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©sborne  <5orbon. 


Prom  the  Monument  by  C.  Dressier,  in  the  Cathedral  Cloister  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford  ; 
by  permission  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter, 


©sborne  (Borbon. 


A  MEMOIR: 


WITH 


A  SELECTION  OF  HIS  WRITINGS. 


EDITED    BY 


GEO.  MARSHALL,  M.A. 

HECTOR   OF   MILTON,   BERKS,    AND    RURAL   DEAN   OF   ABINODON 
SOMETIME    STUDENT   OF    CHRIST    CHURCH. 


WITH  MEDALLION  PORTRAIT, 


parftcr  an&  Co 

OXFORD,   AND   6   SOUTHAMPTON-STREET, 
STRAND,   LONDON. 

1885. 


BX 


INTKODUCTOKY  NOTICE. 


THE  family  of  the  late  Osborne  Gordon  avail  them 
selves  of  this  opportunity  to  express  their  grate 
ful  sense  of  the  respect  shewn  to  his  memory. 

The  monument  erected  to  him  in  the  Cathedral 
Cloister  of  Christ  Church,  executed  by  Mr.  Conrad 
Dressier,  admirable  in  itself,  has  a  further  value,  as 
indicating  the  wide-spread  sympathy,  extending  to 
Koyalty  itself,  in  which  it  originated.  His  friends 
are  under  especial  obligations  to  the  Dean  and  Chap 
ter  of  Christ  Church,  to  whose  hearty  co-operation 
the  successful  completion  of  the  memorial  is  mainly 
due. 

But  they  have  also  to  offer  their  warmest  acknow 
ledgments  to  the  Lord  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  the 
Lord  Bishop  of  Manchester,  the  very  Eev.  the  Dean 
of  Winchester,  the  Archdeacons  of  Berks  and  Maid- 
stone ;  to  the  Et.  Hon.  Sir  J.  E.  Mowbray,  the  Et. 
Hon.  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach,  Sir  E.  Harington, 
Col.  H.  B.  N.  Lane,  J.  Euskin,  J.  G.  Talbot,  M.P., 
H.  W.  Fisher,  Esqrs.,  the  Eevs.  Canon  Hill,  E.  God 
frey  Faussett,  T.  Vere  Bayne,  H.  L.  Thompson,  E. 
F.  Sampson,  E.  St.  John  Tyrwhitt,  arid  to  all  those 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  who  so  cordially  seconded 
the  proposed  scheme. 

As  regards  the  account  of  Mr.  Gordon's  life,  the 
sources  from  which  it  is  derived  will  be  in  many 


vi  Introductory  Notice. 

cases  sufficiently  apparent.  But  his  family  desire 
to  place  upon  record  their  further  obligations  on  this 
head  to  the  Et.  Hon.  G.  0.  Trevelyan,  late  Chief 
Secretary  for  Ireland,  Sir  E.  E.  W.  Lingen,  K.C.B. ; 
to  the  Eev.  Dr.  Liddon,  for  much  valuable  advice  and 
suggestion ;  to  his  life-long  friends  the  Eev.  Pre 
bendary  Pulling,  J.  M.  Lakin,  and  Joshua  Bennett ; 
to  his  friends  of  later  date,  the  Eev.  Geo.  Gaisford, 
T.  C.  Barker,  E.  G.  Whynyates,  Professor  H.  B.  Leech; 
and  to  C.  F.  Hawker,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  Dougal  of  East 
Hampstead,  for  information  upon  many  interesting 
particulars.  His  family  would  not  have  so  many 
debts  of  gratitude  to  acknowledge  had  riot  so  many 
been  forward  to  help. 

The  Memorial  at  East  Hampstead,  with  an  in 
scription  by  Mr.  Euskin,  has  been  carried  out  with 
no  less  success,  and  upon  no  smaller  a  scale,  than  that 
at  Christ  Church :  to  be  followed,  it  is  hoped,  at  no 
distant  day,  by  a  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  rapidly 
increasing  population  of  the  parish,  which  the  late 
Eector  had  greatly  at  heart,  and  for  which  his  suc 
cessor,  the  Eev.  Herbert  Salwey,  is  equally  solicitous. 

For  all  the  good  offices  and  kindly  sympathy  which 
have  abounded  to  do  honour  to  a  name  so  dear  to 
them,  the  friends  of  Osborne  Gordon  beg  once  more 
to  tender  their  respectful  thanks. 


Subjoined  are  the  Inscriptions  upon  the  two  Mon 
uments. 


Introductory  Notice.  vii 


(a.)  At  Christ  Church  :- 

M.  S. 

OSBORNE  GORDON,  S.  T.  B.   HAG  IN 
PRIMUM  ALUMNI,  DEINDE  TUTORIS  AC  CENSORIS, 
POSTEA  EASTHAMPSTEDI^:  IN  AGRO  BERCU.  HECTORIS  ; 
IN  CONC.  HEBDOMADALE  DENUO  CONSTITUTUM 

INTER  PRIMOS  ELECTI, 
ET  Vllvnus  REI  ACADEMICS  ORDINAND^E 

QUINTO    ANTE    OBITUM    ANNO    ADSCRIPT!. 

NATUS  APRILIS  21,  1813,  OBIIT  MAIJ  25,   1883. 
INGENIUM  ILLI  ACRE  SUBTILE  FACBTUM  FACILE, 

SlNGULARIS    ITIDEM    MORUM    BEN1GNITAS, 

AOEO    UT    QUICQUID    SUSCIPERET    AGENDUM, 

SlVE    STU.DIA    ACADEMICA, 

SIVE  PAROCHI^:  AGRESTIS  CURAM, 

OMNIA  PROSPERE  CESSERINT, 

OMNESQUE  SIBI  CUM  ^QUALES  TUM  DISCIPULOS 

AMICITIA  DEVINXERIT. 


VIVAS  IN  CHRISTO,  DESIDERATISSIME  ! 


HOC    MONIMENTUM    P.    C.    AM1CI    MOERENTES. 


viii  Introductory  Notice. 


(b.)  At  East  Ilampstead  :  — 

THIS  WINDOW  AND  MOSAIC  PAVEMENT  ARE  DEDICATED 
To  GOD'S  PRAISE 

IN    LOVING    MEMORY    OF    HlS    SERVANT 

OSBORNE  GORDON,  B.D. 

STUDENT  AND  CENSOR  or  CH.  CH.,  OXFORD, 

RECTOR  OF  THIS  PARISH 

FROM  1860  TO  1883. 
AN  ENGLISHMAN  OF  THE  OLDEN  TIME, 

HUMANE  WITHOUT  WEAKNESS, 

LEARNED  WITHOUT  OSTENTATION, 

WITTY  WITHOUT  MALICE,  WISE  WITHOUT  PRIDE, 

HONEST  OF  HEART,  LOFTY  OF  THOUGHT. 

DEAR  TO  HIS  FELLOW  MEN  AND  DUTIFUL  TO  HIS  GOD. 

WHEN  HIS  FRIENDS  SHALL  ALSO  BE  DEPARTED, 

AND  CAN  NO  MORE  CHERISH  HIS  MEMORY, 

BE    IT    REVERED    BY    THE    STRANGER. 

J.  RUSKIN. 


SOME  NOTICE  OF  THE  LIFE 

OF    THE    LATE 

REV.  OSBOENE  GOKDON,  B.D. 

RECTOR   OF   EAST   HAMFSTEAD,  BERKS. 


ASBOKNE  GOKDON  was  born  April  21,  1813,  at 
Broseley,  Salop,  of  George  Osborne  Gordon  and 
Elizabeth,  his  wife.  His  early  education  was  at 
Bridgnorth  School,  then  enjoying  a  high  and  de 
served  reputation  under  the  late  Dr.  Eowley.  From 
Bridgnorth  he  was  elected  as  a  Careswell  Exhi 
bitioner  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  in  the  summer  of 
1832,  and  came  into  residence  Lent  Term,  1833.  In 
1835  he  gained  the  Ireland  University  Scholarship, 
and  in  Easter  Term,  1836,  he  was  placed  in  the  First 
Class,  both  in  Classics  and  Mathematics ;  the  late 
Professor  Donkin  sharing  with  him  that  enviable 
distinction. 

The  following  sketch  of  his  School  and  College  life 
is  from  the  pen  of  Sir  R.  R.  Lingen,  and  will  be  read 
with  interest  and  delight  by  a  wide  circle  beyond 
Mr.  Gordon's  personal  friends,  from  the  vivid  picture 
which  it  presents  of  Oxford,  as  it  was  more  than 
a  generation  ago. 

"  Osborne  Gordon  passed  the  examination  for  his 
B.A.  degree  at  Easter,  1836,  in  the  First  Class  both 
of  Classics  and  Mathematics.  He  obtained  the  Ire- 


2  Sir  R.  Ling  en1  s 

land  Scholarship  in  1835,  and  must  have  left  the 
Bridgnorth  Grammar  School  towards  the  end  of 
1831  or  early  in  1832.  I  went  to  Bridgnorth  at 
the  beginning  of  1831,  just  before  completing  the 
twelfth  year  of  my  age.  He  was  at  that  time  head 
of  the  school,  and  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have 
spoken  to  him  before  he  left.  I  have,  however,  a  dis 
tinct  recollection  of  his  appearance  at  that  time,  and 
I  never  knew  any  one  whose  appearance  altered  so 
little  in  the  course  of  half  a  century — the  long,  thick, 
soft,  and  dark  hair,  the  refined  features,  and  the 
large  expressive  eyes,  the  look  rather  absent a  and 
dreamy  when  at  rest,  but  always  with  a  lurking 
mockery  about  it,  instantly  called  by  occasion  into 
characteristic  and  witty  comments,  —  the  rather 
sauntering  gait,  the  head  somewhat  on  one  side,  and 

a  In  illustration  of  this  remark  it  may  perhaps  be  allowable  to 
refer  to  an  incident  not  otherwise  worth  recording,  than  as  it 
recalls  the  genial  and  kindly  humour  of  a  Prelate  whom  we  have 
lately  lost,  and  whom  those  that  had  the  honour  of  his  acquaint 
ance  will  never  cease  to  remember  with  affection  and  respect. 
Before  the  restoration  of  the  Chapter- house  of  Christ  Church  under 
the  present  Dean,  which  has  added  so  much  to  the  beauty  and 
harmony  of  the  Cathedral  Precincts,  it  was  the  custom  for 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  to  entertain  Students  and  other  members 
of  Christ  Church  in  the  Chapter-house,  especially  before  an  ad 
journment  to  Hall  to  hear  the  Censors  deliver  their  annual  speeches. 
It  was  usual  before  the  company  separated  to  drink  the  health  of 
the  "  Absent  Canons;"  and  on  a  particular  occasion  the  toast  was 
duly  proposed,  but  Gordon,  who  was  in  the  clouds  and  utterly  ob 
livious  of  all  sublunary  things,  took  no  notice ;  upon  which 
Dr.  Jacobsoii,  then  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity,  who  was  sitting 
near,  turned  to  his  next  neighbour  with  his  good-natured  laugh — 
"  It  should  be  the  Absent  Students." 


Narrative.  3 

the  hand  somewhat  raised, — these  traits,  which  I  have 
retained  from  long  knowledge  of  him,  pass  back  also 
into  my  earliest  memories. 

"  His  reputation  in  my  then  part  of  the  school  was 
that  of  a  genius  who  could  dispense  with  work,  and 
who  occupied  an  unapproachable  position  of  his  own. 

"  This  impression  was  immensely  confirmed  when 
he  obtained  the  Ireland  Scholarship,  the  news  of 
which,  something  strange  in  those  days  for  a  country 
Grammar  School,  produced  an  effect  among  masters 
and  boys  which  even  now  makes  me  smile  to  think 
of,  and  which  was  only  possible  in  that  remote 
quarter  and  in  those  unsophisticated  times b. 

"Then,  stroke  on  stroke,  came  the  double-first, 
which,  according  to  the  local  tradition,  he  obtained 
after  being  idle  for  the  greater  part  of  his  under 
graduate's  career,  and  then  working  for  a  fabulous 
number  of  hours  daily  in  the  last  year,  especially 
towards  the  end  of  it,  when  the  less  critical  spirits 
spoke  of  sixteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four. 

"  Whatever  be  the  historic  worth  of  such  details, 
they  are  proofs  of  the  judgment  of  contemporaries, 
"eanwhile,  as  his  home  was  not  far  from  Bridgnorth, 
te  was  occasionally  at  the  school  during  vacations ; 

the  course  of  which  visits  I  naturally,  as  now  an 

b  Some  future  chronicler  may  perhaps  describe  the  sensation 
created   at   Bridgnorth    subsequently    by   Sir   R.    Lingen's    own 
success,   in   obtaining  not  only  the   Ireland,   but  also  the  Latin 
Tniversity  Scholarship,  founded  since  Mr.  Gordon's  time,  a  First 
Uass  in  Classics,  and  a  Fellowship  of  Balliol,  in  addition  to  the 
Scholarship  at  Trinity  alluded  to  in  the  text.     His  later  distinc 
tions  are  known  to  the  world. 

B2 


4  Sir  R.  Lingen's 

older  boy,  became  better  acquainted  with  him,  having 
already  learnt,  from  his  exercises  in  the  old  *  ex ' 
books,  into  which  the  more  approved  specimens  were 
allowed  to  be  copied,  honoris  causa,  by  the  authors, 
how  strong  and  admirable  a  scholar  he  was,  both 
in  matter  and  form. 

"  I  went  up  to  Oxford  myself  to  try  for  one  of  the 
Trinity  Scholarships  in  May,  1837 — how  different 
an  Oxford  from  the  present — the  old  '  Tantivy,'  with 
its  appropriate  air  on  the  guard's  key-bugle,  its 
perfect  team,  and  the  travellers  all  white  with  the 
dust  of  Long  Compton  and  Enstone,  trotting  rapidly 
along  the  beautiful  avenue  that  then  led  up  St.  Giles's. 
To  this  day,  though  I  have  travelled  a  good  deal 
since,  I  hardly  retain  an  impression  of  such  beauty. 

"  I  was  booked  to  Osborne  Gordon's  rooms  at  Christ 
Church,  and  great  was  my  comfort  at  being  thus  able 
to  connect  the  surprisingly  new  world  about  me  with 
an  old  experience,  which  his  genuine  kindness  made 
all  the  more  real.  The  youngsters  of  these  days 
would  hardly  believe  ho\v  little  the  generality  of 
boys,  who  did  not  belong  to  rich  families,  had  travelled 
fifty  years  ago.  All  changes  of  place,  therefore,  were 
much  stranger  than  they  are  now.  I  remember  ex 
actly  my  reception  by  Osborne  Gordon,  and  his  anxiety 
lest  a  violent  bleeding  of  the  nose,  with  which  I  was 
seized  almost  as  soon  as  I  entered  his  room,  should 
interfere  with  my  chances  at  the  examination  which 
began  next  day. 

a  At  critical  moments  of  life,  the  impressions  re 
ceived  of  kindness  or  the  reverse  never  fade :  and 


Narrative.  5 

this  scene  is  as  present  to  me  now  as  when  it  hap 
pened. 

"  Being  myself  obliged  to  work  very  hard  at  Oxford, 
and  Osborne  Gordon  having  his  own  duties  to  per- 
form  in  another  college,  I  did  not  see  more  of  him 
than  in  the  ordinary  way  of  intercourse  between 
friends  during  the  four  years  I  passed  at  Oxford, 
and  from  out  of  that  period  I  retain  no  recollections 
but  such  as  are  part  of  my  general  impression  of  him 
formed  during  all  the  time  I  knew  him. 

"  In  later  life  I  have  been  at  his  Eectory,  in  East- 
hampstead,  and  have  served  with  him  on  public 
enquiries. 

"  On  all  and  every  occasion  he  was  the  same  man, 
never  making  professions  himself,  and  no  great  ad 
mirer  of  many  who  did,  but  never  failing  to  do 
vigorously,  punctually,  and  completely,  whatever  fell 
to  himself  to  do. 

"  It  was  the  same  thing  in  Scholarships  as  in  affiiirs. 
No  one  knew  better  than  he,  or  could  more  humour 
ously  illustrate  with  instances,  the  difference  between 
exactly  construing  a  classic  and  talking  about  him, 
however  beautifully,  without  that  precedent  condition. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  he  ever  gave  any  great  atten 
tion  to  philology ;  in  real  grasp  of  Greek  and  Latin, 
whether  to  discover  the  meaning  of  others,  or  to 
express  his  own,  in  those  languages,  in  prose  or  in 
verse,  I  know  of  no  one  to  put  before  him,  and  I 
doubt  whether  he  will  have  many  successors. 

"  For  authorship  he  seems  to  have  cared  but  little. 
It  seems  strange  that  I  should  not  possess  a  line 


6  Rev.  J.  M.  Lakin. 

of  his  in  Greek  or  Latin.  But  the  turn  of  his  mind 
was  decidedly  practical,  leading  him,  when  he  had 
once  mastered  a  subject,  not  to  dwell  upon  it,  except  for 
use.  So,  when  he  got  down  to  his  living,  twenty 
or  more  years  ago,  he  did  not  betake  himself  to 
learned  leisure,  but  to  the  work  of  his  parish,  to  the 
rebuilding  of  his  church,  to  the  farming  of  his  glebe, 
and  to  the  society  of  his  neighbours,  in  a  favourite 
neighbourhood,  to  whom  his  keen  insight  into  men, 
and  his  playful  but  always  kindly  wit,  could  not  but 
make  him  acceptable ;  among  them  were  the  late  Sir 
William  Hayter,  and  the  late  Mr.  Delane.  <  Our 
parson  can  preach,'  said  his  admiring  Churchwarden, 
who  proposed  his  health  at  a  local  celebration,  '  and 
he  can  farm.' ' 

Let  me  supplement  this  sketch  of  his  school-life 
with  the  following  particulars  most  kindly  commu 
nicated  by  his  old  friend  and  schoolfellow,  the  Eev. 
J.  M.  Lakin,  Eector  of  Brooksby,  Leicestershire. 

"  Osborne  Gordon  was  a  few  years  my  senior,  and 
at  school,  in  consequence,  was  rather,  for  his  mar 
vellous  ability,  my  admiration  at  a  distance  than 
my  companion.  All  who  remember  Gordon  as  a  boy 
will  recollect  how  he  seemed  always  to  have  time 
to  help  a  poor  youngster,  often  an  idle  one  like 
myself,  alas !  over  a  difficulty  in  getting  up  a  lesson, 
and  how,  without  appearing  ever  to  be  at  work, 
he  was  always  ready  for  class,  and  always  able  to  do 
brilliantly  what  others,  whom  I  could  name,  worked 
hard  to  do,  and  only  in  a  dull  and  clumsy  way  suc 
ceeded  in  doing. 


Bishop  of  Manchester.  7 

"  Being  of  a  singularly  spare  and  weakly  frame, 
Gordon  was  never  distinguished  in  the  play-field, 
and  an  accident  which  resulted  in  a  permanent  stiff 
ness  of  his  right  elbow  incapacitated  him  for  the 
active  exercises  of  young  men,  when  he  had  ceased 
to  be  a  boy.  He  was  fond  of  riding,  but  seldom,  if 
ever,  wasted  time  and  money,  as  some  of  us  remem 
ber,  with  little  satisfaction,  we  were  wont  to  do,  in 
the  hunting-field.  At  Oxford  I  saw  but  little  of 
Gordon,  as  he  was  leaving  soon  after  my  college  life 
began,  but  he  was  always  very  specially  friendly  and 
Denial  with  old  Bridgnorthians." 

The  Bishop  of  Manchester,  an  old  and  intimate 
friend,  to  whom  Mr.  Gordon  was  strongly  attached, 
shews  his  appreciation  of  the  man  in  the  follow 
ing  terms  :— 

"  I  often  used  to  regret  that  with  his  rare  powers, 
partly  from  perhaps  a  natural  indolence,  and  partly 
because  from  the  fear  of  seeming  ostentatious,  he  so 
seldom  seemed  to  care  to  put  out  those  powers  to 
their  best  advantage,  he  was  likely  to  leave  so  little 
behind  him  which  would  give  another  generation 
any  idea  of  what  his  real  mark  and  capacity  were. 
I  have  seldom  met  an  abler  man :  so  full  of  common 
sense ;  of  a  power  to  grasp  things  in  their  reality ; 
of  a  dry  and  caustic,  but  never  ill-natured,  humour ; 
in  his  solemn  moments  of  deep  and  earnest  feeling; 
and  of  a  high  appreciation  of  what  was  noble,  genuine, 
and  true." 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  doing  away  in  some  degree 
the  ground  for  regret  which  the  Bishop  has 


8  Notices 

expressed  that  the  present  publication  has  been 
undertaken. 

These,  it  may  be  said,  are  the  utterances  of  partial, 
though  discriminating  and  judicious,  friends ;  but  it 
will  be  shewn  presently  what  impression  he  pro 
duced  upon  men  who  were  comparatively  strangers 
to  him ;  and  the  Press,  which  has  little  space  or  time 
to  spare  for  men  whose  names  are  not  familiar  to  the 
public  ear,  found  room  for  him. 

The  "  Times"  bestowed  two  obituary  notices  upon 
him,  the  second  of  which  we  print  entire,  as  express 
ing  the  judgment  which  a  well-informed  critic  would 
be  apt  to  pass  upon  a  man  of  established  reputation, 
whose  merits  had  already  become,  in  some  degree, 
matter  of  tradition.  But  besides  his  accomplished 
Scholarship,  acknowledged  on  all  hands,  there  is 
a  trait  of  character  which  every  notice,  whether 
public  or  private,  equally  recognizes.  All  give  him 
credit  for  possessing  a  ready  and  searching  wit :  and 
also  for  rare  forbearance  in  the  exercise  of  that  dan 
gerous  gift.  He  was  never  at  a  loss,  never  discon 
certed  ;  always  equal  to  the  occasion,  whether  he  was 
addressing  an  Academical  or  a  London  audience,  or 
an  agricultural  meeting.  But  whatever  subject  called 
him  forth  he  adorned  what  he  touched  upon  by  the 
flashes  of  his  wit,  without  irritation  to  the  most  sensi 
tive  nerves. 

"The  Rev.  Osborne  Gordon,  of  whom  a  brief  obituary 
notice  appeared  in  The  Times  of  this  morning,  had  passed 
away  from  more  immediate  personal  relations  with  the 
University  for  so  long  a  time  that  in  a  place  so  proverbially 


of  the  Public  Prints.  9 

full  of  changes  those  who  remember  him  are  in  a  minority, 
and  even  their  recollections  of  him  have  become  general 
and  somewhat  listless.  And  yet  in  his  day  Osborne  Gordon 
was  a  man  of  much  mark  in  the  academical  world — a  dis 
tinguished  double-first  class  man,  a  brilliant  Ireland  Scholar, 
a  redoubted  Tutor  and  Censor  of  Christ  Church,  a  member 
from  the  first  of  the  new  Hebdomadal  Council  which  re 
placed  the  old  Board  of  Heads  in  the  government  of  the 
University — the  position  he  occupied  and  the  abilities  he 
possessed  placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of  Oxford  notabili 
ties  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  He  was  a  sound  Greek 
scholar,  and  we  are  reminded  of  the  vigour  with  which  he 
would  extemporize  the  translation  of  an  ode  of  Pindar. 
He  was  an  elegant  Latinist,  and  the  tradition  survives  in 
Christ  Church  of  the  scholarly,  facile,  clear,  intelligible 
speeches  which  in  his  capacity  of  Censor  he  had  from  time 
to  time  to  deliver  in  the  College  Hall.  He  was  a  writer 
of  vigorous  English,  and  as  a  clear  and  clever  draftsman 
was  of  great  service  to  the  Tutors'  Association — a  body  with 
which  originated  many  suggestions  for  the  more  important 
educational  changes  of  modern  Oxford.  He  was  of  most 
retentive  memory,  and  pungent  but  not  unkindly  wit. 
Stories  and  epigrams  are  still  afloat  in  Oxford  attributed  to 
him  till  they  shall  be  assigned  to  some  later  humourist. 
Among  his  Christ  Church  pupils  were  many  men  distin 
guished  in  after  life — Lord  Salisbury,  Lord  Harrowby,  Sir 
Michael  Hicks-Beach,  Mr.  Ward  Hunt,  Mr.  Ruskin.  To 
have  distinguished  pupils  is  «n  accident,  but  to  possess 
their  esteem  bespeaks  merit.  He  had,  however,  one  fail 
ing,  if  failing  it  was,  to  which  the  very  brilliancy  and 
facility  of  his  powers  contributed.  He  was  of  a  temper 
essentially  averse  to  exertion.  He  did,  and  did  admirably, 
whatever  he  \vas  called  upon  to  do.  But  he  did  it  without 
effort,  and  the  exertion  involved  in  what  is  considered  a  suc 
cessful  career  would  have  been  repugnant  to  him.  In  spite 
of  certain  eccentricities,  which  perhaps  grew  upon  him  iu 
later  life,  as  was  becoming  to  a  college  don,  he  might  have 


10  The  "  Times"  and 

commanded  success  in  any  career.  But  he  preferred  to 
exercise  over  his  little  world  an  easy  and  good-natured 
despotism,  tempered  with  his  own  epigrams,  and  to  be  the 
soul  of  common-room  life,  with  its  genial  humours  and 
local  witticisms.  Had  he  been  a  more  ambitious  man  he 
might  easily  have  climbed,  for  he  was  a  sound  and  moder 
ate  Churchman,  troubling  himself,  as  we  believe,  less  with 
dogma  than  with  practice,  and  a  Tory  of  the  deepest  hue. 
He  was  one  of  those  most  valuable  men  who  can  write 
books  but  do  not ;  who  are  universally  accounted  by  those 
who  know  them  capable  of  the  greatest  things,  but  are 
content  with  the  place  in  which  they  find  themselves, 
the  work  which  they  perform  without  trouble,  and  the 
career  which  is  its  own  reward.  The  College  living  which 
Mr.  Gordon  held  for  more  than  20  years  is  an  illustration 
of  the  versatility  of  his  abilities,  where  he  shewed  that  the 
career  of  a  college  don  is  compatible  with  being  an  esteemed 
parish  priest,  a  vigorous  church  restorer,  and  a  welcome 
neighbour.  His  connexion  with  Oxford  had  been  for  many 
years  of  the  slightest,  until  he  was  put  by  Lord  Salisbury 
upon  the  University  Commission  in  succession  to  Mr.  Jus 
tice  Grove.  At  the  meetings  of  this  body  he  was  a  constant 
attendant  both  in  Oxford  and  London,  and  rendered  much 
valuable  assistance  in  many  departments  of  their  work. 
Mr.  Osborne  Gordon  is  to  be  buried  at  Easthampstead  on 
Wednesday  at  1  o'clock." 

The  "Daily  Telegraph,"  in  a  very  generous  sketch 
of  Mr.  Gordon's  character,  drew  public  attention 
once  more  to  an  epigram  which  did  much  to  create 
his  reputation.  Apart  from  its  connexion  with  him, 
the  article  in  question  is  of  too  much  interest  in 
itself  to  be  passed  over. 

"By  the  death  of  the  Rev.  Osborne  Gordon,  in  his  69th 
year,  Oxford  has  lost  one  of  its  most  brilliant  scholars,  and 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bracknell,  in  Berks,  one  of  its  most 


"Daily  Telegraph."  11 

popular  and  respected  inhabitants.  Born  at  Broseley,  in 
Shropshire,  and  educated  at  its  Grammar  School,  Mr. 
Gordon  did  not  achieve  the  feat  accomplished  by  Mr. 
Brancker  of  Wadham  College,  who  went  up  to  Oxford 
from  the  famous  school  at  Shrewsbury,  when  Dr.  Butler 
presided  over  it,  and  in  1831  won  Dean  Ireland's  Scholar 
ship  in  a  jacket.  Nevertheless  Mr.  Brancker' s  performance 
was  well-nigh  equalled  by  that  of  Mr.  Gordon,  who  won 
the  Ireland  in  1834,  when  he  had  been  a  little  more  than 
a  twelvemonth  in  residence.  Since  the  establishment,  in 
1825,  of  the  Ireland  Scholarship,  in  which  year  Mr.  Herman 
Merivale,  Scholar  of  Trinity  and  Fellow  of  Balliol,  was  suc 
cessful  against  a  strong  field  of  competitors,  there  has  been 
no  lack  of  exquisite  Greek  Compositions,  original  and  trans 
lated,  which  have  emanated  from  Ireland  Scholars.  We 
risk  little,  however,  in  saying  that  nothing  more  perfect  in 
expression  or  touching  in  sentiment  has  been  written  during 
this  century,  either  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  than  Mr. 
Gordon's  eight  lines  in  Doric  Greek  *  upon  Sir  P.  Chantrey's 
monument  to  two  children  in  Lichfield  Cathedral/  which 
secured  for  him  the  Ireland  Scholarship  in  1834. 

"Unlike  Mr.  Brancker,  who  got  no  more  than  a  second 
class  in  classics,  Mr.  Gordon  followed  up  his  Ireland  victory 
by  taking  a  brilliant  double-first  in  classics  and  mathema 
tics.  He  subsequently  became  Censor  of  Christ  Church  and 
tutor  to  many  generations  of  Christ  Church  men,  among 
whom  three  members  of  the  present  Ministry — Lord  Kim- 
berley,  Lord  Northbrook,  and  Mr.  Dodson — were  included. 
Mr.  Gordon  was  in  the  habit  of  saying  that  no  more  pro 
mising  and  admirable  scholar  ever  passed  through  his  hands 
than  the  late  Marquis  of  Lothian c.  Upon  the  death  of 
Dean  Gaisford,  Mr.  Gordon  accepted  the  Christ  Church 
Living  of  Easthampstead,  near  Brucknell,  where  he  built 
a  new  rectory-house,  and  long  dispensed  what  Lord  Claren- 

c  To  the  members  of  the  present  Cabinet  mentioned  above  as 
Mr.  Gordon's  pupils  should  be  added  the  name  of  Lord  Curling- 
ford,  Lord  President  of  the  Council. 


12  Epigram 

don  would  have  called  a  '  flowing  hospitality  '  to  his  many 
friends.  Remarkable  for  his  witty  and  incisive  conver 
sation,  Mr.  Gordon  leaves  a  gap  in  the  circle  of  those  who 
knew  him  best  which  is  little  likely  to  be  filled.  Although 
he  had  served  on  many  University  Commissions,  Mr.  Gordon 
was  firmly  of  opinion  that,  however  reformed  and  tinkered 
at,  the  Oxford  of  the  future  would  produce  no  such  men  as 
the  Oxford  of  the  past.  His  loss  will  be  lamented  far  and 
wide,  and  by  none  more  than  by  his  old  and  intimate  friend, 
Mr.  John  Ruskin." 

"The  eight  lines  in  Doric  Greek,"  which  have 
become  classical,  have  already  been  made  a  mark  for 
criticism,  and  shew  the  difficulty  of  determining  any 
literary  question  even  belonging  to  our  own  genera 
tion.  Doric,  there  is  little  doubt,  was  the  original 
dress  of  this  famous  Epigram.  But  Mr.  Lin  wood, 
in  his  AnthoL  Oxon.,  has  introduced  some  Ionic 
forms,  whether  with  or  without  the  author's  sanc 
tion  is  uncertain. 

Those  who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  two 
scholars  think  it  probable  that  Mr.  Linwood,  who 
had  unbounded  confidence  in  his  own  critical  judg 
ment,  made  the  change  to  suit  his  own  taste,  and 
that  Mr.  Gordon,  in  his  careless  way,  let  it  pass, 
as  a  matter  of  little  consequence.  Subjoined  is  the 
Epigram  according  to  Mr.  Linwood  :  — 

"  (1.)  On  Sir  F.  Chantrcy's  Monument  to  Two 

Children  in  Lichfield  Cathedral. 
'A  MOIF  a  Kpvepa  rco  /cocAw  iralS  ' 

ypirao-e'   TWV  /caAwy  r/y  Kopo?  eW  *A'iSi ; 
aAAa  orvy  ,  'AyyfA/a,  rov  arjdta  fJivOov 
Wi  TrayKoirav  ety  ' Atdao 


on  Chantrey^s  Monument.  13 


8  .      'Q  Scufjiov,  rav  KaXav  wAeow  aypav, 
ov  yap  ray  'fyvyas  ovde  ra  crcwyuar   tX€Lf 
al  p,lv  yap  •fyvyai  /-tere/ifycraj'  eV  ovpavov  evpvv' 
aco/jLara  3'  iv  yaia  vrjyptrov  VTTVOV  ^X6^" 

Anthologia  Oxoniensis,  p.  216,  Oxon,  1846. 

With  this  version  one  furnished  by  Mr.  Fisher 
from  memory  agrees. 

But  Sir  E.  Lingen,  who,  if  any  one,  has  a  right  to 
be  heard  on  this  subject,  gives  the  following  reading 
of  the  Epitaph:  — 

(2).   'A  fjiolp   a  Kpvtpa  TO)  KaXa)  iral8  'AQpoSiraf 
"ApTracre'  TU>V  KaXa*v  ris  KOpos  ear  'At8a    ; 

*AAAa  av  y\  'AyycA/a,  rov  drjdea  pvOov  e^oto-a, 
Bacr/ce,,  /jie\ai>T€i)(fj  irpos  SO/JLOV  eA$e  Otov. 

The  only  variations  worthy  of  notice  occur  in  the 
first  four  lines,  the  rest  are  the  same  in  all  the 
copies. 

(3.)  But  there  is  yet  another  traditional  form  of 
the  Epigram,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  Eev. 
George  Gaisford,  a  scholar  and  critic,  vi  nominis,  who 
had  it  from  the  Eev.  Edward  Stokes,  too  early  lost 
to  his  friends  and  country,  and  it  was  thought  to  be 
the  original  form  in  which  these  lines  appeared  :  Sir 
E.  Lingen's  variation  being  introduced  to  obviate 
a  possible  objection  on  metrical  grounds. 

d  The  form  'Ai'Sa,  in  line  two,  seems  preferable  to  *AVSi,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Epigram  of  Erinna  on  Baucis,  upon  which,  as 
Sir  11.  Lingen  suggests,  Mr.  Gordon's  Epigram  was  partly  moulded. 


1  4  Oxford  Residence 


'A  juLOLpa  Kpvepa  rco  /caAcb  iralS  *A(/)po8iTa$ 
ffpTraae'   T&V  KaX&v  TLS  Kopos1  6OT    At8a  ; 

'AAAa  cri!  y',  'AyyeA/a,  roz>  arjdea  }MV0ov 
Bacr/ce'   (ji€\avTei\r}  Trpo?  dolors  tXOe  6eov. 


These  lines  have  perhaps  detained  us  too  long. 

Soon  after  his  M.A.  Degree,  in  1839,  Mr.  Gordon 
was  called  upon  to  take  his  share  of  the  college 
offices  ;  and  till  the  period  of  his  retirement  to  East- 
hampstead,  in  1861,  he  was  intimately  associated 
with  all  that  befell  Christ  Church. 

Dean  Gaisford,  for  whom  Mr.  Gordon  always  enter 
tained  a  genuine  admiration,  fully  appreciated  his 
brilliant  qualities,  and  constantly  availed  himself 
of  his  quick  apprehension  and  fertility  of  resource 
on  any  subject  of  importance.  As  a  Tutor,  Mr. 
Gordon  at  once  gauged  the  intellectual  calibre  of  his 
pupils,  and  adapted  his  instruction  with  singular 
skill  to  their  several  requirements.  His  particular 
taste  was  for  a  youth  of  good  natural  ability,  whose 
originality  was  not  overlaid  with  too  much  reading  : 
his  own  genius  seemed  to  communicate  itself  to 
kindred  spirits,  and  his  own  vigorous  personality 
stamped  itself  upon  them.  He  never  squeezed  the 
orange  :  and  it  was  to  his  judicious  advice  and  in 
sight  into  character,  that  the  influence  was  due 
which  he  continued  to  exercise  over  many  distin 
guished  men  in  after  life. 

Some  great  names  have  been  given  in  the  various 
notices  which  appeared  soon  after  his  decease  in  the 
public  prints  :  but  the  list  might  be  almost  inde- 


and  Offices.  15 

finitely  enlarged:  and  there  are  few  departments 
of  life  in  which  it  would  not  be  found  that  the 
leaven  of  Osborne  Gordon's  teaching  was  still  at 
work. 

Mr.  Gordon  served  the  University  in  many  con 
spicuous  posts — as  Moderator,  as  Public  Examiner 
in  the  Schools,  and  as  a  Judge  in  awarding  Univer 
sity  Scholarships  and  the  Chancellor's  Prizes.  He 
was  twice  nominated  on  the  Board  of  Select  Preachers, 
though  on  the  second  occasion  he  resigned  the  charge. 
He  was  a  Pro-proctor :  and  on  the  resignation  of  the 
office  of  Proctor  by  the  Eev.  H.  G.  Liddell,  the  pre 
sent  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  he  was  appointed  by 
Dean  Gaisford  to  fill  the  vacancy,  and  delivered  the 
customary  speech  of  the  Senior  Proctor  on  retiring 
from  office.  lie  was  elected  on  the  new  Hebdoma 
dal  Council,  which  in  1854  superseded,  under  recent 
legislation,  the  old  Board  of  Heads  of  Houses  and 
Proctors ;  and,  as  we  shall  see  by  and  by,  was  brought 
back  to  more  intimate  relations  with  the  University 
on  the  University  Commission  in  1877. 

During  his  period  of  residence  he  frequently  as 
sisted  his  friend,  the  Eev.  Jacob  Ley,  Vicar  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalen  (a  name  even  at  this  distance  of 
time  not  to  be  pronounced  without  emotion  by  those 
who  knew  the  man),  and  his  Sermons,  delivered  there, 
are  still  remembered  by  many  of  the  parishioners 
for  their  vigour  and  originality. 

The  dry  ness  of  this  enumeration  may  be  a  little 
relieved  by  the  following  anecdote,  which  puts  Mr. 
Gordon's  shrewdness  and  bonhomie  in  an  amusing 


16  Proctorial  Anecdote 

light  during  his  earlier  tenure  of  office  as  Pro- 
proctor. 

It  would  be  inexcusable  to  reproduce  it,  except  in 
the  exact  form  in  which  it  was  communicated  by  the 
same  ready  and  graphic  pen  to  which  we  have  been 
already  indebted. 

"The  very  costly  amusement  of  tandem -driving 
was  indulged  in  by  Undergraduates  at  the  time  Gordon 
was  Pro-proctor  to  such  an  extent,  that  the  Proctors 
were  determined,  if  possible,  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  In 
vain  for  some  time  they  tried  to  intercept  some  of  the 
drivers,  and  to  make  an  example  such  as  might  deter 
others  who  were  inclined  to  offend  in  the  same  way. 
In  a  conversation  on  the  subject  with  one  or  both 
of  the  Proctors  of  the  time  Gordon  said,  £  I  will 
undertake  to  catch  a  team  to-morrow  on  any  road 
on  which  I  am  told  a  team  has  gone  out,  if  you,' 
addressing  a  Proctor,  '  will  go  with  rne,  and  do  what 
I  direct.' 

"  (The  practice,  as  I  well  remember,  was  to  send 
on  the  leader  by  a  groom,  a  mile  or  two  out  of 
Oxford,  and  in  returning,  at  the  same  point,  to  take 
off  the  leader,  and  then  soberly  to  drive  in  to  the 
stables,  as  though  simply  from  a  quiet  drive.) 

"The  Proctor  agreeing  to  go  with  the  Pro,  Gordon 
engaged  a  fly,  drove  out  with  the  Proctor,  some 
three  miles  on,  I  think,  the  Bicester  road,  arrived 
at  the  spot  he  had  decided  upon,  and  said  to  the 
driver  '  pull  up.'  <  Now,'  said  he  to  the  Proctor,  <  get 
out.'  To  the  driver,  '  Take  your  horse  out  of  the  fly. 
Push  the  fly  into  the  ditch.'  After  such  hesitation 


continued.  17 

as  one  would  expect,  into  the  ditch  went  the  fly. 
'Now  then,'  to  the  Proctor,  'get  in.'  Into  the  fly 
went  Proctor  and  Pro  and  shut-to  the  door. 

"  Scarcely  were  they  settled  before  up  drove  two 
gownsmen  in  a  tandem.  '  What,'  exclaimed  they, 
'an  upset!  Can  we  help  you?'  At  that  moment  of 
kindly  proffered  help,  out  in  full  view  of  the  un 
suspecting  youths  stepped  the  black-velvet-sleeved 
Proctor  and  his  coadjutor,  with  the  familiar  for 
mula,  while  their  caps  were  raised  with  more  than 
wonted  courtesy,  '  Gentlemen,  your  names  and 
Colleges?' 

"  Bidding  the  young  drivers  to  a  conference  at 
Christ  Church  next  morning,  the  fly  having  been 
replaced  upon  the  road,  the  captors  turned  towards 
Oxford,  followed  by  the  tandem-cart  and  its  occu 
pants  at  a  really  sober  pace.  '  There,'  said  Gordon 
to  his  companion,  'you  have  been  trying  to  catch 
teams  and  failed ;  I  told  you  I  would  catch  one  the 
first  time  I  tried.'  You  will,  I  am  sure,  be  prepared 
to  hear  that  our  good  and  kind-hearted  friend  Gordon 
had  made  it  a  stipulation  beforehand  that  the  drivers 
of  the  team,  which  he  by  his  shrewd  stratagem  en 
trapped,  should  in  no  way  be  punished  for  their 
breach  of  the  discipline  relating  to  members  of  the 
University  still  in  statu  pupillari. 

"  There  you  have  the  details  of  the  anecdote  which 
I  have  been  used  to  think  is  not  a  little  character 
istic  of  my  old  friend's  amiable  cleverness.  When 
his  little  plan  has  been  told  one  may  say  how 
simple !  but  how  many  are  there  to  whom  such 

c 


18  Foreign  travel 

a  scheme  would  have  occurred?  And  are  there  not 
some  who  would  have  forgotten  to  protect  the  vic 
tims  of  their  stratagem  against  consequences?" 

We  shall,  many  of  us,  like  Mr.  Lakin,  to  whom 
this  narrative  is  due,  "  think  of  this  little  tale 
with  pleasurable  interest,"  and  thank  him  for 
bringing  to  light  so  lively  a  passage  from  a  Proc 
tor's  note-book. 

In  the  summer  of  1845  it  was  the  writer's  good 
fortune  to  be  Mr.  Gordon's  companion  on  the  Con 
tinent  during  a  somewhat  lengthened  tour  in  Swit 
zerland  and  Italy.  It  was  his  first  experience  of 
foreign  travel  on  any  considerable  scale,  and  the 
delight  of  witnessing  some  of  the  grandest  scenes 
of  Nature  and  the  masterpieces  of  Art  was  greatly 
enhanced  by  the  keen  perception  and  critical  judg 
ment  of  such  a  guide.  Though  Mr.  Gordon  was  not 
of  a  robust  frame  he  had  an  exquisite  enjoyment  of 
mountain  scenery ;  and  without  attempting  any  dan 
gerous  ascents  he  had,  perhaps,  a  truer  appreciation 
of  the  peculiar  beauties  of  rocks  and  glaciers  than 
many  who  had  penetrated  further  into  their  secrets. 
He  took  great  interest  in  Mr.  Buskin's  studies  of 
nature,  which  he  greatly  valued,  and  was  constantly 
bringing  his  old  pupil's  theories  to  the  test  of  ex 
perience. 

On  one  occasion,  however,  his  explorations  were 
brought  to  an  awkward  termination.  He  had  been 
spending  the  day  with  several  Oxford  friends  on  the 
Mer  de  Glace,  and  on  returning  the  party  found  that 
they  had  carelessly  come  to  a  fork  in  the  river,  one 


of  the  late  Rev.  Osborne  Gordon,  B.D.          19 

branch  of  which  lay  between  them  and  the  Inn  at 
Chamounix,  only  a  short  distance  off  in  a  straight  line. 
The  rest  were  inclined  to  make  a  considerable  detour, 
and  cross  by  a  bridge  further  up  the  stream;  Mr.  Gor 
don,  however,  divesting  himself  of  part  of  his  clothing, 
tried  to  wade,  but,  as  the  rest  of  the  party  feared,  was 
swept  away  by  the  torrent,  icy  cold,  and  running 
with  great  rapidity.  His  companions,  by  a  common 
impulse,  started  off  to  a  point  some  distance  lower 
down,  where  the  river  narrowed  considerably,  and 
where  they  hoped  to  rescue  him;  but  he  did  better 
for  himself,  and  after  a  time  struck  out  and  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  opposite  bank,  to  the  unspeakable  relief 
of  those  who  were  watching  him.  A  Savoyard  peasant- 
woman,  who  had  witnessed  the  adventure,  took  him 
under  her  special  protection,  and  when  we  reached 
our  quarters,  after  a  long  circuit,  we  had  the  satisfac 
tion  of  finding  the  hero  of  the  day  taking  his  ease 
in  his  inn,  and,  except  a  few  slight  cuts,  none  the 
worse  for  his  escapade.  Those,  however,  who  knew 
best  the  danger  of  his  position  were  much  struck 
by  the  coolness  and  address  with  which  he  extricated 
himself  from  his  perilous  dilemma c. 


e  It  must  be  confessed  that  Mr.  Gordon  was  not  good  company 
for  weak  nerves.  He  was  constantly  on  the  verge  of  a  catas 
trophe  de  voyage,  which  kept  his  fellow-travellers  in  a  lively 
state  of  uncertainty  as  to  his  movements.  It  seemed  utterly 
hopeless,  when  he  was  strolling  somewhere  about,  leaving  his 
effects  in  ntter  confusion,  that  he  could  be  ready  for  boat  or 
train,  or  any  conveyance  dependent  on  time  or  tide.  But 
at  the  last  possible  moment  he  sauntered  in  to  the  place 

c2 


20  The  Irish  Famine 

In  the  following  year  (1846),  on  the  retirement 
of  the  Eev.  H.  G.  Liddell,  he  became  his  successor 
both  as  Censor  in  Christ  Church,  and  Proctor  in  the 
University;  and  at  the  close  of  the  official  year  he 
delivered  the  customary  speech.     It   was,  as  usual 
with  him,  a  model  of  terseness  and  elegance.     He 
had  occasion  to  make  several  allusions  to  Cambridge, 
and   congratulated   the   Sister   University,   with  his 
wonted  force  and  felicity  of  diction,  upon  the  recent 
election  of  the  Prince  Consort  to  the  distinguished 
post  of  Chancellor.     But  he  passed  on  to  a  subject 
then  of  absorbing  interest — the   Irish  famine.     He 
dwelt,  as   might   be   expected,    upon  the  sufferings 
and  heroic    endurance    of  the   peasantry,    while   he 
relieved  those  melancholy  details  by  a  brighter  pic 
ture   of    the   universal   sympathy   extended   to   the 
famine    and    plague-stricken    island;    and    enlarged 
with  excusable  satisfaction  upon  the  excellent  spirit 
displayed   by    all   classes  of  the  University   in  ex 
erting   themselves    to   mitigate  the  severity  of  the 
visitation. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add  some 
particulars  on  a  subject  to  which  only  general  refer 
ence  could  be  made  in  a  Proctor's  speech.  A  sump 
tuary  law  was  passed  by  common  consent  amongst 
Undergraduates  limiting  desserts  at  wine-parties — 
which  had  been  before  generally  on  a  much  more  ex- 

of  starting  with  his  usual  abstracted  air  and  leisurely  giit 
and  look  of  surprise  at  any  symptom  of  impatience,  though 
how  chaos  had  been  reduced  to  order  was  a  secret  known  only 
to  himself. 


0/1846-7.  21 

pensive  scale — to  oranges  and  biscuits  :  the  retrench, 
ment  thus  effected  to  be  applied  to  the  relief  of  Irish 
distress.  This  is  the  only  restriction  of  the  kind  that 
the  writer  has  ever  known  carried  out  to  the  letter : 
and  this  was  strictly  enforced  by  public  opinion. 

At  that  time  (1846-7)  third-class  trains  were 
very  few,  and  none  running  at  convenient  hours. 
The  great  bulk  of  the  well-to-do  members  of  the 
University  travelled  first  class  as  matter  of  course ; 
but  in  the  face  of  the  distress  then  existing  there 
was  a  great  change  in  this  respect,  and  many  per 
sons  then  travelled  second  class  who  had  probably 
never  entered  a  carriage  of  that  kind  before.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  accommodation  then 
provided  by  the  G.  W.  E.  for  their  second-class 
passengers  might  reasonably  be  objected  to,  and  was 
quite  unlike  the  convenience  and  comfort  of  the  pre 
sent  arrangements.  Bemonstrances  were  in  some 
cases  addressed  by  strangers  to  first-class  pas 
sengers  for  incurring  unnecessary  expense,  and  not 
submitting  to  temporary  inconvenience,  it  being 
understood  that  the  difference  of  the  fare  was  to  be 
applied  in  all  cases  to  the  cause  which  was  then 
uppermost  in  every  heart.  Judge  of  the  strength 
of  the  feeling  to  excuse  such  a  breach  of  conventional 
propriety  in  punctilious  Oxford  ! 

One  special  circumstance  of  a  more  public  cha 
racter  may  be  mentioned  in  illustration  of  the  pre 
vailing  sentiment.  There  was  a  considerable  balance 
at  the  time  belonging  to  the  Oxford  Union  Society, 
which  a  patriotic  Irish  Peer,  now  high  in  the 


22  Pamphlet  on 

public  service  of  the  Crown,  proposed  should  be 
transferred  to  the  Irish  Belief  Fund.  The  members 
of  the  Society  did  full  justice  to  the  motives  of  the 
proposer,  with  which  all  sympathized,  but  the  ma 
jority  did  not  consider  themselves  at  liberty  to  deal 
so  with  moneys  contributed  for  a  different  object.  The 
motion  was,  however,  met  by  a  counter  resolution, 
that  a  subscription  should  be  opened  on  the  spot 
(in  addition  to  other  machinery  already  set  on  foot), 
which  it  was  hoped  would  more  than  realise  the 
amount  proposed  to  be  alienated  from  the  Society's 
funds.  This  was  done,  and,  as  far  as  the  writer  re 
members,  the  noble  mover  had  no  reason  to  be  dis 
satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  appeal f. 

For  some  years  previous  to  the  Eoyal  Commission 
of  Enquiry  into  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam 
bridge  in  1850,  there  had  been  a  growing  feeling 
amongst  those  chiefly  engaged  in  Education  at  Oxford 
that  some  alteration  of  the  existing  system  was  re 
quired.  There  were  various  schemes  in  agitation, 
as  might  be  expected  in  a  centre  of  so  great  in 
tellectual  activity;  but  the  changes  formulated 
might  be  classed  under  two  separate  heads :  —  (1.) 
Those  which  referred  to  a  re-adjustment  or  re 
modelling  of  the  educational  system;  and,  as  a 
means  to  that  end,  a  revision  of  the  Public  Exam 
ination  Statute  then  existing.  (2.)  The  extension 
of  the  University  teaching  to  classes  of  students 

f  Upon  one  occasion  Mr.  Gordon  was  laid  claim  to  by  the  sister 
island,  when  at  a  Dublin  reception  he  was  announced  as  The 
O'Gordon. 


University  Reform.  23 

not  then  able  to  enjoy  its  advantages.  But  in 
discussing  the  question  of  University  Education 
generally,  a  very  important  subdivision  of  the  sub 
ject  forced  itself  upon  public  attention,  and  still  con 
tinues  to  form  one  of  the  problems  of  the  day,  viz. 
the  relation  of  Professorial  to  Tutorial  teaching. 

By  stress  of  circumstances  the  Professors  had  then 
(circ.  1850)  practically  ceased  to  have  any  consider 
able  hold  upon  the  undergraduate  members  of  the 
University.  This  was  owing  to  no  fault  of  their 
own.  The  bulk  of  the  Undergraduates  were  not 
sufficiently  instructed  to  profit  by  such  lectures  as 
suited  the  dignity  of  the  Professor's  Chair.  The 
other  men  who  were  candidates  for  distinction  in 
the  University  had  their  time  thoroughly  occupied 
in  preparing  for  the  Schools;  and  grudged  any  in 
terference  with  the  course  of  reading  which  they 
thought  most  serviceable  for  the  end  in  view.  So  it 
was  hard  to  say  from  what  ranks  the  Professors' 
audiences  were  to  be  recruited. 

With  the  great  subdivision  of  subjects  now  intro 
duced,  and  the  advance  in  many  branches  of  know 
ledge,  the  difficulty  is  doubtless  by  this  time  much  di 
minished,  but  no  one  could  be  surprised  to  hear  that 
it  still  existed  in  some  degree.  The  College  Tutors 
had,  therefore,  in  great  measure,  become  the  recog 
nized  teachers  in  the  University,  but  they  were  in 
turn  supplemented  or  superseded  by  the  private  Tu 
tors,  many  of  them  extremely  able  men,  whose 
assistance  was  counted  almost  indispensable  for  high 
honours  in  the  Schools,  while  the  candidates  for 


24  Memorial  from  without 

a  Pass  degree  equally  had  recourse  to  help  of  a  more 
modest  character  beyond  the  College  Lectures. 

One  of  the  chief  defects  under  the  old  system  was 
the  opportunity  it  held  out  for  idleness  during  a 
great  part  of  the  Undergraduate's  course.  There 
wus  frequently  an  interval  of  a  full  year  and  a-half 
between  the  Little-go  and  the  Great-go,  which 
a  large  proportion  of  the  Undergraduates  passed 
in  comparative  idleness  until  a  few  months  before 
the  necessary  preparation  for  the  Final  Schools : 
and  it  was  justly  held  that  this  length  of  time  un 
accounted  for,  during  which  the  Undergraduate  was 
left  very  much  to  himself,  fostered  habits  of  extrava 
gance  and  other  evils.  It  was  to  remedy  this  state 
of  things  that  an  intermediate  examination,  called 
Moderations,  was  introduced,  which  has  had  the 
effect  of  remedying  many  of  the  abuses  complained 
of  under  the  old  system.  These  remarks  are  only 
intended  to  shew  the  state  of  public  feeling  when 
Mr.  Gordon  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  improve 
ment  of  the  University  Statute  then  in  operation, 
and  on  the  admission  of  poor  Scholars  to  the  Uni 
versity. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  this  publication  was 
a  memorial  on  the  subject  of  University  extension 
signed  by  a  number  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen, 
with  Lord  Sandon  (the  late  Earl  of  Harrowby)  and 
Lord  Ashley  (the  present  Earl  of  Shaftesbury)  at 
their  head.  This  object  engaged  Mr.  Gordon's  warm 
est  sympathy  ;  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  promote  it : 
and  though  there  were  doubtless  many  previous 


the  University  supported.  25 

suggestions  pointing  in  the  same  direction,  this 
pamphlet  had  the  merit  of  putting  the  question 
before  the  public  in  a  practical  form,  and  paved  the 
way  for  further  progress. 

From  the  extracts  given  below  the  reader  will 
be  able  to  see  how  much  University  legislation,  as 
it  was  afterwards  carried  out,  was  here  anticipated. 
Mr.  Gordon  begins  with  noticing  the  question  of 
the  Professors,  which  had  become  more  prominent 
in  consequence  of  a  memorial,  to  which  he  refers, 
lately  issued  by  the  professorial  body. 

As  the  same  Academical  problems  keep  constantly 
recurring  in  a  different  shape,  Mr.  Gordon's  remarks 
may  not  yet  be  out  of  date,  though  written  under 
the  old  constitution.  There  had  been  an  attempt 
to  give  the  Professors  some  connexion  with  the 
necessary  Academic  course,  by  means  of  a  regulation 
that  every  Undergraduate  should  attend  one  course 
of  Professors'  Lectures  in  "  Literee  humaniores,"  and 
one  in  "  Discipline  Mathematics  et  Physicse ;"  the 
particular  subject  and  professor  being  left  to  the 
taste  of  the  individual.  This  expedient,  however, 
did  not  find  favour  then  or  at  later  times. 

Mr.  Gordon  then  proceeds:  "The  subject,  however, 
has  not  been  allowed  to  sleep.  It  has  occupied  the 
thoughts  of  many  minds  in  and  out  of  the  Univer 
sity,  who  cannot  understand  how  there  should  be 
Professors  without  Lectures,  or  Lectures  without 
hearers;  and  an  attempt  has  lately  been  made  to 
press  it  to  a  decision,  by  a  memorial  of  the  Profes 
sors  themselves,  calling  upon  the  proper  Authorities 


26  Proposal  of  the  Memorialists. 

to  give  them  a  chance  of  doing  their  duties  to  their 
Founders  by  providing  them  with  classes.  Nothing, 
however,  can  be  more  liberal  than  the  selection  which 
these  Gentlemen  offer,  or  more  modest  than  their 
request.  They  have  enlarged  the  old  columns  by 
the  addition  of  one  or  two  other  subjects,  and,  as 
proposed  before,  will  be  satisfied  with  attendance 
on  two  Courses  of  Lectures.  Still  this  little  is  not 
granted,  and  the  subject  remains  to  exercise  the  wits 
of  University  legislators,  and  to  be  the  theme  else 
where  of  an  annual  dirge  from  a  Gentleman,  who 
having  experienced  the  feelings  of  a  speaker  without 
an  audience,  can  doubtless  enter  into  those  of  a  Pn> 
fessor  without  a  class." 

