A Commonplace Book of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies Part 17

7.

"Have not Dying Christs taught fort.i.tude to the virtuous sufferer? Have not Holy Families cherished and enn.o.bled domestic affections? The tender genius of the Christian morality, even in its most degenerate state, has made the Mother and her Child the highest objects of affectionate superst.i.tion. How much has that beautiful superst.i.tion by the pencils of great artists contributed to humanise mankind?"-_Sir James Mackintosh_, writing in 1802.

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8.

I remember once at Merton College Chapel (May, 1844), while Archdeacon Manning was preaching an eloquent sermon on the eternity of reward and punishment in the future life, I was looking at the row of windows opposite, and I saw that there were seven, all different in pattern and construction, yet all harmonising with each other and with the building of which they formed a part;-a symbol they might have been of differences in the Church of Christ. From the varied windows opposite I looked down to the faces of the congregation, all upturned to the preacher, with expression how different! Faith, hope, fear, in the open mouths and expanded eyelids of some; a sort of silent protest in the compressed lips and knitted brows of others; a speculative inquiry and interest, or merely admiring acquiescence in others; as the high or low, the wide or contracted head prevailed; and all this diversity in organisation, in habits of thought, in expression, harmonised for the time by one predominant object, one feeling! the hungry sheep looking up to be fed! When I sigh over apparent disagreement, let me think of those windows in Merton College Chapel, and the same light from heaven streaming through them all!-and of that a.s.semblage of human faces, uplifted with the same aspiration one and all!

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9.

I have just read the article (by Sterling, I believe), in the "Edinburgh Review" for July; and as it chanced, this same evening, Dr. Channing's "Discourse on the Church," and Captain Maconochie's "Report on Secondary Punishments" from Sydney, came before me.

And as I laid them down, one after another, _this_ thought struck me:-that about the same time, in three different and far divided regions of the globe, three men, one military, the other an ecclesiastic, the third a lawyer, and belonging apparently to different religious denominations, all gave utterance to nearly the same sentiments in regard to a Christian Church. Channing says, "A church destined to endure through all ages, to act on all, to blend itself with new forms of society, and with the highest improvements of the race, cannot be expected to ordain an immutable mode of administration, but must leave its modes of worship and communion to conform themselves silently and gradually to the wants and progress of humanity. The rites and arrangements which suit one period lose their significance or efficiency in another; the forms which minister to the mind _now_ may fetter it hereafter, and must give place to its free unfolding," &c., and more to the same purpose.

The reviewer says, "We believe that in the judgment of an enlightened charity, many Christian societies who are accustomed to denounce each others' errors, will at length come to be regarded as members in common of one great and comprehensive Church, in which diversity of forms are harmonised by an all-pervading unity of spirit." And more to the same purpose. The soldier and reformer says, "I believe there may be error because there must be imperfection in the religious faith of the best among us; but that the degree of this error is not vital in any Christian denomination seems demonstrable by the best fruits of faith-good works-being evidenced by all."

It is pleasant to see benign spirits divided in opinion, but harmonised by faith, thus standing hand in hand upon a sh.o.r.e of peace, and looking out together in serene hope for the dawning of a better day, instead of rushing forth, each with his own farthing candle, under pretence of illuminating the world-every one even more intent on putting out his neighbour's light than on guarding his own.

(Nov. 15. 1841.)

While the idea of possible harmony in the universal Church of Christ (by which I mean all who accept His teaching and are glad to bear His name) is gaining ground theoretically, _practically_ it seems more and more distant; since 1841 (when the above was written) the divergence is greater than ever; and, as in politics, moderate opinions appear (since 1848) to merge on either side into the extremes of ultra conservatism and ultra radicalism, as fear of the past or hope of the future predominate, so it is in the Church. The sort of dualism which prevails in politics and religion might give some colour to Lord Lindsay's theory of "progress through antagonism."

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10.

I Incline to agree with those who think it a great mistake to consider the present conditions or conception of Christianity as complete and final: like the human soul to which it was fitted by Divine love and wisdom, it has an immeasurable capacity of development, and "The Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of his Holy Word."

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11.

The nations of the present age want not _less_ religion, but _more_.

They do not wish for less community with the Apostolic times, but for more; but above all, they want their wounds healed by a Christianity showing a life-renewing vitality allied to reason and conscience, and ready and able to reform the social relations of life, beginning with the domestic and culminating with the political. They want no negations, but positive reconstruction-no conventionality, but an honest _bona fide_ foundation, deep as the human mind, and a structure free and organic as nature. In the meantime let no national form be urged as identical with divine truth, let no dogmatic formula oppress conscience and reason, and let no corporation of priests, no set of dogmatists, sow discord and hatred in the sacred communities of domestic and national life. This view cannot be obtained without national efforts, Christian education, free inst.i.tutions, and social reforms. Then no zeal will be called Christian which is not hallowed by charity,-no faith Christian which is not sanctioned by reason."-_Hippolitus._

"Any author who in our time treats theological and ecclesiastical subjects frankly, and therefore with reference to the problems of the age, must expect to be ignored, and if that cannot be done, abused and reviled."

The same is true of moral subjects on which strong prejudices (or shall I say strong _convictions_?) exist in minds not very strong.

It is not perhaps of so much consequence what we believe, as it is important that we believe; that we do not affect to believe, and so belie our own souls. Belief is _not_ always in our power, but truth is.

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12.

It seems an arbitrary limitation of the design of Christianity to a.s.sume, as Priestley does, that "it consists solely in the revelation of a future life confirmed by the bodily resurrection of Christ." This is truly a very material view of Christianity. If I were to be sure of annihilation I should not be less certain of the truth of Christianity as a system of morals exquisitely adapted for the improvement and happiness of man as an individual; and equally adapted to conduce to the amelioration and progressive happiness of mankind as a species.

