Discipline and Other Sermons Part 5

(Preached before the Prince of Wales, at Sandringham, 1866.)

GENESIS i. 1.

In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth.

It may seem hardly worth while to preach upon this text. Every one thinks that he believes it. Of course--they say--we know that G.o.d made the world. Teach us something we do not know, not something which we do. Why preach to us about a text which we fully understand, and believe already?

Because, my friends, there are few texts in the Bible more difficult to believe than this, the very first; few texts which we need to repeat to ourselves again and again, in all the chances and changes of this mortal life; lest we should forget it just as we feel we are most sure of it.

We know that it was very difficult for people in olden times to believe it. Else why did all the heathens of old, and why do all heathens now, worship idols?

We know that the old Jews, after it had been revealed to them, found it very difficult to believe it. Else why were they always deserting the worship of G.o.d, and worshipping idols and devils, sun, moon, and stars, and all the host of heaven?

We know that the early Christians, in spite of the light of the Gospel and of G.o.d's Spirit, found it very difficult to believe it.

Doubtless they believed it a thousand times more fully than it had ever been believed before. They would have shrunk with horror from saying that any one but G.o.d had made the heavens and the earth. But Christians clung, for many hundred years, even almost up to our own day, to old heathen superst.i.tions, which they would have cast away if their faith had been full, and if they had held with their whole hearts and souls and minds, that there was one G.o.d, of whom are all things. They believed that the Devil and evil spirits had power to raise thunderstorms, and blight crops, and change that course of nature of which the Psalmist had said, that all things served G.o.d, and continued this day as at the beginning, for G.o.d had given them a law which could not be broken. They believed in magic, and astrology, and a hundred other dreams, which all began from secret disbelief that G.o.d made the heaven and the earth; till they fancied that the Devil could and would teach men the secrets of nature, and the way to be rich and great, if they would but sell their souls to him. They believed, in a word, the very atheistic lie which Satan told to our blessed Lord, when he said that all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his, and to whomsoever he would he gave them--instead of believing our Lord's answer, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy G.o.d, and him only shalt thou serve.'

And therefore I tell you here--as the Church has told Christian people in all ages--that if any of you have any fancy for such follies, any belief in charms and magic, any belief that you can have your fortunes told by astrologers, gipsies, or such like, you must go back to your Bible, and learn better the first text in it. 'In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth.' G.o.d's is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of all things visible and invisible; all the world round us, with its wonderful secrets, is governed, from the sun over our heads, to the smallest blade of gra.s.s beneath our feet, by G.o.d, and by G.o.d alone, and neither evil spirit nor magician has the smallest power over one atom of it; and our fortunes, in likewise, do not depend on the influences of stars or planets, ghosts or spirits, or anything else: but on ourselves, of whom it is written, that G.o.d shall judge every man according to his works.

Even now, in these very days, many good people are hardly able, it seems to me, to believe with their whole hearts that G.o.d made heaven and earth. They half believe it: but their faith is weak; and when it is tried, they grow frightened, and afraid of truth. This it is which makes so many good people afraid of what is now called Science- -of all new discoveries about the making of this earth, and the powers and virtues of the things about us; afraid of wonders which are become matters of course among us, but of which our forefathers knew little or nothing. They are afraid lest these things should shake people's faith in the Bible, and in Christianity; lest men should give up the good old faith of their forefathers, and fancy that the world is grown too wise to believe in the old doctrines.

One cannot blame them, cannot even be surprised at them. So many wonderful truths (for truths they are), of which our fathers never dreamed, are discovered every year, that none can foretell where the movement will stop; what we shall hear next; what we shall have to believe next.

Only, let us take refuge in the text--'In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth.' All that we see around us, however wonderful; all that has been found out of late, however wonderful; all that will be ever found out, however still more wonderful it may be, is the work of G.o.d; of that G.o.d who revealed himself to Moses; of that G.o.d who led the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt; of that G.o.d who taught David, in all his trouble and wanderings, to trust in him as his guide and friend; of that G.o.d who revealed to the old Prophets the fate of nations, and the laws by which he governs all the kingdoms and people of the earth; of that G.o.d, above all, who so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that the world by him might be saved.

