Twenty-Five Village Sermons Part 7

But how does a tree grow? How are our souls to grow? Now here, again, we shall understand heavenly things best by taking and considering the pattern from among earthly things which the Bible gives us--the tree, I mean. A tree grows in two ways. Its roots take up food from the ground, its leaves take up food from the air.

Its roots are its mouth, we may say, and its leaves are its lungs.

Thus the tree draws nourishment from the earth beneath and from the heaven above; and so must our souls, my friends, if they are to live and grow, they must have food both from earth and from heaven. And this is what I mean--Why has G.o.d given us senses, eyes, and ears, and understanding? That by them we may feed our souls with things which we see and hear, things which are going on in the world round us. We must read, and we must listen, and we must watch people and their sayings and doings, and what becomes of them, and we must try and act, and practise what is right for ourselves; and so we shall, by using our eyes and ears and our bodies, get practice, and experience, and knowledge, from the world round us--such as Solomon gives us in his Proverbs--and so our eyes, and ears, and understandings, are to be to us like roots, by which we may feed our souls with earthly learning and experience. But is this enough?

No, surely. Consider, again, G.o.d's example which He has given us--a tree. If you keep stripping all the leaves off a tree, as fast as they grow, what becomes of it? It dies, because without leaves it cannot get nourishment from the air, and the rain, and the sunlight.

Again, if you shut up a tree where it can get neither rain, air, nor light, what happens? the tree certainly dies, though it may be planted in the very richest soil, and have the very strongest roots; and why? because it can get no food from the sky above. So with our souls, my friends. If we get no food from above, our souls will die, though we have all the wit, and learning, and experience, in the world. We must be fed, and strengthened, and satisfied, with the grace of G.o.d from above--with the Spirit of G.o.d. Consider how the Bible speaks of G.o.d's Spirit as the breath of G.o.d; for the very word SPIRIT means, originally, breath, or air, or gas, or a breeze of wind, shewing us that as without the airs of heaven the tree would become stunted and cankered, so our souls will without the fresh, purifying breath of G.o.d's Spirit. Again, G.o.d's Spirit is often spoken of in Scripture as dew and rain. His grace or favour, we read, is as dew on the gra.s.s; and again, that G.o.d shall come unto us as the rain, as the first and latter rain upon the earth; and again, speaking of the outpourings of G.o.d's Spirit on His Church, the Psalmist says that "He shall come down as the rain upon the mown gra.s.s, as showers that water the earth;" and to shew us that as the tree puts forth buds, and leaves, and tender wood, when it drinks in the dew and rains, so our hearts will become tender, and bud out into good thoughts and wise resolves, when G.o.d's Spirit fills them with His grace.

But again; the Scripture tells us again and again that our souls want light from above; and we all know by experience that the trees and plants which grow on earth want the light of the sun to make them grow. So, doubtless, here again the Scripture example of a tree will hold good. Now what does the sunlight do for the tree?

It does every thing, for without light, the soil, and air, and rain, are all useless. It stirs up the sap, it hardens the wood, it brings out the blossom, it colours the leaves and the flowers, it ripens the fruit. The light is the life of the tree;--and is there not one, my friends, of whom these words are written--that He is the Life, and that He is the Light--that He is the Sun of Righteousness and the bright and morning Star--that He is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world--that in Him was life, and the life was the light of men? Do you not know of whom I speak? Even of Him that was born at Bethlehem and died on the cross, who now sits at G.o.d's right hand, praying for us, offering to us His body and His blood;--Jesus the Son of G.o.d, He is the Light and the Life.

From Him alone our light must come, from Him alone our life must come, now and for ever. Oh, think seriously of this--and think, too, how a short time before He died on earth He spoke of Himself as the Bread of life--the living Bread which comes down from heaven; how He declared to men, that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood, they have no life in them. And, lastly, consider this, how the same night that He was betrayed, He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me." And how, likewise, He took the cup, and when He had blessed it, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink ye all of this, for this is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins; this do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." Oh, consider these words, my friends--to you all and every one they were spoken. "Drink ye ALL of this," said the Blessed One; and will you refuse to drink it? He offers you the bread of life, the sign and the pledge of His body, which shall feed your souls with everlasting strength and life; and will you refuse what the Son of G.o.d offers you, what He bought for you with His death? G.o.d forbid, my friends!

