Sermons for the Times Part 8

It is enough for G.o.d that we are all men and women bearing the flesh, and blood, and human nature which His Son Jesus Christ wore on earth. If we are baptized, we belong to Him: if we are not baptized, we ought to be; for we belong to Him just as much. Every man may be baptized; every man may be regenerate; G.o.d calls all to His grace and adoption and holy baptism, which is the sign and seal of His adoption; and therefore, what is right for the regenerate baptized man, is right for the unregenerate unbaptized man; for the Christian and for the heathen there is but one way, one duty, one life for both, and that is the life of G.o.d, of which St. Paul speaks in the text.

Now of this life of G.o.d I will speak hereafter; but I mention it now, because it is the thing to which I wish to bring your thoughts before the end of the sermon.

But first, let us see what St. Paul means, when he talks about the Gentiles in his day. For that also has to do with us. I said that every man, Christian or heathen, has the same duty, and is bound to do the same right; every man, Christian or heathen, if he sins, breaks his duty in the same way, and does the same wrong. There is but one righteousness, the life of G.o.d; there is but one sin, and that is being alienated from the life of G.o.d. One man may commit different sorts of sins from another; one may lie, another may steal: one may be proud, another may be covetous: but all these different sins come from the same root of sin; they are all flowers of the same plant. And St. Paul tells us what that one root of sin, what that same Devil's plant, is, which produces all sin in Christian or Heathen, in Churchman or Dissenter, in man or woman-- the one disease, from which has come all the sin which ever was done by man, woman, or child since the world was made.

Now, what is this one disease, to which every man, you and I, are all liable? Why it is that we are every one of us worse than we ought to be, worse than we know how to be, and, strangest of all, worse than we wish and like to be.

Just as far as we are like the heathen of old, we shall be worse than we know how to be. For we are all ready enough to turn heathens again, at any moment, my friends; and the best Christian in this church knows best that what I say is true; that he is beset by the very same temptations which ruined the old heathens, and that if he gave way to them a moment they would ruin him likewise. For what does St. Paul say was the matter with the old heathens?

First he says, 'Their understanding was darkened.' But what part of it? What was it that they had got dark about and could not understand? For in some matters they were as clever as we, and cleverer. What part of their understanding was it which was darkened? St. Paul tells us in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. It was their hearts--their reason, as we should say.

It was about G.o.d, and the life of G.o.d, that they were dark. They had not been always dark about G.o.d, but they were _darkened_; they grew more and more dark about Him, generation after generation; they gave themselves up more and more to their corrupt and fallen nature, and so the children grew worse than their fathers, and their children again worse than them, till they had lost all notion of what G.o.d was like. For from the very first all heathens have had some notion of what G.o.d is like, and have had a notion also, which none but G.o.d could have given them, that men ought to be like G.o.d.

G.o.d taught, or if I may so speak, tried to teach, the heathen, from the very first. If G.o.d had not taught them, they would not have been to blame for knowing nothing of G.o.d. For as Job says, 'Can man by searching find out G.o.d?' Surely not; G.o.d must teach us about Himself. Never forget that man cannot find G.o.d; G.o.d must show Himself to man of His own free grace and will. G.o.d must reveal and unveil Himself to us, or we shall never even fancy that there is a G.o.d. And G.o.d did so to the heathen. Even before the Flood, G.o.d's Spirit strove with man; and after the Flood we read how the Lord, Jesus Christ the Son of G.o.d, revealed Himself in many different ways to heathens. To Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in Abraham's times; and again to Abimelech, king of Gerar; and again to Pharaoh and his servants, in Joseph's time; and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and to Cyrus, king of Persia; and no doubt to thousands more.

