The Village Pulpit Part 3

King David, when firmly established on his throne, began to look about him to see who had been kind to him in his day of adversity, and to reward, or thank them. He showed his grat.i.tude to the memory of his friend Jonathan by investing his son Mephibosheth with his grandfather's property. Then he remembered that Nahash the King of Ammon had shown him hospitality, and he heard also that he was just dead. So David said, "I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me." And David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father.

The message was kindly intended. David wished to show that he was not forgetful of past favours, that he was ready to make a lasting friendship with Hanun, and he desired to exhibit his sympathy with the son for the loss of his father. These were the three motives actuating David, all good. Now, how did Hanun act? One would naturally suppose that he would appreciate these motives, and that he would be glad, when scarce settled on his throne, to secure the powerful friendship of King David. No!--he was young, insolent, inconsiderate, and fond of practical joking,--a vulgar-minded fellow, puffed up with conceit at his elevation to power. Hanun took the servants, the amba.s.sadors of David, and shaved off half their beards, and cut off the lower half of all their clothes, and sent them back to David. And when it was told unto David that his messengers had been thus ignominiously treated, "he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed, and said, Tarry at Jericho, until your beards be grown, and then return." As soon as Hanun and his Ammonites had done this, what was their next step?--As perhaps you are aware, by the laws of civilized and uncivilized people, the persons of amba.s.sadors are held to be sacred.

Therefore Hanun had not only done an insolent, and utterly blackguard trick, but he had gone against one of the first laws of nations. What he ought to have done, was at once to send to David a most humble apology, with an acknowledgment that he had acted wrongly. But he was too proud for this. He would not admit that he had erred. He at once sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand foot soldiers, and of King Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men, so that this malicious trick began to shew that it was an expensive one. Then David's army drew up in array against this army of Ammon and their hired allies, and at once, all the mercenaries ran away. So then there was nothing for it but for the Ammonites to return as quickly as possible within the walls of their city. Now, what should Hanun have done? It was clear that David was not eager to punish him, for he had not even sent his army against Ammon till Hanun had collected the great host against him, and as soon as the Ammonites, deserted by their auxiliaries, had retired within their walls, the army of David had not pressed them, but gone quietly back to Jerusalem. What then ought Hanun to have done? Of course, he should now have sent his apology, and said how wrongly he had acted, how ashamed of himself he was, and how desirous he was to have the past forgotten. But no, having done wrong once, his pride would not let him acknowledge it, and he went on. He now engaged Hadarezar, King of the Syrians, and this time there was a great battle, and David slew of the Syrians seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand hors.e.m.e.n, and smote the captain of their host, so that he was left dead on the field, and all the Syrians who could escape ran away for their lives. Then Hadarezer had had quite enough of fighting against Israel, and he made peace with David, and "So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more." Now the Ammonites were left completely without auxiliaries. What chance was there for them? Still David did not press them. A whole year pa.s.sed, and he made no move. He was waiting for an apology. But no. That headstrong Hanun was still too proud to make it. He would die with all his people rather than say he had done wrong. So, at the end of a year, David sent his army against the Ammonites, and destroyed them utterly. He killed Hanun, and took away his crown, and plundered his capital town, and ruined all his cities.

That was the end of one practical joke unapologised for.

II. In the Gospel for to-day, our Lord warns against the same hard-headedness in persisting in refusing an apology, and to make up friendship that has been broken. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." He urges Christians when they have done an injury to any, frankly to confess it, to put their pride in their pocket, and to ask forgiveness.

It is not an easy thing to do, to acknowledge that you have done wrong, but there is more true courage in doing so, than in persevering in spite of the consequences, in wrong doing. Many a lasting and miserable quarrel has arisen because at the outset one little word has not been said, which would have made all things smooth. Two families become estranged and bitterly hostile, because some one has reported to the mother in one, that the mother in the other had made a disparaging remark about her. A little word, and all would be explained, and set to rights. "Let not the sun go down on your wrath," says the Apostle, and an excellent piece of advice this is:--Make up all quarrels the same day that they break out.

There was a good old bishop of Alexandria called John the Almsgiver, and he and the Governor of the city were great friends. Something occurred which made a breach between them. If I remember aright, it was this. The bishop was very charitable, and was always urging the rich people to give to the poor, and they were constantly sending him money to distribute among the sick and needy. Now at this time the Governor had experienced some difficulty in raising the taxes, and this ruffled his temper. He was on a visit to the Bishop, when he saw on the stairs a number of servants of a rich lady bringing up, as a present to the bishop some pots, labelled "Virgin Honey." The Governor said he did not believe they were pots of honey, but pots of gold, and when the bishop offered to open them and let him see for himself, he dashed out of the door in a rage, and said, "No wonder I can't get money in taxes when you swindle it out of the people, to feed the beggars on honey." When the Governor was gone, the old Bishop was very troubled, and he sat in his room all the rest of the day, waiting for the Governor to come and make it up with him. But no! the Governor was fuming with anger and would do no such thing. That evening the Governor had a party, and as he was sitting at table with the guests, a little sc.r.a.p of paper was put on his plate, a servant of the Bishop had brought it. The Governor took it up and saw, "Dear old Friend--THE SUN IS SETTING." Then his heart relented, he excused himself to his guests, and ran to the house of the Bishop, and they fell into one another's arms and made friends again.

