The Good News of God Part 11

All the blessings and comforts of this life, my friends (as well as the anxieties which must come to those who have a family, or property, even if he do not meet with losses and afflictions), ought to help to improve a man's temper, to call out in him right feelings, to teach him more and more of the likeness of G.o.d.

If he be a married man, marriage ought to teach him not to live for himself only, but to sacrifice his own fancies, his own ease, his own will, for the sake of the woman whom G.o.d has given him; as Christ sacrificed himself, and his own life, for mankind. And so, by the feelings of a husband, he may enter into the mystery of the love of Christ, and of the cross of Christ; and so, if only he be pure in heart, he will see G.o.d.

If he have parents, he may learn by being a son how blessed it is to obey, how useful to a man's character to submit: ay, he will find out more still. He will find out that not by being self-willed and independent does the finest and n.o.blest parts of his character come out, but by copying his Father in everything; that going where his Father sends him; being jealous of his Father's honour; doing not his own will, but his Father's; that all this, I say, is its own reward; for instead of lowering a man, it raises him, and calls out in him all that is purest, tenderest, soberest, bravest. I tell you this day--Just as far as you are good sons to your parents, so far will you be able to understand the mystery of the co-equal and co-eternal Son of G.o.d; who though he were in the form of G.o.d, did not s.n.a.t.c.h greedily at being on the same footing with his Father, but emptied himself, and took on him the form of a slave, that he might do his Father's will, and reveal his Father's glory. And so, if you be only pure in heart, you will see G.o.d.

If, again, a man have children--how they ought to teach him, to train him;--teach him to restrain his own temper, lest he provoke them to anger; to be calm and moderate with them, lest he frighten them into lying; to avoid bad language, gluttony, drunkenness, and every coa.r.s.e sin, lest he tempt them to follow his example. I tell you, friends, that you will find, if you choose, all the n.o.blest, most generous, most G.o.dlike parts of your character called out to your children; and by having the feelings of a father to your children, learn what feelings our Father in heaven has toward us, his human offspring.

And so, if only you be pure in heart, you will see G.o.d.

If again, a man has money, money can teach him (as it teaches hundreds of pure-hearted men) that charity and generosity are not only a duty, but an honour and a joy; that 'mercy is twice blest; it blesses him that gives, and him that takes;' that giving is the highest pleasure upon earth, because it is G.o.d's own pleasure; because the blessedness of G.o.d, and the glory of G.o.d is this, that he giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not. And so in his wealth-- if only he be pure in heart, a man will see G.o.d.

If, again, a man has health, and strength, and high spirits, they too will teach him, if his heart be pure. He will learn from them to look up to G.o.d as the Lord and Giver of life, health, strength; of the power to work, and the power to delight in working: because G.o.d himself is ever full of life, ever busy, ever rejoicing to put forth his almighty power for the good of the whole universe, as it is written, 'My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.' And so--in every relation of life--if only a man's heart be pure, he will see G.o.d.

How, then, can we get the pure heart which will make all things pure to us? By asking for the Spirit of G.o.d, the Holy Spirit, the Pure Spirit, in whom is no selfishness.

For if our hearts be selfish, they cannot be pure. The pure in heart, is the same as the man whose eye is single, and that is the man who is not caring for himself, thinking of himself. If a man be thinking of himself, he will never enjoy life. The pure blessings which G.o.d has given him will be no blessings to him; as it is written, 'He that saveth his life shall lose it.'

Do you not know that that is true? Do not the miseries of life (I do not mean the afflictions, like loss of friends or kin), but the miseries of life which make a man dark, and fretful, and prevent his enjoying G.o.d's gifts--do they not come, nineteen-twentieths of them, from thinking about oneself; from l.u.s.ting and longing after this and that; from spite, vanity, bad temper, wounded pride, disappointed covetousness? 'I cannot get this or that; that money, that place; this or that fine thing or the other: and how can I be contented?'

There is a man whose heart is not pure. 'That man has used me ill, and I cannot help thinking of it, brooding over it. I cannot forgive him. How can I be expected to forgive him?' There is a man whose heart is not pure; and more, there is a man who is making himself miserable.

See again, how a man may make marriage a curse to him instead of a blessing, without being unfaithful to his wife (which we all know to be simply abominable and unmanly, and far below anything of which I am talking now). And how? Simply by bad temper, vanity, greediness, and selfish love of his own dignity, his own pleasure, his own this, that, and the other. So, too, he may make his children a torment to him, instead of letting them be G.o.d's lesson-book to him, in which he may see the likeness of the angels in heaven.

He may make his wealth a continual anxiety to him: ay, he may make it, by ambition, covetousness, and wild speculation, the cause of his shame and ruin; if only his heart be not pure.

Ay, there is not a blessing on earth which a man may not turn into a curse. There is not a good gift of G.o.d out of which a man may not get harm, if only his heart be not pure; as it is written, 'To those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure: but even their mind and conscience are defiled.'