Indeed, no man, heathen or Christian, ever thought a single true thought, or felt a single right feeling, about G.o.d or man, or man's duty to G.o.d and his neighbour, unless G.o.d revealed it to him (whether or not He also revealed _Himself_ to the man and showed him _who_ it was who was putting the right thought into his mind): for every right thought and feeling about G.o.d, and goodness, and duty, are the very voice of G.o.d Himself, the word of G.o.d whereof St. John speaks, and Moses and the prophets speak, speaking to the heart of sinful man, to enlighten and to teach him. And therefore, St. Paul says, the sinful heathen were without excuse, because, he says, 'that which may be known of G.o.d is manifest, that is plain, among them, for G.o.d hath showed it to them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, even His eternal power and G.o.dhead; so that they are without excuse.' 'But these heathens,' he says, 'did not like to retain G.o.d in their knowledge; and when they knew G.o.d, did not glorify Him as G.o.d, and changed the glory of the Incorruptible G.o.d into the likeness of corruptible man, and beasts and creeping things.' And so they were alienated from the life of G.o.d; that is, they became strangers to G.o.d's life; they forgot what G.o.d's life and character was like: or if they even did awake a moment, and recollect dimly what G.o.d was like, they hated that thought. They hated to think that G.o.d was what He was, and shut their eyes, and stopped their ears as fast as possible.

And what happened to them in the meantime? What was the fruit of their wilfully forgetting what G.o.d's life was? St. Paul tells us that they fell into the most horrible sins--sins too dreadful and shameful to be spoken of; and that their common life, even when they did not run into such fearful evils, was profligate, fierce, and miserable. And yet St. Paul tells us all the while they knew the judgment of G.o.d, that those who do such things are worthy of death.

Now we know that St. Paul speaks truth, from the writings of heathens; for G.o.d raised up from time to time, even among the heathen Greeks and Romans, witnesses for Himself, to testify of Him and of His life, and to testify against the sins of the world, such men as Socrates and Plato among the Greeks, whose writings St. Paul knew thoroughly, and whom, I have no doubt, he had in his mind when he wrote his first chapter of Romans, and told the heathen that they were without excuse. And among the Romans, also, He raised up, in the same way, witnesses for Himself, such as Juvenal and Persius, and others, whom scholars know well. And to these men, heathens though they were, G.o.d certainly did teach a great deal about Himself, and gave them courage to rebuke the sins of kings and rich men, even at the danger of their lives; and to some of them he gave courage even to suffer martyrdom for the message which G.o.d had given them, and which their neighbours hated to hear. And this was the message which G.o.d sent by them to the heathen: that G.o.d was good and righteous, and that therefore His everlasting wrath must be awaiting sinners. They rebuked their heathen neighbours for those very same horrible crimes which St. Paul mentions; and then they said, as St. Paul does, 'How you make your own sins worse by blasphemies against G.o.d! You sin yourselves, and then, to excuse yourselves, you invent fables and lies about G.o.d, and pretend that G.o.d is as wicked as you are, in order to drug your own consciences, by making G.o.d the pattern of your own wickedness.'

These men saw that man ought to be like G.o.d; and they saw that G.o.d was righteous and good; and they saw, therefore, that unrighteousness and sin must end in ruin and everlasting misery. So much G.o.d had taught them, but not much more; but to St. Paul he had taught more. Those wise and righteous heathen could show their sinful neighbours that sin was death, and that G.o.d was righteous.

But they could not tell them how to rise out of the death of sin, into G.o.d's life of righteousness. They could preach the terrors of the Law, but they did not know the good news of the Gospel, and therefore they did not succeed; they did not convert their neighbours to G.o.d. Then came St. Paul and preached to the very same people, and he did convert them to G.o.d; for he had good news for them, of things which prophets and kings had desired to see, and had not seen them, and to hear, and had not heard them.

For G.o.d, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to the fathers by the prophets, at last spoke to all men by a Son, His only-begotten Son, the exact likeness of His Father, the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person. He sent Him to be a man: very man of the substance of His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the same time that He was Very G.o.d, of the substance of His Father, begotten before all worlds.

And so G.o.d, and the life of G.o.d, was manifested in the flesh and reasonable soul of a man; and from that time there is no doubt what the life of G.o.d is; for the life of G.o.d is the life of Jesus Christ.