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NOTES FROM VARIOUS SERMONS,

MADE ON THE SPOT;

SHOWING SOME THINGS IN WHICH ALL GOOD MEN ARE AGREED.

I.

_From a Roman Catholic Sermon._

When travelling in Ireland, I stayed over one Sunday in a certain town in the north, and rambled out early in the morning. It was cold and wet, the streets empty and quiet, but the sound of voices drew me in one direction, down a court where was a Roman Catholic chapel. It was so crowded that many of the congregation stood round the door. I remarked among them a number of soldiers and most miserable-looking women. All made way for me with true national courtesy, and I entered at the moment the priest was finishing ma.s.s, and about to begin his sermon. There was no pulpit, and he stood on the step of the altar; a fine-looking man, with a bright face, a sonorous voice, and a _very_ strong Irish accent.

His text was from Matt. v. 43, 44.

He began by explaining what Christ really meant by the words "Love thy neighbour." Then drew a picture in contrast of hatred and dissension, commencing with dissension in families, between kindred, and between husband and wife. Then made a most touching appeal in behalf of children brought up in an atmosphere of contention where no love is. "G.o.d help them! G.o.d pity them! small chance for them of being either good or happy! for their young hearts are saddened and soured with strife, and they eat their bread in bitterness!"

Then he preached patience to the wives, indulgence to the husbands, and denounced scolds and quarrelsome women in a manner that seemed to glance at recent events: "When ye are found in the streets vilifying and slandering one another, ay, and fighting and tearing each other's hair, do ye think ye're women? no, ye're not! ye're devils incarnate, and ye'll go where the devils will be fit companions for ye!" &c. (Here some women near me, with long black hair streaming down, fell upon their knees, sobbing with contrition.) He then went on, in the same strain of homely eloquence, to the evils of political and religious hatred, and quoted the text, "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." "I'm a Catholic," he went on, "and I believe in the truth of my own religion above all others. I'm convinced, by long study and observation, it's the best that is; but what then? Do ye think I hate my neighbour because he thinks differently? Do ye think I _mane_ to force my religion down other people's throats? If I were to preach such uncharity to ye, my people, you wouldn't listen to me, ye oughtn't to listen to me. Did Jesus Christ force His religion down other people's throats? Not He! He endured all, He was kind to all, even to the wicked Jews that afterwards crucified Him." "If you say you can't love your neighbour because he's your enemy, and has injured you, what does that mane? '_ye can't! ye can't!_' as if that excuse will serve G.o.d? hav'n't ye done more and worse against Him? and didn't He send His only Son into the world to redeem ye? My good people, you're all sprung from one stock, all sons of Adam, all related to one another. When G.o.d created Eve, mightn't He have made her out of any thing, a stock or a stone, or out of nothing at all, at all? but He took one of Adam's ribs and moulded her out of that, and gave her to him, just to show that we're all from one original, all related together, men and women, Catholics and Protestants, Jews and Turks and Christians; all bone of one bone, and flesh of one flesh!" He then insisted and demonstrated that all the miseries of life, all the sorrows and mistakes of men, women, and children; and, in particular, all the disasters of Ireland, the bankrupt landlords, the religious dissensions, the fights domestic and political, the rich without thought for the poor, and the poor without food or work, all arose from nothing but the want of love. "Down on your knees,"

he exclaimed, "and ask G.o.d's mercy and pardon; and as ye hope to find it, ask pardon one of another for every angry word ye have spoken, for every uncharitable thought that has come into your minds; and if any man or woman have aught against his neighbour, no matter what, let it be plucked out of his heart before he laves this place, let it be forgotten at the door of this chapel. Let me, your pastor, have no more rason to be ashamed of you; as if I were set over wild bastes, instead of Christian men and women!"

After more in this fervid strain, which I cannot recollect, he gave his blessing in the same earnest heartfelt manner. I never saw a congregation more attentive, more reverent, and apparently more touched and edified. (1848.)

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II.

_From another Roman Catholic Sermon, delivered in the private chapel of a n.o.bleman._

This Discourse was preached on the festival of St. John the Baptist, and was a summary of his doctrine, life, and character. The text was taken from St. Luke, iii. 9. to 14.; in which St. John answers the question of the people, "what shall we do then?" by a brief exposition of their several duties.

"What is most remarkable in all this," said the priest, "is truly that there is nothing very remarkable in it. The Baptist required from his hearers very simple and very familiar duties,-such as he was not the first to preach, such as had been recognised as duties by all religions; and do you think that those who were neither Jews nor Christians were therefore left without any religion? No! never did G.o.d leave any of his creatures without religion; they could not utter the words _right_, _wrong_,-_beautiful_, _hateful_, without recognising a religion written by G.o.d on their hearts from the beginning-a religion which existed before the preaching of John, before the coming of Christ, and of which the appearance of John and the doctrine and sacrifice of Christ, were but the fulfilment. For Christ came to _fulfil_ the law, not to destroy it. Do you ask what law? Not the law of Moses, but the universal law of G.o.d's moral truth written in our hearts. It is, my friends, a folly to talk of _natural_ religion as of something different from _revealed_ religion.

"The great proof of the truth of John's mission lies in its comprehensiveness: men and women, artisans and soldiers, the rich and the poor, the young and the old, gathered to him in the wilderness; and he included all in his teaching, for he was sent to all; and the best proof of the truth of his teaching lies in its harmony with that law already written in the heart and the conscience of men. When Christ came afterwards, he preached a doctrine more sublime, with a more authoritative voice; but here, also, the best proof we have of the truth of that divine teaching lies in this-that he had prepared from the beginning the heart and the conscience of man to harmonise with it."