This is your blessed right and privilege--the right and the privilege of every one of you--to come freely and boldly to that holy table, and there to remember your Saviour. At that table to confess your Saviour before men--at that table to shew that you really believe that Jesus Christ died for you--at that table to claim your share in the strength of His body, in the pardon of His blood, which cleanses from all sin--and at that table to receive what you claim, to receive at that table the wine, as a sign from Christ Himself, that His blood has washed away your sins; and the bread, as a sign that His body and His spirit are really feeding your spirits, that your souls are strengthened and refreshed by the body and blood of Christ, as your bodies are with the bread and wine. I have shewn you that your souls must be fed from heaven,-- that the Lord's Supper is a sign to you that they ARE fed from heaven. You pray to G.o.d, I hope, many of you, that He would give you His Holy Spirit, that He would change, and renew, and strengthen your souls--you pray G.o.d to do this, I hope--Well, then, there is the answer to your prayers. There your souls WILL be renewed and strengthened--there you will claim your share in Christ, who alone can renew and strengthen them. The bread which is there broken is the communion, the sharing, of the body of Christ; the cup which is there blessed is the communion of the blood of Christ: to that heavenly treat, to that spiritual food of your souls, Jesus Himself invites you, He who is the life of men. Do not let it be said at the last day of any one of you, that when the Son of G.o.d Himself invites you, you would not come to Him that you might have life.

SERMON XIX. MAN'S WORKING DAY

JOHN, xi. 9, 10.

"Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."

This was our blessed Lord's answer to His disciples when they said to Him, "Master, the Jews of late tried to stone Thee, and goest Thou among them again?" And "Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."

Now, at first sight, one does not see what this has to do with the disciples' question--it seems no answer at all to it. But we must remember who it was who gave that answer. The Son of G.o.d, from whom all words come, who came to do good, and only good, every minute of His life. And, therefore, we may be sure that He never threw away a single word. And we must remember, too, to whom He spoke--to His disciples, whom He was training to be apostles to the whole world, teaching them in every thing some deep lesson, to fit them for their glorious calling, as preachers of the good news of His coming. So we may be sure that He would never put off any question of theirs; we may be certain, that whatever they asked Him, He would give them the best possible answer; not, perhaps, just the answer for which they wished, but the answer which would teach them most. Therefore I say, we must believe that there is some deep, wonderful lesson in this text--that it is the very best and fullest answer which our Lord could have made to His disciples when they asked Him why He was going again to Judea, where He stood in danger of His life.

Let us think a little about this text in faith, that is, sure that there is a deep, blessed meaning in it, if we can but find it out.

Let us take it piece by piece; we shall never get to the bottom of it, of course, but we may get deep enough into it to set us thinking a little between now and next Sunday.

"Are there not twelve hours in the day?" said our Lord. We know there are, and we know, too, that if any man walks in the day, and keeps his eyes open, he does not stumble, because he has the light of this world to guide him. Twelve hours for business, and twelve for food, and sleep, and rest, is our rule for working men, or, indeed, not our rule, but G.o.d's. He has set the sun for the light of this world, to rule the day, to settle for us how long we are to work. In this country days vary. In summer they are more than twelve hours, and then men work early and late; but that is made up to us by winter, when the days are less than twelve hours, and men work short time. In the very cold countries again, far away in the frozen north, the sun never sets all the summer, and never rises all the winter, and there is six months day and six months night.