There is no doubt now what G.o.d is like, for G.o.d is like Jesus Christ. No one can now say, 'I cannot see G.o.d, how then can you expect me to be like G.o.d?' for He who has seen Jesus Christ, as His character stands in the Gospels, has seen G.o.d the Father. No one can say now, 'How can a man be like G.o.d, and live a life like G.o.d's life?' for if any one of you say that, I can answer him: 'A man can be like G.o.d; you can be like G.o.d; for there was once a man on earth, Jesus, the son of the Blessed Virgin, who was perfectly like G.o.d.'

And if you answer, 'But He was like G.o.d, because He was G.o.d,' I can say, 'And that is the very reason why you can be like G.o.d also.' If Jesus Christ had been only a man, you could no more become like Him than you can become clever because another man is clever, or strong because another man is strong: but because He was G.o.d The Son of G.o.d, He can give you, to make you like G.o.d, the same Holy Spirit which made Him like G.o.d; for that Holy Spirit proceeds from Him, the Son, as well as from the Father, and the Father has committed all power to the Son; and therefore that same Man Christ Jesus has power to change your heart, and renew it, and shape it to be like Him, and like His Father, by the power of His Spirit, that you may be like G.o.d as He was like G.o.d, and live the life of G.o.d which He lived; so that the Lord Jesus Christ, because He was a man like G.o.d, showed that all men can become like G.o.d; and because He was G.o.d, Very G.o.d of Very G.o.d, He is able to make all who come to Him men like Himself, men like G.o.d, and raise them up body and soul to the everlasting life of G.o.d, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren.

Now what is this everlasting life of G.o.d, which the Lord Jesus Christ lived perfectly, and which He can and will make every one of us live, in proportion as we give up our hearts and wills to Him, and ask Him to take charge of us, and shape us, and teach us? When we read that blessed story of Him who was born in a stable, and laid in a manger, who went about doing good, because G.o.d was with Him, who condescended of His own freewill to be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon, and crucified, that He might take away the sins of the whole world, who prayed for His murderers, and blest those who cursed Him--what sort of life does this life of G.o.d, which He lived, seem to us? Is it not a life of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, patience, meekness? Surely it is; then that is the likeness of G.o.d. G.o.d is love. And the Lord Jesus' life was a life of love--utter, perfect, untiring love. He did His Father's will perfectly, because He loved men perfectly, and to the death.

He died for those who hated Him, and so He showed forth to man the name and glory of G.o.d; for G.o.d is love. The name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is love; for love is justice and righteousness, as it is written, 'Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.' And G.o.d is perfect love, because He is perfect righteousness; and perfect righteousness, because He is perfect love; for His love and His justice are not two different things, two different parts of G.o.d, as some say, who fancy that G.o.d's justice had to be satisfied in one way, and His love in another, and talk of G.o.d as if His justice fought against His love, and desired the death of a sinner, and then His love fought against His justice, and desired to save a sinner.

No wonder that those who hold such doctrines go further still, and talk as if G.o.d the Father desired to destroy mankind, and would have done it if G.o.d the Son had not interposed, and suffered Himself instead; till they can fancy that they are Christians, and know G.o.d, while they use the hideous words of a certain hymn, which speaks of

'The streaming drops of Jesu's blood Which calmed the Father's frowning face.'

May G.o.d deliver and preserve us and our children from all such blasphemous fables, which, like the fables of the old heathen, change the glory of the Incorruptible G.o.d into the likeness of a corruptible man, which deny the true faith, that G.o.d has neither parts nor pa.s.sions, by talking of His love and His justice as two different things; which confound His persons by saying that the Son alone does what the Father and the Holy Spirit do also, while they divide His substance by making the will of the Son different from the will of the Father, and deny that such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost, all three one perfect Love, and one perfect Justice, because they are all three one G.o.d, and G.o.d is love, and love is righteousness.

Believe me, my friends, this is no mere question of words, which only has to do with scholars in their libraries; it is a question, the question of life and death for you, and me, and every living soul in this church,--Do we know what the life of G.o.d is? are we living it? or are we alienated from it, careless about it, disliking it?

For, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, we are all ready enough to turn heathens again; and if we grow to forget or dislike the life of G.o.d, we shall be heathen at heart. We may talk about Him with our lips, we may quarrel and curse each other about religious differences; but let us make as great a profession as we may, if we do not love the life of G.o.d we shall be heathen at heart, and we shall, sooner or later, fall into sin. The heathens fell into sin just in proportion as their hearts were turned away from the life of G.o.d, and so shall we. And how shall we know whether our hearts are turned away, or whether they are right with G.o.d? Thus: What are the fruits of G.o.d's Spirit? what sort of life does the Spirit of G.o.d make man live? For the Spirit of G.o.d is G.o.d, and therefore the life of G.o.d is the life which G.o.d's Spirit makes men live; and what is that? a life of love and righteousness.

The old heathens did not like such a life, therefore they did not like to retain G.o.d in their knowledge. They knew that man ought to be like G.o.d: and St. Paul says, they ought to have known what G.o.d was like; that He was Love; for St. Paul told them He left not Himself without witness, in that He sent them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. That was, in St. Paul's eyes, G.o.d's plainest witness of Himself--the sign that G.o.d was Love, making His sun shine on the just and on the unjust, and good to the unthankful and the evil--in one word, perfect, because He is perfect Love. But they preferred to be selfish, covetous, envious, revengeful, delighting to indulge themselves in filthy pleasures, to oppress and defraud each other. Do you?

For you can, I can, every baptized man can take his choice between the selfish life of the heathens and the loving life of G.o.d: we may either keep to the old pattern of man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful l.u.s.ts; or we may put on the new pattern of man, which is after G.o.d's likeness, and founded upon righteousness and truthful holiness.

Every baptized man may choose. For he is not only bound to live the life of G.o.d: every man, as the old heathen philosophers knew, is bound to live it: but more. The baptized man _can_ live it: that is the good news of his baptism. _You can_ live the life of G.o.d, for you know what the life of G.o.d is--it is the life of Jesus Christ. _You can_ live the life of G.o.d, for the Spirit of G.o.d is with you, to cleanse your soul and life, day by day, till they are like the soul and life of Christ.

Then you will be, as the apostle says, 'a partaker of a divine nature.' Then--and it is an awful thing to say--a thing past hope, past belief, but I must say it--for it is in the Bible, it is the word of the Blessed Lord Himself, and of His beloved apostle, St.

John: 'If a man love Me, he will keep my commandments, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.' 'And this is His commandment,' says St. John, 'That we should love one another.' 'G.o.d is Love, and he who dwelleth in Love dwelleth in G.o.d, and G.o.d in him.'

G.o.d is Love. As I told you just now, the heathens of old might have known that, if they had chosen to open their eyes and see. But they would not see. They were dark, cruel, and unloving, and therefore they fancied that G.o.d was dark, cruel, and unloving also. They did not love Love, and therefore they did not love G.o.d, for G.o.d is Love.

And therefore they did not love loving: they did not enjoy loving; and so they lost the Spirit of G.o.d, which is the Spirit of Love.

And therefore they did not love each other, but lived in hatred and suspicion, and selfishness, and darkness. They were but heathen.

But if even they ought to have known that G.o.d was Love, how much more we? For we know of a deed of G.o.d's love, such as those poor heathen never dreamed of. G.o.d so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for it. Then G.o.d showed what His eternal life was--a life of love: then G.o.d showed what our eternal life is-- to know Him who is Love, and Jesus Christ, whom He sent to show forth His love: then G.o.d showed that it is the duty and in the power of every man to live the life of G.o.d, the life of Love; for He sent forth into the world His Spirit, the Spirit of Love, to fill with love the heart of every man and woman who sees that Love is the image of G.o.d, and longs to be loving, and therefore longs to be like G.o.d; as it is written, 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled:' for righteousness is keeping Christ's commandment, and Christ's commandment is, that we love one another. And to those who long to do that, G.o.d's Spirit will come to fill them with love; and where the Spirit of G.o.d is, there is also the Father, and there is also the Son; for G.o.d's substance cannot be divided, as the Athanasian creed tells us (and blessed and cheering words they are); and he who hath the Holy Spirit of Love with him hath both the Father and the Son; as it is written: 'If a man love Me, my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.'

