " she hath
done what she could."  Out of that deep and rooted
affection all manner of obedient fruits must grow, in
time, as surely as. love is the willing servant of the
beloved.
And here opens upon us a great spiritual truth, of the
utmost practical importance. Nothing is more common
than to hear this among the private confessions of earnest
and self-distrustful persons, wishing they could feel themselves accepted before God: " There is so little that I have
done, so little that I can do. My station restricts me, my
weakness disables me. I look round on others, and they
12 *




138         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.
are busy and useful, earning gratitude or fame. But I
am hemmed in by four narrow walls, or by narrower circumstances. Is the difficulty in them or in me? I seem
to have done no more this year than the last, and to gain
nothing in achievement as I go on. Regarding either
the disinterested Saviour as my example, or his toiling
followers even, I am certainly an unprofitable servant."
Now, supposing this to be sincere, -and we must have
had a barren experience if we do not know it often is,what such a disciple needs for encouragement is obviously
the very doctrine of the text.'" She hath done what she
could "; and the one thing most momentous, most central,
rmost decisive of all that can be done. - she hath believed
in her Lord. There is no station, no fortune, no bashfulness of nature, no timidity of nerve, no obscurity of
condition, where that is not possible, and where the joy
and glory of the reward thereof may not arise and shine.
Helpless invalids, reserved women, servants under comrmand, young members of worldly and unsympathizing
families, may all trust in their Divine Friend with patient
submission, love him with constant devotion, commune
with him in sincere desires for his excellence, and they
can try for ever to preserve and illustrate his gentle and
serene and disinterested spirit.  If they do this, they
ought to know that they are his, to dismiss despondency,
to rely on his promises, to count themselves committed
and accepted friends of his household and his heart.
They shall, one day, if they keep that temper and purpose, hear him say, " These also have done what they
could." If the New Testament holds forth one clear doctrine, it is that character before God is determined by the
state of the affections and the bent of the will. Where
these incline selfward or earthward, all is weak and wrong.




ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.         139
You have not done what you could. A righteous life is
not an accidental appendage to a good heart, but an inevitable consequence or outflow of it. Christ and his
Apostles understood man's profoundest nature when they
made it their constant answer to the question, " What
shall I do to be saved, or to win eternal life? "   Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ with all thine heart "; for they
knew this was what each and all could do, - what would
prompt every other needful work of righteousness. Do
we need a simpler, more spiritual, or more invigorating
revelation?
II. Again, the words I have used for my text bestow
a blessing on the feeling of personal affection towards
Christ. This was what this womran had shown; it was
all that she had shown. She had not yet gone abroad
into public duties; we do not read that she had visited
the needy, or joined in any public measure for the forwarding of any Christian cause. All this she was sure
to do, just so fast and so far as social occasions, her own
powers, and other providential conditions, would permit;
for she could not love Christ without loving the whole
cause for which he lived, the whole Church of which he
is the Head, and the whole world for which he died.
But, thus far, it was enough to know that she could give
everything for the Divine Being in whom all these movements and reformations centre. There are times when
the particular must make way and give place to the general. The Messiah says, very strikingly, and in this connection: " The poor ye have always with you, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good; but me," in the
body, "ye have not always. She is come aforehand to
anoint my body to the burying. She hath wrought a
good work on me."  " Her gift," he seems to add, "is




140         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.
an unconscious embalming before my agony.  These
most sacred impulses of divine reverence are greater
than any common almsgivings. Let each have its due.
Whoso loveth me will love my poor, and serve them in
the time and place. Let the heart be fastened personally
on me as a living Redeemer, and Christian duties will
soon fall into their order, and abound."
The wisdom of the plan of the mediation, in thus giving intensity and personality to our religious affections,
just suits itself to our natural wants. You are familiar
with precisely the feeling that drove this woman to bring
her box of ointment, provided you have ever had that
mingled sense of gratitude and love toward a person
which made you long, above all things, to find out some
way of serving him, and made it a positive pain to be
denied that privilege. Such are the reality and the supremacy of personal relationships and bonds. A religion that did not provide ample room for their exercise, by
showing us the Divine perfection under human conditions, would lack as much a practical hold on human
sympathies, as it would a philosophical adaptation to the
exigencies of the moral problem.
III. Further, Christ's words of defence for the woman
against the disaffected by-standers affirm, for true goodness, a complete independence of place. It is a familiar
maxim, among Christian didactics, that acceptance with
God is as possible in small fortunes, or limited reputations, as where power carries with it a commensurate influenee, and the object of many popular regards is supposed to be a favorite with Heaven. And yet, so much
is our judgment controlled by appearances, that we are
constantly falling back under the old fallacy. This plain
saying of Jesus strikes every illusion away. " She hath




ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.           141
done what she could." How much is covered by that
"' could," we do not inquire. Not more, probably, than
lies in the power of every one of us at this moment. Yet
it was erough. Then neither is there one of us that is
excusable from the full requirement of Christ's word, nor
is there one to whom the whole infinite wealth of his
favor is not offered.
I confess that I sometimes distrust the effect of frequent references to those persons who have been led into
places of large and prominent usefulness, in any walk of
philanthropy. As instances of signal energy, self-sacrifice, and constancy, they stand as noble examples of
what humanity may accomplish. And, as I believe the
admiration of even distant greatness to be a wholesome
emotion, I thank God for such illustrious heroes and
martyrs. But we misuse them greatly if we ever allow
ourselves to feel that theirs is the only true way of being
great, and that, because we cannot serve God or man in
some such famous mode, we will retire from the field.
That is sheer unbelief. We ought to know that the sentence, " She hath done what she could," is just as snuficient and adequate for the ablest as the most infirm; that
it is enough for such as Elizabeth Fry, Hannah More,
and Madame Adorna, and no more than enough for the
unlettered woman carried out from an obscure lane last
week, having died in the joy of her Lord, and her name
never seen in printed letters, perhaps, till it was enrolled
in the record of the dead. When I read a description of
Kaiserswerth, near Diisseldorf on the Rhine, —of that
vast establishment of Christian mercy, with its hospital, insane asylum, Magdalen retreat, charity schools, and
institutions for training the most scientific nurses and
accomplished teachers, graduating superintendents for




142         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.
the humane houses of both Europe and America, and a
few miles away another building for the rest and refreshment of those that have been worn down by the fatigues
of these voluntary labors of love, — when I see how,
throughout, charity has been systematized by skill, and
benevolence perfected by perseverance, and then behold
the benefits flowing forth to be extended and multiplied,
in ever enlarging proportions, over the whole sick and suffering and groaning earth, - I am as much abashed and
humbled before this devoted Pastor Fleidner, whose active
spirit and benevolent genius have called up all this busy
and organized kingdom  of Good-Samaritanism  about
him to glorify the age, as I suppose my sisters are before
the beautiful and accomplished baroness who has laid
down youth, rank, and wealth as an offering to sorrow
and disease; or before the high-born, gifted, and admired
English girl' who came to Kaiserswerth as a pupil, and
then reproduced the same wonders of consolation and
healing for sick and destitute governesses, - not amidst
the rural quiet and sweet verdure of her own paternal
home in Hampshire, but in a dismal street in London.
Yet we ought all to remember that these too only did
what they could; that, if we do that, God's honors are
impartial; that if we do not that, then ours is indeed the
shame of the short-coming. And when we follow this
last-mentioned minister of angelic mercy on the horrid
and bloody path of war to the banks of the Bosphorus,
and read how, in the hospital of Scutari,
"Through miles of pallets, thickly laid
With sickness in its foulest guise,
And pain, in forms to have dismayed
Man's science-hardened eyes,
* Florence Nightingale.




ACCEPTAWfCE OF THE HEART.            143
A woman, fragile, pale, and tall,
Upon her saintly work doth move,
Fair or not fair, who knows? but all
Follow her face with love,"while I bow with reverent confession before this transcendent realized vision of celestial pity, I still believe we
ought not to forget that God may have, that he asks,
that he requires of us that there shall be, servants of his
love as self-denying, as heroic, as resolute, of whom hospital never knew and poetry never sang, right here in
these homely houses and these prosaic streets. For the
hour will come when every soul that hath done what that
soul could, shall be seen on the right hand of the throne
of God.
IV. Again, Christ's encomium on the affectionate
Mary announces the great principle, that ability is the
measure of responsibility. No soul is tasked beyond its
power. God's commandment never passes the line of a
possible obedience, and so never goes over from justice
to tyranny. But what we fail, through inability, to render in actual work, he mercifully permits us, through
Christ, to make up in those penitent and self-renouncing
affections, which gain forgiveness, and open the way of
reconciliation. If any one dreams this is a lax or easy
rule, let him only ask himself, in a still and thoughtful
hour, Have I done what I could?  Has my service to
the Master reached the full measure of the powers and
gifts, the capacities of affection and the opportunities of
well-doing, with which my Master has intrusted me?
This language of the Saviour most naturally associates
itself with the closing up of life's great account. Of how
many among us, when that trial-hour comes, with all its
retrospections and searching examinations, can those glo



144         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEAR'
rious words be spoken? We cannot recall nor judge
the dead. They are in the hands of the All-Just. But
we can speak to one another as yet living. How many
of us are so striving righteously, and watching soberly,
and praying earnestly, that this shall be the just and
consoling eulogy, - They have done what they could?
The busy man of affairs, the successful one, the disap
pointed and losing one, the young adventurer, the older
and long trusted and finally unfortunate one, -those that
have prospered by others' industry, and those that have
been ruined by others' crimes, - has each one of them
done what he could? The wife or mother whose very
name is sacred, because the sacred office of forming character is her perpetual duty, the lonely woman that has
only her own heart to discipline, the young girl that has
so few cares for herself that God requires many of her
for the less-favored,- has each done what she could?
The bereaved parent, the desolate widow suddenly summoned to take up the dreary and dreadful burden of solitary suffering,- has each done what she could? is each
one doing what she can? Christ draws near to us, and
repeats the question. He turns and puts it, with twofold
solemnity and sadness, to those that leave him and pass
away. To all that sit at his feet and follow in his steps
in the spirit of her who poured the fragrant offering on
his head, he is ready to speak the same benediction with
his infinite love, - hiding in it the sure promise of life
everlasting.
I said we cannot adjudge the deservings of the departed. But we can guard ourselves against those hallucinations of mortal glory, and all those artificial illusions,
which are so apt to cheat our souls, and obscure the plain
truth we have been meditating. There goes to his au



ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.          145
gust repose, enveloped in imperial pomps, the ruler of the
world's mightiest, vastest empire. Fifty-seven millions
of human souls, embracing nine different races of men,
with a million soldiers, drew their daily breath subject
to his direct and despotic will; but not all of so many
millions could add one single breath to his prostrate
lungs. Eight millions of square miles of territory were
yesterday ruled by his word; now he needs not eight feet,
out of it all. The guns of massive fortresses on the huge
ramparts that guard widely divided waters made a continent tremble in their volleying answers to his edicts, and
the haughtiest noblemen of the world bent at his smile
or frown. Common cabinets and kings were perplexed
and afraid at the cunning of his brain, as boys are of
their master, and the armies of the strongest governments,
after his own, felt the globe to be a more conquerable
and practicable domain, the moment they knew he was
dead. But he is dead. And neither the millions of
acres nor men, the fortresses nor the fears, the armies
nor the brain, shall make it a whit easier, but harder
rather, for his single soul —when it goes alone, disrobed
of crown and purple, into the presence of the King of
kings whose right it is to reign -to answer that simple
question, Hast thou done for me - ah! for me- what
thou couldst?  Canst thou stand with the lowly and
powerless woman who crept with the box of ointment to
her Redeemer's feet, and who shall have the story of that
act of love told for a memorial of her wherever the everlasting Gospel is preached, when the history of Cossack
and Czar shall be dim as that of princes before the flood,
and on to the end of time?
But here, close by us, falls asleep a meek, patient girl,
— a faithful sister, an obedient daughter, a mild and
13




146         AC EPTANCE OF THE HEART.
friendly counsellor of a few children that she knew, rul r
of none on earth but her own patient spirit, and thereby
made greater than he that taketh a city, or prevents its
being taken. She too dies, and no anxious hemispheres
dispute about the report, nor do kingdoms mourn nor
cowardly assemblies clap their hands, when the report is
confirmed. And in the day when the secrets of all hearts
shall be revealed, our only question is, which of these
two shall be found nearest to Him who sitteth on the one
throne, and shall wear the crown which is a crown of life.
There seem to be three thoughts that offer themselves
to us, to be carried away as the practical substance of
the subject.
One is, that this saying of Jesus is dangerously perverted and shamefully abused, if we take it as excusing
us from the utmost effort in well-doing, and a laborious
progress in Christ's service. The whole tone of our New
Testament religion is searching and high. It allows no
laxities, and no apologies. It is satisfied with nothing
less than entire consecration. The piety it asks is both
active and ardent, warm and constant, ever burning and
ever advancing. It summons into the Master's service
every power, every energy, every affection, every hour of
life. The very words of the text imply a strict and comprehensive judgment. For which one of us could truly
say to-day, I have done what I could?
The second practical lesson is, that, in order to serve
Christ acceptably, we have not to revolutionize our lot,
nor to seek other conditions than those Providence
supplies. The place is nothing; the heart is all. Chambers of patient invalids, beds of submissive sickness, obscurity, weakness, baffled plans, - a thousand nameless
limitations of faculty, of opportunity, of property, - all




ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEART.          147
these are witnesses of silent but victorious faith. In all
of them God is glorified, for in all of them his will is
done. Out of all of them gates open into heaven and
the joy of the Lord. Mercifully the Father has appointed many ways in which we may walk toward his
face, and run on his errands. WVTork is the way for
strength; lying still is the way for infirmity, if only there
are trust and prayer in both. There is some instruction
in a picture I have read of, which represents the lives of
twin-brothers diverging from the cradle. One, by study,
becomes a learned and skilful physician, reaching great
riches and honors by ministering to the sick. The other
has no talent for books, and no memory, and so no science; he becomes a poor, strolling musician, but spends
his days in consoling, by his lute, sufferings that are
beyond all medicine. The brothers are shown meeting
at the close of their career. The vagrant is sick and
worn out, and the brother prescribes for him out of his
learning, and gathers ingenious compounds for his relief; but meantime, he to whom God gave another
gift touches his instrument for the solace of the great
man's shattered nerves, and heals his benefactor's disordered spirit.
Finally, there is no service thoroughly right which
does not directly acknowledge and honor the Saviour.
The heart's offering to him is the beginning of all righteousness. He who knoweth our frame has ordained that
our spiritual life shall grow strong and earnest, just in
proportion as our personal affections and faith centre in
the living Saviour, who manifests the Father unto the
world. We must touch his garment, sit at his feet, lean
upon his cross. So we are made. We may wonder at,
the way, but we adore it, in our deeper experience, none




148         ACCEPTANCE OF THE HEAR'i.
the less. The want of nature our Redeemer blessedly
supplies.  There is no other name given among men
whereby we can be saved. And it is they who d(o what
they can out of love for him that have the joy of hearing, in his own voice," Thy faith hath saved thee; go in
peace."




SE RMON XI.
WOMAN'S POSITION.
YET IS SHE THY COMPANION.- Mal. ii. 14.
THE main proposition is, that, for the wrongs and disadvantages of woman's present social and civil condition,
Christianity offers the only true relief.
Recent measures and discussions have so put upon
this topic a new aspect, and surrounded it with new associations, that it can hardly be opened, even in a sermon,
without some reference to their tendency. I shall advert
to these the more willingly, because they involve considerations that lie directly in the course of our inquiry. A
statement of the main principles affecting them can be
compressed into a brief compass.
The problem of modern speculation, in regard to
woman, is to define and secure her rights. Rights imply
wrongs: a reform implies abuses.  The allegation is,
that, hitherto, civilized society has abridged woman's freedom, restricted her faculties, and doubted her capacity.
The charge -with the outward demonstrations, such as
conventions and treatises, through which it manifests itself- has this significance, that it discovers a spreading
conviction in the minds of the people, that woman is not
yet fuilfilling her whole work in the social economy; which
13*




150             W'OMAN'S POSITION.
I hold to be a very interesting fact, worthy of much consideration. But it also takes an unfortunate form; because, not content with asserting her legitimate prerogatives, and challenging a fair field for their exercise, it
attaches an unphilosophical importance to certain outward and subordinate particulars; lodging the difficulty
where it does not belong, and confusedly mixing together
a hostile demand, on the part of women, for being what
men are, with a righteous aspiration for making thenmselves what women were intended to be.
After all, the question resolves itself into one of intention and constitution.  Were man and woman designed
by creation for the same kinds of service, endowed with
the same mental aptitudes, and fitted for the same species of success and distinction? or were they not?  If
the history of their formation teaches anything; if the
facts laid open by daily experience prove anything; if
organization reveals anything; if that law of the Divine
operations, by which different contrivances imply a variety of purposes, establishes anything, -they were not.
If, now, we proceed to ask, what the grand mental
or moral distinction is, and what the peculiar endowments of each are, we find ourselves obliged to speak
only in very general terms; for the attributes in which
they differ are shaded off into other attributes in which
they are alike. Every woman possesses many mental
characteristics in colnmon with man; every man has
some feminine traits. Employ any classification of the
powers of the mind you please, and you find every faculty represented in both man and woman, - understanding and will, consciousness and perception, abstraction
and imagination, love and hate, fear and fortitude, desire
and aversion; for they are both human. Nature makes




WOMAN S POSITION.             151
" a female Newton and a male siren."  The difference,
then, must be in the differing degrees and proportions in
which these faculties are mixed. One combination of
them, so commonly found as to form a rule, constitutes
the interior character of one sex; another combination, of
another. Now, the real relative riglhts of each of the
sexes are settled, when each enjoys an opportunity of unfolding and exercising its own peculiar character, whichever it may be, suffering' no obstruction or interference
fron the other.
Bearing in mind this explanation, it may be asserted,
without offence, that the distingruishing' faculty of man is
mental concentration; that of woman, moral impulse.
Woman is the representative of affection; man, of
thought.  Woman carries her strength in her heart;
man, in his head. Neither one monopolizes the special
department; but, by eminence, he is intellect, — she is
love.
What is the reason some of us are not quite satisfied,
in woman's behalf, with this discrimination?   Simply
because so many of us- men and women both - still
labor under the old unchristian heresy, that the heart is
inferior to the head, and that a strong intellect is more
to be honored than a good spirit. But for this heathenish mistake, woman would ascend instantly into her
rightful superiority in the scale of human dignities.
The mistake appears first in the unprincipled vanity of
man.  He stands, with his stout arms and executive
will, and says superciliously to the woman: " It is enough
for you to be good: leave power to me. Content yourself with your moral dominion; practise your humble
virtues as you are bid; and I will rule the world as I
please. Keep my house; mend my clothes; cook my




152              WONAN'S POSITION.
food; see that I am comfortable; and give me a quiet life.
Be thankful that your obscure situation does not expose
you to the fierce temptations that beset my more splendid career; and accept a slave's security as an offset for
the slave's humiliation." This man allows her moral preeminence; but he teaches her, and flatters himself, that
far above this pre-eminence towers that ability of his
own which makes money, speeches, or reputation. It is
the same selfish arrogance that prompted the great Greek
tragedian to say, in one of his chief productions, " Better
a thousand women should persish, than that one man
should cease to see the light." Traces of the same contemptible feeling are seen in the literature of later ages,
especially in periods of corrupt morals and general scepticism, as well as in the patronizing manners with which
vile men fawn on women, with base flatteries, in their
presence, and sneer at their virtue, or exult over the scandals of their frailty, with one another. We have not yet
quite attained even to that rudimentary truth, that "women are not born merely that men might not be lonely,
but are in themselves possessors of immortal souls."
The same mistake appears in ambitious woman herself, when, instead of accepting this her glorious distinction, and wearing it as the unrivalled honor, she longs
impatiently for some more pompous but ignobler fame.
The reason she feels herself insulted by the theory, that
man represents the head, and she the heart, - as if some
advantage were thereby referred to man, — is because
she is not yet thoroughly a Christian; is not willing to
acknowledge that the heart is greater, nobler, wiser than
the head, goodness than mere intellect, love than logic,
purity than eloquence, holy living than able reasoning.
She lingers still under the old barbarous error which sets




WOMAN S POSITION.              153
Napoleon above Howard, Byron over Wesley, Mary
W~olstonecraft over Sarah Martin, and a wicked oratoi
over a working saint. Herein we are all still stumbling
among the elements, disloyal to that Gospel which is a
dispensation to the affections. It is a delusion - lodged
so deep in human judgments that it will be the last to
be dispossessed by the triumphant banners of the cross -
that the strong brain is nobler than the meek and lowly
spirit; that they who "seek after a sign," or "require
wisdom," and not the " pure in heart," " shall see God."
Woman commits the same error, when, in the choice of
her models for imitation from her own sex, she prefers the
brilliancy of Madame de Stael to the calm excellence of
Elizabeth Hamilton; envies Lady Blessington, or even
Madame Dudevant, above Mrs. Barbauld; and, in her
heart, would rather have Jenny Lind Goldschmnidt's fame,
genius, and admiration, than her charity. Still more
grossly does she err — because she then ruins her self-respect and her social and moral independence -when she
shows it to be, or suffers it to be, the first doctrine of her
practical catechism, that the chief end of woman is to be
married to a man.
Is it nothing for woman to remember, when her sex is
made the type and tabernacle of Love, that we have ascribed the loftiest glory even to the Almighty Father
when we have said that his name is Love? Is it nothing to her that her place in society and her powers in the
world correspond to her character? that while she shares
with man, in honorable and often equal measure, certainly
in these modern times, every intellectual privilege, literary accomplishment, and public function, - authorship,
the chair of science, the throne of state, - she yet has a
realm all her own, sacred to her peculiar ministry, where




154              WOMAN S POSITION.
she reigns by a still diviner right? Is it nothing that it is
her face which first bends over the breathing child, looks
into his eyes, welcomes him to life, steadies his uncertain feet until they walk firmly on the planet? Suppose
man were the natural enemy of woman; consider that
from his birth, for the first ten years of his life, he is put
into her hands, with scarcely a reservation or exception,
to be impressed, moulded, fashioned into what she will,
so that, if he were born a wild tiger, her benignity
would have its opportunity to tame him; consider that
it has been historically demonstrated that scarcely a single hero, reformer, statesman, saint, or sage, has ever
come to influence or adorn his age, from Jacob to MTashington, who was not reared by a remarkable mother that
shaped his mind; and then ask whether it is not equal
folly for woman to claim the name of power, and for
man to deny her the possession.
The genius of controversy never evoked from the
"vasty deep" of free discussion a more infelicitous
spirit, nor achieved a more unprofitable issue, than when
it opened the unnatural question of the comparative
merits of the sexes; and for the reason, that the whole
design and constitution of their being, the law of their
mutual relation, and the primitive providential distinction in their respective functions, make every such comparison an impertinence.  The first record of God's
creative act  " male and female created he them"ought to have foreclosed for ever this worse than fratricidal strife. Whichever way the controversy should be
decided, the decision would be wrong.  Comparative
merits of man and woman! There are no terms in
which such a comparison can be drawn. You might
as well inquire which of any two of the great essential




WOMAN'S POSITION.             155
elements of existence, or laws of matter, or faculties of
mind, could best be spared; you might as well ask, respecting any of those grand dualities between which
the sublime order of nature is poised, and unity is preserved, which member of the equation is most important; you might as well debate the comparative merits
of spring and autumn, of morning and evening, of oxygen and hydrogen, of the bones and the blood, of memory and hope, of the centripetal and centrifugal attractions. Each holds its title by the ordaining of a divine
plan; and the displacement of either from its sphere
would be a resolution of the whole system into chaos.
The whole controversy is a monstrous absurdity, conceived in a miserable jealousy, prosecuted by an insane insurrection against good manners, and sure to
end in nothing but a profane putting asunder of what
God has married together.  " Yet she is thy companion."
But the question forces itself back, whether, in the
civilization of the past, woman has found a fair and
equal chance for the development of the powers God has
intrusted peculiarly to her, as man has found for the development of those granted peculiarly to him.  Manifestly she has not. And here we find the special dignity conferred upon her by Christianity; here appears
her chief indebtedness to Christ. Just as fast as that
new spiritual ministry has made itself felt on human
institutions, her real rights have been recognized.  So
it will be more and more: as the day of Christian sunlight broadens, the horizon of her appropriate duties will
expand. Nor is there any danger, so long as religion
guides her progress, that there will be any confusion of
claims, or crossing of lines, between her loftier offices




156             WOMAN'S POSITION.
and the humbler and rougher tasks of her muscular companion, - man.
In the pagan antiquity, woman was hopelessly degraded by polygamy, as she still is under the Oriental
barbarisms, and in savage society generally. A rigorous
seclusion, dictated by jealous passions, shuts her in from
all free opportunities of ennobling influence and all the
dignity of usefulness. The imperious will of her despotic lord imprisons her spirit, as the harem does her
body. And it must be confessed that, in some of our
houses in Christendom, the spirit of these gross wrongs,
if not their form, is renewed by selfish and vulgar husbands, who would rather find in their wives a toy for
idle hours, an animal pleasure, or a pride from the admiration they command in assemblies, than an impulse
to their own intellects, a benignant influence drawing
them out of their worldliness, or a guardian to their virtue. These are the houses where Christianity may be a
name, but has not come in renewing power. The inmates are Turks or Hindoos still.
It is true, in some of the more refined of the old nations of the East, a few examples appeared where woman escaped these restrictions on her freedom. Plato,
in his " Divine Dialogues," introduces a maxim, which,
by implication, renders a worthy tribute to woman, to
the effect, that whatever was most excellent in the state
must always begin at the fireside. But too often, like
Aspasia, Sappho, Helen, and Cleopatra, she gained both
her liberty and her celebrity at the expense of her modesty. The alternative lay between obscurity and effrontery. The rare names that stand altogether above reproach in the ancient literature- names that classical
veneration repeats with enthusiasm till to-day — were




WOOMAN S POSITION.            157
generally the ideal creations of some poet's or artist's
fancy, rather than actual women dwelling in flesh and
blood. In the Roman empire, as in the Greek oligarchy,
when woman emerged from her state of abject servitude,
it was only to take a share in the impure ceremonies and
dances of an idolatrous worship, and thus to pass forth
upon the theatre of a voluptuous publicity. The heathen
religions had no word to raise woman to her true equality with man; and, by consequence, the woman and the
man and the religions must needs sink together into destruction.
The introduction of Christianity formed the grand
epoch in the condition of woman. But even Christian
ideas did not spring full-grown into history; and so the
elevation of female character to its true rank has been
gradual. How it was originally regarded, by the pure
spirit of the New Testament, certainly admits no doubt.
The spiritual insight of Jesus saw that the readiest and
clearest reception of his heavenly doctrine was in the
heart of woman.  With what dignified tenderness hie
always saluted her! The hospitalities of the sisters at
Bethany; the tears and ointment of Mary Magdalen;
the dying looks and immortal blessings bestowed on
those that were "last at the cross, and earliest at the
grave"; the honorable offices of charitable ministration
assigned to females in the Apostolic Church, - all these
were only fit proofs of the estimation in which that
Saviour held woman, who was to be, down through all
future ages, the unfailing refuge of her spirit, the companion of her solitude, the rest of her weariness, the compassionator of her frailty, the comforter of her pain. By
its indestructible reverence for the virgin mother of our
Lord, the Christian Church has not only woven into its
14




158             WOMAN'S POSITION.
sentiments a new idea of woman, but it has done something to cancel the contempt that was thrown upon her
in the person of Eve, the seduced of Satan. If woman
was the first in the world to sin, it was on her breast also
that its Redeemer was nourished; and Bethlehem has
atoned for Eden.  Abating its superstitious excesses,
the homage paid to the Madonna is a consecration of
womanhood quite becoming a religion that displaced
paganism, and condemns sensuality.
Since the primitive age of the Church, however, the
condition of woman has shared in the slow progress of
religious ideas generally.  Civilization has never more
than partially realized Christianity.  But the advance
has been steady. The greatest hinderance it has experienced was in an institution which superficial judgments have often instanced as promoting it, -the chivalry of the Middle Ages.  The honor paid by knighterrantry to woman was a false honor. The hollow complaisance of the courtier covered a low style of morals;
and the romance of chivalry was rather the flattering
gallantry of passion, than an honest and substantial recognition of woman's actual worth. It is this chivalry
that has too much given law and fashion to the relation
of the sexes ever since, - substituting the forms of effeminate courtesy for sterling respect, and bringing in
that foolish style of manners where women are fawned
upon with empty compliments and polite nothings, instead of being frankly met with intelligence, good sense,
and genuine deference.
The next great impulse was given to female culture
when the Saxon element began to be felt in history, and
out of the old German forests came forth those stanch
hearts and heroic hands that were thenceforth to rule the




WVOMAN'S POSITION.            159
destinies of Christendom. They were true respecters of
woman. They were the first people that, independently
of Christianity, rendered to her her natural rights. They
made her a companion, a counsellor, a confidante, - not
a servant, a mistress, nor a doll. And when Christianity
came and grafted its heavenly spirit on that noble stock,
new examples began to be witnessed of female capacity
and character.  The Church was never, indeed, without its female saints and heroines; though only a few
names, like those of Theresa, Catharine Adorna, Madame
Guyon, and Joan of Arc, have travelled down to us from
the Catholic ages. Protestantism has its higher illustrations of dauntless courage, genius, and piety, in letters, art, and philanthropy, from such as Lady Russell
and Hannah More, Dorothy Dix and Elizabeth Fry,
Frederika Bremer and Hannah Adams, Harriet Newell
and Mary Ware. It is unquestionable, that loftier and
more abundant examples of high-hearted womanhood
are living to-day, than in any hour of history before.
Accordingly, as we should expect, there is hardly a
walk of public or private life where female talent is not
heartily honored, and does not command its deserved
success. The fine arts, the sciences, classical learning,
social reform, philosophy, education, empire, - all are
represented at this day by accomplished women. Do
they suffer detriment, or loss of influence, because they
are women? Is Mrs. Somerville, or Miss Mitchell, less
esteemed among the scientific minds of the age for hei
sex?  Does not the whole British kingdom  learn a
heightened regard for woman from the womanly character it beholds in its queen? Is there a department of
knowledge from which woman is now, by our modern
systems of education, shut out? Must it not be very




160             WOMAN7S POSITION.
soon true that her power shall be proportioned to her
energy, and her influence be measured only by her
merit?  Probably the larger proportion of scholarship
and public enterprise will still be with men, - the
providential constitution of the sexes justifies that expectation; but when exceptions appear, the demand of
Christian liberty is, that they be welcomed, recognized,
and rewarded.
Some disabilities, however, still accrue to woman, especially in respect to property, and just payment for her
labor. Tasks that she is fully competent to every way,
public opinion and false custom will not let her do,
cruelly telling her she shall sooner starve; and for work
that she actually does as well and as rapidly as her companion, man, she receives only a quarter of his wages;
both of which are wrongs that Christianity rebukes as
clearly as it does slavery or defalcation, and wrongs that
Christian men must speedily remedy, or else cease to be
Christians, and well-nigh cease to be men. Already they
are partly remedied, in countries otherwise less advanced
than our own, by protection granted to woman in employments that sustain her independence and shield her
virtue.
A darker wrong yet is strangely done to woman by
that obstinate and most unrighteous judgment of men,
which, not satisfied that she should sustain all the severer agonies that attend the perpetuating of the race,
insists on extending a vile toleration to the wretch who
ruins her virtue and robs her of her peace, passing over
his " deep damnation" as a venial thing; while it mercilessly dooms and casts off the Magdalens, barring every
gate against their return to purity.
What, then, briefly, in respect to woman's social posi



WOMAN'S POSITION.            161
tion amongst us, as it is, - her rights and her power, -
are her own immediate duties, and those of man in her
behalf?
First, of man's. Let him learn to be grateful to woman for this undoubted achievement of her sex, that it is
she - she far more than he, and she too often in despite
of him - who has kept Christendom from lapsing back
into barbarism, -kept mercy and truth from being utterly overborne by those two greedy monsters, money
and war. Let him be grateful for this, that almost every
great soul that has led forward or lifted up the race has
been furnished for each noble deed, and inspired with
each patriotic and holy aspiration, by the retiring fortitude of some Spartan, or more than Spartan, — some
Christian mother. Moses, the deliverer of his people,
drawn out of the Nile by the king's daughter, some one
has hinted, is only a symbol of the way that woman's
better instincts always outwit the tyrannical diplomacy
of man. Let him cheerfully remember, that, though the
sinewy sex achieves enterprises on public theatres, it is
the nerve and sensibility of the other that arm the mind
and inflame the soul in secret. " A man discovered
America; but a woman equipped the voyage."  So
everywhere: man executes the performance; but woman
trains the man. Every effectual person, leaving his mark
on the world, is but another Columbus, for whose furnishing some Isabella, in the form of his mother, lays
down her jewelry, her vanities, her comfort.
Above all, let not men practise on woman the perpetual and shameful falsehood of pretending admiration
and acting contempt. Let them not exhaust their kindness in adorning her person, and ask in return the humiliation of her soul. Let them not assent to her every
14*




162              WOMAN' S POSITION.
opinion, as if she were not strong enough to maintain it
against opposition; nor yet manufacture opinion for her,
and force it on to her lips by dictation. Let them not
crucify her emotions, nor ridicule her frailty, nor crush
her individuality, nor insult her dependence, nor play off
mean jests upon her honor in convivial companies, nor
bandy unclean doubts of her, as a wretched substitute
for wit, nor whisper vulgar suspicions of her purity,
which, as compared with their own, is like the immaculate whiteness of angels.  Let them remember, that for
the ghastly spectacle of her blasted chastity they are
answerable. Let them multiply her social advantages,
enhance her dignity, minister to her intelligence, and, by
manly gentleness, be the champions of her genius, the
friends of her fortunes, and the equals, if they can, of her
heart. And if any man is tempted to that meanest of
unmanly tricks, — making a woman his wife that he
may buy for himself, by a husband's name, riches or social standing or popular favor, - let him take the spirited
advice of a true woman-poet to Prince Albert at his
wedding: -
" Esteem that wedded hand less dear for sceptre than for ring;
And hold her uncrowned womanhood to be the royal thing."
Be the husband the " head of the wife," not as despot or
voluptuary, but in that holier headship signified by the
Apostle, as Christ is the Head of his Church.  " Yet is
she thy companion."
And, finally, of woman's duties for herself. For the
wrongs that remain to her position, and the disabilities
that manll's too selfish and partially Christianized nature
has not yet removed, let her not, in the name of all that
is lovely and all that is skilful, go to separatist conven



WOMAN'S POSITION.              163
tions, nor to the platform, nor to novel schemes of political economy or social re-organization; but to that moral
tribunal, where she is as sure to win her cause at last as
the sunlight is to compel a summer. Let her take up
and wield the spiritual sovereignty that is her everlasting
birthright. Let her understand -- what so few of her
sex have been willing to learn to this hour - the power
lodged in her whole spirit and voice and look and action
for or against the kingdom of Heaven. Let her be content with the possession and exercise of power, in all its
higher forms, without that appendage which unhallowed
pride is for ever insisting on, - the name of it. Let her
unfold every nobler faculty that our imperfect social state
invites; and then be sure that the social state will ripen
into more perfect humanities, and full justice come at
last. Let her be the brave domestic advocate of every
virtue, the silent but effectual reformer of every vice, the
unflinching destroyer of falsehood, the generous patroness
of intelligence, the watcher by slandered innocence, the
guardian of childhood, the minister of Heaven to home,
the guide of orphans, the sister of the poor, the disciple
of Christ's holy Church. On Jesus of Nazareth, - all
fails except for this, - on the Saviour's heart, let her
rest her unchangeable and unassailable hope, her unquestioning trust, her unconquerable love.
For then shall man and woman be fellow-helpers to
the truth; marriage, the pure sacrament of a spiritual
faith; and families on earth, humbler branches of the
great family of heaven.




SERMON XII.
THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
WHOSE ADORNING, LET IT NOT BE THAT OUTWARD ADORNING
OF PLAITING THE HAIR, ANTD OF WEARING OF GOLD, OR OF
PUTTING ON OF APPAREL; BUT LET IT BE THE HIDDEN MAN
OF TIlE HEART, IN THAT WHICH IS NOT CORRUPTIBLE, EVEN
THE ORNAMENT OF A MEEK AND QUIET SPIRIT, WHICH IS IN
THE SIGHT OF GOD OF GREAT PRICE. FOR AFTER THIS MANNER, IN TIIE OLD TIME, THE HOLY WOMEN ALSO, WHO TRUSTED IN GOD, ADORNED THEMSELVES. — 1 Peter iii. 3 - 5.
THE views presented in the preceding Discourse on the
social and moral position of women lead on to some further contemplation of her character as matured and enriched by Christ. My doctrine will be that woman can
realize her proper ministry only as she is inspired by
Christian faith, and that she can find the solace so sorely
needed by her discipline only as she enthrones the religion of the Son of Mary as the supreme principle of her
life.
Let our thoughts be guided by this twofold proposition: -1. For the unfolding of woman's character, and
the balancing of her spirit, Christianity supplies the only
sufficient impulse and guide. 2. Christianity exhibits no
more perfect illustration or achievement than in the completed proportions of her spiritual life. Let us follow




THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.             165
her through the three principal stages in the solemn career of her womanhood, to see how helpless she is in
every one, except she leans on Jesus, the friend of Mary
and Martha.
The first epoch of trial in woman's life begins when
the period of education ceases. It encompasses a reserved, but always an intense, and sometimes a tragic
experience. Hitherto, except in cases of rare misfortune
and bleak exposure, her home, parents, and that shield
of childhood's innocence which no serpent and no demon
dare assail, have sheltered her. Noxv she steps forth, if
not into the fierceness of public temptation, at least into
the path of solitary and secret struggles, —bitternesses
of spirit which pride and modesty both press back unspoken into the enduring but inexperienced heart.
I envy not that man's sensibility, nor do I credit his
manliness, who treats these things as only the flimsy sentimentalities of a girlish fancy. I think there are gathered into those few years that intervene between the
busy hours of the school-room and the sober cares of the
family terrible conflicts of the moral nature, questions
of duty, tossings of conscience, weariness of patience,
quenchings of the spirit, buffetings and resurrections of
holy aspiration, of a meaning deep and solemn enough
to impress any earnest mind.
It is a period of dependence, in the first place, with
most women; and who does not know that trials lie hid
in that word " dependence "? - dependence on parents,
to be sure, often, not always, -but still not the less irksome for that, if the woman, with a consciousness of
strength, sees the parent worn and anxious with excess
of labor; -or if, with willingness for effort which her position or social prejudice forbids, she sees her every want




166           THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
met only by reluctant and grudged supplies. It is a period of uncertainty; for it looks straight out upon all
those contingencies that determine her future lot, -a
lot for which she is not so much to lead or choose as to
wait and weigh the perils of being chosen, or to learn the
calm fortitude that conquers neglect with dignity. It is
a period of highly-wrought sensibility. The emotions
have swelled, from the babbling brook that kept its quiet
way within the banks of youth, into the rushing river of
impetuous passion. Opening vistas of gayety bewilder
the eye. Overhanging shadows of disappointment alarm
the soul. Sanguine expectations welcoming joy, and
apprehensive instincts portending danger, divide the day
and brood over the night. It is a period of comparative
irresponsibleness; and who shall say that irresponsibleness is a blessing, when we know so well how occupation dispels morbid introspections, and how daily strain
upon the muscles fortifies timid and tremulous nerves?
I cannot agree with those superficial observers who
see in the life of early womanhood no more than a careless pastime, where nothing is so easy as to be happy, or
read in its noiseless exterior an infallible sign of perfect
peace within. Oh! peace within!  It is not there; but
whence is it to come? Must it be a stranger for ever to
that agitated heart? Must woman endure and strive
and suffer, treading the wine-press of that comfortless
solicitude, or that weary and discontented round of unmeaning trifles which is a still heavier curse, alone?
Must she walk that perilous way, withstanding flattery,
bearing neglect, curbing complaint, bracing the nerves,
masking tempests of feeling under an unchanged face,
sifting sincerity from falsehood in the speech of men, and
mastering gloomy meditations by voluntary activities,




THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.             167
alone? Alone it must be in many cases, as respects the
fulness of any mortal sympathy; but not so alone, if she
wvill have faith, as to exclude a companionship mightier
and more blessed than the mortal. For such as she is,
Christ died; for such as she is, the Mediator lives; for
just that perplexed spirit Jesus says, " Come unto me,
thou weary and heavy-laden! Let not your heart be
troubled.  This way, daughter! Be of good comfort."
For many a one who has not sinned as the weeping
Mary sinned, but has sinned with the secret sin of the
thoughts, and has sorrowed penitentially, or has feared
lest sin should overtake her suddenly, and so has been
ready to wash her Master's feet with tears, he is saying
still, " Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace."
It is not true, I think, of any other condition of human
discipline, more than of this one, that nothing short of a
personal acquaintance with Christian trust can satisfy its
wants. Two other and different resources, indeed, the
young woman has; and we need not wander far to
search for proofs how often she tries their value. They
are her womanly pride, and the excitements of society.
The one will help her, so far as to a stubborn silence, a
stoic strength, such as lurks often in the fragile feminine
frame, which hides pain, but does not smother it, and disguises trouble with levity, but never consoles it. The
other - social excitement - defers the hour of grief, but,
while it puts it off, is gathering up additional material to
intensify its visitation when it returns. At last, it dissipates self-respect, turns simplicity into affectation, and
benumbs the moral sense. Whether these are satisfying
comforters, is a question not for argument, but for testimony alone. Summon your evidence; for you know
where it is to be found.  Perhaps you are witnesses




168            THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
yourselves, and need only to call Memory to the stand,
before the examinations of Conscience.
What will Christianity do? It concentrates the aimless and restless purposes of woman on the one grand
object of a personal acceptance with God. It takes off
the load, which no human spirit can bear and be cheerful, by its promise of forgiveness for what is lacking, and
by its encouraging assurance, that, when once the life is
consecrated to God, no single act or thought of good can
fail of fruit in the spiritual harvests of eternity. It offers
her what the mind of youth more than anything else
craves, — a friendship at once unchangeable and trustworthy as the heavens; and so it opens the gates of the
city of God straight into her closet of prayer, and, when
the world looks most inhospitable, shows her friendly angels ascending with her supplications, and descending
with counsel and compassion, between her Bethel and
her Father. It gives her that inward gift which none
can see but by possessing it, and which had its best description when it was said of it, by Him who knew its
power, that it "passeth all understanding." More than
this Christianity does for her. It provides for that sad
deficiency in so many women's lives, - the want of some
specific aim for undirected energies. No poet nor tragedian nor artist has yet depicted the misery that comes of
the cruel divorce between the active spirit of many a woman and its appropriate work. Religion leads her to her
task, - the white field that her soft but resolute hand can
reap. It not only quickens her to a new fidelity, in all
the homely ministrations of the house where she lives,
towards brothers and sisters, parents and servants; it
opens to her the lowly door of poverty; it draws her, by
cords stronger than steel, to the unclad orphan, and the




THE CHRISTIAN WVOMAN.           169
bedside of sick wretchedness; it stimulates her invention, it exhausts her economy, it plies her fingers, it inspires her intercessions, for the instruction of poor children's ignorance, and the redemption of their despair.
By a beautiful feature in the moral economy of the
Church, no less than of nature, the mercies of life are
assigned pre-eminently to female enterprise; and, if
Protestantism does not deserve to be converted back to
Rome, the pity of her daughters will outwatch and outlabor the splendid benefactions of the Sisters of Charity.
Another task still Christianity solemnly charges upon
woman in her youth. It bids her by every separate obligation of her discipleship, be true to immaculate virtue,
in her intercourse with companions, and in the bestownlent of her favor. It not only surrounds her own person
with the " sun-clad armor" of chastity and temperance
and truth, but it commands her to exact the decencies of
morality from every acquaintance, of either sex, that she
honors with her intimacy.
Would to God that some angel from his own right
hand would reveal to her the power she controls for the
redemption of those horrible vices that defile and intoxicate the land! for then she might take up her benignant
ministry as an apostle of holiness, persuading the tempted
by her unbending principle, as well as bearing her own
profession incorruptibly. Not that I would have young
women trespass over the line of a most delicate propriety,
in the hope of winning young men from dissipation by
compromise or complaisance; for I have had proofs too
painful how the kindness of that generous benevolence
may be outwitted and betrayed by the cowardly cunning
of the voluptuary. But woman should awe vice every15




170           THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
where by the sternness of her disapproval, and the unmistakableness of her language.
Learn, women, as the Master beseeches you, that a divine trust is committed to you, in your example and your
very smiles, for which God will call you into judgment.
Know, as I know, that a trifling remark, falling from woman's thoughtless tongue in the whirl of some animating
assembly, — extending her allowance to excess, treating
sensuality as a venial error, or ridiculing strict virtue as a
puritanical scruple, - has been the feather's weight that
turned the scale of a man's wavering character to infamy.
Know, as I know, that your sober rebuke may carry the
power of many sermons to the heart, and rescue a soul
half lost, making you ministers of the cross. There is a
record in the Hebrew history of a young maiden taken
captive from the land of Israel, and made a servant in the
house of Naaman, the illustrious captain of the king's
host.  The great man was smitten with leprosy, and
could get no cure. The girl had courage to stand up
against all the ridicule and obloquy of her despised religion. She dared to be true to the God of her fathers, and
to the prophets she had been taught from infancy to revere. She persisted in saying, " Would God my master
were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would
recover him of his leprosy." At last, her faith conquered
the Syrian's haughty prejudice; and he went down to
Elisha, washed in the Jordan, and was clean. There are
leprosies on men's souls; and by the mouth of other
maids than the Jewish captive, if they are as brave and
dutiful to God as she, the simple word may be uttered
that heals them.
It is time to advance to a later stage of the Christian
woman's experience. If her moral power is so decisive




THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.            1]71
at the time when life has devolved upon her the fewest
responsibilities, and neither age nor station has vested in
her any adventitious authority, that even then she stands
in her private place either as a preacher of righteousness
or an emissary of the Tempter, it is only more commanding yet when she has taken up the complicated relations
of marriage, and assumed the spiritual governance of that
lesser church, that sacred seminary,-the family.  At
the height of her influence, both domestic and social, she
then acts at once through the living medium of an individual example, and through the manifold ties of her position, for the blessing, or the fatal misleading, of many.
I say again, nothing but the piety of the New Testament
can suffice for her high calling.
The chief enemies to her Christian simplicity - and
thus to the symmetry of her own character, as well as the
integrity of her influence - are social ambition, an appetite for admiration, the passion for indiscriminate excitement, and, in other constitutions, a dull servitude to the
routine of mechanical tasks.
1. By social ambition, I mean the vulgar appetite foi
those external distinctions, which are even more dangerous to woman than to man, because of the inherent, natural aristocracy of her nature.  A wife or mother, who
suffers it to be her supreme exertion to rise in the public
consideration, has already parted with that artless sincerity which is the chief grace of her womanhood. It is inevitable, then, that she should be always bringing the
most tender sanctities of life into market, - reducing the
charm of honest courtesy into a financial convenience,
and making a brokerage of hospitalities. Mechanics and
merchants, whom thrift would have elevated into legitimate prosperity at last, are led into ruinous extravagance




172            THE CHRISTIAN WVOMAN.
by this poor slavery to names, appearances, and outsides.
Not culture, nor the real mental nor moral advantage of
better associates, not solid gain of mind or heart, but a
nominal superiority, pride of place, successful competition
with neighbors, - these are the rank shoots of social ambition. Growing refinements and elegances are honors,
so far as they are modest badges of growing diligence.
Any other "getting up in the world" is not getting
nearer to heaven. Low tricks and transparent artifices
are Ambition's awkward tools. Falsehood is too often
its ally; and a spirit alien from that of the Gospel is its
instigation.
2. Appetite for admiration.  Could some searching
census register the number of those who are kept aloof
from the love of God by this foolish vanity alone, should
we dare to look into the swelling catalogue?  Could
some magic reflection be added to mirrors, so that, while
they show back the adjustment of garments, they should
also reveal the emptiness of the soul, what dismal disclosures would startle the sleeping conscience! How slow
pride is to learn that every accumulation of useless finery
upon the person bears an exact proportion to the poverty
of character beneath it!  When the true Christian standard of dress and furnishing shall be confessed, these
wasteful outlays on gaudy colors and superfluous ornaments will be blushed for as indecencies. God in his
justice cannot be satisfied while the grand charities and
philanthropies of his kingdom languish, and the treasuries of ostentation are so full. Honesty stands aghast,
economy is laughed to scorn, Christian humility is insulted, the Gospel is denied, by dresses that almost every
Christian assembly tolerates. The reformation of these
abuses belongs peculiarly to woman, "whose adorning,




THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.             173
let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair,
and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but
let it be the hidden nature of the heart, in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For
after this manner, in the old time, the holy women, who
trusted in God, adorned themselves."
3. Passion for indiscriminate excitement. What hold
has religion taken of that mind which never rests in its
insatiable craving for some public spectacle, - is never
satisfied except when it is preparing for some scene of
social display, or exulting over its conquests?  What
place in that distracted and disordered heart for Religion
to breathe the first whisper of her tranquil benediction?
what place for the patient exercises of self-examination,
for communion with God, for the prayer that asks " the
calm retreat, the silent shade "? There is no noble type
of womanhood that does not wear serenity upon its forehead.
4. On the other hand, in constitutions of an opposite
inclination, female life is apt to degenerate, if not inspired
by religion, into a tame routine of narrow domestic cares,
dwarfing the spirit to its own contracted limitations. The
very nature of woman requires animation for its health.
Religion, with its infinite mysteries, its deep and stirring
experience, its boundless duties, offers that needed stimulus, -offers it to the obscurest and the lowliest. At
her call, the whole army of martyrs, and the glorious company of Apostles, pass by. The veil is lifted from Judea,
peopled with miracles. The Prophets repeat for her their
majestic visions, and David chants to her his undying
songs. Heaven opens the leaves of its shining portals,
the angels are singing over Bethlehem, the Magi kneel
15*




174           THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.
with Mary, and our Lord is seen blessing the women that
hide their eyes at Calvary. These are the scenes, and
these the voices, that animate the Christian woman's
meditation; and, when she passes from them into the
gayeties of the world, it is like coming down from the
high mountains of transfiguration, and from among the
lamps of heaven, into the lurid glare of some playhouse
pit. Imaginative, dreaming, musing, mystical woman!
Christianity, after all, is thy most satisfying friend.
The Christian wife and mother is a Christian in the
spirit by which she orders her household and nurtures her
offspring. Too many mothers make their first request
for their sons that of the mother of Zebedee's children, —
that they may sit on thrones of wealth and power.
What wonder if those sons are worldlings, are hypocrites,
are criminals? Too many train up their daughters with
no loftier aim than to be beautiful brides, or the centres of
meretricious observation at summer watering-places, or
to value a husband by his income, or not to be over-nice
in their judgment of men, because they are not expected
to be virtuous like women. Infamous effrontery towards
God! And thus are reared, generation by generation,
those successive ranks of artificial and perverted things
called "women of the world," - women that might
figure without disgrace at the court of a profligate Louis
or a shameless Charles, where disgrace is annihilated by
making corruption the fashion; women that are fit for
no other career than in the unprincipled saloons of the
Paris of the last century; women who have passed that
pagan sentiment into a Christian adoption, that " mothers
are sad when daughters are born."
Not such - O very far from such as she! — is the
mother that has sat, with the sisters of Bethany, at the




THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.                 175
feet of Jesus; that has entered into devout communion
with the Redeemer in his Church; that has made her
quiet dwelling fragrant with the odors of the prayers of
saints.  She stands in her household, the priestess of an
immortal faith, the reconciler of human love with the
divine; she moves among sons and daughters, folding
the hands of infancy in prayer, joining the hands of all in
fellowship, opening them in charity, and pointing with
her own to heaven.
" Sle can so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings."
And thus I have come, finally, to what may be briefly
established, - that Christianity exhibits no more perfect
achievement than in the completed character of a spiritual womanhood; for, passing on one stage later yet, we
find the united result of a life's discipline and a heavenly
faith in the Christian woman's old age. Providence has
not withheld that confirmation of the power and beauty
of religion from our eyes. We feel new confidence in
truth, new love for goodness, new zeal for duty, new
trust ill God, new gratitude to Christ, when we look on
her ripened holiness; and, as her strength faints before
the power of decay, behold the crown of immortality
descending almost visibly upon her head! The recollection of her former activities blends with the hallowed
hope of her renewed energies in the immaterial body,
with which she shall be clothed upon from heaven. The




176           THE CHRISTIAN %WOMAN.
thanksgivings of the poor that she has blessed, the tears
of orphans that she has led, the tributes of the sick that
she has visited, the perfume of the charities she has scattered, throng up to make the fading light of her evening
tranquil. She is a mother to her children after they
cease to be children; she is a matron in the Church, because the Church has been strengthened by her blameless
walk. Every good cause of humanity is encouraged by
her prayers, sent up from a shaded chamber, because
those prayers have had no contradiction in her deeds.
The heart of her husband trusts in her. Her children
rise up every morning to call her blessed. In her tongue
is the law of kindness. Strength and honor are her
clothing. Like the holy women of old time, her ornament is a meek and quiet spirit. And she shall rejoice
with what exceeding joy, when heart and tongue fail,
at the right hand of God!
I cannot so well finish this account of a Christian
woman as by repeating the following touching, simple,
sorrowful memorial of his wife, written by one of the
statesmen of England - Sir James Mackintosh - in a
private letter to a friend. " She was a woman," he
writes, "who, by the tender management of my weaknesses, gradually corrected the most pernicious of them.
She became prudent from affection; and, though of the
most generous nature, she was taught frugality and
economy by her love for me. During the most critical
period of my life, she preserved order in my affairs, from
the care of which she relieved me. She gently reclaimed
me from dissipation, she propped my weak and irresolute
nature, she urged my indolence to all the exertions that
have been useful or creditable to me, and she was perpetually at hand to admonish my heedlessness and im



THE CHRISTIAN WOMAN.             177
providence.  To her I owe whatever I am, —to her
whatever I shall be. In her solicitude for my interest,
she never for a moment forgot my character.  Her feelings were warm and impetuous; but she was placable,
tender, and constant. Such was she whom I have lost;
and I have lost her when a knowledge of her worth had
refined my youthful love into friendship, before age had
deprived it of much of its original ardor. I seek relief,
and I find it, in the consolatory opinion, that a benevolent Wisdom inflicts the chastisement, as well as bestows
the enjoyment, of human life; that superintending Goodness will one day enliven the darkness which surrounds
our nature and hangs over our prospects; that this
dreary and wretched life is not the whole of man; that
a being capable of such proficiency in science and virtue
is not like the beasts that perish; that there is a dwelling-place prepared for the spirits of the just; that the
ways of God will yet be vindicated to man."