This material world which we do see, is as much G.o.d's world as the spiritual world we do not see. And, therefore, the one cannot contradict the other; and the true understanding of the one will never hurt our true understanding of the other.

But many good people have another fear, and that, I think, a far more serious one. They are afraid, in consequence of all these wonderful discoveries of science, that people will begin to trust in science, and not in G.o.d. And that fear is but too well founded. It is certain that if sinful man can find anything to trust in, instead of G.o.d, trust therein he surely will.

The old Jews preferred to trust in idols, rather than G.o.d; the Christians of the Middle Age, to their shame, trusted in magic and astrology, rather than G.o.d; and after that, some 200 years ago, when men had grown too wise to trust in such superst.i.tions, they certainly did not grow wise enough, most of them, to trust in the living G.o.d.

They relied, the rulers of the nations especially, in their own wit and cunning, and tried to govern the world and keep it straight, by falsehood and intrigue, envy and jealousy, plotting and party spirit, and the wisdom which cometh not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish,--that wisdom against which we pray, whenever we sing 'G.o.d save the Queen,' -

'Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, G.o.d save the Queen.'

And since that false wisdom has failed, and the wisdom of this world, and the rulers of this world, came to nought in the terrible crisis of the French Revolution, eighty years ago, men have been taking up a new idolatry. For as science has spread, they have been trusting in science rather than in the living G.o.d, and giving up the old faith that G.o.d's judgments are in all the earth, and that he rewards righteousness and punishes iniquity; till too many seem to believe that the world somehow made itself, and that there is no living G.o.d ordering and guiding it; but that a man must help himself as he best can in this world, for in G.o.d no help is to be found.

And how shall we escape that danger?

I do not think we shall escape it, if we stop short at the text. We must go on from the Old Testament and let the New explain it. We must believe what Moses tells us: but we must ask St. John to show us more than Moses saw. Moses tells us that G.o.d created the heavens and the earth; St. John goes further, and tells us what that G.o.d is like; how he saw Christ, the Word of G.o.d, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made that is made. And what was he like? He was the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. And what was that like? was there any darkness in him--meanness, grudging, cruelty, changeableness, deceit?

No. He was full of grace and truth. Grace and truth: that is what Christ is; and therefore that is what G.o.d is.

There was another aspect of him, true; and St. John saw that likewise. And so awful was it that he fell at the Lord's feet as he had been dead.

But the Lord was still full of grace and truth; still, however awful he was, he was as full as ever of love, pity, gentleness. He was the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world, even though that Lamb was in the midst of the throne from which came forth thunderings and lightnings, and judgments against the sins of all the world.

Terrible to wrong, and to the doers of wrong: but most loving and merciful to all true penitents, who cast themselves and the burden of their sins before his feet; perfect justice and perfect Love,--that is G.o.d. That is the maker of this world. That is he who in the beginning made heaven and earth. An utterly good G.o.d. A G.o.d whose mercy is over all his creatures. A G.o.d who desires the good of his creatures; who willeth not that one little one should perish; who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth; who wages everlasting war against sin and folly, and wrong and misery, and all the ills to which men are heirs; who not only made the world, but loves the world, and who proved that--what a proof!-- by not sparing his only-begotten Son, but freely giving him for us.