Wonderful! But even there G.o.d has fitted the land and men's lives to that strange climate, and they can gather in enough meat in the summer to keep them all the winter, that they may be able to spend the long six months' night of winter warm in their houses, sleeping and resting, with plenty of food. So that even to them there are twelve hours in the day, though their hours are each a fortnight long,--I mean a certain fixed time in which to walk, and do the business which they have to do before the long frozen night comes, wherein no man can work, because the sun, the light of this world, is hid from them below the ice for six whole months. So that our Lord's words hold true of all men, even of those people in the icy north. But in by far the most parts of the world, and especially in the hot countries, where our Lord lived, there are twelve common hours in every day, wherein men may and ought to work.

Now what did our Lord mean by reminding His disciples of this, which they all knew already? He meant this,--that G.o.d His Father had appointed Him a certain work to do, and a certain time to do it in; that though His day was short, only thirty-three years in all, while we have, many of us, seventy years given us, yet that there were twelve hours in His day in which He must work--that G.o.d would take care that He lived out His appointed time, provided He was ready and earnest in doing G.o.d's work in it--and that He MUST work in that time which G.o.d had given Him, whatever came of it, and do His appointed work before the night of death came in which no man can work.

There was a heathen king once, named Philip of Macedon, and a very wise king he was, though he was a heathen, and one of the wisest of his plans was this:--he had a slave, whom he ordered to come in to him every morning of his life, whatever he was doing, and say to him in a loud voice, "Philip, remember that thou must die!"

He was a heathen, but a great many who call themselves Christians are not half so wise as he, for they take all possible care, not to remember that they must die, but to FORGET that they must die; and yet every living man has a servant who, like King Philip's, puts him in mind, whether he likes it or not, that his day will run out at last, and his twelve hours of life be over, and then die he must.

And who is that servant? A man's own body. Lucky if his body is his servant, though--not his MASTER and his tyrant. But still, be that as it may, every finger-ache that one's body has, every cough and cold one's body catches, ought to be to us a warning like King Philip's servant, "Remember that thou must die." Every little pain and illness is a warning, a kindly hint from our Father in heaven, that we are doomed to death; that we have but twelve hours in this short day of life, and that the twelve must end; and that we must get our work done and our accounts settled, and be ready for our long journey, to meet our Father and our King, before the night comes wherein no man can work, but only takes his wages; for them who have done good the wages of life eternal, and for them who have done evil--G.o.d help them! we know what is written--"the wages of sin is death!"

Now, observe next, that those who walk in the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world, and those who walk in the night stumble--they have no light in them. If they are to see, it must be by the help of some light outside themselves, which is not part of themselves, or belonging to themselves at all. We only see by the light which G.o.d has made; when that is gone, our eyes are useless.

So it is with our souls. Our wits, however clever they may be, only understand things by the light which G.o.d throws on those things. He must explain and enlighten all things to us. Without His light--His Spirit, all the wit in the world is as useless as a pair of eyes in a dark night.

Now this earthly world which we do see is an exact picture and pattern of the spiritual, heavenly world which we do not see, as Solomon says in the Proverbs, "The things which are seen are the doubles of the things which are not seen." And as there is a light for us in this earth, which is NOT OURSELVES, namely the sun, so there is a light for us in the spirit-world, which is NOT OURSELVES.

And who is that? The blessed Lord shall answer for Himself. He says, "I am the light of the world;" and St. John bears witness to Him, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." And does not St. Paul say the same thing, when he blessed G.o.d so often for having called him and his congregations out of darkness into that marvellous light? If you read his Epistles you will find what he meant by the darkness, what he meant by the light. The darkness was heathendom, knowing nothing of Christ. The light was Christianity, knowing Christ the light; and, more, being IN the light, belonging to Christ--being joined to Him, as the leaves are to the tree,-- living by trust in Christ, being taught and made true men and true women of, by the n.o.ble and Holy Spirit of Christ--seeing their way through this world by trust in Christ and His promises,--That was light.

And there is no other light. If a man does not work trusting in Christ, whom G.o.d has set for the light of the world, he works in the night, where G.o.d never set or meant him to work; and stumble he will, and make a fool of himself, sooner or later, because he is walking in the night, and sees nothing plainly or in a right view.