S E R I ON   X  I II.
THE LAWV OF THE HOUSE.
THUS SAITH THE LORD, SET THINE HOUSE IN ORDER; FOR THOU
SHALT DIE, AND NOT LIVE. - Isa. Xxxviii. 1.
As Religion asks only the simplest array of circumstance to demonstrate her sublimest principles; only
the little sphere of an obscure fortune to round out all
her majestic orbit of duty; only the common people as
spectators, to unroll the splendid constellation of her
promises; and only the humblest foothold in the heart, to
bear all that heart's affections with her into the highest
heaven, -so she requires only the plainest language to
declare her most searching doctrines.
The ordinary meaning of the word Economy, which
makes it apply to mere prudence in pecuniary expenditure, or a judicious handling of the financial resources of
living, is only the secondary, not the original, import of
the term, as appears by a reference to its Greek derivation. Restore its primary signification, and it instantly
stretches out to embrace far more than worldly thrift,
more than honesty, more than philosophy. It gathers
up and condenses the whole religious obligation and
responsibility of one great department of our life. We
may preach the whole Gospel of Christ, to the household,




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.            179
through the suggestions of that simple word Economy.
For it signifies, literally, the Law of the House; the
ordering of man's whole domestic existence; the inauguration of the Divine WVill over his dwelling. To the
soul surrounded by its natural, human relationships, the
command out of the mouth of God Is, " Set thy house
in order ": obey this spiritual economy.
The subject I set before you is The Law of the House.
And the discourse will proceed through these three positions:-1. That the house is a divine institution; 2. That
every family has its law of family life, - its ruling principle or passion; 3. That only one law, and that promulgated in Christ, can comprehend, meet, and satisfy the
household, in a spiritual economy.
Out of the Romish Church, which claims special revelations of divine authority for every ordinance it enjoins, we have scarcely any terms to define exactly what
an ordinance is. The Protestant identifies a religious
ordinance by finding, upon its origin, its preservation,
and its uses in the world, wonderful marks of a heavenly
design.
I. Judged by these rules, the Family is an ordinance
of God. It draws its credentials from the parental appointment in Eden. Its solemn ceremony of installation was the crowning act of creation. No other institution, whether surviving now or perished in the past, can
show such an antiquity. The records of it are the first
syllables of written history, and the faintest stammerings
of tradition. It runs up, beyond Assyrian or Chaldean
empires, and the founding of Palmyra, to the tents on
the plains of Shinar. The first breathing of its spirit
was the simplicity of patriarchs.  It began while the
earliest beams of the world's twilight were shooting up




180          THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.
into a slay whose stars no tongue had yet called by their
names, - over an unpeopled world. Was not its origin,
then, divine?
And is not the preservation of the family as clearly
stamped with God's purpose as its origin? How marvellously that institution of the House survives revolutions!  How tenaciously, everywhere, it clings in the
web of human events!  How  obstinately, under all
conditions, it justifies its right to be! You might as
soon find by chemical analysis, and pluck out with your
finger, the living principle of a growing cedar, as eradicate from society the indestructible tendency it has to
throw itself out into families. Subdue that tendency in
one place, and it will break out in another. An empire
may rot, a nation may be wasted, a city may be sacked;
but, as if some immortal element quickened it, this hallowed institution of the household lives on; refuses to
be destroyed. Surely there have been changes enough
on this convulsed, decaying, and ensanguined earth, to
shake out of its place any form of life God does not
mean shall stand. But the house is just as sure, after
a Macedonian or a Mexican dynasty has fallen, as before.
That little charmed circle of parents and children stands
against all the destructions of time. more secure than
any army clad in steel. You may scatter mankind like
the Hebrew tribes; but straightway they will group
themselves, and be found in families. You may bury
Nineveh, or strangle Herculaneum, or starve Babylon,
or burn Warsaw; but the family you cannot dispossess,
nor batter down, nor drown with water, nor burn with
fire. The advancing growths of civilization only vary
its form; they do not affect its substance. The tents of
shepherds vanish; but more stable dwellings take their




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.            181
places. The bamboo hut of the Indian, and the European mansion, each holds its family.  Agricultural
communities build their separate houses of wood, and
commercial in blocks of wood or stone, but not dispersion nor agglomeration can blur over the lines that divide the invisible or spiritual house from its neighbor.
Is not its preservation, then, divine?
Its uses, -with equal distinctness, with what bright
tokens, with what emphatic demonstrations, do they
speak of the home as God's appointment!  Where
lie the clearest proofs of a heavenly watchfulness over
our heads, if not in the shelters where we lay those heads
at night? Consider what securities home affections bind
about tempted virtue; how the man of business carries
a zone of moral purity woven about him by the caresses
of children, from his house to the market-place; how the
false or fraudulent purpose, half conceived in the counting-room, is rebuked and put to shame by the innocence that gazes into his eyes and clings about his neclk
when he goes home and shuts the door on the world at
night. Consider what a hinderance household love interposes, to stay the straying feet of dissipation; what a
triple shield it holds up against the sins of prodigality,
indulgence, or dishonor!  Consider that, with most of
us, whatever impulses of generosity visit the soul, whatever prayers we breathe, whatever holy vows of religious
consecration we pledge, whatever aspiring resolves we
form, are apt to spring up within the sacred enclosures
of the house! Consider hoxv the mere memory of that
spot, with all its precious endearments, goes forth with
the traveller, sails with the sailor, keeps vigils over the
exposed heart among the perils of the foreign city,
sweetens the feverish dreams and softens the pain of the
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182           THE LAW OF TIIE HOUSE.
sufferer in the sickly climate, and, by calling his love
homeward, calls his faith to Heaven! Consider that the
discipline of disease, the purification of bereavement, the
tears of mourners, are all elements in the sanctity of
horne; that closets of devotion are parts of the architecture of the house; that Bibles are opened on its tables;
that the eyes of new-born children open, and their first
breaths are drawn, in its chambers; and that the dead
body is borne out of its doors; — how fast do the gathering proofs accumulate, that the human dwelling is a
sanctuary of the Most High!
Whoever builds its walls, God hallows them for his
temple. That outward house is but the visible pattern
of the interior edifice; and of that spiritual structure
God has laid the foundation, and sprung the arches, and
commanded the economy. The family is surely his
ordinance,
Who doubts it? Do you doubt it, because the daily
on-going of domestic life is so often commonplace, so
often vulgar, so often selfish, and tedious, and ill-tempered, and vicious? or because some disgusting disclosure of conjugal faithlessness, shamelessly reported abroad
from the proper privacy of courts of justice, sickens all
honest sensibilities, and makes us half ashamed that we
are men and women ourselves?
I reply, that, in the analogies of its constitution, we
may regard every family as only a smaller common\wealth, or a more complicated individual, or an undisciplined church. God has ordained it, as he has ordained
the state, the individual, and the Church. But he has
not, in one case more than in the others, fixed, by absolute or arbitrary rule, the form that the institution shall
put on. He leaves the body, into which the life shall be




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.            183
developed, to be shaped by the shifting conditions of
time, circumstance, culture, temperament. Just as the
empire at Rome, the oligarchy at Athens, the chieftainship of the Cherokees, and the republic of the United
States, are all alike divine powers in the world,-not
because they are empire and oligarchy, despotism or democracy, but simply because they are all government,
that is, organized order, for each given people, — so the
family may be a very different institution, in kind, in
Siam, in Turkey, or in New England; but in each country it is an institution, and God recognizes it as sacred.
It is the best representative of the idea of family to be
had of that nation in that age.  It is suffered to stand,
not as the best abstract or absolute form of family, but
because there is now none better. The prime intention
of it is only very imperfectly embodied in the historical fact; the particular example, savage or Turkish or
English, may be a poor expression of the original and
universal idea of family, as it lay in the Creative Mind.
Still, man must accept it into his respect, as God accepts
it into his providential method, not for what it lacks, but
for what it contains; not because it is everything it might
be, but in spite of what it is not. If the Almighty Justice could take into the system by which he works out
the destinies of the race, such corrupt societies as Corinth
and Carthage, such tyrants as Cesar Borgia and Herod,
such princes as Louis XIV. and Henry VIII., man is
bound by every moral law to reverence this appointment
of the household for the germ of truth it holds in its bosom, - though in any given case it should be outwardly
as unsound as the shell that falls off from the springing
corn.
Do you ask why, then, if God meant the family to be




184           THE LAWV OF THE HOUSE.
regarded as a sacred institution, he has not kept it sacred
from degradation and abuse, I refer you to the simple
fact, - obvious certainly if not intelligible to us, - that
he has admitted into the problem of all our life another
element besides his own almightiness, namely, man's
free will; that is, allowing a certain amount of interference
fiom human perversity, short-sightedness, and depravity.
And these disturbing influences have thrust themselves
in to mar the beauty and debase the virtue of the house,
as they have to pollute every region, business, and faculty. " The trail of the serpent is over them all."  We
might as well ask why the sacred trust of government has
been suffered to fall into bloody and rapacious hands,why the Church has sometimes reeked with corruption,
and its sacraments have been dispensed by perjury, blasphemy, and sensuality, - as hesitate to hold the family
an ordinance of God, because all the heavenly graces are
not grouped together to adorn every dwelling. Heaven's
benignant design has suffered postponement from  our
choosing evil over good; and certainly we who have introduced the mischiefs of disorder should not be forward
to censure what our own folly has spoiled.
So much for the first point, - that the house is a divine
appointment. And the rule of practice drawn thus far is,
that the more we reverence it for that divine ordaining,
the more we shall see God in its daily aspect, and strive
to set it into his order.
II. My next position is that every family has its law
of family life, - its ruling principle or passion. Its individual members may differ very widely from each other
in disposition or character. The same house may hold a
quick-tempered brother and an even-tempered sister; a
thoughtful husband and a worldly wife; a conscientious




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.            180
parent and a headstrong child; yet you will discover
running through them all a certain family character, a
spirit of the house, pervading all and modifying each.
Just as a general physical resemblance, mixed up with
many diversities of feature and manner, marks them as
of one blood, so a uniform tone of the dwelling pierces
through all that is peculiar to the person. This characteristic something, giving moral complexion to the whole,
we may call the Law of the House. It is made up of the
moral convictions, purposes of life, habits of domestic intercourse, and degrees of culture, common to all. The
law of a feudal castle was stately supremacy; of a Puritan's dwelling, devout decorum; of a modern Jew's, avarice; of a South-Sea-Islander's, indolent luxury; of an
Algerine's, plunder; of a frontier huntsman's, hardy adventure. So within our own social system: the law of
one house is personal display; of another, money; of
another, animal comfort; of another, social ambition;
of another, unceasing mutual irritation, where each man
is an overreaching Esau; of another, petty anxieties,
where every woman is a troubled Martha; of another,
intellectual improvement; of another, affectionate attentions; of another still, religious duty. And there are some
families- Heaven forbear with them! - in which the
only law of the house seems to be that the lodgers there
shall be in it as little as possible; the problem of every
morning being where to spend the evening, - the dreaded curse being the necessity of spending it at home, and
home itself sunk into a compound contrivance of dormitory and eating-room.  If each one finds it difficult to
understand its own ruling trait, it will easily be satisfied
of the quality of its neighbors. And it is among the
habits of our familiar conversation to specify certain
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186           THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.
moral attributes as pertaining to certain families, speaking of them collectively.
Observe, too, that this general spirit of the household
life is really a more powerful element in it than any special plan or work. Being permanent, it gives a right or
wrong character to that multitude of little actions which
hardly have much moral significance of their own, and
it mnakes every deed we do more virtuous, or more sinful,
by putting into it so much of a good spirit or a bad.
This supreme Law of the House bears the same relation
to ordinary domestic transactions that political science
recognizes between what Lord Bacon called the law of
laws, that is, the universal principles by which all governments, however framed, should act for the benefit of
the people, and those laws pertaining to a particular
state, discriminating as to its several departments, regulating judicial, legislative, and executive functions. It
will predominate, in the long run, over all occasional impulses, all the affairs of the day. It is the great controlling influence, determining the spiritual standing of the
family. It is the law of the family life.
Observe, also, that no inmate of your house is too inexperienced to have this influence stealing in upon him,
moulding his future manhood.  The law of the house
works itself into the circulations and fibres of every growing branch. The youngest child in the circle is watching
your face, committing your tones and motions to memory, taking your most unconscious language for a lesson,
and laying up the careless revelations of your frivolity or
your piety for future imitation. If he sees that all your
familiar arrangements are made to redound to your selfish enjoyment, at the cost of others' welfare, why should
he not turn out a self-seeker, - disagreeable and wretch



THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.              187
ed? If he sees that you make worship and conscience
subordinate to a bargain, or a pleasure-party, what is to
hinder him from growing up into a dishonest speculator
or a dissolute prodigal?  If; on the other hand, he beholds in your daily example some noble evidence of a
devotion to God, and fidelity to right, which shape all
your transactions into an offering of religion, then, unless
some very cruel seduction besets him from abroad, he is
a candidate for a Christian maturity.
This, then, is the second point established,- that there
is always a spirit of the house, or law of the family, of
one kind or another, blessing or cursing, - forming character, day by day, for salvation or perdition. The practical reflection is, what tremendous consequences to every
soul hang on the decision, whether this law is a ruling
passion or a ruling principle.
III. But another truth is to come, -- a truth to which
these preceding ones are but preparatory steps. There
is only one law, after all, which can meet, satisfy, and
redeem a family of God's children. Without this, whatever desire or purpose takes ascendency, there is no durable order, there is no established peace, there is no spiritual fellowship. I wish to deny no facts, even though,
by being misplaced or exaggerated, they may mislead
and betray. Admit all that the utmost sophistry, pleading the cause of flesh and the Devil, can pretend.
Wealth will do something for you; a library will do
something; increasing profits in merchandise, increasing
dividends on stocks, a salary that more than covers
your expenditure, — verily they that seek these as the
supreme good have their reward! Does it satisfy, then,
the hunger of an aspiring soul? Does it meet the craving of your soberest, which are your truest, hours? Does




188           THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.
it even realize that dim and vague ideal with which you
started on your course? Unless you let the friendly authority of the Son of God, -who knew all that is in the
heart and died to save it from sorrow, answer for you,
you must answer for yourself by the fearful process of
trying the experiment. Try it; and if you do not die
before it is done, you will infallibly admit at last, with a
satiated heart and a broken spirit, what you refuse to believe at a Saviour's invitation!
You have seen manhood and womanhood begin their
household life, with no deeper purpose than the accidental pleasure of the day; no preparation of faith for any
other than times of prosperity or health; no consecration
to the God of death and life, of sick-chambers, of the
dull waste of hope, and disappointed fortunes, and parting clasps of the hand at death-beds. But neither I, nor
you, nor any human witness, ever saw that a life so begun, and lived through on that low level, was felt to answer the high ends for which life was given. There was
a certain fading away, year by year, of the meaning that
was hid in honest vows; a tragic dying out of all luminous and satisfying thoughts. There will be some low
under-note of warning in all endearments and all gladness; some hollow sound in mirth; some sudden drooping of spirits at the end of the feast; some dimness on
the fine gold, - wages that enterprise has earned, or
prizes that bold ventures have drawn. There will be a
dreary look sometimes on the costly furnishings. Curiosities of art and ingenuity will mock the empty spirit.
A father's praise will not be a father's blessing; a mother's glance of pride will not be a mother's holy prayer;
the brother's departure to other lands will leave no consoling presence of faith to commend him to the God of




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.             189
oceans and of storms; the innocence of the sister will be
the charm of earth rather than the benediction of Heaven;
and the child's promise, a foreshadowing of honors here,
instead of immortality hereafter. Even the sanguine
affection that gives the marriage-pledge cannot keep its
beauty, its purity, or its power, unless prayers to Heaven
relight its decaying flame. The faith of heart in heart
will fail, at last, without faith in God. Except you " set
your house in order" by the religion of Christ, you throw
it open to an inevitable anarchy of passions.
" Set thine house in order," by the faith of the Redeermer who died for thee, by the holy vigilance of a
prayerful mind, by enthroning over your every action
reverence for Almighty God. Nothing else will bring
that order in. However the outward economy may
flourish, the omnipotence of Heaven is pledged, that in
the spiritual house no order can be, but discord rather,
and confusion, and every evil thing, save by faith.
Set thy house in order by a religious faith. Parents,
without Christian hearts, not tasting, nor even praying
to taste, regeneration for themselves, offer substitutes.
There can be no substitute. It is not in the power of
irreligious ingenuity to devise one. It is not in the justice or the mercy of God to accept one. Some parents
you have known, and some such there are, possibly,
amongst you, who seem to have strangely imagined they
can live out the remainder of ungodly lives with impunity, if they will atone for their own worldliness by
affording their children a good moral education. " Our
sons and daughters," they say, " shall learn prayer and
holiness; have us excused." God has no relief for thee,
under that profane inconsistency. He calls thee, evasive
father or timid mother, thee alone, and by thyself, thou




190          THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.
wicked and slothful servant, to give thy own soul to
him. Set thy house in order; and that the order may
cornme, establish that spiritual economy, where religion is
law, first in thy own penitent soul. Order shall not be,
except it is Heaven's order; and of that, self-renunciation
is the foremost condition. Sunday-schools to lead thy
little ones to Heaven! evening-hymns listened to heartlessly by their pillows! an occasional sigh, of mock humility, that they may come out well at last! these are
not the gates of safety on which you are to depend.
Come out well at last? What right have you to hope
they shall ever come out into paths of righteousness,
where they shall never see your own feet leading the
way?
Set thy house in this order of devotion. It may cost
sacrifice and struggle; it must cost repentance, humiliation, breaking up of vicious alliances, abandonment of
unrighteous gains; it may cost you the " dread laugh of
the world" to bend your knees to your Maker. Does
the Eternal Voice say any the less solemnly, " Set thy
house in order"? Are there exceptions for your indifference? Are the mandates of eternity to be suspended,
are the twelve legions of angels to be perplexed with
wonder, are the instant counsels of the God of heaven
to be adjourned, for your unyielding pride?  Mock not
thyself, nor thy Maker, with the decencies of refinement,
purchased into thy house with money, with all the accomplishments of many languages and sciences, with
elegaances of hospitality, and dignity of breeding, and
even the correctness of an external prudence hallowed
by no trust in the Christ of Calvary, — by crowding
these things - 0 mournful, desperate attempt! - into
the empty throne where the love of God alone in Christ
Jesus should be!




THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.             191
Set thy house in the spiritual order.  I-ang its walls
with nobler pictures than art ever brought to adorn Vatican or Escurial,- with the living beauty of holy deeds.
Arrange in its spiritual economy, each in its own appointed place, charities that shall make its air genial,
solid virtues of integrity and faith to be its foundationstones, graces of forbearance and meekness and gentleness to embellish it, hopes of immortality to light it, and
peace which comes of trust to fill it with fragrant incense.
As there never yet was order without law, nor law without authority, nor authority without a supreme or ruling
head, - so in the household, as in the soul's single life,
there can be no setting in order, unless Christ's cross is
lifted up in the midst of it.
There is another clause of the text which I have not
repeated; and how soberly does it admonish us, that any
other order than this I have described Providence must
some day disturb,- breaking in upon the visible circle
with what a desolating hand!  " Thus saith the Lord,
Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live."
Order in the outward family, -in the perpetual array of
sons and daughters, offspring and parents, - does Scripture bid you seek for this? Eyes blinded and burnt by
scalding tears, for sudden and bitter bereavements, will
weep yet again and again, as they wander over the broken
group that gathers now at their side, searching for some
vanished form. And the mourners are ready to cry,'" O tantalizing expectation, that we should ever see that
order restored, and the beloved ranks of manly strength,
or maidenly bloom, or childish grace, refilled!" Patience; for it cannot be. But if the other order is unbroken, - if Faith waits in it with her heavenward look,
and Hope with her strong anchor, and Resignation, saying,




192           THE LAW OF THE HOUSE.
"4 Thy will be done," - then the vacancies of the earthly
house shall be supplied again in the heavenly; the departed shall come back to the places that knew them
before, in tabernacles not made with hands; the order of
Christian affections here shall be a type of the perfect
order of the new family in the skies.
" Thou shalt die, and not live."  We cannot see before us. No hand can tear one leaf from the sealed book
where the recording angel has written against all our
names the day of our great change. A veil shuts close
down before our eyes on the very spot where we stand.
This year, or another; yourself first, or one you love better than yourself; by slow decline, or swift destruction:
these are secrets. But there is no dimness over the command that points us to the open way of life; no uncertainty in the immortal promise, " Set thy house in
order "; and then, though " absent from the body," thou
shalt be present with " the Father of Jesus Christ, our
Lord, of whom the whole family, in heaven and earth,
is named."




SERMON XIV.
CHILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
WHOSOEVER SHALL RECEIVE THIS CHILD IN MY NAME, RECEIVETH
ME. - Luke ix. 48.
IT sometimes seems to be understood that Christ, in
these words, means merely to commend childlike qualities, -like inoral simplicity, guilelessness, trust, affectionateness. We have independent proofs enough that
all these traits engaged Christ's personal interest, and are
enjoined by the whole spirit of his religion on every
disciple. Wherever the divine light really shines, these
pure qualities will open their beauty and fragrance to the
air, as gracefully as the first wild-flowers obey the solicitings of the sunshine in spring. Undoubtedly, as Jesus
elsewhere says, whoever will not receive the kingdom of
Heaven with this simple, unaffected childlikeness, this
heart of unquestioning faith, this subordination of intellectual pride and personal ambition to spontaneous
Christian love, cannot enter therein.
But here the statement is different. We are told what
it is to receive a little child. The Master instructs us
how to greet new-born souls on their entrance into life,
with what feelings to take them into our arms, what estimate to put on their immortal capacity, and with what
17




194      CHILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
grand purpose to educate them. All this he includes in
the precept, that we " receive them in his name." Could
the sacred and profound and peculiar duty which Christendom owes to its offspring be more comprehensively
declared? How can we be said to receive children in
the name of Christ? Plainly enough, it is not by lavishing upon them a sentimental admiration, or an indulgent
fondness; it is not by making them the materials of a
thoughtless amusement; it is not by rejoicing over them
with a selfisfi sort of pride, as the heirs of our property
or the upholders of our worldly reputation; it is not by
carelessness of their spiritual training and neglect of their
souls. On the contrary, it is by regarding them as the
lawful inheritors of Christ's spiritual promises, - as the
intended members of his Church, and imitators of his life,
and partakers of his redemption, - as the appointed subjects of baptism, of prayer, and of inward renewal,as being born, each one, to yield the world a Christian
character, and thus as being profanely and terribly
wronged whenever an irreligious indifference cheats them
of this immortal portion. This, Christ would teach us,
is to receive children in his name.  This is to take them
for what they are; solemnly to take them into our hands,
as out of the hand of God, and while clasping them to
our breasts with natural human love, to look reverently
up to their higher Father, and lift consecrating petitions
that they may be saved in the life everlasting. Do this,
and you will have no occasion to run in search of a visible empire, or outward honors. You may cease contending with one another, ambitious disciples, about
high places in the government, and turn your emulation
into a more domestic realm. Do this, parents, and the
kingdom of Heaven will come in the natural way,




CHILDREN, —HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       195
handed down from parent to child in the blood and all
the hereditary influences of believing generations, spreading and gaining power with all the growth and progress
of the race. Do this, fathers and mothers, and instead of
prostituting your energies to base contentions after the
prizes of fortune or reputation, you will find your dignity
and reward in developing imperishable graces in your
children's hearts.  Instead of honoring earthly princedoms, or an aristocracy of wealth, you will honor the
Divine image in the lowliest infant. To symbolize this
spiritual truth, the Divine Redeemer himself became a
child; he passed to the glory of his mediatorship and the
right hand of the Father through the swaddling-clothes
that all humanity must wear; he entered into the complete experience of the race by being a babe in a cradle;
the sages knelt at the manger; intellect bowed to spirituality. And now, to this day, whatever Christian parent, out of a living and supreme faith in Christ, recognizes the sanctity of a child's life, and diligently trains
him up to be a disciple, receives that child in the name
of Christ, and gives the surest evidence that he has received Christ himself. He helps to fulfil the final and
inspiring prediction with which the prophet of the old
dispensation ushered in and described the new, - that the
hearts of the fathers should be turned to the children, and
the hearts of the children to their fathers.
Let me ask you to look at some of the popular habits
of regarding children, - yourselves judging how prevalent
they may be, - and contrast them with what it would be
to receive them in the name of Christ.
One class of parents receive the little child in the name
of money. You may think the charge of such a revolting
profanation a harsh one to bring against any members of




196      CHILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
a respectable community.  Would that all who are
prompt to repel it in language were as scrupulous to disown it practically! But look underneath words and the
resentments of a false sensibility, to facts. If there are
any among you who oftenest think of your children in
connection with property, either through the inquiry how
much they will cost or how much they will hereafter come
to possess; if there are any who make the foremost pleasure in your children to consist in arraying them in the
costly fineries of an extravagant expenditure, pampering
your own vanity by sending them forth to the gazers of
the streets, decked in the badges of a weak display, using
the poor body as a dumb frame whereon to spread forth
your own fopperies, and initiating their waking senses
into the accursed thirst for show that fevers all our public
manners; or if there are any who, by positive example or
indirect suggestion, breed in your children the pernicious
notion that what we live for as we grow up is to be
richer than our neighbors, -then you do, in reality, receive the little child in the name of money. Merchandise is made of his mind and his heart. The same effect
is produced, in a different way, if, by a penurious temper,
you so misproportion your outlay as to pinch the nobler
and more generous impulses in your children, thus inculcating parsimony as a lesson. I do not deny that a certain impulsive affection may be mixed with this shameful abuse. That affection may be very strong. But the
tender and holy love of a Christian parentage, which God
can bless, is not there. You would deem it a horrible
cruelty if any father were to brand with a red-hot dollar
the forehead of his boy.  But you may scorch your
child's spirit with the mark of a more fearful and lasting
disfigurement; and that you do, whenever your conver



CHILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       197
sation, your passionate eagerness for gain, or your daily
practice of estimating men and things by their moneyvalue, fixes slowly but deeply in his mind the avaricious
lust that is never satisfied with getting. He will take
the mould of his surroundings. The style of living that
you make his daily scenery, the tone of talk that you
make his common atmosphere vocal with, will reflect
themselves infallibly in his future manhood.  He will
have a large soul, or a belittled one; he will be brave and
self-poised, or a feeble driveller; he will be an independent leader of public opinion, or a miserable slave to his
own interests; - in a word, he will be a nobly developed
child or a spoilt one, according as you receive him in
the name of Christ, or in the name of money.
Another class of parents receive the little child in the
name of worldly success. By this estimation of childhood I mean something a little less sottish than the one
just noticed, because it admits some less gross ingredients. To receive a child in the name of worldly success,
is to be chiefly anxious for his social position and his
business prospects. It is to make everything in his training bear on his thrift in trade, or, with the daughter, on
her marriage with a thrifty husband. It is forgotten, that,
for every man, there is a better kind of success than success in his trade, - not inconsistent with that, but, on the
contrary, helping it as righteousness always strengthens
prosperity, - and that for every woman there is a devout
womanhood attainable, more honorable than any wedlock.
The mistake I speak of is not inconsistent with the utmost pains to furnish children with a good secular education. Only every science studied must light some path
to enterprise, and of all sciences calculation is the chief;
every language learned must be a stepping-stone to a
17*




198      CHILDREN, — HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
profitable situation; every talent must be convertible into
current coin; every accomplishment must prepare the
way to a paying office, or conciliate custom. No faculty
like the faculty of skilful traffic or pushing for promotion.
If we were stark materialists,- and nothing is more exactly adapted to degrade us into materialism, - this
would be a very acceptable philosophy of life and learning, -a life without a faith, and a learning without a
Bible. But the moment you look down a little way into
the unsounded and infinite mysteries of your child's immortality; the moment you open the New  Testament
and sink back into the sober convictions which its inspired
sentences reawaken in you; the moment you look around
you at the ever-burning fires of trial, like disease, or natural calamity, or bereavement, which try every man's
work, and see how all earthly goods turn to ashes in those
fires; the moment you look forward and in solemn anticipation let the Divine word lead you, following your child,
into the presence of the unchangeable realities and the
certain judgment, -then you feel again how different a
thing it is to receive and treat that child in the safe and
life-giving name of Christ, from receiving and treating
him in the name of a worldly success the most brilliant
or most substantial.
Another class still, not unrepresented among us, receive
the child in the name of selfish joy. In infancy, the radiant little creature is the graceful toy of idle hours.
Later, he is the precious minister to a proud complacency, -the necessary image, and probably the central
image, to fill out the circle of personal comfort and delight. The father comes home from the engrossments of
business, he takes out his neck a moment from the yoke
of traffic, and his children are the welcome instruments




CHILDREN, -- HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       199
of his recreation. The mother watches her darling boy,
or girl, with a vigilance that never flags nor cools. But
there is such a thing as maternal vigilance prompted by
mere human fondness, or the passion for the dear one's
presence, -all holiness crushed out of it, because it is
without God. You know what the grave does with that.
And there is the vigilance of a Christian mother's love,
more faithful unspeakably, and over that you know that
death and the whole army of diseases have no power.
I know of hardly any gloomier sight in the world than
one of these homes ruled by this world's temper, where
this unsanctified pride in children's beauty or attainments,
however strong or kind, is nothing under the sun but an
extension of poor self-love, - the celestial quality, the
divine element, of parental affection, perished from it;
homes where the spiritual law and life in Christ find no
grateful recognition, exercise no binding control; homes
where everything else is done for children except that one
thing without which all else is worthless, receiving them
in the name of Christ; where parents gaze into the child's
face only to see a reflection of their own personal satisfaction, and cling to the frail body all the more tenaciously and desperately because there is no tranquil looking forward beyond the bodily separation.  Again and
again I have involuntarily shuddered at one of these
melancholy spectacles,- all the happiness so superficial,
so fragile, so sure to be rent to pieces presently and scattered on the winds. I have seen the sad instinctive terror
with which the thought, or the uttered hint, that the child
might some time die, was stifled. I have seen the dreadful struggle of unbelieving love, to put aside and cover
up the irresistible decrees of God. A pure and lovely
child in such a house, in the arms of such a father, ought




200      CHILDREN, —-HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
to be painted like a spotless angel held in the grasp of
some cool, calculating, faithless demon of the pit.  O
was there no better, no more spiritual, no more Christian
welcome, for that stainless heart on God's earth than
this?  Love is there, if so bad a counterfeit of God's
best gift deserves the name; but think of the anguish
that waits inevitably on unbelieving affections. The hour
comes.  If the dark distress of moral ruin, a wrecked
conscience, does not come, that other event comes that
is inexorable. No selfishness is hard enough, or firm or
close enough, to ward off disorders or baffle Providence.
And when it comes, God spare the anguish of the parent that is bereaved without Christ, and so sorrows without hope! To those that have never tasted the experience, these words may sound unreal; but all of you
who have looked on your dead child's face, know that
in that hour there are but three realities in the universe:
one of these is sorrow, - and it is sorrow, utter and hopeless to all them that do not feel the other two, - God, and
the eternal life brought to light in Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is another class of parents yet, — beside those
that receive the child in the name of Christ, - and it is
made up of those that receive him in the name of a blind
fatality. That is to say, they have a general and honest
enough wish that their children might be found on the
side of goodness; but they fail to see that the work of
putting them there is a business of their own. They
have not given up the hope that their offspring may turn
out well; but they leave the sacred, slow, responsible
toil of making it turn out so untouched. They answer
to your surprise with some vicious maxim about all
children being obliged to go through a period of insubordination, and knowing the world, —which commonly




CHILDREN, —-HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       201
means knowing everything that is worst in the world.
They trust to accident.  They hand over their own
children's immortal purity and welfare, like pagans, to
luck. At this terrible life-and-death encounter between
a young soul and perdition, they, the parents, are only
to look on! At that mortal struggle they are idle spectators!  Everything else they have done, or are willing
to do, for their child, everything save taking up, with ear
nest and ardent purpose, his spiritual nurture and his
Christian salvation.  The utmost they can give besides clothes, board, spending-money, and schooling, is
an occasional moral reflection, or an introduction to the
minister, or a few months of irregular attendance at
Sunday-school, and possibly the birthday present of a
Bible with a clasp, which no example of their own encourages him to open. Systematic, patient, persisting,
entreating, prayerful nurture of the undying spirit, —
there is none. Yet is there one of you all that can
deny that this training of the soul is infinitely the most
weighty and solemn of all duties to the child?  Wihy
do you not receive him, then, in the name of Christ?
But, praise Heaven! there is another class; and there
is no cause, in nature or reason, but only in our dull and
sluggish hearts, why it should not come to include all
the others. The Master has shown us a more excellent
way.  That other name, the only one under heaven
whereby we can be saved, is given us. Bring the children, says the Saviour, unto me.  He that receiveth
them in my name, receiveth me. What, then, is included in that Christian treatment of the young, as before
God and his Church?
First, that, having yourselves been joined to Christ
by repentance and faith, you hold and treat them as the




202      CHILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
rightful heirs of a spiritual life in yourselves. You have
more to transmit to them than your constitutional temperament, your property, and your name. When God
permitted you to be parents of living children, he bound
you, by a law that admits no escape, to breathe into
them a higher life than that of the body or the mind,
even that spiritual life whereof all make themselves partakers who heartily believe in the Son of God. And
this goes out of you by other means than formal speech.
Let it be in you, and it must emanate, by unconscious
waves of influence, from look and voice and attitude, and
all the countless and nameless tokens of parental faith.
What ordained preacher has the power of a Christian
mother?  I have been told, that, in the wonderful and
gracious experiments made in our times for kindling up
a little light even in the darkness of idiocy, the first ray
of intelligence that is observed to gleam across the imbecile's vacant face, and the first pulse of feeling strong
enough to overmaster furious passions and arrest the
wandering eyes, are commonly observed to appear when
some gentle touch or tone of womanly kindness rekindles in the heart the flickering and faint impressions of
a mother's tenderness. Could any proof more striking
show us what lips, what countenance, whose pleadings and intercessions, ought first to dedicate the child
to holiness and the Holy One? Even the old Romans,
in their heathenism, had a touching superstition of holding
the face of the new-born infant upward to the heavens,
- signifying, by thus presenting its forehead to the stars,
that it was to look above the world into celestial glories.
The goddess that was supposed to preside over this aspiring ceremony was named from the word " levare,"
which means "to raise aloft."  It was a superstition then.




CHILDREN, —HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       203
Christianity dispels the fable and the doubt, and gives
us the clear realization of that dim, pagan yearning, in a
Christian baptism and training. What shall be said of
those nominally Christian parents who do not discover
even the heathen's sensibility, — and, with all the blessed
ordinances of the Son of Mary in their sight, content
with low and earthly satisfactions, refuse to their children even the Church's benediction?
Again. the spiritual obligation involved in receiving a
child in the name of Christ requires that you esteem him,
even in his childhood, as a sharer with yourself in a Divine covenant. He is to be sheltered under that sacred
promise, reaching down from Abraham through all dispensations, by which the Heavenly Father admits the offspring of all believing and faithful disciples to the same
secret privileges with their parents, -provided only they
will consent. This makes the title to Christian citizenship hereditary. It rests with the voluntary consent of
the child, when he is free to choose or to reject, to ratify
and confirm the baptismal pledge which the parents made
in his behalf; above all, it rests with the parent to follow
up the sprinkling of water with daily and devout instruction in divine knowledge, - li.ne upon line, precept upon
precept. These things being insured, God is not forgetful of his promise, nor will he leave faithful servants to
strive alone. Keep that promise ever before your baptized child's eyes. There will be sanctity in its encouragement and power in its restraint.
Yet further, God requires us to regard our children as
an element in our judgment. We shall meet them again.
Face to face we shall all stand, when the books are
opened. No daysman can come in between us and the
spirits that have been ripened in our care. Their souls




204      CHILDREN —-HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
will be required at our hands. These broken circles will
have one reassembling more; and there the Judge will
make that awful inquisition, from which no parental
heart will be allowed to shrink back. There the questioning will be, In whose name received ye the immortal
ones? In the name of money? in the name of worldly
success? or of selfish joy? or of a careless unconcern?
or in the name of Christ? And whosoever has received
them in the name of Christ, "he," saith Christ, " hath received me "; and that sentence is his everlasting reward.
And now, do any of us ask what constitutes the true
Christian fidelity of parents, and what is the method of
this high duty? Let us remember to ask that question
of Him who alone is the Guide. He answers it by his
Word; he will answer it, even more and more clearly,
to the sincerely seeking heart. These simple truths we
know, and may affirm confidently.
There must be prayer. Your child must know, he
must see, he must feel, that between your parent-heart
and Him who is the Infinite Father of all alike, there is
open and conscious communion. Till there is established, in all simplicity, this confiding and daily intercourse between the soul -and Heaven, you have not
received your child in the name of Christ. What was
testified by one of the strong statesmen of our early
American history, might be declared, in spirit, probably
by nearly all the best men that have lived in Christendom. "I believe," he said, "that I should have been
swept away by the flood of French infidelity, if it had
not been for one thing, -the remembrance of the time
when my sainted mother used to make me kneel by her
bedside, taking my little hands folded in hers, and causing me to repeat the Lord's Prayer."




CHIILDREN, - HOW TO BE RECEIVED.      205
But the whole work, or privilege, of Christian culture
for the child is by no means to be handed over to the
mother. That has been too much the fashion with men.
When did God excuse fathers? W~here is the permission for one parent to add to the necessary hours of absence from home, at his business, an evening at the billiard-room or a Sunday in the country? In order to
the full and right influence in forming the child's character into holiness, both sides are wanting; God asks
the Christian father as much as the Christian mother;
the Apostles adjure the father oftenest. Buxtorf tells us,
the Jewish fathers held themselves responsible for the
guilt of their children's sins till they were thirteen years
old. In that great reckoning at which we have already
glanced, the Divine voice will question with both alike;
nor does the Lord say of either one alone, of woman
more than man, that whosoever receiveth the child in
his name, receiveth him.
Moreover, there must be regular biblical teaching. No
child is received in Christ's name, that is not reverently
and carefully taught Christ's Gospel. Somewhere and
somehow, not by chance, not at interrupted and infrequent seasons, but patiently, and humbly, and week by
week, that wonderful, most ancient and Eternal Book
must be opened before him. Its sublime yet simple
truths, plain to the child's understanding, its holy personages, its grand Prophets and ardent Apostles, its venerable patriarchs and its inspired children, must all pass,
in their robes of light and forms of singular majesty and
beauty, before him. Its psalms must be sung into his
soul. Its beatitudes and commandments must be fixed
in his remembrance.  Its parables must engage his
fancy. Its miracles must awe his wonder. Its cross,
18




206      CHILDREN, —HOW TO BE RECEIVED.
and ark, and all its sacred emblems, must people his
imagination. Without that Bible, no child born among
us can come to Him whom only the Bible reveals.
Then there must be a distinct Christian purpose, penetrating the household, elevating the whole spirit of the
home, and evermore resisting temptation. There is a
fable, in German literature, of the daughter of an Erlkling whose business it is to tempt little children away
from parents and home. She comes even into the parents' presence, and there, with fair appearance and cunning disguises, she deceives them in her malignant purpose, contriving to whisper into the ear of the unsuspecting one many an artful promise of fine shows and happy
plays. And thus at last she wiles away victim after victim into a dreary land, in the midst of dark and shadowy
forests. Do we not all know of something answering
to this crafty child-thief?  Temptation is the Erlking's
daughter that never dies. She tears away children from
the blessed peace of their Father's house, — from virtue,
from happiness, from heaven. You, parents, must be
watching, or before you are aware your beloved ones
will be caught and carried into the wilderness.
And finally, knowing well how little is the most our
weak arms can do, and how infinite are the appointed
mercies of our God, we are to bring our little ones, as
we are to come ourselves, to the fountain's brink, — to
the great streams of spiritual benediction and grace that
flow down through the channels of the Church, -to the
baptismal font, - and, if only their own free-will shall afterwards consent, to the table and love-feast of our Lord.
Come first yourselves. For where the waters of purification and renewal are poured, there the forgiving voice
speaks; and where strength is gained by communion,




CHILDREN,- HOW TO BE RECEIVED.       207
there is the entering in of a peace never known besides.
"The just mall" not only "walketh in his integrity";
"his children are blessed after him."  May the great
Shepherd gather us all, us and our little ones, the fathers, the mothers, the children, into his immortal fold;
out of the far country of a wilful and worldly and alienated life, into the Church on earth, into the larger
Church, the household undivided and everlasting in
heaven!




SER MON XV.
ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
AND CRISPUS BELIEVED ON THE LORD, WITH ALL HIS HOUSE. -
Acts xviii. 8.
TImE Christian faith is shown to us, in the Acts of
the Apostles, working out its first simple developments
in human society. In that plain picture, we see how
this new force, this divine idea, behaved itself in the
world of living men, and women, and children; how
it acted on them, and laid hold of them; how it
took possession of them, and organized them into a
peculiar institution, which has lived on ever since, - the
Church.  Christ's visible presence is withdrawn out of
the world at his resurrection; but thenceforth he appears to manlkind in the living body of his Church,
which, holding in its heart and its hand his Spirit
and his Word, takes the place of his physical form. And
now, from this short statement I have just read about
one of the first converts, in the earliest record of Church
history, we catch a glimpse into the practical working
of the system.  It appears that persons came into the
Church, not only as separate individuals, but by families.
From this, as well as several other passages, we find, that
when the parents, or heads of households, became Chris



ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.               209
tian believers, so did their children. All were baptized together.  So, in one place, we read of " the church which
is in the house of Nyrmphas"; showing that such a
group of believers, comprising parents and their children,
might constitute a church of itself.' How much beauty
and sanctity there would be in such a spectacle, — a
church in each house, - and how mightily the world
would gain in Christian order, purity, and power, if it
were generally realized, you can readily imagine.  It
corresponds to the whole sentiment of revelation, in all
the stages of its progress. The covenant made with the
Patriarch was made with Abraham  and his seed after
himn.  Throughout the Mosaic period, children were included with their fathers in all the blessings of the elder
Testament.  " The promise is unto you and qyour children," is the constant doctrine through all God's messages to the Israelites.  We are expressly told, that under
Christ, in the New  Testament, the same covenant is
renewed, only expanded and deepened.   Throughout,
the law  of descent is carefully respected.  The hereditary tie is recognized.  Offspring, at birth, are supposed to be bound up in the same bond of Christian
privileges and helps which encircles their believing progenitors. Does our practice, in our modern churches,
imply that this is our belief?
From time to time you have heard affirmed and reaffirmed this view of the birth-relation of children born
of Christian parents to the Church, especially in those
bearings of it which relate to the administration of the
x Ireneus, of the first age after the apostolic, referring to the administration of baptism, says: " Christ came to save all persons by himself, who
by him are regenerated to God, - infants, and little ones, and children, and
youths, and elder persons."
18*




210         ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
ordinances, - Baptism  and the Lord's Supper.  The
same idea seems to have been received, with different
degrees of clearness, in former periods. It was distinctly
declared by many of the early theological teachers, by
whom God planted his Church in New England, and it
has found, more recently, a few earnest advocates; but
hardly anywhere anything like a real adoption into practice, so as to present a church formed after its plan.
If what I have just said be tenable, therm. it has these
weighty  and decisive testimonies, for all Christian
minds, in its justification: first, the undeniable usage
of the apostolic age, -the purest, because the nearest
to th;e Master; secondly, the explicit sanction of the
authority of the New Testament on the matter; and
thirdly, the analogy and agreement of the Old Testament, reaching back to the primitive era, disclosing
God's whole design for the saving of the world, as it
opens and ripens from Abraham, or Adam rather, to
Jesus of Nazareth.
My object at present is not only to remind you afresh
of the important place held by this great truth in reference to your personal and domestic welfare, but to trace
it out into its necessary connections with the whole
position and constitution of the Church, - inquiring,
with you, what the Christian Church is; how entrance
is got into it; and what are its claims, functions, and
privileges.  Of course, I must confine myself, with a
scope so wide, to compressed statements merely, leaving
trains of argument and illustrations aside. I wish it
might be particularly understood, that, so far from dealing with matters that have no application to any but
those who are church-members already, I address myself especially to those who have taken no part in




ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.           211
any public profession, and do not share in the communion which is the common token and privilege of
members.
I. What is the Church?  On the authority of the
New Testament, I say it is the body of persons who
believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of
men, crucified and risen; and so believe in him as to be
personally conscious of a supreme desire to live his spiritual life, to resemble him, and be his true redeemed disciples. This definition takes the whole qualification for
church-membership out of the power of sects and external ceremonies, lodging it in the internal region of the
heart, - among the affections and motives,- whence
all life makes its way out into speech, profession, and
conduct. Its only test, therefore, is spiritual, not formal.'The definition also proposes terms that are strict, without being absurd, and reasonable, without being lax. It
requires that the purpose to be a Christian, within and
without, shall be supreme over all other purposes, -
take precedence in every deliberate choice, and express
itself in prayer and in righteousness.  Love to God as
manifest in Christ, and love to man as God's child, must
be the ruling affections in the soul, — whether they have
conformed the character perfectly to them, or not. The
Church is the aggregate of these consecrated souls, aiming and longing, above all things, to live righteously; irrespective of names, of forms, of creeds, of age, of place,
except so far as these affect this internal, central consecration to Christ. If there were only "two or three"
such persons in the world, they would be a church, and
Christ, fulfilling his promise, would be there in the midst
of them. In all periods since Christ ascended, this has
been the Church. It is distinct from all other bodies, -




212         ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
whether scientific, civil, educational, benevolent, moral,
or even religious, if they are not religious after the way
and Gospel of Christ. Its boundaries, as it is embodied
in actual persons, may be indistinct to man's eye, but
they are plain to God's; and the definition is plain.
The Church is that body of people, in whatever age or
nation, of which Christ is literally and spiritually the
Head. And any one particular church, here or there, is
a smaller collection of such people, and so a branch of
the Church Universal.
II. How, then, does any individual enter into this
Church, so as to become a member of it, enjoying the
privileges and incurring the responsibilities of a member?  I answer, By conversion.  This is for all those
who have been living any time outside of the Church,
-that is, without the supreme purpose I have spoken
of, — without a conscious dedication to holiness, without treating Jesus Christ, in heart and life, as Lord and
Master.  All such must obviously be regenerated, before they can be in or of the Church. Hitherto they
have been living only that natural life, whose ruling
motives are mere selfish instincts, whose appetites and
passions were not subjected to conscience, whose better traits were spontaneous and irregular, not having
taken on the character of principle, and whose external proprieties were the result only of some form of
worldly interest or policy.  In all such persons, there
must be a new birth of Christian conviction.  There
must be a sincere penitence for this sinful habit, which
has disobeyed and denied God's commandment. There
must be a holy heart, with prayer in it, created by regeneration and washing of the Holy Spirit. There must
be a turning about from the old, false direction, which led




ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.           213
away from Christ, to the opposite, which sets the face
towards him. Whether slow or swift, -and it certainly
cannot be too swift nor too early, and the earlier the
easier, - this conversion is indispensable. We see many
instances of it in the New Testament. In those early
times, it commonly involved a change of the mind as
well as of the heart; that is, a Pagan or a Jew must
change the whole opinion of his head respecting religion,
as well as the love and motive in his heart. His nominal and intellectual belief must undergo a revolution.
Accordingly, to describe this transfer from one scheme to
another, we find the terms " conversion," and "believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ," used in the New Testament
synonymously and interchangeably. Now there may be
cases among us of the same radical and mental change
as with all heathens, Jews, Mahometans. But otherwise, and where, as with most of us, there is no mental dissent from the evidences and truths of Christianity,
the conversion wanted is only that of the heart, giving that up to Christ. Then the individual can clearly
say, I have resolved, God's grace helping, to be a Christian disciple. And whenever that is really done, the
soul truly becomes invisibly united to Christ, and so, of
course, is virtually a member of his body or Church.
But souls may also come into a certain relation to
Christ's Church by spiritual adoption. And all those, I
maintain, are subjects for this, who are born of believing
parents, or parents who are members in it. If they discover from the first no repugnance to holiness, no settled
alienation from Christ, but appear to have had the renewing work of the Spirit wrought upon them  in a
steady and early grace, so that they seem  "sanctified
from the womb," they pass into Christ's Church as




214         ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
they pass into a self-conscious experience. By this I
mean that all children so born are to be received into
the arms of their parents, and treated as the sacred
property of the Church.  The Church lays claim to
them, from the very outset, as her own.  Her presumption and prayer for them is that they will walk
from their childhood in newness of life. She sets the
sign of that belief and hope. Properly trained up, by
spiritual teaching and example, under the blessing of the
Spirit, they are never to know of a time when they were
not included in God's covenant of promise. Instead of
being cast out, as little aliens, to run wild awhile in the
world, having no part nor lot in the blessed Christian
shelter and inheritance, they are to be always folded inside that security. The Church is to come forward, in
the person of those parents who are its members, - the
divinely and naturally appointed guardians of these
young souls, -and thus press them to its own gracious
bosom, and feed them on its own heavenly truth; until
such time as they are old enough, by their own conscious
and personal responsible act, to confirm the covenant
which their parents and the Church made for them in
their infancy, by openly espousing the membership. For
I do not overlook the dreadful possibility, that, in the
stress of temptation, and a depraved inclination, the
child, even when all this has been done for him, may
wander off and be a prodigal. He may viciously disown
the covenant made in his behalf. He may plunge into
sin, in despite of all. Then his only way back into the
Church of Christ must be by conversion, as with the
children of unbelievers. All I say is, that such instances
ought to be prevented or diminished by wiser and more
Christian notions and practices. Let the Christian par



ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.          215
ents continually speak to the young child of Church privileges, of the joy and the duty of his Christian heritage
and home. Let that child have the doctrines and life of
Christ faithfully instilled into his soul, by domestic instruction and family prayer. Let him be reminded of
his baptismal dedication, and taught to live worthily of
it. No magical, talismanic effect is thus to be wrought
upon him, but a perfectly natural and simple one, standing in harmony with all other educational influences, and
guaranteed also a peculiar blessing.  This Christian
child, like others, must have a spiritual nature and life
formed upon him, in addition to his natural life. Only,
this blessed boon of a new and holy heart steals in upon
him gradually, by way of his parents' eyes and voice and
prayers, from the very dawn of his consciousness, grows
with his growth, hardens with his muscles, expands with
his understanding, and matures in him as gently and regularly as any of the growths of the forest or the field; so
that there shall be no period in his remembrance, when
he was not moving straight on towards a ripe Christian
character, and full communion in the Church. All this
I place in contrast with our strange and savage habit of
turning off our little ones to feed on the husks and chaff
of the senses, till some dreadful wrench of sorrow, after
they have grown up, possibly wakens a few of them to
conviction, and drives them back, broken-spirited, from
the far country where they had wandered, to their Father's house.
III. This brings me on, as the next step, to the place and
the meaning of Baptism. The value of that ordinance
is sufficiently attested throughout the New Testament.
Christ himself, notwithstanding his divine elevation, submitted himself to it that he might fulfil all righteousness.




216        ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
So early as his conversation with Nicodemus, while he
was announcing the grand principles of his new kingdom,
he spoke of the new birth as requiring both the Spirit and
water. He enjoined its universal observance, through
the Church of all nations, in his last charge to his disciples. By studying the design of it in other parts of the
New Testament, we can come to only one understanding of its object. Everywhere it signified the entrance of
the subject of it into the Church of Christ. It was the
outward sign of that single fact, -the beginning of the
Christian life. It was applied to adults and children indiscriminately; for we read of whole households baptized.
Whenever any person was converted, that is, became a
true believer in Christ, young or old, he was baptized;
and that was the only ceremony of admission into the
Church. After baptism he communed, as a matter of
course. According to the convenience of climate, and
the usage of the Oriental nations, this baptism was doubtless by the immersion of the whole body. But, obviously
enough, what the Spirit sought, as a meats of outward
order and general benefit, was simply the outward application of water, and not the quantity of it.
With what understanding, then, may a Christian minister administer the rite of baptism now? I answer, it
must be according to one of the three following modes: —
1. Baptism may be applied, according to the whole
Scriptural doctrine I have been opening, to the children
of believers in communion with Christ's Church. In that
case, the ordinance is the outward sign and seal that the
children, who receive it, follow the organic law of their
parents, and are the rightful property of the Church. The
Church comes forward, and stretches out her arms, with
holy sprinkling, to claim and bless the new-born immor



ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.          217
tal. The parents engage, for the offspring, the blessings
of the same covenant that covers themselves. Parental
love, if it is Christian, cannot do less. To refuse would
really be worse than the unnaturalness of disowning them;
for, in the latter case, they are only turned out of the
earthly home; in the former, out of God's spiritual home,
and denied the saving nurture of the Christian family.
Baptism is here put, where the New Testament puts it,
at the beginning of the Christian life. For, as the adult
convert begins that life at his conversion, so the child of
believers is presumed to begin it at his birth. Baptism
signifies a faithful hope that the child will grow up a
Christian, and a reverent trust that the regenerating spirit
may already be descending upon him. This kind of
baptism is so clearly the right kind, that we must long
for the time when there shall be no occasion for any
other.
2. Baptism may be applied to persons who have advanced some way into their natural life, not baptized in
their childhood, and now resolved to be of Christ's
Church, because they are regenerated, or Christianminded. Here, exactly as before, the rite marks the beginning of the Christian life: only that beginning lies at
a later point in the person's history. Here the act is a
self-dedication, - the individual who comes into the
Church thus doing for himself what no Christian parent
did for him. So far, all is consistent and obvious.
3. But there is a third class. Parents who have never
manifested a desire to be of Christ's Church themselves,
nor openly avowed discipleship, seek to have their children baptized. When this request is granted, if the foregoing positions are sound, it must be on one of two understandings: either that these parents, though not avow19




218         ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
edly church-members, are so earnestly possessed of the
spirit of Christian piety and of all Christian purposes,
that they are approved believers in the sight of the Great
Head of the Church, and so members of the Church invisible, - which would always be the supposition most
grateful to entertain; or else, where this presumption
is inevitably excluded, the ceremony must be another
thing, -an act of pious intention, a consecration, perhaps, not without salutary impressions, springing from a
thoughtful parental regard, but not the sign of induction
into Christ's body. Let this question be remembered,
however: Are not parents, not being church commnunicants themselves, who provide baptism for their children,
bound to consider very deeply whether consistency does
not require them to observe, in behalf of their own souls,
the same veneration for ordinances that they profess in
behalf of their progeny?  And how can they expect
these to obey God, and belong to Christ, if they themselves do not go before in the appointed way?
IV. This brings us on to consider the place and signification of communion at the Lord's Supper. By all
that has gone before, that service is not what makes any
of us members in the Church, but it is both a privilege
and a duty consequent upon such membership. The
true formula would be, not,' I commune, therefore I am
a church-member "; but, " I am a church-member, therefore I commune." What gives any of you a title to
participate at the Supper is Christian baptism, because,
as I have said, baptism is the sign of the beginning of
the Christian life, whether administered in infancy in the
parental covenant, or afterwards, on conviction and spiritual renewing. It follows, therefore, that all baptized
persons are privileged to be candidates for full cormmun



ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.           219
ion in the Church, whenever they will personally present
their claim.
At the same time, they must personally present it. It
is an act wholly within their own choice and responsibility. Such choosing is wholesome, and, for a free agent,
quite necessary. A moral act done for a child cannot
force or bind his liberty when he grows up. The bap-'
tismal covenant only throws about him its gracious
influences, pledges the Eternal Help in his behalf, and
welcomes hinm to the Saviour's organized body.  But he
must be free to live outside if he will. This view makes
his alienation his own act, and casts the terrible accountability therefor on his rebellious violence, which tears
him away from his home. HIis home, and his belongings, are within his Father's house. On the other hand,
if he will, as soon as he is old enough to understand and
weigh the matter for himself, come straight forward to
the Master's table, he thereby recognizes, confirms, ratifies, for himself, - in fact, makes his own act, - what
his Christian parents did for him. His voluntary communing is, then, precisely what some Christians call it, a
confirmation.
If we had a definite and orderly system among us, as
one must heartily wish on every account we had, then I
suppose a plan something like this might be found at
once perfectly simple and practicable, and also full of
most effective and glorious fruits. In every parish, by
every minister, let there be kept a record of all children
baptized into the Church. Each year, at a stated and
convrenient time, let the minister call together, as a matter
of course, but by personal and direct invitation, all such
young persons, so baptized, as have, within the year preceding, reached a certain suitable age, - suppose fifteen




220        ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
years. Let him bring them under a brief course of
friendly and religious instruction, in addition to any
Sunday-school or domestic teaching, so faithfully remind.
ing them of the parental covenant and other obligations,
and renewing in this form the demand of Christ and the
Church, that they come into the fold, and stand pledged
for their Divine Master; and, if proper dispositions exist,
at the end of such tuition, admitting them. At the same
time, let him ofler corresponding instruction to all unbaptized children; striving thus for their conversion, or
spiritual renewing, their baptism into the Church, and
their admission to the Supper. When any family pass
from one parish to another, let them procure from the
one they leave to the one they join, a letter, signifying
not only the communicants among them, but the names
and ages of the baptized children, that they may be
properly taken up and nurtured in their new religious
home. Who can tell wThat noble and vital accessions of
holiness and strength the Church might gain, in such an
ordering of her internal economy? What spectacle can
be conceived more full of moral beauty and promise,
than ranks of the young, thus early, and while they need
the hallowed securities of faith most urgently, pressing
straight forward into the gates of the kingdom, - this,
instead of what we now too often see, the shame of our
Christendom, and the sorrow of all devout hearts, namely, crowds of bewildered and neglected youths, plunging
fearfully away, unguarded, into the perils and vices of
the world, broken hearts, and ruined hopes, and characters lost, lost beyond recall?
If any are still disposed to inquire why they should
commune at the Lord's Supper, a complete answer could
be given only in much greater space than is now at m)




ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.           221
command. Let these simple reasons enter into your reflections, and not be dismissed till they are pondered
fairly: — 1. Because God, the Maker of our frame, has so
shaped and colored the whole structure of our being, that
there is an exact adaptation between spiritual life and
progress, and this memorial ordinance. So much is settled, by the authority of his own word, and by the vastly
accumulating testimony of the millions of believers, in
all the lengthening generations of the Church. The soul
and the Supper of communion meet one another, and
are meant for one another. 2. Jesus himself, the tenderest friend, the dying Saviour, the spotless sacrifice " for
us the unjust," the divine and gentle Lord, has enjoined
it, under the most impressive conditions, on all his followers that truly love him, - reason enough, to human
feeling, if every other failed. 3. There is a personal
satisfaction resulting from it,- a satisfaction not realized, of course, to those that have never come where it is
tasted, but very real and unspeakably precious to those
that have. 4. It is a testimony to the Divine cause, to
God's law, and Christ's kingdom  in the world; and
when the two opposing forces, righteousness and sin,
God and mammon, are drawni up in as sharp and bitter
a warfare as they are everywhere about us yet, it is cowardly and slothful for us not to take open ground, on
the Lord's side, or on Satan's. 5. And finally, it is a
means, almost unsurpassed, of encouraging and multiplying holiness, - all the virtues, principles, graces, charities, that elevate society, redeem from wrong, brighten,
bless, and sanctify the world. The Supper, for all who
partake of it, with right preparation, in a right spirit, is a
mighty quickener of goodness, a mighty guard against
temptation. My friend, whoever you are, is your path
19*




222         ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.
so clear of danger, and your soul so strong in its own
strength, that you can afford to scorn the heavenly help?
I know the current objections, - as that you are not
good enough. Judged by positive attainments, no man
or woman is good enough, nor pretends to be. Profession, in that case, would be arrogant and offensive presumption. But, if I understand the conditions of the
Gospel, they are sincere penitence for sin, faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and a ruling desire to lead a holy
life, sustained by prayer. Here is no impracticable demand, - only a heart of love and trust and pure aspiration. If you have that, you are good enough to commune
with Christ, and thus to grow better; and if you have it
not, you are not fit either to live or to die.
As to its being a form: that is the made-up objection
of only a few fastidious and sentimental persons, who
are not thoroughly in earnest about the matter. It is a
species of cant, that reappears from time to time, but
never has much force.  Instead of any special spirituality, the objectors to forms are commonly those that have
too little spiritual life to put life into the forms God has
kindly provided as a lodge for the Spirit, and so faint
under them, or stumble at them, and find them meaningless, instead of vitalizing them. The only real test of
fitness for communion is a cordial, deep, deliberate desire,
or want, or sense of need, of the communion. " Whosoever'" so desires, and " will, let him come, and take of
the " bread and the " water of life freely."
Here, then, our course of thought is finished. The
whole doctrine is practical and personal. To those who
are not believers, it says, " Believe, be converted, turn ye,
repent, cast off indifference and sin, for your own sake
and your children's." To Christian parents in church



ENTRANCE INTO THE CHURCH.          223
communion, it says, " Bring in your children, by baptism, into the dear Redeemer's covenant and fold, and
train them up for immortal life." To the young it says,
" Come, early, before ye are weary and heavy-laden, and
have the joy, the peace, the strength, of faith and righteousness."
To all, it offers the honors of the Church, the order of
a reconciled society, the beauty of holiness, and the triumphant hope of heaven.