But  as  Mr.  Gordon  considered  that  the  enlargement 
of  the  University,  which  he  contemplated,  might  also 
have  a  considerable  bearing  upon  the  changes  pro 
posed  in  the  Examination  Statute,  he  draws  attention 
to  the  Memorial  from  without  the  University  already 
mentioned,  as  his  own  propositions  are  founded  upon 
its  suggestions.  The  passage  which  he  quotes  is  so 
important  in  itself,  and  is  couched  in  so  moderate 
and  judicious  language,  that  it  will  not  be  without 
interest  even  now : — 

"'The  Universities,7  say  the  Memorialists,  <  tab 
up  Education  where   our   Schools   leave  it,  yet  n< 
one  can  say  that   they  have  been  strengthened  01 
extended,    whether   for   clergy  or  laity,   in   propor 
tion  to  the  growing  population  of  the  country,  its 
increasing  empire,  or  deepening  responsibilities.     We 
are  anxious  to  suggest,  that  the  link  which  we  thus 


further  considered.  27 

find  missing '  (between  Schools  and  the  Ministry)  c  in 
the  chain  of  improvement,  should  be  supplied,  by 
rendering  Academical  Education  accessible  to  the 
sons  of  parents,  whose  incomes  are  too  narrow  for 
the  scale  of  expenditure  at  present  prevailing  among 
the  junior  members  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  and 
that  this  should  be  done  through  the  addition  of 
new  departments  to  existing  Colleges,  or,  if  necessary, 
by  the  foundation  of  new  Collegiate  Bodies.'  After 
thus  stating  their  general  views,  they  leave  the 
details  in  other  hands,  and  conclude  by  '  recording 
their  readiness,  whenever  the  matter  may  proceed 
further,  to  aid  by  personal  exertions,  or  pecuniary 
contributions,  in  the  promotion  of  a  design  which  the 
exigencies  of  the  country  so  clearly  seem  to  require.' 
I  know  not  what  may  have  been  the  fate  of  this  me 
morial,  but  I  think  that,  looking  to  the  high  rank  and 
character  of  the  Gentlemen  whose  names  appear  at 
the  end  of  it,  and  the  honourable  preference  which 
they  shew  for  our  University,  every  one  will  allow 
that  they  have  a  right  not  only  to  expect  a  courteous 
reception,  but  to  be  met  if  possible  with  free  and 
cordial  co-operation.  It  is  in  that  spirit  that  I  take 
up  the  proposition  which  these  Gentlemen  have 
made,  hoping  that  the  importance  of  it,  and  the 
necessity  of  doing  something,  will  be  some  excuse 
for  the  boldness  of  any  one  who  thinks  that  he  has 
any  thing  practicable  to  offer." 

Mr.  Gordon  takes  the  subject  of  improvement  in 
the  existing  Examination  Statute  first.  He  consi 
dered  it  to  have  been  a  cardinal  error  in  the  last 


28  Professors'*  Lectures, 

attempt  to  enforce  Professorial  teaching,  that  it  had 
no  reference  to  the  Examination  Statute.  He  thought 
that  if  Professorial  teaching  were  to  be  combined 
with  the  Tutorial,  the  Examination  Statute  must  be 
altered.  His  observations  here  depend  so  little  upon 
the  special  circumstances  of  the  time  for  their  value, 
that  they  will  commend  themselves  to  the  common 
sense  of  the  University  now,  as  they  did  when  they 
first  appeared. 

"There  is,"  he  adds,  ua  real  danger  of  all  systems 
becoming  too  systematic,  and  passing  into  stereotype ; 
with  the  perfection  of  their  form  they  begin  to  lose  their 
spirit  and  vitality,  and  require  the  re-organization 
of  their  old  elements,  or  the  infusion  of  new  ones. 

"  The  practical  question  then  which  we  have  to 
consider,  is  not  what  to  do  with  the  Professors,  but 
how  to  improve  the  Examination  Statute.  What  we 
want  is  not  to  supply  them  with  an  unwilling  au 
dience,  but  to  have  the  best  possible  system.  At 
the  same  time  I  am  persuaded,  that  the  best  system 
is  that  which  will  afford  them  the  most  useful  field 
for  their  exertions,  and  that  too  by  a  natural  con 
sequence,  and  not  by  the  force  of  legal  enactment. 
But  if  we  set  our  hearts  on  the  formation  of  classes 
for  the  Professors  as  an  end,  we  may  succeed  perhaps 
in  stimulating  the  most  harmless  of  that  tribe  to  a 
ferocity  in  lecturing  quite  alien  to  their  natures,  but 
we  shall  put  ourselves  out  of  the  way  of  all  practical 
improvement.  If  the  system  is  good,  and  the  Pro 
fessors'  Lectures  in  any  branch  of  knowledge  are 
such  as  help  the  student  on  his  way  to  distinction, 


Admission  of  poor  Scholars.  29 

they  will  be  attended  naturally  p ;  if  they  are  not  such, 
why  should  he  be  compelled  to  attend  ?  If  on  the 
other  hand  they  lie  out  of  the  course  of  the  system, 
leiny  good,  it  would  be  a  positive  evil  and  impedi 
ment  to  force  them  into  it.  I  speak  here  only  with 
reference  to  those  who  seek  distinction ;  as  to  men 
in  general,  they  would  derive  no  benefit  in  any  case 
from  such  Lectures  as  one  who  bears  the  title  of 
Professor  ought  to  give." 

The  gist  of  his  proposal  is  that  there  should  be  an 
intermediate  School  very  much  on  the  lines  of  the 
present  Moderations,  and  as  his  object  has  been 
in  all  essential  points  secured,  we  will  consider  the 
second  head  of  his  pamphlet,  in  which  he  was  equally 
successful  in  divining  the  course  of  future  legislation. 

There  had  long  been  an  uneasy  feeling  that  the 
University  had  fallen  short  of  its  duty  as  regarded 
the  admission  and  maintenance  of  poor  Scholars. 
A  comparison  of  the  then  existing  Members  of  the 
University  with  the  census  taken  in  1612,  shewed 
that  though  there  had  been  a  general  increase,  it  was 
not  at  all  in  proportion  to  the  increased  population 
and  wealth  of  the  country :  while  the  document  in 
question  "  proved  also  the  diminution,  or  rather  ex 
tinction,  of  a  class,  which  then  formed  and  ought  to 
form,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  University.  At 
that  time  there  appear  to  have  been  under  various 
names  nearly  500  poor  Scholars  (out  of  an  aggregate 
of  2,920,  including  servants)  receiving  their  education 
here :  at  present  those  who  may  be  considered  to 

s  This  is  now  the  case  as  regards  Moral  Philosophy  and  Logic. 


30  Admission  of  poor  Scholars. 

occupy  a  similar  position  are  not  fifty.  It  is  to  the 
re-introduction  of  this  class  on  a  large  scale  that  the 
Memorialists  have  referred  us,  as  the  only  way  of 
meeting  the  wants  of  the  country."  "With  this  con 
clusion  Mr.  Gordon  absolutely  agrees,  and  he  pro 
ceeds  to  discuss  the  mode  of  bringing  it  about. 

"The  Memorialists  think  the  good  they  contem 
plate  may   be   accomplished   in   two    ways — by  the 
addition  of  new  departments  to  existing  Colleges,  or 
the  foundation  of  new  ones."     To  the  last  suggestion 
Mr.  Gordon   thought   there   were   grave  objections ; 
and   these   are    stated   with    much  force  and  truth, 
and    would,    under     ordinary    circumstances,    have 
proved  fatal  to    such  a   scheme.     For  no   one   had 
a  right  to  calculate  upon  the  princely  munificence 
which  once  more  came  to  the  rescue,  and  associated 
with  an  honoured  name  the  cause  of  true  religion 
and    useful   learning,    in   some    quarters   threatened 
with  divorce.    The  splendid  exception,  perhaps,  helps 
to  establish  the  rule :  and  the  number  of  those  who 
would  formerly  have   been   excluded,  but  are   now 
admitted  to  the  benefits  of  the  University,  far  ex 
ceeds  the  modest  limit  of  three  hundred,  Mr.  Gordon's 
original  calculation  as  a  first  instalment ;    with  a  ca 
pacity,  as  he  truly  anticipated,  of  indefinite  enlarge 
ment.     His  concluding  remark  is  as  true  to-day  as  it 
was  nearly  forty  years  ago.     "I  have  supposed  the 
existence  of  three  hundred  poor  Scholars  in  the  Uni 
versity.     I  am  almost  ashamed  at  the  smallness  of 
the  number,  but  I  have  purposely  made  the  lowest 
computation.      The    good,  however,  that   would   be 


Eoyal  Commission,  1850 — "  Papal  Aggression."     31 

effected  by  acting  even  on  this  moderate  scale,  can 
not  be  represented  by  figures.  It  would  be  the 
beginning  of  a  system,  whereby  the  Church  would 
strike  its  roots  freely  into  the  subsoil  of  society, 
drawing  from  it  those  elements  of  life,  and  that 
sustenance  of  mental  and  moral  power,  without 
which  it  may  last  for  centuries  as  an  aged  trunk, 
but  will  never  flourish  as  a  tree  "  by  the  river's 
side." 

In  1850  came  the  Eoyal  Commission  for  Enquiry 
into  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Both 
the  expediency  and  legality  of  the  Commission  were 
much  debated  at  the  time,  and  the  Commission  was 
opposed  in  a  speech  of  remarkable  eloquence  by  Mr. 
Gladstone  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  July  18. 

This  eventful  year,  which  witnessed  the  death  of 
Sir  E.  Peel,  also  gave  birth  to  a  movement  popularly 
known  as  the  "  Papal  Aggression."  Upon  constitu 
tional  grounds  it  was  thought  fitting  that  the  Uni 
versity  of  Oxford  should  present  an  address  to  the 
Crown  against  this  usurpation.  A  Delegacy,  of  which 
Mr.  Gordon  was  a  member,  was  accordingly  appointed 
for  the  purpose,  and  received  by  the  Queen  at 
Windsor,  with  deputations  from  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  and  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of 
London,  on  Dec.  10.  The  excitement  on  the 
subject  gradually  died  away  after  the  passing  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Titles  Bill.  At  Oxford,  moreover,  at 
tention  was  engrossed  by  the  proceedings  of  the  Uni 
versity  Commission,  which  were  watched  with  greater 
anxiety,  as  they  took  a  more  definite  shape. 


32  Death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington. 

While  this  scheme  was  pending,  late  in  the  summer 
of  1852,  the  whole  of  Europe,  aud  it  is  no  exaggera 
tion  to  say,  the  civilized  world,  sustained  a  shock 
in  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  His  funeral 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was  a  national  solemnity 
without  parallel  before  or  since.  By  the  University 
of  Oxford,  of  which  his  Grace  had  been  Chancellor 
from  the  year  1834,  his  loss,  though  for  some  time 
anticipated,  was  not  the  less  sensibly  felt.  In  the 
Censor's  Speech  of  that  year  Mr.  Gordon  referred 
to  the  blow  which  had  fallen  upon  the  University, 
and  upon  Christ  Church  especially,  of  which  the 
Duke  was  a  member,  in  the  death  of  the  Chancellor. 
Such  an  event  called  forth  from  all  quarters  tributes 
of  the  highest  eloquence  to  the  memory  of  one  who 
had  long  been  the  chief  Pillar  of  the  State.  But  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  any  speech  delivered  on  the 
occasion  exceeded  in  force  or  dignity  that  of  which 
Mr.  Gordon  was  the  author.  It  is  cast  in  an  heroic 
mould ;  it  is  classical  in  form  and  sentiment ;  and 
hardly  bears  translation  from  the  Latin,  in  which 
Mr.  Gordon  thought  as  he  wrote.  The  part  of 
the  speech  relating  to  the  Duke  is  subjoined,  as 
evidence  that  the  oration  was  worthy  of  the  man 
in  whose  honour  it  was  composed — the  brilliant  com 
parison,  or  contrast  rather,  between  the  two  brothers, 
the  Marquis  of  Wellesley  and  the  Duke  of  Welling 
ton,  both  of  Christ  Church,  the  former  on  the  founda 
tion, — one  of  those  striking  combinations  in  which 
history  does  not  repeat  itself,  found  an  adequate 
exponent  in  the  Speaker  of  the  Day. 


Latin  Speech  33 

"  Post  multa  munera,  quibus  me  imparem  expertus 
sum,  nunquam  vires  mihi  atque  ingenium  magis 
defuisse  memini,  quam  cum  more  solemn!  ad  hanc 
orationem  elaborandam  access!.  Nam  si  domesticis 
rebus,  si  quid  sermone  exponendum  esset  aut  illus- 
trandum,  vix  aut  ne  vix  quidem  satisfeci,  quomodo 
in  pulflica  causa  et  communi  omnium  desiderio,  aut 
voluntati  meae  aut  aliorum  expectationi  respondere 
sperarem  ?  Quomodo,  quod  pra3stantissimi  viri  dicen- 
dique  peritissimi,  in  senatu  plurimisque  concionibus, 
suas  etiam  vires  superare  conquesti  sunt,  id  ego, 
omnibus  in  rebus  minor,  aut  ingenio  complecti  co- 
narer  aut  oratione  attingere  auderem  ?  Et  tamen  in 
Cancellarii  Universitatis,  et  illustrissimi  civis  hujusce 
ocdis  interitu,  aut  a  Censoria  consuetudine,  scilicet 
ut  l»3ta  et  tristia  anni  exeuntis  pro  facultate  nostra 
exponeremus,  erat  discedendum,  aut  hoc  operis  sus- 
cipiendum,  hie  obeundus  labor;  et  periclitando  for- 
tasse,  potius  quam  silendo  peccandum.  In  hoc  autem 
discrimen  eo  libentius  adductus  sum,  quod  res  militia3 
a  Cancellario  nostro  splendide  gestas,  operam  domi 
in  administranda  republica  egregie  navatam,  vestra 
omnium  venia,  majori  ex  parte  prsetermittere  licebit. 
Non  harum  credo  rationem  a  me  exigetis.  Et  tot 
profecto  tantaque  facinora  et  bellorum  miracula,  vic 
toria)  ab  acerrimis  hostibus  reportatce,  munitissima- 
rum  urbium  expugnationes,  exuvice  ducum,  exer- 
cituum  fugre  et  profligationes,  debellata  unius  viri 
Asia  atque  Europa  triumphis,  ha3C  non  nostri  ingenii 
sunt,  neque  facundioc ; 


43  on  the  Death  of 

Neque  enim  quivis  horrentia  pills 
Agraina,  vel  f'racta  pereuntes  cuspide  Gallos 

audeat  describere.  Ceterum  inter  pacis  munera, 
otiique  dulcedines,  injussa  venit  in  mentem  admira- 
bilis  ilia  triumphorum  series,  gloriseque  ilia  fere 
quotidiana  incrementa,  quse  patribus  nostris  coram 
oculis  proponebantur,  et  nobis  heereditario  jure,  fami- 
liaria  et  domestica  devenere.  Mallem  ad  vestram 
memoriam,  quam  ad  meam  ipsius  orationem  provo- 
catum ;  sed  in  ipso  Cancellarii  nostri  nomine,  non 
possumus  non  recordari,  Indiam  ab  altero  fratrum, 
quern  jure  nostrum  appellare  possumus,  adminis- 
tratam,  ab  altero  pacatam,  et  si  quid  aberat  nostris 
adjudicatum  armis,  bellum  in  Hispania  longinquum, 
et  assiduo  labore  confectum,  plurimas  acies  justo 
proelio  commissas,  signum  nunquam  receptui  datum, 
Lusitanise  arces  tanta  constantia  occupatas,  ubi  solus 
fere  atque  unicus  imperator,  molem  procellamque 
belli  contra  hostiles  impetus,  contra  opinionem  patrise, 
contra  inimicarum  partium  studia,  Fabius  alter  atque 
Africanus,  diversarum  fere  virtutum  conciliator,  cunc- 
tando  idem  atque  audendo,  sustinebat ;  tempestatem 
ab  ilia  arce  emissam,  liberatam  tandem  peregrin o 
milite  Hispaniam,  ultimam  denique  illam  dimica- 
tionem,  spoliisque  opimis  nobilitatam,  ubi  dux  sum- 
mus  summo  duci,  fortunse  filio,  si  non  arma  atque 
exuvias,  at  belli  gloriam  et  jus  victorise  toties,  usur- 
patum  detraxit,  Gallicoeque  aquilaB,  relicta  pra3da, 
nudata3  sordidatseque  profugere :  avrnruXu)  Svcryti- 
SpaKovTi.  IIa3c  inquam  non  possumus  non 


the  Duke  of  Wellington,  35 

recordari,  et  si  terrores  minasque  ejus  temporis  respi- 
ciamus,  formidines  omnium,  unius  robur,  Pindaricum 
illud  occurrit  animo  ; 

TIavpoL  Se  /3ov\€vo-ai  fyovov 

IlapTroSiov  ve(f>e\av  rpetyai  irorl  SvafJievewv  avSpwv 
Svvaroi. 


"  Sed  hcec  missa  facio.  Neque  enim  hsec  erant, 
propter  quo3  Universitati  nostroe  cum  memoria  seterni 
nominis  seipsam  consociare  placuit  ;  nee  quod  indolis 
nostree  erat,  castra  foro,  militiam  otio,  arma  toga?, 
prseponere,  aut  earn  rem  in  civitate  primam  esse, 
propter  quam  civitas  nostra  omnium  evasit  princeps, 
judicavimus.  Esto,  quod  ait  ingeniosus  poeta,  usur- 
pavit  eloquentissimus  orator,  simul  atque  novus  aliquis 
motus  bellicurn  canere  coeperit,  pelli  e  medio  sapien- 
tiam,  studia  de  manibus  excuti,  vi  geri  rem,  sperni 
oratorem,  horridum  amari  militem  ;  non  idcirco  mili- 
tari  utcunque  gloria  florentem,  qui  nos  pra3sidio  tuta- 
retur,  qusesivimus.  Qaamquam  baud  scio  an  inter 
hsec  etiam  studia  quibus  dediti  sumus,  disciplina 
nostra  a  militari  spiritu  et  bellicis  virtutibus  omnino 
abhorreat.  Saltern,  si  unus  et  alter  tantum  a  nobis 
in  castrorum  stipendia  proficiscuntur,  illud  nunquatn 
Universitati  quantacunque  flagranti  invidia  objicietur, 
aut  regi  aut  patriae  in  com  muni  periculo  defuisse  ; 
nee  opinor  in  formidolosis  temporibus,  defutura  est. 
Sed  non  bellorum  mince  eo  tempore  depellendee  erant. 
Gliscebat  civilis  furor,  pereundi  perdendique  omnia 
cupiditas,  et  legum  novandarum  insania  ;  plurimorum 
turbati  animi,  quidquid  aut  annis  venerabile  aut 

D2 


36  the  Chancellor 

experientia   probatum,    eo   ipso   nomine   contemptni 
habituin  oppugnatumque  ;  usu  veniebat  indies  illud, 


pev  vdcrai  iro\LV  teal  dty 
*  eVl  xapas  avris  eaaai  Svo-iraXes 
El  fir)  0eo9  dyefjiovecro-i  KV/3epvaTrjp 


Postulabat  itaque  Universitas,  qui  ante  alios  hoc  sibi 

desumeret,   et  vanas  hominum  libidines  ad  saniora 

concilia  revocaret.     Postulabat  Universitas  et  adhuc 

fortasse  postulat,  qui  omissa  repeteret,  desueta  instau- 

raret,  inutilia  recideret,  probata  atque  integra  tuta- 

retur.     Postulabant   omnes,    constantiae,    prudentise, 

incorruptse  fidei,  nudee  veritatis  exemplum  ;  nee  nobis 

minima3  laudi  erit,  in  eo  rerum  discrimine  ad  talis 

viri  auctoritatem  confugisse.     Memini  equidem,  nee 

facile  memoria  excidet,  quanta  pra3clarissimorum  viro- 

rum   frequentia   solemuis    ilia   inauguratio    celeb  ra- 

batur  ;  ornatissimam  theatri  speciem,  favorem  vulgi, 

adolescentium   plausus,    quorum  neminem  poenituit, 

omnium  gratulationes.     Ex  illo   die  animi  bonorum 

recreati,   spes  etiam  invitis  facta,  multis  qui  de  re 

summa  desperarant  excitata  cura,  ne   quid   amplius 

detriment!   respublica   caperet.     Nee,    si   hsec   ultra 

verum  ornare  videar,  sedecim  anni  sine  fructu  perie- 

runt.     Crescit  inter  nos  indies,  ni  fallor,  industria, 

probitas,   integritas,   constimtia   officii  memor;   et  si 

multa    adhuc   temerariis    hominum    expectationibus 

parum  respondere,  mirum  esset  profecto,  nisi  nonnihil 

harum  virtutum  Cancellarii  nostri  exemplo  deberemus. 

Nemo,  credo,  nostrum  magnificentissimis  illis  exequiis 

et  funebri  pompse  interfuit,   quin  ita  animatus  dis- 


of  the  University.  37 

cesserit,  lit  patrirc  qua?  turn  pullata  principem  civem 
supremo  comitabatur  honore,  civi  qui  patriam  ita 
unice  amaverat,  Universitati  cujus  turn  personam 
sustinebamus,  non  mediocrem  operam  et  laborem, 
sed  si  quid  ingenii  prastantius,  si  quid  virium  fortius, 
si  quid  industrial  diligentius,  impendendum  esse  fate- 
retur.  Illustri  quidem  memoria  ilia  Divi  Paulli  cedes 
insignita  et  posteris  documento  futura;  nee  temere 
erit,  in  densissima  urbe,  et  confertissima  orbis  terra- 
rum  multitudine,  inter  libera  hominum  commercia, 
et  divitiarum  contentiones,  heroas  geminos,  alterum 
ad  alterius  latus,  alterum  terra,  alterum  mari  victo- 
rem,  pares  fide  atque  officio,  qui  semel  vivi,  ut  fertur, 
consilia  de  defendenda  patria  contulerunt,  vita  jam 
defunctos,  sed  vitac  muneribus  absolutis,  duo  velut 
fulmina  belli,  extinctis  ignibus,  sopitos  conquiescere. 
Quorum  si  monumentum  quaeritis,  circumspicite,  non 
illud  tantum  laquearis  spatium  quod  summus  archi- 
tectus  hujus  olim  Universitatis  alumnus  gloriae  Dei 
Opt.  Max.  suoque  ipsius  nomini  imprudens  con- 
secravit — circumspicite  potius  Britannicum  orbem, 
immo  orbem  terrarum  egregie  factorum  testem,  et 
ingenii  cui  se  hand  invitum  subdidit,  conscium. 
yap  tTTKpavcois  iracra  777  rct^oy,  KGU  ov  (TTTjXcov 
ev  rrj  otKela  <n)fJUUV€t  tTriypa^r},  aAAa  KCU  tv 
rrj  yu,?;  TTpocrrjKOVo-rj  aypatyo?  ^vi^r)  Trap  eKaaru)  TYJS 
yvcofjLrj?  fJLaXXov  rj  rov  epyov  eitdiaiTarai. 

"Ilaud   vereor,    ne    de    viro    tanto    nimius  fuisse 
videar." 


Meanwhile  the  legislation  which  resulted  from  the 


38  The  Tutors'  Association. 

University  Commission  of  1850  was  coming  on  apace. 
At  this  critical  period  the  College  Tutors  who  had 
most  considered  the  subject,  formed  themselves  into 
an  association,  of  which  the  Eev.  W.  E.  Jelf,  Censor 
of  Christ  Church,  was  the  first  Chairman,  and  was 
on  his  retirement  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Han- 
sell,  Fellow  of  Magdalen.  The  association  held  fre 
quent  meetings  in  different  colleges  to  consider  the 
nature  of  the  changes  which  appeared  most  desirable. 
No  regular  list  of  the  whole  body  of  members  seems 
to  have  been  preserved :  but  it  may  still  interest 
some  persons  to  recall  the  names  of  those  who  served 
on  Committees  to  prepare  recommendations, — 

(1.)  On  the  extension  of  the  University. 

(2.)  On  the  Constitution  of  the  University. 

(3.)  On  the  relation  of  the  Professorial  and  Tuto 
rial  Systems. 

The  recommendations  of  these  Committees11  received 
respectful  consideration  from  persons  in  authority, 

h  The  Committee  on  (1)  consisted  of  K.  W.  Church,  Fellow  of 
Oriel  (Dean  of  St.  Paul's) ;  F.  Fanshawe,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Ex 
eter  ;  A.  W.  Haddan,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Trinity ;  W.  C.  Lake, 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Balliol  (Dean  of  Durham) ;  H.  L.  Hansel, 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  St.  John's  (late  Dean  of  St.  Paul's) ;  C.  Mar- 
liott,  Fellow  of  Oriel;  G.  Marshall,  Student  and  Censor  of  Christ 
Church  ;  D.  Melville,  late  Fellow  of  Brasenose  ;  G.  Bawlinson, 
Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Exeter  (Canon  of  Canterbury  and  Camden 
Professor) ;  S.  P.  Tweed,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Exeter;  and  E.  C. 
"VVoollcombe,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Balliol. 

On  (2),  O.  Gordon,  Student  and  Censor  of  Christ  Church ;  E. 
Espin,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Lincoln  (Chancellor  of  Chester  Diocese) ; 
W.  C.  Lake  ;  F.  Meyrick,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  Trinity ;  C.  Neate, 
Fellow  of  Oriel  (M.P.  for  Oxford  City) ;  E.  Palmer,  Fellow  and 
Tutor  of  Balliol  (Archdeacon  of  Oxford) ;  G.  Eawlinson  ;  J.  Shad- 


Mr.  Gordon  and  Mr.  Gladstone.  39 

and  were  not  without  effect  upon  the  provisions  of 
the  Act,  which  finally  passed,  as  the  result  of  the 
Commission.  That  Mr.  Gordon  did  not  always  agree 
with  the  majority  of  his  colleagues  appears  from 
a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  pri 
vately  circulated,  on  the  part  of  the  Bill  relating 
to  Christ  Church.  He  urged  the  importance  of  pre 
serving  the  continuity  of  the  Studentships,  as  some 
compensation  for  the  smallness  of  the  endowment, 
and  argued  the  question  with  great  earnestness  and 
ingenuity1.  In  this  contention,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
he  was  not  successful.  In  a  Postscript  to  this  letter 
he  mentions  his  objection  to  the  division  of  the  Heb 
domadal  Council  into  Classes.  He  would  rather  have 
had  the  election  left  free,  all  class  distinctions 
thoroughly  ignored,  and  every  person  left  simply 
to  depend  on  his  own  abilities  and  character.  "As 
it  is,"  he  adds,  "I  cannot  help  fearing  that  the  Bill 
"will  be  more  successful  in  raising  and  perpetuating 
rival  classes  than  in  adjusting  their  claims." 

If  Mr.  Gordon  was  "a  Tory  of  the  deepest  hue," 
his  toryisrn  was  shewn  in  University  questions,  by 
leading  the  van  in  the  reform  of  the  Examination 
Statute,  in  opening  the  privileges  and  prizes  of  the 
University  to  poor  Scholars,  in  extending  its  area,  and 

forth,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  University  ;  E.  Stokes,  Student  and 
Tutor  of  Christ  Church;  S.  Wayte,  Fellow  and  Tutor  and  late 
President  of  Trinity. 

On  (3),  0.  Gordon ;  W.  Hedley,  Fellow  and  Tutor  of  University ; 
W.  C.  Lake;  H.  L.  Hansel;  C.Marriott;  F.  Meyrick;  E.  Palmer; 
G.  Kawlinson. 

1  Vide  Note  at  end  of  the  Life. 


40  The  late  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 

in  endeavouring  to  sweep  away  all  restraint  upon 
the  discretion  of  electors  in  their  choice  of  represen 
tatives  to  serve  upon  the  Hebdomadal  Council. 

From  the  year  1848  to  1852  Mr.  Gordon  had 
been  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  University  as 
Examiner  and  Moderator,  and  in  1849  he  was  nomin 
ated  on  the  Board  of  Select  Preachers. 

In  1854  he  was,  as  we  have  seen,  one  of  the 
members  first  elected  on  the  Hebdomadal  Council. 
In  this  capacity  he  was  popular  by  reason  of  his 
genial  humour,  as  he  was  influential  by  his  shrewd 
ness  and  power  of  debate.  In  a  conversation  which 
the  writer  had  years  ago  with  the  late  Bishop  of 
Peterborough,  better  known  in  Oxford  as  the  ener 
getic  Master  of  Pembroke,  the  Bishop  spoke  unre 
servedly,  as  his  manner  was,  of  the  services  which 
Mr.  Gordon  had  rendered  to  the  Board. 

"Formerly,"  he  said,  "  he  had  himself  and  another 
eminent  Scholar  whom  he  named,  drafted  the  Uni 
versity  Statutes,  and  put  them  into  Latin  (a  most 
difficult  and  thankless  office),  upon  the  whole  with 
tolerable  success ;  but  when  Gordon  came  we  felt," 
he  continued,  "  he  was  the  man,  and  withdrew  in 
his  favour.  He  did  the  work  admirably.  If  any 
objection  was  raised  he  never  argued  the  point,  but 
proposed  something  to  meet  the  objection :  he  was 
never  put  out  of  temper  by  any  suggestions,  how 
ever  unreasonable,  never  at  a  loss,  and  ended  by 
silencing  the  most  captious  criticism."  Whoever 
has  succeeded  to  Mr.  Gordon's  peculiar  functions 
on  the  Board  will  probably  be  the  first  to  confess, 


Death  of  Dean  Gaisford.  41 

that  it  is  not  a  place  in  which  it  is  easy  to  give 
entire  satisfaction. 

In  1855  the  University  of  Oxford  and  the  cause 
of  Classical  Learning  had  to  lament  the  death  of 
Dean  Gaisford.  He  was  the  legitimate  successor 
of  the  Stephens,  the  Scaligers,  and  Casaubons ;  and 
with  him  the  great  line  of  European  Scholars  may 
be  said  to  have  closed.  His  powerful  understanding, 
his  strong  common  sense,  and  his  unbending  prin 
ciples,  had  great  weight  beyond  the  province  which 
he  had  made  his  own:  and  the  kindness  of  heart, 
which,  as  in  Johnson,  was  disguised  by  a  rugged 
manner,  inspired  a  deep  feeling  of  loyalty  and  affec 
tion  to  himself  personally  amongst  those  who  had  fre 
quent  access  to  his  presence.  By  Mr.  Gordon,  who 
of  all  officially  connected  with  the  Dean  probably 
stood  highest  in  his  confidence  and  regard,  the  loss 
was  most  acutely  felt  and  as  powerfully  expressed, 
and  the  audience  assembled  at  the  Censor's  Speeches 
in  Christ  Church  Hall  at  the  close  of  the  year  heard 
a  funeral  oration  worthy  of  the  best  days  of  Roman 
eloquence  pronounced  by  Osborne  Gordon  over  Thomas 
Gaisford j. 

Under  Dean  Gaisford's  successor  a  heavy  respon 
sibility  devolved  upon  Mr.  Gordon,  from  the  fact  that 
the  new  Dean  laboured  under  some  delicacy  of  health 
soon  after  his  appointment,  which  necessitated  a  re 
sidence  at  Madeira  during  two  winters,  and  the  man 
agement  of  affairs  during  his  absence  was  vested  in 
the  Sub- dean,  Archdeacon  Clerk e,  who  admirably 

J  Speech  in  Appendix. 


42  ILRJI.  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

discharged  the  duties  of  the  post  left  vacant,  with  the 
co-operation  of  the  Censors.  Happily  the  Dean's 
health  was,  after  a  short  time,  completely  re-estab 
lished;  and  he  was  enabled,  amidst  his  many  other 
avocations,  to  inaugurate  a  series  of  architectural 
restorations  and  additions  to  the  existing  fabric  con 
ceived  and  executed  in  the  spirit  of  Wolsey  himself. 

Mr.  Gordon  was  engaged  during  the  ensuing  years 
in  the  business  of  the  University,  in  the  Schools  and 
at  the  Council,  as  well  as  in  the  service  of  the  House. 

In  Michaelmas  Term,  1859,  H.E.H.  the  Prince  of 
"Wales  was  matriculated  as  a  member  of  the  Uni 
versity  of  Oxford,  and  was  entered  on  the  books  of 
Christ  Church.  H.E.H.  was  officially  recognized  as 
a  pupil  of  Mr.  Gordon,  though  the  direct  charge  of 
his  education  at  the  University  was  confided  to  Mr. 
Herbert  Fisher,  now  Vice-Warden  of  the  Stannaries. 
During  the  remaining  period  of  his  residence  at  the 
University,  and  afterwards,  Mr.  Gordon  received  re 
peated  marks  of  gracious  consideration  from  H.E.H., 
by  which  he  was  too  loyal  a  subject  not  to  be 
deeply  gratified. 

But  he  was  presently  called  away  to  what  many 
will  consider  the  more  important  labours  of  his  life. 
In  1860  he  was  presented  to  the  Eectory  of  East 
Ilampstead,  Berks,  in  the  gift  of  Christ  Church,  the 
only  Church  preferment  he  ever  held. 

It  was  a  position  which  suited  him  exactly.  He 
was  midway  between  Oxford  and  London;  he  had 
close  at  hand  parishioners  distinguished  both  in  point 
of  rank  and  refinement;  and  his  humbler  neighbours 


Mr.  Gordon  at  Easthampstcad.  43 

soon  learned  to  appreciate  the  versatile  genius  of 
the  new  Eector,  who  was  equally  at  home  with  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  The  country  round 
abounded  in  the  elements  of  good  and  varied  society, 
of  which  he  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage,  and 
to  which  he  lent  increased  lustre. 

"When,  however,  he  came  into  residence  in  the 
parish  which  was  to  be  his  home  for  twenty-two 
years,  he  found  many  and  serious  drawbacks. 

The  church  was  dilapidated;  there  was  only  a  Dame's 
School  of  the  humblest  type ;  no  habitable  parsonage ; 
and  the  Church  feeling  of  the  parish  was  at  a  very 
low  ebb,  owing  partly  to  the  infirmities  of  the  late 
Eector,  a  thorough  valetudinarian,  whose  place  had 
not  been  adequately  supplied.  Mr.  Gordon  lived  to 
see  a  church  which  for  its  noble  proportions  and 
beauty  of  decoration  has  few  competitors,  with  an 
east  window  lately  presented  as  the  gift  of  the 
Downshire  family,  executed  by  Mr.  Morris  from  the 
design  of  Mr.  Burne  Jones,  which  deserves  to  rank 
amongst  the  triumphs  of  their  art. 

The  Dame's  School  of  thirty  children,  at  most,  has 
been  succeeded  by  school  buildings  accommodating 
nearly  ten  times  that  number :  and  a  large  Eectory- 
house,  well  planned  and  well  placed,  gives  the  In 
cumbent  increased  facilities  in  his  charge  of  the 
parish.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  rapid 
summary  that  the  glebe  by  judicious  building  and 
alteration  has  been  materially  improved,  and  in  Mr. 
Gordon's  skilful  hands  was  before  long  in  a  state 
of  high  cultivation,  so  that  he  soon  became  quoted 
as  an  authority  on  agricultural  matters. 


44  Employed  in  the  Public  Service. 

But  the  material  has  been  less  than  the  moral 
change :  from  the  state  of  deadness  and  apathy, 
to  the  keen  interest  which  Mr.  Gordon's  searching 
and  powerful  sermons  created.  His  talents,  however, 
had  become  too  well  known  to  be  confined  to  the  man 
agement  of  a  country  parish.  They  were  soon  called 
into  requisition  for  the  examinations  of  the  Indian 
Civil  Service,  as  well  as  for  admission  to  the  Army. 

His  advice  was  asked  and  acted  upon  by  Government 
in  remodelling  the  arrangements  of  the  ' Britannia' 
Training  Ship :  as  he  had  also  a  chief  voice  in  deter 
mining  the  system  to  be  adopted  at  the  Naval  School 
at  Greenwich.  Mr.  Ward  Hunt,  at  the  Admiralty, 
reposed  implicit  confidence  in  Mr.  Gordon,  who  was 
always  clear-headed  and  collected;  fully  informed 
upon  the  subject  in  debate,  free  from  prejudice,  and 
careless  of  mere  clamour. 

Upon  the  election  of  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury,  in 
1869,  as  Chancellor  of  the  University,  in  succession 
to  the  late  Earl  of  Derby,  Mr.  Gordon  was  nominated 
on  the  Delegacy  appointed  to  notify  his  election  to 
the  new  Chancellor.  This  graceful  compliment  was 
paid  to  Mr.  Gordon,  though  he  had  for  some  years 
ceased  to  be  resident  of  the  University,  as  the  Tutor 
of  the  Marquis  (then  Lord  Eobert  Cecil)  during  his 
residence  at  Christ  Church :  whose  abilities  he  early 
recognized,  and  whose  future  eminence  he  foresaw. 

Mr.  Gordon's  attitude  towards  the  Education  Act 
of  1870  never  varied.  He  was  distinctly  opposed 
to  a  system  which  allowed  only  a  slight  modicum 
of  religious  instruction  in  the  Schools  under  its 
immediate  control :  and  he  never  saw  cause  to  alter 


Commission  on  the  Irish  Colleges.  45 

his  opinion.  Ecference  is  repeatedly  made  to  the 
subject  in  his  Sermons,  one  of  which,  entitled  u  The 
Great  Commandment  and  Education,"  was  published 
in  1870:  and  upon  the  election  of  Viscount  Sandon 
(the  present  Earl  of  Harrowby)  on  the  first  London 
School  Board,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  his  Lordship 
with  the  heading  "  School  Boards  and  Eeligious 
Education:"  and  the  arguments  there  advanced,  if 
not  unanswerable,  have  never,  so  far  as  appears,  been 
answered. 

In  1876,  under  Mr.  Disraeli's  Administration,  Mr. 
Gordon  was  nominated  to  act  as  Chairman,  with  two 
colleagues  and  a  Secretary,  upon  a  Commission  to 
inquire  into  the  constitution  of  the  Councils  of  the 
Queen's  Colleges  in  Ireland,  and  into  the  position 
of  the  Presidents,  Professors,  and  other  paid  officers 
of  those  Institutions. 

By  the  courtesy  of  the  present  Chief  Secretary  for 
Ireland  the  writer  has  had  placed  at  his  disposal  (1)  a 
letter  from  Sir  M.  H.  Beach,  then  Chief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  to  the  Treasury,  on  the  subject  of  the 
proposed  inquiry.  (2.)  A  letter  of  instructions  from 
Sir  M.  H.  Beach  to  the  Commissioners  on  the  scope 
and  object  of  the  inquiry.  These  important  docu 
ments  are  printed  at  length,  both  on  account  of  their 
intrinsic  value,  and  by  reason  of  the  interest  which 
has  been  revived  in  the  question :  as  also  because 
they  throw  light  upon  (3)  a  letter  from  Mr.  Henry 
Brougham  Leech,  Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and 
International  Law  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  \vho 
acted  as  Secretary  to  the  Commission,  and  has  borne 


46  Letter  of  Sir  Michael  IlicJcs- Beach 

testimony  to  Mr.  Gordon's  mode  of  dealing  with  the 
questions  brought  before  him,  in  the  following  striking 
terms. 

(Copy  of  letter  of  29th  November,  1875,  from  Sir 
Michael  Hicks-Beach  to  the  Treasury,  relative  to  the 
proposed  Committee  of  Inquiry.) 

"Dublin  Castle,  29th  November,  1875. 

"  SIR, — I  am  directed  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant  to 
acquaint  you,  for  the  information  of  the  Lords  Com 
missioners  of  Her  Majesty's  Treasury,  that  the  pre 
sent  position  of  the  Professors  of  the  Queen's  Colleges 
in  Ireland  has  recently  engaged  the  anxious  consi 
deration  of  the  Irish  Government. 

"  In  1873  a  memorial,  of  which  a  copy  is  enclosed, 
was  presented  by  the  Professors  of  the  Queen's 
Colleges  to  His  Grace's  predecessor,  Earl  Spencer, 
and  other  applications  of  the  same  kind  have  been 
made  from  time  to  time.  The  accompanying  extracts 
from  Memoranda  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Queen's 
University,  which  I  enclose  for  Their  Lordship's 
information,  explain  the  work  and  emoluments  of 
the  Professors,  and  state  some  of  the  arguments 
by  which  their  request  for  increased  stipends  may 
be  supported. 

"  His  Grace  has,  however,  hitherto  refrained  from 
specially  urging  this  subject  upon  Their  Lordships, 
because  he  has  felt  that,  following  the  precedent 
set  in  1863,  if  an  increase  in  the  stipends  of  the 
Professors  be  conceded,  it  should  at  the  same  time 
be  carefully  considered  whether  such  increase  might 


on  the  proposed  Commission  47 

not  bo  accompanied  by  such  changes  in  their  position 
and  duties  as  would  materially  augment  the  teaching 
power  of  the  whole  professorial  staff,  and  effect  im 
portant  improvements  in  the  organization  of  the 
Colleges. 

"  His  Grace  desires  me  briefly  to  refer  to  some 
important  points  of  this  nature  which  have  been 
suggested  to  him  as  deserving  consideration. 

1.  Class  Fees  to  be  abolished,  and  a  Composition  Fee  to  be 
instituted,  to  be  paid  into  Prize  Fund. 

"  1.  The  income  of  the  Queen's  Colleges'  Pro 
fessors  is  made  up  by  College  stipend,  allowance 
from  University  Chest  as  University  Examiners, 
and  Class  Fees.  At  present  a  Professor  receives 
£2  from  each  student  attending  his  instruction. 

"It  has  been  suggested  that  as  regards  these 
*  Class  Fees,'  the  present  system  might  be  advan 
tageously  modified,  by  allowing  the  Students  to  pay 
a  Composition  Fee  to  the  College,  which  should 
free  them  to  all  the  instruction  of  the  College  (ex 
cept  one  or  two  practical  courses  in  which  there 
are  special  expenses),  and  by  uniting  the  Composi 
tion  Fee  into  one  fund,  to  be  called  the  '  Prize 
Fund,'  out  of  which  every  Professor  or  licensed 
Teacher  should  be  paid  a  fixed  sum  not  exceeding 
£1  a  year  for  each  student  attending  his  class;  the 
remaining  surplus  being  divided  among  the  Pro 
fessors  and  other  officers  of  the  Colleges  according 
to  certain  fixed  rules. 

"  In  this  way  the  pecuniary  interest  which  a  Pro- 


48  on  the  Irish  Colleges. 

fessor  has  in  the  number  of  students  attending  his 
own  class  would  be  diminished,  but  not  abolished, 
while  his  pecuniary  interest  in  the  general  success 
of  the  College  would  be  increased. 

"  2.  Professors  to  be  appointed  to  Faculties  instead  of  Chairs. 

"  2.  His  Grace  has  been  advised  that  it  might 
conduce  to  the  educational  efficiencies  of  the  Colleges 
if  a  Professor  was  not  appointed  a  Professor  in  a  par 
ticular  subject,  but  simply  a  Professor  in  a  Faculty. 

"  To  illustrate  his  meaning  His  Grace  will  give 
two  instances  : — There  are  at  present  in  each  College 
two  Professors  of  Mathematics,  a  Professor  of  Pure 
Mathematics,  and  a  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy. 
If  they  were  not  so  styled  in  the  statutes  the  College 
Council  could  sanction  a  better  division  of  their 
duties  between  these  Professors.  There  are  also 
two  Professorships  respectively  of  Greek  and  Latin, 
and  it  is  very  conceivable  that  the  teaching  of  these 
languages  and  literatures  might  in  some  instances 
be  better  provided  for  than  by  giving  the  whole  of 
the  Greek  course  to  one,  and  the  whole  of  the  Latin 
course  to  another  Professor. 

"It  might  for  many  reasons  be  advisable  that 
the  Colleges  should  be  left  free  in  all  cases  of  this 
kind  to  make  the  best  practicable  arrangement  in 
their  power. 

"  3.  Appointment  of  Licensed  Lecturers  other  than  Professors. 

"3.  It  has  been  further  suggested  to  His  Grace 

that  it  would  be  also  very  desirable  that  the  College 

Councils  should  have  power  to  license   other   Lee- 


Suggestions  submitted  49 

turcrs  than  Professors;  and  that  this  power,  if 
granted,  would,  at  an  exceedingly  small  cost,  in 
crease  very  much  the  teaching  power  of  the  Colleges, 
by  enabling  the  Councils  to  introduce  into  the 
Queen's  Colleges  much  of  the  advantages  which  have 
been  found  in  Germany  to  result  from  the  addition 
of  'Extra-ordinary  Professors'  and  'Privat-Docen- 
ten '  to  the  smaller  staff  of  <  Ordinary  Professors/ 

"  Should  such  a  system  be  adopted,  it  would  of 
course  be  necessary  to  consider  how  far  the  present 
occupants  of  the  ordinary  Professorial  chairs  might 
be  entitled  to  compensation  for  the  loss  of  that 
portion  of  their  fees  which  would  go  to  the  new 
teachers,  between  whom  and  themselves  the  students 
would  be  allowed  to  choose. 

"4.  Appointment  and  Payment  of  Readers. 

"  4.  It  might  also  be  desirable  that  a  portion 
of  the  '  Prize  Fund '  should  be  set  free  for,  and  allo 
cated  to,  the  payment  of  Eeaders  who  should  assist 
the  Professors  in  getting  through  the  weekly  ex 
aminations,  correction  of  exercises,  and  other  irksome 
work. 

"  5.  There  are  other  matters  of  a  less  important 
character,  such  as  the  redistribution  of  offices,  the 
claims  of  the  Presidents  and  officers  for  increased 
remuneration,  &c.,  which  are  also  deserving  of  serious 
consideration,  but  which  His  Grace  does  not  consider 
it  necessary,  more  particularly  at  present,  to  specify. 

"  His  Grace  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  very  desirable 
to  the  interests  of  the  Queen's  Colleges  that  such 
points  as  those  above  mentioned,  together  with  the 


50  to  the  Treasury. 

claims  of  the  existing  Professors  for  increased  re 
muneration,  should  be  duly  inquired  into  and  con 
sidered  by  Her  Majesty's  Governments. 

"His  Grace  need  not  point  out  that,  while  an  im 
provement  in  the  position  of  the  Professors  would  afford 
a  favourable  opportunity  for  carrying  into  immediate 
effect  either  the  particular  suggestions  that  have  been 
made,  or  any  other  changes  of  the  same  character 
that  it  might  be  thought  advisable  to  adopt,  it  would 
be  hardly  possible,  having  regard  to  existing  rights, 
to  make  them  at  once  without  their  being  accom 
panied  by  some  corresponding  advantage  to  the  Pro 
fessors.  It  is  mainly  for  these  reasons  that  His  Grace 
wishes  the  two  questions  to  be  jointly  considered. 

"His  Grace  feels,  however,  that  without  the  in 
stitution  of  a  careful  and  searching  inquiry  upon  the 
spot,  into  the  circumstances  of  each  College,  it  would 
be  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  Her  Majesty's 
Government  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion 
upon  the  subject,  and  that  to  render  such  an  inquiry 
efficient,  it  would  be  advisable  to  obtain  the  assist 
ance  of  gentlemen  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
practical  working  of  the  professorial  and  tutorial 
system  in  other  Universities  within  the  United 
Kingdom.  He  would  therefore  suggest  to  their 
Lordships  that  two  gentlemen  connected  respectively 
with  an  English  and  Scotch  University  should  be  ap 
pointed,  together  with  the  Treasury  Eemembrancer  in 
Ireland,  as  a  Treasury  Commission  to  visit  each  College 
during  the  work  of  next  term,  and  inquire  into,  and 
report  upon,  such  points  as  may  be  referred  to  them. 


Ins  tructions  from  5 1 

"  His  Grace  trusts  that  this  matter  may  receive 
Their  Lordships'  early  consideration,  and  should 
Their  Lordships  approve  of  the  suggestion  which 
he  has  made,  he  will  be  prepared  to  specify  the 
exact  questions  which,  in  his  opinion,  should  be 
referred  to  such  Commission. 

"  I  am,  &c., 
"  (Signed)  M.  E.  HICKS-BEACH. 

"  The  Secretary, 
"  Treasury, 

«  London." 

(Copy  of  letter  of  5th  April,  187G,  from  Sir 
Michael  Ilicks-Beach,  then  Chief  Secretary  for  Ire 
land,  to  the  Eev.  Osborne  Gordon  and  the  other 
gentlemen  appointed  to  conduct  the  Inquiry  into  the 
Constitution  of  the  Councils  of  the  Queen's  Colleges 
in  Ireland,  and  into  the  position  of  the  Presidents, 
Professors,  and  other  paid  officers  of  those  Institu 
tions.) 

"  5th  April,  1876. 

"GENTLEMEN, — The  inquiry  which  the  Treasury 
have  consented  to  institute,  and  which  you  have 
kindly  undertaken  to  conduct,  has  reference  to  the 
constitution  of  the  Councils  of  the  Queen's  Colleges 
in  Ireland,  and  to  the  position  of  the  Presidents, 
Professors,  and  other  paid  officers  of  those  Institu 
tions. 

'The  principal  points  suggested  to  you  for  inquiry 
are  the  following  : — 

"(«•)  Whether  the  constitution  of  the  Councils 

E  2 


52  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach 

of  the  Queen's  Colleges  could  be  altered  with  advan 
tage  to  these  Institutions. 

"(£.)  Whether  the  present  mode  of  appointing  to 
offices  in  the  Queen's  Colleges  admits  of  improvement. 

"  (c.)  Whether  any  better  distribution  of  the  work 
of  teaching  can  be  effected  than  at  present. 

"  1.  By  a  better  distribution  of  the  work  among 
the  Professors  themselves. 

"  2.  By  permitting  the  College  Councils  to  license 
Lecturers  in  addition  to  the  Professors. 

"  3.  By  assigning  chairs  to  future  Presidents. 

"  4.  By  employing  Eeaders  to  assist  the  Professors 
in  their  less  important  duties. 

"  (d.)  Whether  the  remuneration  of  the  Presidents, 
Professors,  and  other  officers  of  the  College  is  suf 
ficient,  and  if  not,  to  what  extent,  and  in  what  way 
it  should  be  increased,  and  whether  there  are  any 
redundant  Professorships,  the  suppression  or  consoli 
dation  of  which  might  be  effected  without  injury  to 
the  Colleges. 

"(<?.)  Whether  the  arrangement  in  regard  to  class 
fees  admits  of  improvement. 

u(/.)  In  the  event  of  any  changes  being  recom 
mended,  what,  if  any,  arrangements  would  be  neces 
sary  to  secure  the  rights  of  existing  officers. 

"  I  need  not  enter  into  details  upon  these  points 
beyond  placing  in  your  hands  copies  of  the  Act 
under  which  the  Queen's  Colleges  were  founded, 
and  of  the  Charter  of  the  Queen's  University,  and 
also  a  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  by  me  to  the 
Treasury  on  the  29th  of  November  last. 


to  the  Commissioners.  53 

"  As  regards,  however,  the  concluding  subject  of 
inquiry  under  heading  (*/),  the  Lord  Lieutenant  is 
anxious  to  invite  your  attention  to  the  reductions 
and  amalgamations  that  have  been  already  effected 
in  the  Professorships. 

"Any  further  information  you  may  desire,  and 
which  His  Grace  has  in  his  possession,  shall  of  course 
be  placed  at  your  disposal ;  and  the  Presidents,  Pro 
fessors,  and  other  officers  of  the  Colleges  will  be 
directed  to  afford  you  every  information  and  assist 
ance  in  their  power,  and  to  furnish  you  with  any 
returns  you  may  require  either  before  or  during 
your  inquiry  into  each  College. 

"  I  have  to  add  that  the  Lord's  Commissioners 
of  Her  Majesty's  Treasury  have  been  pleased  to 
approve  of  the  appointment  of  a  Secretary  to  assist 
you,  and  that  His  Grace  will  communicate  to  you, 
with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  the  name  of  the 
gentleman  selected  by  him  for  the  post. 

"I  have,  &c. 
"  (Sd.)  M.  E.  HICKS-BEACH. 

"  The  Rev.  Osborne  Gordon,  B.D., 
G.  J.  Allman,  M.D.,  L.L.D.,  F.R.S., 
and  II.  H.  Murray,  Esq.,  fyc.t  fyc." 

(Copy  of  letter  from  Mr.  Henry  Brougham  Leech, 
Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and  International  Law 
in  the  University  of  Dublin,  to  the  Under  Secretary 
for  Ireland.) 

"49  Rutland-Square,  Dub/in,  24th  July,  1884. 
"DEAR   SIR  EGBERT    HAMILTON, — In    compliance 
with  the  wish  of  the  Chief  Secretary  conveyed  to  me 


54  Letter  from 

through  Mr.  F.  J.  Cullinan,  in  relation  to  the  Com 
mission  upon  the  Queen's  Colleges  which  was  pre 
sided  over  by  the  Eev.  Osborne  Gordon,  I  write 
a  short  account  of  our  proceedings  therein.  The 
Commission  which  was  issued  in  April,  1876,  was 
composed  of  Mr.  Gordon  as  Chairman,  Dr.  G.  F. 
Allman,  now  Sir  George  Allman,  F.E.S.,  who  has 
since  held  the  office  of  President  of  the  British 
Association,  and  Mr.  Herbert  Murray,  then  Treasury 
Eemembrancer  in  Ireland :  and  I  was  appointed  their 
Secretary.  The  Commission  dealt  with  various  edu 
cational,  medical,  and  financial  questions  connected 
with  the  Colleges,  each  of  these  departments  being 
specially  represented  by  the  three  gentlemen  named 
as  Commissioners,  while  the  Chairman  was  the 
guiding  spirit  of  the  whole,  as  indeed  he  was  ad 
mirably  suited  to  be  from  his  large  and  varied 
experience  of  educational  organization  in  all  its 
branches. 

"  We  started  for  Belfast  in  the  last  week  of  April, 
and  sitting  for  nearly  a  week  in  each  of  the  three 
colleges,  took  the  evidence  of  the  Presidents,  and 
Professors,  and  other  College  officers,  and  inspected 
the  libraries  and  museums.  On  returning  to  Dublin 
about  the  middle  of  May,  we  heard  some  further 
witnesses,  and  then  adjourned  in  order  to  give  time 
for  the  printing  of  the  evidence  and  its  consideration, 
arranging  to  meet  in  London  for  the  purpose  of 
drawing  up  the  Eeport.  This  meeting  took  place 
in  the  month  of  July,  and  we  were  so  occupied  for 
about  three  weeks. 


Mr.  II.  Brougham  Leech,  55 

"The  Ecport  was  compiled  in  the  following  man- 
ncr :  its  main  portion  was  drafted  by  me,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  instructions  of  the  Commissioners, 
which  were  so  clear  and  precise  as  to  make  my  task 
a  very  easy  one.  Subject  to  the  exceptions  presently 
to  be  mentioned,  these  instructions  were  given  by 
Mr.  Gordon.  And  it  was  in  doing  this  that  he 
aroused  the  admiration  of  his  colleagues  and  myself, 
by  his  complete  mastery  of  the  subject  and  the  sur 
prising  facility  and  skill  with  which  he  handled  so 
considerable  a  mass  of  materials.  Taking  up  each 
topic  of  inquiry  in  its  turn,  he  noted  down  rapidly 
on  a  sheet  of  paper  an  abstract  of  his  views,  stating 
them  as  he  went  along,  and  arranging  them  in  the 
most  precise  and  logical  order.  There  was  practically 
no  difference  of  opinion  while  this  was  being  done, 
though,  of  course,  some  of  the  points  were  afterwards 
discussed  at  considerable  length.  It  was  then  my 
duty  to  write  upon  the  subject,  of  which  the  abstract 
was  thus  drawn  up,  and  on  the  following  day 
what  I  had  written  was  discussed  and  amended,  and 
a  further  abstract  of  the  next  topic  produced  in  the 
same  rapid  and  masterly  fashion.  This  process  went 
on  from  day  to  day  until  the  work  was  completed. 
I  endeavoured,  of  course,  to  keep  strictly  within  my 
instructions,  and  the  heads  of  the  several  subjects 
thus  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Gordon  being  so  complete 
and  clear,  the  result  was  that  not  much  amendment 
was  in  general  required.  In  one  or  two  cases,  as, 
for  instance,  in  reference  to  the  question  whether  the 
President  of  the  College  should  hold  a  chair,  the 


5G  Secretary  to  the  Commission. 

Commissioners  merely  stated  to  me  their  opinion, 
and  left  me  to  work  it  out ;  but  the  larger  portion 
of  the  Eeport  was  drawn  up  as  I  have  described,  and 
was  thus  mainly  the  work  of  the  Chairman.  The 
part  of  the  Eeport  which  deals  with  the  medical 
branch  of  the  inquiry,  and  the  subjects  therewith 
connected,  was  wholly  the  work  of  Sir  George  All- 
man,  and  the  financial  tables  and  statements  in  refer 
ence  thereto  were  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Murray. 

"  I  cannot  refrain  from  adding  a  personal  tribute. 
I  shall  always  gratefully  remember  Mr.  Gordon's 
kindness  to  myself,  both  during  the  time  we  were 
engaged  upon  this  work,  and  as  expressed  in  the 
communications  which  I  have  received  from  him 
since.  It  is  no  small  privilege  to  have  counted  such 
a  man  among  one's  friends. 

"  I  remain,  &c., 
"(Sd.)  H.  BROUGHAM  LEECH. 

"Sir  Robert  Hamilton,  K.C.R, 
Under  Secretary  for  Ireland." 

In  reference  to  this  and  other  unpaid  services 
which  Mr.  Gordon  rendered  to  the  State,  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach  makes  the  following  comment,  which 
will  be  generally  admitted  to  be  alike  pertinent  and 
just: — 

"What  strikes  me  about  his  career  is,  that 
he  did  not  seek  prominence,  or  work :  but  that  he 
did  with  remarkable  ability,  and  with  great  pains, 
what  came  to  his  hand.  If  he  was  not  called  on  to 
do  more  and  higher  work  was  he  to  blame  ?  " 

In  the  year  after  the  issuing  of  this  Commission, 


Mr.  Gordon  University  Commissioner.  57 

in  1877,  ho  was  invited  by  Mr.  Cross,  then  Homo 
Secretary,  to  supply  the  place  of  Mr.  Justice  Grove 
on  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for  the  University 
of  Oxford,  engaged  in  revising  the  Statutes  and 
Ordinances  of  the  several  Colleges :  and  upon  this 
Commission  he  continued  to  serve  till  its  work  was 
finished.  lie  was  much  gratified  by  this  appoint 
ment,  and  devoted  his  best  energies  to  a  subject  upon 
which  he  was  so  well  qualified  to  advise.  Though  it 
is  known  that  he  did  not  always  agree  with  the  con 
clusions  of  the  Board,  he  always  spoke  in  the  highest 
terms  of  the  public  spirit  and  consideration  for  the  Uni 
versity  shewn  by  his  Colleagues  in  their  arduous  task. 