For as our Lord says truly, "There is no light in him." No light in him? In one sense there is no light in any one, be he the wisest or holiest man who ever lived. But this is just what three people out of four will not believe. They will not believe that the Spirit of G.o.d gives man understanding. They fancy that they have light in themselves. They try, conceitedly and G.o.dlessly, to walk by the light of their own eyes--to make their own way plain before their face for themselves. They will not believe old David, a man who worked, and fought, and thought, and saw, far more than any one of us will ever do, when he tells them again and again in his Psalms, that the Lord is his light, that the Lord must guide a man, and inform him with His eye, and teach him in the way in which he should go. And, therefore, they will not pray to G.o.d for light--therefore they will not look for light in G.o.d's Word, and in the writings of G.o.dly men; and they are like a man in the broad sunshine, who should choose to shut his eyes close, and say, 'I have light enough in my own head to do without the sun;' and therefore they walk on still in darkness, and all the foundations of the earth are out of course, because men forget the first universal ground rules of common sense, and reason, and love, which G.o.d's Spirit teaches. I tell you, all the mistakes that you ever made--that ever were made since Adam fell, came from this, that men will not ask G.o.d for light and wisdom; they love darkness rather than light, and therefore, though G.o.d's light is ready for every man, shining in the darkness to shew every man his way, yet the darkness will not comprehend it--will not take it in, and let G.o.d change its blindness into day.

Now, then, to gather all together, what better answer could our Lord have given to His disciples' question than this, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day he does not stumble, because he seeth the light of this world; but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."

It was as if He had said, "However short my day of life may be, there are twelve hours in it, of my Father's numbering and measuring, not of mine. My times are in His hand, as long as He pleases I shall live. He has given me a work to do, and He will see that I live long enough to do it. Into His hands I commend my spirit, for, living or dying, He is with me. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He will be with me. He will keep me secretly in His tabernacle from the strife of tongues, and will turn the furiousness of my enemies to His glory; and as my day my strength will be. And I have no fear of running into danger needlessly. I have prayed to Him daily and nightly for light, for His Spirit--the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of prudence and courage; and His word is pledged to keep me in all my ways, so that I dash not my foot against a stone. Know ye not that I must be about my Father's business? While I am about that I am safe. It is only if I go about my own business--my own pleasure; if I forget to ask Him for His light and guidance, that I shall put myself into the night, and stumble and fall."

Well, my friends, what is there in all this, which we may not say as well as our Lord? In this, as in all things, Christ set Himself up as our pattern. Oh, believe it!--believe that your time--your measure of life, is in G.o.d's hand. Believe that He is your light, that He will teach and guide you into all truth, and that all your mistakes come from not asking counsel of Him in prayer, and thought, and reading of His Holy Bible. Believe His blessed promise that He will give His Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Believe, too, that He has given you a work to do--prepared good works all ready for you to walk in. Be you labourer or gentleman, maid, wife, or widow, G.o.d has given you a work to do; there is good to be done lying all round you, ready for you. And the blessed Jesus who bought you, body and soul, with His own blood, commands you to work for Him: "Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might."

"Work ye manful while ye may, Work for G.o.d in this your day; Night must stop you, rich or poor, G.o.dly deeds alone endure."

And then, whether you live or die, your Father's smile will be on you, and His everlasting arms beneath you, and at your last hour you shall find that "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labour, and their works do follow them."

SERMON XX. a.s.sOCIATION

GALATIANS, vi. 2.

"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

If I were to ask you, my friends, why you were met together here to- day, you would tell me, I suppose, that you were come to church as members of a benefit club; and quite right you are in coming here as such, and G.o.d grant that we may meet together here on this same errand many more Whit-mondays. But this would be no answer to my question; I wish to know why you come to church to-day sooner than to any other place? what has the church to do with the benefit club?

Now this is a question which I do not think all of you could answer very readily, and therefore I wish to make you, especially the younger members of the club, think a little seriously about the meaning of your coming here to-day. You will be none the less cheerful this evening for having had some deep and G.o.dly thoughts in your heads this morning.