Therefore we can say, not merely,--I know that a G.o.d made the world, but I know what that G.o.d is like. I know that he is not merely a great G.o.d, a wise G.o.d, but a good G.o.d; that goodness is his very essence. I know that he is gracious and merciful, long suffering, and of great kindness. I know that he is loving to every man, and that his mercy is over all his works. I know that he upholds those who fall, and lifts up those who are down; I know that he careth for the fatherless and widow, and executes judgment and justice for all those who are oppressed with wrong. I know that he will fulfil the desire of those who call upon him; and will also hear their cry and will help them. I know, in short, that he is a living G.o.d, and a loving G.o.d; a G.o.d in whom men may trust, to whom they may open their hearts, as children to their father: and I am sure that those who come to him he will in no wise cast out; for he himself has said, with human voice upon this earth of ours,--'Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.'

In him all can trust. The sick man on his bed can trust in him and say--In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth; and he is full of grace and truth. This sickness of mine comes by the laws of heaven and earth; and those laws are G.o.d's laws. Then even this sickness may be full of grace and truth. It comes by no blind chance, but by the will of him who so loved me, that he stooped to die for me on the Cross. Christ my Lord and G.o.d has some gracious and bountiful purpose in it, some lesson for me to learn from it. I will ask him to teach me that lesson; and I trust in him that he will teach me; and that, even for this sickness and this sorrow, I shall have cause to thank him in the world to come. Shall I not trust him who not only made this world, but so loved it that he stooped to die for it upon the Cross?

The labourer and the farmer can trust in him, in the midst of short crops and bad seasons, and say, In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth; and he is full of grace and truth. Frost and blight obey his commands as well as sunshine and plenty. He knows best what ought to be. Shall we not trust in him, who not only made this world, but so loved it, that he stooped to die for it upon the Cross?

The scholar and the man of science, studying the wonders of this earth, can trust in him, and say, In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth; and he is full of grace and truth. Many things puzzle me; and the more I learn the less I find I really know; but I shall know as much as is good for me, and for mankind. G.o.d is full of grace, and will not grudge me knowledge; and full of truth, and will not deceive me. And I shall never go far wrong as long as I believe, not only in one G.o.d, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible, but in one Lord Jesus Christ, his only- begotten Son, light of light, very G.o.d of very G.o.d, by whom all things were made, who for us men and our salvation came down, and died, and rose again; whose kingdom shall have no end; who rules over every star and planet, every shower and sunbeam, every plant and animal and stone, every body and every soul of man; who will teach men, in his good time and way, all that they need know, in order to multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it in this life, and attain everlasting life in the world to come. And for the rest, puzzled though I be, shall I not trust him, who not only made this world, but so loved it, that he stooped to die for it upon the Cross?

SERMON XI.--THE ARMOUR OF G.o.d

(Preached before the Prince of Wales, at Sandringham, January 20th, 1867.)

EPHESIANS vi. 11.

Put on the whole armour of G.o.d.

St. Paul again and again compares himself and the Christians to whom he writes to soldiers, and their lives to warfare. And it was natural that he should do so. Everywhere he went, in those days, he would find Roman soldiers, ruling over men of different races from themselves, and ruling them, on the whole, well. Greeks, Syrians, Jews, Egyptians,--all alike in his days obeyed the Roman soldiers, who had conquered the then known world.

And St. Paul and his disciples wished to conquer the world likewise.

The Roman soldier had conquered it for Caesar: St. Paul would conquer it for Christ. The Roman soldier had used bodily force--the persuasion of the sword. St. Paul would use spiritual force--the persuasion of preaching. The Roman soldier wrestled against flesh and blood: St. Paul wrestled against more subtle and dangerous enemies--spiritual enemies, he calls them--who enslaved and destroyed the reason, and conscience, and morals of men.

St. Paul and his disciples, I say, had set before themselves no less a task than to conquer the world.

Therefore, he says, they must copy the Roman soldier, and put on their armour, as he put on his. He took Caesar's armour, and put on Caesar's uniform. They must take the armour of G.o.d, that they may withstand in the evil day of danger and battle, and having done all,- -done their duty manfully as good soldiers,--stand; keep their ranks, and find themselves at the end of the battle not scattered and disorganized, but in firm and compact order, like the Roman soldiers, who, by drill and discipline, had conquered the irregular and confused troops of all other nations.