Not  long  after  the  lamented  death  of  Professor 
Henry  Smith,  one  of  the  Commissioners,  which  took 
place  in  February,  1883,  Mr.  Gordon,  in  the  course 
of  conversation  with  the  writer,  expressed  the  high 
est  admiration  for  Mr.  Smith's  exalted  character, 
dwelling  particularly  on  his  candour,  rectitude  of 
judgment,  and  liberality  of  sentiment,  with  his  own 
deep  feeling  of  regret  at  his  loss. 

lie  was  soon  to  follow.  His  constitution  had  been 
more  impaired  for  some  years  past  than  his  friends 
in  general  had  at  all  suspected.  For  who  could 
detect  any  trace  of  bodily  weakness  or  decay  while 
he  was  under  the  spell  of  that  vigorous  and  active 
intellect  ? 

A  painful  circumstance  which  had  occurred  in  his 
own  household  some  time  before  had  weighed  heavily 
upon  his  spirits,  and  may  not  have  been  without 
its  effect  in  hastening  his  end.  A  boy  in  his  service, 


58  His  failing  health 

in  whom  he  had  taken  great  interest,  and  whom  he 
had  kept  in  his  employment  long  after  most  persons 
would  have  parted  with  him,  had,  from  some  per 
versity  of  temper  or  mental  defect,  been  at  last 
unavoidably  discharged.  The  poor  lad  left  his 
master's  presence,  wished  his  fellow-servants  a 
hurried  good-bye,  rushed  to  his  own  room  and 
shot  himself.  To  Mr.  Gordon,  the  most  tender 
hearted  and  considerate  of  men  to  all  about  him, 
this  was  a  frightful  blow,  from  which  it  is  probable 
he  never  quite  recovered.  He  did  not  sleep  for  three 
nights ;  he  shrunk  from  observation :  and  when  he 
was  prevailed  upon  to  keep  a  long-standing  engage 
ment  at  Milton,  was  on  his  arrival  utterly  prostrate. 

It  was  plain  that  his  whole  system  had  received 
a  violent  shock  k. 

Yet  in  the  week  preceding  his  death  Mr.  Gordon 
had  been  enjoying  at  his  own  house  the  society  of 
those  nearest  and  dearest  to  him,  and  the  hospi 
tality,  of  which  we  have  heard,  ran  its  genial  round, 

k  The  last  time  that  the  writer  saw  Mr.  Gordon  in  his  own  home 
was  in  December,  1882,  when,  in  company  with  the  learned  and 
accomplished  Master  of  Wellington  College,  he  went  over  to  East- 
hampstead  one  dismal  afternoon  to  see  him.  There  had  been  a  fall 
of  snow,  several  inches  deep,  overnight,  but  at  some  distance  from 
his  house,  near  the  church,  they  met  Mr.  Gordon  on  his  way  to 
the  school.  He  looked,  as  they  thought,  worn  and  aged,  but  turned 
back  with  his  visitors,  and  welcoming  them  with  his  wonted  cor 
diality  and  cheerfulness,  entertained  them  with  a  packet  of  corre 
spondence  just  received  from  Town,  in  a  tone  that  quite  dispelled 
any  misgivings  on  the  score  of  health  in  the  writer's  mind. 
He  is  afraid  that  he  sunk  several  degrees  in  his  companion's  esti 
mation  by  his  unrestrained  amusement  at  Mr.  Gordon's  humourous 
comments. 


and  death,  May  25,  1883.  59 

heightened  and  enlivened  by  a  fund  of  anecdote 
and  brilliancy  of  conversation  which  never  failed : 
when  almost  with  the  departure  of  the  last  guest 
the  candle  burned  low  in  the  socket,  and  the  friends 
who  had  left  their  host  in  the  full  flow  and  exu 
berance  of  his  playful  fancy  were  summoned  back 
in  haste  to  a  darkened  chamber  and  a  dying  bed. 

The  end  came  so  fast  that  very  many  of  his  large 
circle  of  acquaintances  were  for  some  time  unaware  of 
the  loss  which  they  had  sustained  :  and  under  the  cir 
cumstances  the  assemblage  by  his  grave  in  Easthamp- 
stead  Churchyard  on  the  Wednesday  following  his 
death  was  not  less  remarkable  for  the  number  and 
distinction  of  the  mourners,  than  for  the  deep  feeling 
by  which  all  present,  parishioners  and  non-parishioners, 
were  moved.  Mr.  Gordon  died  on  Friday,  May  25, 
1883.  A  Funeral  Sermon  preached  in  Easthamp- 
stead  Church  on  the  Sunday  following  (June  3)  by 
his  old  and  attached  friend  and  former  pupil,  the 
Eev.  E.  Godfrey  Faussett,  paints  Mr.  Gordon  to  the 
life,  and  will  supply  the  defects  of  this  sketch. 

"With  diffidence  I  speak  to  you  of  that  dear 
friend,  with  whose  memory  your  hearts  are  full ; 
who  for  nigh  a  quarter  of  a  century  past  has  walked 
with  you  here  in  this  house  of  God.  Suddenly  his 
Master  has  called  him  to  his  rest ;  and  for  us,  weak 
mortals  as  we  are,  the  shock  of  separation  seems  all 
too  fresh  for  words.  Something,  too,  I  bear  in  mind, 
how  repugnant  it  was  to  his  own  characteristic  deli 
cacy  of  nature,  as  well  as  to  (what  I  may  call)  his 
sober,  reverential  habit  of  mind,  that  aught  so  sacred, 


GO  Funeral  Sermon 

so  inscrutable,  as  the  life  of  a  servant  of  Christ, 
should  be  submitted  to  the  rude  analysis  of  an  erring 
human  hand.  The  secrets  of  the  heart  are  for  the 
most  part  '  unspeakable  words ; '  they  may  not,  and 
cannot  be  uttered.  "While  God  alone  discerns  our 
spirits,  our  estimates  of  each  other  must  needs  be 
at  best  superficial — well  for  us  if  they  be  not  pre 
sumptuous  also. 

"  I  will  try,  then,  to  recount  to  you  some  of  those 
outward  marks  and  traits  which  seem  to  me  best 
calculated  to  illustrate  the  character  of  our  friend. 

"  I  look  back  to  the  University,  which  he  served 
and  adorned  to  the  last,  and  where  the  best  years 
of  his  life  were  spent,  and  I  see  a  man  gifted  with 
so  clear  and  capacious  an  intellect,  that  he  bore  off 
with  ease  the  chief  prizes  of  his  day,  and  (apparently 
without  effort)  assimilated  to  himself  knowledge  in 
all  its  branches,  such  as  cost  others  of  more  than 
average  ability  years  of  laborious  study  to  acquire, 
yet  who  was  of  so  generous  and  unassuming  a  dis 
position,  that  he  never  despised  another's  ignorance 
or  stupidity,  nor  asserted  a  superiority  of  which  he 
must — but  seemed  not  to — have  been  conscious. 

11 1  see  a  man  of  so  happy  and  genial  a  nature, 
that  he  was  ever  the  welcomest  of  the  welcome  in 
the  society — even  of  the  youngest,  towards  whom 
indeed  his  own  fresh  sympathies  seemed  in  an  es 
pecial  manner  to  attract  him ;  but  who,  while  he 
could  laugh  unreservedly  with  the  merriest  lad  among 
them,  never  tolerated  an  excess,  or  a  profanity,  in 
deed  or  in  word. 


in  East  Ilampstcad  Church,  61 

"  I  sec  a  man  who,  apart  from  his  powers  of  conver 
sation  and  vast  range  of  knowledge  of  men  and  things, 
possessed  so  keen  a  sense  of  humour,  so  sparkling 
and  ready  a  wit,  that  his  presence  in  his  '  common- 
room,'  or  at  the  table  of  his  co-evals,  was  always  the 
centre  and  life  of  the  party,  but  who  was  never  known 
to  utter  an  ill-natured  word,  nor  do  I  think  he  ever 
harboured  an  unkind  thought. 

"  Once  more — I  see  the  same  man  sitting  with  one 
or  another  apart,  conversing  on  the  most  solemn 
subjects  that  can  engross  the  heart  of  man — subjects 
to  which  he  would  pass  from  some  topic  of  transient 
interest,  almost  without  change  of  tone — simply, 
naturally,  readily,  as  if  [not  as  if,  but  because]  his 
heart  was  always  so  attuned  to  reverence  that  he  was 
scarcely  conscious  of  the  transition.  At  such  times 
he  has  done  more  (I  say  it  advisedly)  to  confirm  the 
waverer,  to  reclaim  the  wanderer,  to  clear  away  the 
doubts  (it  may  be)  of  (so-called)  intellectual  scepti 
cism,  than  any  other  man  could  do.  He  spoke  always 
from  the  deepest  conviction — the  conviction  of  a  man 
devoid  of  bias  or  bigotry.  The  vast  resources  (not 
of  his  learning  only,  but)  of  his  original  independent 
thought,  were  at  the  command  of  any  enquirer ;  and 
his  <  counsel '  was  '  sweet.' 

u  Looking  back  now  along  the  vista  of  years, 
I  recognize  a  character  of  rare  harmony  and  beauty. 
I  think  he  was  kinder  than  most  men  who  are  kind. 
I  think  he  was  truer  and  more  real  than  most  men 
who  are  true  and  real.  Ostentation,  affectation,  had 
absolutely  no  part  in  him.  I  have  passed  over  his 


62  ty  the  Rev.  R.  Godfrey  Faussett. 

public  work,  the  many  valuable  services  which  he 
rendered  to  his  University,  and  to  the  House  to 
which  he  was  attached.  These  are  matters  of  fame 

no  need  that  I  should  dilate  upon  them  here.     It 

is  not,  it  never  is,  upon  such  monuments  that  we 
read  the  true  epitaph  of  the  man.  Often  his  friends 
(and  he  had  many  friends,  how  could  it  be  other 
wise  ?)  have  grudged  for  him  that  he  was  not  called 
to  higher  place  and  dignity.  His  versatility  adapted 
him  for  any  place;  his  ability  for  the  highest.  It 
pleased  God  to  will  it  otherwise.  And  yet,  humanly 
speaking,  we  may  acknowledge,  I  think,  that  his 
virtues  themselves  tended  rather  to  hold  him  back 
from  promotion.  He  was  too  large-hearted  to  narrow 
his  sympathies  to  sect  or  party ;  too  honest  to  wear 
the  livery  of  this  or  that  popular  enthusiasm  of 
which  (though  none  more  ready  than  he  to  recognize 
the  merits)  his  judgment  recoiled  from  the  extrava 
gancies. 

"  Which  of  us  now  could  wish  his  life  to  have 
been  other  than  it  was  ?  Not  you,  my  friends,  I  dare 
assert ;  for  though  I  know  but  little  of  what  his  work 
was  here,  knowing  the  man,  I  do  not  doubt  he  won 
your  hearts.  Think  of  him  as  he  was,  the  wise,  the 
true,  the  kind,  and  thank  God  with  me  that  his  lot 
was  cast  with  yours.  You  have  often  listened  to 
his  voice,  listen  to  it  still ;  ( being  dead,  he  speaketh.' 
He  seems  to  bid  us  now  to  sorrow  neither  for  him 
nor  for  ourselves ;  but  remembering  him  as  he  was, 
and  as  he  is,  to  lift  our  hearts  upwards  from  a  world 
which  is  fast  slipping  away  beneath  our  feet." 


Poem  by  the  Rev.  E.  St.  John  Tynvhitt.         G3 

The  following  lines,  also  by  an  old  and  dear  friend 
and  pupil  of  Mr.  Gordon,  the  Eev.  E.  St.  John  Tyr- 
whitt,  a  name  well  known  in  literature  and  art,  breathe 
the  very  spirit  of  the  time  and  place  :— 

"  WITH  its  familiar  clinking  sound 

The  rectory-gate  behind  me  fell  : 
Some  honied  drops  and  scented  snows 
From  faint  rich  May  and  guelder-rose 

Down-rustling,  broke  the  silent  spell 
Of  that  remembered  ground  : 
Through  masses  of  dark  forest-green 

All  brown  and  scarlet,  brick  and  tile, 
The  house  stood  rich  and  warm  between — 

A  pleasant  place,  a  little  while. 

"  Sagaciously  at  ease  they  fed, 

With  dewlaps  deep  in  summer  grass, 
Those  well-bred,  well-contented  kine  : 

They  raised  no  head,  but  let  one  pass, 
And  never  stirred  their  social  line. 
The  grey  cob  shook  his  head, 
And  fretted  gently  in  his  stall ; 

His  friend  the  keen  fox-terrier  straved 

To  find  the  hand  he  best  obeyed, 
And  listened  for  a  silent  call. 

"  But  all  within  was  hushed  and  dark, 

And  women  wept,  and  men  looked  grim, 
And  in  a  dread  and  darkened  room 
Mine  old  best  friend  lay  stiff  and  stark. 
'Mid  sickening  scents  and  daylight  gloom 
I  kissed  the  lips  of  him  ; 
Had  we  known  that  in  strength  and  pride, 
When  therefrom  truth  and  learning  came, 
And  humour  bicker'd  forth  like  flame- 
Should  we  have  laughed  or  sighed  ? 


64  Letter  to  an  old  Pupil. 

"  On  the  old  study- table  lay 

An  empty  album,  which  had  held 
Quaint  photographs  of  many  a  friend 

Far  fled  and  scattered,  need-compelled — 
Priest,  soldier,  scholar — all  away. 
Love  here  hath  but  its  day, 
And  comes  like  life  with  morn  and  sun : 

Till  the  new  earth  and  the  new  heaven 

Hold  all  the  choir  of  the  Forgiven, — 
Till  Love  make  All  the  mystic  One." 

In  further  illustration  of  Mr.  Gordon's  character 
the  following  letter  is  subjoined ;  it  was  written  to  an 
old  pupil  who  had  been  led  astray,  in  the  hope  that 
he  might  recover  himself;  and  in  its  measured  and, 
temperate  language  is  a  model  of  dignified  and  kindly 
remonstrance  :— 

"  Easthampstead  Rectory,  Bracknell,  Sept.  6. 

c<  DEAR  MR. I  have  read  your  sad  account  of 

yourself,  of  which  I  will  only  say  I  do  not  quite 
understand  the  points  or  also  the  report  of  the  trial. 
It  gave  me  great  pain  to  think  that  one  of  whom 
I  once  thought  so  well  had  fallen  so  low.  I  fear 
your  life  for  months  past  has  not  been  reputable, 
certainly  not  consistent  with  the  profession  to  which 
you  once  devoted  yourself.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  re 
proach  you ;  I  would  much  rather  comfort  and  assist 
you.  Yours  is  an  advanced  age  to  make  a  fresh  start 
in  life,  but  you  still  may  have  many  years  during 
which  you  may  redeem  some  of  the  time.  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  there  are  elements  of  good  in  your 
character,  which  may  germinate  and  bring  forth  fruit. 
But  you  must  be  prepared  for  a  hard  struggle ;  I  trust 


Letter  of  Rev.  E.  II.  Whinyates.  65 

you  will  meet  it,  with  God's  grace  to  help  you, 
bravely.  I  assure  you  nothing  would  give  me  greater 
pleasure  than  to  hear  that  you  were  in  the  way  of 
re-establishing  yourself;  and  if  you  had  any  occa 
sion  to  refer  any  one  to  me  I  should  speak  truthfully 
but  kindly  of  you  as  I  now  feel.  I  send  you  a  token 
of  good-will,  and  I  wish  it  was  larger.  Perhaps  it 
will  be  some  comfort  on  your  voyage  to  know  that 
you  carry  with  you  even  the  good-will  of  one  who 
knew  you  in  happier  days. 

"  Believe  me, 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"  0.  GORDON." 

All  must  hope  that  an  appeal  to  the  better  nature 
urged  with  so  much  truth  and  delicacy  has  not  failed 
of  its  effect. 

The  Eev.  E.  H.  Whinyates,  his  fellow-worker  for 
eighteen  years,  says,  u  During  the  eighteen  years  we 
were  together  I  never  saw  him  once  out  of  temper,  and 
never  heard  him  say  a  harsh  unkind  thing  of  man, 
woman,  or  child.  The  unconscious  secret  influence 
he  exerted  on  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact 
was  most  remarkable ;  he  lived  but  to  do  good,  and 
had  especial  influence  over  the  young  in  his  parish, 
and  whenever  he  could  was  most  zealous  in  promoting 
their  future  welfare.  I  have  been  much  struck  on 
this  my  first  visit  to  East  Hampstead  since  his  death 
to  find  how  his  influence  is  still  a  pervading  power, 
and  how  generally  his  loss  is  deplored  both  by  high 
and  low." 

Mr.  Gordon's  "  Short  Method  "  with  Parish  Coun- 

F 


66  Occasional  Speeches. 

cils  at  a  Diocesan  Conference  in  the  Theatre  at  Oxford 
created  much  amusement  at  the  time,  and  put  an  end 
very  opportunely  to  a  wearisome  discussion.  His 
plan,  recommended  by  an  invariably  successful  ex 
perience  in  his  own  case,  was  to  choose  the  hour 
most  convenient  for  all  parties,  that  of  luncheon,  and 
at  the  right  moment  to  propound  the  burning  question 
of  the  day,  generally  of  a  financial  nature,  to  his  host, 
and  always  with  the  happiest  results. 

None  who  were  present  at  a  dinner  given  to  Mr. 
Ward  Hunt  by  his  personal  friends  on  his  appoint 
ment  to  be  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  can  ever 
forget  the  exquisite  ease  and  address  with  which 
Mr.  Gordon,  on  rising  to  speak,  caught  the  feeling 
of  the  hour,  and  with  apt  allusion  and  impromptu 
strokes  of  wit,  in  a  vein  of  subtle  and  half-uncon 
scious  irony  held  up  the  glass  to  many-coloured  life. 
The  graceful  eloquence  of  the  Chairman  (Lord  Duf- 
ferin),  a  private  friend  and  political  opponent  of 
Mr.  Hunt,  threw  an  additional  charm  over  a  meet 
ing,  the  like  of  which  too  rarely  recurs. 

But  Mr.  Gordon  was  quite  as  much  in  his  element 
with  country  gentlemen,  and  tenant-farmers,  as  with 
Peers  and  Privy  Councillors,  or  congressional  laymen 
and  divines.  At  an  agricultural  dinner  at  which 
he  was  called  upon  to  acknowledge  the  toast  of  the 
Bishop  and  Clergy  of  the  Diocese,  his  health  was 
proposed  by  Mr.  Price,  himself  an  eminent  agricul 
turalist,  as  being  "  not  only  a  Clergyman,  but  an  agri 
culturalist:  who  farmed  to  a  great  extent,  and  very 
successfully/'  Mr.  Gordon  spoke  with  his  usual 


Fondness  for  Animals.  67 

point  and  humour;  but  his  speech  dealt  too  much 
with  local  topics  to  be  admitted  here. 

He  found  a  congenial  occupation  in  observing 
every  form  of  animal  life.  The  habits  and  peculi 
arities  of  wild  creatures  were  a  constant  study  with 
him :  and  any  exhibition  of  high  courage  in  man 
or  beast  won  his  admiration.  "  He  had  a  favour 
ite  black  mare,  whose  vicious  tricks,"  says  Mr. 
Faussett,  "  were  a  source  of  absolute  delight  to  him, 
though  he  was  totally  devoid  of  any  conceit  as  to 
being  able  to  ride  her."  Some  bull-terriers,  which 
afterwards  came  to  a  befitting  end  in  Canada,  with 
their  teeth  set  in  a  stranger's  bullock- cart  wheels, 
were  special  favourites  with  him,  from  their  spirit 
and  tenacity. 

The  fragments  of  his  conversation  lying  about  give 
but  a  faint  idea  of  its  freshness  and  originality. 
When  a  pupil  on  the  eve  of  examination  lamented 
his  ignorance  of  the  details  of  History,  he  was  con 
soled  with  the  remark,  that  he  would  not  be  hampered 
by  facts. 

He  asked  a  youth  whose  conceit  had  led  to  his 
failure  in  the  Schools,  "  How  came  you  to  be  plucked 
for  your  Little-go,  Mr.  A.  ?" 

"They  examined  me  in  such  trifles,  such  trifles, 
Sir,  such  trifles  (crescendo)" 

"  Trifles  to  know,  but  not  trifles  to  be  ignorant  of, 
Mr.  A.,"  was  the  unanswerable  rejoinder. 

When  his  milkman  wanted  help  to  replace  a  cow 
that  had  died  of  feeding  on  a  Mackintosh  cape  which 
did  not  agree  with  her,  he  pointed  out  that  her  diet 


68  OUter  dicta. 

had  not  had  the  effect  of  making  her  milk  waterproof. 
When  a  lame  and  unintelligible  story  came  from  some 
members  of  a  certain  learned  Society  in  Oxford,  he 
observed  that  they  had  such  an  idea  of  their  intellect 
that  nothing  they  could  understand  was  good  enough 
for  them.  He  spoke  of  a  certain  set  of  men  whose  de 
sire  for  peace  was  so  strong  that  they  were  ready  to 
rush  into  a  general  war  to  preserve  it.  He  quoted 
the  dictum  of  an  eminent  friend  as  generally  true, 
that  any  man  who  had  wit  enough  to  gain  any  posi 
tion  had  usually  wit  enough  to  keep  it.  Or  to 
take  as  equivalent  to  many  lighter  remarks  one  more 
serious.  "  Some  of  the  most  conceited  persons  I  have 
ever  known  have  been  those  who  have  suddenly 
changed  their  opinions,  because  they  have  been 
unable  to  answer  a  novel  argument  adduced,  as  if 
others  could  not.  In  several  cases  the  particular 
argument  was  of  no  real  value  whatever." 

But  the  result  in  all  such  cases  is  akin  to  disap 
pointment. 

The  subtle  essence  of  genuine  humour  is  as  eva 
nescent  and  impalpable  as  the  aroma  of  a  flower, 
or  the  spray  on  the  crest  of  the  wave.  It  dies  at 
its  birth.  The  stars  of  such  rulers  of  society  and 
masters  of  debate  as  the  late  Earl  of  Derby,  Bishop 
Wilberforce,  and  Dean  Stanley,  already  begin  to  pale} 
and  the  next  generation  will  ask  wherein  lay  the 
secret  of  their  marvellous  personal  ascendency.  So 
is  it  with  men  less  prominent,  but  not  perhaps  less 
able.  We  retain  the  tradition  of  their  power  and 
brilliancy,  but  have  lost  the  evidence. 


His  religious  convictions  69 

Such  illustrations,  however,  might  be  multiplied 
to  any  extent ;  but  this  Memoir  is  only  intended  to 
serve  as  an  Introduction  to  the  Sermons  which  are 
the  real  object  of  the  publication, — that 'those  who 
were  not  personally  acquainted  with  the  Author 
may  know  what  manner  of  man  he  was:  that  his 
profound  belief  in  revealed  truth  and  in  every  word 
of  God  did  not  proceed  from  careless  acquiescence  or 
sluggishness  of  intellect,  but  was  the  fruit  of  ripe 
study  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures :  the 
settled  conviction  of  a  mind  as  acute  in  weighing 
evidence  and  detecting  fallacy,  as  it  was  alive  to 
every  phase  of  philosophy  and  to  every  discovery 
of  science. 

Ilis  conclusions  were  those  of  a  man  of  genius, 
not  buried  in  abstractions  but  conversant  with  the 
practical  business  of  life,  with  a  thorough  mastery 
of  fact  on  subjects  to  which  he  had  given  special 
attention,  a  wide  range  of  information  on  all 
subjects,  and  an  acquaintance  which  seemed  almost 
intuitive  with  the  contents  of  books  that  he  had 
occasion  to  consult.  He  had  heard  and  considered 
recent  speculations  upon  religious  questions,  and  was 
only  the  more  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  Saints.  He  could  fully  enter  into 
the  difficulties  of  other  minds,  and  regard  their  errors 
and  misgivings  with  allowance  and  pity,  while  he  held 
steadfastly  to  the  doctrines  and  practice  of  his  own 
Church.  He  had  a  great  dislike  to  the  Eomish  system, 
as  opposed,  in  his  view,  to  the  Catholic  Faith,  nor  had 
he  any  sympathy  with  the  extravagances  of  modern 


70  and  religious  teaching. 

Sectaries :  but  he  had  a  genuine  admiration  for  all 
that  was  good  and  sound  in  any  form  of  belief,  and 
was  in  perfect  charity  with  those  who  differed  from 
him  on  religious  grounds. 

It  has  been  very  difficult  to  know  what  to  choose 
from  a  great  body  of  compositions,  all  entitled  to 
a  hearing,  and  no  two  persons  could  be  expected  to 
agree  in  the  selection.  In  any  case  only  scant  justice 
can  be  meted  out  to  Mr.  Gordon,  who  did  nothing 
for  display,  and  only  aimed  at  making  his  teaching 
intelligible  and  useful  to  his  parishioners.  Yet  it 
is  hoped  that  the  consistency  of  view  maintained 
throughout  these  discourses,  extending  over  a  long 
series  of  years,  the  clearness  of  statement,  the  nice 
observation  of  nature,  with  the  admirable  exposition 
of  Scripture  in  which  he  excelled,  will  not  only  in 
terest  the  reader  by  the  stamp  of  intellectual  power, 
impressed  on  every  page,  but  may  give  back  hope 
and  comfort  to  many  a  doubting  heart,  and  teach 
it  to  anchor  upon  "the  certainty  of  those  things  in 
which  it  had  been  instructed." 


Mr.  Gordon  was  never  married.  By  a  melancholy 
fatality  his  younger  brother,  Mr.  Alexander  Gordon, 
to  whom  he  had  bequeathed  the  bulk  of  his  pro 
perty,  was  killed  by  being  thrown  out  of  his  carriage 
within  a  month  of  attending  his  brother's  funeral. 


NOTES. 


NOTE  to  p.  14. 

THE  munificent  donation  of  £5,000  in  augmentation 
of  the  poorer  Livings  in  the  gift  of  Christ  Church  by  the 
late  Mr.  Euskin  was  prompted  by  a  sense  of  obligation  to 
Mr.  Gordon  on  his  son's  account,  which  he  wished  to  ex 
press  in  the  way  most  acceptable  to  him.  The  presentation 
was  made  to  Christ  Church  through  Mr.  Gordon  in  these 
words :  "  I  give  it  to  you,  Mr.  Gordon,  as  Representative  of 
the  College,  for  the  College." 

NOTE  to  p.  22. 

PERHAPS  the  interest  attaching  to  the  subject  may  warrant 
some  additional  particulars.  Since  the  foregoing  account 
was  in  type,  the  writer,  who  had  trusted  entirely  to  his  own 
recollection,  has,  by  the  kind  offices  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
O.  U.  S.,  had  access  to  the  Minutes  of  the  Meeting,  which 
was  held  on  March  13,  1847.  The  original  proposal  came  in 
the  form  of  a  resolution  to  suspend  Rule  70,  which  forbad 
the  application  of  the  Society's  funds  to  any  object  not  con 
nected  with  the  Society.  This  was  moved  by  Lord  Dufferin. 
To  this  an  amendment  was  moved  by  the  Rev.  "W.  Thomson 
(the  present  Archbishop  of  York),  that  the  Rule  should  not 
be  suspended,  with  the  proviso,  "  that  a  Subscription  List 
be  exposed  in  the  Society's  Room  for  the  relief  of  the  suf 
ferers  from  the  Irish  Famine." 

When  the  division  was  taken  there  were  for  the  Amend 
ment  151,  against  it  87,  so  the  Motion  was  lost  by  64.  Mr. 
Ward  Hunt  and  other  men  of  note,  who  have  passed  away, 
took  part  in  the  debate.  Happily  the  movers  both  of  the 
Resolution  and  of  the  Amendment  are  spared  for  the  service 
of  their  country  in  Church  and  State :  one  as  Primate  of 
England,  the  other  as  Viceroy  of  India. 


72  Notes. 

NOTE  to  p.  39. 

UPON  this  subject  a  correspondence  of  some  length  ensued 
between  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  Gordon  :  which,  though 
honourable  to  both  parties,  would  not  at  this  distance  of  time, 
even  with  the  requisite  authorization,  awaken  more  than 
an  antiquarian  interest  by  its  publication. 

NOTE  to  p.  40. 

WHILE  Mr.  Gordon  was  on  the  Council  he  procured  the 
discontinuance  of  sundry  University  Sermons  out  of  Term : 
and  by  so  doing  earned  the  thanks  of  the  overburdened 
Vice-Chancellor,  who  assured  him  that  he  had  made  an 
appreciable  addition  to  his  own  chance  of  longevity,  and 
that  of  his  successors. 


PREFACE  TO  SERMONS. 


THE  selection  of  the  following  Sermons  has  been 
determined  in  many  cases  by  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  written.  It  was  thought 
right  that  two  of  the  sermons  preached  before  the 
University,  as  specimens  of  Mr.  Gordon's  academical 
style,  should  be  included.  The  last,  preached  five 
days  before  the  Author's  death,  has  been  added,  as 
possessing  an  interest  of  its  own.  The  recovery 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  naturally  an  event  which 
Mr.  Gordon  would  be  likely,  from  his  former  official 
relation  to  H.K.H.,  to  feel  deeply,  and  a  sermon 
preached  at  that  time  is  therefore  retained.  The 
disastrous  season  of  1879  called  forth  many  conflict 
ing  opinions  upon  the  duty  and  efficacy  of  prayer, 
and  a  sermon  bearing  upon  Mr.  Kingsley's  views  on 
that  difficult  subject  is  too  characteristic  to  be  omitted ; 
while  other  sermons  upon  prayer  generally  express 
Mr.  Gordon's  own  opinion  without  qualification.  His 
judgment  with  reference  to  the  Romish  controversy 
and  our  position  as  regards  Nonconformists  is  to 
be  found  in  other  discourses;  and  passages  from 
two  out  of  several  sermons  on  the  educational  scheme 
of  1870  are  given,  as  indicative  of  an  opinion  which 
never  wavered  on  the  merits  of  the  system  then 
introduced. 

Besides  these   occasional   sermons   others  will   be 


74  Preface  to  Sermons. 

found  to  treat  of  the  main  Articles  of  the  Faith,  and 
various  theological  topics :  some  are  of  more  private 
and  personal  interest,  and  extracts  have  been  given 
in  some  cases  where  there  was  not  room  for  more, 
in  illustration  of  some  opinion  or  trait  of  character 
which  ought  not  to  be  left  unnoticed. 

In  none  of  these  sermons  is  there  a  hint  of  fine 
writing,  nor  the  slightest  attempt  to  court  popula 
rity;  but  the  mastery  of  the  subject,  whatever  it 
may  be,  the  plainness  of  speech,  the  distinctness  of 
purpose,  the  love  of  truth,  with  the  grasp  of  Scrip 
ture  everywhere  manifested,  will  not  perhaps  wholly 
fail  in  other  quarters  of  the  effect  which  they  pro 
duced  upon  the  parishioners  of  East  Hampstead. 

If  some  injustice  is  done  to  Mr.  Gordon's  memory 
by  a  publication,  to  which  he  would  not  have  been 
likely  to  assent  without  a  thorough  revision  of  the 
text  of  the  sermons,  and  probably  not  at  all,  the 
benefit  resulting  from  this  expression  of  original  and 
independent  thought  may  possibly  be  pleaded  as  an 
offset,  and  redeem  the  wrong.  Many  minds  would 
derive  more  comfort,  and  be  more  open  to  persuasion, 
by  means  of  discourses  intended  only  for  a  village 
congregation,  than  from  more  elaborate  and  studied 
compositions.  The  strength  of  these  sermons  lies 
in  their  directness  of  aim  and  the  absence  of  orna 
ment.  For  its  purpose  the  style  is  perfect:  and  it 
would  seldom  be  possible  to  suggest  a  better  word 
for  that  employed:  but  it  is  the  style  of  a  writer 
expressing  his  meaning  in  the  simplest  and  most 
natural  terms,  rising  at  times  to  eloquence  without 


Preface  to  Sermons.  75 

effort,  by  the  mere  force  or  expansion  of  the  idea, 
but  never  involved — never  confused — never  obscure 
—not  shrinking  from  the  most  abstruse  subjects, 
when  occasion  requires,  but  always  knowing  where 
to  stop — with  accurate  and  profound  learning  in  re 
serve,  never  paraded,  but  always  at  command. 

With  this  explanation  the  following  sermons  are 
left  to  the  candid  judgment  of  the  reader. 

MILTON  KECTORY, 
March,  1885. 


LIST  OF  SEBMONS. 


SERMON  I. 

(p.  81.) 

Preached  before  the  University.     (Date  uncertain.) 
JEWISH  AND  CHRISTIAN  PRIVILEGES  AND  RESPONSIBILITY. 
NUMBERS  xxiii.  19.     "  God  is  not  a  man,  that  He  should  lie ;  neither  the 
son  of  man,  that  He  should  repent :  hath  He  said,  and  shall  He  not  do  it? 
or  hath  He  spoken,  and  shall  He  not  make  it  good? " 

SERMON  II. 

(p.  100.) 

Preached  before  the  University  during  Lent.     (Date  uncertain.) 
THE  TRUTH  OF  CHRIST  THE  BASIS  or  MORALS. 

1  COR.  xv.  32.  **  If  after  the  manner  of  men  I  have  fought  with  beasts 
at  Ephesus,  what  advantageth  it  me,  if  the  dead  rise  not  ?  let  us  eat  and 
drink ;  for  to-morrow  we  die." 

SERMON  III. 

(p.  119.) 

Trinity  Sunday,  1871. 
MAN'S  PLACE  IN  CREATION. 

GENESIS  ii.  1.  "And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life ;  and  man  became 
a  living  soul." 

SERMON  IV. 

(p.  131.) 

Eleventh  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1864. 

THE  PHARISEE  AND  THE  PUBLICAN. 

ST.  LUKE  xviii.  14.     "I  tell  you,  this  man  went  down  to  his  honse  justified 

rather  than  the  other :  for  every  one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased ; 

and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted." 


Lis  t  of  Sermons .  7  7 

SERMON  V. 

(p.  142.) 

Twenty-second  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1863. 

THE  UNMERCIFUL  CEEDITOR. 

ST.  MATT,  xviii.  32,  33.  "O  thou  wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that 
debt,  because  thou  desiredst  me :  shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  com 
passion  on  thy  fellowservant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  " 

SERMON  VI. 

(p.  153.) 

Whit  Sunday,  1863. 
GIFTS  FOR  MEN. 

EPHES.  iv.  7,  8.  "  Unto  every  one  of  us  is  given  grace  according  to  the 
measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ.  Wherefore  He  saith,  When  He  ascended 
up  on  high,  He  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men." 

SERMON  VII. 

(p.  165.) 

July  13,  1879. 

REV.  C.  KINGSLEY'S  VIEWS  ON  THE  QUESTION  OF  SPECIAL 

PRAYER  CONSIDERED. 

1  SAM.  xii.  17.  "  I  will  call  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  send  thunder 
and  rain." 

SERMON  VIII. 

(p.  178.) 
Second  Sunday  in  Lent,  1865. 

THE  PROFIT  OF  PRAYER. 

JOB  xxi.  15.  "What  is  the  Almighty,  that  we  should  serve  Him?  and 
what  profit  should  we  have,  if  we  pray  unto  Him  ?  " 


SERMON  IX. 

(p.  190.) 

THE  GOD  THAT  HEARETH  PRAYER. 

PSALM  Ixv.  2.     "0  Thou  that  hearest  Prayer,  unto  Thee  shall  all  flesh 
come." 


7  8  Lis t  of  Sermons . 

SERMON  X. 

(p.  200.) 

Thanksgiving  Sermon,  March  3,  1872. 
ON  THE  RECOVERY  OP  H.R.H.  TUB  PRINCE  or  WALES. 

JONAH  iii.  10.    "  And  God  saw  their  works,  that  they  turned  from  their 
evil  way." 

SERMON  XL 

(p.  211.) 

ST.  MARY  MAGDALEN. 
ST.  LUKE  viii.  2.     "  Mary  called  Magdalene." 

SERMON  XII. 

(p.  223.) 

Whit  Sunday,  1882. 
JESUITISM. 

ST.  JOHN  vii.  17.     "  If  any  man  wiU  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the 
doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God." 

SERMON  XIII. 

(p.  235.) 
CALTINISM. 
ST.  MATT.  vi.  33.     "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteous- 


SERMON  XIY. 

(p.  249.) 
First  Sunday  after  Ascension,  1871. 

CHRISTIANITY — WHAT  ? 

EOM.  viii.  34.    "It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather,  that  is  risen  again 
who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us." 

SERMON  XV. 

(p.  260.) 

Eighth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1869. 

WHAT  RIZPAH,  THE  DAUGHTER  OP  AIAH,  DID. 

2  SAM.  xxi.  14.     «  And  after  that  God  was  intreated  for  the  land. " 


List  of  Sermons.  79 

SERMON  XVI. 

(p.  271.) 

Ash- Wednesday,  1862. 
OUR  CEOSS. 

GAL.  vi.  14.  "  The  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is 
crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world." 

SERMON   XVII. 

(p.  281.) 
Twentieth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1866. 

CALLING  AND  ELECTION. 
ST.  MATT,  xxii.  14.     "For  many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen." 

SERMON  XVIII 

(p.  292.) 

August  23,  1868. 
CONVERSION. 

ROM.  vi;  21.  "What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye  are 
now  ashamed  ? " 

SERMON  XIX. 

(p.  304.) 

1871. 
POWER  MAKTTH  MAN.     AMERICAN  PRESIDENTS. 

1  SAM.  x.  6.  "  And  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  will  come  upon  thee,  and  thou 
shalt  prophesy  with  them,  and  ehalt  be  turned  into  another  man." 

SERMON  XX. 

(p.  316.) 
July  27,  1877. 

AN   OLD   MAN'S   REASON. 

1  ST.  PETER  iii.  15.  "  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man 
that  asketh  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you  with  meekness  and 
fear." 

SERMON  XXI. 

(p.  327.) 

Dec.  1878  and  1879. 
SIR  W.  HAYTER  AND  MR.  DELANE. 

ISAIAH  xl.  1.     "  Comfort  ye  My  people." 


80  List  of  Sermons. 

SERMON  XXII. 

(p.  338.) 
(Last  Sermon  preached,  Trinity  Sunday,  May  20,  1883,  died  May  25,) 

TBINITY  IN  UNITY. 
BEV.  iv.  8.     "Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty." 

EXTRACTS  FROM  UNPUBLISHED  SERMONS. 

(p.  350.) 


APPENDIX  L 

(p.  365.) 
LATIN  SPEECH  AS  SENIOE  PEOCTOE,  EASTEE  TEEM,  1847. 

APPENDIX  II. 

(p.  373.) 

CENSOR'S  SPEECH  ON  DEATH  OP  DEAN  GAISFOED, 
MICHAELMAS  TEEM,  1855. 


SEEMON  I. 

mtu  Cjmsthm  |1ribilc<jes  nrib 


NUMBERS  xxiii.  19. 

"  God  is  not  a  man,  that  He  should  lie ;  neither  the  son  of  man, 
that  He  should  repent :  hath  He  said,  and  shall  He  not  do 
it  ?  or  hath  lie  spoken,  and  shall  He  not  make  it  good?" 

PILE  truths  of  divine  revelation  are  in  their  nature 
essentially    different   from   any    developments   of 
human  reason  or  inferences  from  human  experience. 
They  are  not  in  any  way  anticipations  of,  or  supple 
mentary  to,  the  progressive  results  of  our  own  exertion, 
but  relate  rather  to  an  order  of  things  into  which  our 
natural  powers,  however  improved  by  cultivation,  are 
unable  to  penetrate.    Unless  this  point  is  substantially 
conceded  the  believer  in  revelation  will  find  it  diffi 
cult  to  determine  what  its  peculiar  subject-matter  is. 
No  one  at  least  in  the  present  day  will  contend  that 
we  are  to  refer  to  it  as  a  standard   of  political   or 
physical  truth.     It  might  be  urged  with  greater  show 
of  reason  that  its  office  is  fulfilled  by  the  establish 
ment  authoritatively  of  a  purer  code  of  morals;  and 
it  may  be  allowed  at   once  that  Christian  morality 
so  far  exceeds  anything  imagined  or  practised  by  the 
heathen  that  it  may  be  called  not  unfairly,  by  con 
trast,  a  new  and  distinct  system.     Yet  the  idea  that 

G 


82  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

this  is,  in  its  isolation,  the  sum  and  end  of  revealed 
truth  has  led  many  to  the  conclusion  that  a  great 
part  of  its  volume  is  irrelevant  and  vain.  This  con 
sequence  is  indeed  openly  embraced  by  those  bolder 
spirits,  who  reject  in  their  very  profession  the  idea 
of  definite  doctrine,  and  still  more  impressively  be 
cause  unintentionally  illustrated,  by  the  history  of 
those  bodies,  which,  thinking  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  moral  precepts  of  Christianity  without  recog 
nizing  their  source  and  strength,  find  themselves 
carried  down  imperceptibly  by  the  bent  of  an  un- 
sanctified  nature  to  the  positive  denial  of  those  first 
truths  of  religion  which  in  their  pride  they  refused, 
or  in  their  indolence  neglected,  to  maintain. 

The  Christian,  however,  will  assume  that  the  great 
end  of  revelation  is  to  give  us  that  knowledge  which 
by  nature  we  cannot  have,  the  knowledge  of  "  Him 
that  dwelleth  in  light  unapproachable,"  whom  we  in 
vain  "  seek  to  find  out  by  searching,"  whom  no  man 
hath  seen  at  any  time, — the  knowledge  of  what  He  is 
in  Himself,  so  far  as  we  can  a  see  now  through  a  glass 
darkly,"  of  the  mode  of  His  being,  and  the  nature 
of  His  attributes,  as  far  as  we  are  capable  of  under 
standing  them — the  knowledge  specifically  of  His 
relation  to  us,  and  all  those  His  wondrous  acts  to  us 
which  call  forth  all  the  feelings  of  love,  fear,  depen 
dence,  adoration,  due  from  the  creature  to  the  Creator 
To  know  this  is  the  true  sum  of  Christian  knowledge, 
to  give  it  its  due  effect  upon  the  heart;  the  true  re 
alization  of  Christian  life. 

But  this  it  is  in  which  men  have  failed  from  th( 


and  Responsibility.  83 

beginning  of  the  world.  Heathen,  Jew,  and  Chris 
tian,  each  in  his  degree  must  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge  "  that  knowing  God,  they  glorified  Him  not 
as  God,  neither  were  thankful."  Knowing  Him,  or 
having  the  means  of  knowing  Him,  they  gave  Him 
not  the  glory  of  acknowledgment,  and  gave  the  word 
of  His  knowledge  no  access  to  their  hearts.  "Thus 
their  hearts  were  hardened,  and  their  knowledge 
departed  from  them."  And  so  it  is  still :  how  few 
of  us  are  there  in  whose  mouths  the  lansmase  of 

o       o 

St.  Paul,  speaking  of  the  love  of  Christ,  would  not 
be  descriptive  rather  of  what  we  ought  and  would 
strive  to  feel  than  of  what  we  actually  do  feel.  Yet 
who  will  suppose  that  St.  Paul  spoke  of  anything 
more  than  what  should  be  the  habitual  warmth  of 
a  Christian's  heart,  while  we  are  happy  if  we  can 
put  it  for  an  instant  under  the  most  sensible  sun 
shine  of  God's  love.  Nay,  it  might  appear  that  St. 
Paul  himself  was  not  perfect  in  that  feeling  compared 
with  that  disciple  who  enjoyed  the  peculiar  privilege 
of  being  the  one  whom  Jesus  loved.  At  all  events, 
how  small  the  number  of  those  who  realize  in  fact 
and  feeling  the  full  blessing  of  their  Christian  citizen 
ship  !  And  so  with  the  Church  of  old.  At  what 
period  of  their  history  was  it  adequately  impressed 
upon  the  Jewish  inind  that  they  were  what  they 
were,  "a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood,  a 
holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people,  to  shew  forth  the 
praises  of  Him  who  called  thorn  out  of  darkness  into 
His  marvellous  light  ?"  We  indeed  read  their  records 
with  the  tokens  of  God's  presence  imprinted  upon 

G  2 


84  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

every  page.  The  cloudy  pillar  of  fire ;  the  thunders 
of  Sinai ;  sins  repeated  and  avenged ;  miracles  recur 
ring  till  they  became  familiar;  laws  of  nature  sus 
pended  till  it  was  not  a  thing  unheard  of  that  the 
stars  in  their  courses  should  fight  for  the  captains 
of  the  Lord ;  nations  dispossessed  and  exterminated ; 
those  mighty  kings,  whose  entire  history  is  a  memorial 
of  the  power  of  God's  love  and  the  weight  of  his 
displeasure ;  the  national  decline  and  fall ;  the  clouds 
of  divine  vengeance,  rising  at  first  no  bigger  than 
a  man's  hand  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon,  yet  sweep 
ing  gradually  onwards  towards  the  Holy  City,  till 
at  last  they  gather  in  a  dark  mass,  and  overwhelm 
the  nation  in  destruction :  all  these  remind  and  im 
press  upon  us  the  conviction,  that  it  is  God's  own 
people  that  we  are  reading  of,  "  and  that  He  hath  not 
so  dealt  with  any  other  nation."  Yet  the  Jews  who 
lived  in  the  midst  of  these  marvels  were  to  a  great 
extent  insensible  of  them,  or  misinterpreted  their 
meaning.  In  their  early  history  they  felt  their  dis 
tinctions  as  burthens  and  impediments  to  their  inve 
terate  desire  of  living  after  the  manner  of  the  heathen 
round  them;  at  a  later  period,  when  they  were  on 
the  point  of  losing  them,  they  regarded  them  as  tes 
timonies  to  their  own  superiority,  and  a  justification 
of  spiritual  pride. 

Yet  however  little  we  can  learn  of  the  true  cha 
racter  of  the  chosen  people,  from  any  expression  of 
their  own  consciousness  upon  the  subject,  we  may 
endeavour  to  place  ourselves  for  a  moment  by  the 
side  of  the  great  prophet,  himself  not  one  of  the 


and  Responsibility.  85 

Lord's  people,   who  looked  down  upon  the  tents  of 
Israel  from  the  high  places  of  Baal,  and  had  revealed 
to  him  in  a  trance  the  future  destinies  of  the  nation 
whom  he  was  called  upon  to  curse.     Balak,  King  of 
Moab,  saw  only  in  the  invaders  of  his  land  "a  people 
come  out  of  Egypt."     He  knew  little  more  of  them 
than  that  they  covered  the  face  of  the   earth,  and 
threatened  in  his  own  emphatic  language,  "  to  lick  up 
all  round  about  them  as  the  ox  licketh  up  the  grass 
of  the  field.77     So  he  sent  for  the  son  of  Beor  to  curse 
his  enemy;    "for  I  wot  that  he  whom  thou  bless- 
est  is  blessed,  and  he  whom  thou  cursest  is  cursed." 
Nor  had  the  prophet  any  personal  objection  to  reaping 
the  wages  of  iniquity.    Warned  as  he  was,  he  still  went 
his  way.     But  when  his  sacrifices  were  completed, 
his  tongue  refused  to  do  its  work:   "How  shall  I 
curse,  whom  God  hath  not  cursed?  or  how  shall  I 
defy,  whom  the  Lord  hath  not  defied  ?    For  from  the 
top  of  the  rocks  I  see  Him,  and  from  the  hills  I  behold 
Him:   lo,  the   people   shall   dwell   alone,    and   shall 
not  be  reckoned  among  the  nations.     "Who  can  count 
the  dust  of  Jacob,  or  count  the  fourth  part  of  Israel  ? 
Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my 
last   end   be  like  his!"     Again,    from  the   field   of 
Zophim,  on  the  top  of  Pisgah,  and  a  third  time  from 
the  top  of  Peor,  the  word  was  changed  from  cursing 
j  unto  blessing.     "  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor  hatli  said, 
I  and  the  man  whose  eyes  are  open  hath  said:    How 
goodly  are  thy  tents,  0  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles, 
0  Israel !    As  the  valleys  are  they  spread  forth,  as 
gardens  by  the  river's  side,  as  the  trees  of  lign  aloes 


86  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

which  the  Lord  hath  planted,  and  as  cedar  trees  beside 
the  waters.  God  brought  him  forth  out  of  Egypt; 
he  hath  as  it  were  the  strength  of  an  unicorn.  Bless 
ed  is  he  that  blesseth  thee,  and  cursed  is  he  that 
curseth  thee."  Lastly,  in  still  more  solemn  tones,  ere 
he  went  unto  his  people,  he  warned  the  idolatrous 
king  of  what  should  be  hereafter.  "  I  shall  see  ILim, 
but  not  now :  I  shall  behold  Him,  but  not  nigh : 
there  shall  come  a  Star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  Sceptre 
shall  rise  out  of  Israel,  and  shall  smite  the  corners  of 
Moab,  and  destroy  all  the  children  of  Sheth." 

Such  was  the  vision  of  the  future  unrolled  before 
the  prophet's  eyes.  To  us  it  may  be  a  profitable 
task  to  enquire  briefly  into  the  substance  of  what 
he  saw,  and  the  principles  on  which  his  language 
is  to  be  interpreted.  One  point  we  may  assume  at 
starting,  that  he  saw  and  spoke  of  a  reality.  Other 
wise  the  wildness  of  the  place  itself,  the  remoteness 
of  the  time,  the  distant  view  of  the  mountain-land  of 
Moab,  the  orderly  beauty  of  the  tents  of  Israel  seen 
far  below  in  the  valley,  might  be  looked  upon  as  ele 
ments  of  a  great  poetic  scene,  such  as  might  easily 
be  connected  with  a  man  whose  mysterious  character 
and  troubled  comrnunings  with  his  own  heart,  and 
solitary  sacrifices  thrice  repeated,  well  accord  with 
those  ideas  which  in  older  times  regarded  poetry  as 
a  special  gift  of  Heaven,  and  invested  bard  and  pro 
phet  with  common  attributes  and  name.  This  view, 
however,  may  be  dismissed  at  once.  It  was  no 
creation  of  fancy  that  arrested  the  prophet's  gaze. 
It  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction  of  reality 


and  Responsibility.  87 

which  his  words  force  upon  us,  "He  hath  said  which 
heard  the  words  of  God,  and  knew  the  knowledge 
of  the  most  High,  falling  into  a  trance  but  having 
his  eyes  open."    The  question  seems  what  it  substan 
tially  was:  one  part  of  it  indeed  is  sufficiently  ex 
plained  by  the  history  of  Edom,  Seir^and  Amalek.  Still 
it  is  obvious  that  this  is  but  a  part,  and  not  the  most 
important  one ;  his  language  must  appear  cold  and  ex 
aggerated,  if  its  meaning  is  restricted  to  the  overthrow 
and  annihilation  of  the  accursed  race.     Far  beyond 
any  temporal  victories  must  be  the  blessing  of  those 
words,    "  Pie   hath   not    beheld    iniquity    in    Jacob, 
neither   hath   he   seen   perverseness   in    Israel :    the 
Lord  his  God  is  with  him,  and  the  shout  of  a  king 
is  among  them."     Was  it  then,  we  ask,  that  Israel 
which  lay  visibly  before  his  eyes,  or  was  it  some 
ideal    Israel,    of    which    they    were    but    the   faint 
shadow   and   resemblance,    in  which   the   Lord   saw 
no  iniquity  or  perverseness?    Was  the  soul  of  the 
prophet  filled  with  the  sense  and  power  of  holiness, 
embodied  and  triumphant  in  the  host  of  Israel  ?  Was 
it  not  to  them  as  a  people,  but  to  the  cause  which 
they  typified  imperfectly,  that  the  promises  pertained  ? 
It   may  be  so.     Doubtless   theirs  was  the   cause  of 
God;  their  enemies  the  enemies  of  God.     Doubtless 
they  were  imperfect  representatives,  and  so  far  failed 
to  attain  the  fulness  of  their  blessings.     Yet  allowing 
this,   we  must   be   careful   not  to   deprive    this    and 
prophecy    generally    of    its    positive    character    and 
specific  references;   bringing  it  down  more  or   less 
to  an  abstract  statement  of  the  laws  by  which  God 


88  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

will  judge  the  world,  pointed,  perhaps,  at  some  special 
occasion,  but  in  its  fulfilment  independent  of  it.  It 
is  true  indeed  that  the  general  laws  of  God's  Pro 
vidence  must  be  involved  in  prophecy  ;  but  this  may 
well  be  because  prophecy  refers  to  events,  and  the 
events  are  determined  by  those  laws :  and  the  ques 
tion  is  whether  its  primary  end  is  to  declare  those 
events,  or  the  laws  which  they  illustrate.  That  it 
should  declare  them  so  far  as  to  become  a  kind  of 
anticipated  history  is  not  to  be  expected;  for  it  is 
no  part  of  the  idea  of  prophecy  that  its  predictions 
should  be  intelligible  before  events  have  supplied 
a  key  to  its  interpretation.  It  is  enough  for  us  that 
we  see  its  meaning  when  it  is  fulfilled. 

But  apart  from  general  considerations  on  the  na 
ture  of  prophecy,  into  which  I  will  not  enter,  there 
seem  to  be  special  reasons  for  bearing  in  mind  the 
positive  aim  of  the  prophecy  of  Balaam,  arising  both 
from  the  character  of  the  man  himself,  and  the  un 
deniable  fact  of  his  having  received  direct  instruction 
from  the  jSpirit  of  God.  A  good  man  from  the  con 
victions  of  his  own  heart  might  have  foretold  the 
final  triumph  of  a  good  cause,  and  by  consequence 
of  the  people  associated  with  it,  in  that  language 
of  faith  which  has  more  than  the  dignity  of  prophecy. 
An  ignorant  man  again  might  have  been  moment 
arily  impressed  with  the  sense  of  goodness,  and 
become,  as  it  were,  the  unwilling  instrument  of 
blessing  a  cause  with  which  he  had  no  sympathy. 
But  Balaam  was  neither  of  these :  he  neither  loved 
what  is  right  and  holy,  nor  was  he  ignorant  of  it. 


and  Responsibility.  89 

It  is  unnecessary  to  make  any  remark  upon  a  cha 
racter  so  much  studied  in  this  place,  or  upon  that 
mystery  of  iniquity  inexplicable  in  terms,  but  illus 
trated  by  his  conduct,  and  I  fear  too  often  by  tho 
experience  of  the  hearts  of  every  one  of  us.  Who, 
however,  can  fail  to  recognize  in  that  idea  of  right 
eousness  which  the  prophet  Micah  has  preserved, 
"  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God,"  the  very  points  which  our  Lord 
Himself  insists  upon  as  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law,  " judgment,  mercy,  and  faith?"  There 
was  then  no  want  of  knowledge  in  the  mind  of 
Balaam ;  nor  do  these  ideas  appear  to  have  been 
imparted  to  him  at  the  time,  but  rather  to  have 
been  in  his  habitual  possession.  That  sad  and  solemn 
aspiration,  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous," 
could  only  have  been  suggested  by  the  working  of 
his  own  mind  upon  the  facts  before  him.  He  spoke 
out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart ;  it  was  no  forced  con 
fession  or  involuntary  acknowledgment  of  truth,  but 
the  sincere  though  inoperative  wish  that  "  his  last  end 
might  be  like  theirs."  And  it  is  in  this  light,  I  pre 
sume,  that  Bp.  Butler  regards  it,  as  there  would  be 
nothing  extraordinary  in  his  uttering  sentiments  in 
consistent  with  his  conduct,  if  they  were  simply  due 
to  the  power  of  inspiration,  and  not  to  be  identified 
with  the  convictions  of  his  own  heart.  It  was  not 
then  knowledge  of  the  truths  which  was  communi 
cated  unto  Balaam  in  the  vision  of  the  Most  High ; 
nor  yet  was  it  the  triumph  of  Israel  as  the  ideal 
representative  of  a  righteous  cause.  We  cannot 


90  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

suppose  so  \vide  a  separation  of  the  prophetical  from 
the  historical  Israel.     For  when  was   it  that  Israel 
realized  in  any  degree  that  beauty  of  holiness  which 
it  might  be  supposed  to  represent  ?    True,  their  foes 
were  destroyed  before  them ;    Amalek  punished  for 
ever ;    Seir  fulfilled  its   destiny,   and  Edom  became 
a  possession — but  where  was  the  righteous   nation, 
the  zeal  in  the  cause  of  God,  the  love  of  His  Holy 
Name,   the  willing  mind,   the  faith,  and  the  obedi 
ence?    On  the  contrary,  is  not  the  complaint  from 
first  to   last  of  the  hard  heart,  and  stubborn  neck, 
of  abominations  repeated  without  end,  of  rebellion 
and  ingratitude,  till  at  last  the  whole  body  became 
a  mass  of  festering   corruption,  full  of   wounds  and 
scars   and    putrifying   sores?     Nor   indeed   can   the 
distinction  between  the  prophetical  and  the  historical 
be  maintained  without  danger  of  destroying  the  very 
force  and  point  of  prophecy.     It  may  be  conceded 
that  they  generally,   but   not  universally,  employ  a 
different  language,  and  see  things  from  a  different 
point  of  view,  that  prophecy  speaks  of  the  blessings 
and  glory,   history   of  the  sins  and  humiliation,   of 
Israel.        And   this    difference    naturally   makes    us 
anxious   to  discover   the   corresponding  objects  that 
will  enable  us  to  recognize  the  truth  of  both.     But 
surely  this  is  to  be   sought  for,  not  in  the  distinc 
tion   between   the   Israel   of  prophecy   and   history, 
but  in  that  double  character  which  belongs  to  every 
man  and   nation  more  or  less   distinctly,  as  he  has 
received  more  or  less  of  the  free  gifts  of  God.     What 
description   can  be  too   glorious  for  that   nation   in 


and  Responsibility.  91 

the  midst  of  which  it  has  pleased  the  Lord  to 
dwell  ?  What  description,  on  the  other  hand,  can 
be  too  dark  for  that  polluted  people,  which,  in 
vested  with  such  glorious  powers,  so  signally  abused 
them  to  its  own  destruction,  and  the  dishonour  of 
God's  Holy  Name?  This  was  the  vision  which 
unrolled  itself  before  the  eyes  of  the  Prophet  from 
the  Eastern  Mountains.  He  saw  the  wings  of  God's 
love  spreading  over  the  people  of  his  choice,  "  even 
as  the  eagle  fluttereth  over  her  young,  spreadeth 
abroad  her  wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  upon 
her  wings."  He  saw  them  as  the  Lord's  portion, 
and  blessed  them  as  he  saw  them — holy,  just, 
righteous,  and  invincible.  He  saw  them  such  by 
virtue  of  the  power  that  was  sustaining  them ;  for 
how  could  they  be  otherwise  whom  the  Lord  had 
chosen?  The  arm  of  the  Lord  was  with  them,  to 
go  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer.  "  Surely  there 
was  no  enchantment  against  Jacob,  or  divination 
against  Israel."  But  he  saw  not  "  that  Jeshurun 
should  wax  fat  and  kick,  that  he  should  forsake 
God  which  made  him,  and  lightly  esteem  the  rock 
of  his  salvation ;"  he  saw  not  "  that  the  time  would 
come  when  God  should  hide  His  face  from  them — 
a  froward  generation,  children  in  whom  is  no  faith." 
He  saw  not,  u  that  a  fire  should  bo  kindled  in  His 
anger,  and  burn  unto  the  lowermost  hell,  the  sword 
without  and  terror  within,  to  scatter  them  into  cor 
ners,  and  make  the  very  remembrance  of  them  to  cease 
upon  the  earth."  He  saw,  in  short,  their  blessiugs, 
but  he  did  not  see  their  sins.  And  this  view  will 


92  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

surely  bo  more  effective  in  its  application  to  our 
hearts  than  any  generalization  of  revealed  truth, 
not  to  mention  how  consonant  it  is  with  the  teach 
ing  of  Scripture  elsewhere,  that  the  same  place  and 
the  same  person  may  be  the  subject  of  the  highest 
gifts  and  the  most  fearful  condemnation.  For  the 
Christian  cannot  read  the  history  of  the  Jew  with 
out  being  reminded  of  that  still  more  favoured  people, 
which  has  taken  their  place  in  the  economy  of  God, 
and  of  which  we  are  members — the  Church  of  Christ. 
Nor  will  it  occur  to  him  to  doubt  but  that  greater 
gifts,  and  a  larger  measure  of  His  grace,  are  poured 
into  his  bosom  than  enriched  the  people  that  He 
loved  of  old.  "What  then  if  some  Balaam  were 
placed  upon  an  eminence  to  survey  again  the  tents 
of  Israel?  Would  not  his  spiritual  eyes  discern 
much  greater  things  than  all  the  glories  of  the 
heights  of  Pisgah?  "  Prophets  and  wise  men  de 
sired  to  see  those  things  which  were  once  seen, 
and  which  the  eye  of  faith  may  still  see,  and  did 
not  see  them."  What  was  all  the  inheritance  of 
Israel,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  mercy-seat, 
the  visible  majesty  of  the  Most  High,  compared 
with  that  presence  which  made  the  glory  of  the 
latter  house  greater  than  the  glory  of  the  former 
house,  and  which  is  inseparable  from  the  very  life 
and  being  of  the  Church  ?  What  is  a  people  chosen 
out  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  to  a  people  created, 
as  it  were,  out  of  nothing,  "  which  in  times  past," 
as  St.  Peter  says,  "  were  no  people,  but  are  now 
the  people  of  God?"  What  was  that  Church  of  the 


and  Responsibility.  93 

Wilderness  or  of  Mount  Zion  to  that  Church  in  which 
all  nations  shall  be  gathered  into  one — to  worship 
the  Lord  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth  —  sanctified  with 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  "  that  He  might  pre 
sent  it  to  Himself  a  glorious  Church,  not  having 
spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  but  that  it  may 
be  holy  and  without  blemish?"  Surely,  if  this  is 
our  spiritual  inheritance,  any  considerations  would 
be  valuable  which  would  compel  us  to  recog 
nize  it  more  faithfully  than  is  common  with  us. 
Surely  if  the  Church  is  an  actual  body,  bound  to 
gether  in  its  parts  by  closer  ties  than  those  of  friend 
ship,  family,  or  country,  even  by  that  life  which, 
having  its  spring  in  Christ  the  Head,  is  the  source 
of  life  to  each  communicating  member,  great  must 
be  not  only  our  loss  but  also  our  guilt  in  thinking 
or  speaking  of  it  as  a  mere  name,  or  aggregate  of 
individuals,  or  representative  of  an  idea. 