SERMON XVI.
TRIALS OF FAITH.
THE TRYLNG OF YOUR FAITH. -James i. 3.
THE nature of the thoughts I am to lay before you is
such, that the profit of our exercise will depend quite as
much on your attention as on my speaking. To yield
any satisfaction, it requires patient study and a silent
heart. If this is true, in some degree, of all religious
themes, it is especially true of one so purely spiritual in
its character, and internal in its bearings, as the Trials of
Faith.
On the other hand, we shall be assisted by the fact
that our topic touches personal interests, which are immnediate and universal. In one form or another, either
as a pleasure or as a cross, either with a welcome or by
compulsion, either in a calm mood or an agonized one,
every separate soul has to come at it, and deal with it.
For, at last, each person of us has to be a sufferer, has to
stand a culprit at the bar of conscience, to be a prisoner
behind the iron grates of pain, to hold a secret dialogue
with Providence.
The forms of trial I shall bring before you are those
that belong to the commonest experience. I shall endeavor to gather them into such groups that they will be




TRIALS OF FAITH.              225
clearly recognized, and yet will comprehend many varieties of situation. My arrangement will embrace three
classes; trials in religious confidence, trials in human
affection, and trials in earthly hope. We are to examine them in the light of the New Testament. We will
seek an interpretation of them, that shall be in accordance with the whole wisdom of God, the whole order of
his creation, and the divine harmony of its laws. Christ
is our authority and guide; Christ the prophet, Christ
himself the sufferer,- Christ tempted like as we are,
without sin,- Christ talking our infirmities to lift us
above them, and dying on a cross to give humanity a
crown of life.
I think we shall not find a phrase that better describes
the real end and purpose of our discipline in this world,
than the one James has given us: " The trying of your
faith."
How very different a color these words cast over our
life, - over our houses and sick-beds, our tradings and
marriages, our bankruptcies and funerals, — from most
of those we hear, when men talk together of the chief
business! Not to build strong cities and roads and factories, not to make swift passages over oceans, or up to
fame, not to celebrate victories over the resistance of
matter and the cunning of fellow-tradesmen, not to outwit the elements of nature or a neighbor's pqlicy, did
God put breath into our bodies, and lay the world under
our feet, and arch the heavens over our head, —but to
multiply and prove our faith.
It takes a great while for most of us to find it out.
Some of us make out to live without believing it, and
never see it till we die; but none the less it is for this
we were meant to live, and but for this we should not




226               TRIALS OF FAITH.
need to die. It is for the trying of your faith that your
will is suffered to be free; that limits are set to your
strength; that your desires outrun your ability; that
your aspiration transcends your performance; that your
energy so often has to droop its tired wings, and sink
back baffled; tlhat the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
your passions chafe against your principles.
It is for the trying of your faith, that unexpected joys
rise up and flock about you; that mornings of consolation break after nights of sorrow; that prosperity surprises you at the door, when you thought it was loss and
poverty that knocked; that your alienated child falls on
your neck a penitent; that the post whose arrival you
have been dreading, awake and in troubled dreams, for
weeks, brings you news that turns anxiety into thanksgiving, and starts tears from another fountain. It is for
the trying of your faith, that the alarm of pain sounds
through your chambers at midnight; that the cry of
death comes forth from the lips of a man, on whose neck
the welfare and affections of great communities had
hung, -a statesman that upheld the commonwealth, a
merchant that dignified commerce, a physican that healed
hearts as well as frames, or a preacher whose character
repronounced his sermons; for this that a consumptive
paleness on the best-beloved face makes you tremble;
that a broken bloodvessel throngs your brain with a
thousand fears; that scarlet-fever shows its spots on
your children's arms; that an Asiatic pestilence sends
its gloomy heralds on from city to city across the continents; that inward admonitions point you forward to
a day when all costlier garments shall be exchanged
for a shroud, and strange hands shall lower your dust
into a grave.




TRIALS OF FAITI.                 227
It is for the trying of your faith, that your little island
of knowledge is embosomed in an ocean of mystery;
that the Bible is not all plain to the understanding, nor
God's voice audible when we are perplexed, nor the waymarks of duty always visible; that the brightest lamps
are often quenched first; that
"the good die first,
And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust
Burn to the socket";
that moral purity is not outwardly rewarded, and righteous plans seem to fail. And, what is perhaps unlikelier
to be believed than all, - it is for the trying of your faith
that markets fluctuate, banks discount, iron and cotton
carry your fortunes up or down, tariffs change, gold-mines
are opened, crops grow or fail.
It is for this God places us in the world, schools us in
it, takes us out of it.  For are we not immortal?  And
is not the principle of our immortality, faith in the Father of our spirits, - in his Son, who manifests Him and
is the way to Him, - in his spiritual truth, - in the kingdom of Heaven?
I suppose this statement of the true end of life, and of
God's design with us, would be more acceptable in some
quarters, if, instead of the trying of your faith, we were
to say the formation of your character.  There ought certainly to be no quarrel with a man who has so cleared
himself of corrupt and selfish influences, as to be able to
set it up as his supreme purpose to form a right character.  Yet this preference of the term character for faith
may possibly betray a tendency in the religious habit of
the times, which would, if indulged, give narrow and
one-sided proportions to the spiritual life.
Faith is the stronger word, and contains a richer mean



228               TRIALS OF FAITH.
ing. Faith includes character, and also the internal principle, the motive, the germ, the secret life, out of which
character grows. If we could only escape from the formal impressions connected with it, and take it on our
lips, not as theologians, but for the fresh and simple feeling of every good heart which it really signifies, we should
find it to express something deeper and dearer even than
character.  Character refers rather to what one is in his
relations to others; faith, to what he is in his own heart,
and thus what he must be to others. His character tells
us how he will behave; his faith, why he behaves as he
does. His character speaks for his conscience and his
principles; his faith speaks for his affections, as well as
his conscience, and plants his principles on the only sure
foundation, - love and trust towards God, personal sympathy for Christ, a fervent communion with the Spirit.
The Apostles, whose insight into the depths of spiritual
truth always gave them the most exact and comprehensive language, and Jesus himself, insisted on faith in
almost every discourse; but although they were continually enjoining the virtues that make up character, the
word character does not occur in the New Testament.
Turning now to the great classes of trials I have mentioned, let us seek for some clew to the law by which
they are meant to work together for our good, in strengthening this faith.
First are trials in religious confidence. I believe a
great many persons sincerely desire religious satisfaction,
who do not know where to go for it nor how to get it.
They wish they were Christian, in the full meaning of
that name, and yet do not see clearly how to proceed.
They would be willing to make sacrifices; they have
looked far enough into the life of fashion and pleasure to




TRIALS OF FAITH.              229
see how empty it is of all permanent rewards; they look
at the tranquil souls and serene faces of thorough and
consistent disciples, and long for the same peace; they
have a general belief in the claims of revelation; but
there is a restless yearning in their breasts for something
more; and, as the days and months wear on, they are
weary at making no nearer approaches to a real reconciliation and fellowship with Christ.
Let them understand, then, that this is the trying of
their faith. The first condition of our attaining to any
real strength of soul, is that we become fully conscious
of our weakness. Before we can be made fit to receive
so great a gift as the feeling of being forgiven and accepted, - safe, or saved, - it is necessary that an intense
want should be created in us. Utterly discontented and
homesick the prodigal must be, before he will set his
face towards his father's house.  There must be a
mighty hunger in a man's heart, before he will gladly
seize and eat of the Bread which cometh down from
heaven. This is the reason, evidently, for the Saviour's
beatitude, " Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be filled."  Very often
we have to be kept a long time out of our inheritance,
because our hearts are not in a fit state to receive it
humbly and gratefully. It was to prefigure this fact of
experience, beyond question, that the Saviour himself
spent forty days of temptation in the wilderness before
angels came and ministered unto him, and Paul tarried three years in Arabia before he could take up the
responsibility of his apostleship.  Now, with most of
us, so short-sighted is our calculation, and so seducible
is our conscience, this preparation is got by a bitter and
disastrous experiment. Instead of going into the privacy
20




230              TRIALS OF FAITH.
of religious meditation, and settling the sharp controversy between self-will and God's will, as the governing
principle of life, by a wise reflection, in our youth, we
insist on trying the world first. So we go round through
the circle of transient interests, tasting one cup after
another; dropping our manhood, and running off, wherever a siren's invitation calls us, - the senses, ambition,
money, a fine estate, long life, gay society, - till, finally,
discovering that every phantom cheated us, every ignis
fatuvs led us into a slough, and every metal we struck
rings hollow, we creep back, and beg of God and the
Church to take what folly and sin had well-nigh spoilt,
mocked, and thrown away. Well, if the conversion is
earnest, and the consecration sincere, the forgiving Father accepts us. But what wonder, if, before he introduces us into the full joy of believing, or the rewards of
obedience, he first tries our faith? Be sure that no
otherwise can we have that faithful spirit of which
Christian disciples are made.  You have been years
wandering, unfitting yourself for spiritual peace, because
out of harmony with God, who asks the supreme devotion of your soul. What right have you to expect to
spring, at one bound, into the complete restoration of
every abused and disordered faculty? It ought to be
enough, if, your face being firmly turned towards your
Father in heaven, he lifts, little by little, the veil that
hides the full splendor of his presence.
Here, then, is the trying of your faith. Because you
insisted on trying the world, God insists an trying you.
You long for religious peace. Do you long for it enough
to wait, as well as strive for it? Are ye able to drink of
that cup, and be baptized with that baptism?  The
first lesson God has to teach you, after so much obsti



TRIALS OF FAITH.             231
nate self-will, is the humiliation of your pride. What
you are to learn by this discontent is, that you are not
sufficient to yourself, but must look above yourself; that
you cannot guide yourself, but must beseech the Spirit
to guide you; that you, being finite, cannot grasp infinite things, but must let the Saviour reach up for you,
show you where your uncertain hand shall lay hold on
the rod and staff, and make you one with him. The two
powers that this slow trying of your religious constancy
is meant to develop in your soul, are humbler prayers,
and a more patient feeling after, and following after,
Jesus. These together are faith; and their certain end
is peace.
But again; at the same time, and for the same end,
faith is tried through our human affections. Have you
ever seen - so as to know how dreary a spectacle it is
- the trust in Heaven trampled out of a soul, instead of
being strengthened, by the tortures of grief? Have you
ever felt in yourself, in some moment of darkness, a passing fear that an impending sorrow would be too much
for your spirit to sustain? Have you ever felt the painful and guilty doubt, whether you have been carried up
to a loftier plane of life, and holier states, by your past
afflictions? If you have, you will need no farther explanation of what is meant.
The first demand of the soul, under such an ordeal, is
to realize that its suffering has an object.  We commonly think we could endure trouble with composure, if
we could only see what is to be accomplished by enduring it. Why, why is it? is the question that haunts the
aching breast, and disturbs its submission. We must be
content to suffer without an answer to that question.
That is the trial of faith. If a full answer were to be




232              TRIALS OF FAITH.
given, there would be no room for faith. Who am I,
that I should require the Infinite and Eternal One to
assign me reasons for his counsel? " What I do, thou
knoxwest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter," is explanation enough to my impatient curiosity. That is
what God demands of faith to feel.
When the smart and the load of fresh afflictions are
not upon us, we are able to feel it, perhaps, quite easily.
But how, when the nerves are torn, and the separation
has come, -when the dead body lies in the next room,
and the tones of the silenced voice yet linger in our ears,
and the sense of bereavement presses in through every
pore of the heart? Can we realize it then?
In such particular cases of suffering, we have to fall
back, I think, on some reserved fund of faith accumulated in calmer moments. On your way to your child's
or your husband's burial, you are not expected to generalize, nor to reason, nor to draw philosophical deductions
from a wide circle of facts. God will not be angry if
you fail to see, just in that bewildered paroxysm of grief,
how it is well for you to be so stricken. Yet you can
say to yourself, even then, in the midst of your tears,
~" It is well; somehow it is well; it must be wise, and
right, and merciful." That will be both the trial and
the triumph of faith. And if you have noticed, looking
back over your past experience, or out among your companions, that sorrow is the chief producer of human
goodness on the whole, and crosses are the mightiest instruments of spiritual purity on the whole, you are held
to apply that general conviction of your reason to this
special instance of affliction. If it is a law that a stormy
air nurses your moral vigor, you must abide by that law
while the storm beats in, and the waves are high, as
bravely as in sunshine and still seas.




TRIALS OF FAITH.              233
The settled conclusion God obviously wishes us to
reach and rest in, and one that he passes us through all
this mixed encounter of pain and peace to establish in us,
is this: that in every passage of our life there are two
parties engaged, - God and ourselves. Some persons,
saints, find this out early; and to them pain thenceforth
loses its tormenting power. Most of us have to learn it
by a long and gradual trying of our faith. A nominal
belief in such a truth is common enough. But veritably
to realize that God is personally present and interested
in the little gettings-on of our virtue, is a rarer attainment, and needs a peculiar training. To achieve that
result, the Divine methods are wonderful. He buffets
and caresses. He gives and takes away. He sends
now a providence signal and exceptional, and then the
regularity of nature. He answers some prayers according to their request, and others by withholding the boon,
but still thereby increasing submission. He twines together motives the most complicated. He keeps generous men poor, and lets the selfish and sensual gain
the world. He cuts off the philanthropist, and spares the
tyrant. All this, for the trying of our faith. If you accustom yourself to watching this play of the Divine purpose, you will find it, apart from your personal implication in it, one of the most fascinating of all problems.
Yet how often do we complain of the crosses as evils,
and snatch greedily at the comforts, as animals at their
fodder i
The acknowledgment of mystery, then, the frank confession that our being is folded all about with the unknowable, our light fringed on every side with darlmess,
our little globe swimming in an ocean of unfathomable
designs, but God guiding it on and caring for every pas20O




234              TRIALS OF FAITH.
senger soul, -this is another end of the trying of our
faith.
But there is another feeling under suffering, that furnishes another trial of faith. Each sufferer regards his
own burden as peculiar; and, comparing himself with his
neighbors, cannot understand the unequal distribution.
A father sitting in his desolate dwelling, where no children's voices ring as they used to do, cannot discover that
he deserves the scourge more than his happier friend.
A young wife, that has suddenly waked out of a trance
of terror over her husband's fever, only to feel the light
of life all expunged, and the sun quenched, wonders why
she is chosen out for the awful fate. A believing widow
kneels by her only son's coffin, and cries in her despairs
"What have I done, that Thou shouldst curse me thus?"
Several things might be answered; as, that fortunes
are never so unequal as they seem; that, under a florid
surface, prosperity often hides abysses of anguish; that
the forms of sorrow have not so much to do as they
seem with its amount. But these are not the answer of
faith, which is, that the purpose of suffering is never to be
found out by a comparison of merits among neighbors,
but by considering how it draws the soul in more childlike dependence towards the Father. By this principle,
the right-minded and well-meaning must be tried, quite
as much as the faithless. Trials are signs of celestial
favor, seals on their forehead, badges of favorites, crowns
of honor. We forget that it is just as important that
the good should be made better, as that the bad should
be reformed. Vessels that are to be made meet for the
Master's highest uses are to be refined in the furnace
seven times heated.  We must learn that it is a far
richer blessing to be taught what the feeling of the Com



TRIALS OF FAITH.             235
forter is, and what peace comes with self-renunciation,
than to go through life in any holiday dance. Just as
the wise and affectionate mother shows her true maternal love more manifestly, when she causes her child to
cry with disappointment by snatching him back from the
candle he grasps at as a flaming toy, than when she gives
him the costliest plaything; so God often shows a tenderer
concern when he denies us health and riches, than when
he grants them,- when he enfeebles us with disease or
poverty, than when he covers us with flesh or fortune.
But this also we never should discover, but for the trying
of our faith.
And thus, finally, we touch the trials that come to
faith by the breaking up of earthly hopes. I held the
hand of a valiant man, the other day, whose body was
faint with five years of pain. He looked up at me with
a smile on his white, thin cheeks, and whispered very
feebly: " They say this is a hard, dark world; it is no
such thing.  It is a bright, genial world. Christ has
been in it; he is in it still." Prophet of immortality, and
preacher of a victorious faith! I thought, - here is the
victory that overcometh the world, for it overcometh suffering and death, the world's two cruellest tyrants. I
called him valiant. He was more than valiant, for he
was patient. The trying of your faith worketh patience;
and patience, experience; and experience, the hope that
maketh not ashamed.
I know of few gloomier spectacles than that of a man
who has been put by God into a sick-room, or into the
arms of some sharp calamity, to be made purer, coming out as corrupt in his tastes, as low in his aims, as
eager in the chase for bubbles, as before. It is such a
waste of divine privilege! A great fortune suddenly lost,




236              TRIALS OF FAITH.
by shipwreck or fire, or a convulsion in finance, or a partner's forfeited faith, is such a splendid opportunity for
moral heroism as may never come again. A family that
step down gracefully and sweet-temperedly from affluence to strict economies, need not go as missionaries to
illustrate Christianity. How many examples have proved
that it is not till the fruits of outward labors have been
swept away, that the toils of the spirit can begin to rear
the spiritual edifice on clean foundations! It is the trying of faith that glorifies humanity, and saves the soul.
Brethren, the truth we have pondered has a threefold
bearing, according as we look towards our Lord, towards
one another, or toward ourselves. We are entangled together in a chain of common feeling, all whose links are
forged and welded in pain. But we are bound also, by
the same chain, to the heart of the Redeemer; either to
be made more wretched, one day, because our estranged
and irreligious consciences cannot bear the look of his
purity judging us, - or to be filled with consolation, and
animated with courage, because he will judge that our
suffering has disciplined us into penitence, purged us,
and proved to be the trying of our faith. We talk of
carving out our own fortunes, and stimulate each other
to that transient emulation. There is no way we can
look on one another so noble as to see rather how each
is carving his fortune itself into a ladder of ascent towards spiritual perfection, making all his lot a refiner of
his soul, and ever adding to that solemn wisdom of experience, by which life is directed towards its immortal
end. Compared with our progress through this sublime
struggle, and this deep community of trial, how poor
looks all our watching of one another's wealth, and our
criticism of each other's movements! Life is more than




TRIALS OF FAITH.              237
meat. Only as we help each other in that science which
underlies all sciences, that practice which transcends all
other labors, the knowing how to live a larger life, to
breathe a nobler charity, to pray more believing prayers,
to converse with God, and hold the fellowship of faith
with Christ, and thus to gain the spiritual mind that was
in him, - only thus are we really brethren of a Christian
baptism. Be this our personal consecration; be that this
day's vow. May God grant it a glorious fulfilment!
For only his love can so work within us, that our discipline shall be our purification.  And only the pure in
heart shall see God.




SERMON XVII.
SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
THEN SAID MARTHA UNTO JESUS, LORD, IF THOU HADST BEEN
HERE, MY BROTHER HAD NOT DIED. -John xi. 21.
THE lowest view of life looks out upon it as no scene
of the workings and revealings of the Divine Spirit, but
only as a hostelry where every guest is to seize on so
many of the good things exposed as the laws of the
place allow, —to consume what the senses crave, regarding no other than sensual penalties, - to grasp the
largest handful of comfort irrespective of rights or services, and to push pleasure to the utmost pitch of intensity consistent with its continuance.
Of course, this selfish hunt will take different directions, according to the ruling appetite; proceeding with
some men by a cool calculation, and with others by
passionate plunges of impulse.  But the characteristic
mark on all its phases is, that it disowns God. The
whole eager race through which it strains its muscles
ignores the spiritual presence. Religious accountability
is an element foreign to it. Duty is a word without a
meaning. Conscience is only one of the furies. Christ
is a veiled figure.  Stewardship is a visionary fancy.
The curtain that drops over the grave is of stone, as




SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT. 239
immovable as it is impenetrable. This is paganism,
only without its intellectual dreams, or its Olympus.
This system not only fails to provide for the chief
internal necessity, namely, the native aspirations, the
importunities besetting human nature with the demand
for some kind of a religion, but it also fails to meet one
external fact, which lies on the very surface of our being,
and forms one of its invariable ingredients; I mean suffering.  Suffering is a kind of test of all philosophies
and all theories of life.  It is useless to leave it out
of the calculation; for, through the disorders of a mortal body, through dull discouragements, through weaknesses of the spirit, through a sensitive brain or heart,
through the affections that weave families together, —
through some of these inlets, it forces its way back
into every lot, and will not be forgotten. Life does not
really become a problem with any of us, till we taste of
its bitterness. Pain, sorrow, trial, bereavement, -- these
are names of which no man or woman ever learns the
real signification from grammar or dictionary, but only
by drinking their cup in a secret experience. Whenever
they come, that comfort-seeking or Epicurean plan of
living collapses; utter despair sets in; cries, but no
answer nor strength; and the least the agonized Epicurean can do, if he will be a heathen still, and not a
Christian, is to fly to Zeno's Porch, and borrow some
crumbs of frigid dignity that fall from the Stoic's table.
Ascend then a step higher. Here we find God to be
acknowledged, but more through fear, which is selfish,
than through devout submission. The spiritual faculty
has waked, but has not become clear-sighted. Providence has returned to the world from which the sottish
unbelief we were just noticing had rejected him; but the




240 SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING2 BUT BY IT.
confession, " Thy will be done," is not so full and unreserved as to include the giving up of the dearest idols.
A heaven is seen to overarch the earth, - but seen as
yet through a glass, and darkly, because a film is on the
looker's eyes. The daily dealings of the Spirit are intellectually believed in; but so much of the old earthly
leaven and habit cling still to the soul, that you hesitate
to yield a complete confidence; you dare to suspect that
here and there some sparrow, or treasure more precious
than that, may fall to the ground without your Father's
notice.
This state, too, like the other, is met by suffering, the
spiritual touchstone.  How does it behave itself under
that dread ministry?  Well, -but not best.  Soberly,
but not serenely. Reputably, but not quite to the satisfaction of its own highest aspiration, nor of true Christian friendship.  The ligaments that bind it to this
world have been so long strengthening and hardening,
that, when they part, a chasm seems to be left in the
very core of the heart. Self has interlaced its plans and
desires so cunningly with all the web of life, that some
selfish preferences linger to mar the beauty of resignation, - to keep back a part of the soul's trust, and to disturb the perfect peace and joy of believing. There is
the beginning of faith, - too much to be thrown away,
not enough to live by.  Here is a stage of religious
progress, not less deserving study than any other, and
needing consolations and encouragements almost as
much as unconcern needs rebuke.
This, as I interpret the narrative, is precisely the state
where the speaker stands, as the language of the text
represents her. The Bible is a transcript of all possible
experience, and has some representative for every shade




SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT. 241
of our discipline. " Lord, if thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died."  T/here is a mixture of the
strength and the weakness of faith, - perhaps I might
say, of faith and superstition. This woman believed in
the power and love of her Lord; this was her true faith.
But she believed that this power and love of Jesus, if
they had been afforded a chance to operate at all, must
necessarily have been displayed in prolonging her brother's life in the body. That was a falsity or weakness
of her faith. She also seems to have supposed that the
wonders of the Saviour's spirit were limited to his physical presence; not having learned yet that his spirit, and
its ministry of healing love, whether to bodies or souls,
is independent of all material organization or motion,
and transcends the restrictions of distance or time. This
Jesus immediately corrects, by saying, " Whosoever,
anywhere, believeth on me, shall never die." " To
whomsoever believeth on him, the Son hath power to
give eternal life."
Martha, therefore, is a type of that faith, - sincere and
yet imperfect, beautiful for its prompt simplicity, and
yet not enlarged and disciplined into entire self-renunciation, - which believes in the Divine mercy, but continues to regard personal safety, and the outward society
of kindred, as more important than the doing of God's
will; which clings to, and prays for, the private privilege
of clasping friends or children in the arms of flesh, more
fervently than the spiritual purification, the glory of character, which may come of their removal. She represents
all of us who fail of that thorough submission which
rejoices more in being drawn to immortal excellence by
suffering, than in being exempted from it. Out of that
second state into a third and higher one - a purer and a
21




242 SALVATION,  NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
calmer one - Christ wishes to lift her and us.  That
will be the state where a pure and holy soul will be felt
to be of more value than any freedom from pain; where
sympathy and co-operation with Christ appear a dearer
privilege than the remaining of any human friend or
kinsman at your side; and where acceptance into the
kingdom of Heaven, which is God's favor both now and
hereafter, is more to be striven for than any repose of
human affections, or any satisfying of selfish desires.
Saved by suffering, not saved from it; that is the law
of life revealed in Christ, - the disciple's prayer, the
sufferer's consolation.  Character depends on inward
strength. But this strength has two conditions: it is increased only by being put forth, and it is tested only by
some resistance. So, if the spiritual force, or character,
in you is to be strong, it must be measured against
some competition. It must enter into conflict with an
antagonist. It must stand in comparison with something formidable enough to be a standard of its power.
Now, the ordinary course of a prosperous fortune furnishes no such standard. I do not deny that there are a
few favored moral constitutions that will ripen into sainthood under the influence of perpetual comfort. But they
are rare exceptions, if they exist; and he must be a boh!
presumer that will dare claim to be of their company.
Suffering, then, in some of its forms, must be introduced,
the appointed minister, the great assayist, to put the
genuineness of faith to the proof, and purify it of its
dross. What special form it shall take for each, it is for
God, who knows us better than we know ourselves,
to decide. Mary and Martha must see Lazarus die.
Matthew must forsake all to follow his Master. Marys
and Marthas must weep, the world over; the sorrows of




SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT. 243
Bethany be revived in the homes of distant centuries
and undiscovered countries, till the lengthening sisterhood of suffering clasps hands around the globe. Many
Matthews, by the Atlantic and Pacific, as well as by the
shore of Tiberias, must part with profits and gains for
an unreserved apostleship.  The most generous and
beautiful children - the manliest sons and loveliest
daughters - must be buried out of some families; and
in others ingratitude or vice must spread a far more
dreadful mourning. And because, in the mystery of
God's forethought, some souls are to have tasks and
stations of peculiar honor offered them  in his kingdom, from these one after another of the dearest and
most delicious joys must vanish, light after light be
quenched, child after child droop into a sick-bed, and
then into shorter breathings, and then into the infinite
silence, till all are gone, and all is still. Uncongenial
companionships, unreasonable tempers, unreturned affections, unrealized ideals of goodness, unforeseen calamities to property, pinching poverty, slow disorders that
overcloud the spirits or tire out patience; — I need not
enumerate the legions of ever-active and unwelcome
ministers, abroad and busy throughout men's dwellings,
never invited, yet forcing their way in, made necessary by
the weakness of our faith, ordained to discipline us into
independence of the world, into heirship in immortality.
How many of us are yet only able, when they come, to
say, at best, with Martha, " Lord, if thou hadst been
here, - if thy goodness could have been really exercised,
- these evils could not have befallen me!" Whereas
we ought clearly to say, " Lord, in these very chastenings of friendly love thou hast been here, - not to save
me from sufferings, but to save me spiritually through




244 SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
and by them; - reconciliation is better than pleasure;
thou art ever with me; be my only prayer,' My Father's
vill be done!"'
Christ's own way of treating sufferers sustains this
view. We fall into a mistake, I think, when we imagine that Jesus ever wrought those wonders, of healing
disease, or restoring life to the dead, merely out of a
personal pity to the sick or the mourners. Infinite as
that pity was, it took a higher range, and had a diviner
object, than the mere assuaging of present pain, or the
prolonging of the earthly existence. Think of it. Out
of the thousands who groaned and wept in Judcea while
he was walking its fields, he cured but a few scores of
maladies, and raised, so far as we know, only three persons that were dead to life. As mere expressions of
mortal compassion, how inadequate and accidental must
such instances appear!  How manifest that it was to
revive the world's dying faith, to gain its trust, to cure
its disordered heart, that he wrought these heavenly
works! It illustrates the same intention, that most of
his miracles were performed in the earlier parts of his
public ministry, when it was most needful to attract
confidence to that new doctrine by which he was to requicken slumbering humanity. So in the case before
us: very clearly it is not because he regards the removal
of the sister's grief as the best service his divine friendship can render them, — nor the prolonging of their
brother's life a few years, to pass through death again,
as his choicest boon, -that he cries, " Lazarus, come
forth!" at the gates of his grave. If that were so, he
must have stayed on earth for ever, and extended his
wonder-working hand over all continents, to spare mankind their calamities, instead of planting in their souls




SALVATION,  NOT FROM SUFFERING: BUT BY IT. 245
the germ and spirit of a life immortal, conquering calamity. Accordingly, when he knows that Lazarus is dead,
while he is touched with tenderness toward the weeping
kindred, he says plainly to his disciples,'" I am glad, for
your sakes, I was not there, to the intent ye may believe."
It was their deeper faith he sought, and through theirs
the faith of all his Church. And then, just as the sublime marvel was to appear at his bidding, and the still
chamber to give up its guest, he repeated to the doubting
Martha, " Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst.believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God? " And when
he prayed to the Father, and said, " I know that thou
hearest me always," he added, " Because of the people
which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thlou
hast sent me."  How manifestly the whole mercy was
granted only to confirm that incomparable and eternal
truth, " I am the Resurrection and the Life; whosoever
believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
And now, after eighteen centuries, Jesus does not stay to
revoke for us the decrees of nature,-to be a physician to
our sickness, or a warder at the door to keep out death.
He stays, but for a higher ministry; not to exempt us
from suffering, but to conduct us through it into heavenly
strength and peace; not for a physical or temporary cure,
but a spiritual and final one! And so our confession ought
not to be the half-faithless one, ". Lord, if thou hadst been
here, our friends, our children, would not have sickened
and died"; but, "' Lord, because thou art here, all our sicknesses, and our dying even, shall be for the raising up of
our souls, and the glory of God."
Willingness to suffer for that end, - for spiritual redemption and the glory of God, —this is what we have
to aspire to, and attain, under the teaching of Christ, and
21*




246 SALVATION,  NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
by that cross whereby he symbolized his whole religion,
and suffered for us, thereby made perfect in his mediatorship. " Happy man," said a gay and frivolous young
worldling once, when his own nerves were tortured, to a
more believing and therefore more equable companion,"happy man, to have the strength of will which can
thrust its thoughts away, once and for all."  " No," replied his wiser friend, " more happy are they whom God
will not allow to thrust their thoughts from them till the
bitter draught has done its work."
There is another class of moral experiences where the
principle of this doctrine has an equally direct application,- a class not less needing its support than the bereaved, and having also frequent representatives. I mean
persons who, having sincerely begun a Christian life, suffer the temptation of longing more earnestly for rest than
for faithful submission. They have heard that there is
joy in believing; and so they undertake to believe for the
sake of the joy. They desire a comfortable and quiet
mind; and this, though it is a far nobler thirst than that
of the senses, is still, if it is too strong, tainted with selfishness, and wanting in faith. As there is a spiritual
pride, so there is a spiritual luxury, and the appetite that
lusts after it is one of the subtle enemies that beset those
who have passed out of the lowest stage of conscience
into the second. There is an ambition to do something
as out of your own self, for the delight of approving yourself, which is nothing else than self-righteousness. The
mercenary tendency to offer God your good works as a
price for purchasing an allowance of self-complacency, is
one that needs to be watched by sincere seekers after the
liberty and nobleness of true devotion. It defeats its
own end. Peace never comes in that way; nothing does




SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT. 247
but discontent and confusion.  Peace comes swiftest
when you seek it as an end least. Seek purity, seek renewal of heart and life, seek harmony with God, seek
the society of Christ as a Saviour and Intercessor for you,
and peace, in God's good time, will come of itself. How
many really earnest souls of us are spoiling our work,
because we will invert God's order, and, instead of seeking faith supremely, leaving comfort for an incident, go
about to get comfort first, and thus miss faith and comfort both! Let us be patient. As the years wear on
towards the deep sunset, we are weary at making no
nearer approaches to a real reconciliation and living intimacy with our Lord. But do we long for that rest religiously enough to wait for it? Stillness is our needed
sacrifice. Baffled and broken the soul must often be,
before its immortal strength comes.  Humiliation of
pride, - an utter consciousness of infirmity, - to be kept
painfully out of our inheritance, — fasting and mortified
ambition, - forty days in the wilderness, - three years
in Arabia, - all these are the price of conquest. Do not
pray for exemption from them, but for victory by them.
Homesick the prodigal must be before he will set his face
towards his father's house. Except I am  taught my
weakness, I shall not let the Saviour reach up for me, and
place my groping, uncertain hand on the eternal rock.
Wrhat right have we to say, " Lord, if thou hadst been
here, doubts and difficulties would not have tormented
us, - our hearts would not have died within us," -when
those doubts and difficulties are only the remaining echoes
of our former disobedience? Enough if we can say,'" Lord, because thou hast promised to be with us, we
will bear them, and wait thy will! Not from this suffering, but by its purifying ministry, will we hope and
beseech that we may be savedl"




248 SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
Further still, if you will, you may generalize this in.
struction, so as to make it embrace all those many instances where the disappointed and the afflicted grieve
over some of the attendant circumstances of their losses,
vexing their sympathies with the superfluous doubt
whether some care was not omitted, whether the fatal
blow might not have been warded off! When shall we
learn that God takes all the past into his secure keeping,
and only disapproves the energy and despair that would
knock against its closing gate? When shall we believe
that even out of the sorrows we might have prevented,
but did not, we may now draw a spiritual benefit greater
than to have prevented them?   Vain cry, "Lord, if
thou hadst been here!"  Better to receive and bless him,
in whatever robes of darkness, when he comes.
The doctrine pronounces no remonstrance against sorrow; its very aim is to show the rightful place it has in
maturing the loftiest fruits of character; — nor against
tears; how can it, when it is in the very scene before us
that we see how " Jesus wept"?  It was no dainty sentimentalist, but one of the stoutest-hearted men of our
Saxon blood, who wrote: " Weeping is the discharge of
a big and swelling grief; and therefore, he that never had
such a burden upon his heart as to give him opportunity
thus to ease it, has one pleasure in this world yet to
come."
"Where sorrow's held intrusive, and turned out,
There wisdom will not enter, nor true power,
Nor aught that dignifies humanity."
Paul found the secret of the wisdom that at once allows
these tender alternations of hunman feeling, and yet subjects them to a holier faith: " They that weep should be
as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though




SALVATION, NOT FROM  SUFFERING, BUT BY IT. 249
they rejoiced not." Because there is a life, possible to
the soul through the Spirit, in which fear and mourning
and suffering and death itself are swallowed up, and lost,
like bubbles on some calm, deep stream.
"'I know,' is all the mourner saith,'Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death; -
"'I am content to touch the brink,
Of pain's dark goblet, and I think
My bitter drink a wholesome drink.
"'I am content to be so weak:
Put strength into the words I speak,
For I am strong in what I seek.
"' I am content to be so bare
Before the archers; everywhere
My wounds being stroked by heavenly air.
"' Glory to God, - to God,' he saith;' Knowledge by suffering entereth,
And life is perfected by death.'"
This, then, is the faith in which our life is to be lived,
and our burdens are to be borne. And these are the
steps towards that conclusion: first, that suffering is disciplinary; secondly, that, if our desires reach only after
exemption from it, we pray but half-faithless prayers; and
thirdly, that the true conquest and peace of faith, as well
as the solution of the mystery of sorrow, lie only in our
willingness to suffer, so far as it may bring us to the society and communion of our Lord. Not from suffering,
but through it into life eternal, is the Christ-like longing
of the believer and the Church.
It has been a saying in the German Church, " All sorrow ought to be Heim-weh, homesickness." Let reconciliation with the Father be home, - let the peace of




250 SALVATION, NOT FROM SUFFERING, BUT BY IT.
faith, let the bosom of the Lord where the head of the
beloved disciple lay, let present goodness, be horne, as
well as the future heaven, and in the tender and holy
spirit of our religion we may adopt the aphorism. No
pain that aches for immortal purity can be dreadful. No
grief that strengthens your aspiration for triumph over
sin, and the holiness of Christ's heart, can be a calamity.
Over no falling tears and heaving sighs that wash your
affections white, and put temptation under your feet, and
throw open a clear and fearless communion with God,
can you ever exclaim, " Lord, if thou hadst been here,
these would not have befallen me"; but rather, " Be these
my perpetual, solemn guests, if thereby, in this thy inward presence, and with these immortal gifts, thou, my
Lord, mayest be led to draw nigh, and come to me!"
Immortal gifts! "This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even your faith." There is no one of us, not the
weakest, not the timidest, that may not pass through the
furnace of trial, and under the shadows of death, with the
song of that triumph on his lips. When a community of
religious women, in Paris, during the fury of the French
Revolution, which swept innocence and beauty into one
destruction with crime and tyranny, were condemned to
the guillotine, the youngest victims passed through the
stormy streets, where terror reigned, to their execution,
raising in serene voices the sublime hymn, Veni Creator.
Never before, the listeners thought, had that anthem of
majestic praise been so divinely sung, - so much as if
the chant of heaven itself floated down and mingled in
the melody. The celestial song did not cease when they
ascended the stairs of the scaffold, and the work of butchery went on. Voice after voice had to drop from the
chorus, as face after face bent under the axe; and at




SALVATION) NOT FROM SUFFERINGS BUT BY IT. 251
length one voice was heard alone sustaining the holy
strain, with no faltering or cadence, even while the bloody
blade fell and sealed the last martyr's testimony. Not
by scaffolds, not through blood, but by silent martyrdoms, by slow sufferings, as sharp I think sometimes, and
needing the heroism of patience more, must faithful spirits still walk towards God, their hands in their-\Master's,
" Thy rod and thy staff comforting."
Submission like this binds the sisters of Lazarus to
every mourner of to-day; for they all stand in the personal friendship of the risen Intercessor. Jesus came to
his friend's grave and wept. 0 scene of unspeakable
consolation under the shadow of the Mount of Olives!
Shed the light, that broke there on a weeping household,
into every kneeling and lamenting family among us!
Unite our kindred, under the dispensation of grief, in the
everlasting sympathy of one Lord and one faith, with
that comforted house where Mary chose the good part,
and felt safe at her Redeemer's feet! Make us also
dwellers at Bethany, because Christ comes again to us;
and though our brother dies, yet we know henceforth that
our Redeemer liveth, and that whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall never die!
Be this our Easter thanksgiving! Be this the consolation promised to them  that mourn with a disciple's
trust, -the hope for the dead who died in their Lord, -
the inspiration of the living who have yet to die, - that
immortality is brought to light, and that, through suffering, souls may still be made perfect.




SERMON XVIII.
DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
FOR IN IIM (CHRIST) DWELLETH ALL THE FULNESS OF THE
GODHIEAD BODILY. - Col. ii. 9.
ALL THINGS THAT THE FATHER HATH ARE MINE. John xvi. 15.
So long as the differences of opinion that obtain at
present respecting the rank and nature of the Son of
God shall continue to divide and interest those minds
that think at all on religious topics, and so long as anything like the existing postures of sects and doctrines
shall remain, it can hardly be unreasonable for any man
to offer a careful and deliberate exposition of his belief
on that subject. If we are Christians at all, Christ is the
author and founder of our faith. He is the Head of that
Church into which disciples gather for fellowship. The
question what and who he is, to all persons of any spiritual consciousness, is vital at every point, and momentous under every aspect.
There are two prevalent apprehensions of the character and office of Jesus as Saviour of the world. One
contemplates him as specially appointed to represent the
perfection of humanity, meaning by humanity what we
have hitherto known or conceived of the spiritual powers
and possibilities in a human being. This view holds




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.            253
Jesus to have been a perfect man; the completest moral
example and religious genius of our race; exhibiting in
his life and death the utmost that human excellence can
do or be; as showing the ultimate achievement, thus far
at least, of a man's virtue, love, and faith; and as having
withdrawn his personal presence and power from the
world at his ascension, so that the communion of his followers is not literally a communion with him, but is only
a commemorative observance for a Teacher living on
earth in the past, but retired now into the heavens.
The other view regards Christ as showing forth not
only a perfect humanity, but also and primarily God himself; representing God to man, as well as man to himself; being the express image of God's person; being
God in the act and character of revealing or manifesting
himself, creating and saving the world; separate at no
point from God's sovereignty, nor knowing, in his divinity, any limitation or abridgment from the fulness of God;
exhibiting, as in God's behalf, through a union of nature
with the Father not explicable to us, the Divine attributes; and reconciling alienated souls by manifesting
God in his flesh. According to this doctrine, he survives
in his Church to this day, and will survive, not only by
influence and memory, but by the presence of his person;
a distinct and everlasting person in himself, without beginning of days or end of years, the same yesterday, today, and for ever.
The latter of these two views appears to me not only
incomparably the most benignant and precious, but to
stand towards the other in the relation of truth to error;
to be charged with inestimable benefits to our religious
progress; to be liable to fewer theological perversions,
and less dangerous abuses; and to need also that it be
22




254             DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
more distinctly asserted and impressed on our present
habits of thinking, especially among the inquiring and
the young.
A common form of stating the doctrine, that Christ
was merely human, and of denying him a distinctive Divinity, is to say that " he was distinguished and exalted
above other men, not in kind, but in degree only "; that
he transcended mortals only by an excess of virtue, not
by any peculiarity of being, not by any singularity of
existence, not by a superhuman nature. He was purer
and holier than other men; and therefore more of the
Divine afflatus flowed through his life.
Against this misconstruction of the whole foundationwork of Christian doctrine, as it seems to me, - injurious, like most other religious errors, by its issues in practical piety, as well as radically mischievous to theology,
comprehensively mistaking as to the very being and authority of him who is the centre, the fountain, the embodiment of whatever we have that we can call religion,
-- I raise a threefold objection. And I urge that objecIion by an appeal to the grand, threefold source, where
alone we can apply for a final decision: the Word, or
the New Testament writings; History, or the organic
working of Christian life through the Church; and the
Soul, with its best intuitions and its wants.
I should be willing, in the appeal to that first and chief
of all authorities and testimonies, the New Testament,
to waive every reference to the other striking passages
that will appear in their natural connections as we press
farther into the subject, and to rest the question on the
three following explicit ones alone. Just as Jesus was
opening his ministry at Jerusalem, John the Forerunner
said of him these plain words: " He that cometh from




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.           255
heaven is above all. He whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God; for God gaivethl not the Spirit by ~measure unto ilim. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life."  Were these words spoken of an extraordinary
mortal, constituted and endowed no otherwise than as
you are and I am? Almost at the same moment, Jesus
was holding one of his first reported conversations with
the Rabbi Nicodemus by night, where he announces
some of the sublime principles of his kingdom, and the
profound mystery of the second birth. And this is the
well-weighed avowal by which he initiates this inquiring
representative of the old religion into the great secret of
the new: " God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. And he that believeth not is condemned." Is this the utterance of a
being who "' differs from other men in degree only, but
not in kind"? Many years had passed since the Saviour's crucifixion; the Gospel had been tested and tried
by the terrible ordeal of the Apostolic age; and yet time
enough had not passed to drift the believer away from
his anchorage on the simplicity of the Master's original
teaching; and then one who was able to know whereof
he affirmed wrote to the reluctant converts from Judaism: "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son; whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds; who, being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the




256            DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
Majesty on high; being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath obtained a more excellent name than
they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time,'Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee'?"
-Vhich one, then, of all the heroes, sages, saints, of ally
nation, commemorated by monuments, by literature, by
private veneration, shall claim to be brother, in kind or
in degree, of him whom even all the angels of God are
commanded to worship?
But I must add here a few of the weighty declarations
of Jesus himself, so grand, so comprehensive, so clear
and unhesitating, so almost overwhelming in the solemn
awe they awaken while we read, that to suppose them
uttered by any being not divine, not an eternal dweller
in the very bosom and sonship of the Father, would seem
a strange infatuation. "All power is given unto me, in
heaven and on earth."  " All things that the Father hath
are mine."  " Believe me, that I am in the Father, and
the Father in me." " He that hath seen me, hath seen
the Father."  "I and my Father are one."  " The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son." " If
ye shall ask anything in my name, I twill do it."  As
the Father knoweth mne, even so know I the Father."
" Thy sins are forgiven thee."  " I give unto them eternal life."  " No man taketh my life from me; I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."
" No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in
heaven." As sure as words have any meaning, these are
not the words of a man. They are the words of God.
The second appeal is to Christian History, or the organic workingD of Christian life through the Church. Begin where you will, at any point from the least conspic



DIVINITY OF CHRIST.            257
uous movement of the public mind in Christendom
chronicled in last evening's newspaper, up to Constantine's political conversion or Nerva's royal concession,
and you will find that, whether you strike down below
the surface of events, or reach out either way to trace
their sequence and interdependence, the under-tide that
bears all up and sweeps all along is the irresistible current of Christ's divine life. Changes with which no
other change compares, revolutions for which no civil
revolution can account, impulses of thought, conquests
of science, growths of institutions, marches of learning
and society,- all testify that a silent power was cradled
in the manger at Bethlehem, which was to dwarf down
the empire of Cuesars and Bonapartes into the puny dynasties of nursery games. All the growing multitudes,
achievements, industry, enterprise, discoveries, wisdom,
and strength of the race, lift a chant of thanksgiving that
has grown louder from the first, and is swelling still, to
proclaim Christ the Divine Regenerator of its destinies,
the Infinite and Eternal Head over his Church.
The third appeal is to the Soul, with its intuitions and
its wants. Whenever it is most deeply stirred by penitence, or strained by agony, or kindled into holy aspiration, the spiritual nature craves a more intimate communion with God than would be possible if that God
had not mysteriously manifested himself in flesh; not a
sovereign in the skies, but a beating and friendly bosom
in Bethany. It cries out for the Christ, who, by bearing
to us the pity and pardon of the Father, is WTay and
Truth and Life. The individual heart, when it is really
agitated, whether by hope or love or pain or fear, emphasizes the promise of revelation; and the longings of the
individual soul respond to the broad verdict of history.
22*




258             DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
It confesses, like Peter before the persecutors, that there
is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby it can be saved.
Objectors start other theories. It has been said, for instance, that even in our human nature there are capacities so noble, and traits so high, that we do Christ honor
enough when we allow him to possess an unprecedented
and complete combination of them. I believe, on the
contrary, that, in the essential peculiarity of his nature,
Christ is as distinct from us as the spiritual nature in us
is from the perishable, as God is from man.
I acknowledge that in mere humanity there is " a nature transcendently great and sacred," a nature so surpassing the animal organization, so wonderfully superior
to this chemical compound that we call the body, so far
outstripping in its reach, capacity, and eternal duration,
all the energy and acuteness of physical sense, so fitted
to receive the impression and inspiration of God's Spirit,
that it may be even said, in a certain liberal use of language, to be kindred to God, or, in an Apostle's vivid
phrase, to be "a partaker of the divine nature."  Thank
Christ also for this very assurance,-for without him
you never could have felt it, - that man is, every man is,
immortal as well as mortal, a spirit as well as dust, allied
to the Almighty while he is hastening to a grave. Rejoice in that great boon; and let the conscious dignity
of such a conviction bear you up into a life of lofty virtue, that shall be worthy of such a heritage. And yet
there is that in Jesus Christ which separates him even
from this spiritual nature in humanity, distinguishes him
from the best dignity in man, and exalts him above even
our highest honors. There is a line drawn between his
soul and our souls, not cutting us off from his perfect




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.             259
sympathy, not barring us from his fellowship, not veiling
his face with any dimness from ours, but marking us, in
our nature, as human; and him, in his nature, as divine.
We are encouraged, it is true, to call ourselves children of the Most High; but if we call ourselves so in an
humble temper, remembering what sins penitence has to
deplore, we shall never confound ousr filial relation with
that of him who could utter the sublime and mysterious
challenge both to philosophy and faith, " I and my Father are one."  " Behold," says an Apostle," 1now are we
the sons of God." But it must be an irreverent self-conceit and a shallow insight that can mistake this thankful
confession for a bold assertion of the believer's equality
with him whom the Church and the Gospel unite in revering as THE SON of God, and who received that majestic anointing and seal upon his authority, when the
Spirit descended visibly upon him in. Jordan, and a voice
said, " This is my Beloved Son; hear him."'" Onlybegotten Son" it is written; what means that significant word, " only-begotten," if Jesus is not a Son in some
sense that we are not, and never can be, sons?
Another form taken by the argument for Christ's simnple humanity is this, -that every member of the human
family is capable of certain lofty spiritual exercises, is
visited by holy aspirations, has a moral sense that distinguishes between right and wrong, and can form " ideas
of truth, of justice, of holiness." These ideas and affections, it is argued, are God within us; because they are
in harmony with his character, and it is by them that we
recognize his attributes. In Christ these moral ideas
were held with peculiar clearness and power; these spiritual affections moved in extraordinary purity and constancy. This fact, therefore, is held to satisfy all that




260             DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
language of Christ and his Apostles where he is declared
to be one with God, and to exhaust the meaning of those
passages that attribute to him a quite superhuman nature. He had in him more of God than we, only by as
much as he gave to those ideas and affections, possible
to him and us alike, a fuller development than we.
Now, this explanation is as unsatisfactory as the preceding: it grows more and more unsatisfactory, the
longer I study the facts of Christ's ministry, the words
spoken by him, or his effect on the world.  Those
facts are miraculous, or they are an imposition. Those
words are an assertion of a union between Jesus and the
Father altogether peculiar and distinctive and complete,
or they are deceptions. That effect on the world must
be accounted for by an agency behind it entirely above
all other known historical motive powers; or else it is
brought about by some artifice superlatively cunning, a
legerdemain more incredible than miracle itself. The
facts: — When I behold, through those impregnable
narratives where sharp-eyed and cavilling criticism has
sought and sought again, but never found, a flaw or crevice large enough to enter one splitting wedge, those compact records where the persevering batteries of unbelief,
shifting their point and method of attack with every
shifting current of sceptical speculation, have never
opened a single breach, - behold Lazarus coming forth
from his grave, the dumb speaking, the blind seeing, the
shr-unken hand of palsy full and flexible with the circula
tions of health, the stone over his own sepulchre rolled
away, and doubting Thomas putting his fingers into the
print of the nails, his hand into the spear-wound in the
side, till he exclaims, " My Lord and my God! "- then
I am compelled to recognize a present Divinity, of which




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.           261
no field of human history anywhere gives a token, no
breath from any chamber of the past, its marvels of literature, philosophy, or enterprise, yields a whisper. The
words: - When I hear him saying, not with any trace
of fanatical excitement or transient enthusiasm, but with
that calm authority of unmistakable truth to which all the
results unite in bearing confirmation: " No man knoweth
the Father, but the Son; the only-begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him"; " Before Abraham was, I am"; " I am the resurrection and
the life"; " Whosoever shall confess or deny me before
men, him will I also confess or deny before my Father
and his angels "; " I came forth from God "; - then, listening while he thus " speaks as man never spake," it is
as impossible for me to doubt the authenticity of his
speech as it would be irrational for me, admitting that,
to deny that there is a proper Divinity in him that he does
not share with me, and that I cannot share with him.
The effect on the world:- When we have it thrust upon
our convictions by every fragment of historic testimony,
by even heathen Pliny and infidel Gibbon themselves, by
all monuments of human progress, and by all the civilization of to-day, and all the spreading life of the Church
always, that since the moment when Christ came up out
of the Jordan, wet with the baptism of John, and with
the glory of his heavenly consecration shining upon him,
a new principle has been steadily working in the heart
of human things, to transform them, new in form and in
spirit, in name and in essence;-then how are we to
escape believing, that, if God was in the building of the
world, it was not man that by regeneration created it
anew?
Choose out any of the brighter luminaries that have




262              DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
poured splendor on any path of thought, or blessings on
any interest of the world's welfare, --
"iMen whose great thoughts possess us like a passion, -
Thoughts which command all coming times and minds;
Whose names are ever on the world's broad tongue,
Like sound upon the falling of a force;
BMen whom we build our love round, like an arch
Of triumph, as they pass us on their way
To glory and to immortality"; -
take the mightiest in influence, the richest in knowledge,
the nimblest in genius, the purest in excellence, - Plato
or Humboldt or Shakespeare or Fenelon, —and then, if
your reverence will bear the shock, imagine him using
any of those majestic expressions, respecting his origin
and his work, which I have quoted from  the lips of
Jesus; and, though you had begun to doubt, you will be
startled back into a sense of the real Divinity of the Redeemer. Conceive that philosopher, poet, or statesman,
standing before the Eternal and Almighty Father, under
the shadow of impending death, and uttering that petition in the prayer of the Lord, " And now, O Father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was; for thou lovedst
me before the foundation of the world," - you will need
no other proof how far our idle speculations wander from
the awful bounds of truth, when we speak of God's Messiah as in kind like men.
If our God were only an assemblage of abstract qualities; if, instead of looking to him as a personal Friend
and Father, we had regarded him as only an agglomeration of impersonal attributes; or if we refined away our
feeling of trustful intimacy towards him into an intellectual conception of a Causative Principle, — then the