CONCLUSION.--Now remember this story. Whenever you have a quarrel with another, let not the sun go down on your wrath. Make it up before set of sun.

XLIV.

THE MEASURE OF SIN.

7th Sunday after Trinity.

S. Mark viii. 2.

"I have compa.s.sion on the mult.i.tude."

INTRODUCTION.--In to-day's Gospel we see the tender compa.s.sion of our Lord for those who came into the wilderness to hear Him. This is only one example out of many of His great love and mercy: and indeed "His mercy is over all His works." "Thou, O Lord," says David, "art full of compa.s.sion and mercy, long-suffering and truth." This is a verity of which we are so convinced that it is quite possible we may overlook the other truth, that His mercy, though unlimited in extent, is limited in its application. His mercy is extended for a definite purpose, and when it ceases to avail for this purpose, then it ceases to flow. What that purpose is, S. Paul tells us. "Knowest thou not," he says, "that the goodness of G.o.d leadeth thee to repentance." That is, G.o.d is merciful that we may amend, not in order that we may continue in sin.

Now, if men thought that when they had fallen into grievous sin there was no more a hope of recovery, then they would sink into despair, and become hard and impenitent. But that this may not be the case, G.o.d a.s.sures us of His mercy, but he a.s.sures us of His mercy only to insure our amendment.

SUBJECT.--It seems plain from Holy Scripture that to each man there is a fixed measure of sin, and that if he fills that measure, after that there is no place for repentance, and no more pardon. This is a very terrible truth,--but a truth it is, as I shall show you.

I. There was a nation of Canaan called the Amorites, and G.o.d promised to Abraham that He would give their land to his descendants, but that He could not give it yet without injustice. The land was in the possession of the Amorites, a people on their trial, and till the day of their probation was expired, their kingdom could not be taken from them. "In the fourth generation," G.o.d said, "thy seed shall come hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Now actually it was not till four hundred and seventy years later that the destruction of the Amorites was accomplished. Four generations after Abraham, that is some two hundred and forty years after, the measure of their iniquities was full, and yet they existed on till Joshua crossed Jordan with the Israelites, and then they were all put to the sword.

In the New Testament we hear the Jews addressed as though they also had a measure of sin they must fill up before G.o.d would forsake them. Our Lord says to them, "Ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the d.a.m.nation of h.e.l.l?

Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise-men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify: and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." The Jewish nation had done great wickedness, but the measure of their iniquities was not full till they had rejected Christ, and had refused to listen to His Apostles, and the Holy Ghost speaking through their mouths.

Till then He would not cast them off entirely.

II. David prays to G.o.d, "Lord, let me know the number of my days, that I may be certified how long I have to live." No doubt, G.o.d has fixed for all men a certain length of life. No doubt also He has set for each a certain limit of forbearance; a line, an invisible line drawn somewhere, and He says to man, Thus far mayest thou go, and I will still be merciful and pardon, but no further. Transgress that line, and I forgive no more. My Spirit will not always strive with man.

In those cases which I have quoted to you, G.o.d is dealing with nations, but He deals with individuals in the same way. His laws are uniform; as He deals with an a.s.semblage of people, so He deals with single individuals. If He fixes a bound to nations, beyond which they cannot go without His forsaking them, it is because there is the law, which is of general application to all human beings; a law applying to single persons, and to persons in the aggregate.

In the Prophet Amos we read a message from G.o.d to Judah, "Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof." This means, if I mistake not, Judah has committed some two or three gross sins, and I was ready to turn away the punishment, had there been a sign of repentance, but when to the three they added a fourth, then it was too late. The time of repentance was past, and the punishment threatened must fall.

And now perhaps you can understand a saying of S. John in his first Epistle. He says:--"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it." S. John is not speaking here of what we call mortal sins, but of mortal sins continued till the measure is filled up, and when the last sin has been added which completes the measure, that is the sin unto death, which it avails nothing to pray for, for that sin ends in death. Before, there was life, spiritual life, perhaps flickering, but extant, then comes the last sin, and the life is gone out, all is dark, and dead, and cold, no more fanning of the black ashes is of any avail, the fire is out and cannot be revived.

III. How does G.o.d deal with those who have gone beyond this measure?

In one of two ways. Either:--

1. There comes a sudden call,--a sudden death-sickness or accident cuts them off. Or:--

2. Dead impenitence settles over the soul, which no longer wishes for anything better, which feels no desire for pardon.

Of the first case, we have instances in Scripture. King Belshazzar had committed many transgressions, he was weighed in the balances, but still found wanting in the final and irreversible act of wickedness, till that night when he brought out the sacred vessels used in the temple to drink out of them at his riotous banquet in his palace. That act of sacrilege was the one sin which weighed down the balance. What says the sacred text? "In that night was Belshazzar the King of the Chaldeans slain." I may instance also Judas, who having for long been a thief, added to his former sins the one last and terrible sin of selling his Master, and then a fit of madness came over him in which he hung himself.