Let me, this morning, explain St. Paul's words to you, one by one.

We shall find them full of lessons--and right wholesome lessons--for in this parable of the armour of G.o.d St. Paul sketches what you and I and every man should be. He sketches the character of a good man, a true man, a man after G.o.d's own heart.

First, the Christians are to gird their loins--to cover the lower part of their body, which is the most defenceless. That the Roman soldier did with a kilt, much like that which the Highlanders wear now. And that garment was to be Truth. Truthfulness, honesty, that was to be the first defence of a Christian man, instead of being, as too many so-called Christians make it, the very last. Honesty, before all other virtues, was to gird his very loins, was to protect his very vitals.

The breastplate, which covered the upper part of the body, was to be righteousness--which we now commonly call, justice. To be a just man, after being first a truthful man, was the Christian's duty.

And his helmet was to be the hope of Salvation--that is, of safety: not merely of being saved in the next world--though of course St.

Paul includes that--but of being saved in this world; of coming safe through the battle of life; of succeeding; of conquering the heathen round them, and making them Christians, instead of being conquered by them. The hope of safety was to be his helmet, to guard his head-- the thinking part. We all know how a blow on the head confuses and paralyses a man, making him (as we say) lose his head. We know too, how, in spiritual matters, terror and despair deal a deadly blow to a man's mind,--how if a man expects to fail, he cannot think clearly and calmly,--how often desperation and folly go hand in hand; for, if a man loses hope, he is but too apt to lose his reason. The Christian's helmet, then,--that which would save his head, and keep his mind calm, prudent, strong, and active,--was the hope of success.

And for their feet--they must be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.

That is a grand saying, if you will remember that the key-word, which explains it all, is Peace, and the Gospel, that is, the good news, thereof.

The Roman soldier had his preparation, which kept him prepared and ready to march through the world; and of that St. Paul was thinking, and had need to think; for he had heard the sound of it in every street, on every high road, from Jerusalem to Ephesus, ever since he was a child--the tramp of the heavy nailed boot which the Roman soldier always wore. The Roman soldiers were proud of their boots,-- so proud that, in St. Paul's time, they nicknamed one of their royal princes Caligula, because, as a boy in camp, he used to wear boots like the common soldiers: and he bore that name when he became emperor, and bears it to this day. And they had reason to be proud, after their own notion of glory. For that boot had carried them through desert and through cities, over mountain ranges, through trackless forests, from Africa even into Britain here, to be the conquerors of the then known world; and, wherever the tramp of that boot had been heard, it had been the sound, not of the good news of peace, but of the evil news of war. Isaiah of old, watching for the deliverance of the Jews from captivity, heard in the spirit the footsteps of the messengers coming with the news that Cyrus was about to send the Jews home to their own land, and cried, 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bring good tidings, that publish peace!' But the tramp of the Roman armies had as yet brought little but bad tidings, and published destruction. Men slain in battle, women and children driven off captive, villages burnt, towns sacked and ruined, till wherever their armies pa.s.sed--as one of their own writers has said--they made a desert, and then called that peace.

So had the Roman soldier marched over the world, and conquered it.

And now Christ's soldiers were beginning their march over the world, that they might conquer it by fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. They were going forth, with their feet shod with the good news of Peace; to treat all men, not as their enemies, not as their slaves, but as their brothers; and to bring them good news, and bid them share in it,--the good news that G.o.d was at peace with them, and that they might now be at peace with their own consciences, and at peace with each other, for all were brothers in Jesus Christ their Lord.

Shod with that good news of peace, these Christians were going to conquer the world, and to penetrate into distant lands from which the Roman armies had been driven back in shameful defeat. To penetrate, too, where the Roman armies never cared to go,--among the miserable and crowded lanes of the great cities, and conquer there what the Roman armies could not conquer--the vice, the misery, the cruelty, the idolatry of the heathen.