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.             263
argument I have just noticed iight have some force.
All that would be necessary to make God manifest,
either in Christ or in ourselves, would be some appearance of those qualities or attributes in us; and just in
proportion to the degree in which they appeared, we
should all be gods. But, if our view of God's nature
and man's nature proceeds according to another philosophy than this pantheistic one, we shall presently be satisfied, that, though a man were strong, wise, just, and
good, up to the full measure of the possibility of his nature, and such a pattern of all spiritual graces as should
equal the Christian standard itself, yet he would be as
far from participating in the essential and incomprehensible nature of the Deity as every other man; simply because his constitution is human; because, being human,
he is made subject to certain limitations of ability; and
because every finite being is psychologically separated by
an impassable gulf from the Infinite. Christ was not so
separated. He was one with the Father, in a sense and
a way that we cannot be one with Him, —in a oneness
which is at once the secret of the Mediatorship, the key
to the Gospel, the ground and hope of our final reconciliation with both; and, moreover, it is of the " person" of
God that he is c" the express image." The ancient seers
saw his glory. Through him Moses received his commission, -
"Light of the Prophets' learned lore!
Lord of the Patriarchs gone before!"
Our charter for the liberty of this inspiring doctrine is
the whole tone pervading the New Testament, from the
announcement of the Spirit to Mary the mother, —
" That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God; and of his kingdom there shall




264            DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
be no end," -down to the last benediction of the Apocalypse, in the name of " the Lord Jesus Christ." It is in
the language express and general, it is in the breath and
spirit, it is in the precept and the sanctions, of the whole
Christian revelation. If you ask for it in a single sentence, you find it gathered up into that comprehensive
declaration, " I and my Father are one," or, " No man
can come unto the Father but by me." I believe, therefore, - I cannot but believe, - I am as unable as I am
undesirous to doubt, -that, in regard to that deep, wide
line that distinguishes the Infinite from the finite and the
Divine from the human, Christ the Redeemer does not
stand by his nature on the human side. I discover no
wTay in which an estranged, lost family on earth, not
knowing God by all its wisdom, and condemned by a
law which it had not power or will to keep, could be
raised, restored, and justified, but by one who should
bring the Deity to the earth, while he lifts up man towards Deity. The Redeemer must make God manifest
in the flesh, mediate between Heaven and humanity,
show us the Father to move and melt the child.
There can be no half-way statement here, without a
wrong to philosophy and faith both. That in Christ
which is not human is God, —verily, literally, and strictly God; as truly God, and in the same sense God, as the
Father is God. All the biblical language seems to me
to preclude the conception of any intermediate nature.
He is spoken of as man, and he is spoken of as God.
That mystery is insoluble to the understanding. But
this is clear: while God, to whom all things are possible,
may enter into human conditions, and pass through a
human experience, and thus " become man," man can in
no sense become God. The difficulties in the way of




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.            265
receiving our Lord and Saviour as God are as nothing
compared with the difficulty in receiving him as not
God; nay, Faith joyfully finds that she has made them
to be, not difficulties, but blessed and simple and gracious
helps to holiness. For " in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily."
I am not unfamiliar with the several interpretations
affixed to the passages cited, by those who would discharge them of the contents I have found in them, and
reduce them to a consistency with the humanitarian or
the Arian theory. It is doubtful, judging by experience,
whether it avails much to undertake a refutation of these
interpretations in detail, before the heart, by another and
a surer process, is brought to an inevitable persuasion of
their insufficiency. They will satisfy, till some special
exigency of spiritual experience dissolves them in its potent alembic; and then they look as unengaging to the
affections as they do forced and unnatural to the understanding.
If, now, any critical mind is asking what the way and
method of this union between Jesus and the Father are,
as if some logical difficulty there were sure to baffle my
conclusion, and win a triumph over faith, let me frankly
confess, that no inability of mine to make full answer
embarrasses me, nor compromises my doctrine.
Into the interior relations of the Infinite One no mortal understanding can penetrate. What are the celestial
adjustments of these revealed personalities; what are
the modes of intercommunication between the Father
and the Son; in what sense he who expressly says, with
a clearness of authority that no human intelligence dares
to question, that all power in heaven and earth are his,
23




266            DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
can yet have that power " given" to him; how he who
could say, 1" Before Abraham was, I AM," could also say,
" Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father "; in what character, or referring to what office,
that Lord of all, by whom the worlds were made and by
whom mankind are to be judged, could declare, "My
Father is greater than I"; how it could be that he who
was in the beginning with God, and " was God," should
yet enter a child's frame, be born of a woman, be made
under the Law, pass through a mortal experience, eat
and sleep, be tempted, and pray and die; in what manner it was that he who thus shows himself eternally
one with the Father could voluntarily veil some things,
as it were, fi'om his own mind, and, in the wonderfulness of his condescension and the humility of his Sonship, lay aside for a time, not only "the glory that he
had before the world was," but his vision of some things
that the Father hath hid in his power; —these are secrets.
I cannot fathom them. Let me say, I rejoice that I cannot. I gratefully adore that incomprehensible existence,
the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. It
is the life, the power, the spiritual grandeur, the one distinguishing fact and transcendent glory of the Christian
faith. To me Christianity could not be without it.
A God without unfathomable realities in the contents of
his nature would be no God, just as a religion without
mystery would be no religion. In the one case we
should be orphans, as in the other we should be sceptics,
faithless and forlorn.
If it be suggested that these gracious mysteries are
of a character so different from other mysteries in the
Divine nature and proceeding, that we ought to reject




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.           267
them, I find nothing in that statement that gains my
assent.  I find no more reason, on that ground, for
rejecting them, than for rejecting the being of a selfexistent God, the connection of spirit with matter, the
creation of a planet, the consistency of the Almighty's
power and love with the prevalence of evil. In one or
another of these facts I discover what is just as difficult
to my comprehension, what is just as perplexing to my
intelligence, what just as much baffles my reason and
contradicts my experience, as in the equally well-authenticated facts of the incarnation, or the subjection of a
divine Christ to the forms and limitations of a human
experience. Indeed, it would seem far more unreasonable to attempt getting clear of the difficulties by supposing Christ to be wholly human, than by supposing him
to be wholly divine; because we should not only have
equally grave difficulties to dispose of in the record, but
others more formidable in the moral problem of the universe, the history of God's dealings with men, and the
actual consequences of Christ's Mediatorship. What was
wanted was a Saviour coming forth out of the Godhead,' very God of very God," at once divine in his nature
and human in his sympathies, to restore, to redeem, to
rescue man from himself,- to heal a fatal alienation, to
put lost man and the Holy Father at one again. Who
else but God manifest in human flesh was competent to
this? While accomplishing it, is it very strange that he
should sometimes speak of himself, in this condescending and peculiar office, as unable to know or to do certain things as of himself without the Father, with whom
he ever dwells in perfect oneness, each in each; or that
in this human sojourn he should declare himself dependent on that whole and undivided Deity, that entireness




268             DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
of the Godhead, from which he came forth into the
world? For that also, and for all the blessed spiritual
comfort, light, strength, hope, assurance, promise, salvation, it gives us, let us be humbly and most devoutly
thankful.  And let us look reverently up to that Lord
and Redeemer who in the beginning " was God," - who
left the Father's bosom for our deliverance from the law
of sin and death, -who hath ascended up where he
was before, - who has put it past all doubt or question
that he and his Father are one, - and who with that
Father reigns in consubstantial glory, ever one God,
world without end.
First among the obvious, practical effects of this doctrine on the spiritual life, stands this, that it seems to be
true; and, in the simple economy of God, truth always
blesses, liberates, and cleanses him that holds it, by the
same law that error curses, cramps, and destroys.
It stimulates our virtue, too, and our aspiration, by
making us followers of a Master whom no attainments
of ours can overtake, and holding up ever before us a living standard, unattainable in its loftiness, while condescending, with infinite compassion, to our finite strength.
Approach him indefinitely we may in goodness; and yet
the reverence of our discipleship finds nurture in this,
that there is something within him that we can never
compass. We must learn to dismiss it as a false feeling,
that, in order to copy our Saviour's example, we must
equal his dignity; that, to render him imitable, he must
dwell on the level of our natures. Imitation for his holiness, but homage for his Divinity.
And, then, what encouragement is there for our trustful gratitude that we are left to no painful questioning,
whether Christ's word is God's word, Christ's promises




DIVINITY OF CHRIST.            269
sustained by Almighty veracity, Christ's reconciling invitation pledged by the Father's power?  Faith is made
independent of doubt; and Hope casts her anchor fast
by the pillars of heaven.
Because Christ is the brightness of God's glory, and
the express image of his person, we know that our sacrament is no cold memorial, our communion no funereal
pomp; but that the Master himself, as actual a person
there as at the upper chamber, presides at the feast, and
the very presence of his affectionate spirit welcomes us
to a joyful participation.
The whole circle of Christian doctrines clusters together; -repentance, newness of life, reconciliation by the
Mediator, the Saviour's Divinity, forgiveness, and acceptance with God. Let us bind them in one unbroken
clasp about our hearts; live as children of the light they
shed; exemplify the whole religion of him whose image,
"the brightness of the Father's glory," is the centre of
them all. Bear abroad his spirit, the spirit that purifies
uncleanness, heals injustice, emancipates the slave,
quenches strife, humbles pride, works by love, makes
man the brother of man. And may his oneness with
God bring our souls to his Father and ours!
The chief charm of these high views of Christ is, that
they do, wherever they are welcomed into the soul, unspeakably strengthen goodness, encourage feeble resolutions, redouble zeal, enliven the Church, bless and adorn
the world with the fruit of righteousness. For there is
no spring to individual excellence like the feeling of the
pure presence and personal intercessions of the Divine
Master. There is no power to rouse and melt the sinning soul of unbelief like the condescension of that
tender Redeemer, who left the glory on high, with a
23*




270            DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
promise of pardon in his hand, for the bitterness of Gethsemane and the anguish of the cross.  There is no
glance for reverent eyes across the great fields of history
so satisfying and so self-consistent, as that which beholds
him, by whom it is revealed that God hath made the
world and -will judge all, administering the whole spiritual government of our race, from Alpha to Omega.
There is no seed of noble works between man and
man so fruitful as a hearty faith in the charity and the
purity of the Christ who took our flesh. So it was, in
the wonderful adaptations and attuning of our nature, -
we know not altogether why, but we thank God it was
so, -that but through him God was not to be brought
to man. That is our redemption. It is the final reconciliation of Earth with Heaven. Christ is the wisdom of
God, and the power of God, unto salvation, to all them
that believe. We must heed both parts of John's twofold exhortation, -"- Believe in the Son of God," and
" love one another." And so in the blessed communion
of his Church, where he dwells, looking along the line
of that bright order of Revelation, - the one God, the
Saviour coming forth out of the glory of his bosom, and
the Comforter which Christ sendeth evermore,- we can
gratefully take up the anthems of the elder time, and
say:" All praise and dominion to Him that sitteth on
the throne, and unto the Lamb!"  " Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit! "




SERMON XIX.
DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
NOW THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE
IN BELIEVING, THAT YE MAY ABOUND IN HOPE, THROUGH THE
POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.- Rom. xv. 13.
IT is a fact of some significance, that both the form of
words which Jesus enjoined to be used in administering
baptism, and the apostolic benedictions, associate the
name of the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, - for the
word in the original is the same, - with those of the Father and Christ. It is also noticeable, that, although the
same term had been but rarely employed earlier in the
Scriptures, and then evidently in a somewhat more general sense, as applicable to the ordinary influence of the
Almighty energy, yet, with the opening of the Christian
dispensation proper, it begins to bear a more specific and
emphatic meaning; to be more copiously used as a sacred household word, very precious to the believer; and
to imply, as the least thoughtful reader can see, a peculiar element of power introduced by Christ. Add to these
considerations, that Paul refers four great internal states
and powers of the soul —joy, peace, faith, and hope
- to this creative operation, and no other reason will be
wanted for a wakeful inquiry into its import. It states




272          DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
one of the living ideas that are indispensable to the
prosperity and purity of the Church.
The true construction of a doctrine like this can only
be settled by a reverential appeal to the New Testament.
A proud understanding is not competent to handle it.
Faith in it depends more on a teachable and worshipping heart than an ingenious brain. No man can come
to Christ, except he will let the Father draw him. All
spiritual truths look dim to a worldly and irreligious
mind. You may pronounce the influence of the Spirit a
mystery, and so reject it from your confidence; but you
will find facts are mysterious, very much in proportion as
they are unfamiliar. Mysteries lie all about us. You
cannot take a step without planting your foot on a mystery. The passage of your voice to my hearing involves
a mystery: tell me how a vibration of the air communicates one man's thoughts to the sensorium of another,
and how your intelligent commerce with the world is
carried on through about two pounds and a half of nervous matter in the cavity of your skull, and I might, or I
might not, be able to unfold to you how the Comforter
quickens the soul. " The wind bloweth where it listeth," - this was Christ's own comparison, --  and thou
hearest the sound thereof; but canst not tell whence it
cometh, or whither it goeth. So is every one that is
born of the Spirit."
And so, to a sordid mind, never suffered to break away
from the low enslavement of material interests, the whole
doctrine of the Holy Spirit becomes a strange jargon, as
absurd to the sensual comprehension as it is undesired
by earthly affections; and the very language in which it
is set forth, an unknown tongue. We might as well expect a deaf man to analyze the composition of Handel's




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.           273
Oratorio of the Messiah, as that our minds, in unrenewed
and unbelieving moods, should recognize the reasonableness of our being visited, or cheered, or regenerated by
the Holy Ghost.
Admit this principle, and it is obvious that, to prejudge
a spiritual doctrine, at the outset, by some worldly standard, is not the way of candid investigation. The very
property which most distinguishes faith is, that it lays
hold on matters which transcend all sensible demonstration. If I wait for such demonstration before I determine what to receive as truth within the circle of my
beliefs, and what to debar from it, then I forsake the
ground of faith at once, and come upon the ground of
ocular proofs or scientific inductions; proceeding not by
faith any longer, but by sight, which is a distinct principle, and a lower one. By that rule, the less faith men
should have, the less religious truth there would be; the
further their habits got estranged from a religious life,
the less would God require of them; and, in order to
escape their obligation to his law, they would only need
to neglect and forget it. It is no anomaly in science,
any more than in religion, for a truth to look unreasonable just to the degree that it is held off at a distance.
It must be studied into, to appear intelligible; and be
brought near to the heart, to appear rational. The real
question, then, stands,- Is the doctrine before us addressed to our spiritual insight and our faith by the
Evangelists? All our short-sighted imaginings apart,
what do they teach?
The essential feature of the New Testament doctrine
of the Spirit, as it appears to me, is that the coming of
the Paraclete is inseparably connected with the mediatorial office of Christ; that the Holy Ghost is sent by the




274           DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
Saviour in such a sense as not to be fully received till
he is glorified, nor otherwise than by faith in him; and
therefore that this office of the Spirit is something, by its
conditions and its nature, peculiar to the ministry of redemption, not to be confounded with the ordinary effects
of Divine power in nature, and least of all to be treated
as only one among the vague influences found, by a
poetic sentiment, a half-Pantheistic reverie, or a feeble
sense of elevation or comfort, in the presence of imposing scenery, in " the light of setting suns," in the serene
magnificence of midnight, in the majesty of mountains,
or the blossoming of the clover, - favored by a tranquil
posture of the nerves. This necessary and peculiar connection, in the Evangelical representation, of the Holy
Spirit with the reconciliation of the cross, has fallen so
generally out of recognition, in much preaching, as to
enfeeble the force of the truth, and reduce the common
notion held in some of our churches to the level of mere
naturalism.
The principal passages of the Saviour's instructions,
where the promise of his own continued relation to the
body of his Church, and of the coming of the Holy
Spirit, are contained, are the fourteenth, fifteenth, and
sixteenth chapters of John.  Detached entirely from
one another, these passages offer difficulties. Each of
them, taken separately, presents a truth of precious
significance to the religious affections; but they need
to be compared, collated, and held up in each other's
light, in order to yield a self-consistent and complete
doctrine.
Let it be remembered, that this whole discourse of
Jesus was occasioned by the sorrow and the apprehensions of his disciples, because he had said to them, " I go




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.            275
away."*  From  the comforting words, " Let not your
heart be troubled," throughout, it has this bearing: it
aims to assure them that they shall lose none of the spiritual benefits of his presence, if only they will have faith
in him as before. Scattered through it, we find these
several distinct declarations: - 1. Christ predicts that, in
some sense, he is about to depart from the society of his
followers: " I go," he says, "unto my Father."  This
refers, I suppose, simply to the withdrawal of his bodily
presence, -the disappearance of that form  of Hebrew
flesh and blood, through which he had hitherto been
manifested to the world, but which, if suffered to remain
longer, would prove a veil J before his real and spiritual glory, and contract the universality of his religion.
2. He promises that he shall come again, and dwell constantly with them: " I will not leave you comfortless; I
will come to you "; 1" He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, I will manifest myself to him, and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and
make our abode with him." This can mean nothing
else than that he, the person Jesus, after his'bodily departure, would yet hold conscious relations with his true
Church, not visible to the fleshly eyes, but felt in the
quickening energy of his Spirit, and bestowing the inward influence of his affection on the believing heart.
For, 3. He speaks of these particular offices which he
will perform, in the further exercise of his Messiahship:'" WVhatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."
" Without me, ye can do nothing." 4. He declares that
a Comforter shall come, —a new Presence, to guide,
strengthen, and assure them, in the difficulties of their
x John xiii. 33, 36.
it  7 rot KararrErdao.Larod s roTr' O rtL, Ts (rapK os aurov.  Heb. x. 20.




276              DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
ministry; and that this Comforter shall be sent to them
by the Father in Christ's name: "' I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, - and
he shall be in you "; " The Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you." 5. He teaches that this Comforter
shall also be sent by himself, though proceeding, as just
shown, from  the  Father:  "When  the  Comforter is
come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
Again: " It is expedient for you that I go away; but, if
I depart, I will send the Comforter unto you."  6. This
Comforter is to bring blessings equally from the Father
and the Son; for says Jesus: " He shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he
speak: he shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine; therefore said I that he shall take of
mine, and shall show it unto you."'
From these six propositions, different in form, but
capable of being so reconciled as to be one in substance,
we deduce the whole doctrine on the subject. They
exhaust the statement of it; and every other expression
* Justin Martyr speaks of the Holy Ghost as "the Power of God sent to
us through Jesus Christ" (Dial. c. Tryph.), but elsewhere as one of the
" host of angels." According to Origen, the Holy Ghost is " the first being,
or nature, produced by God the Father, through the Son." The Latin
Church did not assert the double procession from the Father and the Son till
the ninth century. It was many years after the promulgation of the Constantinopolitan Creed, before the word filioque was inserted into it. This word,
and its doctrine, made one of the five charges of heresy brought against the
Western Church by Photius the Patriarch.




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.           277
in the New Testament is in harmony with them. That
doctrine can be no other, it seems to us, than this: that,
after the body of Jesus should be removed from the
Church, he should still continue to carry on the spiritual
work of renewing, sanctifying, and saving souls, - which
is his eternal ministry,- the Church itself thus becoming
the body of his Spirit, that visible, but he indwelling, yet
manifest still in the fruits of holy love and life; that, in
thus acting on the spirits of believers, in answer to prayer, the Son, and the Father who sent him, are together,
united in counsel and one in purpose; and that the
Agent, now first distinctly revealed to men, by which
they thus move and draw and change the heart, is the
Holy Spirit, but also known as the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, and the Holy Ghost.
Let us now bring together, in as condensed and clear
a paraphrase as possible, these scattered statements of
Jesus and the Evangelist, so as to exhibit a connected exposition of the truth. " In my Father's house are many
mansions; I go there to prepare a place for you. But
this my absence will not separate my spirit from yours.
It is expedient for you, both to try your faith by leaving
you to stand alone, and to prevent my religion from
being limited by my bodily presence and associations.*
Yet I will not leave you wholly alone and comfortless.
Let not your heart be troubled or afraid at the thought
of that distressing solitude. I will come to you again
invisibly, and cause my spirit to abide with you,,in all
your holy labors, for ever. Be encouraged: my Father
also will abide with you, as he does now.  Only love
me, and keep my sayings, and you shall feel me with
* "Si carni carnaliter haeseritis, capaces Spiritus non critis." - Augustine.
24




278           DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
you. Pray to the Father in my name; I also will pray
for you; and the Father, who is one with me, will answer you through me  Thus I will continue to bring
you his blessings. No longer in this frame of flesh, but
by a certain interior sense awakened in your regenerate
souls,* quite as quick as the natural eye, I will manifest
myself to you, — to the true disciples in my Church,
hereafter, as now. But inasmuch as the mode of this
manifestation is to be changed, - to be inward, and not
outward, - you are to know this continued and united
presence of my Father and myself, through a new Agent,
-the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He shall visit and renew you, and be your refreshing. He shall carry forward
the work of salvation which I have begun in the body.
Pray for the Holy Spirit. The world, that is, men of
worldly tastes and gross desires, cannot understand this
promise.  The world receiveth not this Holy Spirit,
neither knoweth him, as it has not received me hitherto,
but goeth about to crucify me. That earthly and sinful
temper He will reprove; convicting it of sin, showing it
righteousness, and bringing it to judgment. But on you
He will so act as to teach and inspire you, bringing to
your remembrance all the things that I have said to you
with this mortal tongue. So he shall testify of me. I
shall indeed be with him, and so with you. By believing in the Holy Spirit, you will abide in me, in the
strictest unity. Through successive generations He will
build up and complete my Church. Behold, then, your
privilege and your inheritance. You were just now sorrowing because I said, I must go away. But, except my
body were to be crucified, you could not enjoy those
* John xiv. 19. Tholuck observes, that, "in the pregnant use of language
as employed by John and Christ, C(& means to lead a true life in God."




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.              279
higher benefits that come from my resurrection. I cannot come to you in the Spirit, till my form is removed.
What you cannot now understand of these mysteries,
the Spirit will gradually reveal to you.*  He shall take
of my truth, and, little by little, age after age, show mankind the full meaning of my gospel and my redemption.
It is true, my Father is the sender of this Spirit; but
between my Father and me is no division of interest, or
counsel, or honor. Whoever honors one of us, honors
both. I said truly, therefore, that the Spirit, in showing
you God's will, shows you mine; for our will is one,
and our truth is one. Only believe what I have said.
A little while, and ye shall not see me; for I shall be
crucified, and ascend from the world. But again, a little
while after, you shall see me by the eye of your faith,
and you shall feel me, and know that I am with you,
and my Father also. We will send to you together the
Holy Spirit, the Comforter; and, when I thus see you
again, your heart shall rejoice; and that joy no man
taketh from you."
Let us next notice the harmony between this interpretation and other New Testament references to the
same doctrine. In giving an account of that lofty discourse, pronounced by Jesus earlier in his ministry, when
he stood, on the last and great day of the feast, and proclaimed to the world his divine invitation, " If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink," - John puts in
this parenthesis: "' This spake he of the Spirit, which
they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, [or, as the oxiginal Greek has
*" He speaks in a language best adapted to the apprehension which the
disciples then possessed, as well as to the time, and topic in hand, when he
speaks concerning his departure to the Father." - Benqel.




280           DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
it, was not yet,'] because that Jesus was not yet glorified," that is, ascended into his heavenly glory. This
shows that John regarded the gift of the Holy Spirit as
conditioned on the death and ascension of Christ.
Again, as Jesus had promised the Spirit to be given
at the time of his own departure, to fill the place of his
Dodily companionship, we should naturally expect some
signal demonstration in connection with that event. Is
this expectation fulfilled?  " The same day" that he
rose from the dead, we are told, " at evening, being the
first day of the week, Jesus stood in the midst of his disciples, and said to them, Peace be unto you! and when
he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto
them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit." Furthermore, the
history is taken up, immediately after his ascension, by
Luke, in the " Acts of the Apostles "; and the very first
sentence contains two distinct references to this doctrine
of the Spirit, recalling especially the Saviour's promise
that his Apostles should " be baptized with the Holy
Ghost, not many days hence. Was that promise accomplished? Read the full answer in the record, just
after, of that matchless wonder, the sublime outpouring
and witnessing of the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost,
when the Church of Christ received its visible baptism
and consecration, for'all time, in the tongues of fire; and
Peter preached, while the multitude praised.
Passing on into the preaching of the Apostles, as they
went out on their missionary work, we find their message surcharged with the burden of this great doctrine.
Everywhere they preached Christ and the resurrection,
and coupled with these the office of the Spirit, regenerating and sanctifying the soul.  Their Epistles glow and
* ovrca -yap rv 7rvev/ma ay-Ov.




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.          281
kindle with the same animating assurance. The radiance of that conviction touched with glory their sufferings by persecution, the miseries of their prison-houses,
their perils by the wilderness, and the martyrdoms that
crowned their good confession of the cross. " None of
these things move me," cried Paul; " for the Holy Ghost
is my witness." Whatever fruits of conversion and
faith honored their apostleship, they described as not
their own, nor of man's wisdom, but the " demonstration
of the Spirit," and "with power."  Three verses in the
Epistle to Titus really condense the whole doctrine into
one comprehensive formula: " After that the kindness
and love of God toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour."
It commends this construction to our cordial reception,
that it meets all the variety of our different religious
habits, suits itself to whatever sincere moods our shifting experience may bring, and, on whichever of the
Divine agents in sustaining our moral life we fix our
meditation, furnishes us a more satisfying image of each.
Some devout minds, for example, have been trained
to fasten their religious reverence and affection almost
exclusively on the Father. Not denying the Son, nor his
offices, nor rejecting the fellowship of the Spirit, their pious
thoughts turn most naturally to God as Father. It is He
that dwells before their contemplation, absorbs their love,
and reaches down to help and save them. For such, the
doctrine, as we have presented it, offers the Holy Spirit as
the gift and presence of that God, his witness, his token,
one of his personal manifestations to the soul. And
24 *




282           DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
although, as it needs -indeed to be more believed, we rob
ourselves of Christian peace and power, just in proportion as we drop out of view our intimate relations to the
person of Jesus; yet, as we have seen, so long as we recognize him as the Divine Saviour, he will still bestow his
benediction on the heart that truly worships his Father.
Did he not say to the Father, " All mine are thine, and
thine are mine"?  Accordingly, as if expressly to enlighten minds of the cast we have alluded to, the Holy
Spirit is represented to us as the Spirit of God, - as the
God that was from everlasting, and visited Moses, David,
and Isaiah. Such believers will cling most fondly to that
phrase in the promise, "11My Father will love him  and
abide with him"; and, not forgetting that it is " in the
name of the Lord Jesus," they will linger with special
satisfaction on Paul's language to the Corinthians, where
he says, " It is by the Spirit of God that we are sanctified."
Another class - and it seems to us they are apt to be
Christians of a more fervent and effectual faith- find
their religious life, not only originally, but constantly,
dependent on the person of Christ. They want to feel
the strengthening touch of his hand and the breath of
his intercession. They are resolute according to the
frequency with which they sit at his feet, and vigilant
according as they are conscious that he is near to be
wounded by their backslidings, or to rejoice personally
in their moral victories; and they are constant to his
Church according as they realize him to be veritably in
it a leader, a friend, a reconciler. This class, then, will
listen with most grateful eagerness when he tells them
that he also, as well as the Father, comes in the Comforter.  They bless him for the pledge, " Lo, I am with




DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.          283
you alway, even unto the end of the world." They
rejoice in the declaration, " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
themn." They reassure themselves with the conviction,
that, though he went away in the humiliation of the
cross, he cometh again to judge the saints for evermore
in glory. And the highest duty of their discipleship is
fulfilled when they can know that they " abide in him."
Or, again, if there are others, whose thought turns less
to the person of either the Father or the Son than to
that Divine Paraclete proceeding from them both, which
we have seen to be called by the New Testament the
Spirit, as actually happens with some branches of the
Church Universal, - then, provided only they will receive it in simplicity, our doctrine makes ready room for
them also, offering no violence to their peculiar culture
or affinities. And these will seize on those many passages that ascribe the work of renewal to the Holy Ghost,
or refer the joy and peace of believing to His power.
By all these ways, in accommodation to all these
shapings of devout belief, will the view we have opened,
if it be reverentially studied and welcomed with a docile
heart, yield confidence and guidance to true Christian
disciples, of whatever name or fold.
Nor is it an incidental, but an essential and inherent,
operation of our doctrine, that it exalts our conceptions
of the personal work of the Messiah, as the Head of the
Church and the Divine Agent of man's regeneration.
Crucified at Calvary, he lives throughout the world.
Slain as our Passover, he survives as our Advocate.
Ascended from our sight, he blesses us still by the Spirit.
Before Abraham, in the bosom of the Father, he reigns
till he has put all enemies under his feet. In that he




284          DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he
liveth unto God, and dieth no more.
It remains that we turn our thoughts to those immediate offices of the Spirit towards our own personal
experience, which serve to bring the doctrine practically
home to the religious affections and life.
Do we feel a consciousness of mortal weakness, which
quite disables us from originating, out of our own virtue,
the regeneration of the soul, and cleansing the heart from
all the defilements of sin? The Holy Spirit comes to
meet that very incapacity: freely, without money or
price, the offered and waiting bounty of God's infinite
affection comes, only asking that we accept it. So it
came, with a mighty wind and tongues of fire, at Pentecost; so it will come, with reviving breath and burning
zeal, to every heart in us that will believe. What said
Jesus of the new birth to Nicodemus, but that every
man so renewed is " born of the Spirit"? and Paul, but
that " the washing of regeneration " is "the renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which God sheds on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour"?
Are we overtaken with a solitary sense sometimes of
our need of guidance through this tangled labyrinth of
life and its temptations? The strong voice of an Apostle answers to that need: " As many as will be led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Or does
your mind stand, dark and perplexed, when some fiendish enemy from within or without - a sneer? a passion,
a provocation -bewilders your judgment and agitates
your temper?  Behold, says your Lord, "the Holy
Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought
to say." With him who could fight with wild beasts at
Ephesus, and sing anthems in prisons, and terrify pom



DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.          285
pous magistrates with his inbred dignity, we can'" speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth." And so we find the
Spirit not only a guide, but an instructor; not only leading us to the truth, but educating us to receive it.
When you want encouragement under failure, or
peace in bereavement, he is your" Comforter"; which
is the very signification of "Paraclete "; and in the
same breath where he promised that guide and teacher,
Christ promised " peace" also, - his own peace, given
"' not as the world giveth." And if you inquire how
this comforting comes, Scripture is ready with a reply:
" Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
And then, when the mood makes transition from penitence, despondency, or grief, to courage, and your necessity is that you be restrained rather than pardoned, stimulated, or soothed, you are taught that the same Spirit
exercises a power of forbidding, as well as of impelling,
and are reminded that even a purpose which seemed so
right as preaching the Gospel in Asia was forbidden to an
Apostle by the Holy Ghost, because the Heavenly Wisdom foresaw results hidden from the best man's eyes.
And, finally, that highest and crowning grace of Christian character, sanctification, is declared, in the Epistle
to the Romans, to be the work of the Spirit, - Renewer,
Guide, Comforter, Restrainer, Sanctifier!  Witness the
beneficent and celestial offices which we either reject
with worldly unbelief, or entertain with devout thanksgiving.
Nor can there be any evasion under the apology that
there is partiality in the invitation. For we listen to the
earliest inspiration of the Church, and hear Peter indig



286          DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
nantly questioning, "Can any man forbid water that
these should not be baptized, which have received the
Holy Ghost as well as we? And they of the circumcision were astonished, because that on the Gentiles also
was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost." I am not
at liberty to judge of its reality by any outward manifestations; for I am uniformly taught to look for that gift
as a secret messenger to the soul. I turn with veneration
to the noblest and holiest saints, like Stephen the protomartyr, and the first companions of his unspeakable tribulation, and find it repeatedly said of them, that the
richness, and grace, and stability of their manhood was,
that they were " filled with the Holy Ghost." Nay, I
must contemplate with a new feeling of solemnity and
Christian awe my own poor frame, when I read, " Know
ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
Whosoever defileth the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; which temple ye are."
It becomes us to remember the great law of the gift;
that condition with which we must implicitly comply, if
we would have our souls enlightened and expanded by
the indwelling Spirit of our Father and our Redeemer.
Hearken to it, as it is uttered from Divine lips: " Your
Heavenly Father shall give the Holy Spirit" -to whom?
To them that seek it not, and prize it lnot, captives to
their traffic, bondmen to their ambition, satisfied with
what they eat and drink, and with the shapes and colors
wherewithal they shall be clothed? No; but "' to theiu
that ask him."
May not the Spirit be resisted, and scorned, and insulted, then, and even fatally and finally forfeited, —
sorrowfully withdrawing, at last,- yet with intercessions and yearnings of tender pity that cannot be ut



DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.          287
tered? The answer is not ours. It is the warning of
One greater than you or me: " Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God."'" Quench not the Spirit."'" Whosoever blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be
forgiven him."
And now, what are the fruits of this Spirit in the
hearts and lives of men? Will not our own reason, our
conscience, nay, our very eyesight, as we read the characters of those we know, make the same answer with
revelation? " The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
and righteousness, and truth, - love, joy, peace, - longsuffering, gentleness, temperance."  " If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." Let the doctrine
find its unanswerable testimonies in the greater purity,
nobleness, and devotedness of the Christian's life before
men.
We do greatly want a fresher and deeper doctrine of
the Holy Spirit. We want it individually, to give vitality to our professions, and energy to our effort, and sanctity to our faith, and unconquerable constancy to our
will. Christendom wants it, to heal the waste places
of its foreign and its domestic heathenism, to repair the
desolations of bigotry and formality, to advance the flagging march of its principles, to animate the languid piety
of its churches, to invigorate pure and undefiled religion,
to gather unrepenting but homesick prodigals in, to enlarge, and build up, and strengthen the enclosures of the
Saviour's everlasting fold.
Come, then, thou Holy Spirit, the Renewer, to replenish our wasting lamps, and revive thy work, in the
midst of the years! Come, Guide and Teacher, to take
our hands in thine, and pour light on our way and on
our mind! Come, as the Comforter, to heal bleeding




288          DOCTRINE OF THE SPIRIT.
hearts, and bind up the bruises of uncharitableness, and
every sorrow! Come, Restrainer, to keep our feet, and
all our hidden' desires and imaginations, from evil!
Come, thou Sanctifier, to purify and perfect us, - unto
the worship of the Father, and obedience to the Son, -
till we are a true and accepted branch of the immortal
Vine, - a people patient and believing, and zealous of
good works!




SERMON XX.
THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST, AND VICTORY
BY HIM.*
WITHOUT MIE YE CAN DO NOTHING. John xv. 5.
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENETH
ME. - Phil. iv. 13.
IN the two members of this double text are affirmations of both the weakness and the power belonging
to us. " Without me ye can do nothing," from the lips
of the Redeemer, signifies our complete dependence.
"I can do all things through Christ strengthening me,"
the exulting claim of an Apostle, exposes the breadth of
our liberty. And inasmuch as they who can do all
things ought to do greatly, this sinless boast of Paul
challenges us with a grand ideal. It utters a stimulating call to our spiritual energies.
In this twofold bearing, the text is only true to the
profound facts of our nature and our position. We are
- experience and analysis equally confirm it- we are
both weak and strong, both dependent and free. Our probation is balanced between these conflicting conditions.
* Preached before the "Autumnal Convention" at Worcester, Mass.,
October 20, 1853.
25




290      THE SOUL S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
There precisely is the problem we are to work out, and
there is the sharp strain of our discipline. God knew
that just these conditions were the most fruitful for producing moral maturity. Looking at our duty from one
side, it would seem as if all we have to do is to put forth
our moral energies,-to act. Looking at it from another
side, it would seem as if our chief business is to appreciate what Christ does for us, - to realize that we belong
to him. To learn how to adjust these elements, - how
to combine and manage both our large birthright of freewill and its humbling limitations, - how to use our
ability nobly, and at the same time to draw the grace of
submission out of our insignificance, not suffering the
one to engender impiety, nor the other to dishearten us
into indolence, -this is perhaps the choicest secret in
religious wisdom. We have to discover that our frailty
is in fact a minister to our progress, in first making us
feel that we can do nothing of ourselves, and afterwards
drawing us to Him in whom the soul gains its perfection; and, on the other hand, that our native capacity is
the spur that keeps our muscles from palsy. Our dependence is the needed check on vanity; and our power
puts us to work in the Master's vineyard, after we have
entered it under that lowly door of self-renunciation.
Let me say, that, in my present treatment, I recognize
no distinction between the Messiah speaking and the
God who speaks by his lips. " The Father who dwelleth in me," he says, "he doeth the works."  " As the
Father hath given me commandment, even so I speak."
Raising no question, therefore, of the interior relations
of their nature, nor touching the dogmatic aspect of the
case in any way, I find that, for all the practical interests of the subject, what is declared by Christ of himself




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.      291
is declared of God. Understand me, then, as taking for
granted this oneness between them, by which each
speaks for the other, and as waiving from the discussion
any possible notion of a conflict of their dignities.
My method will be, first, to offer you some illustrations of the beautiful law, inwoven into our spiritual constitution, that it is looking upward to a Power above us
which works the largest effects in both animating and
purifying the soul, rather than any introspection, peeping
about for ever among our own petty attainments or defects; then, to observe how this essential want is met in
Christ Jesus, and how he becomes the elevating Presence
and informing Power which lends to every true life its
order, its constancy, its peace.
Undoubtedly, the chief and most urgent sense of our
need of Divine help comes by the conviction of our sins.
Dependent for all inspiration and furtherance on the
Father's Well-Beloved, we depend on him most of all
for the reconciliation that brings forgiveness, and so
we feel this dependence most completely, when smitten
by the consciousness of our alienation. The perfect
but violated law, with no lax nor exceptional clause;
the bright immaculate standard; the unqualified " Thou
shalt" from the mouth of the Judge, insulted by our
constant transgression; the faithful and rebuking mernory that will not sleep, but fixes on us the guilt and the
dread of offenders;- these are what wring from the dependent breast the heartiest cry, "1 Lord, save us, or we
perish!"
Apart from this, however, and in a more general view,
it is by one of the most signal spiritual laws that human
hearts are made to receive their chief impulses from
a being exalted over them; as child from parent, —




292      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
scholar from teacher, - the soldier from his leader, - the
citizen from the majesty of government embodied in
the ruler. So in the Church, which is the nursery, the
school, the camp, the kingdom, of religious training and
growth. There is no principle so wondrously efficient
for the production of holiness as faith in that eternal
play of the Spirit into our common life, promised by
Jesus, as the perpetuation of his own mediatorial office,
under the names of Comforter, Paraclete, Holy Spirit,
Spirit of Truth. When our lives lose this transfiguring
faith, the celestial splendor has faded from them. It is
this that establishes that affecting commerce between
humanity and the heavens, which brings down the help
of the Almighty to renew, from hour to hour, our wasting devotions. This is that doctrine of the Spirit,wakening, encouraging, sanctifying, -which the modern Church seems often so stupidly bent on denying, as
if it would bereave the earth of its only celestial light.
And it is indispensable to the doctrine, as a faithful
study of John's Gospel will interpret it to us, that we
understand by the Spirit something more, something
nearer, something warmer and more efficacious, than the
inarticulate influences of nature; namely, that peculiar
and personal energy which Christ referred to as in fact
the continuation of his own life in his Church, and
declared to be inaugurated on his going away, and
which is clearly separated from the domain of natural
law. The Saviour uttered no syllables more full of tenderness, than when he besought his followers to feel that
without him they could do nothing. He furnished man
no uplifting nor propelling impulse so august or so benignant as when he cried, "No man cometh unto the
Father but by me."  Study deeply enough, and we shall




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.     293
see that God nowhere gives such final honor, or such
immortal blessing, to the names of his separate sons and
daughters, as when he exalts his Only-begotten over
them all, and gives him a name that is above every
name, that so their faith might look up to him, and
climb after him.
I think you will agree with me, that there is some
secret provision in our nature which makes this act of
looking upward the grandest exercise of our faculties. It
is shadowed forth by the fact, that, in the common consent of all languages, what is noblest and best is placed
over us. Heaven is arched above our heads. Excellence
is a height. When we improve, wd ascend. Greatness
is figured as an elevation. Virtues in character are measured according to their loftiness. The divinest motions
of the human spirit are aspiration and veneration, —
both looking upward. Prayer, we say, goes up. The
more a man sees above him to reverence, the humbler
he is; and " he that humbleth himself is in due time exalted." The finest symbols of all generous attainment
are mountains and the sky. And just as to a true and
thoughtful mind the largest satisfaction found in the
society of great hills is in looking up toward them from
beneath, and letting the kindled and devout imagination
travel up their glorious peaks into the infinitude and
mystery whither the summits point, rather than in putting the foot on their crown and sending the eye arrogantly down into the conquered plains, - so always, if
our spiritual state is right, what is grandest on earth
most impels us to look beyond it.
This conviction of a constant dependence on what
God does for us, by his Spirit and his Son, as the great
spring and motive of what we are to do for ourselves,
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294      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
stands in intimate connection with other dispositions,
besides humility, equally necessary to the higher types
of character, —such as self-denial, gratitude, penitence,
love, - all heroic traits. Is not self-denial a part of magnanimity?  But strike away its divine impersonation
in Him who died that we might live, and, if we could no
longer gaze up to that standard of sacrifice, how soon
would the glory of such virtue grow dim! Penitence is
the sorrow that haunts a guilty breast for having rejected
that condescension, and so it is the child of Christianity.
Gratitude is the answer of nature to the Being who so
lent himself to the world's malice, and to the forgiveness
that blesses penitence with pardon. And if you speak
of love, —was there ever a feeling worthy to be called
by that holy name that did not see in the person beloved
something superior to self? By all these bonds of better
feeling does Christ fasten us to the way of life, when he
makes us realize that without him we can do nothing.
The idea that man is the originator and autocrat of
his religious life, by severing us from our Head, robs
us of these radiant graces.  Submission to self is no
submission. A hard, bold, conceited, and finally a disappointed and recanting temper, is engendered, and because the soul would not lean on its Lord, piety perishes.
It may be pretended, I know, that this doctrine of dependence on what is done for them may indispose men
to act for themselves, and, by locating the main work
above them, turn redemption into a temptation to idleness, leaving Christian believers only passive recipients
of salvation, instead of energetic doers, working it out.
But whatever color of plausibility such an objection may
have taken from extravagant or one-sided representations,
the view, as it opens from the New Testament, offers no




THE SOUL S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.       295
practical room for the charge, and the best philosophy
takes sides with Revelation. Let any heart really feel
that a great sacrifice of love has been undergone for it,
and must it not, by a mighty necessity, give back the
service of love in return? To maintain the opposite is
the worst libel human nature has ever suffered yet. On
the contrary, it presents human nature on its more attractive side, I think, that it is found to be striving for generous achievements quite as effectually out of the grateful
sense of what has been done for it, as out of the more
ambitious and Pharisaic hope to do everything for itself.
There is no nobler order of souls than those that know
how to owe their best wealth to a Hand above them,
without servility or sloth. The secret of beautiful manners, in society, is social reverence, or that tacit subordination of selfish convenience to the whole, which is like a
perpetual offer of free and dignified service to others. The
most refined of all courtesy is that by which a man makes
the most of himself, only for the sake of making, in himself, the worthiest offering to his kind. Hence the ancient
loyalty was often self-ennobling simply because it was
unselfish.  Christianity, transferring the homage from
all accidental principalities to a Prince of perfection and
peace, sustains the principle with a better application.
It is clearly declared, in the spiritual code of the Gospel,
"' Whosoever is willing to give his life away for his Master, shall save it."
It is not a mere conceit of speculation, I think, to seek,
in this way, a confirmation for the Christian doctrine
of dependence, in the natural facts and constitution of
the mind, — in the rule of manners and in every-day
emotions. For, however complete our deference to the
authority of Revelation, there are capricious moods in




296      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
the most believing minds, when intellectual curiosity will
be prying into the realm of ordinary reason for some
echoes to the vast witness in the Bible. In such furtive
licenses of doubt, it is no light comfort to faith to find
that even all along the highways of nature, in the public
paths of custom and of reflection, there are scattered consenting monuments to the insufficiency of our mortal
ability, to the power of the Divine redemption.
Accordingly, it is interesting to see that the history of
the higher speculations in philosophy scarcely shows a
period when the idea of man's belonging to a Superior
was not embraced by some of the leaders of thought.
Ever since the morning of science, the foremost danger of
intellectual activity has been audacity, or that self-confident unbelief which thinks to dispense with God; this
danger the instincts of the deeper-sighted thinkers have
not failed to apprehend. Standing in the Grecian twilight, hear Plutarch, as he looked still farther back into
what was antiquity to him, bewailing the departure of
an earlier faith. " The ancients," he says, " directed their
attention simply to the divine in phenomena, as God is
the centre and beginning of all, and from him all things
proceed.  But the moderns turned themselves wholly
away from that ground of things, and supposed everything could be explained from natural causes," -the
identical presumption of our nineteenth century scepticism.  The great modern master of that philosophy
which affects to be most independent of Revelation introduces into his system a principle which, if you only
allow it to play into personal as well as abstract relations,
does really suspend everything on God's will; namely,
that in all human minds the sense of an Infinite is the
necessary condition and counterpart of a finite conscious



THE SOUL' S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.      297
ness. And while European culture in its last and most
subtile elaboration thus leaves in its splendid edifice a virtual confession of the fundamental axiom of religion, we
find the solitary thinker of the Western Continent, Jonathan Edwards, in his Berkshire study, by reasonings not
less original and independent, nor less influential on the
world's ideas, maintaining the much plainer and more
evangelical proposition, that the whole universe, in every
part of it, is supported by a continual succession of acts of
the Divine Will, not different from that which at first created the world, " just as an image is upheld in a mirror
by a continual flow of rays of light, each succeeding pencil of which does not differ from that by which the image
was at first produced." So do the extremes of human
theories, in the diverse voices of genius, through all the
periods of which letters inform us, unite in rendering their
testimonials - from the most vague and reluctant, to the
most articulate, cordial, and clear - to the simple truth
which Paul put better than any of them, - that in God
we live and move and have our being. And without
him as he is manifest in his Christ, spiritually we can do
nothing.
You will hardly need an argument, I think, my friends,
to satisfy you that the active forces of our time are working in a direction that is very liable to drift men's thoughts
and atffections away from this humble upward-looking
faith and religious submission. The very enterprise that
builds the gorgeous structure of our civilization, threatens to undermine the vastly more needful shelter of the
Church; because, by so many triumphs over the resistance of matter, the brain grows self-assured, and comes
to deem itself almighty and all-sufficient. As we go on
making the earth more convenient, there is less feeling of




298      THE SOULS DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
the need of that other heritage, lying all glorious and
serene beyond it. Ships, factories, railways, mills, aqueducts, instead of being made the consecrated instruments
of a holier society, may be only the boasted badges of a
richer one, and beget a shallow and ungodly impudence.
In the piety now fashionable, we miss, how often! the
simple, childlike character that waits every hour for the
beckoning hand of God. At church even, the preaching
encroaches upon the prayers, and wins the livelier interest. At our business, the swift eagerness of motion
puts life at awful hazards; the great channels of public
travel planting and peopling graveyards at every bend of
the road. All is persistent will, valiant energy, pushing
and victorious worldliness. How little of meek, persistent communion with the everlasting Lord! Hlow little
dependence on the Spirit!  How little of that deeper
meditation which sees that, without religion, all this fretting action will be but a noisy ruin after all, and that
without Christ it can do nothing! We are impatient
for results. We measure the spiritual life by the wealth
or size of parishes and the ostentation of philanthropy.
We are willing to pay liberal prices for that piety which
yields a handsome return of self-complacency. No sooner
does some sect get a little faith, than, instead of modestly
crying, "Lord, I believe: help thou mine unbelief!" it
goes about to challenge admiration, and expects applause, and sets up a competition with its neighbors,too sure evidence that what it got was not faith. The
old Puritan habit of connecting every change in place or
venture in business with God's providence, and hallowing
it by a prayer, is praised perhaps in the eloquence of
Pilgrim anniversaries; but is it practised in' State Street
and the State-House?  Commerce crowds upon. the




THE SOUL S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.       299
closet. The school-house gets jealous and impatient of
the Bible. Universities talk of closing their chapels. An
upstart learning, idolizing knowledge, but only half wise,
screams its smart sneers at the Revelation which will be;rue after it is dead, as it was before it was born.  The
sin of the brain has always been audacity. And the
hardest and least relenting of all unbeliefs is that of a bitter intellectual pride. In the Hebrew allegory, the fallen
angels of Love regained the celestial light, because they
confessed their weakness, and crept back, through the
dark, dependently begging to find again what they had
lost. But the fallen angels of Knowlede, confident in
their vain boast of self-emanating lustre, plunged obstinately on, till they sunk, obscure and lost for ever, into
the pit. "Without me," —it needs to be written out
over all your warehouses, and wharves, and banks, and
barns, and starting-points of travel, and ships' decks, and
places of amusement, -it needs to be brought into the
souls, and so into the labor and life, of the people, —
"W Without me ye can do nothing,- without the principles of my religion, - without the purity and justice and
charity of the beatitudes, -without faith in my person,
- without the spirit of my life, and the sacrifice of my
cross! "
Believe it, brethren, man needs a more generous motive than his own promotion. To be satisfying, or serene,
or strong, his life must link itself through a mediator to
God, and breathe by his inspiration. When I can begin
every day, or undertaking, with the feeling, " I do it not
of myself, so much as the Spirit through me," then I labor
with more than my poor mortal ingenuity; the cunning
of my fingers is the simple desire to be about my Father's
business; and I can do all things through Christ strength



300      THE SOUL S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
ening me. Consciously, distinctly, resolutely, habitually,
we need to give ourselves, our business, our interests, our
families, our affections, into the Spirit's hands, to lead and
fashion us as he will. When we work with the current
of that Divine Will, all is vital, efficient, fruitful; for, leaning back against the Omnipotent arm, this human frame
attracts strength into all its sinews. But when we strive
against that current, some secret flaw vitiates even what
we call our successes; and how do we know but our
proudest successes then are only failures in disguise?
You have seen the rower's strength put vigorously against
the tide; and, judging from his own narrow point on the
water, the dash of his oars seemed to be dividing the waves,
and sending him up the channel. But when the mist
lifts, let him send his glance away to some stable landmark on the shore, and he finds the triumphant stream has
all the time been drifting him backward and downward.
So with the moral issue of our plans. By our conceited
standards, we seem to compass our ends; but transfer
the scale of measurement to eternity, and behold! we
have been losers of the soul while we gained the world,
because the Spirit was not invited to befriend our toil!
After the bolts are all driven, and the shrouds are set, we
must still wait for the breath of heaven to fill the sail.
Nothing, literally nothing, in the final reckoning, without
our Lord!
An illustration, how we never comprehend the facts
of experience in their Christian meaning, nor look on
our duties rightly, till we project the centre of our interest and love out of ourselves, and fix it in God, may be
found in the progress of astronomy. The little planet we
stand on was once reckoned the centre of the material
universe.  But when Copernicus supplanted Ptolemy,




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.       301
the earth, retiring into the humility of a satellite, waited
on the silent lordship of the sun. So in the false computations of a short-sighted worldliness, self is central;
self-will is sovereign; man is deified. But when Christianity brings in her grander "' calculus of faith," the supremacy is removed from man to God; the moral universe is no longer anarchical, but heliocentric again; the
earth depends from the heaven over it. The true order
of piety, worship, life, is restored, because all the events
of life gravitate about the Eternal Providence; the heart
obeys a heavenly control; the affections are swayed by
the attractions of the Spirit.  Without our Lord we can
do nothing.
Turn, now, to the wonderful way whereby all these
necessities and cravings of the soul for help from beyond
and above itself are met in Jesus of Nazareth. Ponder
it, and you will exclaim, with Paul, " I can do all things
through Christ strengthening me."  By his wide and
mighty heart, he strengthens you, embracing all the possibilities of experience, and covering all the moral emergencies of life; reaching up to heaven, in the exaltation
of his nature, and having his home in the bosom of God,
but stooping down to the earth also in his mercy, writing
on its sand, kneeling on its sod, breathing its air, touching its saddest trials with his miracles. Tender enough
to soothe the sorrow of the gentlest child by his pity. he
is regal enough in his power to command into his service
twelve legions of angels. Praying to his Father, he lends
the ardor and steadfastness of his fidelity to our dull, irregular affections. Lifting special petitions when he had
special wonders to work, or special agonies to bear, he
brightens every midnight of our perplexity by his midnight supplications in the mountain, aids our hesitations
26




302      THE SOUL S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
by his cry at the grave of Lazarus, supports our faith by
his thrice-repeated entreaties in the garden. When reviled, reviling not again, and forgiving his murderers, he
furnishes a heavenly peace to every one in your houses
that is wronged or betrayed, -the child that is feeling
the first pang of faithless friendship, the merchant defrauded by his partner, the woman defamed by her rival.
Thus, tempted himself like as we are, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
By every incident in his earthly history, every office in
his ministry of humiliation, he strengthens us. So marvellously did virtue go out of him, the spots where his
feet lingered but a moment became shrines of homage,
where all centuries and nations kneel, - Galilee, Nazareth, Bethlehem, the Well of Samaria, the Mount of
Olives: what strengthening names! The bed of every
new-born babe in Christendom is safer, because his was
made in a manger. All the shores of countries on to
which Christian discovery has leaped, are more sacred for
his walking the beach of Tiberias. His reading in the
synagogue at Capernaum has added a holier dedication
to every sanctuary and pulpit. When he paid the tithe
of his people, he sanctioned every righteous claim of the
civil government on the citizen.  And when he sat
down with the affectionate circle at the home in Bethany, the kind securities of family and kindred received a
more than mortal benediction. So was every step in his
Judaean journey radiant with the eternal Light, lightening
thenceforth every man born into a Christian world, and
strengthening him.
By the benevolence and the power of his miracles, he
strengthens us. Not only by breaking the monotony of
nature, and attesting with supernatural proofs that the




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.      303
Almighty must be with him, but also by the lasting lessons of compassion and consolation which those miracles
have left for us. We see the Saviour standing once with
his gracious hand on the dead girl's heart; and lo! that
image multiplies itself in a thousand weeping homes,
through all the dying race. Once he spoke the word of
resurrection to Lazarus; and the voice echoes and reechoes in endless reverberations from all the walls of
Christian sepulehres and graves that will ever be hollowed
out on the globe. He healed a few sick; and all sickness
and pain are more endurable. He hushed the storms at
sea; and every sailor knows more surely that the waves
are curbed by a heavenly control. He opened the ears
of the deaf; and all his disciples listen more gratefully to
his instruction.
For, again, by his true teachings he strengthens us.
The Sermon on the Mount kindles virtue to-day, as gloriously as when its unequalled sentences fell on the multitude at his feet. When crime seems to be grinning in
horrid triumphs over innocence, when vice grows riotous,
or mammon cruel, in our New England cities, we turn
back to the beatitudes, to the parables, to the conversation with Nicodemus, declaring that, except a man be
born again, he cannot see God's kingdom; to the rebuke
of those ambitious politicians, the sons of Zebedee, seeking high offices in the new administration; to the stern
rebuke that bade the prosperous young worldling go sell
all he had and give to the poor, and so crush by violence
the idolatry in the heart; and in these rare discourses,
reaching down, plain, piercing, and practical, to us, as to
the publicans and statesmen and mechanics of eighteen
hundred years ago, we feel that every word from the Saviour's lips is bread of life, coming down from heaven,
strengthening us.