But sometimes hardness and impenitence is the result. The conscience is dead, and, to use S. Paul's words, "there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."

CONCLUSION.--Let us, therefore, be very cautious of adding sin to sin, that grace may abound, but rather fly from it as from the face of a serpent. We know not what is the number of our days determined by G.o.d, and we know not what is the number of our sins beyond which there is no forgiveness.

XLV.

_CASTING BLAME._

8th Sunday after Trinity.

S. Matt. vii. 15.

"Inwardly they are ravening wolves."

INTRODUCTION.--A Schoolmaster finds one day that several of his scholars are playing truant. The morning pa.s.ses and they do not arrive. At last, in the afternoon, the truants turn up. The master has a strong suspicion where they have been: however, he asks, "Why were you not at school this morning?" "Please, sir, mother kept me at home to mind the baby." "Indeed--let me look at your mouth." He opens the mouth, and finds it black inside. "Ah! I thought as much, rambling in the woods, picking and eating whortleberries." So with the others, they make their excuses, but he looks into their mouths, and the black colour betrays them.

Now, my friends, I am almost afraid to look in your mouths, lest I should see them black, not with whortleberries, but with something much sweeter, blame and fault-finding. You are, I suspect, all of you nearly fond of abusing your neighbours, of finding fault, of telling unkind things of them, of blackening their good names.

SUBJECT.--I am going to take as my subject to-day the Casting of Blame.

I. "Be ye merciful," said our Lord, "even as your Father which is in heaven is merciful." He did not mean only in our dealings with others, to be merciful to their bodies, and merciful in not exacting debts, and merciful in not punishing neglect, and so forth, but He meant also that we were to be merciful with their characters. We are not to be ready to impute evil, not ready to cast blame, not ready to believe hard things of others and retail them to our neighbours, but to be very slow to suspect evil, very slow to charge it on others, and exceedingly slow to say what is evil of others.

"Charity," says S. Paul, "is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

It seems to me, that charity is the exact reverse of this fault-finding, blame-imputing character. "Charity thinketh no evil,"

but how is it with you? Do you not always suspect that the motives of people are bad, do you not always think people are worse than they really are? "Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity." Ha! there is a bit of scandal, something very bad has come out about So and so. What a running about from house to house! the village is like a hive of bees swarming. Do you mean to tell me it is not a delight, a joy to you, to have this little bit of iniquity to talk about? I know better.

"Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity," but charity is not to be found in that t.i.ttle-tattling, excited crowd of talkers. "Charity believeth all things"--will, that is, believe and trust, as long as it is possible, that people are not so bad after all, that the stories told are not true, and "Charity hopeth all things," hopes even against hope that it is so.

O! what a blessed thing is charity! S. Paul said he would rather have that, than be able to speak with tongues, and to prophesy; he would rather have that than work miracles. It is a better thing even to have that than Faith. But, alas! if it be such a good thing, it is also a very rare one.

II. How very often we cast blame when there is no cause, and are therefore guilty of serious injustice.

I was one day walking in the street of a little town, when a poor inoffensive dog pa.s.sed me. He went quietly along without a thought of doing anyone an injury, when he happened to pa.s.s a knot of boys just come out of school. At once one of the urchins took up a stone and threw it at him, the others clapped their hands, and hooted after him, "Hit him! Knock him over! Mad dog!" Away ran the unhappy cur, and all the boys yelling after him, throwing dirt, and striking at him with sticks. What next? Everyone in the street ran to the door, and saw the brute tearing down the way, with his tail between his legs. Then out of every door rushed all the house-dogs, the butcher's dog, and the coach-dog, and even the little lap-dog jumped up, and ran down stairs, and out of the door, to join in the barking, and away went all the dogs of the place after the poor wretch. There was a tumult! And the people in their doors and at their windows shouted, and one said, "Kill him! he is mad!" and another, "He has bitten a woman!" and another, "He has stolen some meat!" and another, "He has knocked over a child!"

Now all this arose from one boy throwing a stone at a harmless dog.

And all the things said about the dog were untrue. The proverb was verified, "Give a dog a bad name, and you may hang him."

Is not this very much like what takes place among men? Someone throws blame on a poor harmless person for no cause in the world but out of sheer malevolence, or love of mischief, and at once others join in.

Everyone has something to say, everyone joins in the general abuse. No lack of blame. No lack of unkind things said. And--all untrue, all unjust!

I do not mean to say that when a person has done what is wrong we are not to speak of it at all; but what I do say is, that we should be very careful indeed not to cast blame till we are quite sure that we are justified in doing so. "As for this way, we know that it is everywhere spoken against," was what was said of Christianity. All sorts of bad, lying things were said of the early Christians, that they killed and ate children, that they practised horrible idolatries: the stories were not true, but they were believed, simply because everyone said these things were done.