But defiled with what? Fouled with what? There is the question.

Many answers have been invented by people who did not believe in that faithful and true G.o.d of whom I told you just now; people who fancied that this world was a bad world, and that G.o.d laid snares for his creatures and tempted his creatures. But the true answer is only to be got, like most true answers, by observing; by using our eyes and ears, and seeing what really makes people turn blessings into curses, and suck poison out of every flower.

And that is, simply, self.

If you want to spoil all that G.o.d gives you; if you want to be miserable yourself, and a maker of misery to others, the way is easy enough. Only be selfish, and it is done at once. Be defiled and unbelieving. Defile and foul G.o.d's good gifts by self, and by loving yourself more than what is right. Do not believe that the good G.o.d knows your needs before you ask, and will give you whatsoever is good for you. Think about yourself; about what YOU want, what YOU like, what respect people ought to pay YOU, what people think of YOU: and then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything you touch; you will make sin and misery for yourself out of everything which G.o.d sends you; you will be as wretched as you choose on earth, or in heaven either.

In heaven either, I say. For that proud, greedy, selfish, self- seeking spirit would turn heaven into h.e.l.l. It did turn heaven into h.e.l.l, for the great devil himself. It was by pride, by seeking his own glory--(so, at least, wise men say)--that he fell from heaven to h.e.l.l. He was not content to give up his own will and do G.o.d's will, like the other angels. He was not content to serve G.o.d, and rejoice in G.o.d's glory. He would be a master himself, and set up for himself, and rejoice in his own glory; and so, when he wanted to make a private heaven of his own, he found that he had made a h.e.l.l. When he wanted to be a little G.o.d for himself, he lost the life of the true G.o.d, to lose which is eternal death. And why? Because his heart was not pure, clean, honest, simple, unselfish. Therefore he saw G.o.d no more, and learnt to hate him whose name is love.

May G.o.d keep our hearts pure from that selfishness which is the root of all sin; from selfishness, out of which alone spring adultery, foul living, drunkenness, evil speaking, lying, slandering, injustice, oppression, cruelty, and all which makes man worse than the beasts. May G.o.d give us those pure hearts of which it is written, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long- suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Against such, St. Paul says, there is no law. And why? Because no law is needed.

For, as a wise father says--'Love, and do what thou wilt;' for then thou wilt be sure to will what is right; and, as St. Paul says, If your heart be pure, all things will be pure to you.

SERMON XVII. MUSIC (Christmas Day.)

LUKE ii. 13, 14.

And suddenly there was with the angel a mult.i.tude of the heavenly host, praising G.o.d, and saying, Glory to G.o.d in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

You have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the first Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Peace on earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often told you. To-day I want you, for once, to think of this--that it was a hymn; that these angels were singing, even as human beings sing.

Music.--There is something very wonderful in music. Words are wonderful enough: but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts as words do: it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the very core and root of our souls. Music soothes us, stirs us up; it puts n.o.ble feelings into us; it melts us to tears, we know not how:- it is a language by itself, just as perfect, in its way, as speech, as words; just as divine, just as blessed.

Music has been called the speech of angels; I will go further, and call it the speech of G.o.d himself--and I will, with G.o.d's help, show you a little what I mean this Christmas day.

Music, I say, without words, is wonderful and blessed; one of G.o.d's best gifts to men. But in singing you have both the wonders together, music and words. Singing speaks at once to the head and to the heart, to our understanding and to our feelings; and therefore, perhaps, the most beautiful way in which the reasonable soul of man can show itself (except, of course, doing RIGHT, which always is, and always will be, the most beautiful thing) is singing.

Now, why do we all enjoy music? Because it sounds sweet. But WHY does it sound sweet?

That is a mystery known only to G.o.d.

Two things I may make you understand--two things which help to make music--melody and harmony. Now, as most of you know, there is melody in music when the different sounds of the same tune follow each other, so as to give us pleasure; there is harmony in music when different sounds, instead of following each other, come at the same time, so as to give us pleasure.

But why do they please us? and what is more, why do they please angels? and more still, why do they please G.o.d? Why is there music in heaven? Consider St. John's visions in the Revelations. Why did St. John hear therein harpers with their harps, and the mystic beasts, and the elders, singing a new song to G.o.d and to the Lamb; and the voices of many angels round about them, whose number was ten thousand times ten thousand?

In this is a great mystery. I will try to explain what little of it I seem to see.

First--There is music in heaven, because in music there is no self- will. Music goes on certain laws and rules. Man did not make those laws of music; he has only found them out: and if he be self-willed and break them, there is an end of his music instantly; all he brings out is discord and ugly sounds. The greatest musician in the world is as much bound by those laws as the learner in the school; and the greatest musician is the one who, instead of fancying that, because he is clever, he may throw aside the laws of music, knows the laws of music best, and observes them most reverently. And therefore it was that the old Greeks, the wisest of all the heathens, made a point of teaching their children MUSIC; because, they said, it taught them not to be self-willed and fanciful, but to see the beauty of order, the usefulness of rule, the divineness of law.