304      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
By his cross and death, above all, he strengthens us,
- strengthens us to fight afresh with the sin that he there
-vanquished, to buffet the temptations that he there conquered, to hope for the forgiveness which he there pledged
and sealed. No soul among you that has ever known
what remorse is, -a convicted conscience, - a yearning
for reconciliation with a broken commandment and a
forsaken Father, -needs to be told how the cross strengthens. There are passages in human experience when all
else is weakness, and confidence rises over no other spot
in the dark field of sight but Calvary.
By his surviving spirit, too,-by what he still is to the
world,-he strengthens us. Dispensing secret gifts to his
true followers, as the living and present Head over all
things to his Church, he remains the divine friend that
opens his heart to the simple communion of the humblest
believer. Ages do not outgrow him. Libraries cannot
supplant him. All our science casts no ray that dims his
transcendent glory; for the solar beam never pales before
a torch. He is with us, if we seek him, as much as with
Peter, and John, and Mary, and Thomas. "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
And just here we discover light on the ecclesiastical
difficulty that has so long vexed theology, namely, how
to attain unity in the Church. You are met here tonight, a company of Christian students, with breasts full
of aspiration for that grand consummation of history, -
one fold and one Shepherd. How else shall the body
be one, my brethren, except by abiding in its Head, its
heart, its life, and beholding his presence?  How  else
shall disciples see eye to eye, but by all ranging themselves in the divine circle of affectionate reverence about
the central Master, sitting at his feet, and looking into




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.      305
his countenance, and doing his works? Christ did more
than stand apart, and lay the corner-stone of the Church
with his hand, and then retire into distant heavens. He
pours his own heart's life, which is the Spirit, into it
daily. Realize this, and you will no longer have to complain of churches that are not vital, or churches that
hate and devour each other. Communion will be a fact.
Society will be beautiful. Justice and love will crown
commerce and government.
By his intercessions as advocate before the throne,
seconding our prayers, and prevailing with the Father,
he strengthens our devotion as greatly as his doctrine
strengthens our work. Still, as we hearken, in the midst
of our secret supplication we hear him saying, "Without me ye can do nothing," and, " Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in my name, I will give it you."
And finally, by his resurrection, bringing immortality
to light, he strengthens us, -strengthens us just where
faith was feeblest and most likely to fail, - among the
fears and sorrows of death. As fast as experience deepens with you, friends, it will sway the soul, if you do not
unbelievingly resist it, more and more to the only Interpreter of its mystery, the only Deliverer from its bondage.
Processions that halt each moment at opening cemeteries; tears that are falling, falling for ever, and baptizing burial acres; the wails of grief that moan through
desolated households,-they all articulate, in some undertone, the old cry of Peter, so tender, so grateful: " Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou alone hast the words that
comfort mourners, open tombs, and give us back our
dead, —even words of everlasting life."  And then, is
there any heart beating here this evening which has not
its own secret accusation, or strife, or fear, — its hidden
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306      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
cross of fire clinging to the inmost sensitive cords of life, -
not to be outrun by travel, not to be dispelled by gayety,
not to be drugged by anodynes, nor outwitted by philosophy, nor rejected by any restless artifice of fashion,shown to no mortal eyes, but only whispered in the petitions that besiege the mercy of Heaven? It is as if God
kept our secret soul opening in, on one of its many sides,
only towards that one Friend that is closer than brother,
or wife, or lover, — a perpetual memorial that without
him we can do nothing!
As I bring this meditation towards an end, let me ask
you to advert to two of the most common usurpers that
we irreligiously thrust in to displace the Redeemer as the
source of spiritual power, - denying his own word, that
without him we can do nothing.  I mean, first, material
nature, with its laws of order and its aspect of beauty;
and secondly, self, - self as independent of a Master.
Of the first, it will be generally agreed, I suppose, that
the places where the grandeur of the visible creation is
most magnificently shaped to the eye are high mountains.
Our fatal mistake is in presuming they have, or could
have, any really efficacious influence on character, whether
by way of incitement to holiness or restraint from sin,anything in fact beyond a certain vague, resthetic, and
transient stimulus of the finer sentiments, apart from that
faith if Christ and his religion, with the hallowing associations that surround them, which we carry, or may not
carry, with us to their impressive, august ritual.  When
I have stood on the loftiest peak of our Northern ridge,
and looked off alone on the vast billows of rock and forest that stretched like a stiffened sea below, or up into
the sky, which seemed no nearer, but more immeasurable
there, I confess one of my first involuntary recollections




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.     307
went away from the sublime scene about me to the tides
of human life rolling far off their dark elements of remorse for sin, of pain, and grief, and penitence, and
hopeless love, and sighing of slaves, and baffled aspiration. They sent no sound up into that cold solitude;
but the mortal breast I had brought up with me told me
they were all living, and chafing, and surging on. And
so my next thought was of that Christ by whom this
hardened humanity, waiting so many generations, must
be redeemed.  The upheaved and tangled rifts of rock,
ploughed only by volcanic revolutions and the wearing
weather, reminded me how the whole creation groaneth
together for the manifestation of the sons of God; the
broken pillars of the hills became prophets of the second
coming of the Son of Man; and from the jagged monuments of ancient change, Christian hope ran forward to
" Christ's new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
Or, finally, will you seek the original fountains of
goodness in your own breast? Blind and disappointing
search! That is a short sight that can trace any righteous impulse which gleams across your soul only to
yourself. It has a diviner parentage, and a supernatural
history. Its birth was in the Spirit of the Most High.
The gracious influences set playing through Christendom
by the Holy One of Nazareth have nurtured it. Whenever, after years of ignoble and selfish indolence, a sudden conviction of uselessness has smitten your conscience,
and then a resolve to be a benefactor to some human lot
has scattered this dismal suspicion that you might be living to no purpose, brightening and refreshing your whole
heart, - it was the gift of his Spirit, more than your own
invention, and the glory should be his. The noble host




308      THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.
of reformers, that have stood between old abuses and
their victims, are his army. The conquerors of oppression, of crime, of poverty, of superstition, of oceans that
lay this side of heathenism, have all conquered in the
name of Him who came to open prison-doors, and set the
bruised at liberty.  The valiant priests of labor have
been but servants of that great High-Priest, passed into
the heavens, who sanctified all lawful industry when
he said,'" My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
The successful vindicators of sinning outcasts have all
watched and prayed through Him who came not to call
the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. And all the
lengthening train of redeeming charities and philanthropies lift their accordant anthem to the one Redeemer, " Not
unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory! "
Brethren, we have raised, I know, but a corner of the
fold which veils the strengthening offices of Jesus to the
world. With such animating, but all inadequate glimpses, we must retire from the unexhausted theme. The
spiritual power in Christ is without limits. We call the
celestial spaces, where the planets swing, infinite; but
not as the quickening life in our Lord is infinite; for that
is deeper than the sky, holier than its mystery, brighter
than its effulgence, more inexhaustible than its variety.
In the discoveries of astronomy, it is as if one star after
another, like drops of flame, fell into the field of our vision fromn some supreme and inexhaustible stellar sea, and
gave themselves into the hand of Science. So, as we
study, with spiritual eyes, into the Saviour's divinity, one
after another new points of light, new traits of love, new
features of blended majesty and tenderness, gleam out
upon our gratitude.  We have only to look to find
The heart's matchless telescope is simple, childlike faith




THE SOUL'S DEPENDENCE ON CHRIST.    309
And every spot of common life where Providence plants
our feet is an observatory, - if we will but stand in it
looking upward, devoutly upward, - lofty enough for the
whole sweep of that condescending heaven.
As we go, and wherever we stand, let us remember,
that, for truths revealed from above, duties are to be practised on earth; for gifts of the Spirit granted, works of
the heart and hand are enjoined. What remains, then,
but that we go to Him without whom we can do nothing?
Go with resolute obedience; go with grateful trust, —
the inspiring trust that you can do all things through
Christ strengthening you!




SERMON XXI.
THE HIDDEN LIFE.
YOUR LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD.- Col. iii. 3.
WHAT gives the doctrine of Christ's mediatorship its
practical dignity, is not only its unspeakable display of
Divine mercy in the redemption from sin by the cross,
but also its wonderful fitness to invigorate and encourage
a spiritual life in the believer. It is a striking fact of our
inward economy, and is one of the proofs that we are
attempered for spiritual uses, that, the loftier the exaltation we ascribe to the Saviour in his divineness, the more
intimately always we find him related to the sympathies
of our humanity. It is they that most elevate him in
honor, who find him nearest to the affections, and most
efficient as a helper to familiar duties. This is where a
superficial criticism, founded on a shallow experience,
constantly stumbles. When we have received a Redeemer whose being reaches back into the fellowships of
the Father's bosom and glory, we have also received one
who abides, with mighty ministries, in the fellowship of
the Church, and in the disciple's breast, to this day.
The most reverential view of God manifest in the
flesh is the largest producer of daily holiness, as well as
the dearest to the heart. And thus it is proved, as in




THE HIDDEN LIFE.               311
many instances besides, that those truths which most
rouse a religious veneration are best adapted to inspire
simple goodness of character; and what is most profoundly spiritual is also most directly practical.
"The life that is hid with Christ in God."  This is one
of those illimitable utterances of the mind of the Spirit,
which suggest so much to faith through the imagination,
that we feel as soon as we repeat them how utterly impossible it is to fathom or exhaust their meaning. Deep
opens below deep. But for the condescending guidance
of the same Spirit, we might well retire, discouraged and
dumb, from a theme so august. May the Divine pity forgive our errors and lighten our darkness!
After the appearance of the Son of God in his personal ministry, eighteen centuries and a half ago, in
Bethlehem, the first fact we encounter, in the historic
consciousness of the Church, is his invisible supremacy
as its Head and Lord, not less in the private hearts of disciples than in their public organization and missionary
activity. No sooner was Jesus lifted up from the earth,
than we find his Apostles, with the widest personal diversities of habits and tastes, singularly united in that one
common bond of a hidden life, - hidden as to its spring,
but open as the day in its generous and beneficent effects.
Journey where they will, their eyes turn always to one
transcendent image, ascended, indeed, into the heavens,
but still giving gifts unto men. Their hearts cling devoutly to one invisible Master. Their lips bear always
upon them one all-prevailing name. Their prayers are
all breathed through one intercessor. Their thanksgivings and songs of triumph end with one ascription, " To
Him who died, yea, rather, who is risen again." At every
step in those fearful perils, — from solitary wildernesses




312              THE HIDDEN LIFE.
where they flew with the standard of the cross, from
crowded cities and old temples, on the sea in storms at
midnight, amidst the brilliant enchantinents of Corinth,
in the Athenian Agora, before the judgment-seats of
tyranny, under the shadows of the Parthenon or of a
Libyan palm-tree in a sultry noon, with the barbarians
at Melita, in prisons, in love-feasts, — everywhere, they
felt their hands to be laid in one sure and mighty hand,
leading, blessing, delivering, serving them. One Divine
form walked ever, in brightness, among the " seven golden candlesticks " whereon they had lighted church fires.
Descend into the Roman Catacombs that modern curiosity has opened, and there, where they used to hide from
persecution, and spread the Lord's Supper on the sepulchral tablets of their dead, every inscription, symbol, monogram, points to one incorruptible Shepherd. The constant confession of each of them was, " Of mine own
self I can do nothing"; but the great assurance followed
instantly, " I can do all things through Christ strengthening me."
And so it has been in the true line of spiritual descent
ever since. Personal fellowship with Christ has been the
hereditary blood in the veins of the Church. Wherever
genuine piety has burned, there this Apostolic sentiment
and power, the love of Jesus, has been the animating
force, — distinct from nature-worship, from moral science, from the religion of prudence, from the culture of
proprieties. And this inward life, " hid with Christ in
God," is the life we have now to interpret. I propose to
ask what it is founded in, what it is in itself, and what
are the fruits it yields,- or as to its necessity, its nature,
and its results.
I. The necessity for sharing the Mediator's life is




THE HIDDEN LIFE.               313
within the soul itself. It is implicated in the essential
conditions of our spiritual being. We are not obliged to
search for it in any mystical or strange region of speculation, but in the most natural and obvious of our feelings.
The simplest analysis of humanity discovers it, lying evident among the elemental facts of life. For the wisest
philosophy is not more sure to recognize, at last, this
cry for the Son of God, among the profound and primitive prophecies of our inward constitution, than the most
unsophisticated common sense is to confess it, amidst
the daily discipline of the heart.
It springs out of both of the two sides of an earnest
experience in human nature, the consciousness of spiritual deficiency, and the notion of perfection, - our discontent with what we are, and our desire for what we
were meant to be.
We all feel,- at least if our life amounts to anything
that deserves to be called an experience, - that we are
not what we ought to be; that we are terribly otherwise.
Let us not try to get around the fact.  These hearts -
our own hearts - have taken in other guests than purity
and honor, devotion and disinterested love. These lips,
have they never displaced the honest words of charity
and prayer for bitterness and mockery? These hands
have been about other than the Father's business, —
those royal services of justice and mercy. Has there
been no jealousy in our dispositions, or overreaching in
our dealings, or conceit in our self-esteem, or arrogance
in our social intercourse, indolence in our habits, extravagance in our luxuries, slander and equivocation in our
talk, vanity in the appointments of persons and households, intolerance in our judgments, hypocrisy in our professions,- none of the radically impious love of the world
27




314             THE HIDDEN LIFE.
with which the love of the Father makes no compromise?
Now, if we were under the government of abstract laws,
— as Materialism says we are, and as the Pantheist
will say, whenever he is both logical and honest, -then
this sense of deficiency would remain only a moderate,
intellectual, and inoperative discontent; for it would
show us to have fallen short only of an ideal standard;
it would trouble us only with the negative feeling of having failed of something which we might have achieved,
and of having abused the possibilities of our capacity;
so that we should be but offenders against our own ambition, - not sinners, but only mistaken or undeveloped
specimens. On the contrary, we are under the government of a God who has both personality and consciousness, who is the very essence and source of all personal
consciousness, and whose hourly dealings with us are
direct and intimate. Our goings astray, the Gospel says,
are not mistakes, but sins, — not abstractions, but concrete crimes, -not merely dwarfings of our manhood's
stature, but affronts against an affectionate Father. They
disturb the harmony and benefit and beauty of a gracious intercourse between the parent and the child. God
has spoken; we have heard. God has commanded; you
and I have disobeyed. He commands every day afresh,
— publishing a new apocalypse of our duty with every
sunrise. But every day afresh we are selfish, and petulant, and censorious, and proud, and not quite sincere;
our purity is not white; some duplicity creelps into our
conversation; some bodily sacrilege profanes God's temple. The law is holy, just, and good. Our lives are not
holy, nor just, nor good. It is nowhere written that we
may partly keep that law and partly break it, and yet go
acquitted. But we break it still. Suppose the past score




THE HIDDEN LIFE.              315
settled by our repentance; even if the integrity of the
Divine government were left unimpaired, we have no
reason to think we shall be perfect men or blameless
women in the future.  We are rather painfully and
shamefully certain that, after all our endeavors, we shall
sin again and again. What then were our life, without
a Mediator reconciling it?  What, if Christ, coming in
from above its broken strength, did not touch it with his
inspiration, renew it by his grace, sanctify it by his love?
What if he, who alone is competent, uniting both the
estranged elements in his own redeeming person, did not
come and take this fallen life, and quicken it by the
breathing of his spirit, and revive its torpor by his truth,
and warm its frost in his bosom, and restore its deadness
by his intercession, -and thus hide it again, with himself,
in God?  What would it be, except it were thus animated by his indwelling power, were forgiven by the
pardon which no other voice on earth but his ever promised, and no other seal but his death could ever accredit? Past offences are then blotted out. The penitent
passes into the disciple.  Memories of transgression
torment no more. So that thenceforth, Christ being
formed within him, the believer might say, " This life
that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who gave himself for me." It is a life hid with Christ
in God.
On the other side, there is the native notion of perfection.  That trace of glory past, and pledge of immortality yet to be, lingers, in most minds, a witness of
Heaven among so many tokens of shame. The soul
will not be content with degradation. The prodigal refuses to eat husks with the swine. The sensualist has
better moments, when he loathes the companionships,




316             THE HIDDEN LIFE.
and the kennel, of his appetites. The hard idolater of
money relents, and has a brief vision of something better
worth his striving than dividends and profits. The scholar is kindled by momentary glances of an ambition that
aspires beyond office or reputation, or any of the praises
of earthly emulation. Nicodemus dreams of a character saintlier than a Pharisee, and wakes and feels his way
to Christ by night. Woman is wretched among her ornaments and accomplishments and admirations, and feels
insulted when your compliments imply that these emptinesses are the stateliest honors her heart knows how to
worship. Even the woman that was vile, in some penitential moment is irresistibly attracted to the Saviour.
Tears from.the spring that has been so long dry, to wash
those blessed feet; the hair that a meretricious vanity had
often braided, more eagerly loosened to wipe them; kisses
of purified passion; the ointment, not too costly if it impoverishes her for ever, - what signals of an indestructible longing for holiness deep down in the breast of sin!
The young man comes to Jesus with that mournful con,
fession and question, - the pathos of it sadder, I think,
than anything to be read in any tragedy,-" The heights
of legal virtue gained, what lack I yet?"
Here, again, if there were no personal God to whom
these aspirations reach up,- if they did not culminate,
at last, in the supreme desire for harmony with the infinite and infinitely holy Father, - then we should need no
personal Mediator. These notions of a more perfect
state, visions of a spotless virtue, would be only floating
and transient visitants to the soul, - passing and leaving
no permanent effect, like the luminous forms that tremble across the night sky, transfigure the darkness for an
instant, and vanish. They would not consolidate into




THE HIDDEN LIFE.              317
principles. They would be only the "haunting oracles
that stir our clay," which heathen souls knew, and heathen
genius has celebrated. But the moment our eyes are
opened on our true relations to God, we see that there is
no such thing as a satisfactory striving after ideal standards, but only after reconciliation with him. We see that
the restless heart gets peace, the moment it gets the conviction that God is its friend, -or rather, that it and God
are at one, having one will and one love. Whatever else
the world can give us, it gives us chaff and the east wind,
till it gives us that. Perfection of character is not to be
gained except by that inspiration. A peaceful progress
in goodness comes only by that faith. And now, again,
the only way unto the Father is by his Son. For in
Christ every ideal of spiritual excellence is realized.
We have no longer to aim at the vague phantom of a
dream, nor after the cloudy excellence of imagination.
Christ is before us.  Those that place their hands in
his he leads to the Father. " All mine," he says, " are
thine, and thine are mine." To be Christ-like is to be
perfect, - and to have faith in Christ is to be brought
nigh to God. Here is the spiritual bond which unites
our loftiest aspirings with Heaven, no less than our
lowliest self-accusings.  In the Mediator our hope as
well as our. penitence is satisfied. We are not only
restored from  what we have been,-we are helped
forward to what we would be. If our sin finds pardon, our love of excellence finds a pattern. Both sides
of our twofold nature are relieved and blessed.  Our
whole humanity is redeemed. No thought or affection.
but Christ leads, and trains, and unfolds it. And so our
life at its best estate, - whether that be its humiliation
or its triumph, - whether in the valley of dejection or on
27 *




319              THE HIDDEN LIFE
the delectable mountains where the city of God beckons
us, is " hid with Christ in God."
Here, then, lies the unchangeable necessity of the mediation in Christ, in these two primary and inevitable
wants of every human heart, - to be restored from sin,
and to ascend to God,- to obtain forgiveness for the
past, and to go on unto perfection. In each we should
be helpless, and could do nothing of ourselves. In both
we can do all things through Christ strengthening us.
II. What, then, as the next step, is this life, as to its
nature; or in what special kinds of force do its power
and its peace and its charm consist?
First of all in this, - that being received into our faith
in just these two characters in which we have seen that
our spiritual exigencies need him, Christ both creates
within the disciple the freedom that comes of the consciousness of being forgiven for the past, and directs his
practical energies to a model that is divine. If you have
ever known, in some early experience of filial confidence,
what it is, after going burdened and stifled with the
sense of alienation from your parent, then to have the
whole look and feeling of the world simplified and
brightened by a reconciling explanation, you need no
other key to the satisfaction of a conscience liberated
from guilt by confession and forgiveness. That is the
beginning of all healthful obedience.  What was dismal
compulsion before becomes a spontaneous and free-will
offering now. Life seems to start from another point,
to proceed by another principle, to tend to another issue.
Its spring is gratitude, not law; its principle is love,
not fear; its end is the Divine glory and the good of
man, not a selfish salvation. And just in proportion to
the joy of being set free from the frightful phantom of




THE HIDDEN LIFE.              319
the old terror of judgment will be the personal and confidential intimacy with Him by whom that deliverance
comes. The life is hid, thankfully and joyously, "in
God"; but it is 1" with Christ" that it is hid. For, expunge from history the ministry and cross of Jesus, and
tell me in what other Gospel, in all the literatures of the
tribes of men, you will look for the glad tidings to penitence, -" Thy sins are forgiven thee"?  Every ascription of gratitude will be a conscious recognition of what
Christ has done, and will interweave the believer's life
more closely with his.
But again, the spiritual life depends on Christ in that
he becomes a Divine Pattern for the energies that form
character.  At every stage of growth, under all the
phases of conflict, in the development of each proportion
and feature, the soul finds an original in the spiritual
symmetry of its tempted, suffering, sinless Lord. But
this doctrine of Jesus as our example seems to me to
lose its grandest inspiration, when we contemplate him
as standing apart from his followers, raised on the pedestal of mere historic honors, a being of a distant age, and
thus maintaining towards them only the cold and mechanical relation of a model to the artist. We need to bring
him into the sphere of our personal contact and sympathy. The example is not a statue outside of us, but
a vital force working within us. To have our life hid
with him, we must, in the Apostle's significant language,
have "' Christ formed within us."  And when we look to
him for a pattern, it must not be the Christ of Judeea
and of Caesar's time, so much as the Christ of our own
indwelling humanity and of to-day, — not the Hebrew
Messiah, but the ever-living Immanuel.  Paul had that
fellowship so palpably, that he said, " It is not I that live,
but Christ that liveth in me.'




320             THE HIDDEN LIFE.
So it is that, in order to have our inward life in the
profoundest sense hid with him, we must become conscious of some present and personal relations to him.
I do not speak of a mystical or visionary fellowship.
Like other spiritual attainments, this conviction, that the
Saviour who died for your soul must still know its weakness, and visit it in its danger, and comfort it in its sorrow, and chasten it in its wilfulness, must be made
strong by exercise. It will be a palpable and refreshing
reality only to those who have cultivated it, and prayed
for it: in different degrees distinct, according to the
measure of the desire, and possible at all only to those
who have got so far clear of the tyranny of the sensuous understanding, as to give free play to the faith,
that things which are impossible to men are possible
with God. Let that beautiful confidence once secure
a lodgement, however frail, in the soul, and it opens
into ever-enlarging and cheering demonstrations; the
Christian conflict becomes a more animating struggle
under the eye of that heavenly Leader; he that mediated
for Peter and John mediates, not by a presumptuous
metaphor, but literally and veritably, for me; " Lo, I am
with you alway," becomes a universal promise to the
Church; the bread and cup are more than memorials of
an absent Saviour, - they are the symbols of a friendship abiding and inseparable. Whatever accommodated
meanings our hard and rationalizing interpretations may
put into the apostolic language now that it is written,
- would Paul and his companions have ever said anything to us, think you, of such transcendent realities as
the "life that is hid with Christ in God," if they had
imagined Christ to be a departed benefactor, whom the
Church was to know only through its memory? Nay,




THE HIDDEN LIFE.              321
neither the imagination nor the memory was a faculty
they had any use for, in expounding the doctrine of
Jesus. They knew in whom they believed, and they
knew that He was with them always.
Again, " the life that is hid with Christ in God " is a
life that is perpetually reinvigorated from a conviction
that Christ imparts to the soul what is more than his
teachings, and more than his example, - even the direct
quickening of his inward spirit. It is as if God had said:
" This world of mankind has gone infatuated and stupid.
Its very capacity of spiritual apprehension is stultified.
Lo, I will breathe into it another breath. I will clothe
my only-begotten Son in a mortal shape; by that incarnation, all humanity shall be informed with a new vitality." And this animating force, reviving the race, is
received by faith. It is another world we live in since
that incarnation. A new quality was poured into all the
channels of human thought and feeling. The paralytic
frame was touched by a heavenly energy from within,
and started into a nobler attitude. Nor is the gift limited or partial. Wherever any soul leans its affections
on the breast of Jesus, returning, homesick, from whatever wandering or sorrow, there, as once to the beloved
disciple, the Master tells his secret, and thenceforth —
O joy that passeth knowledge! - the " life is hid with
Christ in God."
But furthermore, this doctrine of spiritual union,
through Christ, with God, affects devotion. He who
is conscious of that internal fellowship knows it by the
richer interest, and the intenser relish, given to his prayers. For it reveals Christ as what the New Testament
so often represents him, our " advocate with the Father."
How can he intercede for us, but by a present acquaint



322              THE HIDDEN LIFE.
ance with our needs? Praying'" in the name of Christ"
is something more, my friends, than repeating the syllables of a proposition at the end of our petitions. No
form of words like that can wing any supplication in a
stronger flight heavenwards, nor return us spiritual gifts.
Praying in the name of Christ must be praying from the
feeling that he knows the substance of our prayer, that
he knows the heart it confesses, and that he aids it now
by his prevailing sympathies, as much as he aided it
when he stood in Judaea, and taught his followers how
to say " Our Father." But this will be confidently affirmed by those whose experience has ever ascended
from the prayer of nature to the prayer through an interceding Christ, -that the latter gains as immeasurably on the former, in its claim and its satisfaction, asthe religion of the New Testament is dearer and more
consoling than the religion of sunset skies, of cabinets,
and observatories, and regularities of nature. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that shall ye receive." If
you need the Master in the sharp temptations of the
market-place, the cares of the household, the bewilderments of business, and the seductions of society, you
surely cannot bear to part with him in the closet. And
if you have walked with him, to catch his celestial wisdom, among the ships on the shore of the sea, you will
not forget how he goes, at nightfall, to the mountain, to
pray for the world.
How strikingly it unfolds the plans of the Eternal
Spirit in our behalf, that even in those relations and duties which lie most directly between our souls and the
Father, - duties and relations in which we might therefore seem to be most independent of a mediator, - practically even there the highest style of piety is rarely




THE HIDDEN LIFE.             323
found without a lively sense of Christ. That central
and comforting faith, for instance, that every concern in
our lives, from those that our fallible estimates pronounce
the most momentous to the most minute, are directly
contrived for us by an interested and sympathizing God,
whose hand is for ever shaping and guiding and bending
every little force and event in our discipline towards a
definite and special end,- a faith which embosoms us
in a care so immediate and so fatherly, that we almost
want some warmer word than Providence to express it,
- that is not found, in its most radiant and effective exercise, I think, except in hearts that are most alive with
the personal love for Christ. Our life seems never, in any
way, to be really hid in God, except with and through
his Son, -- and because that is the divinely ordered way.
III. What, then, is this life as to its results? I answer, first of all, it is the life of love. If it is hid " with
Christ," it is penetrated with the spirit of Him who loved
as man never loved. If it is hid " in God," it is suffused
by the affections of Him whose name is Love. No man
hating his brother can abide in that fellowship, - no unmerciful despiser of the poor, — no bigot, whether in
the creed of church, or science, or fashion, — no selfavenger, - no cherisher of vindictive passions or ancient
grudges, - no oppressor, whether on a throne, a plantation,
in a family, a factory, a parlor, or a shop, - no conceited
Pharisee, whose dress publishes the pride of rank by
fabric or by phylactery, whose manners boast perpetually,
"I am holier than thou."  Jesus is charity, — charity
conscious and living. To live in him is to live mercifully, fraternally, liberally. When the world's inmost
life is hid with him, its outward life will be humane and
beautiful. The members of his body will cease to be




324              THE HIDDEN LIFE.
fratricidal. The bloodshed and aggressions of nations,
the overreachings of commerce, the unequal administration of governments, the barbarous contrasts in Christian
cities, the private hatreds that disfigure households, will
yield to a constructing and benignant principle of heavenly order. The indwelling affections of a brotherhood
will break forth into fresh and fairer forms of fellow-service every hour, colonizing the planet with apostles of
generosity.  "I in them, and thou in me, that they
may be one." The social life of the disciples hid with
Christ in God!
This life, therefore, fast as it is admitted to dominion
in the soul, solves the old theological contradiction between works and faith. For it gets down below the
roots of that barren quarrel, and shows that all rich and
noble works must spring out of a faithful heart. No
true, strong Christian character was ever fashioned by disconnected impulses. There must be an organizing force.
Christian character is not a mosaic of moralities, nor a
compilation of merits, nor a succession of acts, nor an aggregate of amiabilities. It is a growth. And that principle
of interior vitality out of which it unfolds branches and
foliage and flowers, is the life of God planted through
Christ in the soul. We confound the whole philosophy
of our being, when we think to attain to goodness, which
is salvation, by beginning on the surface and working
down. What we have to do is to receive Christ inwardly, and then the fruits of daily righteousness will spring
forth, as naturally as leaves on a tree or streams from a
fountain. We cannot keep them back, except we crush
out and crucify this Christ within. They need no forcing. Believing and doing will not be separate processes, of which you may take one away and leave the




THE HIDDEN LIFE.                325
other. That mistake grew up in the creeds only when
faith degenerated from this living and spiritual power
into a dogmatic and ecclesiastical letter. But in whatever heart Christ really dwells by faith, there holiness in
all forms of manly uprightness, womanly serenity, conscientious citizenship, intellectual sincerity, truthful talk,
honest trade, beneficent industry, will be the inevitable
harvest, and the reapers of a nobler civilization shall come
singing, bringing these sheaves with them.
Thus the doctrine gives the world truth as well as
love, - truth, the absolute and immortal treasure that
the soul of humanity has been searching for from the
beginning, -truth, the pure and colorless element, that
is to the mind what light is to the eye, and reveals the
scenery of the inward world, as the sun shows- the headlands and offing and hill-tops of the globe, -truth in all
its uncompromising rigor and concrete applications;not the conventional veracity of the warehouse and the
drawing-room, that is satisfied if it equivocates with lying labels upon merchandise, and evasions in the bargain,
and artifices in courts of law, or, in general society, with
silly falsehoods of flattery, or cowardly falsehoods to
avoid offence, or malicious falsehoods to breed alienation
and give jealousy its disgusting triumph; — but an altogether stricter, holier thing. For if you once suppose
Jesus to be admitted, in all the purity of his transparent
soul, as a visible witness among these traffickings and
assemblies, who would dare to confront with such deceptions the look of his divine rebuke?  Christ, then,
hid in the heart, is the test and guardian of truth.
And of justice, no less; not that formal honesty which
is only a moral name for the selfish policy that is just as
radically unrighteous under one name as another; not
28




326              THE HIDDEN LIFE.
the legal integrity that has no higher sanction than the
letter of a statute-book, and so cheats the helpless, or defrauds by indirection, or steals a competitor's reputation;
but rather that spiritual justice which treats every human
heart uprightly because it is a child of God, — and is
honest, with the genuine and thorough honesty that goes
unbent through all temptations, needs no certificates,
hides behind no corporation privileges, —and stands as
much in awe of the divine law of right in a servant or office-boy, as in any board of trade or missions, and would
as soon be a defaulter to the most merciless creditor of
the exchange, as to a mechanic or a slave;- a Christian
justice. " For if any man have not the spirit of Christ,
he is none of his."
The hiding of our life with Christ corrects the theological error of these modern times, which treats religion
as a product of humanity, a discovery of mortal ingenuity, rather than as a help let down from Heaven.
Christianity is not an invention of the ages, but a revelation from on high. Our common religious notions are
vitiated by the idea that we are to make ourselves acceptable. A few conquests over matter, a few surprises of
science, have flattered us into the conceit that the Infinite
One must look with vast complacency on our attainments, and so we come to substitute decorum for piety.
A simpler and heartier reception of Christ within would
expel this eternal self-reference, self-measurement, selfinspection. There was a grand thought in that saying
of a believer of the primitive stamp, -" I do not want
to possess a faith; I want a faith that shall possess me."
The safest strength of the heart is the feeling of complete
dependence. Paul was no sentimentalist, and no mystic.
Such common sense and such bravery have hardly got




THE HIDDEN LIFE.             327
into the Church's brain and sinews since; but he said,
knowing what he said, " When I am weak, then am I
strong." There is something in this self-renouncing and
trusting temper that makes piety fragrant with the air
of Gethsemane. You find it only where you find the
life hid with Christ in God.
The subject completes its circle, and so it comes close
home. This inner life in Christ, with all its power and
peace, is offered to the soul, because otherwise the soul
is weak and dark. We long, occasionally at least, - do
we not?-for reconciliation with the Almighty Spirit
that lives and breathes on every side of us, in these skies
and shores, these heart-beats in our breasts, and these
pulses of the ocean on the beach. Which one of these
hearts is satisfied with what it is? Which of you is content - deeply, thoroughly content - with a decorous and
prosperous and cultured career? Is there no crying out,
from within, for the living God?  Does not the infinite and solemn mystery challenge us from the hours of
suffering, and of silence, and even of gladness itself?
Does not the very beauty of the earth and the sea and
the sky awaken an awful sense of the " light that never
was on sea or shore"; and does not society sometimes
leave you weary and hungry and cold, and is not the
fulness of joy attended by an emptiness that the world
with its largest promise cannot fill? Have you not spiritual sensibility enough to feel yet that you are poor
and blind and miserable and sinful, before God?
These, then, are all inner voices beseeching for the life
that is hid with Christ in God. And so these blind and
beggared aspirations that the Spirit planted in us, lying
helpless by the way-side before, so soon as some startling
sound of Providence, or admonition of pain, informs them




328                THE HIDDEN LIFE.
that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, lift their supplications, like Bartimeus, and cry, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me."  Everything in us that is truest
and tenderest in some sense asks for the Christ. Our
intellects entreat for him who knew all that was in man.
Our affections yearn toward him who so loved us as to
give himself for us. Our sympathies supplicate him who
took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. Our household love winds itself about the gentle form that left
Jerusalem and its pomps, at nightfall, for the retirement
of Bethany, where were Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
Our tears cry out for him who wept at his friend's grave.
Our pain demands Him who through suffering is made
perfect, and bore the nameless agonies of the Garden.
Our more generous affections lay hold on the disinterested Lord that died, "the just for. the unjust," bringing
many sons into glory. Our joy takes a loftier freedom
and a holier tranquillity, when it rises after Him who rejoiced in spirit, and said, " Now is the Son of Man glorified." Our energies are braced to new labors when we
are with Him who affirmed, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."   Our fainting hopes for another life
cling to the ascended Master who is the resurrection.
But more than all does our penitence beseech, with groanings that cannot be uttered, for the healing of his cross.
Thus, through all its deepest organs, the soul is kept mercifully restless, till it tastes of the life that is hid with
Christ in God.  At the last, if never before, amidst its
final intellectual victories, humanity takes up the words
of one of its own imperial children, and says, with Michel Angelo, writing, in his old age, to Vasari:
"Well-nigh the voyage now is overpast,
And my frail bark, through troubled seas and rude,
Draws near that common haven where, at last,




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.              333
the Apostle of their salvation, lo! he turns to the Gentiles.
As if purposely to break up confidence in mere ecclesiasticism, and clear the Gospel of bondage, the visible
Church is scarcely at any epoch suffered to enfold the
Church spiritual with a clean circumference.  And the
instant any majority begins to be at ease in Zion, some
terrible prophet, fed on locusts and wild honey, with iron
hands and lightning on his lips, comes crying out of the
wilderness, " Repent! " shows what 6'the circumcision'"
is, and turns the world of the Rabbins upside down. But
always, observe, the old faith goes into the living body.
So at the present moment the indications seem to foreshow that the old order is to be much broken; - scepti.
cism says, to be finally dissolved, -faith says, to malke
room for a new and fairer order, descending like a bride
out of heaven.
Thinking men seem more and more to agree, that unless a fresh dispensation does set in, acting by new affinities, yet bringing on the old spiritual powers, the kingdom of Christ must become a kingdom  of this world.
For this fatal issue may accrue, not only by the everpresent solicitations of worldliness, but by the voluntary
flinging off of our hereditary relations, seeking by some
mortal contrivance, and outside of the Christian family,
the blessing that can fall only under the parental nurture
of a lDivine Past.
I shall be mleeting an existing case, therefore, if I introduce to you the question, What is the inheritable blood?
What are the conditions, so far as we can discern them, of
theat heirship ina the spiritual fold?  Who are "' the circuimcision"?
It urges the subject into more importance, that Christendom, at present, offers proofs of so mischievous a dis



334              SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
regard for anything like an organic unity of believers;
that we are so much more committed to a habit of conternl)latiLg the Church as plural than as one; that we
have so far lost the conception of the majesty of a universal co-operation for regenerating and saving ends; in
short, that we are so careless whether we are of " the
circumcision," or not.
In opening an answer to the inquiry proposed, I shall
not need to travel out of the method so satisfactorily furnished by the text: " We are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and have no confidence in the flesh."
I. " Which worship God in the spirit."  The first
proof of spirituality is prayer; and the most subtle disorder invades our religion when it waives an act of belief so primary. Among the sophistries that drug our
interior sense is this, — that the children need not even
ask their Father for salvation. "I Under the Infinite Pity
that softens the skies," it says, — " watched by a kindness so indiscriminate and so universal as God's must
be, if he is Love, — indulged by a fond Deity, that
revolts at anguish, and never waits to bless, - we have
only to build our headstrong civilization up, and ply our
petty industries among the vineyards here, unanxious
about our intercourse with Heaven." The fallacy lies in
the very posture of the heart that can tolerate itself in
such a plea. Unless the worship of the Father is a privilege that the soul cannot refuse itself and live, then the
devices of an institutional religion are only an imposition on ourselves; and the prayer that does not breathe
itself forth by an impulse so spontaneous that it cannot
be kept back, is nothing but a barren form of mechanical
friction, where the galvanizing of the sensibility exhausts




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.           335
the strength on which sensibility depends. The moment
we come to think of apologizing for a prayerless piety,
our faces are already turned aloof from God. When we
compose that apology of a reliance on God's compassion, we are lying against His Witness, and the
grand old Puritanic element in all valiant piety, - awe
at God's sovereignty, — has vanished from our flaccid
sinews.
Of substitutes for " worship in spirit," our tendencies
specially encourage two. The first is a notion which, in
popular speech, gets no more definite expression than that
forms of devotion are absolute hinderances, and that God
can be adored more simply in his own works than in
man's temples; but which rises under a more refined
nurture, through different channels, - of artistic ecstasy,
mystical contemplation, or philosophical abstraction, —
into the sombre dignity of Pantheism. The impatient
youth, bewitched by the conceits engendered in him
under crude studies, sallies into the fields on Sunday
morning, elate with the discovery that the sky is larger
than the meeting-house; and because his mother had
the holy instinct to tell him, among her lullabies, what
Christianity had the grace to whisper down through
the ages to her, - that God built and keeps and loves
his world,- he illustrates his gratitude by ignoring his
dependence. The artistic devotee sees divinity enough
in the majesty moulded under the hands of the old masters; why bend before God seeing in secret, when color
and form manifest him, —and what need of a better
Intercessor than Raphael? The Mystic lifts a venerating
glance at the Infinite; what wonder that his worship of
the Mighty Inane should be inanity? The Peripatetic
tells you to follow hard after your ideals of perfec



336             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
tion, and not be tormented by verbal petitions to a
Jehovah that after all is only the varying reflection of
a human conception, and therefore his immutability a
logical impossibility. And the latest apology of all for
prayerless worshippers is that of a sentimentalist, who
announces that, when we are nearest to God, we are too
near him to speak to him!
The mischief is not shut up to the schools. It oozes
out from the few scholarly circles that hold it with a
kind of scholastic innocence, and drips down upon the
masses of society, - trickling its popular poison even
where the formulas that should define it would not be
accepted, nor quite understood. Now and then it gets a
pulpit for its receptacle, and some ordained Platonist for
its vender. Perhaps most of us have known what it is
to be so far borne up from the common level of emotions, when we have stood in the presence of some sublimity or loveliness in nature, as to have half suspected
in ourselves some new-born religious consecration; and
yet, on returning to the old routine of business vexations, political compromises, and domestic trials, have
found the impression fleeting, and no permanent contribution lodged in character.  You have mistaken the
mythological influences of a starlighted sky for lessons
of faith; and it is not till you stand under them, stripped
of hope, shelterless as Lear, or solitary like Shelley, or
bereaved like Burke, that you see how the blazing canopy
that animated your poetic reverie is cold as the marble
dome it looked to childish wonder, — that the forehead
of midnight droops with no answer to your sighs,that its splendor is not the warm light of Home, -- that
among its constellated diagrams shines no promise of a
Resurrection.




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.           337
Or will you try the experiment for a different relief?
Come, then, to a scene universally acknowledged to be
one of the most impressive outwardly, - some shore of
the sounding ocean. But come there when conscience
is laying its scourge upon your heart; when remorse
chases you with inexorable fury; when the agonizing
conviction of a violated faith and an offended God so
pierces and haunts you, that no ingenuity can toss it
off, no gayety disarm it, no inebriety narcotize it,and all that you have you would give for a quiet spirit.
It is no unfamiliar emergency. What, then, says the
steady beat of the waters to you, as they break against
their barrier? There, if anywhere, you might cast yourself, prayerless, on those orderly appointments of Nature
that have perverted your homage; for there the stability
of Nature, matching her rule of resistance against her
ficklest element, daily solving the beautiful equation of
a swinging globe with its tides balanced against a shelving beach of pebbles, plants the finest symbol of her
regularity. What hope, then, do the winds that have
been wrestling so mightily with the sea, from continent
to continent, bear in upon your bosom, from this wide
search upon the deep? You might as well listen at the
perished shrine of a Delphic oracle; you might as well
spell out some chance response from the withered leaves
of the Sibyl's cave. No rest from the waves; no pardon from the breeze! But, come back to the Saviour
that once stilled the sea, and the tenderness that taught
us to pray, saying " Our Father," tells us of the joy in
heaven over every sinner that repenteth. The magdalen
is accepted. The prodigal is welcome.
But nlan is something more than a sufferer to be consoled, or a penitent to be restored. He is a workman
29




338             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
that must work out his salvation, and needeth not to be
ashamed; he is a soldier under the Tempter's siege, and
his summons is to "'come off more than conqueror."
Consider the fundamental mistake, if he persuades himself the earth he works on does not depend from Heaven;
his dismal profligacy, if, instead of confronting his daily
engagement in the armor of a lowly prayer, he spends his
energies in laboriously forgetting the Almighty, and,
with the price of a crippled manhood, buys himself
orphanage. Boasting our noonday light, some of us,
scarcely visited by that beam of truth that gleamed even
on the Stoic twilight of Aratus and Cleanthes, deny that
we are God's offspring.
And so a distinct form of naturalism is propagated
among us, under the doctrine that the highest aim of
man is self-culture, - or the development of the natural
faculties. " Man is here on earth," says a careful statement of an able anti-supernaturalist, " to unfold and
perfect himself, as far as possible, in body and spirit;
that is the purpose, the end, the scope and final cause of
individual life on earth."  "The chief end of man," says
another religious philosophy, " is to glorify God and
keep his commandments."
Under the legitimate and logical ultimate results of a
theology of self-development, worship would be impossible; though it may survive in its modified and mixed
degrees, just as virtue survives in Antinomianism.
Or if some tender feeling remains, asking a God to
worship, still its worship cannot be to the personal, objective God, manifest in Christ. Nor can it amount to
anything more than a pious thrift, adoring God for the
sake of a profitable reaction on our own interest, subsidizing Heaven into an instrument for private elevation.




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             339
The malady that ails the virtue of our people is, that
it seeks to multiply noble means, misconceiving the
means for the end. Not sunk to sottish Mammonism, it
yet thinks to get signally through life, and comfortably
out of it, with no direct recognition, confession, worship,
of a personal God, - Witness, Judge, Searcher of Hearts,
Hearer of Prayer. It constructs, with or without philosophy, some specious system of abstract principles, maxims of prudential morality, rules of self-preservation, and,
fancying it will stand all shocks, and meet all tests, bows
itself in the house of Rimmon. But let rain and wind
and flood beat upon it, - some fiercer onset of temper,
- some secret occasion for a safer fraud in business, -
some cooler infliction of bad faith in a debtor, - some
bitterer buffeting of political scorn, - and it slides from
its sandy foundation.
And if errors so disastrous creep in among the less
besotted moods of men, because no "worship of the
Father " forestalls them, what shall be in the lower debasements of selfishness and sensuality, - when foul
appetites put God's descending angels to flight, -when
the scramble for money, for social standing, for pioneering in fashion, stifles even the natural aspiration, and
Belial drugs the conscience, only to kill it more securely
in the dark? What shall hinder, when society comes to
be an abandoned Ephraim, "let alone " for his idols,
playing on to gain the world at every hazard, that he
shall lay at last his very immortality down, a burnt sacrifice, on its pagan altar?
Brethren, there must be prayer to hallow labor. There
must be faith to consecrate enterprise. There must be
holiness to sanctify business. There must be a cordial
" Thy will be done," uttered to a personal God, to inter



340              SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
pret suffering. The most inward desires, the purest
affections, the loftiest aspirings, that stir our blood, - all
that is tender in us and all that is strong, all that is sacred and all that is enduring, - pain and loss, love and
death, repentance and fear,- as each in turn through
all this solemn discipline of life has its hour of trial or of
triumph, — cry out for the living God, and bid us worship the Father in spirit.
Without a living worship of the living God, not only
will these mortal multitudes be satisfied with nothing,
and repose in nothing, but they will at last believe in
nothing. The age of stark denial will return, on a wider
theatre than ever, with the added armament of all the
science and skill of the new era. And we shall see, -
what some close observers think they begin to see portents of, in some quarters, already, - while much that is
excellent and moral and just remains, devotion, devotion
herself, -that single and unmistakable and untransmutable thing, —driven first from the bosom to the
church, and then from the church into the fields, and
there evaporated into something so like earthly air, as
not to be inconsistent with profanity, nor preventive always of infamy.  This is the atheism — sometimes
taken for the Gospel - of to-day.
The materialistic views must probably be tried, both
by the mind and the heart of Christendom; but unless
human nature is reconstructed from what it was when
the old saints lived, or when the old infidels died, they
will be found wanting by both. The favorite result they
propose is social liberation and progress. And so long
as the traditional influence of supernaturalism should
linger about their new economy, they would doubtless
see fruits of their reformatory attempts. But the second




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.            341
generation, under their culture, would miss, and the third
would quite forget, that ennobling sentiment of reverence, which is both the grace and the dignity of a lofty
civilization.
There is a stage in the history of most communities,
as there is in the lives of most persons, when they try
the experiment of manufacturing a deity of their own.
Sometimes the conceit takes the form of sordid worldliness, and sometimes of philosophical self-sufficiency.
The one is as unsanctified as the other. I am as far
from the kingdom of Heaven when I mistake the divinities of thought for the mind of God, as when I accept
factories for missions, commerce for a church, and a
luxurious equipage for heaven.  Men are no more docile
to Gospel truth when they have exchanged their New
Testaments for Cobbett and Combe, than when they
have sold their simplicity for dividends; and it is as discouraging to a spiritual man to see his friends going to
the sanctuary having heads drunken with the pride of
philosophy, as shoulders stooping under bales of merchandise.  Regeneration is the casting away of both
these soulless idolatries, to " worship God in the spirit."
II. " And rejoice in Christ Jesus."  Coming next
within the visible limits of the Church, all questions centralize more and more in the vital one concerning the
office of Christ; whether he came as a great Master of
the spiritual culture already discussed, a Teacher and an
Example, - or, superadded to this, as the incarnation of
God.
Not dishonoring the importance of great problems in
church polity, in ecclesiastical fellowship, in the practical
relations of Christianity to society, this transcends, or
rather anticipates, them all.
29*




342             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
About the principles of righteousness, the thought of
the world is agreed. That goodness is good, and love
is better than hatred, and purity and charity are blessed,
is speculatively settled; and it only remains for the
Church, in her practical dealing with men, to force home
upon the heart truths that can never again be brought
under controversy.  But back of these lies an issue
where philosophy and faith still claim to be heard in
argument. Whether the Church itself is a human school
or a heavenly; whether Christ's ministry is summed up
in his representing a perfect humanity, or whether he
shows us the Father, and brings from heaven a new element to plant in the affairs of the world, -so that his
Gospel is special as well as absolute, and offers what
moves upon men with a power wholly peculiar to itself,
as not only originated, but embodied beyond the sphere
of nature,- and so whether influences centre in his person and his death, quite different in kind from any other
known to us; — this is a question that is yet to try
the mind of Christendom with a stress of unparalleled
intensity. It will need prayers for patience, as well as
for wisdom.
Unless the Apostolic language transgresses, not only
every rule of literal construction, but all parallels in the
latitude of metaphor, it declares Jesus to be a Redeemer
in some sense that no notion of instruction, or of exemplary character, satisfies. If the terms of the New Testament mean only that, they imply a nomenclature so
anomalous that any expectation of positive knowledge
from them is unreasonable. And, judging by its working on the necessities of experience, the theory is as
inadequate to the permanent wants of the soul as to the
Biblical statements. When naturalism, weary of its




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             343
long ramble through the sciences, and neology, faint with
stumbling on dark mountains, and poetic self-reliance,
homesick with its comfortless solitude, shall come kneeling, to lean again with John on the bosom of Jesus, it
will be an hour of more majestic triumph than when all
royalties shall cast their crowns at his feet.
In two ways we may rob ourselves of the plenitude of
Christ's redemptive power.
First, by severing our internal life, in its daily changes,
from a familiar converse with his person. Coupled with
a formal recognition of Christ's historical reality, there is
a frigid distance kept up between his Church and his
personality. A proposition that the headship of this
mighty system, reaching through ages, revolutionizing
kingdoms, and itself a sovereign surviving revolutions, is
all vested in a Judean peasant, whose personal relations
to it ceased before he was thirty-five years old,- is thus
made to cut off the friendly arteries by which the life
should stream from the heart into the members. Faith
petitions, on the other hand, that it may have leave to
sit at the Saviour's feet, now; and, with a clearer trust
than hers who sat there at Bethany, to say, not, " Lord,
if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," but,
" Lo, thou art with us always." Humanity will realize
its complete proportions only by conscious membership
with a Head who fills all the chambers in his Church with
the glory of his presence, and all its veins with his blood,
and all its body with his breath, to-day.  What less can
these strong sayings signify? - -   He that hath the Son
hath life "; "' Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you"; " Your
life is hid with Christ in God "; " God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."




344             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
It is no unusual spectacle, I think, to see young persons among us - for these sore conflicts of aspiration
with attainment are always most tragical and affecting
in the young - yearning for some effectual doctrine of
reconciliation, as the desert implores the sky for rain;
and probing, with pain unspeakable, into their own
diseased spirits, - intellectually analyzing their restless
state, counting their prayers, chiding their sluggishness,
looking in distress from their imperfect lives to the
perfect standard, and back from the standard to their
short-comings. They wonder religion is made so stern a
mistress; they ask, almost in despair, "Is there no rest
to the heart from this endless strife?"  You tell them
they must outgrow the imperfection, add virtue to virtue,
toil away at the wheel, and when they are pure enough,
they will be happy. But, 0 short-sighted counsellor,
mocking their grief! do you not see that the very want
they are wrestling and gasping under, is a want of peace
before they are perfect, - on the way, and under the sun
and dust of the struggle? And is it not possible that
that is what the Gospel of forgiveness and redemption
brings them?
Reconciliation they want; and the moment they forget what they are and are not, or have and have not, to
cast their burden on a Saviour, believing with the heart
that by that act alone they are already justified and free,
then they are taken up out of themselves and their heartaches into heavenly harmony with God, and know the
joy of adoption. There are states of the soul, when,
after his long perplexities and morbid introspections,
instead of dwelling with ascetic self-maceration on his experience, the disciple's first need is to forget it altogether,
— to let the thoughts, jaded with this eternal chafing




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.            345
in the prison-house of consciousness, spring away into
healthful liberty, -from deploring what self has left undone, to centre a grateful praise on what Christ has
done. Faith bids these groaning hearts not to toil for
ever to loose the knot, by the intellect, in the dungeon;
but, throwing the tangled problem of good and evil
down, to swing the door wide open, and let the light of
the Father's face shine down into the breast. For, as a
searching writer has said, " After we are in peace and
power, self-analysis is instructive, humbling, and bracing; but while we are cold and dead, it is a poisonous
thing, like a draft of quinine while the ague fit is on."
Others there are, who try to come near to Christ by
studying, intellectually again, with busier industry, the
incidents of his life, as if bare erudition, even in the
writing of Evangelists, could tranquillize remorse; another, by integrity, - and he exhibits an uprightness magnanimous enough to shame Aristides, - but yet he does
not feel the breath of his Master; another, by philanthropy, ardent enough to outburn Howard's or Sarah
Martin's, but not constant with the constancy of Him
who, having loved his own, loved them unto the end.
Now, under the fatigues of this mortal struggle, the
flesh lusting against the spirit, we want an instant relief, as well as a future rest, - a Christ who can say to
our affections, " Lo! I am with you even before the end
of the world "; while he also says to our hope,'" I am
the resurrection."  We need the presence, as well as the
promise. We want to know that Christ has overcome
the world, and that we are, this hour, joint heirs with
him in the conquered heritage.
And thus opens the second deviation from a right
Christology, in an attempt at self-salvation.




346             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
For the more earnestly a man asks himself whether
his life is worthy of God's acceptance, the more utterly
hopeless of acceptance, on the score of worthiness, he
must become. The only standard given him, out of the
cross, by which to measure himself, is the perfect one,
and contains no provision for short-comings. Held under it by requirements he never can fulfil, - subject to a
law he never can keep, - conscious that self creeps into
his best aims, and sin defiles his purest services, - and
yet nowhere told that he may partly violate the commandment, - where does he stand?  On the platform
of the Pharisee. His piety is hard, barren, Jewish. He
cannot ask to be saved, till he has hardihood enough to
claim salvation for his merits. When shall we learn that
we are never to be saved by our own deeds, nor in our
own way, but by the heart full of faith in what our Lord
has done, - in God's way, by his Christ? To attempt
a retreat from this central Gospel hope to the Jew's salvation in payment for good works, is as futile as Julian's
was, when he sought to rebuild the Hebrew temple at
Jerusalem, to falsify the prophecy of the Son of Man.
We may baptize the interesting displays of an intermittent virtue with a Christian name, but they may yet
contain no scintilla of Christ's distinctive light. They
may leave the life all untouched by its unrivalled aurora,
however resplendent their own beauty.  Their sterile
justice is not the justice that treats men honestly because
they are God's children, - which was the law of Christ's
great honesty. Their kindness is not redolent of the
beatitudes. Their moderation is not guarded by those
mighty warders, reverence for God and the Saviour's
love. Their liberty is not that'; where the Spirit of the
Lord is."  Nor is their wonder devout with the fervor of
Olivet and Gethsemane.