And  this  warning  is  more  necessary  in  an  enquir 
ing  age  which  refuses  to  accept  anything  as  fact, 
except  that  which  can  be  supported  by  sensible 
evidence.  And  so  to  our  sorrow  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  attributes  of  the  Christian  Church  can  hardly 
be  inferred  from  the  aspect  of  the  Christian  world, 
and  we  can  well  conceive  the  infidel  enquirer  looking 
back  upon  the  last  1800  years,  and  sneering  on  the 
presumption  of  those  who  claim  to  themselves  the 
name  of  saints,  and  have  done  so  much  to  vitiate  their 
claim.  Nevertheless,  the  Christian  will  remember 
that  the  Word  of  God  standeth  sure ;  that  "  He  is 
not  a  man  that  He  should  lie,  nor  the  Son  of  man 


94  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

that  He  should  repent ; "  that  His  promises  are  with 
out  repentance,  and  that  the  Church  which  He  has 
purchased  is  to  be  characterized  by  His  gifts,  and 
not  by  our  miserable  shortcomings.  But  I  would 
speak  more  practically,  not  of  the  Church  itself  as 
a  whole,  but  of  ourselves  as  individual  members, 
though  it  may  be  hard  to  separate  the  two.  The 
aspect,  indeed,  and  character  of  the  world  around  us 
is  such  as  to  suggest  a  question.  Is  there  such  a 
thing  as  the  company  of  the  redeemed  ?  Is  the  seal 
of  God's  love  a  pure  imagination  ?  Is  the  cross  of 
Christ  a  shadow  on  the  clouds,  or  is  it  the  very 
sign  by  which  we  are  to  fight  and  conquer,  "and 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  become  the  king 
doms  of  the  Lord,  and  of  His  Christ  ? "  Are  the 
graces  of  divine  ordinances,  which  are  presumed  of 
every  one  that  has  been  admitted  into  the  fold  of 
Christ,  fictions  or  facts?  Is  Christianity  itself  any 
thing  more  than  an  improvement  of  what  has  gone 
before,  destined  to  serve  the  purpose  of  human 
progress  for  a  time,  and  to  be  absorbed  itself  into 
some  new  system  of  more  comprehensive  truth, 
compared  to  which  its  feeble  light  is  but  as  the 
first  streak  of  the  morning  to  the  brightness  of  the 
perfect  day?  Or  is  it  rather  that  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world, 
and  will  light  even  unto  the  end  of  time?  Is  this 
the  true  fold  in  which  we  may  abide  for  ever,  feeding 
on  green  pastures,  and  drinking  freely  of  the  waters 
of  comfort,  or  is  it  but  a  resting-place  for  the  day, 
offering  only  a  brief  refreshment  on  a  pilgrimage 


and  Responsibility.  95 

we  know  not  whither?    These  questions  touch  the 
interests,  and  should  touch  the  heart,  of  every  man ; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  conceal  from   ourselves  that 
they   are   being    asked   and    considered    extensively 
throughout   the    world,  receiving   such   solutions  as 
might  be  expected,  when  men  depart  from  the  stand 
ard  of  God's  revealed  word,  and  recorded  promises, 
and  become  a  law  and  standard  to  themselves.     By 
the  avowed  sceptic,  by  the  philosophic  enquirer,  by 
the  statesman,  by  each  man  who  frames  his  system 
for   himself,   the  power  of  Christianity  is  measured 
by  its  visible  effects  or  by  the  individual  conscious 
ness,  rather  than  by  the  guaranteed  gifts  and  pro 
mises   of  God.     Yet  if    men   would    consider   they 
could  not  help   seeing  that  they   are  neither  doing 
justice   to  themselves,  nor   "  rendering  to  the   Lord 
the  homage  due  unto  His  Name,"  in  thus  making 
their  own  weakness  the  limit  of  His  spiritual  bless 
ings.     The  language  of  St.  Paul  is  exactly  parallel 
to  that  of  the  text :   "  What  if  some  did  not  believe? 
shall  their  unbelief  make  the  faith  of  God  of  none 
effect  ?    God  forbid :  yea,  let  God  be  true,  but  every 
man  a  liar."     The  advantage  of  the  Jew  would  still 
have  been  the  same,  though  no  Jew  ever  reaped  it. 
Circumcision  would  not  have  profited  the  less,  though 
it  had  become  a  brand  of  condemnation  to  every  one 
that  bore  it.     Far  as  men  have  departed  from  the 
service  of  God,  "  there  has  been  always  a  remnant, 
according  to  the  election  of  grace."    In  all  times  "  God 
has  raised  up  witnesses  to  His  truth  in  the  persons 
of  His  faithful  servants."     Yet  those  7,000  men  that 


96  Jewish  and  Christian  Privileges 

bowed  not  the  knee  to  Baal  added  nothing  to  the 
truth  of  which  they  were  the  witnesses.  Nor 
would  a  single  one  of  the  blessings  of  Israel  have  lost 
any  of  its  virtue,  though  every  child  of  Jacob  had 
departed  from  the  God  of  his  fathers.  And  so  with 
us :  those  covenanted  helps,  which  are  the  mainstays 
of  every  Christian  soul,  are  not  to  be  determined 
by  any  reference  to  general  experience.  It  is  enough 
for  every  one  who  is  working  out  his  own  salvation 
in  fear  and  trembling  to  know  that  they  are  suffi 
cient  for  him.  No  growth  in  grace  can  make  them 
more,  no  despite  done  unto  the  spirit  of  grace  can 
prove  them  to  be  less.  He  that  hid  his  pound  in  a 
napkin,  and  had  it  taken  away,  still  had  received  it. 
The  fact  remained,  and  the  grace  of  God  would  still 
be  a  fact  in  the  midst  of  an  apostate  world.  How 
careful,  then,  ought  we  to  be,  lest  any  observation 
of  our  brethren  around  us,  lest  any  experience  of 
human  weakness  or  human  depravity,  lest  any  false 
and  plausible  philosophy,  lest  any  consciousness  of 
sin  working  in  our  own  hearts,  should  lead  us  to 
disturb  the  verities  of  Christian  faith.  The  creed 
of  Israel  was  historical ;  it  embodied  the  great  facts 
of  their  deliverance,  and  was  to  be  handed  down 
from  generation  to  generation  by  a  perpetual  ordi 
nance.  "  He  made  a  covenant  with  Jacob,  and 
gave  Israel  a  law,  which  He  commanded  their  fore 
fathers  to  teach  their  children;  that  their  posterity 
might  know  it,  and  their  children  which  are  yet 
unborn ;  to  the  intent  that  when  they  came  up 
they  might  shew  their  children  the  same." 


and  Responsibility.  97 

The  creed  of  the  Christian  is  the  history  of  his 
spiritual  deliverance.  The  facts  which  it  records, 
even  in  their  most  formal  enunciation,  cannot  be 
separated  from  their  spiritual  significancy  and  effect 
upon  our  condition.  Article  by  article  we  trace 
a  positive  change  in  the  prospect  and  condition  of 
human  nature,  corresponding  to  that  great  "  mystery 
of  Godliness"  whereby  God  was  "  manifested  in  the 
flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached 
unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received 
up  into  glory."  Did  Christ  take  upon  Himself  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  bear  our  nature  upon  earth  ? 
It  is  united  with  Him  now  in  one  person  at  the 
right  hand  of  God.  Did  He  become  obedient  unto 
death,  even  unto  death  upon  the  cross  ?  Then 
reckon  we  ourselves  also  to  be  dead  to  sin  with 
Him.  "Nay,"  says  the  Apostle,  uye  are  dead,  and 
your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  "  For  we  are 
buried  with  Him  by  baptism  unto  death ;  that,  like 
as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory 
of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  new 
ness  of  life."  Did  He  cast  off  the  garments  of  the 
grave  and  rise  again  to  incorruption  ?  "  Then,  if  we 
have  been  planted  together  in  the  likeness  of  His 
death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  His  re 
surrection."  Yea,  already  "  Christ  has  risen  from 
the  dead,  and  become  the  first-fruits  of  them  that 
slept."  Has  He  ascended  unto  heaven?  He  has 
"gone  before  to  prepare  a  place  for  us,  that  where 
He  is  we  may  be  also."  Has  He  taken  captivity 
captive?  Then  are  the  captives  free.  Has  He 

H 


98  Jeivish  and  Christian  Privileges 

received  gifts  for  men?  Then  has  He  poured  them 
out  upon  His  Church,  "yea,  even  on  the  rebellious 
also,  that  the  Lord  may  dwell  among  them."  Has 
He  promised  "to  be  with  it  always,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world?'7  Then  assuredly  "where  two 
or  three  are  gathered  together  in  His  Name,  there 
is  He  in  the  midst  of  them."  One  great  duty,  there 
fore,  which  we  in  particular  owe  to  ourselves,  to 
this  generation,  and  to  the  children  that  are  yet 
unborn,  a  duty  which  the  signs  of  the  times  mark 
out  as  a  special  one  in  an  age  of  growing  unbelief, 
is  to  preserve  whole  and  uncorrupt  the  faith  "once 
delivered  to  the  Saints."  It  is  true  indeed  that 
no  neglect  of  ours,  no  spirit  of  compromise  with 
error,  no  wickedness  of  the  world,  no  apostasy,  though 
it  should  be  universal,  can  touch  one  jot  or  one  tittle 
of  that  truth  which  shall  endure  for  ever  when  heaven 
and  earth  have  passed  away.  The  truth  is  not  de 
pendent  upon  us,  but  we  upon  the  truth.  But  we 
are  constituted  stewards,  and  may  be  unfaithful  to 
our  charge.  Stewards  we  certainly  are,  and  shall 
have  to  give  account  as  such,  when  "  the  Lord  shall 
come  and  reckon  with  His  servants."  And  the 
enquiry  in  that  day  will  not  be  simply,  what  we 
have  to  give  our  Lord,  but  whether  we  can  restore 
with  usury  those  very  talents  which  we  have  received. 
This  is  a  responsibility  we  cannot  evade ;  the  number 
is  recorded  against  us ;  no  denial  of  ours,  no  forget- 
fulness,  will  alter  a  single  unit  of  its  sum.  It  is 
well,  therefore,  to  reckon  with  ourselves  now ;  other 
wise^  our  judgment  will  not  be  that  of  Tyre  and 


and  Responsibility.  99 

Sidon,  but  of  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida,  which  saw 
the  mighty  works  which  would  have  moved  the  very 
cities  of  the  plain  to  repent  in  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
but  repented  not.  Let  the  Christian,  therefore, 
whom,  like  Capernaum,  the  grace  of  God  has  exalted 
unto  heaven,  so  measure  and  preserve  his  exaltation, 
that  when  the  time  comes  to  fix  his  place  for  ever 
he  be  not  cast  down  into  hell.  This  he  will  do  by 
God's  help,  if  he  bears  it  constantly  in  mind. 
God  has  not  only  made  us  a  peculiar  people,  but 
has  plainly  told  us  so.  It  is  only  by  remembering 
what  we  are  that  under  His  grace  we  can  hope  to 
become  what  we  should  be — partakers  in  fact  and 
fruition,  as  we  are  by  right  and  title,  of  the  inheri 
tance  of  the  saints  in  light. 


SEEMON  II. 

of  ffriat  i        asis  at 


1  COE.  xv.  32. 

"  If  after  the  manner  of  men  I  have  fought  with  beasts  at 
JZphesus,  what  advantageth  it  me,  if  the  dead  rise  not  ?  let  us 
eat  and  drink ;  for  to-morrow  we  die" 

A  T  a  time  of  the  year  when  the  name  of  self-denial 
is  often  on  our  lips,  and  the  idea  of  it  familiar  to 
our  minds,  and  the  practice  possibly  has  some  place 
in  our  daily  lives,  it  will  not,  I  think,  be  an  unprofit 
able  employment  of  some   portion  of  an   hour  if  I 
enquire,    or   at   least  suggest  an  enquiry,   into  the 
grounds  and   principles  on  which  the  duty  so  pro 
minently  put  forward   at  this  penitential  season   is 
to  be  maintained.     I   speak  not  of  the  wisdom   of 
devoting    special   times    and    seasons   to   a   stricter 
discipline   and   sterner   practice,    but   of  the  denial 
of  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  in  itself,  not  as  a  matter 
of  purer  taste,  not  as  on  the  whole  adding  more  to 
the  sum  of  human  happiness  than  it  detracts  from 
it,  not  as  more  consistent  with  the  dignity  of  human 
nature,  but  as  a  Christian  duty ;  and  that  again  not 
peculiar  to  this   time,  not   giving  a   party-coloured 
appearance  to  the  Christian  life,  but  running  through 
its  whole  texture,  still  existing  though  unseen,  pene- 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      101 

trating  the  substance  when  it  is  not  detected  on  the 
surface,    and   only   brought   out   into   relief  by  the 
incidence  of  those  lights  and  shadows  which  are  cast 
upon  it  by  the  varying  associations  of  the  Christian 
year.     It  is  indeed  a  condescension  to  our  imperfect 
natures,  that   we   are   allowed   and   encouraged,   on 
fitting  occasions,  to  give  play  to  particular  affections, 
and  to  cultivate  particular  tempers,  the  exclusive  or 
excessive  development  of  which  would  destroy  the 
harmony  of  the  Christian  character.     For  the  right 
affection   of  the   heart   towards   its   Maker   and   all 
heavenly   things   is  neither  joy   nor  sorrow  purely, 
not  hope  nor  fear :  yet  is  there  a  time  for  all  things ; 
there  is  the  night  of  sorrow  and  the  morning  of  joy, 
the  depression  of  fear  and  the  confidence  of  hope, 
each   in   its   turn   and   its   degree;    by   partial   and 
oblique  movements   we   must   be   content  to    make 
a  slow  but  sure  advance  in  holiness  and  the  love 
of  God.     Perfect  love  is  a  simple,  direct,  and  im 
pulsive   feeling,    casting   out   as   alien   whatever   it 
does  not  absorb  as  akin  unto  itself,  but  in  its  growth 
and  imperfection  it  admits  of  analysis;  it  is  the  re 
sult  of  many  forces,  the  combination  of  many  ele 
ments,  reverence,  ambition  of  God's  love  and  appro 
bation,  delight   in  the  hope  or  consciousness  of  it, 
fear  of  His  displeasure,  each  of  which  has  an  influence 
and  expansion  of  its  own a.     As  then,  though  a  real 
growth  in  grace  can  be  nothing  less  than  "the  edifi 
cation  of  the  whole  creature,  till  in  the  unity  of  the  faith 
and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God   he   come 

a  Butler,  vol.  ii.  195,  (168). 


102       The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature 
of  the  fulness  of  Christ b,"  yet  this  is  effected  not  by 
the  simultaneous  growth  of  the  whole  building,  but 
by  adding,  as  it  were,  stone  to  stone — as  in  teach 
ing,  line  is  laid  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept ; 
and,  as  in  the  ways  of  Providence,  affliction  and  pros 
perity  each  have  their  message  from  the  Most  High ; 
as  in  the  government  of  ourselves  we  sometimes 
suffer  ourselves  to  rejoice  freely,  sometimes  wet  our 
couches  with  our  tears,  so  may  we,  as  it  seems  fitting, 
take  some  particular  duty  and  affection,  isolate,  en 
large  upon,  enforce  it,  without  being  supposed  either 
to  exaggerate  its  importance,  or  ignore  the  existence 
of  others  and  its  relation  to  them.  We  may  not 
only  impress  and  apply,  but  we  may  analyse  and 
examine,  we  may  trace  back  a  duty  to  its  command 
and  authority,  and  a  feeling  to  fundamental  propo 
sition,  be  it  one  of  fancy  or  of  truth c.  I  say  its  propo 
sition  rather  than  its  object,  because  though  it  is  most 
truly  said  that  "we  are  so  constituted  as  to  feel 
certain  affections  upon  the  sight  and  contemplation 
of  certain  objects,"  and  again,  "it  is  by  reason  that 
we  get  the  ideas  of  the  several  objects  of  our  affec 
tions,"  yet  it  is  clear  that  the  ideas  we  thus  get 
are  truths,  and  admit  of  being  expressed  in  propo 
sitions.  Thus  allowing  practically  that  it  is  the 
God  of  love  contemplated  as  an  object  that  lights 
up  and  keeps  burning  the  fire  of  love  within  the 
hearts  of  His  saints,  yet  the  true  account  to  be  given 
of  their  affection  is  that  they  have  thoroughly  appre- 

b  Eph.  iv,  13.  c  Butler,  vol.  ii.  195,  (169). 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      103 

bended  and  embraced  the  proposition  that  "  God  is 
love."     In  the  same  way  Bishop  Butler,  to  whom 
I  have  alluded  above,  shews  that  "  the  duties  and 
feelings  which  we  owe  to  the  Divine  Persons  in  the 
Gospel  revelation  arise  from  the  relations  in  which 
those   persons   stand  to  usd,"  and  to  us,  therefore, 
individually  from  our  recognition  of  those  relations. 
"By  reason  is  revealed  the  relation  in  which   God 
the   Father  stands  to    us ;  hence   the   obligation   of 
duty   which   we  are  under  to  Him.      In  Scripture 
are  revealed  the  relations  which  the  Son  and  Holy 
Spirit  stand  in  to  us;  hence  the  obligations  of  duty 
which   we  owe  to  them.      How  these  relations  are 
made    known,     whether    by    reason    or    revelation, 
makes  no  alteration  in  the  case,  because  the  duties 
arise   out   of  the    relations   themselves,    not   out   of 
the    manner   in   which   we   are   informed   of   them. 
The  Son  and  the  Spirit  have  each  His  proper  office 
in   that   great   dispensation   of  Providence,   the   re 
demption  of  the  world, — the  one  our  Mediator,  the 
other  our    Sanctifier.     Does   not   then   the   duty   of 
religious   regards   to   both   these   divine   Persons  as 
immediately  arise  to  the  view  of  reason,  out  of  the 
very   nature   of  their   offices   and   relations,    as   the 
inward  goodwill  and  kind  intention,  which  we  owe 
to   our   fellow-creatures,   arises   out   of  the  common 
relation  between  us  and  them?"    Thus,  then,  those 
spontaneous    offerings   of  the   Christian's  heart — re 
verence,  honour,    love,    trust,    gratitude,   fear,    hope 
to   Godward,    and  derivatively   to   men   as  children 

d  Butler,  vol.  i.  182. 


104      The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

of  the  One  Father  of  us  all,  and  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  really  rest  upon  the  Articles  of  the  Chris 
tian  Faith :  and  it  is  possible,  and  may  be  necessary, 
to  trace  them  back  unto  their  source.  For  the  sake 
of  both  it  may  be  necessary  to  show  that  all  duty 
and  right  feeling  presuppose  the  apprehension  of 
truth,  that  they  are  distinct  and  correlative.  It 
will  even  become  so,  if  the  disposition  to  translate 
the  language  of  divine  truth  into  principles  and 
rules  of  human  duty,  to  confound  the  one  with  the 
other,  or  to  depreciate  truth — if  men  can  be  induced 
to  take  the  same  view  of  their  duties — should  spread 
extensively  among  us. 

Will  it  then  be  deemed  unprofitable  to  enquire 
as  I  have  proposed  into  the  real  grounds  of  Christian 
self-denial,  of  the  duty  in  obedience  to  which,  and 
the  feeling  according  to  which,  we  are  bound,  not 
as  rational  beings  simply,  but  as  followers  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  use  this  world  as  not  abusing 
it,  to  live  in  it  and  yet  not  be  of  it?  Will  it  be 
said  that  it  is  worse  than  waste  of  time  to  disturb 
the  foundations  of  a  building  that  is  standing  fast, 
that  we  may  assume  a  duty  that  is  in  some  sort 
generally  recognized  as  our  starting-point;  that  the 
office  of  the  preacher  is  to  impress,  enforce,  persuade, 
to  draw  the  heart  by  the  cords  of  love  rather  than 
fetter  it  with  the  chains  of  critical  discussion ;  that 
we  must  thankfully  avail  ourselves  of  the  existence 
of  right  feelings  and  true  ideas,  and  rest  content 
if  we  can  make  them  deeper  and  more  effectual? 
Will  it  be  urged,  that  where  all  allow  in  general 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.       105 

terms  the  duty  of  denying  all  ungodliness  and  fleshly 
lusts,  it  is  even  dangerous  to  raise  any  question  of 
principles,  and  to  lead  men  to  ask  themselves  why 
they  should  be  temperate  when  by  habit  and  dis 
position  they  already  are  so?  And  indeed  it  would 
be  a  sign  of  a  cold  and  unloving  heart  not  to  prefer 
the  warmth  and  glow  of  the  Christian's  life,  uncon 
sciously  exhibiting  itself  in  the  pulsations  of  love 
to  God  and  man,  to  the  naked,  and  in  itself  un 
attractive,  structure  that  supports  his  frame.  I  should 
not  envy  the  man  who  is  ignorant,  or  thinks  nothing 
of  the  direct  influence  which  heart  has  upon  heart, 
that  holy  feeling  is  to  be  called  into  operation  in 
those  whom  we  address  by  the  manifestation  of  holy 
feeling  in  ourselves,  that  men  are  to  be  guided  up 
to  high  and  noble  resolutions  by  our  acting  on  the 
assumption  of  their  susceptibility  to  such  impressions, 
or  who  seeks  to  create  them  by  the  bare  force  of  un 
exceptionable  logic.  Heathens  were  never  converted 
by  such  means.  Nevertheless,  it  becomes  us  in  this 
place,  where  we  are  called  upon  not  only  to  advance 
in  personal  holiness,  but  to  arm  ourselves  as  practised 
warriors  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  to  walk  round  the 
walls  of  Sion,  and  mark  well  her  bulwarks  from 
every  possible  point  of  view,  and  to  be. prepared  to 
act  in  positions  in  which  we  would  not  voluntarily 
place  ourselves.  Cherishing  all  Christian  sympathies, 
and  living  in  them,  we  must  learn  even  to  retire 
from  their  influence,  and  place  ourselves  without 
their  pale,  to  view  the  Christian  simply  as  a  phe 
nomenon,  to  enquire  into  his  motives  and  his  hopes, 


106       The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.'} 

and  establish  the  reasonableness  of  his  conduct  with 
out  prejudice  or  predilection.  Why  does  he  walk 
along  the  path  of  life,  alone  amid  a  crowd,  his  step 
unlike  that  of  other  men,  his  eyes  bent  upon  the 
ground,  his  hands  folded  on  his  breast,  and  the  cross 
upon  his  brow?  What  unknown  purpose,  what 
strange  resolve,  what  silent  call  wraps  up  the  secret 
of  his  pilgrimage?  It  is  for  the  Christian  minister 
to  solve  this  problem  :  himself  the  mystery,  he  must 
also  be  its  explanation.  It  is  obvious  that  the  mis 
sionary  in  a  heathen  land  must  be  a  pure  pheno 
menon  ;  as  such,  if  he  does  anything  at  all,  he  must 
excite  attention  and  cause  enquiry.  Will  he  then 
answer  the  questions  which  his  coming  will  suggest  ? 
He  must  put  himself  in  the  place  of  those  he  has 
to  teach,  and  become  a  phenomenon  unto  himself: 
how  else  shall  he  convert  those  into  whose  feelings 
he  cannot  enter  ?  Nor  will  it  be  enough  to  wait 
for  the  effect  of  time  and  rational  reflection  on  the 
minds  of  his  hearers;  from  the  very  first  he  must 
shroud  himself  by  an  effort  of  imagination  in  the 
darkness  which  he  comes  to  dispel;  he  must  know 
experimentally  the  desolation  of  a  soul  without  God 
in  the  world  while  he  is  the  beam  of  His  knowledge 
and  the  herald  of  His  will ;  he  must  feel  of  himself, 
uHow  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  them  that  preach 
the  gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tidings  of  good 
things e;"  he  must  retire  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death  and  welcome  his  own  coming  as  an  angel  of 
life;  and  even  so,  though  in  a  less  degree,  must 
e  Rom.  x.  15. 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      107 

he  be  prepared  to  exercise  his  ministry  even  in  the 
Christian  world.  For  that  which  we  so  call  is  not 
wholly  Christian.  So  far  as  there  are  principles 
at  work  within  it  hostile  to  Christianity  it  is  yet 
Pagan,  and  must  be  treated  as  such.  Wherever 
evil  is  at  work  we  must  place  ourselves  in  the  centre 
of  its  operation,  and  survey  the  doctrine  that  we 
preach  and  all  its  bearings,  as  they  present  them 
selves  to  those  whom  we  have  to  gather  or  reclaim 
into  the  fold.  We  must  not  expect  sympathy,  but 
be  prepared  to  justify  the  faith  to  stubborn  hearts 
and  unrelenting  wills.  We  may  be  called  upon  to 
debate  and  maintain  what  are  to  us  first  principles 
and  axiomatic  truths,  as  though  they  were  new 
and  undetermined  questions.  Where  nothing  is  con 
ceded  we  must  be  careful  to  assume  nothing.  The 
economy  of  teaching  and  the  emergency  of  warfare 
may  place  us  in  a  strange  position;  we  may  even 
be  compelled  in  an  extreme  case  to  wrest  from  men's 
minds  truths  which  they  do  hold,  if  they  hold  them 
not  according  to  the  analogy  of  faith.  It  may  bo 
our  office  to  place  a  fearful  alternative  before  the 
world.  "  See,  I  have  set  before  thee  life  and  good, 
death  and  evilf."  An  alternative  of  such  a  nature 
seems  to  be  offered  in  the  words  of  the  text,  "  If 
the  dead  rise  not,  let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow 
we  die."  Strange  words  from  an  Apostle's  lips ! 
Is  there  no  compromise  for  human  nature?  Must 
it  needs  be  exalted  unto  heaven,  or  cast  down  into  hell? 
May  it  not  remain  of  the  earth  earthy,  and  not  sink 
f  Dcut.  xxx.  15. 


108      The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

into  the  sensual,  devilish  ?  Is  the  hour  of  our  tria' 
come,  and  the  choice  between  the  doctrine  of  Chrisl 
and  the  very  formula  of  Epicurus  ?  Surely  it  is  His 
voice  that  bids  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die , 
for  though  the  words  themselves  may  be  found  in  the 
Prophet  Isaiah,  yet  it  seems  more  probable  that  the 
sentiment  in  St.  Paul's  mind,  writing  to  the  luxurious 
Corinthians,  was  associated  with  that  Gentile  Philosophy 
which  was  nowhere  more  practically  carried  out  than 
in  that  ancient  city.  And  this  view  seems  borne  out 
by  the  quotation  which  immediately  follows  from 
a  heathen  poet ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  the  scope 
of  the  words  is  obvious,  and  independent  of  the  source 
from  which  they  are  derived.  What  strikes  the 
mind  with  astonishment  is  that  they  should  have 
been  adopted  by  St.  Paul.  What !  we  are  tempted 
to  ask,  did  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  really 
mean  us  to  infer  that  besides  the  obedience  of  the  faith 
there  is  no  rational  course,  no  course  at  all  for  man  to 
follow,  save  the  life  of  the  leasts  that  perish?  We  will 
not  suppose  that  he  spoke  of  anything  like  grossness 
of  self-indulgence ;  the  words  do  not  necessarily  imply 
that ;  they  may  mean  nothing  more  than  a  pure, 
innocent,  and  virtuous,  though  Epicurean,  existence. 
Still  we  ask,  is  that  the  life  St.  Paul,  as  a  heathen, 
would  have  chosen  for  himself?  Were  the  tendencies 
of  a  sensual  nature  so  thinly  covered  by  an  education 
after  the  strictest  sect  of  the  Pharisees  ?  Were  there 
no  higher  pleasures  than  those  of  sense  to  attract 
and  engage  his  mind  ?  We  cannot,  I  think,  conceive 
St.  Paul,  so  noble,  so  unselfish,  so  intellectual,  so 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.       109 

ardent  in  the  cause  of  truth,  so  ambitious  after  the 
natural  man,  even  to  have  drunk  of  these  last  dregs 
of  Grecian  Philosophy.  But  if  we  consider  him  as 
a  Christian  teacher  his  words  sound  yet  stranger 
to  our  ears.  True,  he  writes  with  the  hope  of  im 
mortality  before  him,  as  one  who,  knowing  that  the 
pleasures  and  fashion  of  this  world  endure  but  for 
a  season,  "  keeps  under  his  body  "  accordingly,  "  and 
brings  it  into  subjection,  lest  when  he  has  preached  to 

I  others  he  himself  should  be  a  cast  away."  Yet  his 
words  seem  to  be  wanting  in  an  earnest  and  disin 
terested  love  of  that  law  which  he  observes  and  fears. 
They  fail  to  put  us  in  mind  of  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God.  They  savour  almost  of  the  feeling 
of  those  who  regretted  the  time  when  "  they  sat  by 
the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  and  did  eat  bread  to  the 

i  full ff."  They  fall  far  short  of  the  oft-repeated  song 
of  the  Patriarch  of  Israel :  "  0  how  I  love  Thy  law, 
it  is  my  meditation  all  the  day h."  "  How  sweet 
are  Thy  words  unto  my  taste ;  yea,  sweeter  than 
honey  to  my  mouth1."  "Thy  testimonies  have 
I  taken  as  an  heritage  for  ever ;  they  are  the  rejoic- 

l  ing  of  my  heart k."  u  I  have  longed  for  Thy  salvation, 
and  Thy  law  is  my  delight1." 

But  these  ideas  vanish  when  we  consider  St.  Paul 

|  as  speaking,  not  of  himself  individually,   or  of  his 

i  own  tastes  and  disposition,  but  with  a  true  appre 
ciation  of  the  general  tendencies  of  human  nature. 
There  is  no  necessity  for  supposing  that  he  himself 

e  Exod.  xvi.  3.  h  Ps.  cxix.  97.  *  Ibid.  103. 

k  Ibid.  111.  '  Ibid.  174. 


110       The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

would  have  passed  a  life  of  sensuality  in  any  form, 
even  if  he  had  not  known  that  for  all  those  thing* 
God  would  call  Him  unto  judgment.  Eather  we  may 
believe  that  as  a  heathen  he  would  have  been  found 
among  those  nobler  spirits  who  argued  and  proved 
that  even  in  this  lower  world  the  destiny  of  man 
is  somewhat  higher  than  that  of  the  beasts  of 
the  field,  that  he  is  invested  with  larger  powers 
than  those  which  can  be  pressed  into  the  service 
of  sense,  the  exercise  of  which  in  itself  would  be 
a  source,  not  only  of  the  purest,  but  of  the  most 
enduring,  happiness.  But  while  his  own  heart 
would  have  told  him  of  the  dignity  of  the  higher 
elements  of  human  nature,  his  knowledge  of  man 
kind  would  not  have  suffered  him  to  fall  into  the 
delusion  that  the  sense  of  that  dignity  in  the  gen 
eral  mass  is  sufficient  to  prevent  them  from  sink 
ing  into  the  lowest  depths  of  degradation.  Acknow 
ledging  and  illustrating  the  natural  pre-eminence 
of  mind  over  matter,  and  of  knowledge  over  sense, 
he  would  have  felt  that  the  question  in  which  all 
are  interested  is  not  that,  but  whether  the  two  are 
so  proportioned  in  our  actual  constitution  that  this 
natural  pre-eminence  can  be  maintained.  He  would 
have  seen  that  the  discovery  of  the  law  of  our 
nature  is  one  thing  and  obedience  to  it  another. 
He  would  not  have  used  that  inflated  and  un 
practical  language  in  which  heathen  philosophers 
indulged,  and  some  Christians  strangely  imitate, 
about  the  supremacy  of  mind  and  the  superiority 
of  intellectual  pleasures.  If  an  idea  of  his  own 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      Ill 

dignity  had  arisen  in  his  mind  it  would  have  found 
expression  in  the  language  of  surprise  and  abasement. 
"  What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the 
Son  of  Man  that  Thou  so  regardest  him  ?  Thou  hast 
made  him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  Thou  hast 
crowned  him  with  glory  and  honour.  Thou  madest 
him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  Thy  hands, 
Thou  has  put  all  things  under  his  feet.  All  sheep 
and  oxen,  yea  and  the  beasts  of  the  field.  The  fowls 
of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  whatsoever 
passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas.  0  Lord  our 
Governour,  how  excellent  is  Thy  name  in  all  the 
world m."  But  sadder  thoughts  would  soon  have 
intervened  when  he  turned  from  the  gifts  and  powers 
with  which  he  was  adorned  to  the  evil  working  in 
his  own  heart;  and  the  true  voice  of  his  struggling 
humanity  would  have  broken  out  in  the  cry  of  de 
spair  and  agony,  "  Wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  !" 

St.  Paul,  therefore,  did  not  mean  that  it  was  but 
to  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry  while  the  day  lasts, 
because  when  night  comes  our  souls  may  be  required 
of  us ;  but  that  where  the  truth  of  Christ  risen  from 
the  dead  was  not  received,  the  tendency  of  human 
conduct  would  be  in  that  direction.  The  alternative 
in  his  mind,  taking  an  extensive  survey  of  the  world, 
lay  between  Christ  crucified  and  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh.  Many  perhaps  doubt  whether  such  alter 
native  is  one  of  reality  or  argument.  They  may 
urge  that  men  have  been  known  to  live  in  temper- 
m  Ps.  viii.  4. 


112       The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

ance,  soberness,  and  chastity,  without  the  reception 
of  saving  truth;  that  they  have  not  found  it  necessary ; 
that  individuals,  societies,  and  even  nations  alien 
to  the  Name  of  Christ  have  given  examples  of  those 
virtues,  putting  the  conduct  of  Christian  men  to 
shame.  Moreover  the  general  laws  of  morality  have 
been  demonstrated  in  times  of  ignorance  on  grounds 
independent  of  the  Christian  faith.  Now  as  to  persons 
living  in  a  Christian  land,  but  not  receiving  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,  so  far  as  they  are  affected  by  the 
atmosphere  around  them,  deriving  life  from  it  which 
they  will  not  acknowledge;  so  far  as  their  conduct 
is  influenced  even  by  particular  doctrines  which  they 
hold  imperfectly  and  unconsciously,  to  that  extent 
it  is  an  illustration  of  the  truth  of  what  I  say. 
Beyond  that  influence,  their  virtues,  of  whatever 
kind,  are  those  of  heathens ;  among  whom,  if  the 
lives  of  men  holy  in  their  degree  are  quoted,  if  it 
is  urged  that  dark  as  they  were,  and  feeling  blindly 
after  truth,  no  philosopher  ever  commended  a  life 
of  self-indulgence,  whatever  the  issue  of  his  teaching 
— allowing  this  as  may  be,  it  is  not  asserted  that  the 
alternative  existed  to  those  to  whom  it  never  was 
proposed.  Yet  even  as  regards  them,  it  seems  an 
arbitrary  act  of  ours  to  cut  them  off  entirely  from 
that  source  of  light,  in  the  full  beams  of  which  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  leing.  Surely,  when  we 
assume  that  those  men  purified  their  hearts  and  in 
vented  systems  of  partial  truth  by  the  unassisted 
exertion  of  their  natural  powers,  we  must  be  in 
fluenced  by  some  false  idea  of  what  we  could  do 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      113 

ourselves  under  like  circumstances,  forgetting  that 
we  have  nothing  which  we  have  not  received.  St.  Paul, 
it  is  true,  speaks  of  "  the  Gentiles  doing  ly  nature 
the  things  contained  in  the  law,  and  becoming  a  law 
unto  themselves,"  but  we  must  remember  that  St. 
Paul  uses  the  current  language,  and  that  the  word 
nature  in  its  Christian  application  expresses  only  facts 
and  not  principles,  and  is  of  itself  no  adequate  ac 
count  of  anything.  Indeed  St.  Paul  himself  teaches 
us  that  it  was  not  because  the  heathen  neglected 
to  use  their  natural  powers  to  discover  and  originate 
to  themselves  "  that  which  may  be  known  of  God," 
and  which  God  Himself  shewed  to  them,  but,  "  be 
cause  knowing  God,  they  glorified  Him  not  as  God, 
and  changed  His  truth  into  a  lie,  and  did  not  like 
to  retain  Him  in  their  knowledge,  that  He  gave  them 
over  to  uncleanness  through  the  lusts  of  their  own 
hearts,  and  to  vile  affections,  and  a  reprobate  mind." 
This  much,  at  all  events,  we  know,  that  God  did  give 
a  law  to  Adam,  which  he  transmitted  to  his  children, 
but  we  do  not  know  that  it  was  ever  lost  and  re 
discovered,  nor  is  it  probable  that  it  could  be;  his 
tory  at  least  supplies  no  instance  of  a  nation  falling 
so  low  as  the  loss  of  the  knowledge  of  God  sup 
poses,  and  rising  again  without  external  aid.  The 
system  of  the  philosopher  most  studied  in  this 
place  is  based  upon  the  antecedent  fact  of  moral 
knowledge  already  existing  in  the  world.  The 
appetite  of  the  child  is  trained  into  the  habit  of 
temperance  by  the  wisdom  of  the  parent;  but  the 
parent  must  have  received  that  wisdom  by  trans- 

i 


114       The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 


mission,  nor  does  it  appear  how  consistently  with 
the  theory  it  could  have  been  originally  obtained. 
Two  contrary  habits  cannot  be  in  formation  at  the 
same  time,  and  all  will  allow  that  the  tendency  of  un 
regulated  appetite  is  to  grow  into  a  habit  from  the 
hour  of  one's  birth.  The  wisdom,  therefore,  that  is  to 
rule  our  conduct  must  be  traced  to  an  external  source ; 
and  the  idea  of  man  having  reclaimed  himself  from 
lawless  barbarism  by  his  own  powers,  or  been 
charmed  out  of  it  by  the  force  of  an  eloquence  that 
could  not  have  existed  in  such  a  state,  is  not  only 
contrary  to  the  history  of  human  nature  as  disclosed 
in  revelation,  but  involves  within  itself  impossible 
contradictions.  The  real  basis,  therefore,  of  heathen 
morality,  whether  it  was  recognized  or  not,  was 
the  tradition  of  the  law  of  God.  Tradition  supplied 
the  ideas,  ideas  became  matters  of  speculation  to 
reflecting  minds,  speculation  developed  into  philo 
sophy,  philosophy  withered  into  effete  systems  and 
lifeless  forms  when  it  claimed  an  independent  ex 
istence,  and  ceased  to  derive  nourishment  from  the 
parent  vine  of  which  it  was  an  offshoot.  Yet  how 
little  philosophy  really  added  to  the  knowledge  of 
mankind  is  clear  from  this,  that  the  best  and  wisest 
of  the  heathen,  when  the  hour  of  his  trial  came, 
virtually  confessed  that  knowledge  failed  him,  and 
that  faith  alone,  the  antecedent  of  all  true  philosophy, 
carried  him,  like  a  ship-wrecked  mariner,  over  the 
waves  of  this  troublesome  world  to  the  haven  of 
his  rest.  If,  then,  the  secret  of  such  truth  and  virtue 
as  the  heathen  had  is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  re- 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.      115 

vealed   law   of  God,   can   we,   with  our   knowledge, 
doubt  that  this  revelation  is  due   solely  unto  Him 
who  in  the  fulness   of  time  came  to  supersede   all 
former  messages  from  God  to  man  by  the  republica- 
tion  of  that  law,  and  to  be  Himself  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the    life  ?     Those    gleams   of    light    that    flash 
upon  the  eye  in  the  darkness  of  the  ancient  world, 
were  they  not  in  some  way  reflections  from  many 
a  clouded   mirror   and   through   absorbing  media  of 
the  true  Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world?   Possibly  some  heaven-directed  eye 
may  have  caught  upon  the  clouds  that  limited  the 
view  of  other  men,  some   early  glimmering  of  that 
dawn  which  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  Eighteousness 
has   brightened    into    perfect   day.       But,    however 
this  may  be,  is  it  not  probable  that  He  who  in  the 
beginning  created  all  things  that  are,    who  formed 
the  eye  and  framed  the  ear,  was  also  the  same  that 
taught  men  knowledge  ?  that  He,  the  Lamb  of  God, 
slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  was  also  from 
that  epoch  the  messenger  of  the  Most  High  and  the 
Prophet  of  His  law — the  TraiSayco-yo?  of  mankind — 
who,    according   to    Clemens,   gave    unto   the    world 
the  law  of  Nature,  and  to  His  peculiar  people  the 
law  of  Moses.      "  Deriving  from  the  same  fountain 
both  the  first  and  second  precepts  which  He  gave, 
He  neither  suffered  those  who  were  before  the  Law 
to  be  without  Law,   nor  those  who  minded  not  the 
Philosophy   of    the   Barbarians   to    do   according   to 
their  will.      He  gave  to  the  one   Precepts,    to   the 

i  2 


116      The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

other  Philosophy,  and  concluded  them  in  unbelief 
unto  His  coming,  when  whosoever  believeth  not  is 
without  excuse." 

With  these  words  I  will  finish  my  discourse,  when 
I  have  briefly  noticed  the  practical  conclusion  to 
which  all  that  I  have  been  saying  tends.  If  in 
times  of  past  ignorance  all  imperfect  knowledge  was 
in  some  way  connected,  however  remotely,  with 
the  perfect,  how  can  we  to  whom  "  has  been  revealed 
the  mystery  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,"  set  aside  that  association  now  ?  Are  we, 
in  dealing  with  mankind,  to  make  ways  of  our  own, 
or  to  follow  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  who,  furnished 
as  he  was  with  heathen  and  Judaic  lore,  determined 
to  know  nothing  but  Christ  Jesus  and  Him  crucified? 
He  did  not  cast  aside  his  learning,  for  he  still  felt 
that  it  was  a  gift  of  God;  but  all  that  he  knew 
before,  all  detached  and  fragmentary  truths  fell 
into  their  places  round  the  new  idea,  and  Christ 
became  unto  him  all  in  all.  Armed,  therefore, 
with  the  sword  of  this  faith  he  went  forth,  not  to 
spread  abroad  a  new  philosophy,  not  to  reform  the 
morals  or  humanize  the  manners  of  mankind,  but 
with  "  grace  and  apostleship  for  the  obedience  of 
the  faith  among  all  nations  in  His  name."  And 
it  is  this  warfare  which  we  are  called  upon  to  wage 
against  the  carnal  lusts  of  the  flesh.  Shall  we,  then, 
trust  to  heathen  armoury,  to  probable  arguments 
of  philosophy,  or  plausible  economies  of  truth,  the 
spear  and  the  shield  that  have  been  wrought  by 


The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals.       117 

human  hands,  or  shall  we  go  forth  in  the  spirit  of 
David  against  the  uncircumcised  Philistine  with  that 
small  but  deadly  weapon  which  He  who  sends  us 
to  the  battle  has  supplied  ?  The  history  of  the  world 
holds  out  no  promise  of  permanency  to  schemes  of 
ingenuity  and  combination.  The  shore  that  borders 
on  the  stream  of  time  is  strewed  not  only  with  the 
wrecks  of  thrones  and  principalities  and  powers, 
but  of  philosophic  systems  which  have  resisted  the 
force  of  human  passion  for  a  time,  and  yielded  to 
the  storm  and  flood.  One  barrier  yet  remains  which 
we  have  the  assurance  of  God  never  shall  be  shaken. 
It  is  for  us  to  take  our  stand  upon  it  for  offence  and 
defence.  Mark  the  spirit  of  the  Apostle's  teaching, 
"If  the  dead  rise  not,  let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to 
morrow  we  die."  He  trusts  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  to  counteract  the  tenden 
cies  of  human  lusts.  Bat  this  is  not  merely  the 
notion  of  a  future  state  of  retribution  certified  and 
established;  but  the  doctrine  of  our  union  with 
Christ,  in  that  He  took  our  nature  upon  Him,  and 
"  by  rising  from  the  dead  became  the  first-fruits 
of  them  that  slept."  It  may  be  that  the  alterna 
tive  between  this  doctrine  in  all  its  fulness,  and 
a  life  of  sensuality  is  before  the  world.  Certainly 
in  the  consummation  of  all  things,  when  men  and 
angels  shall  look  back  upon  this  warfare  as  a  thing 
that  has  passed  away,  and  view  it  as  a  whole,  the 
truth  of  it  will  be  known,  and  the  company  of  the 
redeemed  will  give  glory  to  God,  and  confess  "  that 


118      The  Truth  of  Christ  the  Basis  of  Morals. 

this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even 
our  faith."  May  God  incline  our  hearts  to  do  our 
duty  in  the  contest,  so  that,  sharing  its  labours 
we  may  win  its  crown,  and  be  more  than  conquerors 
through  the  might  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 


SEEMON  III. 

un's      Ia;a  in  Creaiion, 


GENESIS  ii.  7. 

"And  the  Lord  God  fanned  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostril*  the  breath  of  life  ;  and  man  became 
a  living  soul." 

THIS  is  the  divine  account  of  the  origin  of 
'  man.  And  I  have  taken  this  account  of  his 
origin  for  my  text,  rather  than  that  verse  which 
you  have  just  heard  in  the  first  chapter,  because  it 
seems  to  me  more  particular  and  circumstantial.  It 
seems  indeed  to  answer  a  question  that  might  rea 
sonably  be  asked  as  arising  out  of  the  first  notice 
of  man's  creation.  "  So  God  created  man  in  His 
own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him." 
How  was  this  creation  effected?  My  text,  I  say, 
supplies  the  answer.  There  was  a  double  process. 
First  the  dust  of  the  earth  was  taken  and  formed 
as  by  a  mould;  and  then  into  the  nostrils  of  the 
figure  thus  framed  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life. 
By  this  double  action  the  work  was  complete,  and 
"man,"  as  the  Scripture  says,  "became  a  living 
soul."  Now  observe  it  is  not  stated  here  that  man 
was  created  directly  out  of  nothing.  The  materials 
of  man  existed  before  man  existed  himself,  just  as 


120  Man's  Place  in  Creation. 

the  clay  exists  before  the  potter  is  able  to  shape  his 
vessels  from  it.  There  was  the  dust  or  substance 
of  the  earth  ready  for  the  Creator's  hand,  there  was 
the  breath  of  life  existing  eternally  in  the  Being  of 
the  Creator,  ready  for  His  will.  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  absolute  creation,  though  man  was  not 
the  subject  of  it,  and  the  very  idea  of  it  transcends 
and  perplexes  our  imagination.  "  In  the  beginning," 
before  the  first  date  of  time,  "  God  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth/'  This  is  the  first,  the  most  awful 
utterance  of  revelation.  The  whole  material  and  im 
material  universe — all  that  we  see  and  all  that  eludes 
or  lies  beyond  our  sight — -was  called  into  existence 
out  of  nothingness  by  the  Divine  command.  Let 
us  confess  at  once,  on  entering  the  temple  of  God 
through  this  portal,  that  we  cannot  understand  it, 
or  rather,  that  if  by  faith  we  do  understand  that 
the  worlds  were  framed  by  the  word  of  God,  then 
this  the  very  first  demand  upon  our  faith  is  also 
the  very  greatest.  Have  you  considered,  or  will 
you  now  consider  for  one  moment,  what  creation 
really  is  ?  You  are  familiar  with  many  changes  of 
form  and  character  and  condition  of  material  things. 
You  see,  for  instance,  water  changing  into  vapour, 
and  vapour  into  water,  coal  into  smoke,  and  heat, 
and  flame.  You  must  know  also  that  the  grass 
with  which  the  fields  are  clothed  is  changed  into 
the  flesh  of  animals  which  becomes  the  food  of  men, 
and  that  flesh  again  into  the  substance  of  our  bodies, 
and  so  on  by  the  recurrence  of  a  perpetual  series  as 
long  as  the  world  shall  last.  And  from  your  sensible 


Mans  Place  in  Creation.  121 

experience  of  these  things  you  would  not  be  sur 
prised  if  one  were  to  tell  you  of  other  more  subtle 
changes,  of  which  you  have  as  yet  no  knowledge. 
You  would,  I  doubt  not,  be  prepared  to  believe 
that  all  the  objects  and  all  the  "phenomena  of  nature 
that  we  see  around  are  the  results  of  new  com 
binations  and  change ;  and  that  there  is  no  reason 
for  supposing  that  there  has  been  any  actual  addition 
to  the  sum  of  things,  or  diminution  from  it,  since 
God,  in  the  beginning,  spoke  the  word,  and  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  created.  Indeed,  if  you 
will  consider  a  little  in  your  own  minds  you  must 
feel  how  inconceivable  an  act  of  absolute  creation  is. 

If  at  least  you  can  conceive  any  small  portion  of 
space,  absolutely  empty  and  devoid  of  matter,  you 
will  feel,  I  am  sure,  that  no  thought  of  man,  no 
inventive  ingenuity,  no  mechanical  or  other  power, 
is  capable  of  producing  within  that  space  one  single 
particle  of  matter  that  had  no  existence  before.  How 
then  with  the  vast  space  of  heaven,  above,  below, 
around,  and  all  the  infinity  of  worlds  that  have  their 
place  and  order  and  motion  assigned  to  them  therein? 
One  thing  only  is  more  inconceivable  than  the  crea 
tion  of  the  universe,  and  that  is,  that  it  should  be 
in  existence  without  having  been  created  at  all. 
Common  sense  will  always  choose  the  least  of  two 
difficulties — and  the  word  of  God,  as  usual,  takes 
the  side  of  common  sense — when  it  assures  us  that 
"In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth."  In  the  sequel,  therefore,  of  the  chapter  you 
have  just  heard,  you  are  reading,  not  so  much  a  re- 


122  Mans  Place  in  Creation. 


cord  of  absolute  creation,  as  of  the  order  and  process 
by  which  things  were  brought  into  such  a  condition 
as  to  make  the  earth  fit  for  the  occupation  of  man. 
All  persons  seem  to  allow  that  there  is  a  general 
correspondence  between  what  we  read  here  and  the 
evidence  of  the  changes  through  which  the  structure 
of  the  earth  has  passed,  and  that  the  author  of  the 
Pentateuch  must  have  been,  for  his  day,  an  advanced 
student  of  natural  philosophy.  On  the  other  hand, 
people  seem  to  have  a  pleasure  in  pointing  out  where 
the  great  lawgiver  has  failed,  and  committed  himself 
to  statements  that  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  dis 
coveries  of  modern  science.  And  while  some  rejoice 
over  this  as  destroying  the  whole  book  of  revealed 
truth,  or  at  least  reducing  it  to  the  level  of  an  obso 
lete  speculation,  others  tell  us,  in  a  patronizing  sort 
of  way,  that  Scripture  was  never  intended  to  be  the 
vehicle  of  scientific  knowledge.  Now  to  me  all  know 
ledge  is  scientific,  that  is  to  say,  when  imparted  to 
my  mind,  it  makes  me  to  know  something,  be  it 
much  or  little,  which  I  did  not  know  before,  and 
that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  scientific.  But  pass 
ing  this  over,  and  having  a  firm  conviction  that  every 
word  of  Scripture  is  absolutely  true,  when  it  is  under 
stood  as  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  is  its  author,  designed 
it,  I  must  protest  against  the  intention  of  Scripture 
being  thus  limited  or  defined  in  this  arbitrary  way. 
If  you  want  to  know  the  intention  of  Scripture  you 
must  go  to  the  volume  itself  and  find  out  there  what 
it  actually  is  and  says ;  and  not  to  the  surmises  of 
your  own  mind  as  to  what  it  may  be  expected  to  be 


Marts  Place  in  Creation.  123 

and  says.  Whatever  Scripture  says  that  it  intends 
to  say,  and  if  it  makes  statements  about  the  natural 
world,  it  intended  to  make  those  statements ;  and  we 
would  rather  doubt  our  own  convictions,  and  distrust 
our  own  understandings,  than  accept,  as  an  apology 
for  its  supposed  errors,  that  it  has  gone  into  matters 
which  are  outside  its  own  proper  province.  All  that 
we  are  concerned  with  now  is  the  account  that  God, 
having  in  the  beginning  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  left  the  earth  for  a  time — we  know  not 
how  many  countless  ages  would  count  for  less 
than  a  second  in  His  eternity — "  without  form  and 
void.  And  darkness  was  all  the  while  upon  the  face 
of  the  deep;  and  the  Spirit  of  God,  either  during 
that  whole  period,  or  as  a  prelude  of  the  work  that 
was  to  follow,  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters."  And 
then  we  are  told  how,  by  a  series  of  formative  actions, 
light  and  darkness  were  separated,  the  waters  divided, 
some  taking  their  place  in  air,  some  gathering  them 
selves  into  seas,  the  earth  stood  firm  and  solid  out 
of  the  surrounding  water,  and  became  the  seed-bed 
for  plant  and  herb  and  tree ;  how  the  sun  and  moon 
took  their  appointed  offices  in  heaven ;  and  how  the 
successive  generations  of  animal  life,  in  all  their 
exuberance,  were  called  into  existence  to  increase 
and  multiply,  and  people  the  new  organic  world, 
which  we  will,  now  that  it  is  furnished,  venture  to 
call  creation ;  and  how,  lastly,  when  everything  else 
was  finished,  man  himself  appeared  upon  the  scene. 
The  painter,  the  sculptor,  all  in  fact  who  practise 
even  in  the  lowest  degree  any  effort  of  creative  art, 


124:  Mans  Place  in  Creation. 

have  in  their  own  minds  some  idea  that  they  have 
shaped  out,  and  are  able  to  contemplate,  before  they 
attempt  to  apply  their  hands  to  canvas,  or  clay,  or 
marble.  And  here  is  the  idea  which  the  great  Author 
of  all  conceived  and  designed  before  He  proceeded 
to  embody  it  in  the  formation  of  man.  "And  God 
said,  let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  like 
ness."  And  not  only  was  the  idea  of  this  Being  thus 
determined,  but  his  rank  and  position  fixed  in  the 
scale  of  created  things.  "And  let  them  have  do 
minion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  over  the  fowl 
of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth, 
and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  upon 
the  earth."  It  is  due  to  our  own  infirmity,  and  part 
of  it,  that  though  God's  thoughts  are  not  as  our 
thoughts,  nor  His  ways  our  ways,  we  can  only  speak 
of  Him,  or  be  spoken  to  concerning  Him,  in  the  same 
language  that  would  be  used  if  we  were  speaking 
concerning  men;  and  it  is  but  natural  to  ask,  to 
what  agent  working  with  Him,  or  subordinate  to 
Him,  did  God  communicate  the  plan  of  His  great 
design,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image?"  And  on 
this  day  we  recognize  by  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  very  opening  chapter  of  Eevelation  the  in 
scrutable  mystery  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity,  three 
Persons  and  one  God,  as  concerned  in  the  work  of 
creation.  We  read  directly  here,  "The  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,"  as  an  agent 
of  life  and  power.  And  in  the  first  chapter  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John,  which  seems  to  have  a  deter 
minate  relation  with  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 


Mans  Place  in  Creation.  125 

commencing  with  the  same  words,  "  In  'the  begin 
ning  "  the  "  word  which  was  then  with  God,  and 
which  was  God,"  will  not  suffer  us  to  doubt  as  to 
the  person  to  whom  the  purpose  of  the  Father's  will 
was  announced.  "The  same" — the  Word,  i.e.,  who 
became  Flesh  and  dwelt  amongst  us — "  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Him, 
and  without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made." 