And then, if we have G.o.d abiding with us, and filling us with His Eternal Life, what more do we need for life, or death, or eternity, or eternities of eternities? For we shall live in and with and by G.o.d, who can never die or change, an everlasting life of love, whereof St. Paul says, that though prophecies shall fail, and tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall vanish away, because all that we know now is but in part, and all that we see now is through a gla.s.s darkly, yet Love shall never fail, but abide for ever and ever.

SERMON XVI. G.o.d'S OFFSPRING

Galatians iv. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of G.o.d through Christ.

I say, writes St. Paul, in the epistle which you heard read just now, 'that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed by his father. Even so,' he says, we, 'when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of time was come, G.o.d sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under a law, to redeem them that were under a law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.'

When we were children. He is not speaking of the Jews only; for these Galatians to whom he was writing were not Jews at all, any more than we are. He was speaking to men simply as men. He was speaking to the Galatians as we have a right to speak to all men.

Nor does he mean merely when we were children in age. The Greek word which he uses, means infants, people not come to years of discretion. Indeed, the word which he uses means very often a simpleton, an ignorant or foolish person; one who does not know who and what he is, what is his duty, or how to do it.

Now this, he says, was the state of men before Christ came; this is the state of all men by nature still; the state of all poor heathens, whether in England or in foreign countries.

They are children--that is, ignorant and unable to take care of themselves; because they do not know what they are. St. Paul tells us what they are. That they are all G.o.d's offspring, though they know it not. He likens them to young children, who, though they are their father's heirs, have no more liberty than slaves have; but are kept under tutors and masters, till they have arrived at years of discretion, and are fit to take their places as their father's _sons_, and to go out into the world, and have the management of their own affairs, and a share in their father's property, which they may use for themselves, instead of being merely fed and clothed by, and kept in subjection to him, whether they will or not. This is what he means by receiving the adoption of sons. He does not mean that we are not G.o.d's children till we find out that we are G.o.d's children. That is what some people say; but that is the very exact contrary to what St. Paul used to say. He told the heathen Athenians that they were G.o.d's children. He put them in mind that one of their own heathen poets had told them so, and had said, 'We are also G.o.d's offspring.' And so in this chapter he says, You were G.o.d's children all along, though you did not know it. You were G.o.d's heirs all along, although you differed nothing from slaves; for as long as you were in your heathen ignorance and foolishness, G.o.d had to treat you as His slaves, not as His children; and so you were in bondage under the elements of the world, till the fulness of time was come.

And, then, G.o.d sent His Son, born of a woman, born under a law, to redeem those who were under a law--that is, all mankind. The Jews were keeping, or pretending to keep, Moses' law, and trying to please G.o.d by that. The heathens were keeping all manner of old superst.i.tious laws and customs about religion which their forefathers had handed down to them. But heathens, and indeed Jews too, at that time, all agreed in one thing. These laws and customs of theirs about religion all went upon the notion of their being G.o.d's slaves, and not his children. They thought that G.o.d did not love them; that they must buy His favours. They thought religion meant a plan for making G.o.d love them.