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.           347
It is common with some writers to abandon the ground
of salvation by merits, rhetorically, even admitting its
opposite, by a sort of parenetic license, for spiritual utility; but still to reserve it as defensible by philosophy.
Now it is precisely the philosophical element in religion
that most emphatically rejects the idea of a spiritual salvation by merit; because, the moment the whole aim
and energy are concentrated on self, that moment the
noblest grace of piety is gone. A profound science of
human nature discovers nothing more clearly than that
faith in objective Help is a principle of action overmastering all aims that conclude in personal results, and more
in harmony with all the higher laws of the soul. When
Paul simply said, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved," he struck a deeper vein in
man's inward economy than all the stirring champions
of education. He announced a law of spiritual growth,
eternal, practical, and by some of its relations omnipresent to our experience. Till we adjust our beliefs to it,
and conform our lives as well, we are not clear-sighted,
nor strong-handed, nor is our tent pitched within the
encampments of the Christian " circumcision."
When one of our preachers puts it to himself, whether
a morbid, excessive religiousness is one of the chief enemies to the salvation of his people, he is struck at finding how much of the preaching that reaches the ears of
one denomination is only an oblique rebound from the
short-comings of another, and so, where it lights, less
nourishing than the east wind. Enthusiasm is not our
peril. We want righteousness much, but faith first, the
root, the quickener, the animus and inspiration of the
other.
We may call these humiliating doctrines; but are




348             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
they half so humiliating as those ever-present facts in life,
- sorrow and shame? Does not the law run through
all our being, that we must find peace by sacrifice,- must
go to rest through struggle? Every field of heroic strife;
martyrs' stakes and scaffolds; fastings and pilgrimages;
blood running in rivers; the songs of dying patriots;
strains like those that rung from Madame Roland's dungeon the night before her execution; the Puritans' privations; prophets wet with dews, or walking through furnaces of fire; — all stand as grand historic monuments of
the law, No pain, no progress. Yet what we allow to
the earthly triumphs of liberty or country, we grudge for
the victory of eternal life.
Christ humiliates us by showing us our unworthiness,
that he may exalt us in due time, and glorify us with
seats at his right hand. He bends us in something of
David's prostration, that we may rise on the wings of
Isaiah's rapture. Have we not served idols? And so
we must be mourning captives in Babylon, hanging
our harps on weeping willows, before we can return with
joy. The cross is an offence; we must be content to
come after a Man of sorrows, — him whose visage was
marred more than the countenance of any man, — must
take that cross of offence up, before he will come with
his Father to take up his abode in our hearts.
In the striking paradox of one of the mightiest builders of empire the world ever bore, " There is no force so
overwhelming, as that whose strength lies in its very
weakness." And so the most wilful spirit, arriving at its
new birth, feels that there is no conquest so absolute as
when all the heart submits, and no self-possession so sure
as when self is utterly renounced.
In the very midst of the deep waters of that wondrous




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.            349
passage, whereby discipline proves and purifies the disciple, it must have been an obdurate spirit that was not
ready sometimes to cry, " O blessed violence of Love,
that quells, even with penitential grief, this wild revolt of
passions!- O merciful Cross, that cools this cruel fever
of ambition! — O healing Hand, that doubles my agony
for an hour, that I might have heavenly health for ever!"
Imagine even our noblest achievements, the churches,
and benevolent brotherhoods, and missionary societies,
assembled to lift an anthem of united praise; the refrain
of their thanksgiving must ever be, "Not unto us. not
unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name, be the glory."
We want a life hid with Christ in God. And herein
the religion revealed in Christ meets us. Holding up to
our aspirations an object beyond ourselves, it makes faith
in Him a surer test of acceptance than any outward
works, and stimulates our affections by showing us a
Mediator. Something without us to lay hold of; an arm
from above to lean upon; a Saviour to go to, and wallk
by; a Father to trust in and forget our little selves in
glorifying; —this is the "circumcision," both "worshipping the Father in spirit," and "rejoicing in Christ JeIII. "No confidence in the flesh." At this point the
text's definition of "the circumcision" changes from a
positive form to a negative. I shall follow this variation;
adverting to some of the more comprehensive and more
instant obstacles both to the spiritual reviving of the
Church and to the unity which can never come without
its reviving.
Christendom shows a general expectancy of some fresh
dispensation of the Spirit. I ask you to glance, in what
remains, at those chief stumbling-blocks which Christen30




1350             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
dom itself- and our portion of it along with the rest
is most tempted to cast in the way of such an outpouring
of the Holy Ghost, and such a gathering of the Christian
clans; -unteachableness in the doctrine of sin; intellectual dogmatism, whether as abstract from images of life
or imperious over the emotions; a confounding of virtue
with religion; ceremonialism; a provincial species of
ecclesiasticism; and denominational intolerance.
Is it true, or is it not, that in most of our congregations
family prayer steadily declines? Is it true, that the very
naming of such a test of spiritual security shocks some
liberal judgments? Is it true, that, of the young persons
nurtured in our Sunday schools, so few distinctly recognize in themselves a Christian aim, or join the visible
Christian body,- that in many cases the Church is a
lean minority of the congregation, composed chiefly of
females and aged men, drawn to it by a rare temperament, or driven in by some stress of sorrow? Is it true,
that even strong spiritual impressions and impulses fail
constantly to be consolidated into a consistent character,
for want of a deep and definite faith to crystallize upon
and abide by? Is it quite general, that a superior righteousness of life atones for the latitude of speculation, -
and is it not true, that conventionalism and formality
come into our assemblies, in an average proportion, as
the wealthy and fashionable classes come, and that, while
we propose a spiritual walk, through some excess of hospitality worldliness clings tenaciously to our skirts?
One almost shudders to consider how terrible an opening might be made into the religion of the times, if its
nominal friends were to make candid answer to this
question: Suppose a permanent personal immunity from
pain could be guaranteed without religion, how many of




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             351
them would feel it rather a relief to be rid of religion altogether?
I have laid it down as the distinctive office of Christ
in the world, and in the individual heart, to introduce a
new element of religious life, and to furnish a special relief from sin. The whole appeal, then, of his Gospel is
to the felt need of this heart. The old system is right
in laying so urgent a stress on conviction of sin. The
grand significance of the Gospel is help. The measure
of man's eagerness to receive help, - is it not his feeling
of helplessness? It is no secret, probably, that in most
of the persons we meet in the streets, and even in our
meeting-houses, it would be difficult to find any such
thing as a vital consciousness of sin, at all.
Go to a successful worldling, comfortably cushioned
among his flourishing fortunes, his selfish habits, and his
fashionable family, and tell him of his sin. You speak
of a difficulty, a discontent, an empty heart. What difficulty, what discontent, what emptiness? Have not his
notes good securities? Did he not sleep well last night?
Will not the choice selections of the market smoke upon
his table to-morrow?  Sin?  He has found a way of
disposing of all that annoyance as conveniently as of
some doubtful mortgage. Your praying publican was a
poor fanatic, and his penitence a piece of wild extravagance, putting the case far worse than it really was.
This abasing doctrine of conviction and confession, for
a gentleman, a man of quality, a master of half a million
of money, - it is an impertinence.
A specious answer, I know, may be made, -that an
active life, busy with profitable work, is doing something
better than deploring its short-comings. But answer,
again, how profitable, or permanent, that work is, which




352             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
does not begin and end in a sense of submission to God,
or how noble work can be, not dignified by the spiritual meditation that must so often terminate in a confession of utter unworthiness.  Clarkson's brilliant retort, to
the inquiry about his soul, that he had no time so much
as to consider whether he had a soul, has been much
worn by quotation, and never quoted, as I am aware,
but to be admired. The earnest witticism is justified,
perhaps, as it leaped from Clarkson's lips; but converted
from the impromptu extravagance it was, into the deliberate maxim of conduct it was never meant to be, it is
as mischievous as it is shallow. Modern Philosophy has
followed in that line a little; and to her loss. The unspiritualizing of moral enterprises comes of it; the selfunchurching of noble reforms comes of it; the dislocation
of Christian symmetry, the divorce of labor and prayer,
the orphanage of Human Charity herself, comes of it.
Again, the understanding may plan and rear a house;
but only the heart can warm it with sunny friendships,
and twine the grace of sweet charities about its doorposts, and dispose throughout its rooms the benignant
charm that makes the meaning of a home. And so a
dogmatic intellect may pile the structure of a creed; but
it needs a tenderer confidence to domesticate the soul in
the temple.
It would seem as if some rarefying intellectualism, by
insinuating itself into our modern religious speech, unrealized the objects of faith, and emasculated faith itself.
A truly comprehensive study of God, and of the real
conditions under which he must be revealed, makes it
more than doubtful whether we have gained a more accurate, or even a more spiritual conception of God, by
discarding what is called the anthropopathic imagery of




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             353
the Old Testament, -representing God as feeling emotions, joy, grief, pity, like ourselves. The straining after
literal accuracy dilutes the vigorous conception. Our
God sometimes seems farther off than the Jewish Jehovah was, and what we gain to exactness, in our attempts
to eliminate these material configurations of Deity, is
worse than lost to trust, in the dissipating of the personality. So, by the application of a similar process to the
idea of heaven, representing heaven as nowhere in particular, we fail to present it at all, and hope is bereaved
of heaven; and by diffusing hell over all of life and the
world, we take it in such minute particles that it grows
familiar and tolerable. When you have made all the
amiable and correct dispositions to constitute and complete membership in the Christian Church, your Church
has vanished; and the moment you have persuaded my
reason that prayer consists in nothing but want, or aspiring to an ideal, and wishing well to my neighbors, I am
no longer of the disciples that their Lord has taught how
to pray.
And in this, the New Testament language suits itself,
by a perfect adaptation, to the nature it addresses and
would relieve. No ideas charge their symbols, words,
with such subtile and hidden correspondences as the religious, the use made of a single theological term often
condensing the entire character of a creed. It is the spiritual laws that fit and sanction the rhetorical. A theologian may refuse from his studied treatises the sacrificial
phraseology of the Epistles, as scornfully as a Lollard
would spurn a picture of the Virgin; but he will take it
all back into his prayers, as the iconoclast, after the havoc was over, lifting his eyes to the lofty arches of the
cathedral, uncovered his head and knelt.
30*




354             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
For the rocks of offence that men put out of their
path, when they walk forth in the pride of controversy,
they seldom stumble at in the closet. The devotee
leans his bosom on the stone that the system-builders
rejected.
It is a noble thing to abide by a piety so natural, sincere, and true, that it never spoils the rich terms of the
Bible by perverting them into cant. But it is just as
noble for a piety that is natural, sincere, and true, to hold
them fast, and choose them for its speech, even though
Cant has tampered with them, —ignoring her presumption.
Doubts about prayer are not answered by argument,
but by showing the heart how it needs its God. Probably no man ever adopted prayer by -finding a philosophic basis for it, but by beginning to cry, " My God,
my God!" and thus, tempted on by a single taste of
the holy privilege, the heart takes up the cheerful task
of persuasion for itself, and the suppliant thenceforth prays, because the restraining of prayer would
be the refusal of his chief desire. And whereas he
once thought it brave to doubt, he now knows it is
blessed to believe.
At first, perhaps, his petitions are the broken entreaties
of that sad contrition that cried: "Slay me, O God, if
thou wilt, but leave me not sinful thus. I am miserable;
and cannot heal myself. Put me to shame; I am shameful. Behold, I hide nothing; Thou art Light, expose my
darkness. I will palliate nothing; I am worse than I
know; show me all that I am. If I must die, let me die
in thy light!"  But afterwads, when mercy has reassured him, he is able to take a more exultant tone,
and sing: —




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.              355
"'T is Love!'t is Love! - Thou diedst for me;
I hear thy whisper in my heart:
The morning breaks; the shadows flee:
Pure, universal Love thou art.
"My prayer hath power with God! the grace
Unspeakable I now receive:
In vain I have not wept and strove:
Thy nature and thy name is Love!"
Piety is not always ready to go before the court of
reason, defensible against every rigorous indictment of
consistency. Like the poor Scotchwoman, rejected from
communion with her Lord by her catechising priest, because her answers stammered, it breaks into tears as it
goes disappointed away, crying, " Though I cannot speak
for my Saviour, I could die for him." " No confidence
in the flesh."
There can be no serious difficulty in adjusting the relations of this new and renewing element in character,
Faith, to general goodness, piety, benevolence, and integrity.
As the expression - no more than that- of an originating and creative faith, the moral decencies bear much
the same relation to religion that manners bear to
morals. You will never have the morals without their
fruit in the manners; but you will often get the manners
quite out of company with the morals. Byron said that
by far the mildest manners he ever met were those of the
bloodthirsty and remorseless Ali Pacha, and that the
most civil gentleman he had conversed with picked his
purse from his pocket. You might as well propound
George Brummell and Lord Chesterfield for standards
in pure ethics, as go about to inaugurate a Church of
God in the world, by recommending dry rules of behavior.  That is not the New Testament method.  Christ




356             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
poises the scales of character implicitly on the heart, and
the first word of his Apostles everywhere is, " Believe."
It is because the whole soul is not thus concentrated
on the love of Christ which constraineth men, putting
away all " confidence in the flesh," that some branches
of the Church so invert the relations of the form to the
substance. Instead of cherishing the inward spirit which
vitalizes every tabernacle it inhabits, they insist on pressing to their bosoms the moulds it dwelt in once, putting
antiquarianism for righteousness. Because the cistern
held the living waters in ancient times, it must stand
shrinking and warped in the sun, an unsightly encumbrance, after the waters have sought other courses. The
mind, instead of ascending freely from the altar to rest in
God, and be purified for active effort, is led off by scholastic fancies, idly busy with the painted windows that
catch the rays of earthly sunlight.
It is because we undervalue the religious heart, and
attach an exclusive importance to religious opinions, that
we commit so many unprofitable mistakes in our attempts to increase our ecclesiastical bodies, or denominations. For, in answering the question, Who are "the
circumcision"? and bidding us put "no confidence in
the flesh," our doctrine decides inferentially how we are
to propagate our faith. It bids the Church take up every
child of her loins, born within her house, before the sorceries of the world have wrought their deadly spell upon
him, and, baptizing him into holy affections, bear him
straight on into full communion with her Lord. In
speaking to the prodigals that would wander, it sets regeneration before tuition. It shows us that association,
organization, machinery, are dead, till a living piety burns
in the hearts of its masters. Bureaus may stand ready,




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             357
and boards, and officers, and even funds,- though these
last, being more dependent on zeal, and less attainable by
cold blood, are not so likely to abound; but when the
whole apparatus waits complete, it is only the system of
wheels within wheels; what is still wanting is the spirit
of the living creatures descending into them like lamps of
fire, lifting them up and driving them on.  Without this,
we shall only tax, and exhort, and mortify ourselves, in
vain, -perplexed that the seed-wheat does not grow,
amazed at our own impotence, scarcely suspecting that
the real difficulty is, that we are sacrificing all the while
to our own sectarian net, or burning incense to our denominational drag, instead of " worshipping the Father,
and rejoicing in Christ Jesus." Do this, and ye will no
longer need to say to one another, " Know the Lord.
For the Lord will create in every dwelling-place in
Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and
smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by
night."
Under the normal nurture of Faith, the outward institution and the informing life will grow together; so
that in the Church, as in the body,
"Nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews and bulk; but, as this temple waxes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal."
Nothing will be done for ostentation, - for a really devout man will no more parade his piety for exhibition,
than he will throw his heart into the street; but the earnest piety will spontaneously fit to itself a dress and demonstrative apparatus becoming its dignity. The world
would not be disgusted with imposing ecclesiastical arrangements, mocking an empty house, but the expanding




358             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
force will make its way constitutionally, pushing its
structure no faster than its family.
You complain that the people are concerned too much
with the talents - or the want of them - in the minister;
and justly. But can you abate that poor ambition, that
" confidence in the flesh," till you have supplied a loftier
passion?  Parishes that have no God to worship will
naturally, out of certain traditional associations that confound the official functionary with the religion, make an
idol of their preacher; and it will not be strange if, in
the end, the incense so works upon his manhood, that he
becomes literally their preacher, and not Christ's.
Or if he should not happen to be of substance sufficient to make an idol of, the people go mourning for
lack of what they call religion, - the first suspicion some
societies have that they are godless, arising when they
lack a minister to stand as a substitute. Plant a diviner
ground of trust; plant a living love for Christ, that Head
of the Church who never fails any of its branches; and
the prosperity of a parish will no longer swell and shrink,
nor its zeal rise and fall from fever-heat to freezing-point,
by the favor of its servants.
Hence, too, finally, by this personal power and life of
piety, in the heart, comes the only hope of Catholicity,the "One Fold" predicted so long.  Out of heirship
comes kinsmanship, and the rule of the one defines the
other.
All direct labor for a mere marrying of creeds, a blending of sects, and mortising of platforms, is false; for it
turns off the mind from the ineffable glory of Divine Love,
and from the honors of sainthood, to petty adjustments
of opinion and mortal measurements by one another.
The Church for the present may have statement and




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.             359
counter-statement, indoctrination and recantation, systems and system-destroyers, kingdom against kingdom,
- cries of, " Lo  he is in the desert," and, "Lo! he is in
the secret chambers,"-only because the hour of unity is
not yet. Ours are analysis, thesis, and antithesis; the
grand synthesis is of God.
Any unity that councils shall consolidate will lack the
harmonizing principle. Honest good-will may compact
some comely covenant, but it will prove too bounded for
the purposes of Providence. No preadjusted mould can
coerce the elastic growths of that future Church for
which no past can legislate and even the present can
only watch and pray. In the freehold of the Christian
inheritance, my friends, we do not hold by adverse title.
Let us learn it, even before we see ourselves to be externally and formally one; and then the visible unity shall
be ushered in.
Meantime, brethren of all encampments in the Church
Militant, - for militant she still is by destiny as against
the world, but militant, if our hearts are right, she should
no longer be as against herself, diverting toil from the
perishing harvests to fratricidal strife, and beating sickles
into swords, -what do we? On the margin of that
land of promise which eighteen centuries of providential
history have been shaping for our heritage, we fall to hurling poisoned javelins into our allies' enclosures. The
strength that helpless humanity yearns to feel lifting up
its wounded limbs, we waste in this fiendish folly.
A truce! a truce of God! Slaves, sensualists, atheists,
wait for redemption. Reluctant want, staggering under
its unrighteous load, —rich idleness, sick with its slow
consumption, - filth grovelling and generosity despairing, -woman, wronged and bewildered, straining her




360             SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.
patient ear to catch her Redeemer's consolation, - and
we, the strong, the free, the wielders of opportunities, the
openers and closers of gates, - we, that believing mothers have sung songs of Bethlehem to in our infancy,we, that schools and universities have fostered in their
bosoms, only that they might hand us on, in greater
plenitude of grace, to the service of Christ and his
Church, - we are tossing our petulant gauntlets from
tent to tent; not watchmen on the walls of Zion, yearning to see eye to eye, but eaves-droppers at our neighbors' doors, eager to hear the jarring controversies of the
sects, rather than the hymns of seraphs!
" Worshipping the Father in spirit; rejoicing in Christ
Jesus; having no confidence in the flesh," - we are all
" the circumcision."
If you would find a church that is true, and alive from
on high, you must seek one whose members serve each
other by first serving Christ, whose law and motive and
bond of concord are in their looking up into the same
divine countenance, listening to the same heavenly voice,
leaning together on the breast of the same Son of God.
The unity begotten among sects by this looking to
one undivided Lord will be spiritual, not mechanical.
It will come, not by any sly foisting in among the sects
of each other's phraseology, or any imitation of each
other's measures, - not by cunning nor concealment; but
by a candor that is transparent precisely because it is
above partisanship and selfishness, — by a speech whose
mightiest power lies in its sincerity, its unction, its evangelic necessity; not, in short, by the will of rnan at all,
but by so making the Saviour of our souls the centre,
substance, and inspiration of the doctrine, that love for
him sends every smaller passion out, and there is oneness only because there is One.




SPIRITUAL HEIRSHIP.              361
And so it has appeared how, in order to heirship in
the fold, there is needed a doctrine of God, a doctrine of
Christ, and a doctrine of the Spirit; of worship, of redemption, of the Church; of piety, of discipleship, of
fraternity in the spiritual house.
Over against these pillars of safety stand the besetting spiritual perils of the time, - all represented at last
in that anti-Christian trinity, self-worship, self-deliverance, self-love.
Let us be steadfast on the Corner-stone, and we will
not suffer solicitude for our heritage.  We shall realize
the infinite endearment of that condescending promise,
" Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom." We shall hold in our veins
the blood of Israel. The conditions are unencumbered,
and the title will belong as much to us as to the oldest
hierarchy in the world.
" For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly; neither
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but
he is a Jew that is one inwardly; and circumcision is of
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God. And we are the circumcision, which worship the Father in spirit, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh."
31




SERMON  XXIII.
THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.*
TO BE SPIRITUALLY-MINDED IS LIFE AND PEACE.- Rom.'viii. 6.
THE association called the " BOSTON YOUNG MEN' S
CHRISTIAN UNION" has already explained itself to the
public. The causes that created it seem to have been
both positive and negative. It was felt by the persons
whose desires originated and whose thoughts shaped it,
that there were young men enough in this city, seeking
to guide their lives by Christian principles, to constitute
an organized body, with the functions and furniture for
united action in many ways. On the other hand, it was
felt, with equal force, that the moral exposures besetting
a business life in a centralized community, with metropolitan habits, required some systematic protection; and
especially that the young who come here, with no
large experience of the peculiarly crafty and beguiling
forms that iniquity assumes in such a place, fortified as
iniquity often is in these attacks by homesickness on one
side, and social proclivities on the other, might well
impose some special painstaking on the right-minded, to
surround the strangers with something like the warmth
* Addressed to the "Boston Young Men's Christian Union," December
12, 1852.




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        363
of a Christian household, or at least with the fellowships
of a moral brotherhood. For there appeared to be no
good reason why sin should come into these men's characters under the cheerful guise of virtue, when virtue
itself might be equally welcome in its own. And then,
when the time came for determining of what materials
so broad and noble a design should compose its structure,
generous spirits could, of course, decide the question
but one way: it must be equally open to all men sincerely claiming a Christian belief and purpose, whatever
other name they might superadd to the grand primitive
one; and so the society became a " Christian Union."
At different points in the progress of its history thus
far, these feelings that led to its formation have been
laid open, in meetings and through the press, - sufficiently, I should think, to have secured a general understanding of their scope and object. In discharging the
office assigned me by the government of the association
to-night, therefore, if I might find a subject which, while
it should touch and cover those salient features of this
plan that it is most desirable to notice, would also possess some inherent unity and independent interest of its
own, I should probably serve your wishes by nandling it,
more effectually than by limiting my discourse within
the specific details of your movement.
Such a subject has offered itself, I conceive, under the
form of an inquiry into the characteristics and the power
of a religion, which, in a better sense than the technical,
theological one, is natural. A better sense, I say, meaning a simpler and more grateful one; because, while the
Natural Religion of theology signifies a scheme distinct
from express revelation, and bereaved of Scripture supports, this religion that is truly natural, of which I am to




364        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
speak, is the gift of revelation, and rests its whole law,
promise, and authority on the Bible. It will be for you
to judge, as I attempt to identify it and describe its traits,
whether its common reception into faith would not do
more to satisfy the wants that young men are conscious
of, more to strengthen and beautify their characters,
more to save them from every species of danger, than
any agency beside.
It would be a poor affectation, however, to ignore that
other view of the relation between nature and religion,
which has written itself out into a distinct philosophy
under the name of Naturalism. Denying the operation
of any other causes than those that lie within the full
grasp of the understanding, and are capable of being
subjected to the definitions and analysis of science, in
those grand religious facts, the inspiration of the Scriptures, the redemption of man by Christ, and the renewal
of the soul into spiritual life, Naturalism, so called,
opposes itself in direct issue against all the positions I
intend to take, and all the Christianity I should wish to
expound. It lies directly on my way into my theme, and
is required by the terms I employ, to remark of this
scheme, that its fundamental fallacy is in a radical misconception of the first fact in the case, religion. By its
primal suggestion, in the first step it takes with us, religion carries us over into contact with super-natural realities. Locating its objects in a sphere beyond nature, -
the infinite, - all its revelations, to be authoritative, must,
of course, proceed from a supernatural source, authenticating themselves by supernatural signs. To claim for
a revelation pertaining to religion, therefore, that it be
judged exclusively by the canons and criticisms of secular
science, is in effect to begin by denying the premise, —




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.          365
denying that there is any such thing as religion. To
proceed further, to argue that, since supernatural facts,
the incarnation, and divine offices of the Spirit, are impossible, or contrary to reason, the claim for them discredits Christianity, is to introduce such confusion of
reasoning as amounts to impertinence.  This is the
logical offence of pure Rationalism, and, being irrational,
is an offence against itself. It mistakes one science for
another; and, what is worse, turns the necessary condition on which man can have religion at all, into an argument against the only possible way of his getting it.
Religion, by derivation, signifies what binds the human
soul back to God, - finite to Infinite. Of course, supernaturalism inheres in it by its nature. In short, not to
extend this introductory train of observation, it is no paradox to say, that a supernatural religion is the only natural one. So far from the fact that revelation involves
mysteries acting as an embarrassment to it, it would be
the blankest refutation of its pretences, and a destruction
of its object, if it did not. Christianity comes to bridge
the gulf between the creature, who is also a sinning
creature, and the perfect God. That mediation, and the
Mediator embodying it, must then of necessity contain
elements, not human, but divine; and the only interpretation of the New Testament that is natural, I contend,
is that which accepts this truth, and commends it to the
world's faith.
Leaving this point, I shall go on to lay before you, in
a direct form, what appear to me the chief characteristics
and offices by which we shall recognize the religion that
is at once natural and supernatural, thus bearing the
brightest marks of truth and divinity; supernatural, that
is, in its design and introduction, but natural, or accord31*




366        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
ing to what we know of natural, in its manifestations in
character, and its working in the world.
What connects the subject with this occasion, is the
circumstance that it seems to meet two of the commonest obstacles to a cordial adoption of the Christian standing-place on the part of young men: one of these being
disgust at the un-natural phases that religion is often
made to assume, in formal manners and unhuman affectations; the other being a tendency to lax speculations,
which flatter the pride of immature students, or those
that only repeat the catchwords of such, so slipping into
cant of another species, but which are finally found to
cheat the soul under any real experience of life, and dissatisfy the heart.
I. The first mark I shall mention of the religion that
in this high sense is natural, is this, - that it unites the
culture of those qualities which men esteem for their
manliness, with those that God requires for their sanctity, and so harmonizes nobleness of spirit with strictness
of doctrine.
Harmonizes them, - does not confound them. Honor,
frankness, magnanimity, make no man a Christian disciple. But then Christianity suffers no disciple to be
treacherous, cunning, or mean.  Honor, frankness, magnanimity, and the whole of that royal family, are the
vigorous and graceful stock on which Christianity ingrafts its new and divine principle. Whatever moral
beauty it does not create, Christianity claims and makes
its own by adoption. These well-born virtues are orphans in the world, till Christ shows them the Father.
Something is greatly wanting in them, till they learn
from Jesus a filial submission and a holy trust. Honor,




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       367
frankness, magnanimity, may all consist with pride, or
prayerless self-will, - that pride which Christianity prostrates with its first word, when it cries, "' Repent and be
converted." Under that vicious alliance, they can never
carry the soul forward into its ripest maturity. They
stop at a half-way stage of the possible stature of humanity. But separate them from that self-confidence, and
you liberate them for a boundless progress.  Hallow
them by a Gospel penitence, and they rise into a new
and an infinite dignity. They root themselves, then, in
a firmer soil. They take a new guaranty of perseverance from Him who is the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever. They put on the attribute of stability, borrowing it from the unshaken throne where they are now centred and balanced. That cluster of radiant traits, which
gain a uniform approval in the worldliest companies,
which conform to the highest secular standard, and which
are required in the code of gentlemen, never reach their
loftiest growth till Faith crowns them with her unrivalled
glory. On their own ground, then, and for their ultimate
perfecting, these traits that men everywhere admire for
their manliness must confess the sway of Religion, and be
sanctified by her doctrines.
There is no looser nor less philosophical heresy, than
that Christianity does not bring into the world, and put
into character, something peculiar to itself,- a charm
unborrowed and inimitable. No instinctive amiabilities,
nor generous propensities, can rival it; no combination
of Pagan merits can counterfeit it. A character truly
touched with the Christian consecration carries upon it
a certain spiritual sign, which even eyes of flesh take
knowledge of. The real disciple, spite of his modesty,
and all the more infallibly because of his modesty, has




368       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
the seal written on his forehead, to be known unmistakably, and read of all men.
On the other hand, there is no brighter token that the
Gospel came from the Builder of the worlds, than that it
takes up into the scope of its own design, and makes a
part of its own honor, whatever goodness has come to
light in the world, outside of its conscious kingdom. The
moment this all-comprehending and catholic law of life
was revealed on earth in Jesus, all pre-existing morality
seemed at once, by a natural necessity, to become an
element in its strength.  All foreign loveliness merged
itself in that transcendent beauty.  Name whatsoever
virtue or aspiration you might, it had its niche provided
for it in this Christian Pantheon of the new worship. By
this wonderful assimilative energy, Christianity instantly
appropriated to itself all the lawful forces of nature. It
enthroned itself as the sovereign of the world's experience,
claiming the universal empire of life by divine right.
That reverential attempt of Christian art to represent the
Saviour as the centre of original light, by encompassing
his head with a glory radiating in every direction, might
have its meaning inverted, and still be a true symbol; for
all the rays of moral splendor, playing before like irregular lightning along the horizon of history, suddenly converged, to shine with a concentrated and steady beam in
the face of Jesus Christ. Some critic has said: " Paul,
the Hebrew, had as fine theories of art as he had of society, if he had only had a chance of working them out."
And this may be only a concrete way of saying, that
Christianity, holding in itself the law of every human
interest, is capable of blessing the science of universal
beauty or order, as much as the actings of the will. So
manifest has this been, that some writers have been led




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        369
by it to exhibit Christianity as being nothing else than a
compilation, or systematic compendium, of all the natural religions; the rules of the common moral sense of
mankind codified; the residuum of all heathen instructions; a kind of pantheological eclecticism. The fallacy
of that notion lies in overlooking those distinctive and
attested supernatural facts, of the divine incarnation and
the cross, with the doctrines they embody,- reconciliation and forgiveness, -which, while they separate the
Christian from some religions, as the complete from the
partial, or the absolute from  the relative, distinguish
it from others as the redemptive from the educational.
Other faiths propose to benefit man by advising him as
to his behavior; Christianity, by first saving him from his
sins. Other teachers help the race; Christ redeems it.
But what was plausible in this theory was the fact, that
Christianity does adopt, and welcome, and embrace,
every trait that the intuition of right minds follows with
its admiration.  It asks no man to be a whit less manly,
- less cordial in his fellowships, less cheerful in his temper, less companionable and genial in his relations to
society, less penetrating in his sagacity, less noble in his
manners, or less punctual in his industry. Does it not
say, "Not slothful in business," as well as 1"fervent in
spirit"? You speak of sincerity, downrightness, or transparency: were not the sharpest rebukes that the Prophet
of Nazareth ever pronounced - those awful " woes" that
almost darken the page, and must have sounded like the
fore-peals of the trumpet of eternal judgment -levelled
at Pharisees and pretenders? Did not Christ declare it
the direct, uncompromising function of his truth to uncover what is hid? and is it not expressly made a condition of that "' wisdom which cometh from above," that it




370       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
be without insincerity? Or you speak of knowledge,
culture, science, as something worthy of man's esteem.
What is Christianity but the fundamental science, - the
science of man himself? Christianity knows men. Is
it not written, and believed by you, of Christ himself, -
whose person embodied Christianity, in whose thought it
was organized, and in whose heart its blood throbbed, -
that he " needed not that any should testify of man," and
that "the Father showeth him all things that himself
doeth "? You say there is another kind of intelligence
that men lawfully respect, which is called shrewdness, or
practical acquaintance with affairs. But is not that, too,
provided for in the New Testament? Do you suppose
it was irrespective of their practical experience among
men, that Christ chose his first disciples, the foremost representatives of his truth, from among tax-gatherers, fishermen, tent-makers, and physicians? Or will you look
through literature or biography, or the marts of commerce,
or the boards of the exchange, for a shrewder insight into
all the ways and windings of human nature, than lurked
in the sharp eye and wakeful perception of that leading
Apostle, who turned the world upside down with his calm
hand, carried his points with the dignitaries of provinces,
foiled Felix and Agrippa, foresaw and forearmed himself
against all that men could do to him, and in his Epistles
tears open the cunningest wrappages of self-deception
with his holy satire, - conquering Greek sophists and
Roman disciplinarians with weapons out of their own
quiver? You instance courage; and is there not enough
of that in that pioneering rank of the " noble army of
martyrs," whom there was no dungeon dark enough to
terrify, from Jerusalem to Rome, and who would not
blench, nor even revile nor murmur, under all the scourges




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.      371
of Jewry, the whips of dainty Philippi, or the lion's teeth
in the Roman amphitheatre? Generosity, you say, is
manly; but who will so disown his own reason, as to
confess he finds no generosity in that faith whose primal
lesson is self-sacrifice, whose chosen badge and emblem
is a cross, and which was taught and sealed by Him
who gave his very life for the life of his followers? You
mention hospitality; and is not hospitality enjoined, with
repetition and emphasis, by both Paul and Peter, as the
attribute of saints, the grace of bishops, and the duty of
all believers?  Of patriotism; and who was he that
cried, weeping, " O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! if thou hadst
known how often I would have gathered thy children"?
Of the taste and love for the beautiful; but whose finger
was that which pointed most admiringly, as he discoursed,
to the summer glories, the waving wheat and nodding
lilies, the trees and lakes and gorgeous skies of Palestine?
- whose eye, that rested with sweetest satisfaction on
that affluent and varied scenery? - whose word, that
blended the mystic openings of the sunrise with the
light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world,
and so taught us how the relish of all that is sublime or
lovely should rise at last and culminate in the worship of
the Father, even as every manly and heroic quality is
perfected only in the soul that is united to the Son?
So it has been in history. The religion of Jesus has
realized its own promise, - completing not only Judaism, but all good yearnings and beginnings everywhere.
It did not come to destroy, but to fulfil. It had its kindly
word at the outset, even for those that, having not the
law, did by nature the things contained in the law. And
ever since, it has spread the benignant arms of its adoption over every worthy purpose, and every pure aspira



372       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
tion that will acknowledge its guardianship. Wherever
the germs of lofty action unfold themselves, there the fostering hand of its discipline is present to train them.
The sublimity of all honorable achievements, the valor of
pure-hearted patriots, disinterested sufferings, the patience
and fortitude and constancy that come out so grandly in
fearful emergencies, - they are all as much the Gospel's
as they are humanity's. You always see how much they
lack, till they take on the sanctity of a conscious communion with the Christ; till they are invested with the
dignity of a regenerate devotion. But the instant they
so submit themselves, they all render in their concordant
homage to the Universal Lord; and he calls them his
own. They bring their honor and praise, wisdom and
power, to " Him that sitteth on the throne," " whose right
it is to reign" over them. Manliness enters into the
composition of piety. All that the unperverted judgment
of the world approves, the Gospel invites. What lends
their real lustre to the memorable spots on the globe,
what attracts the companies of genial and innocent fellowship, what makes the joy of light-hearted children, the
usefulness of labor, the benefits of civilization, the hardihood and enterprise of traffic and invention, colonies and
arts, what binds families and blesses homes, —these all
are, in the last sense, yours only when you are Christian
souls. Over every field where real goodness starts into
life, Christianity extends its benediction. So what the
world holds as its best, the Messiah accepts as his tribute.
His Church has arms wider than the charity of the world.
Providence realizes prophecy. " The sons of strangers
build up thy walls. Thy gates shall be open continually, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the
Gentiles. The flocks of Kedar, —the dromedaries of




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       373
Midian and Ephah; these that fly as doves to their windows; all they from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and
incense; the isles shall wait for thee; the sons of them
that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, -for
brass, gold; and for iron, silver; and for wood, brass;
and for stones, iron. The glory of Lebanon shall come
unto thee,-the fir-tree, the pine-tree, and the box together, - to beautify the place of the sanctuary."
No doubt, there is such a thing as manliness without
faith. But its defects are patent enough, even to the
eyes of the faithless themselves. You cannot live with
it very long without seeing its weak places. God kindles
fires to prove us, along our mortal discipline, in whose
burning heat it falls to pieces like a flimsy fabric; such
fires as require stuff of another tempering to come out
refined, in vessels fit for immortal uses.  Manliness
without faith is not to be trusted; for on Christian faith
depends Christian principle; and no other principle can
stand all the solicitings of appetite and ambition. The
other kind lurches away sometimes, leaving terrible
chasms where some trusted pillar in the body politic, or
body mercantile, went down. Manliness without devotion must ever want the highest attraction in character,
which is self-renunciation,-the producer and ally of
true simplicity. That comes only of a secret persuasion
of infirmity; and that comes only of the Gospel, showing the commandment and the violation, -the perfect
law and the alienated life, - and spanning the gulf between, by its blessed doctrine of reconciliation. Manliness without piety misses the profoundest and purest
form of gratitude, because that exists only at the feeling
of the Divine forgiveness for a sinful heart, - the gracious
discharge from an infinite obligation producing the un32




374        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
speakable peace. In short, manliness without faith, at
its best estate, is all frailty; at its surest strength, it is
unsteadfast; at its fairest promise, it is treacherous; at
its fullest joy, it is empty. It may gain the world; but,
like the young man of the Evangelist, it turns away from
Jesus, and in its great possessions finds no rest.
And no doubt, on the other hand, there is such a thing
as religion without manliness, — pietism, and not piety.
This is as unnatural as the other.  You not only rob
religion, but you insult and betray it, if you present
it, through your characters, implicated in narrow judgments, small sectarian manoeuvres, a barren brain, frigid
sympathies, or a petty style of manners. Religion without manliness whines and crouches. It acts as if Providence were a tyrant, the world a prison, and man a slave.
Instead of holding its clear look up, with conscious and
grateful dignity, to the light, and standing face to face
with all the cheerful and solemn facts of life, and looking
straight into the eyes of every creature, as faith gives it a
supreme right to do, it goes to the church with a ghastly
expression, or none, - creeps to the prayer-meeting abjectly, -is half afraid to own its cause, and shows its meagre mind by abusive and unillumined criticisms. It resorts to tricks for the building of a meeting-house, which
the code of honor among unconverted men would reject
from the shop, and settles a minister or equips a missionary with a management too tortuous for the broker's
counter. It makes common-sense cry out in despair,
Why cannot the disciples of Christ show the world specimens of human character, as broad in proportions, as free
in outline, as magnanimous in temper, as sensible in
practice, as appreciating in taste, as liberal in accomplish
ments, as they are superior by their celestial calling?




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       375
It is an indirect confession, I think, how consistent the
strictest and most earnest system of doctrine is with the
inward testimony of the heart, that a majority of young
men who are thoughtful enough to fill a stated place in
any sanctuary, when they choose their church, choose
one where the administration is most decidedly and
simply religious. I have known young men, themselves
perhaps not yet fulfilling the demands of a Christian vocation, and certainly not openly avowing their Christian
purposes, to say this: "When we go to a house of
worship, we wish to see the same engagedness and earnestness there, that we see expended on a different class
of objects all the week. We are suspicious of a style
of preaching that is merely genteel, rhetorical, or philosophical. On Sunday we want sincerity, fact, and substance, as much as in our business. We want life,not bare intellectual life, but spiritual. There are books
enough, lectures enough, science and poetry enough, elsewhere. When we go to church, we want to come into
close contact with the very root and marrow of religion:
otherwise it is no object. Once, the Sunday preaching
was literature, poetry, art, lyceumn, university, company,
and all, to the New England people, -the grand intellectual stimulant and social facility: now, it is no such
thing. We go to meeting to get glimpses of a Saviour,
of heaven, and peace. Besides, we hate shams and halfbeliefs in anything, -politics or prayers. If religion is
what you pretend, give us the solid thing, no dilution nor
fancy-work. We hold you to your honest word. We
say, as the great English captain and disciplinarian, lately dead, said to the delicate young clergyman, who undertook to win from him an assent to some lax construction of the Gospel errand,' Follow your orders.' We




376       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
say, as another man, one of the broadest intellects of our
Western continent, more lately gone, said,'Let clergymen preach more to individuals, and less to the crowd;
let them  say, " The Judge standeth before the door';
make it a personal matter'; for, even when we do not
obey, something in us makes us choose to hear the naked
and wakening truth."
" Why do you go," it was asked of one of our merchants' clerks, "to a church where a creed is embraced
in which you do not believe? " " Because," he replied,
"I find religion there presented as a concern -a
pressing, intimate, exigent concern —of the soul: repentance, faith, newness of life, and Christ crucified, are
preached to me." It seems to me he was right. The
religion that is really natural harmonizes nobleness and
manliness of spirit with strictness of doctrine.
II. In the second place, the religion that is natural
unites an open confession of faith with the hiding of its
inward power, and so strikes a just balance between the
two faulty extremes of reserve on the one side, and hypocrisy on the other.
We have in our community, first, a class that would
supersede the anxiety to be Christians, by vigorously and
continually saying that they are; a class that would
rather let iniquity hide under the altar, than thin the
crowd that bend decently before it; and that hold up no
other sign to distinguish a disciple from an unbeliever,
than the subscription to a covenant. Out of that class
comes hypocrisy. Opposite to these are the timid minds
that shrink honestly from all church ties, and, with hearts
tender to holy impressions, miss both inward completeness and their outward efficiency, by keeping aloof from




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.         377
church-fellowship.  Theirs is a wrong-headed reserve.
But between both these stands a larger class than either,
excusing their non-profession by the inconsistency of
false professors, but taking license for a low standard of
life from the same example; scoffing at the former, who
profess without practice, and practising with the latter,
only in not professing; telling you they can be just as
holy men out of the Church as in, but evidently more
careful to be out of the Church than to be holy men.
Clear of these alien elements, it is the problem of Christianity to combine a Church of believers, who shall be
both doers and professors of the word of life.
And to that end, Christianity insists, first of all, on a
real faith. Whatever else it has or lacks, the soul, to be
saved, must obey an honest purpose.  Pretence and
falsehood must be stripped off it. It must believe with
the affections, heartily. With the heart man believeth
unto salvation, before confession is made with the mouth.
In all departments of life, sincerity is the salt that saves
men from the disgrace of acted lies.  Men of the world,
legislating only for mutual convenience, cannot be mistaken in making downright and unpretending reality the
foremost command in their statute-book.  To get rid of
the semblance of goodness where goodness is not, is as
important to the purity of the Church, or the acceptance
of a soul before the Judge of hearts, as to get rid of sin
where sin is. In fact, the pretence is sin.  Get the conviction, which is the fountain, and it will furrow out a
channel, and fill it with a stream. Get the new life, the
love of God, and it will shape a body as the juices in the
germ shape the tree. Have something to say, and the
Everlasting Mind will give you, as well as the Apostles, in
that day and hour, how ye ought to say it. It is useless
32*




378       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
for a man to tell you " his heart is right with God, if you
see his hand feeling in his neighbor's pocket," or clutching at unfair advantages in the market, or devouring
widows' houses; subscribing to philanthropic projects
and swindling contracts on alternate days; or reaching
forth to the bread and wine of Christ's table to-day, and
fingering some dishonest bribe in office to-morrow. You
will hardly trust the tongue that swears an oath of divine
allegiance when it is good-natured, but a profane one in
a passion; nor the lips that repeat formal prayers in the
pew, and babble scandal in the parlor. You will not be
satisfied that men should declaim against iniquities
which they happen never to be tempted by; nor that
they should come, with late professions, limping, maimed,
and sickly sacrifices, such as even Hebrew priests refused,
after the fire in the blood of youth has cooled, and the
indulged appetites have burnt out through satiety, to
offer God a wreck wasted in the service of his enemies.
For " some," says South, " hope to be saved by shedding
a few insipid tears, and uttering a few hard words
against those sins which they have no other controversy
with, but that they were so unkind as to leave the sinner
before he was willing to leave them." So that, after all,
the fundamental test of profession is sincerity of faith,
and the test of sincerity of faith is righteousness. To
be natural, religion must be real. For "in all natural
productions," from cedar to hyssop, from the sun shining
in his strength to the dullest lump of clay, " there is no
hypocrisy."
But then, Christianity as naturally requires confession.
The excuses by which men, and none more than young
men, apologize for not cordially espousing Church relations, are for the most part evasions, and so involve some




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       379
obliquity, as uncandid, possibly, as the unworthy professor's. John Foster suggests that the religious loquacity
of incompetent pretenders may be a kind of compensatory judgment on those believers who might honestly
testify for the Gospel, but refuse. Is it not natural to
show which side you are on? Is not that counted the
way of fearlessness, of frankness, of independence, in
your common relations, -in politics, in local questions,
in measures of social change? There is a greater issue
pending before you, nay, within you; and what makes
neutrality especially respectable there? The world over,
and pre-eminently in a city like this, two gigantic forces,
under two leaders, claim your adhesion: these two are
contrary, the one to the other, and there is no third.
Christ and his Church are one; Mammon and worldly
good are the other. You must choose which, in you,
shall be supreme; it is a providential necessity laid upon
you; nay, you have chosen, and do literally choose every
hour, anew. To be uncommitted is to be on the side
that is not God's.
We are not nearly enough in the habit of treating religion as a cause, and ourselves as soldiers, whose honor
is bound up in it, our all at stake in it. Who is on the
Lord's side? is a question that rings up and down our
streets eternally, and in voices more solemn than brave
Xavier's when he cried it through the cities of the East;
for we are nominally Christians, and so in a position to
do Christ more discredit infinitely than heathenism ever
could. It is of the utmost consequence to every young
man's singleness of heart, saying nothing of his future
welfare, to have this choice settled. Till then he is perpetually compromised. We treat religion as if it were
an isolated idea in every heart, and not a unity, a king



380       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
dom, a cause, which it certainly is if the New Testament
is true. Our excessive individualism wrongs it. It is
an organization, it is a church, it is something we have
to enter into, and fight for, and abide by.
Nominally we are Christians, and thereby hangs an
obligation. It may be that you, with all your contempt
for insincerity, are wearing a false name, and acting a
part as essentially Pharisaic as if you were at once a
preacher and a sceptic, or a deacon and a miser. Religion does not ask to be complimented and bowed to, on
occasions. It is not honored in its own spirit by any
formal attention to its technical services, - its dress and
ritual, — divorced from a hearty submission to its interior
control; nor by any ball-room compliments paid to its
respectability as an institution, unsupported by obedience
to its personal behests. These things are both discourteous and dishonest. When we venture to speak approvingly of a system of science, integrity demands of
us to shape our speech by its own definitions. We must
take it for what it is, and not for something else that our
wilful constructions might put instead of it. If you join
in that universal and swelling confession which these
eighteen centuries have been accumulating, you are
held to a personal consistency. Christianity is afraid of
no scrutiny.  It invites the boldest handling. It wants
no fine things said of it, out of etiquette. It throws its
evidences into the light, and stands on the facts. Like
the divine Person that embodies it, it says:'" Come, reach
hither thy finger, and thrust it into my hand; and reach
hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; be not faithless, but believing: and yet deny me, if you will, rather
than heartlessly assent; for open foes are better than
treacherous followers." In a thousand ways you all pro



THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        381
fess to be a Christian people: why not, then, profess it
in the one plainest and directest way? If we will not
own the kingdom of heaven, how is the kingdom of
heaven to own us?
Another consideration ought not to be passed over.
Society, in its inequalities and injustices, is constantly
presenting a necessity for reforms.  Private sins settle
together, and get organized into gigantic forces. To resist the collective evil, a collective sanctity is wanting.
That is a Church. Now, if the Church ever enacts the
public shame of proving faithless to this sublime privilege, leaving the great moral reformations to be taken in
hand by well-disposed persons standing outside of the
Church, then, instead of forsaking or avoiding the Church,
let your disapproval rather draw you into it; enlist your
disinterested energies under its standard. VWorking according to that providential way, you will work with tenfold greater success. Put your reforming zeal, then, inside the Church, where it is too much wanted. Revive
its ancient primitive martyr-spirit. Warm it with your
prayers, expand it by your charity.  Cast into it all of
spiritual strength and hope you hold, and you shall both
save yourself, and build up truth, liberty, and love, beating down intemperance, war, licentiousness, and slavery.
So in all other workings, where the Church of Christ
has suffered foreign devices to outwit or outdo its appropriate business. This Young Men's Christian Union
was not formed to compete with that divine body, nor
to supersede it, nor to comfort any of its own members
with the feeling that they need not belong to it. The
right office of your association will be fulfilled only as it
leads more and more of you to open recognitions of
faith, and active participation in the parishes. Instead




382       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
of carping at the faults you see there, enter and remedy
them. If you find God's houses fenced about with an
illiberal policy, — their pew-doors locked, literally with
bolts, or virtually with exorbitant taxation, imposed to
support luxurious appointments, and give worship a
stylish equipage, - then do not stand complaining; but
come into the active care of these parish economics,
lifting them gradually to the level of your juster, equalizing ideas. Take the meeting-houses up in your arms,
and do with them as you will. The body of men before
me, consecrated and baptized with the Holy Spirit,
might revolutionize the whole ecclesiastical fashion in
twenty days. Only let it be done out of the propelling
energy of faith, and not from an ambitious, conceited, or
sectarian policy.
We all have our creeds, and, in spite of ourselves, we
profess them; - the creed of fashion; the creed of appetite; the creed of a selfish expediency; the creed of a
sect; the creed of indifference, which is as irreligious
and as bigoted in its way as any other; or the creed of
eternal right and gospel faith. Conduct is the great profession. Behavior is the perpetual revealing of us. A
man's doctrines flow from his fingers' ends, and stand
out in his doings. What he may say is not his chief
profession, but how he acts. Character lets out the secret of his belief; what he does tells what he is.  He
has "' put on the Lord Jesus Christ," when he has " Christ
formed within him." His profession is as natural as the
pulse in his veins. The good man makes profession of
his goodness, by simply being good; but the Christian
man will not forget that he is not wholly good till he has
joined himself to Christ's body. He publishes his adhesion as spontaneously as Nature publishes her laws, - as




TIrE  nELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.      383
the sun its light, - as the rose its sweetness; - by being
steadfast; by shining; by fragrant charities. It costs a
graceful elmn no spasm to paint a graceful image on our
eye, and the sea spreads its mysterious arms around the
hemispheres without vanity. They make their nature
known by silently keeping its laws. And because the
Christian soul is made to be a conscious member in a
living organism or church, it keeps its own high law only
by being there. Religion belongs in the heart-beat of a
man's affections, and the breath of his daily desire: till
it has so possessed him, it is a small matter that he
keeps its effigy as a connoisseur keeps his marble Apollo,
— on the outskirts of his practical fortunes. The true
hospitality takes it to the heart.  But when the heart
has taken it in, it will not lock it there, and make it a
prisoner. It must go abroad again, for the blessing of
man and the praise of God. It will put its owner into
the Church, not to show himself, but that he may the better become one with his brethren, and their common head.
So does the religion that is natural unite the public confession of it with the hiding of its inward power.
As has been wisely remarked by Morell, " The proper profession of Christianity is its practice; and, were
that practice based upon an elevated idea of Christian duty, the inquiry as to a man's profession would be
as much out of place as the inquiry respecting a Howard, whether he professed a love for humanity! "
III. Thirdly, the religion that is natural unites the
exercise of a scrupulous conscience with the sentiments
of devotion; so reconciling morality and piety. Indeed,
the divorce of these two is so unnatural, that we can account for it only on the score of some terrible infirmity,




384       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
either in the heart or the will, - the affectional or the
executive part of us. How else could that twofold command, wedded by the word of Christ, summing up the
ethics and the worship of earth and heaven,- Love
God and love man, - ever have been wrenched apart?
Morality loses its finest quality, its inspiration, its aroma,
its constancy, its divine peace, for want of prayer; and
piety misses its effective force as a producer of righteousness, because the link is lost between the closet and
the market.
In one of the bright books of the day, I find a courageous and impulsive young English fox-hunter saying
to a clerical Oxford cousin: " I feel that the exercise of
freedom, activity, foresight, daring, independent self-determination, even in a few minutes' burst across country,
strengthens me in mind as well as in body. It sweeps
away the web of self-consciousness. As for bad company, when those that have renounced the world give up
speculating in the stocks, you may quote pious people's
opinions. We fox-hunters see that the'religious world'
is much like the' great world,' and the' sporting world,'
and the' literary world'; and that, because this happens
to be a money-making country, and mloney-making is
an effeminate pursuit, therefore all sedentary sins, like
covetousness, slander, bigotry, and self-conceit, are to
be plastered over, while the more masculine vices are
hunted down by your cold-blooded religionists. Be sure
that, as long as you make piety a synonyme for this
weak morality, you will never convert me, nor any other
good sportsman."
Now, Christianity ought not to be afraid to hear the
thoughts that are working in young men's brains speak
out with just this candor. True Christianity will not be




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.         385
afraid, though she may regret the narrow premises, the
dim reasoning, and the superficial conclusions, which
make the selfishness of unscrupulous worshippers an excuse for despising the religion of the New Testament.
Her advocates and ministers may learn something from
it, and be able to take a more intelligent and forcible
attitude for it. They may learn from it that any religious ardors are, in the long run, maniacal and delusive,
which do not work themselves out straightway into all
parts of life. They may learn that the proud friends and
self-styled elect of the Church may be its most ruinous
traitors. They may learn that precisely the religious
administration which the world needs now is one that
never ceases to insist on a consistent manifestation of
faith, through works that bless and ennoble humanity.
If I might venture to define what is the great mischief
of the merely moral or conscience-system of life, I should
say that it excludes the most powerful principle of disinterested action, which is a grateful trust in a love flowing infinitely from God, through Christ and his cross.
Instead of this, it takes the iron rule of law or command.
Of course, on that ground, its only standard and hope of
acceptance or success is in the more or less merit which
comes of more or less obedience to that law. But, at
this point, the soul, looking at the law, is awe-struck
to find it a perfect law, coming from a perfect author,
allowing for no sin, and nowhere offering the least encouragenment to a half-obedience. At the same moment,
it discovers, with dismay, that, owing to inherent propensities and passions, this obedience never was nor is
likely to be perfect. Where is it, then? Merit is out
of the question. The utmost duty falls short, and the
servant is unprofitable at best.  One of two things foi83




386        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
lows: this man must either deny to God his perfection
of purity, and to the law its binding authority, so as to
make room for his short-comings; or else he must sink
into utter despair, because they do nothing but condemn
him.  This would seem to be the result of the conscience
system alone, without the mediatorship, and its doctrines
of reconciliation, in Christ. It leaves man either without
reverence or without peace, or both.
Then it engenders a poor habit of continual self-reference, self-measurement, and self-centralization, instead of
taking the soul up above itself, giving it an object there
to live for, in gratitude and love. It diseases us with
"that morbid self-consciousness and lust of praise," so
common among our Christians even; of which it has
been wisely said, " that God prepares for it," in his own
way and time, " with all his truly elect, a bitter cure."
It sets consciousness above revelation, as a light to the
mysteries of our inner life; and that " consciousness is a
dim candle over a deep mine." The aspiration after the
Perfect, in all noble natures, is the mightiest hunger of
the heart. But if no blessed promise of forgiveness is to
come by faith, and comfort its failures, all its yearnings
are tortures, and it is only the mightiest tormentor of the
heart.  What is needful but the prayers of faith, seconding the intercessions of a Church and a Mediator, to bear
it up above these sad distractions, and rest it in the peace
of God?
But, then, just there you see how the same habit, in
another stage, invades the domain of prayer itself, and
enfeebles its peculiar energy, with the strange theory,
never gained from Scripture certainly, that prayer is, after
all, another name for work, or behaving morally, - that
there is no veritable asking and receiving in it, as Jesus




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       387
plainly declares, but that we are to go through the ceremony of praying to God just as if there were a God hearing us and answering, only because, by imposing on ourselves that trick, we excite our own resolution, climb into
a purer mood, and gain some favors fromn the natural laws;
- this, instead of praying such honest prayers as children
bring to their parents, doubting nothing, and as real believers have known to be answered ever since belief was,
- such prayers as the Bible prays for us. What faith
asks, again, therefore, is that our very prayers themselves
shall be re-christianized, and a literal communion between
earth and heaven be re-opened.
Inverting now the direction of our search, we look for
morality.  James, with his Epistle for godly conduct,
must follow Paul with his fervent enthusiasms of devotion. Life is a vineyard. Its business is a task. We
are set down in a field white already to harvest. Humanity has wrongs to be righted, and oppressions to be
lifted off. Bargains are to be made immaculate. Lusts
are to be quenched. Selfishness is to be softened. In a
word, faith is to bear fruit an hundred-fold, and piety to
lead a moral life. Otherwise, the whole head of faith is
sick, and the whole heart of piety is faint.
This every-day, familiar, working religion, the religion
of little things, is Christianity. To Jesus, the lily growing in the shadow of Gerizim was as sacred as the temple blazing in the splendor of Mount Moriah, and the
widow's mite and humility worthy as Joseph's courage
and fortune. You have heard of the Turkish piety that
will carefully put aside all fragments of paper, lest the
name of God, written on them by chance, should be trodden on and profaned. Christian reverence will gather
up the scraps of time and opportunity, because on them




388        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
all is certainly stamped the law of religious accountability. The dyer's hand, they say, is subdued to the thing
it works in; but so, morally, is every man's. Suppose
you tell a friend, who comes to be your guest, that you
will set apart one house that shall hold him locked up,
where you will meet him one hour in the week, and there
pay him professions of extravagant esteem; but you will
not allow him in your home, your shop, or your recreations. That is the hospitality which many of us show
to religion. Neither devotion nor conscience will reach
its natural growth so. Character -joint fruit of piety
and morality, prayer and work- is the glory of the
world; and only that holiness has immortality.
IV. My fourth and final position is this: — The religion that is natural unites a supreme zeal for evangelical
belief with the largest Christian catholicity, and so blends
fidelity with charity.
My meaning is, that religious toleration ought not to
stand indebted for its prevalence to religious indifference.
A part of the "Christian liberty " of which our modern
age boasts, may be merely a liberty, or license, not to be
Christian. Some of our powers, both civil and ecclesiastical, care too little, possibly, about any faith, to oppress
any. The reign of true charity can never be inaugurated
on earth by discrowning zeal.
Zeal any vital and conquering system must have. It
is one of the manliest and mightiest attributes of our nature. To Christian character it is what heat is to the
sun. Now, zeal implies convictions; not loose, vague,
slippery notions, so carelessly held as to breed unconcern,
or so falsely spiritual as to melt away before the eye, into
thin, vapory generalities; but convictions, - definite, de



THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        389
cided, special. These are the things that beget an honest zeal. Men do not toil, and sweat, and lay down fortune and fame for the sake of cloudy abstractions; nor
do martyrs go to the axe and fire for the sake of being
" a pretty good sort of men for the most part," or doing
about right in general. I have already spoken of the
relish strong minds have for strong doctrine. When you
go to church only to hear it preached to you, that self-cultivation is all you want; that sin is an old-fashioned,
obsolete phantom; that, having got rid of the notion of
a devil, theology has now only to get rid of the anxiety
about his works; that the difference between converted
and unconverted is only the difference between more and
less of manhood, or personal distinction; that retribution
is soft or a nullity, and divine justice a figure of speech,
and intuition the grand guide, and passion the voice of
Divinity, or dying penitence an atonement for a vile life,
or the redemptive work an easy acquittal and substitute
for our own, - then you feel, I have no doubt, that you
have been debauched by the preaching. If you are a
dissipated and profligate man yourself, you will yet despise the minister for flattery and falsehood, who tells
you the dissipated and profligate man is nothing but an
immature style of man, a little behind his regenerate
neighbor on the same road. You know that Christianity
divides the world into two sorts of men. If you are a
sinner, of any shape, something in you will extort your
consent when you are told that God hates sin. You
know that, after a sinful life, the religion that cries, " Be
born again," is the most natural religion,- that guilt involves the peril of perdition, —that repentance is the only
rescue, faith in Christ Jesus the only blessedness, and
righteousness, springing therefrom, the only salvation.
33*




390        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
It is a striking etymological confirmation of the tie that
connects strict believing with strict living, that in the history of language the term "libertine " was first applied
to lax or sceptical speculations, but came, in process of
time, to signify corrupt morals. It will be only an irreligious liberality that argues for charity by striking out
the pillars of faith; which would be to the contentious
sects in the Church much like producing harmony among
the angry inmates of a house by tearing away the foundation.
And yet, that these contentious sects be pacified, the
growing Christian consciousness of the age feels to be
one of the very foremost wants of the Church.  The time
has come, and is coming more perfectly each day, when
the extinction of sectarian bigotry and intolerance is made
necessary, not only to the practical power and consistency
of the Christian religion itself, but to the satisfaction of
Christian men as they are. Your own title and schedule
as an association give an intimation that you have caught
the foreshining of that day-spring; and, as if you recognized this as among the chief desiderata in rational piety,
you have called yourselves a Christian Union.
The pressing question, now, therefore, respects the
mode of this Union, or how a better state of mutual forbearance is to be brought about. Not, in the name of
all that is natural, in the first place, by any sacrifice of
convictions. We must not think to heal our quarrels by
crucifying our Lord.  Obtain uniformity by the least
abandonment of doctrines which you really believe, and
it is a uniformity not worth having; it is a league of
death; you have destroyed the greater for the less. The
truth as it is in Jesus, first; then the " seeing eye to eye."
The Unitarian cannot say to the Trinitarian, " Give up




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        391
your faith in Christ's absolute Deity, and I will give up
my faith in man's natural purity; and then come, and
let us agree." The Protestant cannot say to the Romanist, " Try to stretch your belief so as to embrace a half of
the doctrine of justification by faith, and I will try to
stretch mine so as to take in half of your absolution by
sacraments; and so we will be brethren." All this, in
every degree of it, is artificial, false, infidel. It is paltering with the most sacred verities, and a denial of the everlasting fact. Systems of theology are not to be patched
and accommodated, like blocks of wood, by paring off
here, and adding on there; raising one side, and lowering another. Every honest spirit revolts instantly at the
bare conception, and there is no need to argue upon it.
If unity could come only in that compromising way,
every believing man would cry out, " Then, in Christ's
name, let the Church stand split to the end of days, and
the Saviour's prayer,'that they all may be one,' be unfulfilled for ever."
At the extreme opposite to this mistake is the more
common one, held by each of the sects, that, whenever
the present religious hostilities cease, that event will be
due to the perfect and universal triumph of its own
creed; the world swinging round exactly on to its own
platform. This notion seems as contracted as the other
one was lax. It is undoubtedly true, that to himself
every man's convictions must for the present appear to
be right; otherwise they are no longer convictions. The
moment he ceases to have faith in his viewvs, he must
dismiss them, or hold them in suspense; and in his
efforts to spread or propagate the Gospel, he must seek to
propagate his own view of what the Gospel is, and not
another man's; that is, what is truth to him. So, in shap



392        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
ing to himself an idea of the perfect doctrine that will
organize a united church, he cannot distinctly conceive
what other it shall be than the one he now believes to be
true. All these are plain propositions. But this, surely,
is not the same as his saying that God cannot, or will
not, disclose to another age what he has hidden from
this. You can be sincere and consistent in your own
belief, without denying human progression. You can
suppose the faith of the future will, in'many things,
differ from your own, and yet be true, though you cannot
distinctly conceive how. Of course, nothing is plainer
than that this hope, on the part of the sects, each one by
itself, that its own precise creed shall finally prevail, to
the total overthrow of all the rest, must be futile; for, of
fifty different things, each one cannot be substituted for
all the rest at the same time. Ought not the absurdity
of this expectation to teach us denominational modesty,
-teach us to be less confident and dogmatical as to
those tenets wherein we differ, - teach us to hold a less
repellent attitude towards each other, as to all the less
essential peculiarities of form, polity, and mere intellectual opinions?
Essential, - that is the word on which all hinges.
Something is essential. Suppose now that, ceasing to
look at one another, to compare themselves with one
another, to criticise one another, and to contend with
one another, the sects turn and look only to Him who is
the acknowledged Head of all. Suppose they should
become so intent in their personal affection and devotion
to him, as to pass over their various interpretations of
terms without dispute; so devoutly grateful to see the
Father thus manifested in the flesh, as to lose their interest in wordy controversies; so ardent in their worship,




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.        393
as to be raised out of concern for sectarian numbers; so
absorbed in the deep conviction of unworthiness, while
they look on the moving spectacle of the cross, and
see a pure Redeemer suffering to reconcile them to the
Heaven they have deserted, as to forget the poor interests
of party pride, - then would it not begin to be clear as
noon to them all, just as far as they should do this, what
the essential is?'" Be ye reconciled to God ": that is
the essential. Put this state of coldness, of indifference,
of spiritual torpor and carelessness, or of positive alienation between yourself and him, —put it to an end.
Come into a free and peaceful harmony of will with
him. Let penitence win his forgiveness; let confession
secure his favor; let prayers - such prayers as swell and
move the whole heart — scatter your doubts; let faith
give you constancy, and practical righteousness place
your feet on solid rock. All this is of the heart, not of
the brain. It comes by way of the conscience and affections, not by outward form or creed. It is a personal
experience, and not a sectarian calculation.  Believers
will be reconciled to one another just so fast and so far
as they will heed Paul's entreaty, beseeching them in
Christ's stead to be first reconciled to God.
You will see, from this exposition, that I look for the
Christian concord, of which I have spoken as an object
very precious to good men's hopes, not as coming by the
neglect of Christ's doctrine, nor by dogmatic obstinacy;
not by paring down creeds to make them fit, nor by one
sect overriding and swallowing all others; but by going
down so deep into all the affecting and powerful realities
belonging to the soul's reconciliation to God in Christ
Jesus, that every earnest believer's heart shall be found
meeting its fellow there, all beating in friendly unison,




394       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
and all resting in the Divine Love. Or, to vary the
image, Christian unity is to come, not by attempts to
concoct a mental conformity with ingenious contrivance,
working on a human level; but by letting the soul be
taken up into that lofty region of warm devotion, of holy
trust, of heavenly communion, where it loses sight of the
little boundary lines that marlk off sect from sect; and
where it forgets alienations by ascending far above them
towards the peace of God. "If ye then," says the grand
exhortation of the Apostle, -" if ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. For your life is hid
with Christ in God."
Nothing is plainer in prophecy, than that each of the
existing sects has, in its form of faith, some element to
contribute to that Perfect Church, or visible Body of
Christ, which the future is to realize. It is very impressive, and it ought to inspire us with reverence for the
methods of the Divine Providence, to see how every
separate denomination is thus put out to school by itself,
fashioned into a peculiar form, nurtured to a peculiar
life, qualified for a peculiar task; and then, when their
several ideas are developed, how they are to be brought
together by the attractions of the Spirit, and their distinctive qualities melted into one homogeneous whole.
We stand at the preparatory or transition point, in this
process. Protestantism has broken up the old false and
formal unity, where the letter had overborne the spirit,
and has installed the new state of divided parties,- a
necessary stage on the way to final peace and purity.
For, remember, purity is as precious to God as peace.
There is a false kind of peace; such as was before
Luther,- the peace of absolutism and tyranny; such




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       395
as may be again, - the peace of worldly stagnation and
religious unconcern.  The only union that can satisfy
the Almighty, or bless mankind, is where peace stands
in agreement with wholesome activity of mind, a ruling
love of truth, and holiness of life. It is to accomplish
that, that we are passed through all this stir of inquiry
and agitation of opinions, incidental to a Protestant age.
What it most concerns us to observe, while in it, is not
to let difference pass into hostility, variety run into sectarianism, individuality shrivel into dogmatism, and comparisons of doctrine be deformed by a dishonorable proselytism, or a wicked intolerance. And equally does it
concern us not to continue divided after the time has
fairly come for us to be one, nor maintain opposing organizations when their providential function has ceased,
and their historical significance been taken up into a
more comprehensive order. This will be our danger,
just as far as we scorn any indications of a growing
religious harmony, or persist in pushing party projects
when it is plain we can render God better service by acting just as if parties were abolished, or had never been.
You all know that, a few years ago, certain patriotic
venerators of the majestic character of Washington devised a new offering to his greatness, in a national monument, to be composed, in part, of stones contributed by
the several States of the Union which his wisdom and
heroism  founded.  These several communities have
brought their blocks to that grand pile, each carving
some inscription befitting its own history or genius, or
expressing the dominant local sentiment. On the faces
of these tablets, products of quarries scattered over a
country so broad, the eye of the future will read the
characters of those ideas which the discipline of Ameri



396       THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.
can history has wrought into the minds of the people,
their copy stamped on these durable pages, dedicated to
the common founder and leader. But the best monument of our divine deliverance is the body of living disciples. Ages are its builders. Faith is its corner-stone.
Love is the artist that shapes its symmetry, and forms
the unity of the design. For that "' growing temple," as
the Apostle fitly calls it, every sincere and thoughtful sect
brings in its hands some needed contribution, the result
of its own single experience, carved with a thought
which nothing but the wisdom born of its own special
life could have inspired. And, as even the savage Indian hordes, whose only blessing from this new civilization has been exile, oppression, and temptation, with a
touching forgiveness quite redeeming in their barbarian
natures, have added in their votive stone to commemorate the political father of the nation; so, I cannot help
believing, those persecuted and outcast tribes of heathens,
whom Pharisaic judgments now rank as beyond the pale
of the circumcision, will be found at last to deliver in
some tribute, more acceptable than that of the Pharisees
themselves, to the Building of the impartial Lord, in
whom there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free.
America was not discovered to be merely a magnificent workshop for enterprise, nor a camp for political
parties, nor even a theatre for the play of civil liberty.
God meant it for a nursery of believing and valiant souls,
- the home of a sacred brotherhood, - a church of his
living praise. It becomes us to see to it, so far as our
individual life and confession will achieve or further it,
that here his pure word and will shall have free course,
run, and be glorified.




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.         397
There is a deeper wisdom awaiting the unfolding of
God's plans than has yet got itself taught in our universities; a more perfect social order than is commanded
by any statute-book, or enforced by any government; a
truer theology than is written in any creed or catechism.
It is well to live and labor under these cheerful expectations; for we shall live more effectually, and labor more
faithfully. But, after all, for each single soul the work
of life lies not on any public sphere, nor amid great publie problems, but in a smaller lot. To stand diligent and
trustful in that lot, is what God asks.  To work out the
salvation of one penitent and fallible spirit, is our appointed task. And the only way whereby we can render any worthy service to the Church, or the world, is by
first yielding to the entreaty of the Gospel, and being
personally reconciled to God.
Here, then, would seem to be the outlines of a religion,
which, being revealed from above nature, as nature looks to
us, is yet perfectly and beautifully accordant with nature
in its workings among men, divinely suited to the sphere
where it is to win its triumphs; - a religion natural in
these essential attributes of nature: 1. That it harmonizes with all the lofty and pure natural sentiments of
humanity, - as love, gratitude, zeal, decision, tenderness, courage, self-denial; 2. That it is consistent in its
manifestations; 3. That it acts from within outward, -
that is, from an inward force or faith into visible fruits,
or righteousness; and 4. That it fits the facts of experience, from sin and its misery up to reconciliation and
its peace; - a religion at once profound and practical,
contemplative and enterprising; affectionate as a mother, and inflexible as justice; tender as John, and bold as
34




398        THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL,
Paul; solemn as the stars, and cheerful as the sunrise;
awful as the midnight, and frank as the day; one with
the innocent joy of children, stretching their arms to the
future; one with the sober conflicts of manhood, wrestling with the present; one with the calm rest of age,
waiting between its little yesterday and its infinite tomorrow; - a religion at once beneficent and prayerful, watching at Gethsemane, feeding the famished in
Galilee.
Come, then, men of a strong heart, in the power of a
religion like this, come to the healing and purifying of
our social state! Begin here, and set this city of Puritan
piety once more on a hill, a flaming beacon of holy light.
Let not sloth, cowardice, compliance with the effeminate
fashions of the world, and inconstancy, too ready to
falter and look back, lay waste the vineyard of the Lord,
and, while New England, the American Israel, peoples
the continent, make her heart sick!
More than this, make your Christianity aggressive;
crowd it up into the seats of spiritual wickedness in high
places, the encampments of the rulers of the world's
darkness; press it down into the kennels of sottish degradation. Cast yourselves into these'exhilarating tasks
of Christian renewal. Unless our Christianity does this,
it is death-struck at the core. The Church that stands
still, forfeits its right to be called a church. " It is a
maxim of the military art," said the great modern master of that art, "' that the army which remains in its intrenchments is beaten."  If that is orthodoxy among the
armies of empires, it is truer yet of the armies of the
cross. If we stand still, we stagnate. New outlays of
Christian heroism must widen the enclosures of the new
kingdom. This needs men such as your Association




THE RELIGION THAT IS NATURAL.       399
ought to marshal and multiply, not to be shaken by a
crude speculation or a sceptic's sneer.
My companions and fellow-subjects under the discipline of life, I have said nothing to you in detail of those
manifold solicitings to sin, those trials of fire, besetting
your steps in the city, - that raining shot of temptation,
filling all our city air, through which your virtue must
pass and be proved, and out of which it is a chief office
of this Christian Union to help you to be delivered, with
your purity unspotted. Those warnings are familiar to
you. You know every one of these siren seducers as
well at least as I. You know what prayers mothers,
sisters, loving kindred, and believing friends, raise for
you in quiet homes. You know what the choice is, and
on which side of it all peace and strength, all order and
grandeur, all present and eternal welfare, all honor and
heaven, stand. I have attempted to show you the more
positive doctrine; to exhibit that place of strength, where
the soul, once fixed, is almost beyond the reach of danger, disarming evil by the breadth and intensity of its
convictions; and to trace before you, too feebly and
faintly I know, some outlines of that religion, at once
evangelical and rational, devout and practical, zealous
and manly, centring in the Gospel, but spreading itself
over the life of all men, all cities, all countries, all ages,
binding them into the unity of one mighty Church,which is truly natural, insomuch as it comes from the
God whose nature has suited it to ours. This might
rather anticipate temptation, and, working within your
souls, a living and honest faith, prove indeed " the victory which overcometh the world."




SERMON XXIV.
FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY.- Acts xxi. 39.
A CITY WHICH HATH FOUNDATIONS. - Heb. xi. 10.
BY the first of these phrases, Paul vindicates the dignity of his origin, against the contempt of the most contemptuous of races, challenging a hearing before a Jewish
mob. The second is a serene prophecy of that immortal
and equal society, the commonwealth of justified spirits,
gathered by the Redeemer'"out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation." In the one, we have
an instance of honorable municipal pride, taking the
sanction of an Apostle, whose heart, though flaming
with zeal for the cross, and supremely consecrated to
preaching Christ and the resurrection, could yet make
room for a human passion so pure. In the other, we
find a type of that perfect economy, whose citizenship is
heavenly, whose charter is the infinite grace, whose title
and right of freedom is a faith like the Patriarch's, whose
Builder and Maker is God.
To bring the first of these into unity with the last; to
make our patriotism, or local attachment, consist with a
divine hope; to conform our civil state here to the celestial pattern, -is at once the highest scope of our civilization, and the unyielding demand of our religion.




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY,       401
That religion does not scorn the sentiment of loyalty.
Paul — who was no one-sided enthusiast, but had proportions broad enough in the structure of his manhood to
take in all manly affections, blending genial emotions
with inflexible principles, and who could harmonize the
sagacity that knows how to deal with nature, on its practical side, with the loftiest spirituality - recognized the
advantages of having been born in " no mean city." He
was ready to assert that lawful claim, and, while a stranger at Jerusalem, arrested under religious jealousy, and
led off to prison by a rough police, charged by false accusations, was resolved to have his share in the good
repute of his native town. He told the chief captain, or
city marshal, that he was by no means the seditious
Egyptian he had been taken for, - making an uproar, a
ringleader of murderers, - but a Hebrew himself, of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, " a citizen of no mean city," and so
entitled to an audience with the people. His plea of citizenship served him; and, standing on the castle-stairs
for his pulpit, he snatched an occasion for his Master out
of the very teeth of this ferocious, persecuting Judaism,
and opened the whole doctrine of his ministry.
It becomes a distinct motive, then, for elevating the
character of any community, or state, that, as in this instance, such character proves a protection to the individual citizen. Each contribution of uprightness, purity,
fortitude, or devotion, made to the public stock, returns
back benefits to the social stockholders, in their private
emergencies. Nor is that consideration wholly self-interested; for it is as natural to regard it as affecting your
fellow-subjects, as your own convenience. Every day,
all over the world, it is happening that travellers and voyagers are rescued from restrictions on personal liberty,
34*




402      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
or other detriment, by the political virtue of the national
flag; and the moral virtue of a local reputation is hardly
less, in furnishing exemption, furtherance, or some species of facility, quite independent on the personal worth
of the recipient. The character of your birthplace and
residence is a shield of slow construction, but ponderous
when it is once wrought; and every man who derives
safety from its shelter should help compact its strength.
It is only meanness and cowardice that will draw out of
a common treasury, putting nothing in.
It is, in fact, on this principle —the law of personal
relations to the public weal- that all national judgments come to be held as penalties to be warded off
possibly by private penitence, fidelity, and prayers. A
sharper perception of this connection, a certain lively
sense of religious responsibility running into all collective action, which their children have partly lost, was
what instigated our fathers to isolate special occasions
for really deploring social sins, and supplicating political
salvation.
But apart from the bare motive of immediate utility,
every right-minded man is bound to the loyal duties of
Christian citizenship by a constraint, which, if held to be
less efficient by the estimate of a low expediency, because it is less involved in our outward security, is none
the less sacred in its authority, and of a loftier nature.
I mean the obligation laid on us to build our public morality up, according to our inbred conception of what a
Christian community ought to be, - and because we have
that conception, -the dowry of the Christian ages; our
obligation to shape our actual society, and its institutions, by the configurations of that ideal, whose outlines
and plan are drawn in the Gospel, -to fashion our own




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.     403
earthly city into the nearest possible resemblance to that
city that hath foundations, not built with hands.
My subject, therefore, is the Foundations of a Christian City. It will be natural if, in treating it, I shall
make special reference to this city of Boston we are in.
I. I speak, you will see, of foundations that are moral, — not material, not commercial, nor industrial. The
first of these moral foundations is Domestiq Purity; and
the institution representing it is the Family. Two reflecting persons were asked to give extempore definitions
of the idea of family. One called it " an item of a poor
nation's wealth, and of a rich nation's poverty." The
other called it "matrimony doing penance."  Both answers suggest how far our best communities are from
realizing, at large, the exalted conception of what a Christian home should be. It is sad to think how few steps
we should need to take in any street, to find some dreary
confirmation of that witty satire on heartless marriage, -
" Going home by daylight, after courtship's masquerade."
Men and women do not enter into wedlock as if they
were entering a sanctuary; yet no temple is so sacred.
Outside of cities, the idea of family has external supports, - separated domiciles, - some space put between
every household and the next. Neighborhood does not
there mean contact and attrition. The awful sublimity
of an infinite sky comes down between the dwellings.
The local distinctness is a symbol of the social. Families come to have more marked characteristics, and grow
into more decided forms of character. The storm and
the winter, binding them together in a more vivid sense
of segregation from the rest of the world, render them
conscious of mutual dependence. But the city huddles




404      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
individualities as it does houses. It ranges buildings
into blocks, and characters into ranks of imitators, and
disperses kindred into a crowd. There are advantages in
this, and disadvantages. But it does not tend to nourish souls of strong personal will, nor independence of
judgment, nor that equipoise of original faculties, careless of the verdict of surrounding fashions, which, in
town and village alike, is an attribute of every valiant
and effective.mind.
The danger suggests the caution. As fast as we lose
the reserve and retirement of a true domestic habit, we
lose purity and power; and so we weaken the foundations of the city. How much affectionate preference for
the evening circle over the excitement abroad, — so much
inward strength. How much choice of that calmer and
familiar communion between brothers and sisters, - so
much inalienable resource and satisfaction that will survive the fever of youth. How much reciprocal affection
and veneration between children that hasten home eagerly
from all the fascinations of company, and parents that go
reluctantly out from a charm in-doors which overmasters
every foreign pleasure, —so much barrier built up against
all the breaches of misfortune, - so much prepared soil
for the culture of public and private morality. Parents
that forego mature tastes for the thoughtful wisdom
that condescends to bind these amulets of home delight
about their children's necks, are as much saviours of the
city as they are providers of their own honor and joy
against age. Parents that teach their offspring to look
on home as only a dressing-room for mixed society, - a
point of convenient sallying forth to catch the afflatus of
frivolous assemblies; or who turn their table-talk into
recitations of the scandals engendered in some vacant




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.       405
brain, or their parlors into a rendezvous of those falsely
assorted platoons that somebody has described as " the
sexes' school of mutual misinstruction," a "camp of modern Amazons," -these are sowing for a harvest of private heart-aches and general decay.
There are other thoughts. Home is a foundation of
Christian cities, because, if it is what it was meant to be,
it opposes the surest and Heaven-appointed resistance to
the vices that dense populations encourage. It cools the
inflammation of competitory hatred.  It heals the disorders of prodigals. It forestalls crimes that the law is
helpless to forbid. It opens Bibles and books that the
Bible has written.  It gives the key-note to refining
music, and from song the transition is often spontaneous
to prayers. It bolts out a thousand tempting imaginations, and wards off, by its chaste employments, the
wanton possibilities of shame, as if they were ugly fables
of some antipodal tribe. Build up one Christian homle,
Christian in no forced nomenclature of courtesy, but
one that Jesus himself might enter with the blessing
that visited Bethany, -and you lay a new support under the foundations of a Christian city.
II. The next. great pillar of these supports is Education, and the institution that represents it is the School.
At this point the city frequently takes its turn in superiority over the village. Bring the stimulus of interacting
intellects to bear on an organized system of culture, and
you obtain a development of mental activity that is more
intense, if not so well balanced. If the ambition and
hurry of the teacher for immediate results do not esteem
the compass of his scholar's attainments out of proportion to the depth; if rapidity does not displace care; if




406      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
the mere projecting of ill-assorted and ill-combined information into the memory does not create oblivion of that
assimilating process by which knowledge is taken up
into the circulations of the heart's blood, arrd so converted
into wisdom; above all, if the head does not overbear
the heart, so that science displaces religion, and so that
the central, indwelling, and all-encompassing God is forgotten in a study of the surface of his creation, - then
the school is indeed a nursery of the commonwealth.
Emphatically is it true that the hearts of children - so
tender to impression, yet so mighty in the germination of
their energies - are foundations of the city.  Misdirect
them, and, as with the godless earth in the Psalmist's picture, all those foundations are shaken out of their course.
I learn from authoritative documents, that during the
last year,' in this city, eleven hundred and ten juvenile
criminals - offenders under age, of both sexes - were
arrested for punishment, - a number more than a third
larger than that of the year before, - and distributed to
their several scenes of legal correction, many of which
ought in simpler truth to be called seminaries of hardening and seduction.  It is such statistics as these that
make the yearly reports of the chief of our police sound
like the gloomy bulletins of a helpless physician, chronicling the decline of a constitution he cannot save.
Why should our system of education be confined for ever
to prescribed methods, and to the better provided classes?
Why should not new emergencies and advancing thought
strike out new and nobler plans? Why should not facts
so terrible as these- crying out to us like the very trumpets of judgment - create schools for the vicious as well
as schools for the respectable, - for the vagrant as well
* A. D. 1851.




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.     407
as the domesticated, - the ragged as well as the clad?
Tuition costs less than imprisonment; but a civilized city
should be ashamed to wait for that discovery. Every
thieving boy and mendicant girl has a soul for which
Christ died. Do not mock the Father of lights by putting them into sunless dungeons. The head of the
municipal government said, not long ago, " At the rate
with which violence and crime have recently increased,
our jails, like our almshouses, however capacious, will
be scarcely adequate to the imperious requirements of
society." What will be adequate? Education will.
Pour in light, —Heaven's inexhaustible and ultimately
effectual medicine for depravity. Depose Ignorance, -
the high-priest in the idolatrous temple of sin; lead in
Truth, - the royal minister of righteousness, and " heir
apparent of all the world."  Seven hundred thousand
pupils, the missionary reports tell us, are under the
tuition of the Gospel, in heathen countries. What an
incongruity that there should be a thousand Pagans in
Boston! That word Pagan reverses now its original
Latin meaning. First it signified the rude dwellers in
villages. But in the process of centralization that goes
on in older nations, it finds a fitter application in the
neglected hordes that wallow and prowl about the purlieus of great centres. Say nothing of the impossibility,
or the hopelessness, of tuition for the degraded. That
doubt has been settled by practical demonstrations in our
favor, in the lowest extremities of the largest cities. For
you and me, the evening schools in yonder chapel ought
to have settled it. The testimony of the faithful men
that have toiled in domestic missions, ever since their
foremost leader in Boston, Dr. Tuckerman, twenty-five
years ago, wrote down the now fulfilled prophecy, —




408        FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
that, with every successive year, each minister serving
" in the true spirit of that ministry would find his soul
bound to it by stronger ties," - all that testimony unites
to prove that the vilest iniquity and the completest
wretchedness beget no despair of human nature. After
Wordsworth - with his delicate sensibility revolting at
the slightest stain on purity, - a soul of almost childlike
refinement and innocence - had returned to the quiet of
Rydal Mount, from a visit to the enormities and abuses,
the sufferings and the crimes of London, he recorded this
just conclusion of his unmoved confidence in God, and
in man as God's child: -
" Neither vice nor guilt,
Debasement undergone by body or mind,
Nor all the misery forced upon my sight,
could overthrow my trust
In what we may become."
" What one is,
Why may not millions be? What bars are thrown
By nature in the way of such a hope?
Our animal appetites and daily wants, -
Are these obstructions insurmountable?
If not, then others vanish into air."
Of knowledge comes industry; of the interpretation
of the divine laws, written all over a radiant universe,
from the Old Red-Sandstone to Sirius,- on rock and
grass-blade and shelving sea-shores, - on soils, and the
structure of plants, and the anatomy of animals, and the
motion of stars, - comes a wiser life. Except science
regulates brute instincts, organizes industry, and so casts
up the highway of the Son of Man into the Jerusalem
of faith, the social foundations rot. Where there is no
vision of truth, the people perish. Stringent legislation
will not save them, nor an imperious constabulary, nor a
standing army.   Generate an explosive agent, like a




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.     409
Parisian rabble's madness, inside a vessel, and clamps on
the exterior avail little to hold it together. The human
will, perverted by an unreasoning fury, is mightier than
all statute-books, as is proved by the outbreak of what
Mazzini calls " the great electric currents of revolution."
In the end, there will be no law but truth. Truth is to
be learned; and that learning is the just creation of the
School.
III. From the School, on to the Church,-from Education to Religion, the third and chief foundation of the Christian city. But, observe, I do not mean by the Church
any inert or Pharisaic body, looking on the wastes of
virtual atheism among us with folded hands, contenting
herself with a few handsome decencies of temple-worship, or a genteel routine of professions and ceremonies
that will not soil effeminate fingers. I mean a Church of
God and his Son; and that means a Church of sacrifice
and self-renunciation, - a Church whose first law is
spiritual labor, whose function is conversion, and whose
most irresistible impulse is aggression on the empire of
Satan. I mean a Church whose members take Apostles
for their examples, as well in bold regenerating incursions into the Macedonia of unbelief, as in quiet communings at Olivet and the upper chamber.
Surely our great seats of population ought to be also
seats of the vitality and energy of such a living Church.
We want it in America, and all sects ought to be enrolled in one militant army to push its peaceful conquests
on, - their jealousies melted down in the common heat
of a purpose so holy, and their suspicions scattered to
the winds by their enterprise in reclaiming the lost, gathering outcasts into the fold, clothing the destitute, and
35




410      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
preaching the Gospel to the poor. It was of such a
Church that Jesus announced himself the Head, when he
stood up to read from Isaiah's prophecy in the synagogue of Nazareth.  Yet, in most of the larger cities of
Christendom itself, only a fraction of the citizens ever
come within reach of the Church's voice. She needs,
herself, a fresh baptism of the spirit of consecration from
on high, fresh oil to refill her wasted lamps, fresh conversions to swell her ranks, and fresh love to make her
whole. And, " inasmuch as the apostates of Chorazin
are more incorrigible than the impenitent of Tyre," she
needs these new supplies even more for making Christianity evangelical and operative among the wayward
captives of Mammon and sense in our prosperous capitals, than in Burmah or Koordistan.
At one extreme of our vulgar competitors for comfort
stand the besotted rich, as far from the kingdom of
Heaven as the needle's eye fromn stretching to the compass of the camel, neither entering it themselves, nor
suffering those that are entering to go in. At the other
end, the victims of this pride, or of their own sottish passions, or of malicious and radical despair, chafing at
all that is wholesome, and defiling all that is holy. At
both extremes riot those identical sins that bind the rich
profligate and the poor in a degrading kinsmanship,
intemperance, lust, and sloth. One street alone in this
city, last year, yielded to your grand jury two hundred
and five complaints, for violations of peace, for Sabbath
disorders, for the dissipation of lewd cellars and tipplingshops, and the whole brood of petty and aggravated
crimes that nestle in these kennels of filth and guilt.
Why has not Christ's Church a missionary for every
hovel, - a patient compassion to lead every child, clothed




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.     411
and loved, to worship?  Modern sanitary ideas wisely
forbid burials of the dead within municipal limits, excluding that corruption. Looking as God looks, it is
a far more fatal forbearance that leaves the pestilent
breath of this moral death, with vents at every corner, to
poison the living.
While we lay the foundations of religion deeper, in
filled and faithful churches of the better-provided, in
consistent lives and a reverential habit of devotion, let
some missionary ardor reclaim, if possible, - and God
has made it possible, -the perishing aliens. By our established institutions, needing only the infusion of warmer
zeal from our personal will, — our Provident Associations, and Ministry at Large, and Children's Mission, -
let us make our convictions more aggressive, our sincerity more unquestionable.  If we were to name the
man who, in the conditions of modern society, more expressly and literally reproduces the outward work of
Christ and his first disciples than any other, would it not
be the missionary to the poor in our cities? How shall
he go, except he is sent, or work, unless he is fed? If
you shrink from his tasks, has all your due been given to
sustain his willingness? Your municipal government
and your police-officers save dollars.  The religion of
Christ saves two wherever these save one; but it also
saves what dollars cannot buy; for it casts into the
world's sick life that spiritual medicament that cleanses
its leprosy. It is an alchemy that impoverishes by comparison all the mines and money-mints of the nations. It.holds open the door of access into heaven. It nourishes
the communion between all burdened and penitent spirits and the Father, through the Mediator. It lays the
easy yoke and the light burden on the grateful disciple.




412      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
It brings down beams of forgiveness, to brighten the lot
of suffering, to bow the pride of station, to soften stony
avarice. It makes mankind one, in their Lord. And
so the Church is the mightiest and the deepest of all
foundations of the Christian city.
The continual sophistry of our metropolitan habits, my
friends, is to arrest the gaze of self-examination, to stop all
insight with the surface, to cheat us out of all profounder
spiritual meditation, and to bend every fact to the standard of immediate and outward effects. There are things
in the city, solemn verities and a spiritual Presence, that
no census can reckon. So many objects arrest the eye
close at hand, so many voices call, and bribes clink, and
flatteries dazzle, so many prizes of fortune glitter on all
the way-sides, that we cannot afford time to go up into
the still watch-towers, and take the telescope of faith,
and hold commerce with the everlasting lights and
oceans! O how well for us, immortal spirits, if we
would! How else shall we ever comprehend our heirship
in the kingdom of Heaven? To adopt a paradox of the
Apostle, we need to look more at what we cannot see.
We want a stronger faith in things that lie out of the
range of our touch, and deeper than the plane of our frivolity. We want an affection, - not merely a fanciful
sentiment, but a hearty and constraining affection, for
those lowly traits of humanity, and those invisible fellowships with the divinity, which are the under-currents of
all our better lives, and are the arteries that join us to
Christ, making us one in the body of his Church.
You have, traversing all the streets and squares of
your metropolis, in dark passages under ground, the conduits that bring in country waters, to cool your thirst
and purify your dwellings. These streams are silent and




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.       413
hidden; but they flow none the less constantly, in obedience to the skill of science, and the bubbling supply is a
manifest, daily benediction upspringing in your houses.
These hollow pipes beneath lie among the " foundations"
of the city's welfare. So ought to run, in many secret
channels, noiseless to the ear, but mighty in their final
good, the benignant currents of love and faith. " There
is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city
of our God"; and these are its streams, - the love and
faith of Christ; give them access from the fountain of
his heart, as you do the lake's tribute, and they shall
make this your city, every city, glad, — cities of our
God, - make them whole. You know them by the
glory of their result. Their testimony is in the excellent
lives they nourish. Their fruit is in a polluted sensuality
redeemed, and a barren worldliness refreshed.
So have you those winding conductors, also laid among
the foundations, which spread the airy fuel that feeds so
many thousand lamps. All their course is hid, and never
so much forgotten as at noonday; but when night falls,
the dull rods are tipped with innumerable tongues of
flame, and the city blazes with a radiance that almost
counterfeits the sun.  The years will come, I think,
when we shall lay as carefully, and at as cheerful a cost,
those trains of beneficent design that shall illumine benighted minds, and cheer the whole air with hope.
I was shown, a few days since, that complicated contrivance of mechanism and genius, the municipal electric
telegraph, applying the grand wonder-working agency of
our time to the communication of alarms of fire. This
wirework woven over our heads, like a dry organization
of pure nerves, without body, blood, or bones, intercepting
no light or rain, or splendor of the sky, the talking appa35*




414      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
ratus of a few distant watchmen for the safety of life and
treasure to a careless or sleeping city, with the hammers
of church-bells for its tongues, and a thousand men to
start at its summons, and a common clock to tell, with
its hourly stroke, the entire order of the circuit, - all
seems to a half-initiated spectator as a sort of demiurgic
miracle, or wizard's spell. But it all has its match -and
more, has it not? —in that spiritual marvel, which we
will not marvel at,-the fine sympathy that knits human
classes into a brotherhood. Not less quick than the flash
of the fluid is the thrill of pity, or trust, or gratitude, that
vibrates from one end of the social scale to the other.
Ignore it as we will, to our injury, - deny it if we will,
in some selfish mood of treachery to the Messiah, - God
has put the same blood into the veins of all his children.
He has wrought our structures of one fibre, under all
housings, clothings, and complexions. For a millennium,
or else for a universal death-dance and reign of terrorism,
as we choose, we are all, my brothers, each other's keepers. In this our city, whether one member suffer, all the
members suffer with it; or one member rejoice, all the
members rejoice with it.  Dismiss from their posts the
blessed guardians that keep the vigils of Christian charity,
and the whole moral order would explode, like a city on
fire, with no concert for alarm and action. We cannot
be wholly segregated, or isolated, or self-containing, if we
would. God has made us of another kind; and Christ
has died for no such race. East end or west end, north or
south, can no more rot in atheistic sloth, and the rest not
sooner or later be convulsed and agonized, than one limb
of the body can mortify, and the rest leap with healthy circulations. Let us respect this magnetic law of our life.
Tarsus, the Cilician city, standing by the banks of the




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.       415
Cydnus, a river only two hundred feet broad, could
hardly have looked to the eye of our admiration so impressive as it seemed to its patriotic son. For it is said
of it that the luxurious monarch Sardanapalus built it,
and another city besides, in a single day. Only its ghost
remains. But even there, the superiority of ideas over
materials was already illustrated. It was the learning
of the inhabitants that made it the rival of Athens
and Alexandria. It was the thoughts that had it for
their birthplace, that shed their lustre across to Judeea,
arrested the violence of the Hebrew persecutor, put a
safeguard round Paul's threatened breast, and raised it
to the honor of being " no mean city."  Its " foundation"' was its wisdom, and its glories were its schools.
Boston, subscribing fifty millions of dollars for its own
investment, grasps the termini of three thousand miles
of railway. Is it a question of no solemnity, whether
the pupils it dismisses every evening from the great
school of its calculations and competitions, to the number of not less than forty-two thousand souls, pouring
them along these radiating avenues, and dropping them
at the doors of all New England, are really better souls,
or baser souls, for their learning? It exports, annually,
ten millions of value. If true to the ideas that founded
it, and faithful to the trusts of Providence, it ought to
despatch from its bosom, under all those out-bound sails,
an influence on the world's life not to be reckoned by
mathematics, but by the moral measurements of eternity. It taxes property to the amount of one hundred
and eighty-seven millions of dollars. Let that all be
held by the New Testament estimate of stewardship;
let it be used as the lending of Almighty love, to be reckoned for, every farthing, to Almighty justice; and would




416      FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.
not some greater benefactions from its bounty bless heathendom and want, in its own borders, and to the utmost
islands of the sea?  It numbers a population of one
hundred and thirty-eight thousand. What reason can
you bring, other than the perversity of human passions,
and our unbelief in Christ, why these should not be a
hundred and thirty-eight thousand consistent witnesses
to Christian righteousness? If a third of that number
crawl yearly out of immigrant ships, with an imported
superstition, and an indolence bred in their bones, ought
not the chief city of the Puritans, with the vantageground of a clean continent and two centuries of providential history, to have created such an atmosphere of
republican light and virtue, that the immersion of OldWorld barbarism itself should be like a cleansing baptism
into the renewing spirit of the Gospel?
The true foundations of the city - those that most
resemble it to its pattern in the skies —are not its
breadth of acres, or the costliness of its square feet; not
the firm pavements of stone, worn smooth with the everlasting beat of travel; not the solid walls that bear up
its ambitious roofs; not the lengthening wharves that
welcome the merchandise of all coasts, and grasp the
commerce of all waters; not the entries of its customhouse, nor the splendor of its mansions, nor the sum of
its capital; not any nor all of these, though they all may
be the tokens of a righteous prosperity.
Those foundations are rather in the mind and temper
of the people. They are in the virtuous order, and the
self-controlled moderation, and the refined dignity, of
your families. They are in the patient thoroughness,
the regular discipline, the wise forecast, and the religious
reverence, of all your systems of education. They are in




FOUNDATIONS OF A CHRISTIAN CITY.     417
the zeal, the punctuality, the strict devotion, and the
generous toleration, of your worship. They are in the
abundance of your charities, the cordiality of your courtesies, the sobriety of your hospitalities, the modesty of
your manners, the steady march of your industry, the
integrity of your traffic, the nobleness of your policy, the
liberality of your government, - the graces that adorn
your manhood. Plant such foundations as these; lay
them deeper and surer every day; and you shall be
" citizens of no mean city."
And though the humiliating conclusion of all our
proudest and most loyal meditations must be, to confess
that we are pilgrims and strangers, and have here no
continuing city, not even the venerated tabernacles of
the fathers, our Isaac and Jacob; yet, lifting our eyes
heavenward, we confidently seek one to come, - a city
that hath eternal foundations, - the type of these our
fairest cities on earth, - the Jerusalem that is above and
free, - the city of the living God.




SERMON XXV.
NATIONAL RETRIBUTION, AND THE NATIONAL SIN.*
BECAUSE SENTENCE AGAINST AN EVIL WORK IS NOT EXECUTED
SPEEDILY, THEREFORE THE HEART OF THE SONS OF MEN IS
FULLY SET IN THEM TO DO EVIL. - Eccl. viii. 11.
THIS annual Fast is rather a relic of a past age, than
a natural and vital expression of the present one. For
better or for worse,- some among us say for the better,
but I am  disposed to think rather for the worse,-the
ideas and associations, the forms of thought and life,
which gave such an anniversary its birth, have either
drifted away, or been essentially changed. It is evident
that the stated proclamation from the Executive for " a
day of public fasting, humiliation, and prayer," is a document extorted by a decent respect for ancient usage, or
by a deference to official routine easier to follow than to
break through, rather than a cordial utterance, or even
echo, of a strong and spontaneous impulse from the
heart of the whole people. And, on the other hand, as
we might expect, that degree of reluctant, languid, and
interrupted observance which the occasion gets, is more
like a hesitating acquiescence on the part of a few in a
* Preached on Fast Day, 1851, soon after the passage, in Congress, of the
bill known as the "Fugitive Slave Law."




NATIONAL RETRIBUTION, AND THE NATIONAL SIN. 419
custom to which the consent of good men has lent first a
religious and then a prescriptive sanction, than it is like
the eager and general homage of a lively conviction, or a
constraining emotion. Our Fast serves as a sort of spiritual high-water mark, to show how far the stanch, selfdenying sincerity of our Puritan ancestors once rose, and
how far the same tide, from one cause or another, has
ebbed out in the children. It stands as a monument,
graphic but awkward and funereal, of a state of things
and a set of feelings gone by, looking very much as some
surviving memorial of the monastic or ascetic period of
the Church would look in the midst of the easy manners
and luxurious indulgences of times that came after, -a
hair shirt, or hermit's girdle, or spiked shoe, re-appearing
in the wardrobe of a modern bishop's palace, or an an.
chorite's skull for a memento mori in the voluptuous oratory of a fashionable devotee.
But the observance, heartless or hearty, common or
exceptional, does call to mind the honest, sterling virtues
of a race of men that really believed in God. There is
something refreshing in the remembrance that such men
have lived, - men that planted themselves on the everlasting foundations, and stood there cheerfully, come blandishments or come tortures, harvest or famine, peace or a
sword; men that, being surrounded by hollow artifices
and hypocritical shams, could yet be simple and pure;
men that saw down through sophistry to the lie at the
bottom which the sophistry was put over, to hide and
recommend; men who, in every kind of perplexity, threw
themselves back on the oracles of Scripture as if they
were walls of rock; men that dared to take all manner
of sin that came in their path by the throat without fear
of being thrown, and could march up to look at death




420           NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
face to face, without so much as a thought of running, if
conscience only went with them; men that, so far from
doubting that God's original law is more perfect and
binding than any legislation of his fallible creature, man,
saw plainly —what men of deep moral discernment
have, in fact, never failed to see —that this very allegiance to a superior law is the only bond and safeguard
of governments or constitutions which are human; men
that held no parley with corruption, made no compromise with wrong, took no price for right; men that had
reasons to give for serving the Almighty, but would
take none for serving the Devil; that might be killed, but
never could be seduced; and for every threatening question, from throne or judge's bench, in the teeth of raging
prelate or mighty monarch, inquisition or scaffold, answered with a valiant " Thus saith the Lord." If it is
refreshing to remember that such men were, what a
joyful inspiration to know that they were our fathers!
What a motive, tightening every sinew in our frame, to
prove ourselves not utterly unworthy, by cowardice, corruptibility, and practical atheism, to be called their children!
These invigorating recollections, still clustering about
the faded and decaying observance which they ordained
in earnest, fitly lay open my subject, the doctrine of
which is this: that the slowness of God's public retributions never embarrasses their certainty; that while, " because sentence against an evil work is not executed
speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them
to do evil," that sentence is only gathering force, to strike
down with more unerring aim and heavier penalties, at
last. Let us endeavor, my friends, like fearless and candid inquirers, discharging ourselves of the transient pas



AND THE NATIONAL SIN.           421
sions which only becloud the moral vision, and rising
above the narrow issues which agitate, but do not
strengthen, the judgment, to lay calm hold of a principle
which reaches beyond passing interests, embraces many
special examples, comprehends the whole history of human society.
For, in fact, the simple conviction that men need now
most of all, condensing as it does all the lessons of
instructive experience, is this: that God governs the
world. Plans are ours, but their prospering or overthrow is with God. Beginnings are ours; but not the
end. Courses of life and systems of policy that run on,
under human guidance, many years, are brought up at
last by a Providential catastrophe. Just as they get
strong, and begin to feel domesticated, a subtile element,
interfused, -no diplomatist could tell how or when, —
works up and down to vitiate their organization, rots
their fibre, and disorders them to death. Governments,
founded by the fresh energies of a colony, or the solemn
earnestness of revolution, grow prosperous only to grow
weak, take up the seeds of decline along with the juices
of health, and, finding their destiny means their doom, die
the death of suicides. So that at last we are driven to
doubt whether even plans, beginnings, and undertakings
are ours, except by permission. The little that mortals
can do, in building or governing, is hedged about by the
checks and limitations of Omnipotence; and, if not otherwise, at least by sheer inability to account for history
by what we know, we are driven to believe that the
nations are judged by God, and the earth dependent on
Heaven.
The grand perversity of society and politics, from the
first, has been in their ingenious devices for obscuring
36




422           NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
this fundamental religious law; a law which in itself, by
its infallible accuracy and its inevitable execution, sufficiently proves the superiority of a Divine over every human law. From Assyria to Spain, from Babylon to
Mexico, from Hebrew sedition to British bankruptcy,
this has been the inevitable, mathematical demonstration,
which national ambition has set itself to deny. Sometimes by commerce and sometimes by war; now by a
better disciplined defence, or a more savage military drill,
and then by a faculty of financial accumulation, more
peaceful perhaps, but equally crafty, selfish, and unscrupulous; now by comforts singing of security like Sirens,
and then by aggressions formidable for prowess, — the
nations have each promised themselves insurance against
judgment, and played their several games of self-perpetuation, -relied on an immunity from evil, because sentence against evil was not executed speedily. Find one
amongst them all, - one tribe, or country, or dynasty, or
empire, — that has not travelled to ruin as men travel to
their graves, or else allow that the rule is beyond dispute.
It is in the nature of every public or political sin, that
it must have a double retribution; first, that which falls
on the individual who commits it, or is a party to it;
and second, that which undermines and destroys the
commonwealth itself. There is a private judgment, and
a public judgment. The soul of ruler or citizen, lawmaker and law-keeper or law-breaker, must render up
the account of its personal stewardship; and likewise,
the collective body called the nation, whose great organized sin is made up of these personal contributions, has
to be reckoned with, according to the laws of the Eternal Providence, by its loss or its progress, its ruin or its




AND THE NATIONAL SIN.             423
glory. And how fearfully does it augment the responsibility of public conduct, that the downfall of a nation
drags with it into the common wreck such hosts of sufferers, the guiltless with the guilty!
The law of the Divine economy seeks out the personal
offender and hauls him to the tribunal, in whatever alliances, social combinations, and political fashions he may
screen himself, -showing that accountability is not to
be put on and taken off as we go in and out of legislative halls, primary meetings, corporations, or parties of
pleasure; that though the sinner may say WE, God's
law says THOU; that, "though hand join in hand, the
wicked shall not be unpunished." Now, just as certain
as this is, so certain is the slow preparation of righteous
chastisement for nations. If the fraudulent dealer must
answer for his deceptions; if he who kindles in himself
the foul fires of lust must afterwards be steeped in the
fetid fumes of sensuality; if the unprincipled worldling
must come abashed before the blaze of Christ's spiritual
glory; so must every country and government that persists in oppression, in cruelty, in injustice, in venality, in
refusing to hear the cry of them that have no helper, and
in clutching at extorted riches, stand at last before the
judgment-seat, and be weighed in those bright balances
that never rust, nor swerve, nor break.  " The hire of the
laborers that have reaped down its fields crieth, and its
cry enters into the ears of the God of Sabaoth."
What an eminent patriot of the Old World, himself
almost a martyr to liberty, has said, deserves to be considered, that "religious principle has presided over two
thirds of the revolutions of single nations, and over all the
great revolutions of humanity." What higher proof than
this fact need we, that nations always stand before the




424            NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
bar of Christian rectitude, and that, though the sentence
be not executed speedily, yet equity, mercy, and freedom
shall finally press down their immutable measure on
every government under the sun?
The mistake is, that they who exercise the trusts and
enjoy the emoluments of government are too ready to
forget the primal law in the vast mechanism and complicated distribution of power.  In something of the
impious spirit, though without the frank presumption, of
that arch-prince of godless rulers, Frederick the Great of
Prussia, they are ready to say, politically, "' Religion of
some kind is necessary to the well-being of a state, and
he is not a wise king who allows his subjects to abuse
it"; but they also add, with him, " Nevertheless, he is
not a wise king who allows himself to have any religion
at all." Now, in a republic, those persons who exercise
the trusts of government, and share the temptations of
rulers, are the citizens.  It is they, therefore, who are
here tempted to great peril if they forget the law of
natural retribution, —they that need to be girded up, as
Christian men, with the faith that the delay of that retribution is never, and cannot be, because God's justice
sleeps.
We commit a radical error, if we imagine that national
retributions are always attested by outward calamity.
They are often most actively at work where no visible
disasters darken the sky.  Many a nation has gone to
destruction with a sound exchequer and regiments full;
because the surest perdition that can overtake a people
is the deadening of its spiritual sensibility, the blinding
of its sight for discerning between the true and the false,
the darkening of its inward light; and " if the light
that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness."




AND THE NATIONAL SIN.            425
This fearful process may be going on2 at the core, while
all externally is fair and flourishing. Conquest may be
stretching out its arms to grasp unrighteous gains; enterprise may be heaping up its treasures and strengthening its stakes at home; fortune may be filling its coffers
and multiplying its bank-vaults; traffic may be sliding
its merchantmen from every port into all navigable waters; the eyes of voluptuous complacency may stand out
with fatness; and yet, beneath all this prosperous show
of life, there shall be the daily inroads of death. The
land may be full of the finest of the wheat; and yet
consumption is on those faculties which are the vitals
of the soul. Herein is another working of the everlasting law. With every wanton denial of our purer aspirations, those aspirations themselves grow faint. Resistance to our better angels drives those angels away. If
we cast insults on our power of moral discrimination,
the power itself will perish. No nation can smother,
whether in the legislative council, the fashions of society,
the iniquities of trade, or the oppressive enactments of
the statute-book, those eternal sentiments which rise
up to bear their melancholy witness, even in debauched
and degraded souls, without realizing in the very act a
punishment infinitely more dismal than any defeat of
its armies or any damage to the credit of its treasury.
This, I suppose, is the real significance of those many
passages in Scripture where a disobedient people, rejecting the guidance of the Almighty and quenching the
lamps he has lighted in the soul, is said to have its
heart hardened, — to have grievous delusions sent upon
it that it should believe a lie,- to be " let alone," like
Ephraim, because it is joined to idols, - to be forsaken
of the heavenly compassion. Just in proportion to the
36*




426            NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
intensity of that accumulated light on which we obstinately shut our eyes for the wages of injustice, is the
depth of the damnation already preparing for us. The
cup is at our lips; and though we do not taste its bitterness, it is none the less poison in our blood.  If we
cover up some avaricious appetite under a plausible pretence of seeking the public good; if we plead for private
profit under the sacred name of general concord; if we
apply handsome names to unseemly plots, and baptize
a bargain with oppression as a reconciliation with alienated friends; if we make ourselves parties to a systematic policy which is the essence of all vices and the
sum  of all crimes, because we love an unobstructed
market better than the rights of humanity or the favor
of God; or if we plead an unrighteous promise given
once as a justification for perpetual fraud, then are we
ourselves sold and bound slaves under sin, and though
the wheels of retribution seem to tarry, and sentence
against the evil work is not executed speedily, we might
as well doubt our Maker's eternity as the prophecy of
our own perdition.
Why will not men see this intelligible law, blazoned
forth as it is in characters of light in every chapter of all
the chronicles of our race? Why will not citizens and
rulers alike understand, that force is not persuasion,
coercion is not conviction, conscience is not teachable
by chains and bayonets, nor amenable to the prudential
maxims of political economy? The ever-accumulating
burden of experimental wisdom is against us. The irresistible flight of time, the very revolution of the earth,
and the hastening of the hours, are against us.  The
voice of rebuke from the ages, the deep thunder that
has been drawing its awful crescendo from the first hu



AND THE NATIONAL SIN.           427
man tradition, gathers volume and intensity against us
every instant. We may build barricades for our prisonhouses, and plant guns and staves and chains about our
victims; we may stigmatize or crucify the prophets that
tell us the truth; we may rejoice in every fresh success
of cruel usurpations over human freedom; but we cannot
thereby stay the advancing steps of retribution. We
cannot, by police or militia, by conventions or statutebooks, by certificates of bondage or judicial forms, press
down behind the eastern horizon that ascending sun
which shall bring in the day of our judgment.
God forbid that I should say these things, or utter
these warnings, save with a sorrowful mind and reluctant
lips. The times are not bright enough, the prospects
around us not cheerful enough, to suffer conscious levity
of thought or inconsiderate speech.  Questions too perplexing and too intricate disturb and divide the best intelligence amongst us, to be passed upon with hasty or overconfident opinions. One of the very transgressions we
have to deplore, as well as to reckon for, is that very
violence of language which irritates and provokes passion, instead of convincing the understanding, and that
bitterness of partisan feeling which first robs itself of
the faculty of seizing any other than a one-sided and
prejudiced view of the great question at issue, and then
goes on to create discord between brethren, to open and
widen breaches in social intercourse, to spoil the amenities of hospitality, and to insult the sacred charities of
religion.
This, among others, seems to me one of the gravest
errors into which the present posture of the public mind
in reference to the recent legislation on slavery has conducted us, -that so many who speak and write on the




428            NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
subject, both in public journals and in private conversation, refuse to recognize the existence of any other than
two broadly distinguished classes; namely, unqualified
advocates of the law as it stands, and traitors to the government. I cannot think that the self-possession of this
community has been so completely unsettled, nor its intellect so stultified, that it is necessary to resort to this
sweeping classification in order to guard against an alleged incipient rebellion. It not only exasperates welldisposed persons by its presumption, but it inflicts a positive wound on the truth. Thlere is a third class of men in
the country, - how numerous cannot be told till they are
counted, but not very inconsiderable in numbers nor contemptible in character. It is composed of those who are,
always have been, and resolutely propose to be, loyal
subjects to the general government under which they live,
unwavering friends of the union of these States, and obe.
dient observers of the laws. They do not assort with disorganizers, nor take counsel of fanaticism. Their daily
associations are with such as rely most securely on the
settled order of society, and their liveliest sympathies lie
on the side of submission, good faith, and good feeling
throughout all sections and classes of the country. But
they have been led, by processes within their own minds
as uncontrollable as the winds of heaven, and which they
honestly trace to the workings of that spirit which Christ
compared to the wind that bloweth where it listeth, to
contemplate every possible enslavement, or re-enslavement, of any human being, under any supposable array
of circumstances, in this age of the world and within the
great American republic, as a terrible offence against the
plain will and word of God, and against that humanity
which he has made and called his child. They believe




AND THE NATIONAL SIN.            429
the system of negro slavery as it exists in the United
States to be explicitly at variance with the Almighty's
will and law, and with all the duty, integrity, purity,
and innocent happiness of man. They regard it as the
special and overshadowing affront of this nation against
the Father of eternal justice, truth, liberty, love. They
know that it is an anomaly in our national institutions,
an abnegation of our history, a plague in our politics, a
gigantic curse upon industry, a foul insult to morality, a
blight upon learning, science, and the arts, the annihilation of God's ordinance in the family, the prostitution of
woman, the scourge of innocence, the violation, direct or
indirect, of each of the commandments, and the denial of
the Gospel, the intensest meanness and the foulest filthiness and the most profane impiety, the consummation of
crimes, the comprehensive antagonist of the kingdom of
Heaven, constituting, in the whole and in each of its
parts, "' the abomination of desolation," "' standing where
it ought not." They deliberately and assuredly believe,
that every man so convinced and so seeing ought in
every place, by every means, in street and house and
shop and office and caucus and legislature and pulpit, to
bear his most earnest, express, unmistakable, consistent
witness against it, - against all its spirit, rules, methods,
actings, devices, excuses, -but most of all, against its
aggressions and extensions. They believe that such aggressions are forbidden by the civil constitution, while
the very continuance of the wrong, in any shape, is rebuked by the entire spirit of that venerated instrument,
and by the designs and convictions of the men that formed
it. I ask you if it is more than just, that these men
should stand exempt from being ranked with rebels and
revolutionists, - if it is more than reasonable, that enlight



430           NATIONAL RETRIBUTION,
ened legislation should show some respect for such citizens, - if it is more than right, that they should dispassionately labor and pray for some relief from a requirement which would render their active obedience to the
magistrate, by the re-enslavement of a fugitive, in their
eyes as direct and impious an affront towards Almighty
God, as falsehood, blasphemy, or robbery?  Let us
consider these things in the temper of brethren, learning
thereby forbearance, moderation, and charity, —excellent
graces of the Christian life always, and never more needed to save us from disgraceful inconsistencies than now.
It was well said by a wise old writer, that "' to trouble
and unsettle many things is not to do much; but, being
unsettled, to compose them, more; to keep them from
being unsettled, most of all." Respecting this maxim, it
is the duty of high-principled statesmen and legislators
to heed, not only the loftiest and single suggestions of
their own nature, but the consciences of the people whose
will they profess to administer. There is no measure,
especially in a republic, so radical, as that which arrays
what is most Christian in a nation against the magisterial authority; no publication so inflammatory, as a
law that commands a moral people to do that which
a large majority of them believe to be unjust; no document so incendiary, as one that sets on fire the quenchless instinct that abhors oppression, or wakes from sleep
that unmanageable instinct which has shaken so many
thrones, - that " resistance to tyrants is obedience to
God."  And if, on the other hand, the conscientious
opponents of this law will apply to their determined and
unflinching efforts for its repeal the same purity of principle that makes its provisions offensive, and calmly rely
on that serene Providence which is sure to work out a




AND THE NATIONAL SIN.           431
final success to them if they do not forsake its guidance,
then who knows but we may avert, by action and by
prayer, the impending judgment?
This faith let us all hold fast, parting with it no sooner
than we will part with life, —that there is no true patriotism without faith in God, - no artifice of selfishness, or
partisanship, or ambition, which can hide us from those
retributions that search out all the secrets of the universe;
that though sentence against an evil work be not executed speedily, it will descend at last.
Could some penetrating apprehension of this unbending law seize on the mind of the people, then, dropping
all our childish exultations in American progress, restraining our idle boasts of growing territory, prosperity,
and wealth, we should turn to some manly regulation of
the advantages we enjoy. Instead of avariciously clutching at the promise of larger gains, we should soberly bethink ourselves how we may most honorably devote the
advantage already committed to our hands. What we
are to do, will rise into a question of far more imposing
magnitude, than what we have done. How to be true to
the lofty and stern demands of Justice, of Freedom, of
Truth, of God, as these are so clearly and emphatically
proclaimed through the facts of our history, the intimations of Providence, and the wondrous exigencies of the
times, —will be a problem taxing the intelligence and
the energy of the people far more urgently than any
schemes of political ambition. The formation of a true
national character, broad in its moral foundations, firm
in its supports, and symmetrical in its proportions, -
combining together the religious faith of the old Puritans
and the enterprise of the young West, the warmth of
Southern impulse balanced and directed by Northern




432 NATIONAL RETRIBUTION, AND THE NATIONAL SIN.
steadfastness, - beating with the blood of Raleigh and
of Penn, of Carver and Eliot, of Roger Williams and
Henry Vane, -blending Norman chivalry with Saxon
industry, and the reverence of the Elder World with the
hope of the New, - this should become a nobler stimulus to our hopes than any accumulations of perishable
glory. All extension of empire would look poor, beside
the fulfilment of the aspirations of Christianity in our
life, - all the splendors of outward fortune turn dim, before the upright doing of God's Eternal Will.