Now  I  will  allow  that  the  account  we  have — 
the  design  of  this  Lord  of  Creation  as  man  has 
been  called — is  one  that  is  dangerous  to  argue 
upon,  lest  you  should  both  fall  short  of  and  ex 
ceed  what  is  intended.  "Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness."  We  cannot  imagine  that 
it  refers  to  man's  natural  form,  excellent  as  it  is  and 
wonderfully  made,  for  we  dare  not  confine  the  Creator 
to  the  mould  of  the  creature.  And  if  we  look  for 
the  resemblance  rather  in  the  rational  soul,  we  must 
not  forget  that  even  in  that  respect  it  may  not  be 
quite  safe  to  compare  ourselves  very  closely  with 
Him.  Our  idea  of  God,  defective  as  it  is,  must  come 
to  us  through  the  medium  of  our  consciousness  of 
ourselves;  we  cannot  invest  Him  with  attributes 
entirely  different  in  kind  from  those  which  we  feel 
ourselves  to  be  in  possession  of.  And  the  Divine 
command,  in  some  degree,  assists  and  justifies  human 
incapacity.  "Be  ye  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect,"  enjoins  upon  us  the 
imitation  of  God,  and  therefore  implies  a  likeness 
to  Him.  Man  can  only  think  of  God  as  a  Being 


126  Marts  Place  in  Creation. 

in  some  way  like  unto  himself,  and  even  in  the  pre 
sent  state  of  our  nature  the  soul  of  man  bears  som< 
faint  resemblance  to  his  Maker.  Understanding, 
memory,  and  imagination  exhibit  a  faint  shadow  of 
divine  wisdom  and  knowledge.  The  will  acting  upon 
and  controlling  matter  in  an  inexplicable  manner, 
bears  some  resemblance  to  the  almighty  effects  of 
His  absolute  Will.  Conscience  seated  as  a  judge 
within  the  breast  exercises  a  function  which  connects 
it  directly  with  the  great  Judge  of  all ;  while  a  derived 
and  imparted  immortality  reminds  us  of  Him  who 
is  self-existent  and  eternal.  Again,  our  sense  of 
justice,  our  feelings  of  love,  charity,  kindness,  es 
tablish  a  kind  of  likeness  between  us  and  Him  who 
is  all  just,  all  merciful,  all  good,  as  well  as  almighty; 
and  generally,  as  we  approach  the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ,  which  by  His  aid  it  is  possible  to  do,  in  that 
respect  we  grow  nearer  to  the  Divine  image  of  Him 
in  whom  dwelt  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily, 
while  at  the  same  time  we  are  reminded,  by  the  enor 
mous  difference  between  us,  that  we  can  never  como 
up  to  that  image  till  the  "new  man  is  thoroughly 
renewed  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness."  But 
whatever  perfection  of  nature  is  implied  in  "  the 
image  of  God,"  in  which  we  were  created,  this, 
at  least,  is  implied,  that  man  is  not  to  be  considered 
as  one  of  a  series  of  animals,  though  the  very  highest 
member  of  that  series ;  but  that  as  regards  his  place 
in  creation,  he  stands  absolutely  pre-eminent  and  alone. 
He  is  not  the  best  of  animals,  for  he  is  no  animal 
at  all,  but  a  being  of  different  order.  He  has  an 


Man's  Place  in  Creation.  127 

affinity  with  animals  as  regards  bodily  structure,  just 
as  he  has  affinity  with  angels  as  regards  spiritual 
power ;  but  as  you  do  not  on  that  account  call  him 
an  angel,  so  it  is  a  false  description  of  him  to  speak 
of  him  as  an  animal.  The  series  of  organic  life  which 
embraces  the  creatures  of  the  flood,  and  of  the  air 
and  field,  is  summed  up  and  brought  to  a  close. 
There  is  a  pause  in  the  work,  and  the  great  Creator, 
ere  He  calls  into  being  him  to  whom  He  intends  to 
give  dominion  over  all  that  He  has  made,  seems  to 
take  into  counsel  the  other  co-eternal  Persons  of  the 
Trinity,  one  of  whom  shall  be  the  Eedeemer  and  the 
other  the  Comforter  of  that  creature  in  his  fallen 
state,  whom  they  concurrently  sent  into  the  world 
in  u  their  own  image,"  and  thus  "  man  became  a 
living  soul."  The  heathen  did  not  know  all  this, 
and  the  Jew  knew  it  imperfectly ;  for  it  could  not 
be  expected  of  him  that  he  should  decipher  the 
book  of  Kevelation  as  clearly  as  ourselves.  But 
as  the  fact  of  a  higher  origin  separates  us  from  mere 
animals,  so  the  sense  of  this  origin,  both  among  Jew 
and  heathen,  has  been  the  source  of  all  that  is  great 
and  noble  among  men;  and  where  this  sense  is  lost 
the  fact  itself  seems  to  be  obscured  and  effaced. 
We  tell  you  that  you  are  sons  of  God,  even  in  your 
natural  state,  in  a  sense  in  which  no  animals  are, 
though  they  too  are  His  creatures.  You  are  sons 
of  Him  by  nature,  and  if  you  belong  to  Christ  you 
are  doubly  sons  of  Him  by  Grace.  This  is  what 
we  tell  you,  and  what  the  Scripture  tells  you  and 
me ;  but  we  belong  to  a  simple  and  unlearned  time, 


128  Man's  Place  in  Creation. 

and  when  your  children  come  to  be  better  educat* 
than  you  or  I  they  may  be  told  a  very  different 
tale.  And  what  this  may  be  I  may  as  well  tell 
you  now.  You  will  be  told  that  all  this  is  an  idle, 
unreal  dream  of  superstition  and  self-complacency 
that  man  has  no  such  origin,  no  special  prerogative 
of  heavenly  birth ;  that  his  descent  may  be  trac< 
back,  and  back,  and  back,  through  countless  ages,  to 
a  shapeless,  helpless  creature,  half  animal,  half  veget 
able,  that  attached  itself  for  protection  to  some  firmei 
object  in  the  great  ocean;  that  this  creature — b] 
a  process  of  self-aid  known  only  to  itself — im 
proved  itself  into  a  fish,  was,  I  suppose,  ennobL 
in  an  ape,  and  at  last  fought  its  way  to  the  Headshi] 
of  Creation  in  the  form  of  man.  This  genealogy 
is  drawn  out  for  us,  by  a  very  able  hand,  arid  if  it 
is  true  it  is  very  important  that  you  should  all  know 
it.  But  he  has  not  told  us  at  what  stage  in  the  pro 
cess  of  this  creature  to  its  present  condition  an  im 
mortal  soul  was  infused  into  the  animal  frame,  or 
whether,  in  fact,  he  has  any  soul  beyond  the  animal 
life,  which  is  shared  by  other  creatures.  One  thing^ 
however,  is  clear:  mere  animal  life  could  not  grow 
into  an  immortal  soul  by  degrees;  either  it  was,  in 
fact,  in  the  frame  at  some  particular  time,  about 
which  we 'should  wish  to  be  informed,  or  it  does  not 
exist  therein  at  all. 

But  meanwhile  what  will  be  the  effect  of  this 
teaching,  if  it  takes  hold  upon  our  minds  ?  It 
is  idle  to  say  that  it  is  a  mere  scientific  specula 
tion,  which  ought  not  to  have  any  practical  effect 


Man's  Place  in  Creation.  129 

upon  our  conduct ;  that  we  are  what  wo  are  now, 
and  that  it  does  not  matter  how  we  became  so.  If 
what  is  said  is  true,  it  is  a  most  practical  truth ; 
and  it  is  quite  right  that  a  vain  delusion  should  be 
dissipated.  If  this  is  our  origin  and  our  nature, 
it  would  be  wise  to  live  according  to  it,  as  St.  Paul 
argues.  "If  the  dead  rise  not  again,  let  us  eat  and 
drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die,"  and  that  is  the  end 
of  us.  Many  animals  live  happier  lives  than  many 
men,  and  are  better  cared  for.  Higher  gifts  in  some 
cases  only  bring  greater  capacity  for  greater  suffer 
ing,  and  if  we  are  only  animals  it  would  be  better 
for  us  to  be  even  as  they.  I  do  not  understand 
philosophers,  but  it  is  impossible  that  the  mass  of 
men  can  receive  this  account  of  themselves  without 
being  degraded  in  every  part  of  their  nature.  I  think 
I  can  even  trace  a  tendency  to  this  in  the  weak  and 
disjointed  argument  of  the  very  able  man  who  has 
lately  brought  this  account  of  his  own  and  our  ex 
istence  before  the  public  view.  Pride,  it  is  said, 
goes  before  a  fall.  The  pride  of  human  will,  and 
human  achievement,  and  human  power,  was  never 
raised  to  a  higher  pitch  than  at  the  present  day; 
and  it  is  strange  to  see  it  accompanied  as  it 
is,  by  an  infatuated  passion  for  human  degradation. 
You  and  I  may  not  be  able  to  argue,  and  may 
be  perplexed  by  the  arguments  of  other  men,  but 
you  can  guard  and  maintain  in  your  own  person  the 
rights  and  the  dignity  of  human  nature.  And  you 
will  do  this  effectually  if  you  will  bear  in  mind  that 
it  was  this  very  nature  which  our  blessed  Lord  as- 

K 


130  Man's  Place  in  Creation. 

sumed  to  His  own  person.  He  took  not  on  Him 
angels,  nor  the  brutal  nature  of  fishes  or  of  apes, 
but  He  took  upon  Him  the  seed  of  Abraham.  "  The 
Word  which  was  with  God,  and  which  was  God, 
was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us."  The  very 
thought  of  this  will  preserve  you  from  the  low  and 
degraded  estimate  of  yourselves  which  it  is  attempted 
to  force  upon  you.  You  will  not  say,  in  the  language 
of  Job's  abasement,  "  I  have  said  to  Corruption,  Thou 
art  my  father:  to  the  worm,  Thou  art  my  mother 
and  my  sister,"  but  will  rather  be  exalted  by  the 
true  humility  of  David. 

"  What  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and 
the  son  of  man  that  Thou  visitest  him  ? 

u  Thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower  than  the  an 
gels  :  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honour. 
Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works 
of  Thy  hands:  Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his 
feet. 

"  0  Lord  our  Governor,  how  excellent  is  Thy  Name 
in  all  the  world." 


SEEMON  IV. 

uuir  flu  publican. 


ST.  LUKE  xviii.  14. 

"  /  tell  you,  this  man  went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather 
than  the  other  :  for  every  one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased;  and  he  that  hurnbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted." 

THE  parable  that  is  brought  before  us  in  the  Gospel 
of  this  day  a  differs  from  every  other  in  an  im 
portant  respect,  viz.  that  it  is  based,  not  upon  an 
imaginary,  though  possible  event,  but  on  one  that 
must  have  been  of  daily  occurrence.  Two  men  went 
up  into  the  temple  to  pray.  Thousands  must  have 
done  the  same  every  day,  for  prayer  was  part  of 
Jewish  life,  and  the  temple  was  the  place  where 
prayer  was  appointed  to  be  made.  Its  courts  were 
thronged,  and  this  is  our  Lord's  own  description 
of  His  Father's  House,  "  My  House  shall  be  called 
the  House  of  prayer."  But  the  force  of  the  parable 
consists  in  this  :  that  these  two  men  are  typical  or 
representative  characters  —  representing,  that  is,  two 
different  classes  of  men,  two  different  tempers  or 
spirits,  in  which  it  is  possible  to  approach  God  in 
prayer,  and  in  which  men  actually  do  approach  Him. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  indolent  and  thoughtless 
prayer,  prayer  in  which  the  words  come  mechanically 
from  the  lips,  while  the  heart  is  far  away  on  other 
a  XI.  Sunday  after  Trinity. 
K  2 


132  The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

things ;  but  of  this  mockery  of  prayer  nothing  is  said 
in  the  parable.  Both  of  them  were  thoroughly  in 
earnest,  and  sincere — deceived,  the  one  of  them  per 
haps,  by  the  consciousness  of  his  own  sincerity.  But 
the  one  of  them  was  a  Pharisee,  the  other  a  Publican. 
No  words  could  suggest  a  stronger  contrast  of  cha 
racter  than  these  to  the  Jewish  mind.  The  one, 
of  the  strictest  and  most  exclusive  caste,  separated 
from  the  body  of  his  nation  by  conceit  of  himself,  by 
the  respect  of  others,  and  by  his  very  name  which 
implies  separation ;  a  man  of  professed  and  external 
holiness — exact  in  every  observance  of  the  law,  and 
receiving  from  others  the  confirmation  of  the  opinion 
which  he  held  of  himself;  a  man  who  expected  all 
the  deference  that  he  found,  and  who  found  all  that 
he  expected ;  one  for  whom  men  made  room  in  the 
market-place,  and  resigned  the  chief  place  in  the 
synagogue ;  one  who,  if  he  thought  himself  holier  than 
others,  found  his  countrymen  quite  as  ready  to  con 
cede,  as  he  himself  was  to  advance,  the  claim.  The 
other  belonged  to  the  most  despised  and  degraded 
class,  hated  by  their  brethren  as  the  mercenary 
ministers  of  a  foreign  power,  the  gall  of  whose  yoke 
had  eaten  deep  into  their  necks ;  collectors  of  taxes 
that  went  to  the  benefit  of  a  foreign  capital,  and 
whose  collection  in  town  and  country,  at  market  and 
landing-place,  brought  home  daily  to  their  feelings 
that  they  were  no  longer  a  free  people,  and  that  they 
had  fallen  from  their  high  place  among  the  nations 
of  the  world.  We  have  rich  and  poor  here,  high  and 
low,  and  the  extremes  of  society  are  far  enough  apart ; 


f 


The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican.  133 


but  I  fancy  that  nothing  we  can  see  or  even  imagine 
now  will  give  us  any  adequate  measure  of  the  dis 
tance  that  separated  the  genuine  Pharisee  and  the 
Publican. 

Still  there  was  one  link  remaining  to  testify  that 
they  were  children  of  the  same  father,  and  joint 
citizens  of  the  same  peculiar  people.  In  the  hallowed 
courts  of  the  Lord's  House,  into  which  no  stranger 
could  be  admitted,  they  both  felt  themselves  at  home ; 
rich  and  poor,  high  and  low,  there  met  together,  and 
confessed  by  the  act  of  their  meeting  that  the  Lord 
was  the  Father  of  them  all.  But  they  carried  with 
them  in  their  hearts  and  characters  the  difference 
that  was  stamped  upon  their  external  professions  and 
their  lives.  The  one  in  some  fixed  and  ostentatious 
attitude,  composing  himself  so  as  to  be  seen  of  men — 
for  that  seems  to  be  implied  by  the  expression — wrapt 
up  in  himself  and  his  own  holiness,  spoke  really  to 
himself,  while  his  language  seemed  to  be  addressed 
unto  God.  And  we  may  conceive  him  running  over 
in  his  mind  his  list  of  friends  and  acquaintances,  and 
the  vulgar  throng  whom  he  despised,  and  deriving 
fresh  matter  for  pride  from  each  comparison,  till  at 
last  his  eye  fell  upon  the  poor  publican,  who  was 
absorbed  in  the  confession  of  his  own  sins,  uncon 
scious  that  he  was  attracting,  even  for  a  moment,  the 
attention  of  so  great  a  man.  And  then  his  idea  and 
measure  of  himself  was  completed,  and  in  the  satis 
faction  that  he  felt  at  the  standard  he  had  attained 
he  was  disposed  not  to  pray,  but  to  give  thanks  unto 
God,  with  a  strange  kind  of  sincerity.  "  God,  I  thank 


134  The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners, 
unjust,  adulterers,  or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast 
twice  in  the  week,  and  give  tithes  of  all  I  pos 
sess."  Meanwhile,  what  was  this  publican  doing? 
We  do  not  know  the  secrets  of  his  heart,  or  the  me 
mories  of  sin  that  dwelt  there.  Perhaps  he  had 
avoided  the  ordinary  vices  of  his  class,  that  were 
touched  upon  by  John  the  Baptist  when  the  Publi 
cans  came  to  be  baptized,  and  asked  what  they  in 
particular  should  do  towards  the  reformation  of  their 
lives — "  Exact  no  more  than  that  which  is  appointed 
to  you."  Perhaps  he  had  escaped  this  special  temp 
tation.  Perhaps,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  carrying 
the  burthen  of  some  more  strictly  personal  sin.  Or 
in  his  low  estate  he  might  have  been  humbly  walking 
the  way  of  righteousness,  and  striving  to  serve  God 
with  a  perfect  heart.  But  whatever  his  virtues  or 
his  failings,  his  sins  or  his  graces,  one  thought  only 
filled  his  heart  as  he  stood  unconscious  of  aught  else, 
iu  the  customary  attitude  of  prayer  ;  the  fire  was  hot 
within  him,  "he  dared  not  so  much  as  to  lift  up  his 
eyes  unto  heaven,  but  he  smote  himself  upon  his 
breast,"  and  at  last  he  spake  with  his  tongue — few 
words,  but  all  the  feelings  of  his  heart  were  dis 
charged  with  them — "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin 
ner."  And  "  I  tell  you  " — is  the  lesson  of  this  parable, 
"This  man  went  down  to  his  house  justified  rather 
than  the  other.  For  every  one  that  exalteth  himself 
shall  be  abased,  and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall 
be  exalted." 

Now    this    parable    suggests   several   very   inter- 
I 


The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican,  135 

esting  and  practical  questions,  which  it  would 
be  impossible  to  consider  fully  in  a  single  ser 
mon.  Let  us  confine  ourselves  to  one  very  obvious 
one.  What  was  it  in  the  prayer  of  this  Pharisee, 
what  defect  or  element  of  sin  was  it  in  his  heart,  that 
made  his  prayer  unacceptable  to  God,  and  sent  him 
home  with  his  own  good  opinion,  but  without  that 
comparative  justification  which  his  poor  brother 
found,  whose  cry  for  mercy  proved  that  he  had  no 
thought  of  self  beyond  the  confession  of  his  sins  ? 

For  do  not  let  us  hastily  take  up  the  notion  that 
this  Pharisee  was  a  bad  or  profligate  man,  and  gave 
himself  a  false  account  of  his  life  and  conduct,  a  man 
who  assumed  the  garb  of  religion  to  cover  the  deeds 
of  iniquity ;  one  of  those  whited  sepulchres,  so  fair 
outside,  and  so  full  of  ravening  and  uncleanness, 
on  whom  our  Saviour  pronounced  the  sentence  of 
eternal  woe.  Had  he  been  so,  his  prayer  would 
have  been  simply  an  abomination  to  the  Lord,  and, 
according  to  the  fearful  imprecation,  would  have 
been  "  turned  into  sin."  But  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  he  was  deficient  in  that  legal  righteous 
ness  which  was  all  that  a  Pharisee  aimed  at,  and 
which  was  sufficient  to  satisfy  and  feed  his  pride. 
There  is  no  reason  why  he  may  not  have  been  all 
that  St.  Paul  described  himself  to  have  been  in  the 
days  of  his  ignorance,  not  only  a  "  Hebrew  of  the 
Hebrews,"  and,  as  touching  the  law,  a  Pharisee ;  but 
like  him  burning  with  "  zeal"  for  all  that  he  thought 
right,  and  "as  touching  the  righteousness  which  is 
in  the  law  blameless."  Nor  need  we  interpret  it 


136  The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

to  his  disadvantage,  that  whereas  he  is  said  to  have 
"gone  up  to  the  temple  to  pray"  there  are  no  words 
of  prayer  recorded  from  him,  but  only  "  thanksgiv 
ing."  For  prayer  and  thanksgiving  are  necessarily 
connected  together,  and  in  fact  both  are  included 
under  the  idea  of  prayer,  either  being  incomplete 
without  the  other,  as  St.  Paul  in  more  than  one  place 
declares,  e.g.  "Be  careful  for  nothing,  but  in  every 
thing  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving 
let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God."  Nor 
yet  was  he  wrong  in  giving  thanks  to  God  that  he 
had  not  fallen  into  the  vices  of  men  whom  he  saw 
around  him,  that  he  was  not  an  extortioner,  or  un 
just,  or  an  adulterer.  Those  who  take  the  darkest 
view  of  his  character  will  hardly  believe  that  he  was 
in  reality  what  he  thanked  God  that  he  was  not. 
And  if  he  fasted  twice  a  week,  which  would  be  a 
voluntary  self-denial,  not  required  by  the  law,  and 
gave  tithes  of  all  that  he  possessed,  or  rather  acquired, 
while  the  law  probably  only  exacted  a  tithe  of  the 
fruit  of  the  field,  and  the  produce  of  cattle,  all  this 
would  tend  to  shew  a  hearty  and  a  generous  obedience 
to  the  law,  as  far  as  it  commended  itself  to  his  con 
science.  So  far,  then,  from  condemning  this  part  of 
his  conduct,  we  would  maintain  that  he  had  cause 
for  thanksgiving,  and  the  cause  existing,  he  could 
not  be  wrong  simply  for  offering  it.  Indeed,  I  think 
a  reflecting  person  cannot  read  or  hear  of  the  com 
mission  of  any  sin  or  crime  without  an  instinctive 
feeling  of  thanksgiving,  whether  expressed  or  not, 
that  hitherto  he  has  been  preserved  at  least  from 


The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican.  137 

that;  and  when  we  meet  the  most  degraded  of  our 
kind,  we  should  be  impressed,  I  think,  not  only 
with  pity  and  with  fear,  but  we  may  not  let  them 
pass  without  a  thanksgiving,  that  we  have  not  yet 
been  degraded,  and  a  prayer,  that  we  may  never 
yet  be  degraded,  to  their  miserable  level.  For  who 
can  look  into  his  own  heart  honestly  without  feeling 
that  deep  buried  there  lie  the  seeds  of  every  sin, 
ever  ready  to  germinate  into  life,  and  wanting  per 
haps  only  the  stimulus  of  temptation,  or  the  sunshine 
of  opportunity  to  make  them  bring  fruit  unto  death  ? 
Some  persons  must  be  conscious  that  they  have  halted 
on  the  very  verge  of  a  great  crime,  and  they  know 
not  why;  others  who  did  not  seem  more  bent  upon 
it  went  on  and  perished,  but  an  invisible  hand 
stayed  their  course  at  the  very  edge  of  the  pre 
cipice — they  recoiled  from  the  black  depth  and  were 
saved.  "  Two  people  were  working  in  one  field, 
one  was  taken  and  the  other  left."  Shall  the  saved 
find  no  voice  to  give  God  the  glory?  And  if  we 
know  not  that  we  have  been  so  near  to  deeds  which 
our  souls  abhor,  may  we  not  have  been  just  as  near 
without  our  knowledge?  And  if  we  have  never 

|  been  near  such  deeds  at  all,  surely  it  is  the  greater 
mercy  the  further  we  have  been  kept  from  them. 
If,  for  instance,  when  we  have  been  angry  without 
a  cause,  we  may  thank  God  that  our  anger  did  not 
run  on  into  any  deed  of  violence,  may  we  not  thank 
Him  much  more  that  we  have  never  been  angry 

!  without  a  cause  ?  And  if  we  have  never  been  near  the 
commission  of  what  I  will  call  crime  as  distinguished 


138  The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

from  sin,  may  we  not  remember  how  influences  thj 
once  surrounded  us,  and  acted  on  us,  suddenly  01 
gradually  passed  away,  or  ceased  to  act;  how,  per- 
haps,  some  evil  companion  was  removed  from  oui 
side,  by  what  seemed  accidental  then,  or  how  re 
flexion  was  forced  upon  us  by  some  trifling  thin< 
or  even  chance  word;  and  so  we  collected  01 
thoughts  and  considered  our  ways,  and  became, 
as  the  world  says,  very  different  persons  from  what 
we  were  or  might  have  been  ?  And  shall  we  take 
all  this  to  ourselves,  and  give  God  no  thanks  for 
His  goodness  ?  He  that  is  no  "  adulterer,  or  unjust, 
or  extortionate,"  may  without  sin  be  conscious  that 
he  is  not,  and  thank  God — for  all  this  he  might 
have  been;  and  if  to  the  absence  of  these  gross 
vices  he  has  added  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance, 
patience,  godliness,  charity,  he  cannot  be  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  gifts  of  God  within  him,  but  he 
will  be  most  ungrateful,  and  can  hardly  be  said  to 
have  some  of  them,  if  he  does  not  acknowledge  them. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  innocence  of  the  grosser 
defilements  of  the  flesh,  and  he  that  is  so  far  inno 
cent  must  know  that  he  is  so ;  and  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  growth  in  grace.  It  is  possible  to  feel 
the  working  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  within  us, 
"  mortifying  the  works  of  the  flesh,  and  our  earthly 
members,  and  drawing  up  our  minds  to  heavenly 
things."  Great  and  unspeakable  comfort  do  such 
thoughts  bring  to  godly  persons,  kindling  their 
love  to  God,  and  confirming  their  faith  of  eternal 
salvation  to  be  enjoyed  through  Christ.  Shall  they 


The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican.  139 

then  be  looked  for  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  re 
ceived  without  a  word  or  thought  of  thankfulness  ? 

Far  from  it ;  for  the  first  rise  out  of  sin,  for  every 
step  we  make,  as  we  are  working  out  our  salvation 
in  fear  and  trembling ;  for  every  escape  from  danger, 
if  near,  and  for  the  absence  of  it,  if  distant ;  for  every 
temptation  that  we  have  not  felt,  if  kept  far  from  us, 
that  we  have  overcome  if  it  has  assailed  us,  for  all 
that  we  have  or  are,  if  it  be  anything  that  is 
good,  not  unto  us  be  the  praise,  but  unto  Him,  who 
is  at  once  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our  Salvation. 

But  this  Pharisee  did  not  recognize  this  truth, 
and  while  with  his  lips  he  was  thanking  God  "  that 
he  was  not  as  other  men  are,"  in  his  heart  he  was 
taking  all  the  glory  to  himself.  He  had  built,  or 
fancied  he  had  built,  a  ladder  by  which  he  could 
ascend  to  heaven,  and  he  was  admiring  the  work 
of  his  own  hands,  and  counting  its  steps.  By  the 
rigid  discipline  of  his  whole  life,  and  by  voluntary 
sacrifices  not  required  by  the  law,  he  was  accumu 
lating  merit  day  by  day,  till  he  should  gather  up 
a  mass  of  it,  which  would  ensure  him,  as  of  right, 
an  everlasting  reward.  It  is  by  a  happy  combina 
tion  that  we  have  presented  to  us  in  the  Epistle 
the  language  and  the  idea  of  another  Pharisee  of 
a  very  different  kind.  The  one  thanking  God  that 
he  is  not  what  other  men  are,  and  the  other  con 
fessing,  "By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am," 
but  implying  equally  that  he  is  different  from  other 
men,  seem  not  at  first  sight  to  be  very  unlike  each 
other;  but  they  are  as  far  asunder  as  the  poles  of 


140  The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican. 

heaven.  For  St.  Paul  had  learnt  this  lesson,  the 
very  alphabet  of  which  the  Pharisee  had  yet 
learn,  nay,  could  not  learn  at  all,  till  he  had  un 
learnt  all  that  he  thought  he  already  knew:  "  li 
any  man  could  have  confidence  in  the  flesh,"  St.  Pai 
could  above  all  others.  But  now  he  says,  "  What 
things  were  gain  to  me,  those  I  counted  loss  foi 
Christ.  Yea,  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for  the 
excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord,  and  do  count  them  but  dung,  so  that  I  may 
win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him,  not  having  my 
own  righteousness  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that 
which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteous 
ness  which  cometh  of  God  by  faith." 

This  was  the  lesson  that  the  Pharisee  had  to  learn, 
and  herein  is  the  failure  of  his  prayer,  that  all  that 
is  good,  be  it  of  high  or  low  degree,  cometh  from 
God,  cannot  be  put  down  to  ourselves,  though  God 
accept  it  through  Christ,  and  that  nothing  that  we 
can  do  can  merit  heaven.  Those  who  are  heavy- 
burthened  with  sin  can  at  least  cry,  "  God  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner,"  and  He  will  hear  them  ;  but  the 
best  will  only  say — and  the  better  they  are  the 
more  deeply  will  they  feel  it — "  By  the  Grace  of 
God  I  am  what  I  am." 

And  those  who  have  fought  the  good  fight,  and 
feel  now  that  their  course  is  finished,  will  know- 
through  whose  power  they  have  conquered.  And 
while  they  "look  forward  to  the  crown  of  right 
eousness  which  the  Lord  the  Righteous  Judge  shall 
give  to  them  that  love  His  appearing,"  they  well 


The  Pharisee  and  the  Publican.  141 

know  what  worship  the  Eedeemed  will  offer,  and 
"how  they  will  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne, 
saying,  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory 
and  honour  and  power,  for  Thou  hast  created  all 
f°r  ^hy  pleasure  they  are,  and  were 


SEKMON  V. 

Enmmrful 


ST.  MATT,  xviii.  32,  33. 

"  0  thou  Kicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because 
thou  desiredst  me  :  Shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compas 
sion  on  thy  felloivservant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?" 

THE  ideas  of  sin  and  debt,  of  payment  and  pun 
ishment,  or  retribution,  have  always  been  closely 
connected  together  in  the  mind  of  man.  This  fact 
is  borne  witness  to  by  language  ancient  and  modern, 
by  a  kind  of  innate  sense  of  justice,  by  law  and 
practice  all  over  the  world.  Where  we  sin  against 
a  neighbour,  that  is  to  say,  do  any  wilful  injury  to 
his  person,  property,  or  character,  the  law  will  in 
many  cases  award  him  a  compensation,  treating  us 
in  every  respect  as  though  we  were  in  debt  to  him, 
and  enforcing  the  payment.  And  where  the  crime 
is  transferred  from  the  sufferer  to  the  law  itself, 
where  the  broken  law  in  its  majesty  is  contemplated 
as  the  party  that  is  injured  by  the  wrong,  we  be 
come  indebted  to  the  law,  and  the  law  takes  from 
us  satisfaction  in  proportion  to  the  wrong  done;  it 
may  be  in  money,  it  may  be  by  the  infliction  of  some 
equivalent  pain  or  penalty,  it  may  be,  in  an  extreme 
case,  by  the  shedding  of  blood.  Then  we  say  that 
a  life  has  been  forfeited  by  the  law,  and  the  miser- 


The  Unmerciful  Creditor.  143 

able  man  whose  crime  has  brought  him  to  this  ex 
tremity,  will,  if  he  be  truly  penitent,  accept  his  fate 
in  heart  and  soul,  and  offer  his  life  as  a  willing  atone 
ment — and  the  only  one  he  can  offer — for  the  evil 
that  he  has  done,  giving  God  the  glory  that  lie  has 
brought  a  sinner  to  justice  in  this  present  world, 
and  trusting  to  the  atonement  which  he  cannot  offer 
for  forgiveness  of  that  vaster  debt  which  he  owes 
to  Him  whose  justice  is  far  stricter  than  that  of 
human  law. 

Now  Holy  Scripture  not  only  sanctions  but  takes 
up  and  employs  for  our  instruction  this  close  connec 
tion  of  the  idea  of  sin  and  debt,  payment  and  punish 
ment.  In  fact  our  Lord  Himself  expresses  Himself  in 
these  terms,  in  that  version  of  His  own  prayer  which 
St.  Matthew  has  recorded  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
"And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our 
debtors."  And  I  need  hardly  point  out  how  prac 
tical  and  easy  to  understand  this  representation  of 
sin  is.  It  places  man  at  once  towards  God  in  the 
relation  of  a  debtor  towards  a  creditor.  It  is  in 
itself  a  terrible  relation  to  stand  in  towards  Him; 
and  the  idea  of  it,  before  the  voice  of  peace  and 
reconciliation  was  heard,  and  still  now  in  lands  where 
it  is  not  heard,  drives  the  miserable  victims  of  su 
perstition  to  seek  atonement  of  their  sins  by  self- 
inflicted  misery  and  torture,  as  though  they  might 
thus  hope  to  pay  their  own  debt,  and  appear  clean 
before  the  eyes  of  Almighty  God.  And  if  we  are 
!  relieved  from  the  tyranny  and  agony  of  such  an 
idea,  it  is  not  that  the  idea  itself  is  false  or  baseless, 


144  The  Unmerciful  Creditor. 

far  from  it;  we  are  still  debtors  in  ourselves,  hope 
less  debtors  to  One  who  is  of  purer  eyes  than  to 
behold  iniquity,  whose  justice  is  infinite,  and  whose 
knowledge  reaches  to  the  faintest  imaginations  of 
our  hearts ;  but  God  Himself  has  paid  the  debt, 
and  made  the  atonement,  blotting  out  the  record  of 
our  sins,  and  redeeming  us,  not  by  corruptible  things, 
as  silver  or  gold,  "but  with  the  precious  blood  of 
Christ  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without 
spot." 

Let  us  see  how  this  idea  of  debt  is  worked  out  in 
the  parable  before  us,  and  then  dwell  for  a  few  mo 
ments  on  the  practical  lesson  which  the  great  Teacher 
Himself  has  drawn  from  it.  The  parable  does  not 
stand  by  itself  as  an  abstract  lesson,  but  it  comes 
direct  from  the  Saviour's  lips  in  answer  to  question 
ings  that  were  disturbing  the  disciples.  He  had 
just  been  teaching  them  how  an  offending  brother 
was  to  be  dealt  with :  "If  thy  brother  shall  trespass 
against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  between  him 
and  thee  alone;  if  he  shall  hear  thee  thou  hast 
gained  thy  brother,  but  if  he  shall  not  hear  thee, 
take  with  thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the  mouth 
of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  es 
tablished.  And  if  he  shall  neglect  to  hear  them, 
tell  it  to  the  Church ;  and  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the 
Church,  let  him  be  to  thee  as  a  heathen  man  and 
a  publican."  Not  one  word  to  justify  or  satisfy 
any  angry  or  unkind  feeling ;  the  offender  must  be 
dealt  with  somehow,  but,  in  the  extreme  case,  he 
must  be  excluded  from  the  Church,  from  which 


The  Unmerciful  Creditor.  145 

virtually  he  is  already  excluded  by  his  own  un 
christian  temper.  And  with  what  feeling  is  the 
heathen  and  publican  to  be  regarded?  not  with 
enmity  and  scorn  by  the  disciple  of  the  Friend  of 
publicans  and  sinners,  but  with  pity  still  and  love, 
so  that  if  he  whose  words  are  listened  to  when  he 
speaks  in  kindness  the  first  time  to  his  brother  will 
have  the  blessed  satisfaction  of  "  gaining  his  brother," 
there  will  still  remain  at  the  last  the  hope  of  "  re 
storing  the  publican,''  and  converting  the  heathen : 
that  work  which  is  its  own  reward  of  converting 
a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his  ways.  In  this  treat 
ment  all  abandonment  of  personal  feeling  is  sup 
posed  from  the  first;  and  that  being  presumed,  our 
Saviour's  directions  apply  simply  to  the  method  of 
dealing  with  him ;  but  St.  Peter,  speaking  no  doubt 
for  his  brethren  as  well  as  himself,  wishes  to  know 
if  this  is  all,  how  many  times  this  may  be  repeated, 
and  when  some  concession  may  be  made  to  the  feel 
ings  of  a  man  smarting  with  the  remembrance  of 
repeated  wrong.  Now  some  of  the  Jewish  teachers 
had  a  strong  tendency  to  bring  life  and  conduct  in 
all  their  details  under  the  control  of  positive  rules, 
and  it  appears  that  they  had  resolved,  as  they  thought 
on  the  authority  of  Scripture,  that  a  personal  enemy 
had  a  claim  on  our  forgiveness  for  three  successive 
offences  and  no  more ;  but  a  very  good  mau  who 
would  not  be  disposed  to  cut  down  his  obedience 
to  the  very  least  that  the  law  would  accept,  might 
extend  his  forgiveness  to  a  fourth ;  so  that  when 
St.  Peter  asked,  "  How  often  shall  my  brother  sin 

L 


146  The  Unmerciful  Creditor. 

against  me  and  I  forgive  him  ?    Until  seven  times  ?! 
he  thought,  no  doubt,  that  he  had  "  named  a  perfect 
number,  beyond  which  no  forgiveness  could  be  required 
or  even  conceived."     And  now  comes  the  answer  to 
this  question  in  the  parable ;  that  heavenly  lesson  of 
forgiveness  which  these  men  were  soon  to  practise 
in  a  world  that  hated  and  persecuted  them,  so  that 
they  might  be  made  like  unto  Him  in  all  things,  alike 
in  enduring  and  in  forgiveness  of  wrong*    u forgiv 
ing  others,"  so  He  spake  again  through  His  Apostle, 
"  even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  had  forgiven  them." 
The  lesson,  which  is  on  the  surface  of  the  parable, 
comes  upon  us  with  greater  force  when  we  look  more 
closely  into  it.     For  it  would  be  a  reasonable  argu 
ment  to  a  person  of  ordinary  good  feeling  that  he 
should   shew  to  another  the  same  amount  of  kind 
ness  which  he  himself  has  received ;  and   even  the 
hard  world  would  condemn  a  person  who  should  be 
severe  in   exacting  a  debt  from   another,   from   the 
like   of  which   he  himself  had  just   been   excused. 
And   most  men  would  rejoice  in  an   opportunity  of 
repaying   in   this   way   the    kindness  or   indulgence 
by  which  they  have  been  benefited.     But  here  there 
is  no  equality  or  even  proportion  between  the  sums 
owed  by  the  two  debtors.     The  one  is  enormous — 
ten   thousand  talents — >\hich   sounds  to   our  ears  a 
large  sum,  and   is  to  be  reckoned  by  millions ;  the 
other  is  but  a  paltry  sum  of  three  or  four  pounds. 
And  what  does  this  contrast  tell  us?  and  is  it  for 
nothing  that  sums  so  specific  and  so  widely  different 
in  magnitude  are  given?    Surely  it  teaches  us  that 


The  Unmerciful  Creditor.  147 

•sin  in  the  sight  of  God  is  an  infinitely  greater  out 
rage  to   His  holiness,    and  more   abhorrent   to   His 
nature,   than  any  wrong  that  man  may   receive   at 
the  hands  of  his  fellow  can  possibly  be  to  him ;  that 
though  the  world  may  be  full  of  violence  and  wrong, 
of  deceit  and  fraud ;    though  man  may  be  in  arms 
against  his  brother  and  thirsting  for  his  blood  ;  though 
nation   may   be    divided   against   nation    and   house 
against  itself,  yet  all  the  mutual  injury   which  this 
implies  is  to  be  counted  as  nothing,   compared  with 
the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,   compared  with  the 
intrusion  of  sin   into  the  world  which   God  created 
good,   that  sin  of  which  we  are  the  heirs  and  par 
takers.     And  yet  all  this  load  of  debt  God  forgives 
freely,  so  much  greater  is  the  mercy  that  God  shews 
than  that  which  man  refuses  to  shew.     lie  forgives 
and  has  compassion  because  His  servant  falls  at  His 
feet  and  worships  Him.  And  He  forgave  freely,  though 
His  servant  in  the  extremity  of  distress  is  ready  to 
make   promises  of  payment,    and  engagements  that 
it  is  impossible  for  him  to  fulfil.     "  Have  patience 
with  me,  and  I  will  pay  Thee  all."     He  asks  for  time 
and  patience  while  his  debt  is  accumulating  on  him  ; 
but  he  gains  more  than  he  asks  or  hopes  for,  an  ab 
solute  discharge.     But  here  let  me  remind  you  that 
the  parable  deals  only  with  the  fact  of  this  absolute 
forgiveness.     It  is  absolute  as  regards  the  man  him 
self,  i.e.  it  does   not  depend  upon  any  arrangement 
made  with  the  man  himself,  but  it  is  not  absolute 
to  the  entire  exclusion  of  any  condition  or  means. 
God  does  not  pardon  sin    absolutely  in  that  sense, 

L2 


148  The  Unmerciful  Creditor. 

because  we  repent  of  it,  or  because  we  move  His 
compassion  by  our  tears  and  prayers.  If  it  were 
so,  Christ  would  have  lived  and  died,  if  not  in  vain, 
yet  without  any  need  of  such  a  life  and  death.  It 
is  a  dream  of  our  own  that  God,  out  of  the  stores  of 
His  infinite  mercy  and  love,  might  pardon  sin  at  once 
without  atonement,  without  mark  of  His  displeasure : 
nay,  that  it  is  more  consistent  with  His  nature  that 
He  should  do  so,  than  that  He  should  exact  or  accept 
the  penalty  from  another.  This  is  nothing  less  than 
to  put  our  ideas  of  what  ought  to  be  in  the  place 
of  the  knowledge  that  is  offered  to  us  of  what  really 
is ;  but  what  man,  conscious  of  the  weakness  of  our 
common  nature,  will  presume  to  say  how  it  would 
be  most  consistent  for  a  God  of  infinite  purity, 
justice,  and  love,  whose  attributes  in  their  infinity 
seem  almost  to  contradict  each  other,  "  who  will 
by  no  means  clear  the  guilty,  and  yet  keepeth  mercy 
for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity  and  transgressions 
and  sin,"  to  deal  with  the  enormity  of  human  guilt? 
Either  Scripture  is  written  for  nothing,  and  Christ 
Himself  suffered  for  nothing,  and  the  Apostles 
preached  and  suffered  too  for  nothing,  or  there 
was  a  difficulty  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins  which  the 
human  mind  perhaps  cannot  understand,  and  which 
Divine  wisdom  only  could  overcome.  Sin  could  not 
be  wiped  out  at  once  as  though  it  had  never  been, 
or  the  sinner  pardoned  or  restored  by  the  pure  be 
nevolence  of  God.  Either,  I  say,  Scripture  is  de 
ceiving  us,  or  there  was  a  tremendous  problem  to 
be  solved — though  we  may  not  be  able  to  enter 


The  Unmerciful  Creditor.  149 

into  its  difficulties — how  is  man  to  be  pardoned? 
how  can  the  work  of  sin  be  undone,  and  yet  sin 
condemned  and  punished?  how  can  God  be  at  the 
same  time  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  the  unjust? 
And  Scripture  deceives  us  more  if  this  was  not 
done  for  us  by  a  Divine  person,  who  out  of  pure 
love  took  our  nature  upon  Him,  subjected  Himself 
of  His  own  free  will  to  all  its  sufferings  and  afflic 
tions,  rendered  a  perfect  obedience,  and  died  for  us 
on  the  cross,  being  made  sin  for  us,  though  He  knew 
no  sin  Himself,  and  then  ascended  into  heaven, 
where  He  can  plead  the  sweet-smelling  sacrifices 
which  He  Himself  offered  unto  God,  leaving  us  the 
assurance  that  "  if  while  we  were  enemies,  we  were 
reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  much 
more  being  reconciled  we  shall  be  saved  by  His  life." 
Either  this  is  the  Gospel  we  have  to  preach,  the 
Gospel  it  is  called  of  "  reconciliation,"  or  else  we 
know  not  what  we  say,  and  "  Christ  crucified "  is 
a  mere  name.  But  it  will  be  no  mere  name,  but 
a  name,  or  rather  a  power,  of  "  hope  and  faith  and 
joy  and  salvation"  to  those  who  in  humility  and 
truth  look  into  their  own  hearts,  and  conscious  of 
the  evil  that  is  dwelling  there,  ask  that  question 
which  has  been  an  anxious  one  for  man  ever  since 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  is  only  trifled  with 
by  fools  now, — "  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the 
Lord  and  bow  myself  before  the  most  High  God?" 
Those  that  know  themselves  best  will  know  best 
that  they  can  come  to  God  only  through  Christ,  that 
all  they  have  to  plead  is  His  merits,  not  their  own 


150  The  Unmerciful  Creditor. 

efforts  or  repentance,  that  they  have  access  to  tin 
Father  only  through  Him,  and  can  only  offer 
praises  and  thanksgivings  in  His  Name;  that  they 
can  have  nothing  without  Him,  but  with  Him  havi 
everything  they  need,  "  Wisdom  and  rightcousn< 
and  sanctification  and  redemption." 

With  us  who  have  the  sense  of  this  reconciliatioi 
how  can  any  evil  feeling  or  unforgiving  temper  find 
a  dwelling-place  in  our  minds?  Yet  this  man  of 
whom  we  have  been  reading  goes  from  the  presence 
of  his  Lord,  and  finding  some  fellow-servant  who  owes 
him  some  trifling  debt,  and  appeals  to  him  in  the 
self-same  words,  words  which  must  have  recalled  to 
him  the  mercy  he  had  received,  will  have  no  compas 
sion  on  him,  but  casts  him  into  prison  till  he  should 
pay  his  debt.  The  common  feelings  of  humanity 
rise  to  protest  against  his  conduct,  and  his  fellow- 
servants,  in  their  indignation,  report  it  to  his  Lord. 
And  so  his  own  debt,  his  forgiven  debt,  revives  and 
returns  upon  him  ;  and  he  is  delivered  over  to  the 
tormentors  till  he  should  pay  all  that  is  due.  It 
is  no  simple  punishment  for  his  inhumanity  and 
ingratitude  that  he  has  to  bear,  but  the  entire  work 
that  has  been  done  for  him  is  undone — grace,  pardon, 
love,  are  forfeited,  and  he  falls  back  into  the  condi 
tion  of  an  unredeemed  man.  "  So  likewise  shall  My 
heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you  if  ye  from  your 
hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his  brother  their  tres 
passes."  It  is  a  lesson  to  us  all,  for  envy  and  malice 
and  cruelty  gain  too  ready  an  entrance  into  our  hearts, 
and  what  room  is  there  for  the  Spirit  of  Christ  when. 


The  Unmerciful  Creditor.  151 

they  have  possession  ?  To  do  unto  others  as  we  would 
that  they  should  do  unto  us  is  a  high  and  perfect 
rule  of  conduct ;  it  tells  us  to  put  ourselves  in  the 
place  of  another,  and  to  treat  him  as  we  would  then 
wish  to  be  treated:  but  to  do  unto  others  as  God, 
for  Christ's  sake,  has  done  unto  us  is  a  higher  and 
more  perfect  rule  still.  And  if  men  would  really 
walk  as  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord,  as  God's  adopted 
children,  sealed  with  His  Spirit  and  bearing  with 
them  the  recollection  of  all  that  has  been  given  them 
and  all  that  has  been  forgiven,  we  might  hope  for 
something  like  peace  upon  earth  and  good  will  among 
men. 

There  is  a  change  in  our  Lord's  expression  when 
He  speaks  of  the  unmerciful  servant  which  should  not 
escape  our  notice.     "  So  likewise  shall  My  heavenly 
Father," — Mine,  observe,  and  not  yours,  for  in  forget 
ting  the  mercies  you  have  received  you  put  yourselves 
out  of  the  family  of  God,  and  virtually  deny  your 
relationship,  just  as  you  confirm  and  establish  it  by 
deeds  of  mercy.     "  Love  your  enemies,  and  do  good 
and  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again,  and  your  reward 
shall  be  great,  and  ye  shall  be  the  children  of  the 
Most  High,  for  lie  is  kind  unto  the  unthankful  and 
the  Evil."     For  ourselves  we  have  mercies  past  to 
think  of,  and  sometimes  we  are  appealed  to  by  them, 
"  forgiving  others  as  Christ  forgave  you,"  and  as  we 
look  to  mercy  hereafter;   and  sometimes  the  appeal 
is  this,    "  Forgive  and  ye  shall  be  forgiven."     But 
the  son  of  Sirach  points  out  how  we  may  make  the 


152  The  Unmerciful  Creditor. 

past  mercy  fruitless,  and  put  ourselves  beyond  the 
pale  of  the  future. 

"  One  man  beareth  hatred  against  another,  and 
doth  lie  seek  pardon  from  the  Lord?  He  sheweth 
no  mercy  to  a  man  who  is  like  himself,  and  doth 
he  ask  forgiveness  of  his  own  sin  ? 


SEEMON  VI. 

(Sifts  f0r  HUn. — Mbit  Sunbug. 


EPHES.  iv.  7,  8. 

"  Unto  every  one  of  us  is  given  grace  according  to  the  measure 
of  the  gift  of  Christ.  Wherefore  He  saith,  When  He  ascended 
up  on  high,  He  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto 


THE  Psalm  in  which  you  have  just  joined  accord 
ing  to  the  services  of  the  day  will  have  told  you 
whose  those  words  are  to  which  the  Apostle  is  refer 
ring.  The  Psalm  itself,  it  is  believed,  was  composed 
on  the  occasion  of  conveying  the  ark  from  its  dwell 
ing-place  on  the  threshing-floor  of  Araunah,  to  its 
final  habitation  on  the  Holy  Hill  of  Sion.  But  as 
that  ark,  though  the  work  of  human  hands,  was  the 
token  of  God's  presence  with  His  people,  as  its  con 
veyance  to  the  place  which  God  desired  above  all 
other  places  to  dwell  in  for  ever  was  typical  of  the 
ascent  of  a  more  triumphant  conqueror  than  David 
into  a  more  enduring  seat  than  the  earthly  Jerusalem, 
so  is  the  entire  Psalm  in  the  highest  degree  prophe 
tical  of  greater  events  than  any  that  were  destined 
to  be  accomplished  in  the  city  of  David.  It  spans, 
indeed,  in  a  marvellous  manner  the  whole  range  of 
time,  from  the  very  beginning  of  God's  dealing  with 


154  Gifts  for  Men. 

Ilis  people,  to  the  final  consummation  of  all  things. 
It  commences  with  the  very  words  of  Moses — used 
clay  by  day  as  the  ark  shifted  its  place  in  the  wilder 
ness — "Let  God  arise,  and  let  His  enemies  be  scat 
tered  ; "  it  carries  us  onward  to  the  triumphant  en 
trance  of  the  Saviour  not  into  the  holy  places  made 
"  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the  true,  but 
into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the  presence 
of  God  for  us." 

But  I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  singular 
distinctness  of  the  prophecy  as  quoted  by  the 
Apostle,  with  some  noticeable  variation  of  terms . 
u  Thou  hast  ascended  up  on  high,  Thou  hast  led  cap 
tivity  captive,  Thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men,  yea, 
for  the  rebellious  also,  that  the  Lord  God  might  dwell 
among  them."  "  Thou  hast  received  gifts  for  men" 
is  the  expression  of  the  Patriarch.  "He  led  capti 
vity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  for  men,"  is  the  version 
of  the  Apostles-^-^Ww*/  thus  taking  the  place  of  re 
ceiving.  I  shall  recur  to  this  hereafter,  at  present 
it  is  enough  to  notice  it. 

The  Psalmist  you  see  connects  together  in  the 
closest  possible  manner  the  act  of  ascending  up  on 
high  and  giving  or  receiving  gifts  for  men.  And 
if  we  turn  to  the  pages  of  the  New  Testament  we: 
find  this  connexion  so  uniformly  maintained,  both  in 
thought  and  language,  that  the  two  acts  seem  to; 
be  almost  confounded  into  one.  We  cannot  account 
for  this  harmony,  except  by  the  fact  that  the  same; 
Spirit  which  spake  by  the  prophets  of  old  was  given 
in  full  measure  to  the  Apostles  on  the  day  of  Pente-, 


Gifts  for  Men.  155 

cost.  Nothing  else  can  explain  this  marvellous  unity. 
It  was  not  only  the  strangers  that  were  in  Jerusalem 
on  that  particular  day,  devout  men  as  they  were  from 
every  nation  under  heaven,  Parthians  and  Medes  and 
Elamites,  strangers  of  Rome,  Jews  and  proselytes, 
that  heard  in  their  own  tongues  the  wonderful  works 
of  God,  many  languages  proclaiming  the  same  truth. 
It  was  the  harmony  not  of  a  single  day,  but  of  many 
hundreds  of  years,  many  voices  but  the  same  Spirit, 
and  the  Lord  God  long  since  filled  His  holy  Prophets 
with  the  same  Spirit,  with  the  first-fruits  of  which 
His  Church  was  endowed  as  upon  this  very  day.  So 
that  if  we  find  St.  John  expressly  stating  "  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given  because  that  Jesus 
was  not  yet  glorified,"  or  St.  Peter  after  shew 
ing  that  "  God  had  raised  up  Jesus,  according  to 
the  Prophets,"  and  pointing  out  as  a  necessary  con 
sequence  that  "  therefore  being  by  the  right  hand 
of  God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father 
the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  shed  forth  this, 
which  ye  now  see  and  hear;"  (for  David,  he  says, 
whose  sepulchre  is  with  us  unto  this  day,  is  not 
ascended  into  heaven,  but  he  saith  himself,  "  The 
Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  My  right  hand 
;  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool."  lie  could 
I  not,  therefore,  be  speaking  of  himself,  but  of  some 
greater  One  ;)  if,  I  say,  we  find  this  in  the  New  Testa 
ment,  we  shall  not  be  surprised  if  we  find  the 
Psalmist  connecting  together  the  ascension  of  that 
greater  One,  and  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Old  Tes 
tament,  or  the  prophet  Joel,  determining,  so  to  speak, 


156  Gifts  for  Men. 

the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh  to  the  last 
days — the  days  when  the  great  work  of  salvation  had 
been  finished,  and  the  Author  of  our  salvation  had 
been  received  up  again  into  the  glory  which  He  had 
with  the  Father  before  the  world  was.  It  was  on 
the  very  day  of  the  delivery  of  the  law  from  Mount 
Sinai  in  the  wilderness,  that  the  Church  of  God 
received  the  far  higher  endowment  of  the  Spirit. 
Ten  days  only  elapsed  before  the  promise  of  the 
Father  was  fulfilled.  The  same  arrangement  of  time 
that  regulated  the  dealings  of  God's  Providence  with 
His  ancient  people  was  observed  and  carried  out  in 
His  dealings  with  His  new.  They  counted  fifty  days 
from  the  Passover  to  Pentecost,  we  count  fifty  from 
the  great  Atonement  to  Whit-Sunday.  Our  blessed 
Lord  had  promised  His  disciples  that  when  He  went 
away  He  would  give  them  another  Comforter,  that 
should  abide  with  them  for  ever,  even  the  Spirit  of 
Truth.  But  till  He  was  taken  away  the  gift  which 
we  now  commemorate  as  a  fact  seems  to  have  been 
withheld  by  a  kind  of  necessity  of  God's  spiritual 
kingdom.  The  Holy  Ghost  it  appears  could  not 
be  given  unto  men  while  the  Son  of  Man  Himself 
was  walking  among  the  children  of  men.  Therefore, 
when  sorrow  filled  their  hearts  at  the  very  thought 
of  His  departure,  He  assures  them  "that  it  was 
expedient  for  them,"  a  positive  advantage  to  them, 
that  He  should  go  away,  as  though  a  very  hindrance 
to  their  good  would  be  removed  by  His  departure, 
"  For  if  I  go  not  away  the  Comforter  will  not  come 
unto  you,  but  if  I  go  away,  I — i.e.  I  myself — will 


Gifts  for  Men.  157 

send  Him  unto  you."  And  this  will  enable  us  to 
understand  how  the  receiving  of  the  Psalmist  corre 
sponds  to  the  giving  of  the  Apostle.  The  Son  will 
pray  the  Father,  and  He  will  give  us  another  Com 
forter.  But  the  gift  cometh  through  the  Son,  and 
the  Son  sendeth  Him.  The  gift  is  from  the  Father, 
but  because  all  good  things  come  to  us  only  through 
the  Son,  therefore  the  Son  sendeth  Him.  He  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son:  u  When  the 
Comforter  is  come  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from 
the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  Truth  which  proceedeth 
from  the  Father,  He  shall  testify  of  Me."  And 
again,  "  He  shall  glorify  Me,  for  He  shall  receive  of 
Mine  and  shew  it  unto  you.  All  things  that  the 
Father  hath  are  Mine.  Therefore  I  said  that  He 
shall  take  of  Mine,  and  shall  shew  it  unto  you." 