Now these benefit clubs are also called provident societies, and a very good name for them. You become members of them, because you are prudent, or provident, that is, because you are careful, and look forward to a rainy day. But why does not each of you lay up his savings for himself, instead of putting them into a common purse, and so forming a club? Because you have found out, what every one else in the world, but madmen, ought to have found out, that two are better than one; that if a great many men join together in any matter, they are a great deal stronger when working together, than if they each worked just as hard, but each by himself; that the way to be safe is not to stand each of you alone, but to help each other; in short, that there is no getting on without bearing one another's burdens.

Now this plan of bearing one another's burdens is not only good in benefit clubs--it is good in families, in parishes, in nations, in the church of G.o.d, which is the elect of all mankind. Unless men hold together, and help each other, there is no safety for them.

Let us consider what there is bearing on this matter of prudence, that makes one of the greatest differences between a man and a brute beast. It is not that the man is prudent, and the beast is not.

Many beasts have forethought enough; the very sleepmouse h.o.a.rds up acorns against the winter; a fox will hide the game he cannot eat.

No, the great difference between man and beast is, that the beast has forethought only for himself, but the man has forethought for others also; beasts have not reason enough to bear each others'

burdens, as men have. And what is it that makes us call the ant and the bee the wisest of animals, except that they do, in some degree, behave like men, in helping one another, and having some sort of family feeling, and society, and government among them, by which they can help bear each other's burdens? So that we all confess, by calling them wise, how wise it is to help each other. Consider a family, again. In order that a family may be happy and prosperous, all the members of it must bear each other's burdens. If the father only thought of himself, and the mother of herself, and each of the children did nothing but take care of themselves, would not that family come to misery and ruin? But if they all helped each other-- all thought of each other more than of themselves--all were ready to give up their own comfort to make each other comfortable, that family would be peaceful and prosperous, and would be doing a great deal towards fulfilling the law of Christ.

It is just the same in a parish. If the rich help and defend the poor, and the poor respect and love the rich, and are ready to serve them as far as they can,--in short, if all ranks bear each other's burdens, that parish is a happy one, and if they do not, it is a miserable one.

Just the same with a nation. If the king only cares about making himself strong, and the n.o.blemen and gentlemen about their rank and riches, and the poor people, again, only care for themselves, and are trying to pull down the rich, and so get what they can for themselves,--if a country is in this state, what can be more wretched? Neither a house, nor a country, divided against itself, can ever stand. But if the king and the n.o.bles give their whole minds to making good laws, and seeing justice done to all, and workmen fairly paid, and if the poor, in their turns, are loyal, and ready to fight and work for their king and their n.o.bles, then will not that country be a happy and a great country? Surely it will, because its people, instead of caring every man for himself only, help each other and bear one another's burdens.

And just in the same way with Christ's Church, with the company of true Christian men. If the clergymen thought only of themselves, and neglected the people, and forgot to labour among them, and pray for them, and preach to them; and if the people each cared for himself, and never prayed to G.o.d to give them a spirit of love and charity, and never helped their neighbours, or did unto others as they wished to be done by; and above all, if Christ, our Head, left His Church, and cared no more about us, what would become of Christ's Church? What would happen to the whole race of sinful man, but misery in this world, and ruin in the next? But if the people love and help each other, and obey their ministers, and pray for them; and if the ministers labour earnestly after the souls and bodies of their people; and Christ in heaven helps both minister and people with His Spirit, and His providence and protection; in short, if all in the whole Church bear each other's burdens, then Christ's Church will stand, and the gates of h.e.l.l will not prevail against it.

Thus you see that this text of bearing one another's burdens is no new or strange commandment, but the very state in which every man is meant to live, both in his family, his parish, his country, and his Church--all his life helping others, and being helped by them in turn. And because families and nations, and the Church of Christ above all, are good, and holy, and beautiful, therefore any society which is formed upon the same plan--I mean of helping each other-- must be good also. And, therefore, benefit societies are right and reasonable things, and among all the good which they do they do this one great good, that they teach men to remember that there is no use trying to stand alone, but that the way to be safe and happy is to bear each other's burdens.