SERMON XXVI.
THE WORD OF LIFE: A LIVING MINISTRY AND A LIVING CHURCH.*
HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE; TO WIT, THAT GOD WAS
IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF.- Phil. ii.
16, and 2 Cor. v. 19.
IT will not be travelling out of the path of thought naturally set open by the introduction of ministers to their
office, if I seek to represent the preaching of Christ as a
means of communicating life.
Vitality is a test of any system of doctrine, as it is of
any teacher's qualification. If you would find the value
of any message, ask of it, Does it live? Do vital pulses
leap through it? Does it reproduce its life? Does it
help men to live? Does it leave them more alive or
more dead than they were without it? Get an answer
to these questions, and you will find whether the given
ministry is of heaven, or of a private self-interest,whether it comes out of the all-quickening and all-comprehending God, or out of some dreamer's brain.
Nothing goes with much momentum, in the long trial,
that does not carry life with it. Accumulate the learning
* Preached July 30, 1853, before the Graduating Class of the Meadville
Theological School.
37




434             THE WORD OF LIFE.
of a thousand Melancthons; pile together the erudition
of ancient schools and modern universities; what does it
contribute to the real treasure of men, if it does not create
life in them? The alcoves of libraries may be but the
chambers of a mausoleum, - sepulchres of thought, instead of its nurseries, -and meeting-houses, spiritual dormitories.  Eloquence, burning as Peter the Hermit's, is
wasted breath, unless the succeeding life of men shows
that it reached the springs from which that life was fed.
So in all communication of man with man. Nothing
tells, nothing does execution, nothing survives very long,
but what makes men feel and will and act, -nothing but
the " word of life." Find me a book, a speech, a preacher,
a gospel, that is not life-giving, and I know there is no true
message, no inspiration, no revelation from God, there.
We meet, gentlemen, for your anniversary, at the season when the forces of creation are most exuberant and
exultant; when the early summer is sending its swift
pulses into every shrub, its moist breath across the clover,
and affluent Nature encompasses us everywhere with her
wealth of beauty.
We are thus reminded, that every manifestation of
God in the body of his works is a new beat of his heart.
His successive creations are the puttings forth, in forms
of matter, of an unchangeable life behind and within,
a life never exhausted by expressing itself. The worlds,
thrown out into their chiming revolutions; solar systems,
set playing in the shining cycles of a universe; races of
animals, whose skeletons, bedded in rocks, become the
illustrations on those leaves of God's great history, the
strata of the globe; the spring sunshine that unveils the
fragile beauty of the wind-flower; the autumnal chemistry
that paints the woods; the majestic elm that stands a




THE WORD OF LIFE.               435
graceful goblet brimmed with streaming life from root to
leaf, and the frail weed that springs under its shade, and
the moss that clings to its bark,- these are only so many
orderly utterances of God's vital being, so many words
of his life.
But we must add, instantly, that for the spiritual being,
man, the only real life is in goodness. Can it not be
proved so?   If the fountain of all the life that flows
through the fields of the universe is God, God is but
another name for goodness. All the life that proceeds
from him, therefore, must be according to goodness, or
love; whether it beats in the bosom of a sinless child,
or nerves the arm of a hero-saint; whether he rounds a
planet, or tints a rose-leaf; whether he balances the Pleiades in their spheres, or adjusts the microscopic machinery of an insect's wing; whether the afflatus of his
Spirit bears up the " seraph that adores and burns" before the throne, or lights the lamp of a feebler reason in
these vessels of clay. Only so far as we share in the Father's goodness, then, are we partakers in his life. The
measure of our being, as living souls, is precisely the
measure of our excellence. In proportion as our actions
are in harmony with divine laws, and our familiar frame
of feeling with God's will, we live. Herein is the Apostolic saying true, "To be spiritually-minded is life."
Every rising up of pure aspiration; every clinging to
principle when you are tempted; every choice of abstract
right above politic selfishness; every putting down of
sensual passion by prayer; every preference of a truth
which inherits a cross, over the lie that flatters you with
a promise of prosperity, - is a palpable motion of God's
life within you. Indeed, this is the most intimate subjective knowledge you have of God. God, out of his




436              THE WORD OF LIFE.
express revelation, never speaks to us so audibly as when
his spirit prompts us to struggle, or braces us for a sacrifice. A generous impulse is the plainest pledge of his
presence; a devout trust in him, the mightiest demonstration of his Fatherhood. Superseding all our painstaking, traditionary beliefs in a God that was alive once,
this makes us believe in a God that kept his vigils over
our last night's slumbers, tinged the east with purple at
this morning's dawn, and opened a new apocalypse of
his glory in its sunrise; — a God who is as busy in the
drops of this season's early rain as when he gathered the
waters out of chaos; whose voice comes as clear from
the rustling of every way-side shrub, as when the first
man heard it among the cedars in Eden; who revives
the glorious pageant of his ancient wonders and splendors in every year's seed-time and fruitage; who is as
close to the sorrowing heart that bends over the newmade grave to-day, as to Hagar in the wilderness; and
who is as faithful to the good man's prayer now, as to
David's harp, or the songs of Paul and Silas at midnight
in the prison.
Let these general thoughts serve at once to introduce,
and to project into its widest relations, the particular
theme of my discourse.
The order in which the subject will most naturally exhibit itself requires me first to state, as briefly as I can,
the essential doctrine of that "word of life " which
Christian preaching is to hold forth; not the gospel of
to-day, but of all days,- the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever. It is of vastly more moment to any
preacher that he should have definite and realizing notions of what he is to preach, than any set of rules or formal furnishings for the manner of preaching it. After




THE WORD OF LIFE.               437
considering, in this way, what the'" word of life " itself
is, that is, the living and life-giving doctrine, we shall
proceed to the characteristics of the living ministry of
that Word; and then of the living Church, embodying
and obeying it.
I. First, in order to apprehend what the life of the
Christian Church, or of the Christian soul, is, we must
apprehend the life of its Head.  He is "that word"
made flesh.
Now, inasmuch as the true vitality of the Church consists in the fact that its chief functions are reconciling
functions, and as the Church's complete consummation
will be the complete reconciliation of human society, -
so it finds its supreme sanction in the reconciling, or literally the atoning, character of its Head. "God is in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."   Those
words are the key to all the Gospel, to all Christian history, to all Christian experience. They hold in them the
power of that life which has so far energized Christendom, and is to redeem and sanctify the world.
Stated in its theological relations, I hold this truth to
stand thus. For reconciliation between finite and infinite, there must be a reconciler combining both in his own
person. Here, precisely, is the grand, redemptive synthesis, effected in Christ. Bridging over, by the mystery of
his nature, - a mystery whose very claim on our faith
consists in its transcending the definitions of science,
since faith, of course, never properly begins till we have
got to the limit of science, - bridging over the gulf that
yawned between the perpetual frailty of man and the
perfection of God, - he is the vinculum that binds up the
spiritual organism of the world, dislocated and bruised
37 




438              THE WORD OF LIFE.
by sin. If Christ were only man, he could not mediate
between man and God. If he were only God, he could
not mediate between God and man. Here is the eternal,
inherent necessity of the mystery of the Incarnation,
reaching back before Abraham was, into the bosom of
the Everlasting Father; and there deriving the purchasepower to lift humanity to heaven. The vital point of
the whole Christian system is the inspiring contact it
establishes between the life of God and the life of man,
by a mediating Christ; a Christ qualified to mediate,
by bringing over the forces of the Almighty Spirit to
reinvigorate the wasted spirituality of the race, to restore
and comfort the individual soul that will receive him.
Here is the only corner-stone for a Church, - a personal,
divine Christ. Any plan of theology that misses this
is defective at the core. Pride of speculation, ambitious
will-worships, theories of self-culture, philosophies of intuitions, moral respectabilities, never reach the disordered spot, nor meet the practical want of souls in earnest. Under the real stress and strain of life, what the
penitent soul cries out for is that heavenly mediation
that unites and reconciles the two opposing elements of
utter imperfection in the performances of human nature,
and the immaculate holiness of the Judge of all.
If you ask whence comes the need of this reconciliation, I answer, it comes from the need every man is
under of passing over from the mere natural life, which
is the life he is born with, into the spiritual life, which is
simply the inward reception of Christ by faith, and
which saves him, that is, makes a Christian of him. Of
that new birth, Jesus himself explicitly asserts the universal necessity.  The natural life has for its ruling
principle selfishness; and, howeve&decent or even lovely




THE WORD OF LIFE.              439
to the eye, it is never holy.  Being mixed as to its
good and evil elements, it has no security against perdition. The regenerate or holy life may begin so early
as to open along with the powers of consciousness, and
grow up with the growing faculties, thus blending with
and sanctifying the natural; but it is a distinct process.
It cannot begin too early nor too suddenly: to create its
beginning, in accordance with the laws and promised
help of the Holy Spirit, is the office of preaching. But
it is a new life when it comes; it is the reception, into
a sinning and enfeebled humanity, of the quickening and
supernatural life of Christ the Reconciler, who comes
into the world quite as much to impart to us of God, as
to be the perfect pattern of a man. In accordance with
this view, sin being a universal taint, error, guilt, of the
race, the renewed life must begin with a Prodigal's confession, and be baptized with a Magdalen's tears. Saintship always rears its most beautiful proportions on the
lowly ground of that humility. The full burst of rapture from the lips of the redeemed is an august crescendo
from the sobs of the penitent; and every Gloria in Excelsis, fromn the Church Triumphant, swells up from a
heart-broken JMiserere.
There are two theories of salvation; or rather, one is
a theory of self-propelling; the other is God's plan of
salvation. I mean, human development, and divine deliverance or redemption. One says:'" Save yourselves;
nature gave you noble capacities; put them forth. Apply your mind to self-culture. Unfold your own faculties. Inspect your own attainments. Instinct and intuition are your only Messiah. Study the Constitution
of Man. Read Combe and the'Vestiges.' Respect the
natural laws: they are your only religion. Genesis is a




440             THE WORD OF LIFE.
myth. Man is no such creature as the Bible says. The
first animated being was an animated atom, and then
slowly expanded into a mollusk, which afterwards grew
into a fish; and this, after many attempts, struggled on
to dry land, and converted its fins into legs (the only
kind of conversion, by the way, that this philosophy recognizes), and so became a reptile; and then the reptile
shot out wings and became a bird; and the bird dropped
its wings downward one day, and so, by reconversion,
got two more legs, and became a beast; and the beast,
after a while, rose erect, and became a man"! You are
aware that this, called by courtesy a philosophy, is no
caricature of a theory put against the Bible by some of
the thinkers of the nineteenth century, like Lamarck and
Demaillet, who have remained outside of insane asylums.
The theological notion which makes the chief end of man
to be self-culture -if that can be called a theology which
leaves the )co'd quite out of the account - is only a legitimate induction from these postulates in science.
I think you will not suspect me of standing up in
the middle of the nineteenth century, in the face of a
theological school, to discredit human culture; but I say,
that, under the logical action of a theology of self-development, worship would ultimately be exploded. It may
survive awhile by virtue of old associations, but it survives illogically.  Self-culture is limited solely to the
human consciousness, and there it must spend its energies, groping in its own twilight, pulling at its own feet,
supplicating its own will,- an endless series of moral
contradictions. It is godless, for the simple reason that
it has no God. It makes of Messiah nothing more than
a Hebrew youth, who managed his propensities more
skilfully than other men.  Faith is dwarfed down to




THE WORD OF LIFE.               441
confidence in our own power to accomplish what we
undertake. Remorse is only the natural regret for an
Epicurean, or at best a Stoic, miscalculation. Not satisfied with the fine reaction of Channing's thesis, that
human nature is a glorious product of God, -- against
the ultra-Genevan hyperbole, frozen into a dogma, that
human nature is utterly devilish, - it goes on to boast
the individual self to be a glorious creature. Man is
much hampered for the present, it says, by his circumstances, but only needing fair play to outdo the archangels; and his only responsibility is to his own organization. As to sin, it is only the bugbear of Calvinistic
nurseries and Scriptural legends.  There is no such
thing. Imperfect culture, crude impulses, half-way development, - these are what old wives call sin. One of
the latest foreign bulletins of this mad materialism proclaims, with a frankness which some of our domestic
deniers, who have really reached the same pitch of irreverent negation, might well emulate,-" The true road
to liberty, equality, and happiness is atheism. Let us
teach man that there is no God but himself."  And another ridicules " poor, timid Voltaire and Diderot," as not
half-infidel enough in their infidelity. Why? Because'" they were never quite ready to look on man as the culminating point of existence."
Of course, then, prayer can be nothing else but a poor
mock-device, whose real function is self-excitation. Asking and receiving, prayer and answer to prayer, are out
of the question. If we pretend to pray at all, like politic
bargainers we bring our modicum of homage, not as the
spontaneous tribute of a glad soul, that cannot keep its
praise and glory back, but to say, " Lord," or rather,
"' Great Impersonal Inane, O All, Pan! here is my pe



442             THE WORD OF LIFE.
tition; give me the value for which it pays the price."
Even Schiller candidly declares, that with him piety is
not the end of life, but only a means of attaining to the
highest culture through the calmest repose, or balance,
of the rnind,-the frigid ultimatum of Pantheism! Paul
declares, peremptorily, " Ye are not your own: glorify
God in your body and your spirit, which are God's."
Turn, then, to the other system, - Deliverance, or
supernatural Redemption.  Thtt says, God in Christ
reaches down to help, save us; only asking that we, by
love and faith to the Saviour, and corresponding or outflowing faithful moral effort, will let ourselves be saved.
The Gospel is an offer from above us. It is a divine
interposition of deliverance, embodied in a Divine Redeemer. Christ comes forth to men from above, according to the whole pla'in doctrine of John's Proem to his
Gospel, and the New  Testament everywhere.  And
why? Because man is in a dilemma. He is tainted.
Disobedience has forfeited his safety, under a perfect
and inviolable law. He knows he is beset with proclivities to sin. Mortal infirmities encompass him on every
side. The integrity of his moral power is broken. His
part now is, like that of a traveller fallen into a pit, to
lay hold, and keep hold. Do you say that is doing
nothing, and gives no room for work or the muscles?
Try it, and see if it is not work. Believing gives up the
heart. Do you fear this heart of love and faith will not
produce righteousness of life? But did you ever know
a person to refuse or grudge service to the being he supremely loved?  To keep it back is harder work than to
give it, then. The heart's affections originate and compel
work. The heart wrought upon, and then given, an inexhaustible fountain is opened, out of which all spiritual




THE WORD OF LIFE.              443
action must proceed. In that thought lies my whole
philosophy of salvation; and it is far enough from being
mine in any sense of property. If I understand him, it
is precisely Paul's doctrine of justification by faith. It is
the inspired and inspiring doctrine. It is the doctrine of
" God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."
We are able, now, to contrast the two, as to their results or fruits. The habit of the one is introversion; that
of the other is aspiration.  The emotion of success in
the one is self-complacency; in the other, devout gratitude. One yields a virtue that is steadfast, a character
permanent, because its roots clasp the Rock of ages; the
other, a virtue fitful and uncertain, snapped like tow in
the fire of temptation, -a zone of moral restraint more
dissolute than the Corinthian, and principles looser than
the Spartan's; and in society, by this time, through the
accumulating pressure of an unchristianized barbarism,
we should- have worse than Punic honesty, and the veracity of Arabs, -a civil anarchy like what might convulse a world full of Cuban buccaneers, and a commerce
that would disgrace the market-place of Circassians.
The one would show us, at fairest, a few instances of
moral beauty, finite, artistic, and mortal. The other
would pour its gushing devotions out in some musical
aspiration of the closet or the conventicle, surpassing, in
its heartiness, all the cool deductions of the brain. Its
chosen lessons are lyrics, not demonstrations. It feeds
on the rhythmic contemplations of a John. It kindles at
the songs from David's harp. It weeps over Thomas a
Kempis's prose. It soars to heaven on the contagious
ecstasies of a Moravian hymn.
Christ, then, is more than the Founder of the Church,
as he is so often called. He pours his own life into it.




444             THE WORD OF LIFE.
It is his body. He did not stand apart, and, by a mere
manual exercise, lay its corner-stone, and rear its structure outside of himself. He rather threw it forth from
himself; and, informing it with his Spirit, the Comforter,
took up a constant abode on earth, in the life of his followers. Laying down his Hebrew body, his soul emancipated itself from all national restrictions, and went
forth to make its dwelling in every believing heart.
His advent was the inauguration of the Divine Life
on the earth. Hence the saying, half mystical but all
true, reported by the Evangelist, " The bread of God is
he who cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto
the world." So intimate is the union between the disciple and Jesus. " I am the vine, ye are the branches";
"I in you, and you in me."
According to this doctrine, it begins to be plain enough
where, and where only, you may expect to find a Church
that is alive. It is only where the reconciling office of
Christ is felt as a reality, and where the immediate gifts
of his divine Spirit, in the communion of love, are a
part of the soul's experience. Without this, you have
very interesting associations, no doubt, and social combinations, - civil, political, scientific, philanthropic, ethical, and even religious; but unless they are religious
according to the way of Jesus of Nazareth, you have not
got a Church. The only idea that will organize that, is
the idea of the Cross, and Reconciliation by it. Morality,
or the virtues, - Philanthropy, or the humanities,
Naturalism, or self-culture, - they are all taken up, embraced, guaranteed, in the Christ and him crucified; for
then they rest on an authority that at once transcends
and supports them.- Without him they have lost their
root; and, though originally started from the living vine,




THE WORD OF LIFE.             445
if they persist in their ungrateful will not to abide in him,
nothing can prevent that they be cast forth as withered
branches.
Precisely here, my friends, may be found a deep defect
in much of the current theology. Christ is too much regarded as having introduced Christianity, and then retiring to let it work its way. It has been a mistake to
dwell exclusively on the benefits wrought by Jesus
Christ's coming on past conditions of society. The infusion of that fresh and living stream into the stagnating
current of human history, when the world by its own
wisdom knew not God, or had forgotten him, and the
garden he had made beautiful by his own planting, and
radiant with his miracles, was turning into a dry desert
of heathenism, did not end with the ascension, nor with
the apostolic age. The life that was then poured into
the world's empty channels, through the quickening
words and the yet more inspiring works of the Redeemer, has a faint and feeble symbol only in the reviving of a
thirsty and dusty city, when the cup of a country lake's
cool waters is made by the careful hand of science to
run over, and their gracious wave sets in, a regulated
blessing through its streets; — a faint and feeble symbol,
I say; for Jesus said, " Whosoever drinketh of this water "- deep as the well is, cold as the spring may be -
" shall thirst again," -thirst in fever and in toil, and in
the burning sorrows of mortality; " but whosoever shall
drink of the water that I shall give him, it shall be in him
a well of water, springing up into everlasting life."
What we need to cdmprehend, then, is that Christ, in
all the power of his Spirit, and all the sanction of his
promises, and all the searching application of his precepts, is introduced a spring of reconciling life into the
38




446             THE WORD OF LIFE.
affairs and the heart of the present world; life into the
very organic structure of human society; life into the
operations of commerce; life into the legislation of governments; life into the order and training of families;
life into the responsibility of individuals; and consequently, that he is as much a gift of life to this generation and to this community as to the primitive brotherhood, or to the cottage at Bethany. If Christianity is
what it pretends to be, or anything kindred to it; if
Christ himself uttered one word to be believed in all his
claims to the Messiahship, then every man, woman, and
youth in this house may have as real and close a union
with him as John who leaned upon his bosom, or Mary
who washed his feet with tears, or the children that were
privileged to be taken into his arms and blessed. For he
is a Spirit, and not a form; a vital presence, and not a
bygone story; an energy in the heart, and not a soulless
echo of tradition.. The infant, whose brow felt the
breath of our American air for the first time yesterday,
enters as much into the inheritance of that life, as the
Judcean fishermen that he called to leave their nets and
follow him. The young man who to-morrow consecrates the enterprise of his manhood to purity and justice, making his character a steadfast column in the
framework of an upright society, - to be trusted always,
and believed in everywhere, - is as much an heir to that
life, as the brothers that were told they should drink of
Christ's cup, and be baptized with his baptism; and
every patient soul, self-sacrificing amidst this week's
trials, as those immediate partakers of his cross that he
pledged to seat on the twelve thrones in his kingdom.
I speak to you as thinking men, not less than as feeling and sometimes suffering men, when I ask you, if you




THE WORD OF LIFE.              447
have never felt a meaning in that comparison of the
Lord, expressing a union the most entire between himself and those that thus accept him, -" As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no
more can ye, except ye abide in me."
Does it not begin to appear, then, how the Church
depends on the characters of those who fill its ranks, and
execute its tasks? The life given it is given on such
conditions, that if the Church is not filled, from time to
time, with believing, earnest, holy hearts, its past renown
will not save it.  The Church of to-day depends on the
souls living to-day. The Church here depends on the
souls living, and about to live, here. Salvation is still
a voluntary matter, and must be worked out. Christ
does not abrogate free agency. The Church universal,
or any branch of it, must receive ever fresh accessions
of life, interest, power, through individual hearts, or
else must sink inevitably to death.  It lives only as
they that are of it live. It is vital only with their vitality. It is a live body only as they are live Christians.
"' Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though
God did persuade you by us: be ye reconciled to God."
II. Here enters, then, the office of the ministry. It is
to produce this Life, — to take up and carry forward,
in man's behalf, Christ's reconciling work; by whatever
methods, according to whatever theory; by communication and by incitement; by rousing and kindling the
dormant capacities of the soul, and by taking the things
of the Spirit, and showing them; life, at all events, and
at all cost,- life as opposed to stupor, half-belief, spiritual indifference, or a heart split between God's worship
and mammon-worship, — life, not death.




448              THE WORD OF LIFE.
1. A Living Ministry; what constitutes that?  The
first condition it requires is confidence, on the part of
the men that exercise it, in the office and work itself.
Whoever harbors a settled scepticism as to the truthfulness, the high Christian legitimacy of his calling, carries
a virtual treachery in his own heart. Unless a candid
and penetrating reflection will scatter it, he should abdicate. It will vitiate all his action, and unnerve the right
hand of his resolution.  No work can be done right
thoroughly, and handsomely, about which there is a perpetual doubt, querying of the hearer's mind whether it
is worth doing. Believe in it or fail in it, is a maxim
that will hold of any vocation, preaching or ploughing,
statesmanship or masonry. But it holds especially of
work spiritual in its nature, or dealing with humanity
and truth. To go on there, after a fair facing of the
doubt, and a failure to overmaster it, is a trespass. It
leads to a thousand mischiefs, not the least of which is
the ruin of the workman's simplicity. Service under the
loss of integrity is not only falsehood, but it is slavery,
which is also death. Whoever would be a freeman, or
even a living man, must believe in what he does. Otherwise, sow broadcast as he will, a certain subtle poison flies
out with all the seed he throws, that cheats him of a harvest. It is in vain that he goes forth against sin, with
lightning like Chrysostom's on his tongue, arms stout as
bars of iron, and thunderbolts in his hands, if he cannot
lift, out of a fervent and believing heart, the old watchword of the Crusaders, " God wills it."
2. Another condition, indispensable to a life-giving
style of ministry, is distinctness of purpose. There is
such a thing as ascending a pulpit from a vague feeling
that the institution of the ministry is a very becoming




THE WORD OF LIFE.               449
appendage to good society, — ought to be kept up as
one of the props of respectability, without any clear
conception of the object to be accomplished, or any
definite aim, directing every exercise connected with it.
Double-mindedness creates confusion, and confusion begets uneasiness, and uneasiness irritates to disease, and
disease brings death, or that indifferent stupidity which
differs from death principally in the doubtful distinction
of not being buried. That labor is always most satisfactory which cuts off the loose shreds and entanglements of side-aims, and possesses a clean, rounded unity.
There is no employment in the world that contemplates
a more precise and clear result than preaching, —the
forming, religiously, of the character of the hearer, renewing in him a spiritual life. There is always a charm
and a power in sharpness of drawing, whether in an outline of Raphael, a process of logic, the progress of a profession, or the plan of life.
3. Another means of life to a living ministry is the
constant presence, in the administration, of a quick and
profound sense of the nature and the dignity of the souls
it speaks to. It is one thing to foist human nature into
the throne of God, but quite another to honor it as
God's child.  Every religious teacher knows, that the
sanctity of the subjects he is familiar with does not secure him against belittling impressions, any more than
their native vitality secures him against a lifeless utterance. Even in pleading for salvation, the august appeal
to the spirit, in behalf of its eternal peace and freedom,
loses half its unction and its power, because we forget,
even while the burning message is on our lips, what that
spirit is in its origin, in its destination, in its immortality. Could every preacher come before his people, each
38*




450             THE WORD OF LIFE.
time he meets them, penetrated with a living conviction
of the grandeur, the infinitude, the preciousness of the
soul of every hearer; could he escape from all the benumbing influence of habit, and the constant tendency
of details to fritter away reverence, and tame wonder
down; could he keep his realizing perception of what a
soul is, as vivid as if the revelation of it were made each instant afresh to his own mind, —it is safe to say, not merely
that harvests, richer than his most venturous hope dared
dream of, would crown his toil, —an unprecedented
intensity touching his Christ-like lips with inspiration,
and clothing every word with wings of fire, -but also
that a zeal for the task would seize on his own heart,
sending him to it with an impulse that he could not
keep back, and would make his every message like a
chapter from the gospel of life. What was a task before would be a task no longer; and he would be raised
so far above all lust for an outward recompense, that
the thought of waiting for it would be like that of asking a premium for giving the fatherless their due, or
being hired to love one's mother.
Regard man as only a creature to be got decently
through the ceremony of life, or only as a lay figure to
be dressed in the trappings of a prosperous civilization
for purposes of art, or as an actor to be trained to a skilful part among the decorations and appointments in the
histrionic genuflexions and tergiversations, the etiquette
and the bargaining of a great conventional and commercial play-house of a world, — nay, further, regard him
only as a mind to be filled with knowledge, or as a
memory to be stuffed with information,- and it will
not be strange, if, so far as all the purposes of a Christian discipline are concerned, a ministry followed under




THE WORD OF LIFE.               451
such estimates were lifeless, and should yield a lifeless
product.
4. The living ministry is a ministry that never loses
sight of its original and spiritual purposes, in the dull
round of a mechanical or perfunctory discharge of the
external duty; never sacrifices the spirit that giveth life
to the letter that killeth, sense to sound, truthfulness to
propriety, honesty to expediency, simplicity to exhibition, nor, what is more common than all, heartiness to
sheer habit. There is a kind of preaching, and it is not
confined to any one school of theology, which, if it spoke
itself out, would say on Sunday morning to the congregation, after this fashion: " Well, dearly beloved brethren, I have come into your pulpit to-day, because I have
agreed to come. It is in the terms of an old contract
between us; a contract that was formed, to be sure,
when I was disposed to take a somewhat more fanatical
view of the matter than I am at present. But I respect
the bargain: worship is a social decency, and a graceful
adjunct to civilization. Established usage looks in this
direction, and religious institutions are a politer kind of
constabulary. I am here in my place, as the bell rings,
therefore, and I take occasion to remark to you, as I
think I have done before, that it is proper you should be
saved. The Bible is pronounced authentic by competent
antiquarians, and has uncommon literary merit; the
laws of good-breeding have settled it that virtue is a
desirable accomplishment, besides being a safe protection against unpleasant penalties invented by magistrates; and Christian faith I will recommend as a
prudent specific against disagreeable consequences generally reported to follow wicked courses. Amen." In
this quarter lie a peril and a wrong, which at present




452             THE WORD OF LIFE.
comprehend in their bearings more mischief to genuine
Christianity, and more disasters to the prevalence of a
Christian manhood, of the heroic stamp, than all other
perils and wrongs combined. I mean the tendency to a
continual decay of vital sincerity in the routine of the
business, the dissolution of all earnestness under the slow
paralysis of the custom. The biographer of De Maistre
discloses the estimate put on preaching in the seventeenth century, by observing that, in early life, he had an
intention of becoming a preacher, but, happening to become reliious on the way, he gave it up! Are there not
some in our own day who reverse the process, and, having begun to preach religion, persist in preaching after
they have ceased to be religious? It is this heartless
routine that is fatal to both parties: it is the death of the
function, and the damnation of the functionary. Rather
than have its life eaten out by it, a Christian society
would do well to be disbanded. Better that the formalities of such a ministry should be brushed away, as a
stumbling-block before the gate of Heaven.
5. A Living Ministry: its engagedness will be a natural engagedness, and its methods natural methods; not
a spasmodic, not a fitful, not an artificial activity. It
will not attempt to excite a warmth of the moral parts
by friction, nor to promote a galvanic action of principle
by the apparatus of an ecclesiastical battery, nor to ex
tort gushes of pietistic sentiment by the forcing-pump of
strained exhortation. It will throw itself back on the
laws of the soul, and use no other dynamics than the
spiritual. It will do nothing for stage effect, which is the
essence of cant; using speech out of which all meaning
has withered. The life it will seek first to possess in its
own inmost heart, and then to transmit and diffuse, is




THE WORD OF LIFE.               453
that sustained, regular life, having its springs among the
pillars under the oracles of God, beating with the even
pulse of health, revealing its transcendent beauty in daily
purity and justice, as conspicuous in the household, the
market-place, and the counting-room as in the sanctuary. This life will tell on the open and yielding heart of
the world, with a benignity of influence, of such holy
and regenerative power, as no reach of vision, save that
prophetic eye that looks into the immortal ages, can
measure.
6. A living ministry will cast off the spirit of formalism, or rather that dead body of formalism that has no
spirit; it will forsake paths that have no better recommendation than that they are beaten and dusty, out of
allegiance to every behest that comes direct from the
bosom of reality; it will be in itself, on its practical side,
an example of its doctrine; it will set that doctrine forth
in a spirit at once transparent and fearless, unpretending
and scholarlike; despising all guilty servility to the overbearing few or the popular many, it will refuse to be
hemmed in by any arbitrary geography of its province,
or to be imposed upon by politic sophistry; it will have
its frank and independent word on every matter that affects the hopes or the integrity of mankind, without the
boyish folly of perpetually running about to proclaim its
independence, and saying bold things only to show that
it dares to; it will free itself from all prejudices that impair its single-mindedness; it will place itself among
men, as a genuine helper of humanity, in all its garbs
and all its trials, brave as a prophet, devoted as an apostle, tender as John, fearless as Paul, ardent as Peter,
blameless as James, a learner of the Christ, a workman
whose errand is from Heaven, to persuade and lead




454              THE WORD OF LIFE.
men's souls thither. When such a ministry is realized,
be sure not only that it will not have to dispute its title
to honor, will not have to plead for a hearing, will not
complain of a decline of its prestige; be sure not only
that the eager heart of the community will reverence it,
will leap to listen to it, but be sure also that the reign of
irreligious worldliness will be broken up, and the fairer
kingdom of spiritual truth and life will be established on
its ruins.
This sort of ministry, too, proceeding out of an endearing faith in the Lord of life, will extinguish the vile ambition among preachers to turn sermons into orations,
and the pulpit into an ethical or literary lecture-stand,
substituting smartness for sanctity, — the bitter root of
so much clerical impotence. Preaching that runs from
any man's brain downward is very likely to run thin and
run out, as so much preaching does. Only that unction
is mighty, which, being poured through a mind at once
cultivated and consecrated, draws its original inspiration
from Him who spake as man never spake. Overmastering all his anxieties about his position, foreclosing the
query what he shall preach about, a query that always
reveals a relaxed conviction and an empty covenant, this
sweeps all his energies one way, in spite of indifference
or opposition, in spite of worldly complaisance and flattery.
I have said enough already of the substance of doctrine to be preached, to forestall any occasion for enlarging upon it as one of the qualifications of the ministry
here. One or two warnings, however, lie so much across
the line of our liberal tendencies, that I cannot forbear an
allusion to them.
7. A ministry of the word of life, as follows from our




THE WORD OF LIFE.               455
doctrine thus far, is one that preaches more than moral
decency, - preaches piety, regeneration, and faith. Enthusiasm is not a danger that the modern Church has
much to fear from. We want righteousness much; but
a vital faith first, as the quickener, the inspiration of
that. In the Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan tells us of a
Mr. Legality, " a very judicious man, and a man of very
good name"; and of his having "a pretty young man
to his son, whose name is Civility "; and of their both
boasting great skill to take off the burden from Christian's shoulders; and of their dwelling in the village of
Morality, where provision is always cheap and good, and
one may live with honest neighbors in credit and good
fashion. But Evangelist shows that Mr. Legality is a
spiritual cheat, and that his son Civility is a hypocrite,
and that the village of Morality has no church in it for
the preaching of any but the doctrine of this world, because "by the deeds of the law shall no man living be
justified." We must go, brethren, beyond Sinai to Calvary,- beyond the deeds of the law to the pardon of the
cross.
"Talk they of morals?
The grand morality, thou bleeding Lamb,
Is love of thee."
8. The ministry that holds forth the "word of life"
must not be afraid to assert sometimes, on the authority
of Scripture, what passes its own reason. Every great
spiritual doctrine terminates in mystery, by the very necessity of spirit. Bound religion by the geography of
the understanding, and it ceases to be religion. Faith is
sacrificed to science. There is more in our religion than
dictionaries can define, or syntax state, or logic prove.
The very essence of faith is a reverential confession of




456             THE WORD OF LIFE.
the limitations of sight. In one of the temples at Memphis, there was a statue of Isis, with the face veiled. A
son of the priest, curious to unlock this marble secret,
and to see what hidden beauty might glorify the features
beneath, hacked off the stone veil with a hammer. He
found, of course, only the ragged gashes of his own mischief. An impious inquisitiveness, prying too far, had
spoilt the divine symmetry of the image. So is it with
us all, too often,-foolish children, that would subject the
mysteries of revelation to the inspection of sense, and,
despising faith, rudely insist on vision. We leave only
a deformity to admire, and a ruin to adore. Not yet,
not yet, can we behold face to face! Few eyes, I think,
have seen deeper into God's majestic disclosures than
those piercing ones that looked out from under the dark
Hebrew brow of the Christian historian, Neander. But
this was the motto that he kept inscribed on his studywall, making his library to open upward into heaven, -
" Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to
face."
9. A living ministry is one that not only speaks with
directness and simplicity, addressing itself, with a tone
of manly earnestness, straight to the matter in hand, as
if dealing with ponderous realities that need no circumlocution, but it avoids abstruse terms for the most part,
and, in preference, chooses language that is concrete and
personal. The individual or the sect, for instance, that
speaks habitually of Christianity, however reverentially
and gratefully, will be found to exercise a feeble command over the affections of men, compared with the one
which, when it means the same thing, says, Christ Jesus,
the Saviour. So the preaching that enumerates the doctrines which cluster about the crucifixion, and presents




THE WORD OF LIFE.              457
them, however eloquently, as only an abstract scheme of
truths, will often glide languidly over the unroused conscience; while enthusiasm takes fire, and zeal stretches
every nerve, at each thrilling mention of that central
figure, the cross, or those dear scenes, so vivid to the
sense, — Calvary and the Garden. Napoleon's celebrated
maxim, "1 There are but two powers in the world, kindness
and the sword," is but a feeble paraphrase of the fieryhearted Loyola's, -" Two kingdoms divide the world,
Immanuel's and Satan's."  It was never the utterance
of smooth abstractions, that wrought with drastic energy on the dead in trespasses and sins; - brought three
thousand converts into the Church, by a single sermon
at Pentecost; fascinated the young Florentine artists,
and drew them away from their models and galleries
to catch the pictures that were unrolled in the sentences
of Savonarola, the author of the " Triumphus Crucis ";
moved back an audience of French noblesse in a perceptible bodily recoil from the cathedral altar, when the fingers of Massillon's imagination opened the covers of the
blazing pit; cast down thousands of sturdy English yeomen upon their knees to pray, when Wesley ordered the
visible array of heaven and earth into the service of his
oratory; bore the gracious blessing of Bunyan's enchanting dream on its world-wide errand of holy delight, -
a charming evangel; made the stout-hearted New England Puritans at Northampton clutch the railings of their
pews when Edwards told them of the " due time," as if
their feet were that instant veritably sliding; and extorted
from a brave but sensual soldier the confession, that he
would rather storm the bridge of Lodi than hear a chapter of the Epistles to the Corinthians. Dying men, you
have observed, speak little of Christianity, and less of the
39




458             THE WORD OF LIFE.
system of truth, or laws of nature. They say Christ.
Last breaths are too short for abstractions, and can only
articulate the one dear and all-prevailing name. The
fading sight loses all images but the cross. And so a
whole body of hard divinity has sometimes been melted
down by one hour of pain; and, on the stammering lips
of death, a dainty philosophy has burst into that strong
cry of praise, -" I know that my Redeemer liveth."
Revelation is never abstruse. The New Testament
says nothing of " Christianity." The word is not there.
But when God would save the world, he sends the Saviour, with a throbbing heart and a living voice. The
first teachers said nothing about Christianity; and, for
an abstract Christianity, it is doubtful if they would ever
have faced martyrdom. But "Christ crucified" and
"the resurrection" they could preach in jails and synagogues, turn the world upside down for and die for,
counting it all joy. And so effectually were some of the
strong concrete words they used,- though borrowed from
a Hebrew economy swept clean out of the world almost
while they were writing, - yet lodged in the undying
affections of men, that you can no more extract their
power by age, than you can dry their odors out of the
cedars of Lebanon.
Is it said that such representations of the profession as
I have here given, by presenting a standard that is impracticably high, are a discouragement to those that might
be induced to enter it? Heaven forbid that anything
should be said, here or anywhere, dissuasive of assuming
the ministerial office; the reluctance is deplorable enough
already. But I do not suppose that a stringent standard is one of the things likely to repel any laborer trueminded and stout-hearted enough to make the Church




THE WORD OF LIFE.             459
desire him. On the contrary, I believe a lofty standard,
to every man whose nerve is not flaccid, - any brave,
resolute, aspiring man, —is one of the most fascinating
things under the sun.  It will even tighten slackened
sinews.
And just here I find a new argument for a living ministry, in the fact that it would be the speediest antidote
to that dearth of efficient ministers that is now, in all
Protestant sects, so generally lamented. Various remedies are proposed. But let it be thoroughly understood
and felt in a community, that its religious teachers were
a body not merely reputably alive, but crowded and
instinct at every point with life, absorbed with interest,
aglow with enthusiasm, and nothing in the compass of
human attainments would be so commanding over the
inclinations of young men. Possibly some, whom other
callings tempt by a louder promise of wealth or reputation, might be found willing to forego fame and luxury,
for the sake of contributing their share to the sanctification of the coming age. Let the nucleus formed be in
Christian earnest, - be full of living, burning heat; and,
like the molten jet of volcanic lava we sometimes see
shooting up through the inert strata of rock and soil
about it, it would fuse all the surrounding mass into a
state homogeneous with its own.
So of the want of sympathy complained of in the profession. How can sympathy exist where there is no
consentaneous spiritual life?  What is sympathy, indeed, except that, - avv 7raOo9, - a feeling together? A
lifeless sympathy is a contradiction in terms. Fellowfeeling in death, - harmony between corpses, - is an
absurdity. Bring in vitality of purpose, and vitality of
action, and you break down all barriers of suspicion.




460             THfE WORD OF LIFE.
Raise the head-waters of spiritual life, and all the separate fountains become so full and leaping in their motion, that they gush spontaneously over, and mingle
together.  When the new life is begotten, even the
tongue of dumbness becomes vocal, —like the healed
man's in D)ecapolis.
III. But it is time to turn, and contemplate the living
Church, -the whole body of Christian disciples, ministered to by this living ministry, nourished by a vital
communion with Christ the Source, and putting forth
the energy of its inner life, in a practical piety on the
one hand, and a spiritual righteousness on the other.
See how such a state of the Church would furnish the
best possible safeguard against the evils that, in these
times, most threaten its purity and its peace. One of
these is dogmatism. Once possess a man, no matter
whether he is a Puritan or a Bishop, a Quaker or a Cardinal, with a quickened and renewed spiritual life, and
to him dogmatism becomes impossible. He may be a
controversialist or an enthusiast, but never an acrimonious dogmatist. A principle animates him, which, just
so far as it actuates him, saves him from that particular
sin. It marks the distinction between that cordial attachment to believed doctrine which is commendable,
and that complacent assumption of infallibility in the
creed which is condemnable. It gives him a touchstone,
by which he instinctively shrinks from bigotry, as from a
partnership in disgrace, and arms him against being victimized by the idol-speculations of his own brain. Whatever names the boasting sects may chronicle in their
calendars of saints, none that deserved canonization ever
lived who worshipped the abstractions of dogma more




THE WORD OF LIFE.             461
than the Lord of life. It is with denominations as with
persons: in proportion as they are quick with spiritual
purpose, they are free from the shame of dogmatism.
Another danger is formalism. Formalism crept into
the Church from two sources, Judaism and Paganism, —
one of which completely wrapped up and hid its life in
ceremony, till it suffered consumption; and the other
had not life enough under its ritual to keep its pomp and
pageantry even outwardly decent. Once in, formalism
found material enough to foster it in human indolence
and human pride; and so it kept on growing by the
help of every idle Christian's sluggishness, and every bad
system's misleading, and every ecclesiastical despot's
ambition, till finally it swelled into the vast, stately, hollow, tinselled, and draperied fabric of the Popedom.
When religious forms have first been devised, a certain
freshness of conviction has gone into them, that has
made them vital. But presently the life has refused to
stand and stagnate in these cisterns, and so ebbed away
and sought out new channels. The mistake has been,
that the forms have insisted on standing, after the life
within was gone; and accordingly their figure has been
that of wooden vessels shrunk and dried in the sun. It
was so with the forms of the Romish Church, of the
Church of Henry the Eighth and the Bishops, of Presbyterianism and of Quakerism, for the Quaker is in his
way a formalist. But indolence and pride are as much
opposed by spiritual life now, as the Judaism and Heathenism of eighteen hundred years ago. Where there is
that life, how can ceremonies be put before virtues, — the
husk and shell before the kernel and substance, —broad
phylacteries for a generous character, - religious usages
as substitutes for righteousness and faith, -mint, anise,
39*




462             THE WVORD OF LIFE.
and cumin, for self-sacrifice, charity, and truth? In a
consecration to the substance of piety; in a nearer fellowship with Jesus, and a more palpable and inwrought
experience of his regenerating and transforming truth,in this, and this only, shall the Church, or any of its societies, find escape from formalism. Form is body. A
living doctrine never need advertise for a body, nor go
carefully about to invent one, any more than a young
oak needs to advertise for a trunk and branches. God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him. Get the faith,
and it will shape a form of its own. Have a heart full
of prayer; or else a liturgy, a gradation of priestly offices,
postures, wax-candles burning in the day-time, bowing
to the east, priestly manipulations, will never so conciliate the Holy Ghost as to matriculate you in the arms
of the holy Jerusalem which is above and free, the
mother of us all.
Another embarrassment to the modern Church is in
the suspicion, if not the open enmity, of those companies
of men associated for the special reform of specific social
abuses, whose young ardor for the favorite cause makes
the Church seem lumbering and superannuated. Is it
not clear that the Church will best discharge herself of
blame, reconcile her sometimes unfilial child, Philanthropy, to her bosom, escape all compromise of dignity,
and at the same time be realizing her own destiny, by
addressing herself to the most earnest unfolding of the
divine life within her, out of which all humanities must
be supplied, and becoming altogether alive with Christ?
Another bad tendency is to partisanship. Malicious
as the temper of religious parties and partisans is, direct
efforts to allay it will always be less effective than that
consecrated fervor in the life of godliness, which crowds




THE WORD OF LIFE.              463
it out of breath, and grows over it. It is hardly to be
supposed, that an Antichrist that has lodged under the
shelter of the nominal fold so many centuries can be
eliminated by a single struggle. He is too hospitably
entertained, and too assiduously courted, even by those
that in their better moments venture to hint that he is
unwelcome, to make such hints effective. The Church
has never enjoyed an entire exemption from civil war.
The moment men agreeing in theology have been denominated, as if their name had wrought a malignant
spell upon them, they have begun to commit denominational sin.  Sectarian ambition springs up; sectarian
pride sets in; sectarian animosity is engendered; sectarian officiousness goes out capturing proselytes; sectarian jealousy rankles; and finally, with all its fury, wrath,
and strategy, its bloodhound passions, and its musketry
of accusation, and its small arms of malignant slander,
open sectarian battle rages.  Christendom  slips back
into practical Paganism, while Christians sit picking
motes out of one another's eyes. One would think an
intelligent reading of experience would show, that, if any
other possible agency than a higher tone of spiritual life
were to accomplish unity or concord, it would have been
attained before this. That is the only experiment that
has not been fairly and fully tried. WVhen it is tried
fairly and fully, it will solve the difficulty that theology
has been spending ingenious abstractions upon ever
since the days of Constantine. Ecclesiastical councils
will drop into matters of history. Trent, and Dort, and
Nice will be only landmarks of a completed pilgrimage
across a desert, — the grass-covered battle-fields of a
finished crusade, - ending, not in a holy sepulchre, but
in a holy life. Tests and bulls of excommunication will




464             THE WORD OF LIFE.
be respectfully hung up with other antiquarian relies,
and it will be seen and felt that a Church is nothing less
than a vital body of cordial believers in Christ, partakers
of his spirit, and workers for his truth. A faith so quick
and ample will one day realize the wondrous reconciliations of the Prophet's vision in the holy mountain,where the lion lies down with the lamb, and none hurt
nor destroy; it will lay Calvin's hand in Channing's,
put the band of one magic name, even the common
Master's, round the lives of the philanthropic Clarkson
and the mystical devotees of Port Royal, - draw a Protestant veneration to the Catholic Fenelon, - and canonize the practical, road-building Oberlin of Waldbach into
companionship with the quietistic saints of the Romish
Calendar.
Thus we come, finally, in our subject, - as God grant
we may come veritably and visibly in the age that he is
preparing, - to the Living, Church. It is a body, whose
life, in all the possible strictness and signification of the
word, is the life of Christ in the soul. Of the accomplishments, the amenities, the graces of intellect that
adorn our worldly relations, modern civilization leaves
no deficiency. What we most deeply and pressingly
need is the life of religious sensibility, - the faith that
leans on God, the hope that reaches up to immortality,
the love that seizes things invisible. This we need, superadded to our civilization, - our educational and commercial privileges, - or rather, laid as the basis of them.
Life itself, the true or inward life, is overlaid and crushed
by the mere appendages of living. Buying and selling,
getting gain and getting knowledge, are made-to limit the
energies of our immortality, and dwarf God's image in
us. Science as well as traffic, literature and the schools




THE WORD OF LIFE.              465
as well as business, wait for the ennobling influence of
faith, the purifying breath of devotion, the sanctification
of prayer. I have heard of an honest clergyman, a
preacher to sailors, in one of the floating Bethels that
are seen at some of our Eastern seaports, whose controversial reading hardly kept pace with his zeal, and who
was asked one day, whether his chapel was "high
church" or "low church."  Supposing, in his simplicity, that the question referred to the position of his Bethel, he answered, that it depended entirely on tile tide!
Now, fashionable worldliness is the tide that graduates
the standing of too many of our churches; and the
higher it keeps their taxes and social reputation, the
lower it keeps the tone of their piety.
Never so accommodate religion, gentlemen, in your
preaching, to the fraudulent practices of the business
world, that you will fall into the same class with the
Gypsy mother mentioned by Borrow the traveller, who
said to her children in the morning, " Now, children, say
your prayers; and then go, steal your breakfast."
Spiritual indolence is, in these times, the worst enemy
the Church has to encounter. It is not that men openly
reject and make war upon her, but that they drowsily
sleep around her altar. It is that men are content with
such paltry satisfactions and tinsel comforts as the senses
can bribe them xvith, heedless of the inward instincts that
claim communion with the skies. It is that eternity has
no awfulness to them, life no depth of meaning, enjoyment no obligations, bereavement no solemnity, suffering
and sorrow no prophetic suggestions of an hereafter, the
soul no aspirations, conscience no echo of God, Christ no
enrapturing beauty in his holiness, the resurrection no
pledge of heaven. It is that men can stretch themselves




466              THE WORD OF LIFE.
on their couches of ease, and slumber, amidst the sublimest mysteries and most stirring revelations of Providence.
What we need, then, to bring back the Church to her
life, is to awake and arise; to hearken and watch; to wait
on the Holy Spirit; to snatch the film from our eyeballs;
to lift our waiting souls to God, like flowers parched with
drought to the rain; to breathe in his blessed life; to be
regenerated and consecrated by his inspiration of love,
communicated through Jesus Christ our Lord.
There is a life that is fitful and spasmodic, lively in the
conference and enthusiastic at a revival, but which falls
into a dreary eclipse at the merchant's desk, or the lobbies of a State-house, or the political caucus, or the round
of a housekeeper's vexations. But the life of a Christlike soul is as steadfast as it is earnest, as firm in the
scoffs of the judgment-hall, or under the crown of thorns,
as in the meditations of Mount Olivet and the solemn
stillness of the temple. It stands with as serene a forehead before the scorn of fashion, as before the flatteries
of partisans. It lifts itself with as majestic port against
the sly seductions of Fortune, when she bids a higher and
higher price for the soul, as when the way is safe, and all
perils are swept out of its path. Where the Church
lives, — where it holds its Master's spirit and truth, not
as the mortuary of a deceased and buried benefactor, but
as the inbreathing of a present inspiration, -it will never
suffer its members to sit idly with folded hands, looking
lazily out on the white fields of harvest, where no reaper's sickle rings against the wheat; but it will send them
forth to work, nerved with an impulse that no disappointment can palsy, no misgivings keep back. You
may burn temples; you may pulverize rituals; you may
absorb creeds; you may strangle missionaries; but the




THE WORD OF LIFE.             467
eternally reproductive energy of such a Church as that
lives on.
If the Church will go forth, then, to win new victories,
she needs only to take fearlessly up the supremacy with
which her God has dowered her, namely, the reconciling
life of her indwelling Lord. Shutting up all internal
questions that make her militant against herself, she is
to move on in her own absolute, sublime majesty, militant only against every form of sin, to enthrone the kingdom of God. She must cease to beg favors of worldly
policy.  She must stop her infamous coquetry with
Mammon. She must not be bowing on Sundays to sectarian prejudice, nor on week-days to social respectability, nor ever whisper guilty flatteries to popular sins,
nor wait till great public vices are manifestly dying out
of themselves, and feeble with approaching dissolution,
before she dares strike at them. The stanch, uncompromising sincerity of old Puritans and Confessors must
be in her muscles. An awful zeal must gird up her
loins. Purity, freedom, equity, are to be more to her
than costly churches; the prayers of saintly men and
women, and children too, her patronage; and her daily
speech, the benediction of charity. She must hold forth,
through her ministers, the word of life; to wit, that God
is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.
You, my brothers, members of the Graduating Class,
are henceforth permitted the unrivalled privilege of entering into these grand enterprises of amelioration, furnished by wise instruction for your lofty office.
I bid you move into your sacred calling with such joyous hopes as the Puritan army had, who marched to the
fight at Naseby chanting praise. Go, charged with something of the brave temper of that, devoted missionary,




468               THE WORD OF LIFE.
Gordon Hall, so ardent to reach the heathen with his
message, that he offered to work his passage to the field;
with the faith of those valiant discoverers that burnt their
boats behind them when they touched the shore; with
the self-scrutiny of Paul, who agonized, lest, having
preached to others, though woe was on him  if he
preached not, he himself might be cast away.  Without these, all the machinery of Funds and Theological
Schools will be like expecting to make sand deserts
fruitful by drainage.
See that no needed reforms are unchurched, because
the Church would not nurture them, through your lifelessness or cowardice. Be independent, and not mere
movable articles of church furniture. Scorn all measures of self-promotion, and renounce ambition before you
cross this threshold to-night.
Lean only on the Spirit of Infinite Pity and Help.
Keep the simplicity of childlike trust.  Never measure
your fidelity by the poor signals of man's applause. Be
willing to share your Master's glory, made perfect through
suffering.  Nowhere be ashamed of the Gospel of Redermption. Be sure your real success, in the last awards,
will be found in the exact measure of the fervor and constancy of your communion with your Lord.  Let it be
enough if his strength is manifest through your weakness.  Hold forth "the word of life."  Preach " God in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."  And
" May the hour
Soon come, when, all false gods, false creeds, false prophets
Demolished, the round world shall be at last
The mercy-seat of God, the heritage
Of Christ, and the possession of the Spirit!"
THE END.