Then appeared the love of G.o.d in Jesus Christ. As at this very Christmas time, the Son of G.o.d, Jesus Christ the Lord, in whose likeness man was made at the beginning, was born into the world, to redeem us and all mankind. He told them of their Heavenly Father; He preached to them the good news of the kingdom of G.o.d; that G.o.d had not forgotten them, did not hate them, would freely forgive them all that was past; and why? Because He was their Father, and loved them, and loved them so that He spared not His only begotten Son, but freely gave Him for them. And now G.o.d looks at us human beings, not as we are in ourselves, sinful and corrupt, but he looks at us in the light of Jesus Christ, who has taken our nature upon Him, and redeemed it, and raised it up again, so that G.o.d can look on it now without disgust, and henceforth no one need be ashamed of being a man; for to be a man is to be in the likeness of G.o.d. Man was created in the image and likeness of G.o.d, and who is the image and likeness of G.o.d but Jesus Christ? Therefore man was created at first in Jesus Christ, and now, as St. Paul says, he is created anew in Jesus Christ; and now to be a man is to partake of the same flesh and blood which the Lord Jesus Christ wore for us, when He was made very man of the substance of his mother, and that without spot of sin, to show that man need not be sinful, that man was meant by G.o.d to be holy and pure from sin, and that by the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ we, every one of us, can become pure from sin. This is the blessedness of Christmas-day. That one man, at least, has been born into the world spotless and free from sin, that He might be the firstborn of many brethren. This is the good news of Christmas-day.

That now, in Christ's light, and for Christ's sake, our Father looks on us as His sons, and not His slaves.

Therefore is every child who comes into the world baptized freely into the name of G.o.d. Baptism is a sign and warrant that G.o.d loves that child; that G.o.d looks on it as His child, not for itself or its own sake, but because it belongs to Jesus Christ, who, by becoming a man, redeemed all mankind, and made them His property and His brothers. Therefore every child, when it is brought to be baptized, promises, by its G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers, repentance and faith, when it comes to years of understanding. It is not G.o.d's slave, as the beasts are. It is G.o.d's child. But G.o.d does not wish it to remain merely His child, under tutors and governors, forced to do what is right outwardly, and whether it likes or not. G.o.d wishes each of us to become His son, His grown-up and reasonable son. To know who we are;--to work in His kingdom for Him;--to guide and manage our own wills, and hearts, and lives in obedience to Him;--to claim and take our share as men of G.o.d of the inheritance which He has given us. And that we can only do by faith in Jesus Christ. We must trust in Him, our Lord, our King, our Saviour, our Pattern. We must confess that we are nothing in ourselves, that we owe all to Him. We must follow in his footsteps, giving up our wills to G.o.d's will, doing not our own works, but the good works which G.o.d has prepared for us to walk in; and then we shall be truly confirmed; not mere children of G.o.d, under tutors, governors, schoolmasters and lawgivers, but free, reasonable, willing, hearty Christians, perfect men of G.o.d, the sons of G.o.d without rebuke.

Oh, my friends, will you claim your share in the Spirit of G.o.d, whom the Lord bought for us with His precious blood, that Spirit who was given you at your baptism, which may be daily renewed in you, if you pray for it; who will strengthen and lift you up to lead lives worthy of your high calling? Or will you, like Esau of old, despise your birthright, and neglect to pray that G.o.d's Spirit may be renewed in you, and so lose more and more day by day the thought that G.o.d is your Father, and the love of holy and G.o.dlike things?

Alas! take care that, like Esau, you hereafter find no room for repentance, though you seek it carefully with tears! It is a fearful thing to despise the mercies of the living G.o.d; and when you are called to be His sons, to fall back under the terrors of His law, in slavish fears and a guilty conscience, and remorse which cannot repent.

And do not give way to false humility, says St. Paul. Do not say, 'This is too high an honour for us to claim.' Do not say, 'It seems too conceited and a.s.suming for us miserable sinners to call ourselves sons of G.o.d. We shall please G.o.d better, and show ourselves more reverent to Him, by calling ourselves His slaves, and crouching and trembling before Him, as if we expected Him to strike us dead, and making all sorts of painful and tiresome religious observances, and vain repet.i.tions of prayers, to win His favour;' or by saying, 'We dare not call ourselves G.o.d's children yet; we are not spiritual enough; but when we have gone through all the necessary changes of heart, and frames, and feeling, and have been convinced of sin, and converted, and received the earnest, G.o.d's Spirit, by which we cry, Abba, Father! _then_ we shall have a right to call ourselves G.o.d's children.'