But  there  is  a  part  of  the  Psalmist's  prophecy 
which  I  have  not  yet  noticed,  and  which  is  not 
quoted  by  the  Apostle,  not  because  it  is  unimportant, 
or  has  no  bearing  upon  ourselves,  but  because  it  was 
not  the  custom  to  quote  prophecy  in  full,  only  to 
indicate  how  holy  men  of  old  spoke  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  "Thou  hast  received 
gifts  for  men,  yea,  for  the  rebellious  also,  that  the 
Lord  God  might  dwell  among  them."  God,  that 
is,  who  maketh  the  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on 
the  good,  did  not  confine  the  special  favour  that 
He  shewed  to  His  own  peculiar  people,  to  those  who 
truly  served  Him  with  a  perfect  heart.  Now  the 
whole  career  of  His  people  is  nothing  less  than 
|  a  history  of  God's  Spirit  striving  ever  with  the 


158  Gifts  for  Men. 


rebellious  spirit  of  man.  'It  "was  the  same  before 
their  time:  "  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man 
was  great  upon  the  earth,  and  that  every  imagina 
tion  of  his  thoughts  was  only  evil  continually." 
And  He  said  then,  u  My  Spirit  shall  not  always  .strive 
with  man."  And  when  the  flood  had  swept  away 
that  generation  from  its  surface,  and  one  just  man 
only  with  his  family  was  preserved  to  replenish  the 
earth,  the  strife  began  anew  with  the  new  spring 
of  the  human  race ;  of  the  three  branches  of  that  one 
stem  that  was  permitted  to  multiply,  one  was  soon 
cut  off,  and  thrown  aside,  and  the  descendants  of 
Ham  bear  to  the  present  day  the  burthen  of  their 
parent's  curse,  "  Cursed  be  Canaan,  a  servant  of 
servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren."  And  when 
God  left  the  rest  of  the  world  to  walk  in  their  own 
ways,  though  even  then  He  left  not  Himself  without 
a  witness,  and  chose  out  one  particular  family  for  His 
inheritance,  the  strife  continued  there  only  in  a  more 
aggravated  form.  The  prophet  whom  Balak  con 
sulted,  when  he  looked  upon  the  goodly  tents  of 
Jacob,  and  his  tabernacles  spread  forth  as  gardens 
by  the  river-side,  filled  with  the  sense  of  the  blessed 
ness  of  those  whom  God  has  blessed,  could  not 
restrain  his  imagining  of  what  that  people  so  highly 
favoured  was  or  ought  to  be.  "  He  hath  not  beheld 
iniquity  in  Jacob,  neither  hath  he  seen  perverseness 
in  Israel."  But  those  who  were  commissioned  to 
speak  of  them  and  to  them,  when  they  had  been 
proved  by  prosperity  and  affliction,  held  a  very  dif 
ferent  language.  "  Son  of  man,  I  send  thee  to  the 


Gifts  for  Men.  159 

children   of  Israel,   to  a  rebellious  nation  that  hath 
rebelled  against  Me :    they   and  their   fathers  have 
transgressed  against  Me,  unto  this  very  day.     And 
thou  shalt  speak  unto  them,  whether  they  will  hear  or 
whether  they  will  forbear,  for  they  are  most  rebel 
lious."    Eebellious  children,  impudent  and  stiff-hearted 
— these  are  but  a  few  of  the  reproaches  that  are  cast 
upon  God's  chosen  people  by  the  prophets  who  were 
sent  to  recall  them  into  the  way  of  righteousness. 
In  the  most  glorious  Psalms  the  mighty  works  of 
God  stand  side  by  side  with  the  rebellions  of  His 
people,  as  if  to  shew  us  that  where  His  mercies  are 
greatest  there  man  finds  the  greatest  opportunities 
of  sin,     "Then  believed  they  His  words,  they  sang 
His  praise."     But  in  the  next  verse,  u  They  forgat 
His  works,  and  waited  not  for  His  counsel.     They 
despised  the  pleasant  land,   they  believed   not  His 
word."    "  They  joined  themselves  to  Baal-Peor.    They 
|  angered  Him  at  the  waters   of  strife.     They  were 
j  mingled  among  the  heathen  and  learned  their  works ;" 
[so  that  when  the  page  of  their  history  is  full,  and  we 
have  read  through  the  record  of  their  crimes,  when 
the  cup   of  their  iniquity  is  full,   and  the  hour  of 
'their  desolation  at   hand,   our  own  judgment  finds 
i expression  in  the  dying  words  of  the  first  martyr, 
"Ye   stiffnecked   and    uncircumcised   in   heart   and 
ears,  ye  do  always  resist,  the  Holy  Ghost:  as  your 
fathers  did,  so  do  ye." 

And  yet  God  dwelt  among  this  rebellious  people, 
and  fixed  .His  seat  upon  the  Holy  Hill  of  Sion, 
even  amidst  the  iniquities  of  Jerusalem.  No  re- 


160  Gifts  for  Men. 

bellion  of  His  people,  however  aggravated,  could  d< 
stroy  the  reality  of  the  gifts  that  He  bestowed  upoi 
them.  They  were  there  not  by  their  own  option,  bul 
by  His  act,  whether  they  would  or  no,  with  their 
blessings  if  they  received  and  used  them  rightly, 
with  their  curses  if  they  neglected  or  abused  them. 
So  much  was  left  in  the  power  of  man,  and  so  much 
only,  to  make  him  a  savour  of  life,  or  a  savour 
of  death  unto  himself,  but  he  could  not  affect  the 
reality  of  the  gifts  by  ignoring  them. 

Therefore,  when  Jerusalem  had  become  utterly 
abominable,  when  her  kings  were  apostates,  and  the 
whole  nation,  as  Isaiah  describes  it,  one  mass  of 
corruption,  full  of  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrifying 
sores,  it  was  still  the  Holy  City,  for  God  was  in  the 
midst  of  her.  All  that  God  had  given  her  was  hers 
still,  continued  hers,  because  none  but  the  Lord 
who  gave  had  power  to  take  away.  The  day  of 
forfeiture,  it  is  true,  came,  but  it  came  when  God 
pronounced  the  sentence,  and  from  His  sentence, 
not  from  any  act  or  sin  of  man.  God  dwelt  there, 
not  so  long  as  it  might  seem  to  be  a  fitting  dwelling- 
place  for  the  Most  High,  but  according  to  the  times 
that  He  hath  put  in  His  own  power.  It  is  said  that 
before  her  place  was  left  unto  her  desolate,  strange 
voices  from  the  most  holy  place  were  heard  in  the 
courts  of  the  Lord's  House.  "  Let  us  go  forth  from 
hence."  And  then  God  departed  from  her  for  ever, 
and  Jerusalem  was  trodden  down  by  the  Gentiles 
till  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled.  But  till 
then  the  gifts  of  God  were  without  repentance,  and 


Gifts  for  Men.  161 

their  inheritance  was  entire.  They  were  still  Israel, 
though  all  were  not  Israel  who  were  of  Israel;  to 
them  appertained  the  adoption,  though  they  shut 
themselves  from  the  household  of  God — the  glory 
of  God's  presence  that  is,  though  they  dishonoured 
Him — the  covenants,  though  they  broke  them — the 
giving  of  the  Law,  though  they  made  it  of  none 
effect — the  promises,  though  they  would  not  have 
them — the  fathers,  though  they  did  not  the  work  of 
their  fathers—  to  sum  up  all,  "  of  them  as  concern 
ing  the  flesh  Christ  came;"  though  " He  came  unto 
His  own,  and  His  own  received  Him  not." 

Now  there  is  an  exact  parallel  to  this  in  our 
own  case.  When  St.  Paul  quoted  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  and  thereby  fixed  their  meaning,  it  was 
enough  to  say,  "He  gave  gifts  for  men."  All  the 
rest  was  implied,  or  rather  was  expressed,  before 
hand,  "  Unto  every  one  of  us  is  given  grace  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  the  gifts  of  Christ."  The 
grace  of  God,  that  is,  is  not  special  to  any  particular 
number  of  persons,  but  universal,  to  all  of  whom 
and  to  whom  the  Apostle  is  writing ;  to  those  who 
walk  as  children  of  the  light,  and  to  those  whom  he 
still  finds  it  necessary  to  warn,  that  they  walk  not 
as  other  Gentiles  walk,  in  the  vanity  of  their  minds, 
"  having  their  understanding  darkened,  and  alienated 
from  the  life  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in 
them,  because  of  the  blindness  of  their  hearts."  These 
gifts  are  gifts  unto  the  Church,  and  they  are  shared 
by  many  who  are  unworthy  members  of  the  Church : 
nay,  they  have  a  wider  range  even  than  this.  On 


Al 


162  Gifts  for  Men. 

this  day  of  Pentecost  they  that  received  St.  Peter's 
word  gladly  were  baptized,  and  the  same  day  there 
were  added  to  the  Church  three  thousand  souls. 
And  afterwards  we  are  told  that  there  were  adde< 
to  the  Church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved.  But 
there  must  have  been  many  times  three  thousand 
Jews,  from  every  nation  under  heaven,  who  hean 
the  solemn  appeal  of  St.  Peter  :  "  Eepent,  and  be  bap 
tized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ 
for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  promise  is  unto  you  and 
to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as 
many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call."  They  who 
received  the  gift  were  condemned  or  justified  by  the 
use  they  made  of  it  hereafter,  but  they  who  rejected 
it  were  not  thereby  exempted  from  the  duty  and 
danger  involved  in  its  offer.  Were  I  speaking  to 
Jews  or  heathen  it  would  be  the  same  now.  Those 
who  preferred  darkness  rather  than  the  light,  be 
cause  their  deeds  were  evil,  would  bear  the  conse 
quences  of  their  evil  deeds,  done  in  despite  of  light. 
But  I  am  not  speaking  to  heathens  here,  or  those 
who  will  be  tried  as  heathen,  not  to  those  to  whom 
little  has  been  given,  and  from  whom  little  will  be 
required,  but  to  those  on  whom  God  has  poured  out 
all  the  riches  of  His  grace  freely.  You  are  members 
of  the  family  of  Christ  by  adoption,  though  you 
may  be  wasting  your  substance,  and  living  the  lives 
of  prodigals.  You  are  incorporated  members  of  His 
Church,  and  all  that  He  has  given  unto  His  Churcl 
is  yours,  though  you  profit  nothing  by  it.  The  nami 


Gifts  for  Men.  163 

of  Christ  is  yours,    though  you   may  dishonour  it. 
Eternal   life   is   yours,    though   you  judge    yourself 
unworthy  of  it.     The  blood  of  the  covenant  is  yours, 
though  you  count  it  an  unholy  thing.     You  have 
been    onco    enlightened,    you    have    tasted   of    the 
heavenly  gift,  and  been  made  partakers  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,    though   you  have  fallen  away,   and  cannot 
again  be  renewed  unto  repentance.     The  past  cannot 
be  undone,  and  God's  gifts,  slighted  and  despised,  it 
may  be  even  profaned,  cannot  leave  you  as  though 
!  they  had  never  been  received.     No  doubt  the  idle 
and  unprofitable  servant,  who  hid  his  Master's  talent 
|  in   the    earth,    would    have   been    very   thankful   if 
;he  could   have   declined   receiving  it.     But  it  was 
i thrust  upon  him,  and  he  was  condemned,  though  he 
:  returned  it  whole,  because  he  had  done  nothing  to 
increase  it.     What,  then,  will  be  the  judgment  of  him 
who  wastes  his  talent  ?    He  at  least  thought  it  a  valu 
able  thing,  and  one  to  be  preserved.     But  what  of 
those   who  have  nothing  at  all  to  shew,   not  even 
(what  they  have  received,  in  the  great  day  of  account  ? 
iWhat  of  those  who  shrink   from  the   table   of  the 
iLord,   and   from  the  communion   of  His  Body  and 
iBlood,  and  dare  not  touch  them  because  their  lives 
:ire  evil?     Can  their  evil  lives  invalidate  the  offer 
!>f  these  gifts,  or  destroy  the  guilt  of  rejecting  them  ? 
|.t  cannot  be ;  do  not  deceive  yourselves  in  so  grave 
i  matter.     Be  assured  that  by  all  God's  gifts,  by  all 
hat  you  have  received — by  all  you  might  have  re- 
j-eived  and  would  not— you  will  be  tried,  condemned, 
•r  justified.     Will  it  be  any  answer  to  plead  that 

M  2 


164  Gifts  for  Men. 

we  have  not  profaned  God's  Holy  Communion,  whei 
the  charge  is  that  we  have  never  lived  in  it  ?    Jus 
as  he  that  receiveth  not  the  witness  of  God  which 
gave  of  His  Son  maketh  him  a  liar,  so  he  that  r< 
fuseth  that  gift  of  God  profaneth  that  gift  by  not 
receiving  it.     But    Christ   Himself  pleads   with   us 
to  come  to  Him,   and   His   very   invitation   is   the 
highest  gift,  even  to  the  disobedient  and  rebellious, 
a  free  unbought  and  undeserved  grace  to  as  many 
as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call. 

Let  us  throw  our  souls  open  to  all  those  holy 
influences  which  the  Spirit  brought  down  upon  the 
Church  of  Christ  this  day,  to  convictions  of  sin, 
to  motives  of  holiness,  to  truth,  to  purity  and  love. 
And  let  us  who  stand  fast  in  the  grace  of  God  tako 
heed  that  we  receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain. 


SEKMON  VII. 

mi  it  (Qxusfton 


of 


I  SAM.  xii.  17. 

"  I  will  call  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  shall 
send  thunder  and  rain." 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury  has,  I  am  informed, 
issued  letters  to  the  Bishops,  recommending  prayer 
ito  be  offered  for  the  blessing   of  finer  weather,  to 
mature  and  enable  us  to  gather  in  the  fruits  of  the 
earth;  and  I  am  sure  there  are  those  among  you 
who  will  join  in  that  prayer  with  as  great  earnest 
ness  as  in  any  prayer  you  have  ever  offered  in  the 
:course   of  your   lives.       Nevertheless,    the   question 
of  prayer  for  rain  or  sunshine,  or  for  anything  else 
that  appears  to  depend  upon  the  physical  laws  that 
Igovern  the  universe,  is  a  very  serious  one,  and,  as 
it   seems  to  me,  goes    a   good   deal  deeper  than  is 
generally  supposed  —  affecting,    in   fact,    the   whole 
'principle   of  prayer   for   anything.     If   we   turn   to 
Scripture  we  have  certainly  not  many  instances  of 
prayers   such  as  I    am   speaking  of.     Samuel   stood 
.n  a  peculiar  relation  to   God,   as  the  Prophet  and 
:he  Judge  of  His  people.     lie  appealed  to  God,  as 
|ive  read  last  Sunday,  and  He  answered  by  rain  and 
:hunder  in  harvest.     It  was  a  miracle,  and  had  its 

a  July  13,  1879. 


166  Rev.  C.  Kingsleijs  Views 

effect  as  such  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  so  that 
they  greatly  feared  the  Lord  and  Samuel.  The 
answer  to  the  prayer  of  Elias  is  referred  to  by  St. 
James  as  an  instance  of  the  general  power  of  the 
"  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man."  "  He 
prayed,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  that  it  might  not  rain, 
and  it  rained  not  upon  the  earth  by  the  space  of 
three  years  and  six  months.  He  prayed  again,  and 
the  heaven  gave  rain,  and  the  earth  brought  forth 
her  fruits.'7  And  lest  it  should  be  thought  tha 
the  greatness  of  Elijah  as  a  prophet,  and  his  holi 
ness  as  a  man,  gave  him  an  exceptional  privileg 
in  the  matter  of  this  prayer,  St.  James  adds,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  that  "he  was  subject  to  like  passions 
as  we  are,"  so  that  whatever  he  prayed  for  we  have 
on  proper  occasions  the  same  right  to  pray  for. 
Nevertheless,  the  question  of  prayer  for  such  things 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  difficult  one,  and  the  prac 
tice  of  it  one  that  is  not  commended  to  us  on  ordinary 
occasions,  so  that  in  fact  it  may  become  a  sign  not 
of  faith,  but  of  want  of  faith  in  those  that  offer  it. 
And  some  years  since  a  very  distinguished  clergy 
man,  and  almost  a  neighbour  of  us,  the  Eev.  C. 
Kingsley,  got  himself  into  a  good  deal  of  obloquy 
by  refusing  to  offer  it,  and  as  nobody  can  doubt 
that  he  was  a  good,  holy,  and  faithful  servant 
Christ,  it  will  be  worth  while  to  consider  what  hi 
reasons  were,  though  I  do  not  entirely  agree  wi 
them.  First  he  declined  to  read  the  prayer  fo 
fine  weather  unless  ordered  to  do  so,  because  i 
seemed  to  him  to  imply  an  opinion  that  we  a 


ix 

i 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  1G7 

wiser  than  God.  That  prayer  speaks  of  a  plague 
of  rain  and  waters  as  a  punishment.  "But  how  do 
we  know  that  it  is  a  punishment?  and  if  so,  for 
what?  It  is  well  that  we  should  have  the  judg 
ment  of  God  before  us  on  all  occasions,  and  no 
consideration  that  can  induce  us  to  amend  our  lives 
can  be  out  of  place.  And  if  we  think  of  the  special 
sins  of  the  day,  and  the  vices  of  society,  and  of  the 
luxury,  and  dishonesty,  and  corruption  that  prevail 
among  those  who  ought  to  be  examples  to  others, 
there  seems  to  be  enough  to  make  a  thoughtful 
mind  tremble  for  the  days  that  are  coming.  But 
how  do  we  know  that  the  excessive  rains  that  make 
us  so  anxious  are  a  judgment?  Are  we  quite  sure 
that  they  are  not  a  boon  and  a  blessing  ?  A  certain 
quantity  of  water  is  as  necessary  to  the  earth  as 
blood  to  our  living  bodies.  It  rises  from  the  sea 
in  clouds,  and  falls  to  the  earth  as  rain,  not  to  the 
same  extent  in  all  years,  but  so  as  to  give  a  regu 
lar  average,  and  this  is  kept  up  not  year  by  year, 
but  taking  one  year  with  another.  Perhaps  we 
may  think  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  we  had 
exactly  the  same  quantity  every  year,  and  falling 
at  the  same  time;  but  this  would  be,  in  fact,  to 
suppose  ourselves  wiser  than  God.  Man  does  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  all  the  laws  of  nature, 
which  are  in  truth  the  words  of  God.  Can  man 
live  on  food  without  drink,  or  on  the  two  without 
air,  or  on  the  three  without  heat  ?  No  !  nor  on  all 
four  without  a  hundred  other  wholesome  influences, 
of  many  of  which  the  wisest  man  can  only  guess, 


168  Rev.  C.  King  sky's  Vieivs 

but  which  altogether  go  to  make  up  the  health  of 
man.  How  do  we  know  but  what  the  rains  are 
not  restoring  to  us  many  a  wholesome  influence  of 
this  kind  which  we  should  want  without  them? 
How  do  we  know  that  they  are  not  washing  away 
day  by  day  the  seeds  of  pestilence  in  man,  and 
beast,  and  vegetable,  sowing  instead  the  seeds  of 
health  and  fertility  for  ourselves  and  our  children 
after  us?  How  do  we  know  that  when  we  are  ask 
ing  for  bread  we  are  not  really  asking  for  a  stone  ?  " 

The  cholera  was  threatening  at  the  time  these  words 
were  written,  and  Mr.  Kingsley  asks  with  perti 
nency,  "  How  do  we  know  that  in  asking  God  to 
take  away  these  rains  we  are  not  asking  Him  to 
send  the  cholera  in  the  year  to  come  ?  I  have 
long  been  of  that  opinion.  I  have  long  thought 
that  one  or  more  dry  summers,  keeping  the  springs 
at  their  low  level,  would  inevitably  bring  cholera 
or  some  other  pestilence ;  and  if  that  particular  guess 
be  wrong,  this  I  believe,  and  this  I  will  preach, 
that  every  drop  of  rain  which  is  now  falling  is  likely 
to  prove,  not  a  plague  or  a  punishment,  but  a  bless 
ing  and  a  boon  to  England  and  to  Englishmen." 

These  considerations  are  the  reflexions,  not  of  an 
irreligious,  but  of  a  most  religious  and  God-fearing 
mind,  and  that  of  a  high  and  noble  order,  and  as 
such  are  deserving  of  our  careful  regard.  They 
come  from  a  spirit  of  humility  and  patience,  that 
can  wait  in  faith  till  it  sees  the  goodness  of  the 
Lord.  They  are,  if  you  like  so  to  take  them,  a  con 
fession  of  ignorance.  But  where  I  am  ignorant, 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  169 

I  prefer  the  confession  of  it  to  the  presumptuous 
pretence  to  knowledge.  He  speaks  of  himself,  and 
I  speak  of  myself:  "  Who  am  I  that  I  should  judge 
another?"  I  blame  no  one  else  for  praying  for 
rain  or  for  fine  weather,  particularising,  if  he  likes, 
exactly  where  he  wants  each  to  prevail.  I  am 
content  with  the  general  form  of  the  Litany,  "That 
it  may  please  Thee  to  give  and  preserve  to  our  use 
the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth,  so  that  in  due  time 
we  may  enjoy  them."  But  I  have  no  objection  to 
the  special  prayer  when  it  is  ordered  by  authority, 
and  I  hope  I  use  it  in  faith,  that  the  Maker,  Creator, 
and  Sustainer  of  all  things  will  order  them  for  the 
best.  Still  I  cannot  go  entirely  along  with  Mr. 
Kingsley  in  all  that  follows.  What  he  means  he 
has  expressed  in  the  fewest  possible  words.  "  Every 
shower,"  he  says,  "  and  every  sunbeam  is  fore-or 
dained  from  the  beginning  of  the  world."  If  this 
is  the  case,  we  need  not  trouble  ourselves  about  the 
objection  that  in  praying  for  such  things  we  make 
ourselves  wiser  than  God.  We  are  simply  asking, 
not  for  that  which  is  unwise  or  presumptuous, 
we  are  asking  for  that  which  is  impossible.  And 
such  I  know  is  the  opinion  of  many  men  in  the 
present  age.  Everything  past  or  future  is  absolutely 
determined  by  fixed  law.  The  chains  of  causes 
and  effects  cannot  be  broken;  everything  continues 
and  must  continue  according  to  the  ordinance  by 
which  it  was  framed,  serving  Him,  if  we  believe  in 
Him,  and  fulfilling  His  Word.  Now  I  will  observe 
of  this  idea  that  though  it  may  be  irreligious,  and 


170  Rev.  C.  Kingdqf*  Views 

probably  is  so  in  many  minds,  yet  it  is  not  neces 
sarily  so.  It  removes  God  from  the  place  whicl 
we  give  Him,  as  a  dispenser  of  special  providence 
to  man;  but  it  credits  Him  with  a  wisdom  and  a 
power  which  enabled  Him  so  to  construct  the  sys 
tem  of  things,  that  it  should  neither  require  nor 
admit  of  any  further  interference  even  from  Him 
self.  The  manufacturer  here  constructs  a  chrono 
meter;  it  goes  round  the  world  and  comes  back  in 
perfect  time.  It  is  self-correcting  and  self-adjusting, 
and  requires  no  touch  from  the  hand  of  the  maker. 
He  has  done  with  it,  and  it  is  independent  of  him 
when  he  has  once  sent  it  out  of  his  shop.  There 
is  nothing  irreligious  in  supposing  that  God  has 
finished  the  whole  system  of  the  world,  with  the 
same  perfection  of  workmanship,  that  it  may  go  on 
for  ever,  adapting  itself,  without  correction,  to  every 
need  of  every  creature  that  forms  a  part  of  it.  It 
might  even  be  said  that  we  are  enhancing  His  power 
and  wisdom  by  entertaining  such  an  idea  of  Him. 
True  it  removes  Him  from  us,  as  a  Father  who  careth 
for  His  children,  as  one  to  whom  we  can  pray  and 
speak ;  there  is  no  room  for  fervent  love  and  ador 
ation  in  the  amazement  which  so  vast  and  com 
plicated  a  machine  must  create. 

Yet  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  irreligious;  it  is  only 
not  consistent  with  what  God  has  revealed  to  us 
about  Himself.  And  the  recognition  of  a  general 
law  as  ordering  the  world  is,  to  my  mind,  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  action  of  a  special  providence 
overruling  and  possibly  reversing  that  law.  Did 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  171 

the  storm  on  the  lake  of  Gennesareth  arise  necessarily 
from  causes  that  had  been  in  operation  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  and  of  which  it  was  the 
outcome  ?  and  shall  we  attribute  its  sudden  cessation 
to  the  same  causes,  forgetting  Him  of  whom  the 
simple  people  of  Galilee  remarked,  "  What  manner 
of  Man  is  this  that  even  the  winds  and  the  waves 
obey  Him  ?"  And  it  is  hard  to  say  how  far  this 
theory  is  to  be  carried  if  you  once  recognize  it. 
Depend  upon  it,  you  will  have  to  make  distinctions 
in  its  application  which  it  will  be  very  difficult  to 
maintain,  and  people  must  have  clearer  heads  than 
they  generally  possess,  if  they  are  to  be  saved  under 
this  idea  from  the  tyranny  of  universal  fatalism. 
The  language  of  Scripture,  and  the  lessons  of  experi 
ence,  and  the  prayer  of  faith,  seem  to  me  to  be  per 
fectly  consistent  with  each  other.  We  are  certainly 
living  under  the  rule  of  law ;  if  we  were  not  so 
we  should  not  know  what  to  do  from  day  to  day ; 
we  should  have  no  certainty  of  to-morrow's  sunrise ; 
our  calculations  of  seed-time  and  harvest  would  be 
all  disarranged,  and  idle  speculation  would  take  the 
place  of  ordinary  prudence.  But  because  we  are 
living  under  law,  is  that  any  reason  why  when  we 
feel  its  excessive  pressure  we  should  not  seek  relief 
from  Him  who  is  able  to  give  it  ?  Is  the  prayer  that 
God's  great  army  of  locusts,  as  it  is  called  in  the 
book  of  Joel,  may  be  carried  away,  an  idle  one,  and 
the  promised  restoration  of  the  years  that  this  locust 
hath  eaten,  and  the  consequent  abundance,  to  be  con 
sidered  a  mere  sequence  of  natural  causes  ?  or  were 


172  Rev.  C.  Kingsletfs  Views 

the  people  right  in  believing,   as  God  Himself  de 
clared,  "that  lie  had  dealt  wondrously  with  them?" 
or,    when   what   was   called   the   thundering   legion 
under  Marcus  Aurelius   was   perishing  from  thirst, 
and   the    Christian   soldiers   in   it   knelt   down   and 
prayed,  and  the  rain  fell  at  once  in  abundance,  which 
was  right,  those  who  took  it  as  a  matter  of  course, 
if  there  were  any  such,  or  the  heathen  Emperor  who 
attributed  the  deliverance  to  the  prayers  of  soldiers 
who   happened   to   be    Christians,    and   stopped   the 
persecution  of  Christians  in  consequence?     It  does 
not  appear  to  have  occurred  to  the  Emperor,  though 
he  was  a  philosopher,  that  that  rain  had  been  or 
dained  to  fall  at  that  time  and  place  from  the  founda 
tion  of  the  world.     At  the    same  time  it  may  be 
allowed  that  these  physical  blessings  are  not  what 
we  ought  to  pray  for  most  earnestly  and  constantly, 
though  I  think  it  is  lawful  to  pray  for  them.     "  Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness, 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  to  you."     But 
the  reason  of  this  distinction  is  not  to  be  looked 
for  in  the    supposition   that   the  things  which   the 
Gentiles  seek  are  not  equally  at  the  disposal  of  God, 
but  in  the  relative  value  of  the  things  themselves. 
Seek  for  those  things  which  are  most  valuable  and 
necessary  first,  and  trust  to  God  for  the  rest,  tak 
ing  the  ordinary  methods  to  provide  them  without 
anxiety.     Trust  in  Him,  and  they  will  come  either 
in  the  ordinary  way,  or  by  His  special  providence. 
"Whichever  way  they  come  it  will  make  no  difference 
to  you,   nor  in  fact  will  there  be  any  difference  of 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  173 

authorship,  for  anyhow  they  will  come  from  Him  \ 
and  it  was  not  on  the  score  of  special  mercies  which 
they  did  not  recognize  that  the  heathen  world  was 
condemned,  but  for  ordinary  blessings  which  they 
received,  though  they  were  without  excuse  for  not 
seeing  in  them  their  Author;  "who  knowing  God, 
glorified  Him  not  as  God,  neither  were  thankful." 
But  when  Mr.  Kingsley  speaks  of  the  things  for  which 
we  ought  mainly  to  pray,  we  can  go  with  him  entirely, 
and  I  use  his  beautiful  language.  "  Let  us  have  faith 
in  God,  and  not  break  out  before  we  know  the  facts 
and  the  truth  into  hasty  and  ungrateful  complaints 
that  He  is  plaguing  and  punishing  us,  when  all  the 
while  He  is  most  probably  preserving  and  blessing 
us,  as  He  is  wont  to  do.  Let  us  not  cry  to  Him 
greedily  and  blindly  for  fancied  blessings  which  may 
be  real  curses,  and  for  the  seeming  bread,  which 
may  prove  to  be  nothing  but  a  stone.  We  should 
not  give  such  gifts  to  our  children,  neither  will  God 
to  us.  But  for  this  let  us  cry,  for  the  good  gifts 
which  can  do  us  nothing  but  good,  which  He  has 
promised  freely  to  all  that  ask  Him ;  for  His  Holy 
Spirit,  for  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
the  Spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  Spirit  of  know 
ledge  and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  the  Spirit  which  is 
good  for  all  men  and  for  all  ages,  and  in  all  places 
for  ever ;  the  Spirit  which  will  help  us  to  be  sober  in 
good  times,  cheerful  in  bad  times,  brave,  prudent, 
and  industrious  in  all  times,  as  men  who  know  that 
they  have  a  Father  in  heaven,  who  has  made  the 
earth  right  well,  and  has  given  to  man,  if  he  will  use 


174  Eev.  C.  King  sky's  Views 

it  with  reason,  dominion  over  it."    But  in  maintaining 
that  material  phenomena   are  inflexibly  determined 
by  causes  that  were  set  in  motion  at  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  I  am  afraid  that  Mr.  Kingsley  has  ad 
mitted   a   principle   that    other    persons   will   carry 
a  good  deal  further  than  he  intended.     It  involv< 
at  least  this  distinction,  that  God  governs  the  mate 
rial  world  in  one  way,  and  the   spiritual   world  in 
another.     The  material  world  is  governed  by  general 
law,  the  spiritual  world  by  personal  and  individual 
influence.     The  material  world  is  one  great  machine ; 
each  individual  man  is  a  free  moral  agent,  and  is  dealt 
with  as  such.     But  though  there  may  be  this  distinc 
tion  of  things,  this  distinction  of  government  is,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  very  difficult  to  prove.     The  fact  that 
we  are  able  to  investigate  and  discover  the  laws  of 
the  material  world,  and  are  daily  advancing  in  the 
knowledge,   whereas   we   cannot    discover   the   laws 
which  prevail  in  the  spiritual  world,  does  not  prove 
that  there  are  no  such  laws,  and  we  may  be  arguing 
simply   on  our  ignorance.     "The  wind,   indeed,   or 
rather  the  Spirit,  bloweth  where  it  listeth,   and  ye 
hear  the  sound  thereof,  but  ye  cannot  tell  whence  it 
cometh  or  whither  it  goeth,  so  likewise  is  every  one 
that  is  born  of  the  Spirit :  "  which  words  seem  to 
place  the  action  of  the  Spirit  beyond  the  rule  of  law ; 
and  perhaps  they  are  as  regards  our  knowledge,  but 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  without  law  absolutely. 
The  words  may  simply  mean  that  it  has  laws  of  its 
own  which  we  cannot  discover,  as  the  wind  and  the 
weather  certainly  have,  though  practically  they  arc 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  175 

undiscovered  still.  But  natural  science  has  made 
great  advances  since  Mr.  Kingsley  wrote  the  words 
I  have  been  commenting  upon,  and  there  is  a  ten 
dency  in  philosophy  clearly  apparent  to  bring  even 
moral  emotions  and  dispositions  under  the  same  laws 
as  mechanics.  The  language  we  are  compelled  to  use 
in  speaking  of  human  conduct  rather  favours  this  idea. 
We  speak  of  the  motives  of  a  man's  actions,  thereby 
recognizing  a  kind  of  resemblance  between  a  force 
acting  on  dead  matter  and  the  inducements  which 
act  upon  a  living  soul.  But  dead  matter  has  no 
personal  will,  and  a  living  soul  has.  Therein  lies 
all  the  difference,  and  we  must  be  careful  of  our 
language  and  our  thoughts.  But  the  most  advanced 
teachers  of  natural  science  seem  to  ignore  this  dis 
tinction,  and  to  push  the  rigour  and  severity  of  law 
into  the  very  inmost  recesses  of  the  human  soul. 
Thus  one  of  them  suggests  "  how  the  religious 
feelings  may  be  brought  within  the  range  of  physio 
logical  enquiry.'7  Perhaps  you  do  not  understand 
this  kind  of  language,  but  you  will  understand  me 
when  I  tell  you  that  it  implies  this,  that  the  presence 
or  absence  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  in  a  human 
i  soul  is  to  be  accounted  for  in  the  same  way  as  the 
I  presence  or  absence  of  measles  or  small-pox  in  the 
i  human  body.  Everything,  according  to  them,  de- 
1  pends  upon  the  relation  and  arrangement  of  mole- 
I  cules,  i.e.  of  the  ultimate  particles  of  matter  of  which 
our  bodies  and  everything  else  is  composed,  and, 
they  tell  us,  every  mental  and  moral  fact  is  in  rela 
tion  to  some  molecular  fact,  so  that  if  we  can  explain 


176  Rev.  C.  Kingsley's  Views 

these  molecular  facts,  we  have  explained  the  mental 
and  moral  facts.  This  again  is,  I  daresay,  strange 
language  to  your  ears,  but  you  will  understand  me 
when  I  say  that  it  reduces  those  Christian  graces 
I  have  mentioned  to  an  affection  of  matter.  They 
are  no  longer  graces  at  all,  but  certain  subtle  condi 
tions  of  the  human  system,  and  may  be  rather  com 
pared  to  electrical  phenomena.  They  belong  to 
matter  and  not  to  soul,  or  rather  there  is  no  soul 
to  which  they  can  belong.  Therefore,  I  say,  Mr 
Kingsley's  idea  of  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  law 
is  likely  to  be  carried,  and  has  been  carried,  much 
further  than  he  intended,  and  we  want  some  reason 
for  the  line  he  draws  between  the  government  of  the 
domain  of  matter,  and  the  government  of  the  do 
main  of  spirit,  and  of  mind  and  soul. 

I  do  not  exercise  myself  upon  great  things,  and 
know  that  there  is  a  knowledge  that  is  much  too 
deep  for  me,  I  cannot  attain  to  it;  but  I  cannot 
help  observing  the  thoughts  that  are  afloat  in  the  air, 
and  am  thankful  that  they  are  not  my  thoughts. 
That  the  general  government  of  the  world  is  accord 
ing  to  law  is  a  matter  of  experience.  That  the 
method  in  which  God  deals  with  the  spirits  of  men 
is  not  to  the  same  extent  according  to  law,  is  more 
than  I  would  venture  to  say. 

But  I  know  that  the  special  character  and  pre 
rogative  of  God  is  that  "  He  heareth  prayer,"  and 
I  am  not  disposed  to  narrow  the  range  of  that  prayer. 
And  whether  our  prayers  are  general  or  particular, 
as  that  which  I  have  offered  up  to-day,  I  am  sure 


i 

: 


on  Special  Prayer  considered.  177 

that  He  maketh  all  things  work  together  for  good 
to  them  that  love  Him ;  and  whether  you  deem  it 
right  to  pray  for  this  or  that  special  thing  or  not, 
I  will  only  say,  "Be  not  faithless,  but  believing;" 
and  commit  yourself  with  faith  and  without  philoso 
phy  to  the  Lord  of  all  material  creation,  to  the  Lord 
of  all  flesh,  and  of  the  Spirits  of  all  flesh. 


SEKMON  VIII. 

r0fit  of      r<t 


JOB  xxi.  15. 

"  What  is  the  Almighty,  that  ive  should  serve  Him  ?  and  what 
profit  should  we  have,  if  we  praij  unto  Him  ?" 

OUCH  were  the  words  and  sentiments  put  into 
the  mouths  of  profane  and  wicked  men.  They 
shocked  the  moral  sense  of  the  patriarch  Job,  but  he 
was  unable  to  answer  them.  It  was  a  problem  to  him 
that  he  could  net  solve,  and  he  asked  in  vain  why 
things  were  suffered  to  be  as  they  were.  "Where 
fore  do  the  wicked  live,  become  old,  yea,  are  mighty 
in  power?'7  It  seemed  more  consistent  in  his  eyes, 
more  suitable  to  his  idea  of  the  goodness  and  ma 
jesty  of  God,  that  evil  should  cease  at  once  from 
the  earth,  and  the  workers  of  it  be  destroyed,  than 
that  it  should  triumph  even  for  a  time  over  good, 
and  that  bad  men  should  seem  to  enjoy  more  of 
the  favour  of  God  than  those  who  were  washing 
their  hands  in  iunocency,  and  striving  to  walk  blame 
less  in  His  sight.  And  he  was  still  more  shocked 
when  he  found  men  prospering  in  this  world,  and 
making  that  very  prosperity  the  ground  of  their 
denial  of  Him  to  whose  hand  they  were  indebted 
for  every  blessing  they  enjoyed,  for  the  absence 
of  every  evil  from  which  they  were  free.  "  What 
is  the  Almighty,"  they  said,  "  that  we  should  serve 
8  Second  Sunday  in  Lent. 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  179 

Him  ?  and  what  profit  should  wo  have  if  \vo  pr;iy 
unto  Him?"  They  had  all  they  wanted,  and  they 
were  conscious  that  they  were  not  serving  Him. 
Why  should  they  change  their  course  of  conduct? 
Prosperity  came  to  them  in  the  way  of  nature,  just 
as  effects  follow  from  their  proper  causes ;  and  what 
further  advantage  would  they  gain  if  they  prayed 
unto  Him  ? 

This  book  of  Job  is  a  wonderful  book,   full  of  a 
deep  and  meditative   philosophy ;    so   much   so  that 
there  seems  to  be  hardly  a  question  that  has  ever 
stirred  the  heart  of  man  concerning  the  deep  things 
of   God    and    His    relation    to    us,    His    providence 
and  our  liberty,  His  power  and  our  defiance  of  it, 
His  holiness  and  our  corruption,  that  is  not  opened, 
and  in  some  cases  closed  also,  by  it.    Closed,  perhaps, 
I  can  hardly  say — though  answered  for  the  time — 
for  questions  of  this  sort  will  ever  revive  and  con 
tinue  to  exercise  the  mind  of  man.      Why  is  God 
all  powerful,  and  yet  suffers  that   which    He    most 
hates  to  exist?   all  good,   and    yet  looks    on    while 
evil  is  triumphant  ?  all  wise,  all  merciful,  infinite  in 
His  perfections,  knowing  no  variableness  or  shadow 
of  turning,  and  yet  suffers  Himself  to  be  entreated 
by  prayer?    We,  when  we  are  entreated,  may  well 
change ;    anger  is  softened  and  wrath  appeased,  and 
we   come   to   a   better  mind ;    fierce   resolutions  are 
melted  down,  and  our  feelings  are  turned  from  cruelty 
and  indifference  to  tenderness  and  love.     It  is  a  re 
deeming  feature  in  our  nature  that  we  can  yield  to 
prayer,  a  glorious  victory  over  ourselves  when   w° 


N  2 


180  The  Profit  of  Prayer. 

do  it;  but  it  is  so  mainly,  because  our  minds  are 
evil,  our  tempers  violent,  our  resentments  strong, 
our  wishes  selfish,  our  love  cold.  "When  we  yield 
to  prayer  we  are  in  a  better  frame ;  but  that  implies 
that  we  were  once  in  a  worse,  the  change  is  in  us 
from  worse  to  better.  But  we  can  imagine  no  such 
change  in  God ;  the  purposes  of  perfect  wisdom  must 
be  eternal,  the  rule  of  perfect  justice  cannot  swerve 
from  its  own  line,  the  measures  of  perfect  love  cannot 
be  enlarged.  There  are,  it  must  be  confessed,  dif 
ficulties  in  the  way  of  prayer,  if  we  make  it  simply 
a  matter  of  reasoning ;  but  they  are  as  nothing  if 
we  will  trust  the  impulses  of  our  hearts.  When  we 
are  told,  for  instance,  that  God  is  an  unchangeable 
Being,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever — 
the  same,  not  only  in  His  nature  and  attributes, 
but  in  His  counsels  and  purposes — that  every  good 
gift  is  from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the  Father 
of  lights;  but  that  God  doeth  as  He  will,  and  is 
degraded  by  the  supposition  that  He  can  be  moved 
to  send  His  gifts  by  clamourous  petitions;  that  He 
is  not  a  man  that  He  should  alter  His  purposes,  nor 
the  Son  of  Man  that  He  should  repent:  hath  He 
resolved  that  Fie  will  not  do  it,  and  will  He  do  it 
at  the  request  of  a  vain  man  ?  Hath  He  determined 
to  do  it,  and  shall  His  purpose  be  made  void,  because 
frail  and  impotent  man  desires  the  contrary  ?  When 
we  are  told  that  among  men  change  of  purpose 
denotes  weakness  and  infirmity,  for  that  he  that 
changes  his  mind  changes  it  either  for  the  better 
or  for  the  worse ;  to  change  for  the  worse  shews 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  181 

want  of  wisdom,  to  change  for  the  better  shews 
that  he  who  makes  the  change  was  in  the  wrong 
before:  shall  we  charge  God  with  that  which  is 
a  weakness  in  man?  How  can  God  alter  His  coun 
sels  for  the  worse  when  there  is  no  weakness  or 
iniquity  in  Him  ?  how  can  He  change  them  for 
the  better  when  they  are  always  perfectly  good  and 
wise  ? 

It  is  not  always  wise  to  start  questions  which  it 
is  not  easy  to  answer,  and  which,  perhaps,  might 
not  suggest  themselves  if  they  were  not  so  started  ; 
but  as  I  believe  that  many  persons  are  hindered 
from  prayer  by  the  idea  that  it  does  not  profit,  and 
that  some  such  objections  as  those  stated  are  at  the 
bottom  of  this  idea,  it  is  worth  while  to  consider 
not  so  much  whether  there  is  anything  or  nothing 
in  them,  as  whether  a  great  deal  more  may  not  be 
said  on  the  other  side.  We  cannot  take  any  single 
attribute  or  perfection  of  God,  and  follow  it  blindly 
to  whatever  conclusion  it  may  seem  to  lead  us. 
The  Divine  nature  is  a  mystery  to  us,  and  can 
only  be  known  so  far  as  God  pleases  to  reveal  Him 
self.  But  He  can  only  make  Himself  known  to  us 
by  investing  Himself  with  human  attributes  and 
feelings,  though  at  the  same  time  "  His  thoughts 
are  not  as  our  thoughts,  nor  His  ways  as  our  ways." 
We  cannot  conceive  of  God  at  all  without  running 
some  risk  of  bringing  Him  too  near  to  ourselves, 
or  removing  ourselves  too  far  from  Him.  When 
we  talk  of  the  arm  of  God  being  stretched  out  or 
revealed,  or  of  His  face  being  turned  away  from 


182  The  Profit  of  Prayer. 

us,  no  one  is  so  ignorant  as  to  suppose  that  this 
language,  which  expresses  with  perfect  accuracy  the 
actions  of  men,  can  be  applied  with  the  same  strict 
ness  to  the  actions  of  God.  We  all  understand 
that  by  the  "arm  of  the  Lord"  is  meant  His  power, 
and  by  His  countenance  turned  towards  us  or  away 
from  us,  His  favour  or  His  displeasure ;  but  there 
may  still  linger  in  our  minds  the  more  subtle  erroi 
that  His  favour,  His  displeasure,  His  love,  His  pity, 
His  wrath,  are  to  be  tried  by  the  same  measure, 
and  their  workings  traced  in  the  same  manner  as 
our  own.  On  the  other  hand,  we  must  not  fall  into 
the  more  dangerous  error  of  denying  unto  God  the 
attributes  which  He  takes  unto  Himself,  and  in  the 
exercise  of  which  He  declares  that  He  finds  delight. 
Where  it  is  revealed  to  us  that  "  God  is  Love "  it 
is  better  to  conceive  of  Him  according  to  the  most 
exalted  idea  of  human  love,  than  to  repel  His  image 
from  us  by  the  thought  that  the  love  of  the  Creator 
to  His  creatures  cannot  be  such  as  the  love  of  His 
creatures  to  each  other.  When  we  are  told  that 
"  like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  even  so  hath 
the  Lord  pity  upon  them  that  fear  Him,"  it  is  in 
tended  that  we  should  throw  ourselves  upon  the 
love  and  mercy  of  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven, 
with  the  same  feeling,  or  rather  with  more  confi 
dence,  more  hope  and  love,  than  we  should  throw 
ourselves  upon  our  fathers,  who  are  on  earth.  But 
if  God's  love  is  infinite  we  must  not  infer  from  it 
what  we  should  think  might  follow  from  infinite 
love.  We  must  not,  for  instance,  extend  it  to  the 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  183 

pardoning  of  confirmed  and  unrepentant  sinners. 
It  is  enough  for  us  that  "  lie  gave  His  only  Son, 
that  whosoever  believe th  on  Him  should  not  perish 
but  have  everlasting  life."  Nor  if  God's  justice 
is  infinite  may  we  extend  it  to  the  punishment  of 
sinners  who  believe  and  repent,  though  they  can 
offer  no  satisfaction  for  their  sins. 

In  the  same  way,  because  God  is  unchangeable 
we  are  not  to  suppose  that  He  will  not  hear  our 
prayers  and  be  moved  by  them.  What  if  His  pur 
pose  was  from  the  first  to  be  moved  by  them,  is  it 
weakness  or  imperfection  to  be  so  moved?  The 
unchangeableness  of  God  cannot  be  better  proved 
by  reason  or  by  Scripture  than  His  readiness  to 
supply  the  wants  of  those  who  truly  call  upon  Him. 
If  we  think  it  an  imperfection  in  God  to  depart  from 
a  declared  purpose,  would  it  be  a  smaller  one  to  be 
deaf  to  the  prayers  of  His  servants,  or  unable  or 
unwilling  to  help  them  ?  Certainly  constancy  is 
a  virtue,  but  when  a  man  is  highly  exalted  above 
his  fellows,  it  adds  nothing  to  his  character  to  be 
inexorable,  but  quite  the  contrary.  It  may  not 
be  easy  to  reconcile  the  fact  of  God's  purposes  being 
unchangeable  with  the  fact  of  His  being  prevailed 
upon  by  prayer,  but  both  are  proved  by  the  same 
principles  of  reason  and  revelation,  and  we  must 
not  deny  the  one,  lest  by  implication  we  should 
overthrow  the  other.  The  two,  it  may  be,  are  con 
trary  in  our  minds,  but  we  must  bear  the  contra 
diction,  till  we  see  Him  as  He  is  face  to  face,  and 
then  we  shall  be  able  to  understand  how  they  are 
reconciled  and  united  in  the  Divine  Nature. 


184  The  Profit  of  Prayer. 

Prayer  is  to  be  understood,  not  by  talking  about 
it  but  by  praying.  They  who  know  by  their  own 
experience  that  God  does  hear  and  answer  prayer 
will  not  be  much  moved  by  any  general  argument 
to  shew  that  He  does  not ;  and  those  that  do  not  pray 
themselves  cannot  expect  very  convincing  evidence 
of  the  experience  of  others.  "We  cannot  shew  the 
invisible  hand  which  reaches  out  blessings  to  us; 
God  does  not  manifest  Himself  to  our  senses,  dealing 
favours  to  those  who  make  supplications  to  Him  • 
though  we  receive  what  we  ask,  we  cannot  prove 
to  others  that  we  receive  because  we  ask.  This  is 
matter  of  faith,  which  can  hardly  be  expected  from 
those  who  have  not  tried  it,  but  matter  of  faith  and 
certainty  to  those  that  have. 

Shall  we  say  that  there  may  be  entire  trust  in 
God  without  prayer?  Certainly  there  may.  We 
may  be  always  trusting  in  God,  but  we  may  not  be 
always  literally  praying.  But  that  would  be  a  strange 
trust  that  was  maintained  without  prayer,  and  a 
strange  mark  of  confidence  in  God  that  we  abstained 
from  troubling  Him  with  our  requests,  assuming  that 
if  we  were  worthy  of  His  favour  He  would  grant  it, 
though  not  asked ;  if  we  were  not,  it  would  only  be 
presumption  to  ask  Him.  But  what  is  trust  in  God? 
Is  it  a  carelessness  about  Him  ?  Is  it  the  same  thing 
to  trust  in  God,  and  in  any  material  support  on  which 
we  may  happen  to  be  resting  ?  We  shew  our  trust, 
for  instance,  in  a  bridge  over  which  we  may  be  cross 
ing  by  never  thinking  of  it.  We  walk  over  it 
unconcerned,  as  though  it  were  solid  land,  and  when 
we  trust  a  person  without  reserve  in  our  dealings 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  1 85 

with  him,  we  arc  apt  generally  to  forget  him,  but 
we  think  much  about  those  whom  we  distrust ;  they 
become  to  us  a  cause  of  anxiety,  and  if  our  interests 
arc  involved  in  theirs  we  cannot  get  them  out  of  our 
minds.  But  a  trust  in  God  brings  Him  ever  before 
us;  we  are  conscious  of  our  dependence  upon  Him, 
that  our  life  is  in  His  hands,  that  we  are  living  under 
His  protection,  that  we  are  His  people,  and  the  sheep 
of  His  pasture. 

If  we  believed  that  this  world  and  this  system 
of  things  in  which  we  live  were  carried  on  by  a  fixed 
law  or  necessity  without  the  Providence  of  God,  we 
might  well  put  that  kind  of  trust  in  it  which  we 
should  give  to  a  great  machine  that  was  carrying  us 
from  place  to  place ;  but  that  is  not  the  kind  of  trust 
that  we  repose  in  God,  when  we  think  of  Him  as 
a  Creator  ever  mindful  of  the  wants  of  His  creatures, 
and  as  a  Father  ever  anxious  to  protect  His  children. 
This  trust  shews  itself  not  in  forgetting  God,  but  in 
having  Him  ever  present  to  our  thoughts.  And  this 
feeling  is  of  the  very  essence^  and  life  of  prayer.  He 
that  says  that  if  we  have  this  feeling  we  need  not  the 
utterance  of  prayer,  may  say  the  truth,  for  prayer 
consists  not  in  the  bending  of  our  knees,  or  the 
service  of  our  lips,  or  the  lifting  up  of  our  hands 
or  eyes  to  heaven,  but  in  the  lifting  up  of  the  soul  to 
God.  But  few  of  us  are  equal  to  that  constant  devo 
tion  of  life  which  makes  our  whole  life  one  continu 
ous  prayer;  the  very  needs  of  this  world  interfere, 
and  we  are  glad  to  retire  into  our  chambers  and  be 
still.  Our  Saviour  has  given  us  a  fixed  form  of 


1 8  6  The  Profit  of  Prayer. 

prayer,   the  soul  is  steadied  in  prayer  by  the  very 
attitude  of  the  body.     The  very  place  we  are  in  has 
a  tendency  to  compose  us  to  prayer ;  and  the  greater 
our  general  confidence  in  God,  the  more  particular 
and  definite  will  become  the  petitions  of  our  prayer. 
The  habit  of  prayer  may  be  vague  and  general  in  its 
utterance  at   first,   but  it  will  become  specific  and 
definite  in  the  end.     God  has  no  need  that  we  should 
tell  Him  our  wants,  but  by  encouraging  us  to  make 
them  known  unto  Him  He  teaches  us  how  to  make 
them  known  unto  ourselves.     It  is  something  to  feel 
what  our  real  wants  are,  and  this  feeling  which  is 
quickened  by  prayer  sends  us  back  again  in  prayer 
to  Him.     It  is  not  humility  but  presumption  that  de 
clines  or  neglects  to  ask,  and  those  who  ask  in  obe 
dience  to    His   command  have  really  that  humility 
which  those  falsely   pretend  to    who   expect   God's 
blessings  without  asking.     If  God  grants  His  favour 
only  to  the  worthy,  it  may  be  that  in  His  esteem 
part  of  this  worthiness  consists  in  "  a  spirit  of  prayer 
and  supplication,"  which  again  is  His  gift;  and  if  it 
is  argued  that  the   unworthy   will  ask   in  vain,    it 
might  be  true  that  if  we  depended  upon  our  own 
worthiness  we  might  have  reason  to  despair  of  receiv 
ing  ;  but  God,  through  Christ,  will  save  us  who  are 
unworthy   if  we   plead   the   merits   of  our   Saviour 
against  our  own  demerits  and  undeservings. 

It  may  be  that  we  do  not  always  receive,  or  at 
least  feel  that  we  receive,  an  answer  to  our  prayers ; 
but  what  an  encouragement  we  have  in  the  Gospel 
of  the  day.  This  poor  woman  of  Canaan,  child  of  an 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  187 

accursed  race,  might  well  have  thought  herself  be 
yond  the  covenant  of  mercy,  beyond  the  range  of 
grace,  yet  she  had  boldness  to  approach  the  Saviour, 
and  declared  her  faith  in  the  mission  of  the  "  Son 
of  David."  No  voice  of  comfort  answered  to  her 
prayer :  the  Son  of  David  was  deaf  to  her  entreaty, 
till  His  disciples,  either  in  compassion  for  the  sadness 
of  her  case,  or  desirous  to  be  rid  of  her  importunities, 
became  her  advocates.  The  answer  seemed  to  be 
fatal  to  her  hopes,  and  would  have  struck  down  at 
once  one  less  determined  to  persevere.  Still  she 
pursues  her  request,  but  instead  of  finding  any  sign 
of  relenting  she  is  answered  with  a  proverb,  that 
seemed  at  the  same  time  to  upbraid  her  with  her 
unworthiness  and  to  chide  her  presumption.  "  It  is 
not  meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  to  cast 
it  unto  dogs."  Nay,  but  the  dogs'  portion  will  be 
enough  for  her ;  she  will  not  rob  the  children  of  their 
own.  "Even  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall 
from  their  master's  table." 

The  very  trial  of  our  faith  by  the  withholding  our 
petitions  or  the  delay  in  granting  them  is  oftentimes 
a  blessing,  and  importunity  is  made  the  condition 
of  our  being  heard,  not  because  it  pleases  God  to 
continue  us  in  our  misery,  but  because  He  wills 
to  draw  us  closer  unto  Him.  Prayer  brings  us  into 
such  a  frame  of  mind  as  religion  is  intended  to 
create  within  us.  We  cannot  be  frequent  and  serious 
in  prayer  without  becoming  better,  and  it  is  not  any 
change  which  our  prayers  make  in  God,  but  the 


188  The  Profit  of  Prayer. 

change  they  make  in  ourselves,  which  is  the  cause  of 
their  success.  God's  will  is  ever  for  our  good,  bul 
He  hears  our  prayers,  or  delays  to  hear,  so  as  to  do  us 
the  greatest  good,  not  as  we  wish,  nor  just  when  w< 
ask,  but  as  is  best  for  us.  And  that  is  best  which 
most  calls  out  and  strengthens  our  faith,  not  that 
which  brings  the  quickest  satisfaction  to  our  wants. 
It  is  God's  purpose  not  that  we  should  fly  to  Him 
at  once  at  the  first  sense  of  want,  lightly  asking, 
and  lightly  receiving,  but  that  we  should  make 
prayer  a  serious  and  an  earnest  thing,  using  every 
effort  we  can  make  in  the  direction  of  our  prayers, 
and  thereby  ascertaining  our  real  needs.  We  must  not 
even  ask  for  our  "  daily  bread,"  as  idle  men  doing 
nothing  to  procure  it  for  ourselves,  but  we  must  join 
to  our  prayers  all  industry  in  the  use  of  such  lawful 
means  as  Providence  has  placed  within  our  reach. 
And  if  we  pray  that  we  may  not  be  led  into  tempta 
tion,  without  watching  and  shunning  occasions  of  sin, 
our  prayers  will  go  up  not  as  a  remembrance  but  as 
a  mockery  to  God.  We  acknowledge  in  the  collect 
of  the  day  that  we  are  "  not  able  to  help  or  keep 
ourselves,"  but  we  cannot  expect  to  abide  safe  "under 
the  shadow  of  the  Almighty,"  unless  we  are  careful  to 
do  all  that  we  can  do  for  our  own  preservation,  though 
we  may  not  be  able  to  do  all  that  is  necessary.  God 
will  not  save  us  without  our  own  concurrence,  and 
if  we  have  prayed  to  Him  to-day  "  to  keep  us  out 
wardly  in  our  bodies,  and  inwardly  in  our  souls,  that 
we  may  be  defended  from  all  adversities  that  may 


The  Profit  of  Prayer.  189 

happen  to  the  body,  and  from  all  evil  thoughts  which 
may  assault  and  hurt  the  soul,"  let  us  remember  the 
exhortation  that  follows  on  this  prayer : 

"  We  beseech  you,  brethren,  and  exhort  you  by  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  as  ye  have  received  of  us  how  ye 
ought  to  walk  and  to  please  God,  so  ye  would  abound 
more  and  more." 


SEKMON  IX. 