Thus benefit societies are patterns of Christ's Church. But now, my friends, there is another point for each of you to consider, which is this--the benefit club is a good thing, but are you a good member of the club? Do you do your duty, each of you, in the club as Christian men should?

I do not ask whether you pay your subscriptions regularly or not-- that is quite right and necessary, but there is something more than that wanted to make a club go on rightly. Mere paying and receiving money will never keep men together any more than any other outward business. A man may pay his club-money regularly and yet not be a really good member. And how is this? You remember that I tried to shew you that a family, and a nation, and a church, all were kept together by the same principle of bearing one another's burdens, just as a benefit club is. Now, what makes a man a good member of Christ's Church,--a good Christian, in short? A man may pay his t.i.thes to the rector, and his church-rates to repair G.o.d's house, and his poor-rates to maintain G.o.d's poor, all very regularly, and yet be a very bad member of Christ's Church. These payments are all right and good; but they are but the outside, the letter of what G.o.d requires of him. What is wanted is, to serve G.o.d in the SPIRIT, to have the spirit--THE WILL, of a Christian in him; that is, to do all these things for G.o.d'S sake--not of constraint, but willingly--"not grudgingly, for G.o.d loveth a cheerful giver." No! If a man is a really good member of Christ's Church, he lives a life of faith in Jesus Christ, and of thankfulness to Him for His infinite love and mercy in coming down to die for us, and thus the love of G.o.d and man is shed abroad in his heart by G.o.d's Spirit, which is given to him.

Therefore, that man thinks it an honour to pay church-rates, and so help towards keeping G.o.d's house in repair and neatness. He pays his t.i.thes cheerfully, because he loves G.o.d's ministers, and feels their use and worth to him. He pays his poor-rates with a willing mind, for the sake of that G.o.d who has said, "that he who gives to the poor lends to the Lord." And so he obeys not only the letter but the spirit of the law.

But the man does more than this. Besides obeying not only the letter but the spirit of the law, he helps his brethren in a thousand other ways. He shews, in short, by every action that he believes in G.o.d and loves his neighbour.

And why should it not be just the same in a benefit club? There the good member is NOT the man who pays his money merely to have a claim for relief when he himself is sick, and yet grudges every farthing that goes to help other members. That man is not a good member. He has come into the club merely to take care of himself, and not to bear others' burdens. He may obey the letter of the club-rules by paying in his subscriptions and by granting relief to sick members, but he does not obey the spirit of them. If he did, he would be glad to bear his sick neighbour's burden with so little trouble to himself. He would, therefore, grant club relief willingly and cheerfully when it was wanted,--ay, he would thank G.o.d that he had an opportunity of helping his neighbours. He would feel that all the members of the society were his brothers in a double sense; first, because they had joined with him to help and support each other in the society; and, next, that they were his brothers in Christ, who had been baptised into the same Church of G.o.d with himself. And he would, therefore, delight in supporting them in their sickness, and honouring them when they died, and in helping their widows and orphans in their affliction; in short, in bearing his neighbour's burdens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ. And do you not see, that if any of you subscribe to this benefit society in such a spirit as this, that they are the men to give an answer to the question I asked at first, "Why are you all here at church to- day?" They come here for the same reason that you all ought to come, to thank G.o.d for having kept them well, and out of the want of relief for the past year, and to thank Him, too, for having enabled them to bear their sick neighbours' burdens. And they come, also, to pray to G.o.d to keep them well and strong for the year to come, and to raise up those members who are in sickness and distress, that they may all worship G.o.d here together another year, as a company of faithful friends, helping each other on through this life, and all on the way to the same heavenly home, where there will be no more poverty, nor sorrow, nor sickness, nor death, and G.o.d shall wipe away tears from all widows and orphans' eyes.