Not so, says St. Paul, all through this very Epistle to the Galatians. That is not being reverent to G.o.d. It is insulting Him.

For it is despising the honour which He has given you, and trying to get another honour of your own invention, by observances, and frames, and feelings of your own. Do not say, 'When we have received the earnest of G.o.d's Spirit, by which we can cry, Abba, Father! _then_ we shall become G.o.d's children;' for it is just because you _are_ G.o.d's children already--just because you have been G.o.d's children all along, that G.o.d has taught you to call Him Father. The Lord Jesus Christ told men that G.o.d was their Father.

Not merely to the Apostles, but to poor, ignorant, sinful wretches, publicans and harlots, He spoke of their Father in heaven, who, because He is a perfect Father, sends His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught men--all men, not merely saints and Apostles, but all men, when they prayed--to begin, 'Our Father.' He told them that that was the manner in which they were to pray, and therefore no other way of praying can we expect G.o.d to hear. No slavish, terrified, superst.i.tious coaxing and flattering will help you with G.o.d. He has told you to call Him your Father; and if you speak to Him in any other way, you insult Him, and trample under foot the riches of His grace.

This is the good news which the Bible preaches. This is the witness of G.o.d's Spirit, proclaiming that we are the sons of G.o.d; and, says St. Paul in another place, 'our spirit witnesses' to that glorious news as well. We feel, we know--why, we cannot tell, but we feel and know that we are the sons of G.o.d. When we are most calm, most humble, most free from ill-temper and self-conceit, most busy about our rightful work, then the feeling comes over us--I have a Father in heaven. And that feeling gives us a strength, a peace, a sure trust and hope, which no other thought can give. Yes, we are ready to say, I may be miserable and unfortunate, but the Great G.o.d of heaven and earth is my Father; and what can happen to me? I may be borne down with the remembrance of my great sins; I may find it almost too hard to fight against all my bad habits; but the Great G.o.d who made heaven and earth is my Father, and I am His son. He will forgive me for the past; He will help me to conquer for the future. If I do but remember that I am G.o.d's son, and claim my Father's promises, neither the world, nor the devil, nor my own sinful flesh, can ever prevail against me.

This thought, and the peace which it brings, St. Paul tells us is none of our own; we did not put it into our own hearts; from G.o.d it comes, that blessed thought, that He is our Father. We could never have found it out for ourselves. It is the Spirit of the Son of G.o.d, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, which gives us courage to say, 'Our Father which art in heaven,' which makes us feel that those words are true, and must be true, and are worth all other words in the world put together--that G.o.d is our Father, and we his sons. Oh, my friends, believe earnestly this blessed news! the news of Christmas-day, that you are not G.o.d's slaves, but his sons, heirs of G.o.d, and joint-heirs with Christ;--joint-heirs with Christ! In what? Who can tell? But what an inheritance of glory and bliss that must be, which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is to inherit with us--an inheritance such as eye hath not seen, and incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, preserved in heaven for us; an inheritance of all that is wise, loving, n.o.ble, holy, peaceful--all that can make us happy, all that can make us like G.o.d Himself. Oh, what can we expect, if we neglect so great salvation? What can we expect, if when the Great G.o.d of heaven and earth tells us that we are His children, we turn away and fall down, become like the brutes, and the savages, or worse, like the evil spirits who rebel against G.o.d, instead of growing up to become the sons of G.o.d, perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect? May He keep us all from that great sin! May He awaken each and every one of you to know the glory and honour which Jesus Christ brought for you when He was born at Bethlehem--the glory and honour which was proclaimed to belong to you when you were christened at that font! May He awaken you to know that you are the sons of G.o.d, and to look up to Him with loving, trustful, obedient souls, saying from your hearts, morning and night 'Our Father which art in heaven,' and feeling that those words give you daily strength to conquer your sins, and feel a.s.surance of hope that your Heavenly Father will help and prosper you, His family, every time you struggle to obey His commandments, and follow the example of His perfect and spotless Son, Jesus Christ the Lord!

SERMON XVII. DEATH IN LIFE