And therefore music is fit for heaven; therefore music is a pattern and type of heaven, and of the everlasting life of G.o.d, which perfect spirits live in heaven; a life of melody and order in themselves; a life of harmony with each other and with G.o.d. Music, I say, is a pattern of the everlasting life of heaven; because in heaven, as in music, is perfect freedom and perfect pleasure; and yet that freedom comes not from throwing away law, but from obeying G.o.d's law perfectly; and that pleasure comes, not from self-will, and doing each what he likes, but from perfectly doing the will of the Father who is in heaven.

And that in itself would be sweet music, even if there were neither voice nor sound in heaven. For wherever there is order and obedience, there is sweet music for the ears of Christ. Whatsoever does its duty, according to its kind which Christ has given it, makes melody in the ears of Christ. Whatsoever is useful to the things around it, makes harmony in the ears of Christ. Therefore those wise old Greeks used to talk of the music of the spheres. They said that sun, moon, and stars, going round each in its appointed path, made as they rolled along across the heavens everlasting music before the throne of G.o.d. And so, too, the old Psalms say. Do you not recollect that n.o.ble verse, which speaks of the stars of heaven, and says -

What though no human voice or sound Amid their radiant orbs be found?

To Reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice; For ever singing as they shine, The hand that made us is divine.

And therefore it is, that that n.o.ble Song of the Three Children calls upon sun and moon, and stars of heaven, to bless the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever: and not only upon them, but on the smallest things on earth;--on mountains and hills, green herbs and springs, cattle and feathered fowl; they too, he says, can bless the Lord, and magnify him for ever. And how? By fulfilling the law which G.o.d has given them; and by living each after their kind, according to the wisdom wherewith Christ the Word of G.o.d created them, when he beheld all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

And so can we, my friends; so can we. Some of us may not be able to make music with our voices: but we can make it with our hearts, and join in the angels' song this day, if not with our lips, yet in our lives.

If thou fulfillest the law which G.o.d has given thee, the law of love and liberty, then thou makest music before G.o.d, and thy life is a hymn of praise to G.o.d.

If thou art in love and charity with thy neighbours, thou art making sweeter harmony in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music.

If thou art living a righteous and a useful life, doing thy duty orderly and cheerfully where G.o.d has put thee, then thou art making sweeter melody in the ears of the Lord Jesus Christ, than if thou hadst the throat of a nightingale; for then thou in thy humble place art humbly copying the everlasting harmony and melody which is in heaven; the everlasting harmony and melody by which G.o.d made the world and all that therein is, and behold it was very good, in the day when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of G.o.d shouted for joy over the new-created earth, which G.o.d had made to be a pattern of his own perfection.

For this is that mystery of which I spoke just now, when I said that music was as it were the voice of G.o.d himself. Yes, I say it with all reverence: but I do say it. There is music in G.o.d. Not the music of voice or sound; a music which no ears can hear, but only the spirit of a man, when awakened by the Holy Spirit, and taught to know G.o.d, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

There is one everlasting melody in heaven, which Christ, the Word of G.o.d, makes for ever, when he does all things perfectly and wisely, and righteously and gloriously, full of grace and truth: and from that all melody comes, and is a dim pattern thereof here; and is beautiful only because it is a dim pattern thereof.

And there is an everlasting harmony in G.o.d; which is the harmony between the Father and the Son; who though he be co-equal and co- eternal with his Father, does nothing of himself, but only what he seeth his Father do; saying for ever, 'Not my will, but thine be done,' and hears his Father answer for ever, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.'

Therefore, all melody and all harmony upon earth, whether in the song of birds, the whisper of the wind, the concourse of voices, or the sounds of those cunning instruments which man has learnt to create, because he is made in the image of Christ, the Word of G.o.d, who creates all things; all music upon earth, I say, is beautiful in as far as it is a pattern and type of the everlasting music which is in heaven; which was before all worlds, and shall be after them; for by its rules all worlds were made, and will be made for ever, even the everlasting melody of the wise and loving will of G.o.d, and the everlasting harmony of the Father toward the Son, and of the Son toward the Father, in one Holy Spirit who proceeds from them both, to give melody and harmony, order and beauty, life and light, to all which G.o.d has made.

Therefore music is a sacred, a divine, a G.o.dlike thing, and was given to man by Christ to lift our hearts up to G.o.d, and make us feel something of the glory and beauty of G.o.d and of all which G.o.d has made.

Therefore, too, music is most fit for Christmas day, of all days in the year. Christmas has always been a day of songs, of carols and of hymns; and so let it be for ever. If we had no music all the rest of the year in church or out of church, let us have it at least on Christmas day.

For on Christmas day most of all days (if I may talk of eternal things according to the laws of time) was manifested on earth the everlasting music which is in heaven.