60lr  ijrat  jjeantjy  IJ 


PSALM  Ixv.  2. 
"  0  Thou  that  hearest  prayer,  unto  Thee  shall  all  flesh  come" 
T  SPOKE    to    you    lately    of   the    power   and  effi 

cacy  of  prayer  in.  the  hour  of  distress  and  tern] 
tation.  The  remarks  I  made  were  suggested  natur 
ally  by  the  consideration  of  the  temptation  of  oui 
Lord.  No  stronger  instance,  no  more  constraining 
example,  could  have  been  adduced.  If  He,  the 
Son  of  God  Himself,  in  whom  dwelt  all  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  bodily,  felt  both  the  need  and  the 
strength  of  prayer  ;  if  He  passed  whole  nights  upon 
the  mountain  in  the  earnestness  of  prayer;  if  in 
His  agony  He  prayed  more  earnestly,  till  His  sweat 
was  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood  falling  to  the 
ground  ;  if  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  He  offered  up 
prayers  and  supplications  with  strong  cries  and  tears 
unto  Him  that  was  able  to  save  Him  from  death, 
and  was  heard  in  that  He  feared,  what  can  wo, 
weak  and  sinful  creatures  who  have  no  strength  of 
our  own,  whose  impulses  to  good  are  feeble,  and  to 
evil  strong,  we  who  have  the  tempter  not  without 
us  only,  but  within  us,  in  the  lusts  and  imaginations 
of  our  own  hearts,  what  can  we  do  without  prayer  ? 
what  may  we  not  hope  to  do  with  it  ?  How  solemn  is 
that  repeated  warning  of  the  Saviour,  "  Watch  and 
pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation."  The  Three 


The  God  that  hcarcth  Prayer.  191 

were  literally  asleep  when  He  roused  them  by  these 
words,  and  the  words  cannot  be  taken  too  literally. 
In  the  silent  hour  of  night,  when  thought  and  action 
are  suspended,  when  for  the  time  the  world  is  dead, 
and  we  unto  the  world,  as  though  it  had  ceased  to 
exist,  the  soundless  tread  of  the  tempter  is  approach 
ing,  coming  like  a  thief  of  the  night,  and  we  must 
shake  off  slumber  and  be  upon  our  guard.  But  here, 
too,  prayer  is  the  great  protection  against  the  enemy, 
builds  up  an  unseen  barrier  that  he  cannot  pass,  sur 
rounds  us,  as  it  were,  with  an  atmosphere  in  which 
he  cannot  breathe  or  act,  lightens  the  darkness  of 
the  night  around  our  souls,  and  so  confounds  the 
powers  of  darkness ;  and  they  who  fall  asleep  in 
prayer  may  assuredly  say  with  David,  "  I  will  lay 
me  down  in  sleep  and  take  my  rest,  for  it  is  Thou 
Lord  only  that  makest  me  dwell  in  safety."  And 
so,  taking  these  few  words  of  David  for  my  text,  I 
propose  to  say  something  on  the  nature  of  prayer 
generally,  inasmuch  as  it  can  never  be  severed  from 
any  of  our  needs  and  occasions,  and  least  of  all  from 
the  hour  and  the  very  thought  of  temptation. 

It  is  a  remarkable  title,  that  by  which  David  here 
addresses  his  Maker :  "  0  Thou  that  nearest  prayer, 
unto  Thee  shall  all  flesh  come,"  and  we  may  be  sure 
the  inspired  Psalmist  did  not  use  it  without  a  dis 
tinct  consciousness  of  its  meaning.  When  God 
is  addressed  by  any  special  attribute  there  is  always 
a  close  connection  between  that  attribute  and  the 
favour  that  we  ask  at  His  hands.  We  do  not 
appeal  to  God  as  to  one  of  whom  we  know  nothing, 


192  The  God  that  heareth  Prayer. 

and  from  whom  we  have  only  a  vague  hope   of  re 
ceiving   aid ;    but   we    appeal   to   past   mercies   an 
deliverances,    making   them,    as   it   were,    the   basi 
of  our   expectation  of  new  mercies.     There  is  im 
plied  ever   in  prayer  a  full  faith  in  the  constanc 
and  faithfulness   of  God.      There   is   implied  in   i 
necessarily   an   act  of  faith,  and  the   more  defini 
the  faith,  the  more  earnest  and  effectual  the  prayer 
When  the  Jew  appealed  to  the  God  of  his  fathe 
the    God   of  Abraham,    Isaac,    and   Jacob,    he   pro 
fessed   a   full   belief  in   all  that  He  had    done   for 
his   fathers,  and   a    full   assurance    that    He   would 
never   forsake   their   children.      When  we  feel  the 
burthen  of  our  sins  too   heavy  for  us  to  bear,   we 
appeal  to  Him  as  a  God  of  mercy,  full  of  compassion 
and  forgiveness,  because  we  believe  that  His  nature 
cannot  change,  and  that  all  the  mercy  and  loving-kind 
ness  which   He   has  shewn   to  others   will   be   also 
extended  to  ourselves.    When  suffering  from  calumny 
and  wrong  our  hearts  fly  for  refuge  to  His  justice, 
and   we    "commit   ourselves   to   Him    that  judgeth 
righteously."     In   every  act   of  prayer  so   much  at 
least  must  be  implied,  that  "He  is  One  who  hear-  I 
eth   prayer."     It   is    a   distinctive   attribute   of  the  | 
Divine   Nature,    and    in    the    full    apprehension    of 
this   the   Psalmist  combines   the  title  with   a    deep 
and    pregnant    prophecy :      "0    Thou   that   hearest 
prayer,  to  Thee  shall  all  flesh  come ;"  or,  as  Isaiah 
expresses  himself  more  fully,  "  All  flesh  shall  come 
to  worship  Me,  saith  the  Lord."     Men  shall  be  taught 
the  true  nature  of  God,  that  He  does  not  hide  Him- 


The  God  that  heareth  Prayer.  193 

self  from  their  wants  and  necessities,  that  His  ears 
are  ever  open  to  their  prayers,  ever  waiting  to  be 
gracious;  that  He  is  ever  near  them  and  round 
their  paths,  and  then  in  the  sense  of  His  presence 
men  shall  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and 
"My  House  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all 
nations,  saith  the  Lord."  It  is  possible  that  in 
addressing  God  by  this  title  the  Psalmist  had  before 
him  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  senseless  idols  whom 
the  heathen  around  adored  as  gods,  and  you  may 
remember,  perhaps,  the  scorn  and  contempt  with 
which  these  false  deities  and  their  worshippers  are 
spoken  of  both  in  the  Psalms  and  other  books  of 
Holy  Writ.  "They  have  mouths  but  they  speak 
not,  eyes  have  they  but  they  see  not.  They  have 
ears  but  they  hear  not,  noses  have  they  but  they 
smell  not.  They  have  hands  but  they  handle  not, 
feet  have  they  but  they  walk  not,  neither  speak 
they  with  their  throat.  They  that  make  them  are 
like  unto  them,  and  so  is  every  one  that  putteth 
his  trust  in  them."  And  there  is  a  strong  and 
cutting  irony  in  the  language  of  Isaiah,  where  he 
describes  the  idol-maker  cutting  down  a  tree  in  the 
forest,  using  part  of  it  for  fire,  and  part  of  it  for 
other  purposes.  "  He  burneth  part  in  the  fire, 
with  part  thereof  he  eateth  flesh,  he  roasteth  roast 
and  is  satisfied.  And  with  the  residue  he  maketh 
a  god.  He  falleth  down  to  it  and  worshippeth. 
He  prayeth  unto  it  and  saith,  Deliver  me,  for  thou 
art  my  god.  None  considereth  in  his  heart,  neither 
is  there  knowledge  or  understanding  to  say,  I  have 


194  The  God  that  hearcth  Prayer. 

burnt  part  of  it  in  the  fire,  yea,  I  have  baked  bread 
upon  the  coals  thereof:  I  have  roasted  flesh  and 
eaten  it,  and  shall  I  make  the  residue  thereof 
an  abomination?  Shall  I  fall  down  to  the  stock 
of  a  tree?"  And  there  may  perhaps  occur  to  some 
of  you  that  wonderful  scene  where  Elijah  defied 
the  assembled  prophets  of  Eaal.  From  morn  till 
noon  they  cried  unto  their  god,  they  cut  them 
selves  with  knives  and  lancets  in  their  fury,  but 
there  was  no  voice  or  answer.  "  Cry  aloud,"  said 
the  true  prophet  in  the  calmness  of  his  faith,  "  for 
he  is  a  god ;  either  he  is  talking,  or  he  is  pursuing, 
or  he  is  in  a  journey,  or  peradventure  he  sleepetl 
and  must  be  awakened."  And  then  his  own  prayer 
in  contrast,  "  Lord  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and 
of  Israel,  let  it  be  known  this  day  that  Thou  art  God 
in  Israel,  and  that  I  am  Thy  servant,  and  that  I  have 
done  all  these  things  at  Thy  word.  Hear  me,  that 
this  people  may  know  that  Thou  art  the  Lord  God, 
and  that  Thou  hast  turned  their  heart  back  again." 

Most  truly,  then,  did  He  vindicate  His  name  as  "  He 
that  heareth  Prayer."  But  if  David  had  before  his 
mind  the  contrast  between  the  God  whose  servant  he 
was  and  whom  he  feared,  and  the  deaf  and  senseless 
idols  whom  the  heathen  worshipped,  we  are  not  to 
suppose  that  this  is  all  he  meant,  when  he  appealed 
to  God  as  One  that  heareth  prayer.  No  doubt  he  had 
larger  views  before  him,  and  truer  and  higher  notions 
of  the  Divine  Nature  than  could  be  implied  in  the 
mere  contrast  between  the  true  God  and  idols  of  wood 
and  stone.  To  us,  at  least,  the  title  speaks  not  simply 


The  God  that  heareth  Prayer.  195 

of  an  intelligent  and  Almighty  Being,  as  compared 
with  the  idol-work  of  our  own  hands  graven  by  art 
and  man's  device,  not  simply  of  One  who  is  above 
this  world  and  the  Creator  of  it,  not  simply  of  One 
whose  power  and  presence  pervades  and  sustains 
all  things  that  He  has  made,  but  of  One  who  is  in 
the  highest  sense  the  Father  of  us  all,  and  longs  to 
recall  us  from  our  rebellion  to  His  love ;  of  One  who 
has  what  we  may  almost  call  human  sympathies, 
though  far  purer  than  those  of  man,  who  has  infinite 
love,  and  pity,  and  compassion,  and  forgiveness  for 
the  erring  creatures  of  His  hand.  It  is  not  because 
of  His  Almighty  power,  but  because  we  believe  that 
He  can  really  be  touched  with  a  feeling  for  our  infir 
mities,  that  we  venture  to  approach  Him  in  the  lan 
guage  and  attitude  of  prayer.  "  The  Lord  is  mer 
ciful  and  gracious,  slow  to  anger  and  plenteous  in 
mercy.  He  will  not  always  chide,  neither  will  He 
keep  His  anger  for  ever.  For  as  the  heaven  is  high 
above  the  earth,  so  great  is  His  mercy  toward  them 
;that  fear  Him.  As  far  as  the  east  is  from  the  west, 
so  far  hath  Pie  removed  our  transgression  from  us. 
Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord 
pitieth  them  that  fear  Him.  For  He  knoweth  how 
jwe  are  made,  He  remembereth  that  we  are  but  dust." 
iAnd  here  we  may  notice  how  much  wiser  and  truer 
'is  the  natural  instinct  of  simple  minds  than  the 
questionings  of  idle  speculations,  and  thank  God  that 
what  has  been  hidden  from  the  wise  and  prudent  has 
been  revealed  unto  babes.  For  no  doubt  very  diffi 
cult  questions  may  be  asked  about  prayer,  and  this 

o2 


196  The  God  that  hcareth  Prayer. 

very  attribute  of  God,    "that  He  heareth  prayer," 
may  be  set  in  a  fancied  opposition  to  other  of  His 
attributes,    or  at  least  to    our  conception  of  them. 
Can  God,  the  All  Wise,  the  All  Good,  in  whom  there 
is  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning,   be  turned 
or  influenced  by  prayer?     Might  it  not   even  seem 
to  be  derogatory  to  the  Divine  nature  to  be  at  all 
touched  or  moved  by  anything  that  man  can  urge 
upon  Him  ?     Even  in  the  courts  of  human  law  the 
judge  is  deaf  to  prayer.     He  sits  in  his  place  as  the 
representative  and  interpreter  of  law,    and   neither 
prayer  or  tears  can  alter  the  law  or  facts  with  which 
he  has  to  deal.     Shall  prayers  be  thrown  into  the 
balance  of  Divine  justice  when  they  are  excluded 
from  the  balance  of  human  ?    Again,  our  hearts  are 
narrow,  and  the  very  sense  of  weakness  in  ourselves, 
which  is  the  basis  of  charity  to  others,  tends  to  con 
fine  it  within  a  very  narrow  range.     "We  will  relieve 
distress  when  it  comes  close  home  to   us,   but  we 
require  to  have  our  interest  excited  and  our  feelings 
moved  before  we  can  be  induced  to  take  up  a  cause 
with  which  we   have   no   immediate  concern.     But 
is  it  consistent  with  our  ideas  of  the  infinite  bene 
volence  of  God  to  suppose  that  it  can  admit  of  any 
increase,    that   it   can    contract   or   expand    in   pro 
portion  to  the  absence  and  carelessness,  or  the  fre 
quency  and  urgency  of  our  prayers.     If  His  goodness 
is  over  all  His  works,  are  we  to  suppose  that  good 
ness  to  be  in  suspense  because  we  do  not  importune 
Him  with  our  prayers?    Or  shall  we  suppose  Him 
to  hear  us,  like  the  unjust  judge,  not  from  the  good- 


The  God  that  heareth  Prayer.  107 

ness  of  our  cause,  or  the  greatness  of  our  need,  but 
because  we  trouble  Him  with  our  appeals  ? 

And  again,  as  to  the  wisdom  of  God.  If  He  has 
ordered  all  things  for  the  best,  and  governs  the  world, 
as  far  as  \re  can  see,  by  the  fixed  laws  of  His  wisdom, 
are  we  to  suppose  those  laws  will  be  violated  and  the 
course  of  things  changed  to  meet  our  personal  neces 
sities,  or  our  ideas  of  them  ?  It  does  not  seem  to  be 
so  in  the  natural  world,  from  which  philosophy 
falsely  so-called  is  striving  to  banish  the  special 
providence  of  God.  All  that  is  necessary  for  our 
existence  here  seems  to  come  to  us  in  a  natural  way, 
and  if  we  think  so,  it  is  reasonable  to  ask,  and  it  will 
be  asked,  what  grounds  there  are  for  supposing  that 
God  deals  with  the  wants  of  our  bodies  on  one 
system,  and  the  wants  of  our  souls  upon  another. 
If  we  deny  special  providence  as  the  answer  to 
prayer,  it  will  be  but  a  happy  inconsistency  if  we 
still  believe  in  special  grace  as  an  answer  to  prayer. 

But  all  these  are  idle  questions,  and  I  have  asked 
them  not  to  perplex  your  minds  by  an  attempt  to 
answer   them,    but    because   I   believe   there   is   an 
'answer  ready  for   them  in  your  hearts.     I  believe 
'there  is  in  the  very  bottom  of  your  hearts  a  con 
viction,  far  deeper  than  any  of  these  shallow  question- 
jings,  that  whatever  may  be  said,   God  is  after  all 
a  God   that   heareth   prayer.     We   know  it  by   an 
instinct,  not  of  earth  but  of  heaven,  that  leads  us 
to  fly  from  our  distresses  and  our  sins  to  the  very 
bosom  of  our  heavenly  Father,  as  a  child  flies  to  its 
mother,  or  as  a  helpless,  unreasoning  youngling  to  its 


198  The  God  that  heareth  Prayer. 

dam.  We  know  it  far  better,  those  at  least  who  have 
tried  it  by  experience.  No  one  who  has  prayed  ear 
nestly  will  deny  that  there  is  a  real  strength  in  prayer. 
The  bonds  of  sin  are  loosened,  good  resolutions  con 
firmed,  an  unknown  influence  is  poured  in  upon  th< 
soul  in  the  act  of  earnest  supplication.  It  tells  God 
nothing  of  our  wants,  for  He  knows  them  all  before, 
but  it  opens  the  door  of  our  hearts,  and  gives  free 
entry  to  His  grace.  Men  may  kneel  down  almost 
in  despair,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  lonely,  friendless,  and 
deserted,  but  they  will  rise  with  the  assurance  that 
they  are  not  alone,  that  they  have  a  real  friend, 
though  they  thought  little  of  Him  before,  till  other 
friends  and  other  help  has  failed  them.  But  now 
they  can  say  in  their  hearts,  "  The  Lord  is  my  shep 
herd,  therefore  I  will  not  fear." 

You  may  remember  that  little  more  than  a  year 
since,  some  hundred  or  more  of  our  hard-working  col 
liers  were  immured  in  a  coal-mine,  from  which  they 
never  came  out  again  to  see  the  light  of  day.  The 
horrors  of  that  long  and  dark  imprisonment,  must  be 
left  to  our  imagination,  but  one  of  the  poor  men,  it  ap 
pears,  kept  a  brief  journal  of  their  life  in  that  sad  dun 
geon,  and  the  last  entry,  made  apparently  just  before 
the  fatal  poison  put  out  the  lamp  of  life,  was  to  the 
effect  that  they  held  a  meeting  for  united  prayer. 
There  was  no  notice  of  anything  that  happened  after 
that,  and  one  would  gladly  believe  that  the  last 
breath  of  life  was  breathed  out  in  prayer.  But  this 
we  may  surely  believe,  that  when  God  gave  them 
the  heart  to  pray  He  sent  a  ready  answer  to  their 


The  God  that  heareth  Prayer.  190 

prayers,  and  all  was  not  dark  even  in  that  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death.  Like  Jonah,  they  cried  out 
of  the  very  belly  of  hell,  and  from  the  bottom  of  the 
mountains.  The  earth  with  her  bars  was  about 
them  for  ever.  Their  soul  fainted  within  them,  and 
they  remembered  the  Lord.  Who  can  doubt  that 
their  prayer  came  in  unto  Him  even  unto  His  Holy 
Temple  ?  But  not  more  dark  and  dreary  is  the  dun 
geon  of  sin,  in  which  many  a  soul  is  confined,  fast 
bound  in  misery  and  iron,  nor  less  certain  the  deliver 
ance  if  men  will  cry  to  God  for  help.  It  is,  indeed, 
a  hard  thing  to  break  the  chain  of  confirmed  sin, 
nor  can  it  be  expected  that  men  can  cast  off  in  an 
hour  or  in  a  day  the  shackles  of  a  bondage  which 
they  have  spent  a  life  in  forging.  Good  resolutions 
are  formed,  but  they  speedily  give  way  to  bad  habits  ; 
men's  hearts  sink  within  them;  they  begin  to  feel 
that  holiness  is  not  a  state  for  them ;  the  tempter 
whispers  in  their  ear  "too  late,"  and  they  fall  into 
despair.  At  last,  perhaps,  the  conviction  comes  that 
He  "  who  heareth  prayer"  will  hear  their  prayer. 
He  does  hear  them,  and  by  His  aid  they  work  their 
way  out  of  the  dungeon  in  which  their  souls  are 
cast. 

"  He  brings  them  out  of  the  horrible  pit,  out  of  the 
mire  and  clay;  He  sets  their  feet  upon  a  rock,  and 
ordereth  their  goings ;  He  puts  a  new  song  into 
their  mouth,  even  a  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  their 
God." 


SEEMON  X. 


JONAH  iii.  10. 

"  And  God  saw  their  works,  that  they  turned 
from  their  evil  way" 

TN  these  words  we  have  a  short  but  powerful  de 
scription  of  the  effect  of  a  single  preacher's  voice 
upon  an  ancient  and  famous  city.  Nineveh  was 
the  oldest  city  in  the  world.  It  dates  from  the 
days  of  Asshur,  and  its  vast  and  mysterious  ruins 
cover  up  the  records  of  an  antiquity  in  comparison 
with  which  history  itself  is  young,  and  tell  us  still 
the  story  of  an  empire  whose  records  have  passed 
away.  The  seat  of  power  and  the  centre  of  civil 
ization  have  drifted  down  the  stream  of  time  far 
away  to  the  west,  and  Nineveh,  under  the  divine 
judgment,  lies  deserted  and  desolate  on  the  scene 
of  its  former  dominion;  but  in  the  time  to  which 
the  text  carries  us  back,  it  was  called  "that  great 
city,'7  the  mightiest  symbol  of  human  magnificence 
and  grandeur  that  had  yet  established  a  dominion 
over  the  subject  world.  The  notice  of  its  extent 
which  we  have  in  the  book  of  Jonah  is  singularly 
verified  both  by  the  accounts  of  ancient  authors, 
and  the  discoveries  of  modern  times.  It  is  described 


On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.       201 

as  a  city  of  three  days'  journey,  meaning,  that  is,  the 
circuit  of  its  walls.  Later  historians  speak  of  it 
as  being  oblong,  having  two  longer  and  two  shorter 
sides,  making  altogether  sixty  miles  of  wall.  This 
would  correspond  accurately  with  Jonah's  descrip 
tion  of  it,  as  of  "  three  days'  journey."  A  traveller 
of  the  seventeenth  century  gives  us  exactly  the  same 
measurement.  Modern  travellers  speak  of  its  site 
as  at  present  occupied  by  four  huge  ruinous  mounds. 
No  one  of  these  corresponds  at  all  to  the  historic 
account  of  Nineveh,  but  supposing  them  to  have 
been  connected  together  and  enclosed  we  should 
have  an  area  of  exactly  the  same  dimensions.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  all  this  space  was 
densely  occupied  by  houses,  for  we  know  that  in 
the  rival  city  of  Babylon  there  was  room  left  for 
extensive  cultivation,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  sup 
pose  that  the  population  was  anything  like  that  of 
our  own  capital,  London.  But  the  Lord  in  rebuking 
the  prophet  who  mourned  over  the  withering  of  the 
gourd,  speaks  of  the  city  as  containing  more  than 
six  score  thousand  persons  that  could  not  discern 
their  right  hand  from  their  left,  and  who  were  there 
fore  innocent  of  the  general  corruption  :  and  if  by 
this  we  are  to  understand  children  of  three  years 
old  and  under,  as  has  been  reasonably  supposed, 
we  should  form  a  fair  estimate  of  the  population 
by  multiplying  that  number  by  five.  But  whatever 
the  greatness  of  the  city,  it  was  as  pre-eminent  in 
wickedness  as  in  power  and  multitude,  and  God 
sent  a  special  messenger  to  startle  it  into  repentance. 


202        On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

" Arise,"  He  said,  "go  to  Nineveh  and  cry  against 
it,  for  their  wickedness  is  come  up  before  Me."  It 
came  up  before  Him  as  the  cry  of  Sodom  and  Go 
morrah  ;  as  the  wickedness  of  the  world  before  the 
flood  calling  for  vengeance.  And  the  prophet,  after 
the  experience  of  his  own  deliverance,  went  to  exe 
cute  his  mission.  "He  began,"  says  the  author 
of  the  book,  "  to  enter  into  the  city  a  day's  journey, 
which  would  enable  him,  if  I  have  given  its  dimen 
sions  rightly,  to  traverse  its  full  length ;  so  that  the 
whole  city  might  hear  the  purport  of  his  message.  It 
was  a  brief  but  it  was  an  awful  one — "  Yet  forty  days 
and  Nineveh  shall  be  overthrown."  It  was  a  single  mo 
notonous  cry  constantly  repeated.  The  great  preacher 
of  repentance,  John  the  Baptist,  filled  the  desert 
with  the  same  deep  sounding  voice  that  this  mys 
terious  prophet  made  to  echo  in  the  streets  and 
courts  of  Nineveh,  "  Eepent  ye  for  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  at  hand."  Our  blessed  Lord  vouchsafed 
to  begin  His  office  with  these  self-same  words.  And 
among  the  civilized  but  savage  inhabitants  of  Nineveh 
probably  that  one  cry  was  more  impressive  than  any 
lengthened  appeal  would  have  been.  It  is  said  that 
four  years  before  the  final  siege  of  Jerusalem,  whil< 
everything  was  in  peace  and  quiet,  a  young  man 
burst  in  upon  the  people  at  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles 
with  a  similar  cry.  He  repeated  it  day  by  day, 
and  when  scourged  by  the  magistrates  as  a  disturber 
of  the  peace  he  repeated  it  more  and  more,  "Woe, 
Woe  to  Jerusalem,"  till  a  true  instinct  made  itself 
felt  that  there  was  something  unearthly  in  the  warn- 


On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.       203 

ing.  But  it  was  too  late  for  Jerusalem,  because 
she  had  filled  up  the  measure  of  her  sins.  She  knew 
not  the  day  of  her  visitation,  and  though  all  conver 
sion  is  the  work  of  the  grace  of  God,  that  grace  had 
long  since  departed  from  her.  Nineveh  remains  in 
the  history  of  mankind  a  signal  instance  of  God's 
overpowering  grace.  The  people  believed  God,  a 
deep  and  solemn  conviction  took  possession  of  their 
hearts.  The  prophet  was  not  only  a  preacher  to 
them  but  a  sign,  as  his  history  became  known ;  they 
felt  that  as  God  had  punished  his  disobedience,  so 
He  was  ready  to  take  vengeance  upon  their  sins.  The 
voice  of  authority  was  not  necessary.  The  peril  was 
instant,  and  they  could  not  wait  for  orders.  One 
impulse  possessed  them  in  the  common  danger.  One 
common  cry  rose  out  of  one  common  terror,  and  the 
same  feeling  ran  through  the  hearts  of  all  by  an 
irresistible  contagion.  "  Proclaim  a  fast,  put  on 
sackcloth  from  the  greatest  unto  the  least."  The 
king  heard  the  news  upon  his  throne,  and  was  at 
once  carried  away  by  the  feeling  of  his  people.  He 
laid  aside  his  magnificence,  put  on  sackcloth,  and  sat 
in  ashes ;  and  with  the  consent  of  his  nobles  at  once 
issued  a  proclamation  in  answer  to  the  voice  of  the 
prophet.  "  Let  neither  man  nor  beast,  herd  nor  flock, 
taste  anything;  let  them  not  feed  nor  drink  water. 
Let  man  and  beast  be  covered  with  sackcloth,  and  cry 
mightily  unto  God."  Even  the  dumb  and  senseless 
animals  were  made  to  share  in  the  common  fast,  as 
involved  in  the  threatened  destruction.  He  acted 
according  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  which  are  not  our 


204        On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

ideas,  but  there  is  an  element  of  truth  and  reason 
in  them.  There  was  an  indistinct  consciousness  of 
a  communion  between  the  lower  orders  of  animals 
and  man,  their  lord  and  master,  and  who  will  find 
fault  with  his  conviction  that  God  "cared  for  them 
also."  The  Psalmist  looks  on  God's  care  of  His 
creatures  as  a  fresh  ground  for  man's  trust  in  Him. 
"  0  Lord,  Thou  preservest  man  and  beast.  How 
excellent  is  Thy  loving-kindness.  Therefore  the 
children  of  men  put  their  trust  under  the  shadow 
of  Thy  wings."  As  our  Lord  teaches  that  God's 
care  of  the  sparrows  is  a  pledge  to  man  of  God's 
minute  unceasing  care  for  him,  so  the  Ninevites  felt 
truly  that  the  cry  of  the  poor  brutes  would  be  heard 
by  Him.  And  God  confirmed  their  judgments  when 
He  told  Jonah  of  the  "much  cattle"  as  a  ground  for 
sparing  Nineveh.  The  moanings  and  lowings  of  the 
animals  and  their  voices  of  distress  must  have  pierced 
man's  heart  also,  and  added  to  the  sense  of  general 
misery.  The  pride  of  human  nature  alone  could 
think  that  man's  sorrow  is  not  aided  by  these  objects 
of  sense,  and  nature  was  far  more  true  in  the  king  of 
Mneveh. 

But  outward  demonstrations  are  of  no  value,  and 
sackcloth  and  ashes  are  mere  hypocrisy  where  they 
express  no  conversion  of  the  heart.  And  the  call  for 
the  fruits  of  repentance  was  as  instant  and  urgent  as 
for  the  external  expressions  of  terror  and  woe.  "  Let 
them  turn  every  one  from  his  evil  way  and  from  the 
violence  that  is  in  their  hands.  Who  can  tell  if 
God  will  turn  and  repent,  and  turn  away  from  His 


On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.       205 

fierce  anger  that  we  perish  not."    And  it  was  as  effec 
tual  as  it  was  urgent.     God  who  knows  the  heart  of 
man,  saw  not  only  their  sackcloth  and  their  ashes, 
but  their  works,   that  they  turned  from  their  evil 
way.       Their   whole   way   and   course   of    life   was 
changed,  they  broke  off  not  this  or  that  sin  only, 
but  all  their  whole  evil  way,     They  were  ashamed 
of  their  sins,  but  they  were  not  ashamed  to  confess 
them.     They  published  their  guilt  with  groans,  and 
laid  open  their  secret  misdeeds.     One  cry  was  heard 
along  the  city  walls,  along  all  the  houses  echoed  the 
piteous  lament  of  the  mourners ;  the  earth  bore  the 
confessions  of  the  penitents,  and  the   heaven  itself 
re-echoed  to  their  voices.     Then  was  fulfilled  indeed 
"  the  prayer  of  the  penitent  pierceth  unto  the  clouds." 
As  soon  as  prayer  took  possession  of  them,  it  at  once 
conquered  the  habit  of  sin.     It  reformed  the  city  at 
>  once,  and  excluded  profligacy  and  wickedness  from 
its  home.     It  filled  it  with  the  spirit   of  heavenly 
;  law,   and  brought  with  it  temperance,  loving-kind- 
lj  ness,   gentleness,  and  care  for  the  poor.     Had   one 
entered  the  city  who  had  known  it  before,  he  would 
hardly   have   known   it  then ;    so    suddenly   had  it 
passed  into  life  out  of  death,   into  godliness  out  of 
reprobation.     The  completeness  of  their  repentance 
not  outward  only,   but  inward — turning  from  their 
evil  way — is   in   its  extent  unexampled.     The  fact 
rests  on  the  authority  of  one    greater  than  Jonah, 
to   whom  all   hearts   are   known.     Our   Lord   bears 
witness  to  it  as   a  fact.     He   contrasts  people  with 
people,  penitent  heathen  with  impenitent  Jews,  the 


20G        On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

inferior  messenger  who  prevailed,  with  Himself,  whom 
His  own  received  not.  "  The  men  of  Mneveh  shall 
rise  up  in  judgment  with  this  generation,  and  shall 
condemn  it :  because  they  repented  at  the  preaching 
of  Jonas ;  and,  behold,  a  greater  than  Jonas  is  here." 
As  I  looked  along  the  countless  multitudes  that 
filled  the  streets  of  our  own  great  city  on  Tuesday 
last,  I  could  not  help  thinking  whether  some  Jonah 
was  not  needed  there,  and  what  effect  he  would  have 
if  he  came.  If  some  great  preacher  were  to  traverse 
its  length  and  breadth,  with  the  same  awful  cry, 
"Yet  forty  days  and  London  shall  be  destroyed," 
would  they  hear  his  voice?  would  they  believe  in 
God,  and  turn  each  of  them  from  his  evil  ways? 
Perhaps  they  ought  not  to  listen  to  the  raving  of 
a  fanatic,  and  a  true  prophet  might  find  himself  with 
in  the  walls  of  the  prison,  or  the  restraint  of  an  asylum, 
as  a  disturber  of  the  peace.  But  let  the  appeal  be 
made  in  all  calmness,  and  in  accordance  with  estab 
lished  law  and  order,  would  it  not  be  an  awful  sight 
to  see  London  thronged  with  as  many  penitents  seek 
ing  pardon  and  mercy  by  united  supplication,  as  were 
brought  together — some,  no  doubt,  to  see  and  be  seen 
— but  many,  we  may  hope,  to  return  hearty  thanks 
giving  unto  their  God,  for  the  restoration  of  their 
Prince  to  life  and  health  by  His  marvellous  mercy. 
And  though  it  is  of  no  use  exaggerating  the  wicked 
ness  of  great  cities,  or  flattering  ourselves  that  we 
who  live  in  distant  fields  and  a  purer  air,  are  holier 
than  those  who  live  in  courts  and  alleys ;  and  though 
God — thanks  be  to  Him — has,  no  doubt,  much  people 


On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.       207 

in  that  great  city,  yet  when  one  passed  out  of  the 
crowded  thoroughfares  into  the  narrow  lanes  which 
hardly  seemed  to  have  cleared  themselves  of  any  of 
their  population;  when  one  thought  of  the  multitudes 
to  whom  a  church  is  unknown,  and  to  whom  the  teachers 
of  this  generation  will  make  it  almost  a  crime  to  im 
part  the  elements  of  a  creed;  when  one  saw  the 
visible  tokens  of  their  sordid,  hopeless  lives,  and  the 
indifference  of  many  who  are  raised  above  want,  and 
the  hypocrisy  of  others  who  think  it  respectable  to 
pay  some  attention  to  religion;  one  could  not  help 
reflecting  whether  if  every  heart  could  be  softened 
and  every  sinner  reformed,  and  every  one  who 
is  on  the  broad  way  that  leadeth  to  destruction 
thoroughly  alarmed,  and  conviction  brought  home  to 
the  consciences  of  all, — there  might  not  be  as  large 
a  crowd  as  was  gathered  together  on  an  occasion  of 
great  joy,  and  the  riches  of  the  west  and  the  poverty 
of  the  east,  brought  down  to  the  common  garb  of 
sackcloth,  and  ashes  on  their  heads,  from  every 
suburb  that  looks  from  every  quarter  of  the  heavens 
to  the  great  centre  of  St.  Paul's.  It  is  true  that  the 
nature  of  the  occasion  called  for  no  demonstration  of 
sorrow,  but  was  one  of  grateful  overpowering  joy. 
The  nation  felt  that  it  had  been  delivered  from  a 
great  calamity,  the  weight  of  which  it  had  hardly 
realized  till  it  appeared  imminent ;  and  they  had 
full  experience  of  the  truth  of  the  Psalmist's  words, 
that  "  it  is  a  good  and  joyful  thing  to  be  thankful." 
Few  persons  will  object  that  our  Queen  and  the 
mother  of  our  Prince,  ought  to  have  gone  to  present 


208        On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

herself  before  God  with  any  other  state  than  that 
which  becomes  the  dignity  of  her  position.  I  hav< 
indeed  met  with  an  opinion  that  the  pageantry  oi 
state  by  which  she  was  surrounded  tended  rather 
to  the  exaltation  of  the  principal  persons  who  took 
part  in  the  ceremony  than  to  the  glory  of  God  whoi 
they  were  approaching  in  humble  adoration;  an( 
in  whose  presence  all  men  are  equal.  This  seems 
to  me  a  great  mistake.  If  "the  powers  that  be  are 
ordained  of  God,"  and  kings  and  queens  are,  as  we 
believe,  the  fittest  representatives  of  that  power  that 
cometh  from  Him,  then  it  is  right  that  in  all  national 
acts  they  should  appear  in  their  true  character,  and 
with  all  the  external  tokens  of  their  dignity.  If  they 
do  this  in  a  right  spirit,  then  their  pomp  and  mag 
nificence  becomes  part  of  their  offering,  for  with 
themselves  they  offer  all  that  they  have.  God  does 
not  value  sackcloth  and  ashes,  any  more  than  the 
royal  robe  of  Solomon  or  Herod,  but  the  humble  and 
faithful,  and  obedient  and  thankful  heart  that  may 
beat  under  either.  Probably  in  all  the  vast  throng 
that  crowded  that  high  festival  of  last  week  there 
was  no  heart  more  full  of  holy  thoughts,  more  de 
voted,  more  thoroughly  overpowered,  by  the  sense 
of  the  weakness  and  littleness  of  man,  and  the  Ma 
jesty  of  Almighty  God,  than  hers  on  whom  the  eyes 
of  all  were  fixed,  and  who,  while  she  joined  in  the 
thanksgiving  of  the  nation  for  the  restoration  of  its 
Prince,  had  a  joy  peculiar  to  herself  in  the  restora 
tion  of  her  son.  Nor  do  we  generally  find  many 
tokens  of  a  true  humility,  in  the  assertors  of  an  in- 


On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.       209 

solent  and  presumptuous  equality.  But  leaving  this 
I  will  yet  notice  one  more  point.  Our  vast  metro 
polis,  and  the  whole  country  with  it,  in  heart  at 
least  and  spirit,  if  not  in  presence,  was,  for  once, 
last  week  united  in  a  religious  act ;  and  it  came 
home  to  us  as  a  real  fact  which  the  Archbishop  in 
sisted  upon,  that  "  we  are  members  one  of  another." 
It  was  an  act,  I  may  say,  and  I  am  glad  to  say,  totally 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  that  are  now  assid 
uously  preached,  and  find  too  much  countenance 
from  public  men,  and  which  tend,  if  they  are  not 
checked,  to  the  certain  severance  of  national  life  from 
all  religion  whatever.  I  do  not  find  that  any  one 
regretted  the  existence  of  a  national  Church  on  that 
occasion,  in  which  our  Queen  might  pay  her  vows 
in  the  presence  of  all  her  people ;  and  those  who  think 
it  almost  a  crime  to  permit  any  portion  of  the  national 
revenue  to  be  devoted  to  the  furtherance  of  any  reli 
gious  object,  allowed  a  considerable  sum  to  be  ex 
pended  in  a  service  which  they  will  be  compelled 
to  describe  as  denominational  and  sectarian,  without 
a  protest  or  a  murmur.  I  do  not  know  what  account 
they  will  be  able  to  give  of  their  short-comings  to 
those  who  placed  them  in  a  position  to  trouble  the 
councils  of  the  nation  with  their  voices.  Perhaps 
they  were  afraid  to  assert  their  principles  on  such 
an  occasion;  perhaps  they  themselves  were  carried 
away  by  the  current  of  general  feeling,  and  left 
them  behind.  At  all  events,  it  is  a  matter  of  satis 
faction  that  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  in  the  day 
of  deliverance  the  nation  threw  the  lessons  that  have 

p 


210       On  the  Recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

been  so  diligently  forced  upon  it  by  those  who  call 
themselves  the  friends  of  the  people  to  the  winds, 
and  joined,  in  spite  of  its  teachers,  in  a  religious 
action. 

Oh  that  the  spirit  and  feeling  of  that  day  would 
abide  with  us  for  ever.  Oh  that  it  might  be  im 
pressed  upon  us  that  this  country  and  this  whole 
world  is  governed  not  by  statesmen,  or  economists, 
or  popular  orators,  or  representatives,  but  by  God; 
in  whose  hand  are  all  our  ways,  without  whom  oui 
power  may  crumble  into  ruins,  and  our  numbei 
dwindle  into  insignificance,  and  all  our  riches  mak( 
to  themselves  wings  and  fly  away.  The  world  has 
seen  great  changes,  and  may  see  more  as  great,  and 
the  time  may  come  when  Manchester  will  be  a  howl 
ing  wilderness,  and  London,  with  its  merchant 
princes,  like  deserted  Tyre.  We  do  not  know  the 
issues  of  things,  but  this  we  do  know,  "  that  right 
eousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach 
to  any  people." 

And  we  know  this  also,  and  I  hope  believe  it, 
that  the  promises  even  of  temporal  well-doing  are 
large  and  abundant  to  those  who  love  and  fear  God. 
For  them  there  will  be  "  no  captivity,  and  no  com 
plaining  in  their  streets." 

"Happy  are  the  people  that  are  in  such  a  case, 
yea,  blessed  are  the  people  who  have  the  Lord  for 
their  God/7 


SEBMON  XL 

St.      Ur 


ST.  LUKE  viii.  2. 
"  Nary  called  Magdalene" 

TF  you  will  look  to  the  calendar  of  this  month  a  in 
your  Prayer-Books,  you  will  find  yesterday  dis 
tinguished  as  the  Feast  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  in 
whose  name  the  ancient  church  of  this  parish  was 
dedicated  to  Almighty  God.  But  we  gave  you  no 
notice  of  her  festival,  and  therefore  you  had  no 
opportunity  of  shewing  that  indifference  to  it  with 
which  the  notices  of  other  festivals  are  usually 
received.  And  the  reason  we  did  not  do  it  is  be 
cause,  though  the  day  is  noted  as  hers,  there  is 
no  special  service  appropriated  to  her  memory.  If 
we  had  daily  prayers  here,  there  would  be  nothing 
in  the  service  to  remind  us  of  her.  And  if  you 
were  to  take  the  trouble  to  compare  the  different 
forms  that  our  Prayer-Book  has  assumed  since  the 
Eeformation  you  would  find  many  other  changes 
connected  with  saints'  -days.  Before  that  period 
of  history  the  calendar  was  crowded  with  saints,  of 
some  of  whom  very  little  or  nothing  was  known, 
and  that  which  was  known  of  others  was  not  always 
edifying  or  worthy  of  imitation.  In  the  first  edi 
tion  of  the  Prayer-Book  our  reformers  made  a  clean 

*  July. 

p  2 


212  St.  Mary  Magdalen. 

sweep  of  all  but  two  in  this  month — St.  Mary  Mag 
dalen,  or  Magdalen  simply,  as  she  is  called,  and 
James  the  Apostle,  not  even  honouring  him  with 
the  title  of  Saint.  In  the  second  edition  eve] 
"Magdalen,"  disappeared,  and  the  "  Dog-days 3! 
came  in  instead  of  Saints'-days,  with  some  other 
astronomical  notices.  But  afterwards  the  Churcl 
began  to  recover  from  the  shock,  and  to  claim  agaii 
its  connection  with  antiquity.  Accordingly,  in  th( 
present  month,  you  find  on  the  second,  the  Visita 
tion  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary ;  on  the  fourth,  th< 
translation  of  St.  Martin ;  on  the  sixteenth,  Swithun, 
Bishop,  whose  name  is  well  known  in  connectioi 
with  the  weather;  on  the  twentieth,  Margaret,  Vir 
gin  and  Martyr  of  Antioch ;  on  the  twenty-second, 
St.  Mary  Magdalen ;  on  the  twenty-fifth,  St.  James 
the  Apostle ;  on  the  twenty-sixth,  St.  Anne,  mother 
of  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  is  well  known  that  many 
of  these  names  were  restored  for  certain  civil  reasons, 
into  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter;  but  others 
are  the  names  of  holy  persons,  and  commemorative  of 
real  events  in  connection  with  them,  such,  for  in 
stance,  as  the  Visitation  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
and  if  there  is  no  special  service  for  those  days,  that 
is  no  reason  why  they  should  be  passed  over  without 
honour.  Perhaps  it  was  thought  that  sufficient  honour 
was  done  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the  festivals  of  the 
Purification  and  the  Annunciation,  especially  as  no 
other  of  her  sex  has  a  similar  place  in  the  Calendar. 
But  if  I  had  been  alive  in  those  days,  and  had  a 
voice  in  the  matter,  I  would  certainly  have  put  in 


St.  Mary  Magdalen.  213 

a  claim  on  behalf  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen.  She  is 
no  legendary  character,  and  what  we  know  of  her 
from  Scripture  is  quite  enough  to  make  her  name 
dear  to  our  memories.  The  first  notice  of  her  is  that 
of  a  woman  who  had  endured  an  unequalled  misery, 
and  experienced  an  unequalled  deliverance;  seven 
devils  had  gone  out  of  her — by  whose  command  we 
know — and  she  is  presented  to  us  afterwards  as  follow 
ing  our  Lord  with  grateful  devotion,  and  with  many 
other  women  ministering  to  Him.  of  her  substance. 
From  that  time  forward  she  is  never  spoken  of 
except  in  the  closest  connection  with  the  person 
of  our  Lord.  She  was  one  of  the  many  women 
which  came  up  with  Him  to  Jerusalem,  and  she 
stood  by  His  Cross  with  Mary  His  mother,  and  Mary 
His  mother's  sister,  wife  of  Cleophas — three  Marys. 
And  when  the  stone  was  rolled  against  the  door  of 
the  sepulchre  in  which  her  Lord  was  laid,  Mary 
Magdalen  and  the  other  Mary  are  left  sitting  over 
against  it.  The  next  morning  they  return  with 
sweet  spices  to  anoint  His  body,  and  the  bright  angel 
of  the  Lord  announces  to  them  the  glad  tidings: 
"  He  is  not  here,  for  He  is  risen,  as  He  said.  Come 
see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay."  If  the  details 
of  our  Lord's  resurrection  are  not  perfectly  clear, 
it  is  certain  from  St.  Mark  that  He  appeared  first 
to  Mary  Magdalen,  out  of  whom  He  had  cast  seven 
devils;  that  he  spoke  to  her  as  she  was  weeping 
over  His  loss,  repelling  her  embrace  by  words  of 
solemn  mystery:  " Touch  Me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet 
ascended  to  My  Father,"  and  making  her  His  mes- 


214  St.  Mary  Magdalen. 

senger  to  the  disciples — "  Go  to  My  brethren,  and 
say  unto  them,  I  ascend  unto  My  Father  and  your 
Father,  unto  My  God  and  your  God."  Confining 
ourselves,  therefore,  strictly  to  the  pages  of  Scripture, 
we  find  sufficient  reason  for  remembering  the  name 
of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  though  it  may  be  impossible 
to  fix  upon  any  special  event  of  her  life  as  having 
occurred  on  a  particular  day.  But  the  name  of 
Mary,  or  Miriam,  being  so  common  among  the  Jews, 
there  seems  to  have  arisen  a  good  deal  of  confusion 
as  to  the  persons  who  bore  it,  and  the  Church  of 
Eome,  on  what  grounds  I  know  not,  has  identified 
Mary  Magdalen  with  Mary  the  sister  of  Martha 
and  Lazarus.  Anything  more  unlikely  it  is  im 
possible  to  conceive,  and  there  is  no  event,  nothing 
whatever  beyond  the  sameness  of  the  name,  to  con 
nect  them  together.  Mary  Magdalen  followed  our 
Lord  from  Galilee,  ministering  to  Him  of  her  sub 
stance.  Mary  and  Martha  had  their  home  fixed 
at  Bethany ;  and  St.  John,  in  preparing  us  for  the 
resurrection  of  Lazarus,  mentions  of  his  sister,  "  that 
she  was  that  Mary  which  anointed  the  Lord  with 
ointment,  and  wiped  His  feet  with  her  hair,  whose 
brother  Lazarus  was  sick."  But  the  confusion  seemsl 
to  have  arisen  in  this  way.  There  is  another  woman, 
whose  praise  is  in  the  Gospel,  who  is  described  asi 
anointing  our  Lord's  feet,  and  kissing  them,  and  I: 
wiping  them  with  the  hairs  of  her  head,  in  thJ 
house  of  Simon  the  Pharisee.  But  though  the  acl 
is  exactly  similar,  the  conversation  that  follows! 
shews  that  the  occasions  and  persons  were  different, 


St.  Mary  Magdalen.  215 

In  this  case  the  question  was  whether  our  Lord 
could  be  a  prophet  when  He  allowed  such  a  woman 
to  touch  Him  in  ignorance  of  her  character?  And 
you  may  remember  those  gracious  words  of  our 
Lord's,  which  are  a  message  of  love  to  the  fallen 
of  her  sex  for  ever :  "  Her  sins,  which  are  many, 
are  forgiven,  for  she  loved  much;  but  to  whom 
little  is  forgiven,  the  same  loveth  little."  But  in 
the  case  of  Mary,  the  sister  of  Lazarus,  the  question 
raised  by  Judas  is  altogether  one  of  wasting  upon 
our  Lord's  person  that  which  might  have  been  sold 
for  three  hundred  pence  and  given  to  the  poor. 

So  that  beyond  the  mere  washing  of  the  feet, 
which  was  almost  an  act  of  common  hospitality, 
and  might  have  been  repeated  on  many  occasions, 
there  is  nothing  in  time,  place,  or  circumstances, 
to  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  same  persons  are 
referred  to.  But  what  appears  to  have  happened 
is  really  this.  This  woman,  who  was  a  sinner,  is 
first  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  Mary  Magdalen, 
out  of  whom  had  gone  forth  seven  devils,  mentioned 
in  the  next  chapter  of  St.  Luke ;  and  then  a  further 
identification  takes  place  with  Mary  the  sister  of 
Lazarus,  three  distinct  persons  being  thus  combined 
into  one,  and  the  Gospel  narrative  confused  and 
perplexed  without  a  shadow  of  authority.  I  am 
glad  that  our  Church  has  avoided  committing  her 
self  to  this  confusion,  and  am  still  more  glad  that 
we  can  find  nothing  in  our  Prayer-Book  correspond 
ing  to  that  which  appears  in  the  Komish  Service 
for  this  day,  "  Grant,  0  Lord,  that  we  may  be  aided 


216  St.  Mary  Magdalen. 

by  the  prayers  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  in  answer 
to  whose  prayers  Thou  didst  raise  from  the  dead 
her  brother  Lazarus,  after  he  had  been  dead  four 
days."  Here  you  see  the  identity  of  the  persons 
is  distinctly  declared,  but  that  is  to  my  mind  far 
less  objectionable  than  the  spirit  of  the  prayer. 
If  those  who  sleep  in  Jesus  are  still  able,  as  members 
of  the  Universal  Church,  to  join  in  the  sacrifice  of 
prayer,  we  may  depend  on  it  that  we  have  the 
benefit  of  it,  and  we  know  that  our  blessed  Lord 
heareth  prayer;  but  to  ask  Him  that  we  may  be 
aided  by  the  prayers  of  a  particular  saint  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  very  circuitous  method  of  obtaining 
spiritual  benefit,  and  to  be  casting  doubts  on  His 
willingness  to  hear  us  Himself  as  our  Mediator  and 
Advocate,  when  we  address  our  prayers  to  God 
through  Him.  And  the  concluding  prayer  of  the 
same  service,  after  the  communion,  "that  we  may 
be  delivered  from  all  evils  by  the  protection  of 
St.  Mary  Magdalen,"  is  so  alien  to  all  that  we 
have  been  taught  in  Scripture,  of  the  true  source 
of  protection  from  all  evils,  that  we  may  dismiss  it 
without  further  notice. 

Now,  in  contrast  with  this  let  me  repeat  the  collect 
of  our  own  Church  in  the  first  edition  of  our  Prayer- 
Book,  which  was  unfortunately  omitted  in  the  second, 
and  you  will  feel  as  though  you  were  breathing 
a  different  atmosphere.  It  is  a  prayer  that  will  do 
you  no  harm  if  you  use  it  every  day :  "  Merciful 
Father,  give  us  grace  that  we  may  never  presume 
to  sin  through  the  example  of  any  creature,  but  if  it 


St.  Mary  Magdalen.  217 

shall  chance  to  us  at  any  time  to  offend  Thy  Divine 
Majesty  that  then  we  may  truly  repent,  after  the 
example  of  Mary  Magdalene,  and  by  lively  faith 
obtain  remission  of  our  sins,  through  the  only  merits 
of  Thy  Son  our  Saviour  Christ."  The  prayer  is 
beautiful  both  in  words  and  spirit,  and  it  contains 
a  wise  and  delicate  caution  against  being  encouraged 
in  the  presumption  of  sinning  in  the  same  way,  by 
the  complete  forgiveness  of  one  whose  sins  had  been 
so  many  and  had  fallen  off  her  so  easily.  But  you 
will  notice  that  it  still  assumes  this  woman,  who  was 
a  sinner,  to  have  been  St.  Mary  Magdalen,  though 
it  disconnects  her  with  Mary  the  sister  of  Lazarus. 
But  I  still  think  this  extremely  doubtful.  Mary 
Magdalen  is  not  mentioned  till  the  next  chapter, 
and  then  not  as  the  woman  who  had  washed  His 
feet,  and  whose  name  is  not  known,  but  as  "  she  out 
of  whom  went  seven  devils,"  a  mark  that  is  not 
of  identification,  but  of  distinction.  And  the  idea 
of  demoniac  possession,  though  frequently  connected 
with  uncleanness,  is  something  quite  different  from 
the  gross  sensual  sin  of  this  forgiven  woman.  And 
it  may  have  been  the  sense  of  this  inconsistency, 
or  at  all  events  the  uncertainty  of  that  which  is  no 
where  declared  in  Scripture,  combined  with  other 
causes,  which  induced  our  Church  on  the  second 
revision  of  the  Prayer-Book  to  omit  altogether  St. 
Mary  Magdalen  from  the  list  of  saints,  to  whose 
days  a  special  service  is  assigned. 

Nevertheless,    the    name   of  St.  Mary    Magdalen 
as  the  forgiven  penitent  has  not  been  disestablished 


218  St.  Mary  Magdalen. 

among  us,  and  her  supposed  example  still  holds  its 
place  in  our  minds.  Colleges,  churches,  hospitals, 
still  cherish  and  preserve  the  name.  Institutions 
for  the  rescue  and  restoration  of  the  fallen  still  find 
it  a  potent  spell  when  they  appeal  to  Christian  hearts 
for  sympathy  and  support.  The  odour  of  the  pre 
cious  ointment  that  she  lavished  on  her  Saviour's 
feet  surrounds  her  own  memory.  When  we  see  in 
painting  and  in  sculpture  the  long  flowing  hair, 
the  features  that  once  invited  men  to  sin,  but  are 
now  turned  in  purity  to  heaven,  the  tearful  eye, 
we  ask  no  question,  we  want  no  information,  we 
know  that  it  is  a  Magdalen.  She  teaches  us  that 
vile  and  common  as  woman  may  be,  foul  as  the 
fairest  may  become,  there  is  hope  and  pardon  for 
the  sisters  of  the  streets,  a  far  better  hope  than  for 
the  authors  of  their  degradation,  whose  sin  society 
makes  light  of  and  condones,  while  it  turns  away 
in  virtuous  indignation  from  their  victims.  And 
let  it  not  be  thought  that  the  possibility  of  recovery 
makes  the  sin  of  those  who  cause  the  fall  the  less. 
It  would  not  do  so  if  all  who  fell  could  be  recovered. 
But  how  many  fall,  how  few  are  recovered !  And 
as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  of  the  prelates  of  the 
Church  of  Ireland,  which  a  statesman  of  this  age  has 
robbed  of  its  inheritance,  says,  "It  is  a  hard  and 
weighty  consideration  what  shall  become  of  any  one 
of  us,  even  though  repentant,  who  have  tempted  our 
brother  or  our  sister  to  sin  and  death ;  for  though 
God  hath  spared  our  life,  and  they  are  dead,  and 
their  debt-books  are  sealed  up  to  the  day  of  account, 


St.  Mary  Magdalen.  219 

yet  the  mischief  of  our  sin  is  gone  before  us,  and 
it  is  like  a  murder,  only  more  execrable ;  the  soul 
is  dead  in  trespasses  and  sin,  and  sealed  to  an  eternal 
sorrow,  and  thou  shalt  see  at  doomsday  what  damna 
ble  uncharitableness  thou  hast  done.  That  soul  that 
cries  to  the  rocks  to  cover  her  might  have  followed 
the  Lamb  in  a  white  robe,  if  it  had  not  been  for  thy 
wicked  temptation ;  that  poor  man  who  is  clothed  in 
shame  and  flames  of  fire,  might  have  shone  in  glory 
if  thou  hadst  not  forced  him  to  be  a  companion  of 
thy  baseness.  A  soul  is  lost  by  thy  means,  and  who 
shall  pay  for  this  loss  ?  what  shall  happen  to  thee  by 
whom  thy  brother  or  thy  sister  dies  eternally?" 

The  discarded  service  of  the  day  gives  us  in  the 
Gospel  the  entire  history  of  the  sinning  and  penitent 
woman  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  St.  Luke.  With 
what  I  will  venture  to  call  exquisite  taste,  it  says 
nothing  whatever  about  her  past  life,  and  avoids  all 
mention  or  notice  of  the  number  and  details  of  her 
sins.  We  do  not  know  how  she  fell,  or  how  long 
she  had  lived  the  life  she  was  then  living.  He  who 
told  the  woman  of  Samaria  all  things  she  had  ever 
done,  "knew  thoroughly  the  history  of  this  woman's 
life,  and  all  her  thought."  But  there  is  nothing  in 
Scripture  either  to  excite  or  satisfy  any  curiosity 
about  her.  An  author  not  instructed  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  might  probably  have  attempted  to  magnify 
her  Saviour's  mercy  by  enlarging  the  account  of  her 
sins.  But  Scripture  says  simply  "  a  woman  who  was 
a  sinner,"  words  which  we  might  have  taken  in 
a  general  sense,  a  sense,  indeed,  applicable  to  all  men 


220  Si.  Mary  Magdalen. 

and  women,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Pharisaic  doubt 
whether  He  could  really  be  a  prophet  who  suffered 
such  a  person  to  wash  His  feet.  It  was  a  Pharisaic 
company,  and  they  received  a  lesson  suited  to  their 
class,  "  that  the  publicans  and  harlots  might  go  before 
them  into  the  kingdom  of  God." 

But  if  we  have  no  picture  of  a  life  of  sin  in  the 
Gospel  to  stimulate  our  imaginations,  we  have  a 
beautiful  picture  of  the  domestic  life  of  a  Jewish 
lady  by  way  of  contrast  in  the  passage  appointed 
for  the  Epistle,  a  lady  of  rank  and  position  in  her 
own  lands,  in  those  happy  times,  before  the  nation 
was  divided,  and  the  waves  of  invasion  had  begun 
to  sweep  over  the  inheritance  of  Israel.  There  were 
rich  and  poor  even  then,  as  there  always  will  be; 
but  while  the  rich  had  their  large  establishments, 
the  poor  dwelt  under  their  vines  and  fig-trees,  none 
making  them  afraid.  The  picture  we  have  is  evi 
dently  that  of  a  lady  who  had  to  rule  and  provide 
for  a  large  household,  and  we  are  told  how  she  did 
it.  Habits  of  life  are  of  course  different  in  different 
climates  and  centuries,  but  right  principles  of  con 
duct  are  the  same  for  all  times  and  all  places,  and 
for  the  rich  as  well  as  for  the  poor.  Those  who  have 
those  principles  will  have  no  difficulty  in  adapting 
them  to  all  times  and  all  circumstances.  Sarah  call 
ing  her  husband  lord  is  the  pattern  of  all  faithful 
wives,  and  as  all  the  faithful  men  are  the  children 
of  Abraham,  so  all  true  wives  are  the  daughters 
of  Sarah.  The  Jewish  lady  contemplated  in  the  book 
of  Proverbs  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  advanced 


St.  Mary  Magdalen.  221 

views  of  woman's  rights,  but  she  had  a  very  enlarged 
notion  of  a  wife's  duties,  and  as  such  she  reigned 
as  a  queen  in  her  own  home,  which  is  the  true  empire 
of  a  woman.  But  I  will  read  you  the  whole  passage 
from  the  book  of  Proverbs,  and  I  think  you  will  say 
nothing  need  be  added  to  it.  At  least  nothing  shall 
be  added  by  me. 

"Whosoever  findeth  an  honest  faithful  woman,  she 
is  much  more  worth  than  pearls.  The  heart  of  her 
husband  may  safely  trust  in  her,  so  that  he  shall  fall 
in  no  poverty.  She  will  do  him  good  and  not  evil 
all  the  days  of  his  life.  She  occupieth  wool  and  flax, 
and  laboureth  gladly  with  her  hand.  She  is  like 
a  merchant-ship  that  bringeth  her  victuals  from  afar. 
She  is  up  in  the  night  season,  to  provide  meat  for 
her  household  and  food  for  her  maidens.  She  con- 
sidereth  land,  and  buyeth  it,  and  with  the  fruit  of 
her  hands  she  planteth  a  vineyard.  She  girdeth  her 
loins  with  strength,  and  courageth  her  arms.  And 
if  she  perceive  that  her  housewifery  is  good,  her 
candle  goeth  not  out  by  night.  She  layeth  her 
fingers  to  the  spindle,  and  her  hand  taketh  hold 
of  the  distaff.  She  openeth  her  hand  to  the  poor, 
yea,  she  stretcheth  forth  her  hands  to  such  as  have 
need.  She  feareth  not  the  cold  of  winter  shall  hurt 
her  house,  for  all  her  household  folks  are  clothed 
with  scarlet.  She  maketh  herself  fair  ornaments,  her 
clothing  is  white  silk  and  purple.  She  maketh  cloth 
of  silk  and  selleth  it,  and  delivereth  girdles  unto  the 
merchant.  Her  husband  is  much  set  by  in  the  gates 
when  he  sitteth  among  the  rulers  of  the  land.  She 


222  St.  Mar?/  Magdalen. 

openeth  her  mouth  with  wisdom,  and  in  her  tongue 
is  the  law  of  grace.  She  looketh  well  to  the  ways 
of  her  household,  and  eateth  not  her  bread  with  idle 
ness.  Her  children  shall  arise  and  call  her  blessed, 
and  her  husband  shall  make  much  of  her.  Many 
daughters  there  be  that  gather  riches  together,  but 
thou  goest  above  them  all." 

"  As  for  favour  it  is  deceitful,  and  beauty  is  a  vain 
thing,  but  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord  she  is 
worthy  to  be  praised. 

"  Give  her  of  the  fruit  of  her  hands,  and  let  her 
own  works  praise  her  in  the  gates." 


SEKMON  XII. 

Jesuitism, 

ST.  JOHN  vii.  17. 

"  If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God." 

THINK  I  have  observed  before  this,  as  a  matter 
of  my  own  experience,  that  it  is  one  great  advan 
tage  of  reading  Holy  Scripture  out  loud  in  Church 
in  our  own  tongue,  that  we  are  more  impressed  with 
its  truth,  and  depth,  and  power,  than  when  we 
are  reading  it  quietly  in  our  room.  I  hope  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  hearer  as  of  the  reader. 
And  I  do  not  think  this  is  due  entirely  to  the 
circumstance  that  in  Church  one  is  obliged  to  read 
carefully,  and  with  due  attention  to  what  one  is 
reading,  so  as  to  make  oneself  audible  and  intelli 
gible  to  others,  whereas  in  one's  study  one  may  read 
carelessly  and  inattentively.  I  think  something  is 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  place  itself.  "  How 
dreadful  is  this  place.  This  is  none  other  than  the 
House  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  Heaven."  That 
is  my  feeling  when  I  enter  a  church,  and  I  hope 
others  are  impressed  with  the  same  feeling.  I  was 
very  much  struck  with  those  words  of  our  Lord 
when  I  listened  to  them  last  Sunday,  and  I  shall 
make  them  the  subject  of  my  sermon  this  morning, 


224  Jesuitism. 

though  other  words  might  have  been  selected  more 
closely  connected  with  the  great  festival  of  Whit 
sunday;  yet  they  are  not]  inappropriate  to  a  day 
when  we  pray  specifically  that  "  we  may  have  a  right 
judgment  in  all  things,"  a  judgment  we  can  only 
have  by  the  aid  of  that  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  the 
special  gift  of  this  day.  For  the  text  refers  directly 
to  the  judgments  which  we  are  to  form,  and  the 
knowledge  we  are  to  seek  on  divine  questions,  and 
divine  things,  and  tells  us  under  what  condition 
this  knowledge  is  to  be  obtained.  "  If  any  man  will 
do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  Myself."  In  com 
menting  on  these  words  I  am  afraid  I  may  appear 
to  touch  upon  controversy.  You  are  aware  how 
seldom  I  do  so,  and  if  I  ever  refer  to  opinions  with 
which  I  do  not  agree  I  hope  I  do  it  with  charity. 
I  think  the  best  thing  you  can  do  is  simply  to  preach 
the  truth  clearly  and  plainly  according  to  the  power 
which  God  has  given  you,  and  leave  it  then  to  take 
care  of  itself.  I  never  could  see  the  use  of  arguing 
against  persons  who  are  not  present  to  state  their 
own  case  or  hear  the  arguments  by  which  it  is  over 
thrown.  And  nothing  is  easier  than  to  set  up  nine 
pins  and  knock  them  down  again.  But  I  shall  never 
shrink  from  noticing  any  applications  of  Scripture 
which  I  think  to  be  mistaken  or  injurious,  though 
in  so  doing  I  shall  be  careful  as  far  as  I  can  not 
to  mistake  or  misinterpret  the  opinions  of  those  from 
whom  I  differ.  For  I  do  think  these  words  of  our 
Saviour  have  very  often  been  used,  and  are  used  to 


Jesuitism.  225 

do  violence  to  the  consciences  and  scruples  of  sensi 
tive  persons,  and  force  on  them  the  acceptance  of 
doctrines  and  even  practices  to  which  they  have 
a  natural  and  sometimes  a  proper  repugnance. 

If  I  am  mistaken  in  this  idea,  then  I  have  read 
a  good  many  books  that  have  made  a  wrong  impres 
sion  upon  me.  There  are  in  the  Church  of  Eome 
persons  who  are  called  confessori,  spiritual  guides 
and  directors  of  consciences.  These  offices  may  not 
always  be  discharged  by  the  same  person,  but  they 
very  much  resemble  each  other,  and  can  hardly  be 
distinguished.  We  have  no  such  persons  profession 
ally  known  in  the  Church  of  England,  though  no 
doubt  many  persons  confess  their  sins  to  a  priest, 
which  they  are  at  perfect  liberty  to  do,  and  many  open 
their  griefs,  and  seek  advice  for  their  conduct,  from 
those  whom  they  think  better  able  to  judge  than 
themselves.  This  is  perfectly  right  and  natural,  and 
we  are  encouraged  to  do  it  in  the  Communion  Ser 
vice.  And  when  those  who  require  comfort  and 
counsel  come  to  the  minister  of  God's  Holy  "Word 
to  receive  the  benefit  of  Absolution,  together  with 
ghostly  counsel  and  advice,  it  is,  I  think,  the  duty 
of  a  minister  not  to  discourage  an  anxious  soul,  but 
to  give  him  the  best  advice  and  counsel  he  is  able. 
But  I  do  not  think  many  persons  in  our  commu 
nion  place  their  conscience  absolutely  at  the  disposal 
of  another,  as  part  of  the  duty  and  privilege  of  their 
religious  life.  The  degrees  of  influence  which  one 
person  may  have  over  another  are  of  course  infinitely 
various,  and  in  giving  or  receiving  counsel  great 


226  Jesuitism. 

regard  must  be  had  to  those  who  watch  over  the 
souls  of  others,  as  they  that  must  give  account. 
But  I  am  speaking  of  absolute  surrender  of  the  will 
and  conscience,  if  such  a  thing  is  possible.  For  if  we 
profess  to  do  it  nature  will  assert  herself,  and  there 
rises  a  protest  from  time  to  time  which  must  be 
overcome.  Now  these  words  of  our  Saviour  are, 
I  believe,  used  for  this  purpose,  and  as  we  read  them 
they  sound  very  well  suited  for  it.  Does  any  one 
revolt  from  any  strange  or  extreme  doctrine  which  is 
forced  upon  him.  "  How,"  he  is  asked,  "  can  you  ex- 
pect  to  recognize  the  truth  unless  you  conform  your- 
self,  as  the  first  condition  of  knowledge,  to  the  will 
of  God?  Do  that  first  as  I  tell  you,  and  then  your 
eyes  will  be  open  and  you  will  discern  the  truth. 
Eight  action  is  the  way  to  true  knowledge.  So  long 
as  you  refuse  to  do  what  is  right,  how  can  you  ex 
pect  to  know  what  is  true?  Begin  with  implicit 
obedience,  and  knowledge  will  grow  upon  you  out 
of  your  own  action."  I  believe  that  consciences  are 
constantly  tortured  and  ruined  by  this  insidious 
argument  when  men  have  once  resigned  them  to 
the  dictation  of  another.  God,  I  believe,  has  in 
trusted  our  souls  to  our  own  keeping,  and  does  not 
will  us  to  give  up  our  own  judgments  to  others,  but 
to  acquire  ourselves  a  right  judgment  in  all  things 
under  the  promised  guidance  of  His  Holy  Spirit. 
It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  you  can  only  give  up 
your  judgment  to  another  by  an  act  of  judgment 
of  your  own,  and  that  you  can  do  this  just  as  you 
can  make  over  the  whole  of  your  property  to  any 


Jesuitism.  227 

person  you  please.  It  is  your  own  now,  and  you 
can  dispose  of  it  in  that  way,  but  the  act  will  be 
your  own.  Just  so,  you  can  dispose  of  your  judg 
ment,  and  perhaps  the  best  thing  you  can  do  is  to 
make  it  over  to  some  one  else,  but  this  can  only  be 
done  by  an  act  of  final  irrevocable  judgment.  But 
I  do  not  believe  God  requires  this  of  any  man.  He 
has  given  us  reason  and  conscience,  and  He  expects 
us  not  to  give  them  up  once  for  all  by  a  summary 
act,  but  to  cultivate  and  exercise  them  freely  on 
every  occasion  of  life.  To  do  otherwise  is  to  act 
in  the  very  spirit  of  Jesuitism,  and  I  am  sorry  to 
say  the  Jesuit  principle  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
supreme  power  in  the  Church  of  Eome.  Indeed, 
I  can  hardly  conceive  a  Roman  Catholic  who  is  not 
a  Jesuit  at  heart,  though  he  may  not  have  been 
formally  admitted  into  the  body.  The  principle 
of  that  body  is  unconditional  obedience,  and  the 
Church  is  very  lenient  and  indulgent  to  those  who 
will  at  last  render  that.  It  will  easily  forgive  scru 
ples,  resistance,  opposition,  if  in  the  end  men  can  be 
brought  down  to  silence  and  submission.  It  is  known, 
for  instance,  how  many  distinguished  prelates  and 
laymen  were  opposed  to  the  last  new  doctrine  of  the 
infallibility  of  the  Pope,  but  the  decree  was  passed, 
and  they  have  accepted  it  in  silence.  They  must 
do  so,  or  they  could  not  continue  members  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  for  it  is  now  as  much  matter  of 
faith  as  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  One  pities 
those  who  had  this  tremendous  alternative  placed 
before  them,  and  were  obliged  to  choose.  I  read 

Q2 


228  Jesuitism. 

in  the  magnificent  Church  of  St.  Peter  the  nam< 
of  the  prelates  who  were  present  at  the  Council, 
some  of  whom  were  opposed  to  the  Doctrine,  am 
now  impose  it  upon  their  subordinates.  No  doubl 
it  must  occur  to  them  that,  if  it  is  true,  there 
no  need  of  any  other  article  of  faith,  for  it  embrac< 
every  one  of  them.  Indeed,  if  I  remember  right, 
Cardinal  Newman,  whose  name  I  mention  with  th< 
greatest  respect,  maintains  that  a  man  may  hold  the 
entire  body  of  what  is  called  Catholic  truth,  and  not 
be  a  true  Catholic.  He  may  hold  it  because  he 
thinks  he  finds  it  in  Scripture,  because  it  commends 
itself  to  his  reason,  because  it  is  supported  by  an 
cient  authority,  and  the  teaching  of  the  primitive 
Church.  But  such  a  person,  if  he  could  not  read  it 
in  Scripture,  if  his  reason  revolted  from  it,  if  he 
found  nothing  like  it  in  the  belief  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  Church,  would  clearly  give  it  up.  It  would 
slip  from  its  foundations,  he  would  hold  it  no  longer. 
Such  a  person,  therefore,  is  no  true  Catholic,  he  is 
only  one  by  accident,  holding  the  truth,  but  not 
holding  it  rightly,  he  is  little  better  than  a  heretic. 
The  actual  voice  of  the  present  living  Church  is  the 
only  safe  basis  of  truth;  to  bring  in  Scripture  or 
history  is  to  alloy  its  purity,  and  to  sap  its  founda 
tions.  It  was  pretty  well  known  that  Dr.  Newman 
was  opposed  to  the  Doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope.  He  has  accepted  it  now,  and  in  professing 
and  maintaining  it  he  must  derive  some  satisfaction 
from  feeling  that  he  has  discovered  a  principle  which 
enables  him  to  do  so  consistently.  But  this  is,  as 


Jesuitism.  229 

I  have  said,  the  very  principle  of  Jesuitism.  The 
Jesuit  is  not  to  choose,  or  prefer,  or  object,  but 
simply  to  obey.  Ilis  obedience  is  not  perfect  if 
he  thinks  it  reasonable,  or  unreasonable,  or  thinks 
of  it  at  all.  The  aim  of  the  system  is  to  reduce  all 
its  members  to  automatons  and  marionettes,  set  in 
motion  by  one  controlling  power.  Family  affections, 
natural  tastes,  moral  choice,  are  to  be  suppressed ; 
they  bring  a  human  element  into  the  machine  which 
is  inconsistent  with  perfect  obedience. 

In  most  cases  a  man  may  love  his  work,  and  his 
work  will  be  perfected  by  his  love,  but  a  Jesuit 
must  not  admit  that  feeling.  He  must  do  his  work 
with  indifference,  for  perhaps  he  will  be  called  upon 
to  do  the  contrary  to-morrow,  and  he  must  do  that 
with  equal  indifference  if  he  is  perfect  in  obedience. 
It  has  produced  wonderful  instances  of  endurance 
and  self-denial  and  heroism ;  and  yet  those  terms 
can  hardly  be  applied  to  it,  for  they  bring  in  human 
nature,  which  the  tendency  of  the  discipline  is  to 
destroy.  In  speaking  of  Eoman  Catholics,  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  all  of  them  are  Jesuits  or 
Jesuitical,  and  some,  no  doubt,  would  protest  against 
the  imputation  of  being  so,  but  after  all  that  is  the 
real  principle  of  the  Church  growing  in  power  and 
intensity  every  day.  If  I  were  asked  the  real  dis 
tinction  between  us  and  Eoman  Catholics  I  should 
say  it  was  this,  that  we  claim  for  ourselves  the  right 
and  the  duty  of  judging  what  is  right  and  true  ; 
they  refer  all  such  questions  to  the  Church,  that 
is  to  say,  to  the  particular  priest  or  director  of  con- 


230  Jesuitism. 

sciences  to  whom  they  have  entrusted  the  care  of 
their  souls.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  we  have 
cast  aside  the  authority  of  the  Church  where  it  has 
clearly  spoken,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  creeds,  nor 
that  we  might  not  with  great  advantage  have  more 
frequent  recourse  to  those  who  are  set  over  us  in 
the  Lord;  still  this  great  difference  exists,  and 
is  a  characteristic  mark.  For  myself,  I  should  be 
glad  if  some  one  would  think  and  judge  for  me, 
and  tell  me  what  I  ought  to  do  on  all  occasions. 
It  would  be  a  great  relief,  if  instead  of  acting  for 
myself  I  could  throw  the  onus  of  responsibility  on 
some  one  else ;  I  would  rather  obey  than  choose, 
and  I  rather  envy  the  simple  duty  of  the  soldier, 
to  whom  it  is  said,  "  Go,  and  he  goeth,  do  this,  and 
he  doeth  it."  And  if  you  enter  on  that  line  of 
action,  that  which  is  a  restraint  and  a  burthen  at 
first  soon  becomes  easy  and  comfortable.  This  is 
a  very  proper  thing  in  an  army,  which  cannot  exist 
without  strict  discipline,  and  in  which,  a  heathen 
author  says,  "  the  soldier  has  no  right  to  ask  any 
thing."  But  I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  line  of  duty 
in  which  it  is  intended  that  the  soldier  of  Christ 
should  walk;  I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  Chris 
tians  to  think  and  choose,  and  to  do  this  constantly ; 
to  think  what  is  true,  and  to  choose  what  is  right, 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  will  help  us  to  do  both.  As 
to  some  acts  of  choice,  they  should  be  final.  u  As 
for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 
There  need  be  no  revision,  and  therefore  no  repe 
tition  of  that  choice,  only  constancy  in  holding  to 


Jesuitism.  231 

it.  And  some  professions  of  faith  should  be  final. 
We  are  not  to  waver  in  them,  and  if  an  angel  from 
heaven  teaches  anything  contradictory  to  them  we 
are  not  to  listen  to  him.  But  the  occasions  of  choice 
are  as  frequent  as  the  occasions  of  action,  and  the 
precept,  "  Try  all  things,  hold  fast  that  which  is 
good,"  will  apply  to  opinions  which  are  brought 
before  us  every  day.  "  Choose  life"  does  not  imply 
that  any  one  would  be  likely  to  choose  death  directly, 
but  it  means  choose  the  things  tending  and  pertain 
ing  to  life,  about  which  people  are  constantly  mis 
taken,  choosing  death  instead,  so  that  the  people 
of  God  are  asked,  as  if  it  wero  a  strange  thing, 
"  Why  will  ye  die,  0  house  of  Israel?" 

One  would  have  expected  that  the  right  and  the 
duty  of  private  judgment  would  have  brought  with 
it  a  feeling  of  responsibility  and  almost  of  fear,  but 
it  does  not  seem  to  have  had  that  general  effect. 
We  are  advised  to  "work  out  our  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh 
in  us,  both  to  will  and  to  do  according  to  His  good 
pleasure."  In  one  respect  this  should  be  a  cause 
of  confidence,  but  it  is  clearly  implied  that  we 
may  be  found  to  be  working  against  God.  For 
though  God  is  omnipotent,  it  is  part  of  His  om 
nipotence  to  be  able  to  leave  us  free  while  He  is 
working  in  us.  And  one  would  think  that  the 
duty  of  personal  judgment  of  what  is  true  and 
right  would  make  us  fearful  lest  we  should  judge 
wrongly.  And  it  should  also  make  us  very  careful 
to  use  every  assistance  in  informing  and  correct- 


232  Jesuitism. 

ing  our  judgments,  such  as  prayer,  study  of  Holy 
Scripture,  deference  to  those  who  are  better  informed 
than  ourselves,  especially  those  who  are  set  over  us, 
and  the  general  opinion  and  concurrence  of  holy  men 
in  all  ages,  who  have  adorned  their  doctrine  with 
their  lives.  You  would  expect  to  find  modesty  and 
reserve  in  judgment,  willingness  to  hear,  and  not 
over-readiness  or  haste  to  speak.  You  find  the 
exact  contrary.  Everybody  is  ready  with  an  opi 
nion  on  every  subject,  without  information  or  any 
attempt  to  obtain.  Everybody's  opinion  is  worth 
as  much  as  anybody  else's,  or  rather  more  in 
the  man's  own  estimate.  There  is  no  question 
so  difficult,  so  awful,  so  unrevealed,  but  what  you 
find  somebody,  and  perhaps  many,  to  answer  it 
off-hand.  Those  who  do  not  exercise  their  judg 
ment  in  any  other  way  will  exercise  it  by  resigning 
it  to  some  other  person,  who  will  rule  them  more 
absolutely  than  any  pope  ever  thought  of.  Men 
are  either  popes  themselves,  or  they  select  their 
popes  and  obey  them. 

I  perceive  that  I  am  wandering  from  my  subject, 
and  therefore  I  will  return  to  my  text.  I  said 
that  it  was  a  passage  which  has  been  much  mis 
interpreted  and  abused,  and  therefore,  after  repeat 
ing  it,  I  will  state  briefly  what  I  mean.  "If 
a  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doc 
trine,  whether  it  be  of  God."  It  is  almost  impos 
sible  to  read  the  verse  without  putting  the  stress 
on  the  word  do.  That  is  accordingly  the  case,  and 
men  are  told,  "  you  must  do  the  will  of  God,  i.e. 


Jesuitism.  233 

what  /  tell  you  is  the  will  of  God,  and  then  the 
truth  will  be  brought  home  to  your  mind.  You 
cannot  expect  to  know  it  till  you  have  done  that 
well."  Now  any  one  who  is  worth  listening  to 
will  tell  you  that  this  is  entirely  a  misinterpre 
tation  of  the  actual  words.  The  true  meaning  is 
this.  If  a  man  has  a  real  will  and  a  wish  and 
a  desire  to  do  the  will  of  God,  then  he  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God.  The  em 
phasis  in  the  sentence  is  changed.  It  does  not 
rest  on  the  word  do,  but  on  the  word  will.  This 
is  what  we  should  expect.  It  is  in  accordance  with 
what  we  know  by  experience  of  human  nature, 
and  have  a  right  to  expect  from  Divine  grace. 
Those  whose  real  earnest  wish  is  to  do  the  will  of 
God,  who  love  His  law,  as  David  loved  it,  to  whom 
it  is  more  precious  than  gold,  and  sweeter  than 
honey  and  the  honeycomb,  will  not  be  suffered  to  re 
main  in  ignorance  by  Him.  "  They  shall  all  be  taught 
of  God"  is  one  of  the  most  gracious  and  general 
promises  to  the  people  of  God,  and  here  is  the 
condition  of  learning,  that  they  wish  to  do  His 
will.  They  may,  perhaps,  be  mistaken  as  to  His 
will  in  particulars,  but  that  is  of  small  importance 
if  they  wish  to  do  it ;  though  I  do  not  think  they  will 
go  far  wrong  under  that  condition.  Law,  word,  com 
mandment,  statute,  ordinance,  truth,  are  words  con 
stantly  interchanged,  and  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
them,  but  they  are  all  summed  up  in  truth.  "  Sanc 
tify  them  by  Thy  truth,  Thy  "Word  is  truth."  God 
promises  to  each  one  of  us  truth,  not  as  a  rule  de- 


234  Jesuitism. 

rived  from  an  external  standard,  but  as  a  treasure 
abiding  in  our  own  hearts.  It  is  the  spirit  of  Truth 
whose  gift  we  are  celebrating  to-day.  He  is  ex 
pressly  so  called.  If  we  wish  to  discriminate  the 
gift  more  particularly,  let  us  ask  Him  to  be  to  us 
a  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  a  spirit  of 
counsel  and  ghostly  strength,  a  spirit  of  knowledge 
and  true  godliness.  Yea,  let  Him  fill  us  with  the 
spirit  of  His  holy  fear,  now  and  for  ever. 


SEKMON  XIII. 
(I  albinism, 


ST.  MATT.  vi.  33. 

"  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness." 

THE  word  first  here  seems  to  me  to  be  susceptible 
of  two  meanings.  It  may  mean  either  first  in 
order  of  time,  or  first  in  respect  of  importance. 
And  these  two  things  are  not  always  coincident, 
though  in  practice  we  generally  do  that  which  is 
of  most  importance  first,  and  that  which  is  of  less 
importance  afterwards.  Sometimes,  however,  the 
order  of  action  is  reversed,  and  we  clear  away  small 
matters  on  the  instant,  in  order  that  our  hands  and 
time  may  be  free  for  greater  ones,  or  for  the  greatest 
of  all.  But  I  believe  that  our  Saviour  here  means 
simply  first  in  order  of  time,  which  is  its  natural 
meaning,  and  that  He  impresses  this  precept  upon 
us  with  earnestness  which  is  so  peculiarly  His  own, 
because  it  implies  the  very  contrary  to  the  practice 
which  the  world  is  in  the  habit  of  following.  For 
assuming  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  right 
eousness,  in  relation  to  ourselves,  is  identical  with 
the  good  of  our  immortal  souls,  I  think  all  persons 
will  allow  that  that  is  a  matter  of  much  more  im 
portance  to  us  than  anything  that  can  happen  to 


236  Calvinism. 

our  bodies  and  estates.  All  persons  will  allow  that 
it  would  profit  us  nothing  at  all  if  we  were  to  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  our  own  souls.  So  that 
as  regards  the  relative  estimate  of  our  souls,  com 
pared  with  anything  else,  there  is  a  general  agree 
ment.  The  bad  agree  with  the  good  on  this  point. 
They  do  not  wish  or  intend  to  throw  their  souls 
away,  though  in  fact  they  are  doing  it.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  there  are  no  men  so  vile  and  lost 
as  to  care  nothing  for  their  eternal  destiny,  for  the 
majority  of  irreligious  men  certainly  do  care  some 
thing  for  it,  only  they  put  off  the  thought  of  it ;  they 
intend  to  give  their  minds  to  it,  and  to  do  something 
better  at  some  future  time.  Our  blessed  Saviour 
seems  to  me  to  be  addressing  all  men,  but  especially 
those  who  are  just  entering  life.  And  as  regards  their 
duties  and  interests,  He  seems  to  me  to  insist  point 
edly  on  the  "  order  of  time."  He  is  speaking  not 
of  corrupt  men  and  hardened  consciences,  but  to 
men  of  good  intentions  and  principles,  who  are 
anxious  to  know  what  they  shall  do  first.  Let  us 
suppose  the  case  of  a  young  man  or  young  woman, 
such  as  I  am  thinking  of,  mapping  out  the  course  of 
life  on  which  he  or  she  is  entering,  and  endeavouring 
to  lay  it  down  and  trace  it  out  the  to  end.  The  man 
intends  to  do  right,  and  to  do  good,  which  is  a  matter 
of  far  less  importance  than  doing  right.  Say  that 
he  is  going  into  business ;  he  will  be  regular  and 
honest,  he  will  do  whatever  his  hand  findeth  to 
do  with  all  his  might.  He  sees  others  who  have 
done  the  same  before  him,  and  he  will  follow  their 


Calvinism.  237 

example.  They  have  prospered,  they  have  retired 
in  the  evening  of  life,  everybody  speaks  well  of 
them,  and  they  seem  to  be  employed  in  doing  good. 
Their  lives  have  not  been  very  heroic,  but  they  have 
brought  them  to  comfort  and  competence  ;  they  have 
found  honesty  the  best  policy,  though  they  were 
never  so  base  as  to  be  honest  on  that  calculation, 
and  they  seem  now  to  be  making  God  some  return 
for  the  prosperity  by  which  their  lives  have  been 
crowned.  People  observe  "that  they  have  become 
quite  religious,"  and  their  religion  is  thought  to 
be  quite  natural  and  proper.  They  would  be  un 
grateful  if  they  were  not  so ;  and  their  lives  are 
held  up  as  examples.  See  what  good  men  of  busi 
ness  they  were,  how  steady,  how  punctual,  how 
sober;  and  now  what  good  men  they  are,  how 
happy  they  make  everybody  around  them,  what 
good  they  are  doing  ! 

Now  our  blessed  Saviour  never  said  that  good 
habits  were  not  likely  to  lead  to  prosperity  and  com 
fort,  nor  would  He  be  likely  to  reject  the  intention  to 
do  what  is  right  at  any  period  of  life,  or  any  service 
offered  to  Him  however  late,  but  I  think  He  would 
say  that  such  persons  had  not  observed  the  order  of 
action  commended  in  His  precept.  They  have  not 
sought  "  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  " 
first  but  last,  if  they  have  found  it  now.  Be  religious 
men  and  women  from  the  first.  Start  in  life  with 
the  resolve  that  you  will  be  so.  It  is  nothing,  or 
worse  than  nothing,  it  is  a  vain  delusion  to  intend 
to  be  so  when  you  have  served  your  apprentice- 


238  Calvinism. 

ship  to  the  world.  Begin  a  religious  life,  soberly 
and  seriously,  DOW.  Consider  its  duties  to  your 
self,  to  man,  to  God.  You  owe  something  to  your 
self,  in  fact  any  duty  to  another  is  also  one  to  your 
self.  But  some  belong  to  yourself  particularly,  as 
chastity  and  temperance ;  others  to  your  neighbour, 
as  honesty  and  kindliness;  others  to  God,  as  faith, 
hope,  and  charity.  We  need  not  be  particular  in 
classifying  these  duties,  in  fact  they  all  run  into 
each  other;  and  to  these  I  might  add  what  may 
be  called  ecclesiastical  duties,  such  as  not  forsak 
ing  assembling  yourselves  together,  hearing  the  Word, 
partaking  the  Holy  Sacrament,  doing  consistently 
all  things  which  shew  that  you  are  a  member  of 
Christ's  Church,  and  of  that  branch  of  the  Church 
in  which,  happily  for  you,  as  I  think,  it  is  the  will 
of  God  that  you  have  been  born.  Make  up  your 
minds  on  these  points  now  and  act  accordingly, 
and — I  will  not  hold  it  out  as  a  bribe  to  you,  that 
you  will  therefore  at  once  prosper  in  this  world, 
but  I  will  venture  to  say  you  will  suffer  no  injury 
or  inconvenience  from  it ;  nay,  I  will  simply  repeat 
our  Lord's  own  words,  u  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom 
of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things 
which  the  Gentiles  seek  shall  be  added  unto  you." 

Now  what  I  have  said  about  Christian  life  gen 
erally  will  apply  closely  enough  to  the  particular 
duties  of  this  season.  It  is  our  duty,  and  it  is  also 
our  interest,  to  devote  some  part  of  the  season  of 
Lent,  more  than  any  other  season,  to  serious  thought, 
taking,  as  it  were,  stock  of  our  lives ;  and  to  repent- 


Calvinism.  239 

ance,  which  must  be  the  result  of  anything  like 
serious  thought.  Nothing  can  be  more  formal  and 
hollow  than  general  confessions  of  sinfulness  which 
cost-  us  nothing  and  promise  us  nothing,  if  no  re 
membrance  and  sense  of  actual  sins  come  home  to 
our  consciences.  We  have  all  sinned  abundantly 
during  the  last  year,  and  those  are  the  things  we 
ought  to  remember,  and  in  respect  of  which  we 
ought  to  aim  at  amendment.  If  along  with  that 
we  confess  and  deplore  the  sinfulness  of  our  nature, 
not  as  an  excuse  for  sin,  or  at  all  events  a  palliation 
of  it,  which  I  fear  it  is  frequently  thought  to  be,  but 
as  a  continuous  fuel  and  encouragement  of  it,  then 
I  think  we  may  hope  that  God  will  not  only  blot 
out  all  our  iniquities,  but  will  create  a  clean  heart, 
and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  us.  And  I  believe 
few  persons  enter  upon  the  season  of  Lent  with 
out  some  weary  feeling  about  their  sins,  and  some 
intention  of  getting  rid  of  them.  Perhaps  they 
say  to  themselves,  "  Our  clergyman  will  tell  us 
the  same  things  that  he  did  last  year;  we  know 
what  he  will  say  already.  If  they  are  not  verb 
ally  the  same  sermons,  they  will  amount  to  the 
same.  He  will  invite  us  to  be  more  regular 
at  church,  and  perhaps  have  some  special  service, 
which,  we  hope,  it  will  do  our  neighbours  good 
to  attend.  lie  is  a  good  sort  of  man,  and  it  will 
be  unpolite  and  disrespectful  if  they  do  not.  Besides 
that,  he  is  only  doing  his  duty.  It  is  his  duty  to 
tell  us  such  tilings,  and  we  can  take  to  ourselves 
the  credit  of  never  denying  that  they  are  true. 


240  Calvinism. 

Only  there  is  no  hurry ;  we  heard  the  same  last 
year,  and  shall  hear  the  same  next.  We  really 
believe  that  there  is  a  great  deal  in  what  he  says. 
He  does  not  say  it  simply  professionally,  but  be 
lieves  it  himself.  It  is  worth  our  consideration,  and 
we  shall  give  our  serious  attention  to  it  some  day. 
At  present  we  are  engaged,  and  as  it  is  as  certain 
to  come  round  again  next  year  as  spring  and  summer, 
we  can  surely  afford  to  wait. 

Alas  !  you  are  very  inconsistent  here  !  You  do  not 
defer  the  duties  and  works  of  this  spring  because  next 
year  also  will  have  a  spring  of  its  own ;  but  you  put 
off  the  duties  and  opportunities  of  this  Lent,  though 
none  of  you  can  be  certain  that  you  will  ever  live  to 
see  another.  Still  I  believe  what  is  said  and  done  in 
Lent — and  the  very  word  Lent — makes  many  persons 
weary  and  uncomfortable.  They  have  been  told  so 
often  that  they  have  certain  duties  regarding  it,  that 
they  cannot  help  thinking  there  is  something  in  it; 
they  have  heard  so  much  about  repentance,  that  they 
will  make  some  effort  and  go  on  if  they  find  any  en 
couragement.  They  ask  how  they  are  to  begin,  and 
they  do  as  they  are  told.  Perhaps  they  attend  church 
one  or  two  times,  or  at  services  where  they  were 
never  seen  before ;  they  try  to  be  attentive  and 
serious,  they  listen  and  endeavour  to  think  of  what 
they  are  hearing.  But  the  interest  they  would  wish 
to  feel  is  never  created.  The  service  is  dull  and  un 
profitable.  The  preacher  never  touches  their  heart, 
or  fans  the  spark  of  piety  into  a  flame.  They  find 
no  fault  with  him,  for  all  he  says  seems  to  them 


Calvinism.  241 

to  bo  sincere  and  true,  only  that  is  the  fact.  They 
give  up  the  effort  as  a  failure,  and  throw  themselves 
into  the  world  again,  which  is  quite  ready  to  receive 
them  on  the  old  terms.  But  it  is  quite  possible  that 
they  may  receive  very  different  advice ;  they  may  be 
told  that  they  can  do  nothing  for  themselves,  that  all 
that  they  can  do  is  to  wait ;  that  conversion  will  come 
when  it  is  intended  to  come,  or  not  at  all,  and  that 
anything  they  can  do  to  invite  God's  grace  will  only 
have  the  effect  of  repelling  it.  I  do  not  know 
whether  any  of  you  are  familiar  with  the  poems 
of  that  thoroughly  English  poet  and  clergyman, 
Crabbe. 

There  is  the  story  of  one  "Abel  Keene,"  which 
I  shall  use  in  illustration  of  what  I  mean a.  It  is  not 
an  uncommon  story.  Abel  Keene  is  a  man  of  humble 
birth,  but  of  sound  principles  and  sufficient  educa 
tion.  Through  the  influence  of  a  kind  friend  he  is 
placed  in  a  merchant's  house  in  London,  at  a  more 
advanced  age  than  is  usual  in  that  situation,  where 
his  position  in  respect  of  pay  and  prospects  greatly 
improved.  But  he  is  thrown  into  the  society  of  dis 
solute  and  irreligious  men,  much  younger  than  him 
self,  among  whom  he  is  soon  accustomed  to  hear  the 
truths  and  principles  which  he  once  held  in  rever 
ence  spoken  of  with  contempt  and  derision.  Being 
a  weak  man,  he  cannot  resist  the  evil  influence,  and 
becomes  in  conversation,  dress,  and  life,  such  as  they 

a  "  The  Borough,"  Letter  XXI.  Vol.  iv.  of  Murray's  edition  of 
Crabbe's  works,  in  8  volumes.  Cf.  vol.  iii.  Letter  IV.  p.  89,  where 
the  same  subject  is  treated  of,  with  illustrations. 

R 


242  Calvinism. 

are,  feeling  himself  a  coward  all  the  time  for  being 
so.  He  has  a  sister  who,  hearing  of  his  change  of 
life,  expostulates  with  him  in  language  which  would 
do  you  good  to  read,  and  with  a  power  which  few 
preachers  possess ;  but  as  her  expostulations  are  un 
heeded  they  only  make  him  worse.  He  flies  into 
worse  excesses,  and  is  plunged  in  them  when  his 
employer  dies  suddenly,  and  leaves  him  in  his  wan 
ing  years  a  mere  wreck  in  character  and  prospects, 
"Now  lost  to  fortune  as  before  to  grace."  Thus  he 
returns  to  his  native  place,  to  contempt,  beggary,  and 
misery — and  his  sister  died. 

"  His  sister  died  with  such  serene  delight, 
He  once  again  began  to  think  her  right. 
Poor  like  himself  the  happy  spinster  lay, 
And  sweet  assurance  blessed  her  dying  day. 
Poor  like  the  spinster  he,  when  death  was  nigh, 
Assured  of  nothing,  felt  afraid  to  die." 

At  length  he  is  found  in  a  shed,  having  hanged 
himself  in  despair.  But  he  has  left  behind  him  a 
paper  giving  the  spiritual  history  of  his  life.  The 
whole  of  it  is  well  worth  reading,  but  I  shall  quote 
only  a  part  of  it.  It  is  where  his  conscience  being 
alarmed,  he  tells  us  how  he  sought  advice  from  one 
who  had  a  great  reputation  as  a  physician  of  souls. 
He  tells  him  all  his  miseries,  and  is  told  in  an 
swer  that  "he  is  just  an  object  meet  for  saving 


grace." 


"  No  merit  thine,  no  virtue,  hope,  belief, 
Nothing  hast  thou  but  misery,  sin,  and  grief, 
The  best,  the  only  titles  to  relief." 


Calvinism.  243 

But,  like  the  Philippian  jailor — 

"  '  What  must  I  do,'  I  said,  f  ray  soul  to  free?  ' 
'  Do  nothing,  man — it  will  be  done  for  thee/ 
'  But  must  I  not,  my  reverend  guide,  believe?' 
'  If  thou  art  called,  thou  wilt  the  faith  receive/ 
'  But  I  repent  not ;'  angry  he  replied, 
'  If  thou  art  called,  thou  needest  nought  beside. 
Attend  on  us,  and  if  'tis  Heaven's  decree 
The  call  will  come — if  not,  ah  !  woe  for  thee/  " 

Thus  advised,  the  wretched  man  attends  exciting 
sermons,  he  sees  others  in  transports  and  ecstasies, 
but  nothing  comes  to  himself: — 

"  They  wept  and  they  rejoiced,  but  there  was  I 
Hard  as  a  flint,  and  as  a  desert  dry ; 
To  me  no  tokens  of  the  call  would  come, 
I  felt  my  sentence  and  received  my  doom. 
But  I  complained.   'Let  thy  repinings  cease, 
Oh  man  of  sin,  for  they  thy  guilt  increase ; 
It  bloweth  where  it  listeth — die  in  peace.' 
'  In  peace — and  perish/  I  replied.     '  Impart 
Some  better  comfort  to  a  burthened  heart/ 
Alas,  the  priest  returned,  '  Can  I  direct 
The  heavenly  call  ?     Do  I  proclaim  the  elect  ? 
Raise  not  thy  voice  against  the  Eternal  will, 
But  take  thy  part  with  sinners,  and  be  still/ ' 

This  terrible  story  was  much  commented  on  at  the 
time,  and  denounced  as  a  perversion  and  misrepre 
sentation  of  a  certain  style  of  religious  appeal,  which 
was  more  common  fifty  years  ago  than  now.  It  is 
no  doubt  the  representation  of  an  extreme  case,  and 
it  is  the  gift  of  men  of  imagination  and  clear  powers 
of  reason  to  represent  and  illustrate  principles  in 
their  extreme  exhibitions,  but  I  am  much  mistaken 

R2 


244  Calvinism. 

if  this  is  very  far  removed  from  the  doctrine  which  is 
preached  and  insisted  upon  in  many  of  the  meeting 
houses  of  our  land  without  any  distortion  whatever, 
(I  am  bound  to   say  that  I  have  heard   the    same 
preached  by  excellent  men  in  our  own  Church,  who 
did  not  see  clearly  the  tendency  of  what  they  were 
saying);    and  I  find  this  supported  by  a  pamphlet 
published  about  that  time,   entitled  "  A  Cordial  for 
a  Sin-despairing  Soul,"  in  which  the  writer  informs 
us  "that  after  he  had  full  assurance  of  his  salvation 
the  Spirit  entered  particularly  into  the  subject  with 
him,"  and  among  other  matters  of  like  nature  assured 
him  "  that  his  sins  were  fully  and  freely  forgiven,  as 
if  they  had  never  been  committed."    (That  happily 
we  may  learn  from  better  authority  than  our  own 
heart) ;  but  he  goes   on  with  a  strange  mixture  of 
truth  and  error,   "  Not  for  any  act  done  by  him — 
whether  believing  in  Christ,  or  repenting  of  sin — 
(there  faith  and  repentance  are  got  rid  of  at  once,  and 
I  think  I  observed  that  when  Moody  and  Sankey 
were  disturbing   men's   minds   here,   the  word   c  re 
pentance  '  was  never  uttered  by  either  of  them) ; — nor 
yet  for  the  sorrow  and  misery  he  endured,  nor  for 
any  service  he  should  be   called  upon  to  do  in  his 
militant  state,  but  for  His  own  name  and  for  His 
glory's  sake,"  and  so  on. 

For  the  whole  drift  and  tenor  of  the  book  is  to  the 
same  purpose,  viz.  the  uselessness  of  all  religious 
duties,  such  as  prayer,  contrition,  fasting,  and  good 
works.  The  author  shews  the  evil  done  by  reading 
such  books  as  the  "  Whole  Duty  of  Man ;"  he  com- 


Calvinism.  245 

plains  of  an  Irish  bishop  who  wanted  him  to  join  in 
family  prayer ;  he  considers  all  attendance  upon  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  unnecessary  and  even  inju 
rious.  In  fact  his  principle  is  to  let  ill  alone;  his 
talents  are  not  to  be  employed;  and  the  hopes  of 
glory  are  rather  extinguished  than  raised  by  any 
application  of  the  means  of  grace.  This  I  will  allow 
is  very  extreme  doctrine,  but  it  is  the  consistent  de 
velopment  of  doctrine  that  in  other  cases  is  not  ex 
treme,  and  let  me  ask  you  whether  it  is  not  some 
idea  or  feeling  of  this  sort  which  keeps  you  away 
from  the  means  of  grace  which  are  offered  you  in 
this  place,  to  which  you  never  come  ? — You  wait  for 
an  impulse  that  you  cannot  resist — you  think  it  un 
necessary  to  form  any  resolution  of  your  own. 

Let  me  not  be  supposed  to  deny  the  possibility  of 
such  an  instant  conversion  as  Abel  Keene  is  repre 
sented  as  waiting  for,  but  which  never  came.  I  am 
not  the  man  to  deny  or  limit  the  miracles  of  divine 
grace ;  and  if  I  had  time  this  morning,  and  pos 
sessed  the  book  in  which  the  history  is  contained,  I 
should  read  to  you  the  account  of  the  conversion 
of  Col.  Gardiner,  as  narrated  by  himself.  He  was 
a  most  dissolute  and  profligate  infidel  in  a  dissolute 
age.  As  far  as  I  remember  he  was  visited  by  a  spirit 
or  angel — I  am  not  sure  that  it  was  not  in  the  image 
of  our  Lord  Himself — who  spoke  to  him  awful  words, 
which  I  wish  I  had  at  heart  to  repeat b.  Such  a 

b  He  believed  that  he  saw  "  before  him,  as  it  were  suspended  in 
the  air,  a  visible  representation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  upon  the 
Cross,  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  a  glory,  and  was  impressed  as 


246  Calvinism. 

dream  or  fancy,  if  it  were  a  dream  or  fancy,  might 
turn  a  man  into  a  madman  or  fanatic.  But  the  reality 
of  the  vision  was  attested  by  a  total  and  consistent 
change  of  life  from  that  hour.  Out  of  the  materials  of 
the  vilest  sinner  there  was  re-created  one  who  passed 
the  rest  of  his  life,  humanly  speaking,  as  a  perfect 
saint.  He  brought  forth  works  meet  for  repentance, 
and  no  one  doubted  that  he  had  fled  from  the  wrath 
to  come.  The  account  of  his  end  is  written,  and  he 
passed  his  last  hours  in  prayer,  and  giving  advice 
and  exhortation  to  others  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of 
Prestonpans,  in  which  he  fell.  The  case,  though  ex 
traordinary,  proves  nothing,  as  a  general  rule,  beyond 
the  power  of  divine  grace,  which  I  should  think  no 
body  would  deny ;  and  from  what  I  remember  of  Col. 
Gardiner's  life,  and  its  influence  on  others,  he  did 
not  advise  them  to  expect  or  wait  for  the  same  sud 
den  conversion  and  illumination  which  he  had  himself 
experienced.  It  must  have  been  a  constant  wonder 
and  amazement  to  him  that  he  of  all  men  should  have 
been  the  object  of  this  mercy,  but  the  effect  of  it  was 
to  make  him  exhort  all  men  over  whom  he  had  any 
influence  to  take  immediate  steps  to  depart  from  all 
iniquity  lest  it  should  be  their  ruin,  to  think  seri- 

if  a  voice,  or  something  equivalent  to  a  voice,  had  come  to  him  to 
this  effect  (for  he  was  not  confident  as  to  the  words),  '  Oh,  sinner ! 
did  I  suffer  this  for  thee,  and  are  these  thy  returns?'" — From 
"  Some  remarkable  Passages  in  the  Life  of  Col.  James  Gardiner,  by 
P.  Doddridge,  D.D." 

The  reader  will  find  the  account  of  the  Conversion  and  Death  of 
Colonel  Gardiner  in  notes  to  Chapters  vii.  and  xlvii.  of  "  Waver- 
ley,"  marked  by  the  letters  C  and  Y,  in  the  Centenary  Edition. 


Calvinism.  247 

ously  and  repent,  and  strive  to  return  to  the  paths  of 
holiness  and  peace,  in  which  he  did  not  doubt  they 
would  be  assisted  by  God's  grace.  And  I  think 
a  very  wrong  use  is  made  of  those  words,  "  The  Spirit 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  so  wonderfully  illustrated 
by  that  particular  case,  when  a  reason  is  found  in 
them  for  waiting  and  doing  nothing  towards  return 
ing  unto  God,  till  the  Spirit  lays  hold  of  us  irre 
sistibly,  and  we  cannot  help  being  saints  any  more 
than  we  can  now  help  being  sinners.  And  it  is  they 
who  so  force  the  words,  who  are  practically  limiting 
and  defining  this  power  of  "  blowing  where  it  listeth" 
of  which  they  seem  to  make  so  much.  They  deny 
Him  real  freedom,  they  say  "  lie  must  and  shall  work 
in  this  particular  way,  or  else  He  shall  not  and  can 
not  be  allowed  to  work  at  all."  They  deny  His 
power  and  working  unless,  as  we  may  say,  they  can 
actually  "  hear  the  sound  thereof."  If  there  is  any 
vile  and  hardened  heart  anywhere,  I  recognize  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  in  purifying  and  softening  that 
heart  under  any  circumstances,  for  nothing  but  that 
can  have  such  virtue  and  effect.  Nor  do  I  tie  down 
the  actions  of  the  Spirit  to  the  means  of  grace  that 
Christ  Himself  has  ordained.  But  I  have  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  God  answers  prayer,  that  He  blesses 
the  ministry  of  the  Word,  that  He  regenerates  by 
water,  that  He  gives  the  grace  of  His  body  and 
blood  in  the  Holy  Communion,  that  He  gives  more 
grace  by  laying  on  of  hands,  that  He  looks  with  com 
placency  at  our  weak  and  feeble  attempts  to  forsake 
sin  and  amend  our  lives,  and  if  we  do  what  we  can 


248 


Calvinism. 


for  ourselves,  He  is  mighty  and  ready  to  do  moi 
for  us. 

And  if  the  sinner  prays,  "  Create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me,"  God 
seems  to  turn  the  words  of  the  prayer  back  upon  the 
sinner,  "  Make  you  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit — 
"Why  will  ye  die,  0  house  of  Israel?  Wherefore 
turn  yourselves  and  live  ye." 


SEKMON  XIV. 

—  folrai? 


EOM.  viii.  34. 

"  .ft  es  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who  is 
even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  inter 
cession  for  us." 

TT  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  word  Christianity 
is  never  found  in  the  pages  of  Holy  Scripture. 
If  it  had  been  found  there,  of  course  it  would  have 
been  as  a  new  word  ;  but  the  writers  of  Holy  Scrip 
ture  did  not  invent  new  words,  but  took  those  which 
they  found  in  daily  use,  and  stamped  them  with 
a  new  value  to  serve  new  purposes.  Most  of  their 
words,  which  have  now  almost  exclusively  a  Chris 
tian  sense,  were  very  ordinary  and  common  words 
when  they  were  adopted  and  appropriated  by  the 
Apostles.  "The  Gospel,"  for  instance,  speaks  for 
itself  as  a  Christian  word,  but  it  is  the  translation 
of  a  word  that  might  have  been  used  by  any  pagan 
author  for  a  message  of  good  tidings,  which  in  fact 
it  is.  The  word  itself  is,  as  we  may  expect,  one  of 
the  most  common  words  in  the  language  in  which 
Scripture  is  written.  When  we  hear  of  the  Church^ 
we  at  once  think  of  the  whole  body  of  Christians, 
or  of  a  particular  congregation  of  them;  but  when 
the  Apostles  took  it  up  it  meant  merely  a  "  meeting 
of  the  people  in  their  ordinary  place  of  assembly." 


250  Chris tianity — wlia  t  'f 

Now  these  words  constantly  occur  in  the  Acts  and 
Epistles  of  the  Apostles.  We  hear  that  in  one  place 
they  preached  the  Gospel,  in  another  that  the  word 
of  God  grew  and  prevailed  mightily,  in  another  that 
the  Lord  added  daily  to  the  Church  such  as  should 
be  saved,  and  so  forth,  in  instances  without  number. 
And  it  is  said  that  the  disciples  were  called  Chris 
tians  first  at  Antioch,  whether  by  themselves,  or  by 
Jews  or  heathen  we  cannot  say,  but  we  know  that 
they  accepted  the  title  willingly,  and  gave  themselves 
up  to  death  or  torture  rather  than  renounce  the  name. 
But  the  word  Christianity  itself,  and  such  expressions 
as  the  progress,  and  practice,  and  principles  of  Chris 
tianity,  are  nowhere  to  be  found.  Nor  is  this  any 
objection  to  the  word,  or  difficult  to  be  accounted 
for  as  a  fact.  It  is  a  word  that  was  the  produce 
of  reflexion  when  the  Gospel  had  asserted  its  posi 
tion  in  the  world,  and  men  were  bound  to  take  notice 
of  it.  When  Christians  had  become  a  large  and 
important  body  of  men,  living  under  a  certain  rule, 
holding  certain  principles,  paying  a  manifest  obedi 
ence  to  laws,  which  were  not  those  of  the  outward 
political  world,  and  looking  up  to  a  common  head, 
then  it  was  time  for  such  a  word  as  Christianity  to 
be  invented.  The  system  had  come  into  existence, 
and  a  word  was  needed  to  represent  it,  so  that  it 
might  be  compared  with  other  systems,  as,  e.g.,  with 
Judaism,  Heathenism,  and  Mahometanism,  and  many 
other  isms  which  modern  times  have  produced  in  more 
or  less  close  connexion  with  it.  And  now  men  can 
talk  freely  of  Christianity,  and  acknowledge  what 


Chris  tianitij — what?  251 

great  things  the  genius  or  spirit  of  Christianity  has 
done  for  the  progress  and  improvement  of  the  world. 
And  all  persons  who  are  more  or  less  under  the 
influence  of  that  spirit,  or  who  are  members  of 
a  society  which  has  not  repudiated  it,  are  conven 
tionally  supposed  to  be  Christians,  unless,  indeed— 
which  is  a  portent  not  altogether  unknown  in  these 
days — they  positively  and  for  themselves  repudiate  the 
name.  We  would  not  of  course  call  a  man  a  Chris 
tian  in  the  face  of  his  own  denial  that  he  was  one, 
but  such  few  cases  excepted,  we  assume,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  that  all  the  persons  that  we  meet  are 
Christians.  I  am  speaking  of  course  of  our  own 
and  other  civilized  countries,  the  day  may  yet  be  far 
distant  before  we  can  speak  in  the  same  terms  of  the 
whole  world.  And  as  Christianity  may  cover  whole 
nations  with  the  breadth  of  its  name,  so  the  effects 
or  influence  of  Christianity  may  be  seen  all  over  the 
world,  and  he  need  not  be  a  Christian  himself  who 
acknowledges  them.  These  effects  are  undoubted, 
though  they  have  in  some  cases,  perhaps,  been  ex 
aggerated.  The  Church  has  in  many  of  its  branches, 
from  time  to  time,  sunk  into  the  corruptions  of 
Heathenism,  yet  all  will  allow  that  Christianity  has 
raised  the  general  tone  of  morality,  wherever  it  has 
prevailed.  It  has  brought  virtues  to  light  which 
were  little  thought  of  before,  it  has  condemned  vices 
that  were  almost  sanctioned  by  public  opinion.  It 
has  raised  woman  to  her  true  position  of  honour  and 
dignity  in  relation  to  man,  though  the  present  ten 
dency  in  some  quarters  seems  to  be  to  displace  her 


252  Chris  tian  ity — w  ha  t  ? 

from  it,  under  pretence  of  raising  her  to  a  more  com 
plete  equality.  It  has  struck  the  fetters  off  the  slave, 
and  perhaps  doomed  him  to  extinction  in  the  pre 
sence  of  a  superior  race.  Twenty  years  ago  it  was 
thought  that  it  had,  or  was  going  to,  put  an  end  to 
war,  because  people  of  all  nations  were  brought 
together  to  exhibit  their  commodities  under  a  glass 
roof.  It  is  true  that  since  then  the  ingenuity  of  men 
has  been  mainly  employed  in  improving  implements 
of  destruction  for  their  horrible  work,  and  blood  has 
been  poured  out  in  every  quarter  of  the  world  like 
water,  so  that  if  exhibitions  are  of  any  use  in  this 
respect,  we  wonder  how  things  could  have  been 
much  worse  without  them.  But  Christian  charity 
has  yet  found  a  field  for  herself  on  the  plain  of 
battle,  and  it  is  some  mitigation  of  the  horrors  of 
war,  that  it  is  considered  inhuman  to  destroy  an 
enemy  with  an  explosive  bullet  of  less  than  a  certain 
size.  Again,  Christianity  has  been  credited  with  the 
general  extension  of  intercourse  between  nations,  and 
I  remember  a  distinguished  statesman  saying  that 
the  Gospel  meant,  or  rather  was,  free  trade.  No 
doubt  the  Gospel,  by  teaching  that  "  God  hath  made 
of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth,"  has  done  much  to  remove  the 
barriers  to  free  intercourse  between  people  and 
people,  and  the  lines  that  separated  Jew,  and  Greek, 
and  Barbarian,  and  bond  and  free,  disappear  under 
the  Gospel ;  and  the  sense  of  union  in  one  common 
nature,  though  this  is  denied  by  some,  must  tend 
towards  the  increase  both  of  commercial  inter- 


Chris  tianity — what  ?  253 

course  and  every  other  form  of  communion  between 
man  and  man.  But  I  should  myself  rather  look  for 
the  fruit  of  Christianity  in  fair  dealing,  and  just 
measures,  and  in  the  conferring  of  mutual  bene 
fits,  than  in  the  simple  extension  of  trade,  which 
may  after  all  only  make  the  most  successful  trader 
liable  to  the  curse  of  St.  James :  "  Go  to  now  ye 
rich  men,  weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries  that  shall 
come  upon  you.  Your  riches  are  corrupted  and  your 
garments  are  moth  eaten.  Your  gold  and  silver  is 
cankered,  and  the  rust  of  them  shall  be  a  witness 
against  you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were.  Ye 
have  indeed  heaped  treasure  together  for  the  last 
days."  However,  I  am  the  last  person  to  deny  what 
Christianity,  or  rather  Christian  man,  is  believed  to 
have  done  for  the  improvement  of  the  world,  and  the 
belief  itself  may  be  accepted  as  a  witness  of  the  life 
and  power  of  Christianity. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  go  along  with  the 
influences  that  tend  to  the  improvement  of  the  world, 
and  which  undoubtedly  belong  to  Christianity,  and 
possibly  throw  themselves  into  the  movement,  are 
liable  to  be  called  and  considered,  perhaps  to  consider 
themselves,  Christians  without  Christ.  For  it  is  not 
with  Christ  our  Lord  as  it  is  with  other  reformers 
and  benefactors  of  mankind.  There  have  been  others 
before  and  after  Him  to  whom  we  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude,  though  their  names  may  be  to  many  of  you 
unknown.  And  it  is  not  necessary  that  they  should 
be  known.  You  reap  all  the  benefit  of  their  labours, 
their  genius,  their  industry,  and  their  devotion, 


254  Chris  tianity — what  ? 

without  knowing  the  persons  to  whom  you  are  in 
debted.  All  persons  share  in  the  great  inheritance 
of  civilization,  of  material  comfort,  and  of  thought, 
that  has  been  accumulated  during  the  successive 
generations  of  their  fathers. 

Some  have  passed  away,  having  simply  enjoyed 
this  inheritance  as  most  do,  others  have  enlarged 
and  enriched  it  for  those  who  should  be  born  here 
after.  Educated  persons  may  properly  think  it  a 
duty  of  gratitude  to  preserve  the  memory  of  those 
without  whom  they  would  never  have  been  what 
they  are;  and  antiquarian  curiosity  may  hunt  out 
details  of  the  lives  and  histories  of  such  persons 
that  seem  to  be  of  small  importance.  Sometimes 
party  or  political  feeling  will  take  up  a  name  as 
representative  of  a  particular  cause,  and  place  the 
bearer  of  it  on  a  pedestal  made  for  the  occasion. 
Sometimes  local  or  professional  feeling  will  fasten 
on  some  forgotten  worthy,  and  make  or  find  a  con 
venient  niche  for  a  figure  that  will  soon  be  forgotten 
again.  But  on  the  whole  we  are  content  to  enjoy, 
and  we  do  enjoy,  whatever  comes  ready  to  our  hands, 
without  troubling  ourselves  about  the  names  of  those 
who  have  thus  provided  for  us.  But  it  is  far  different 
as  regards  Him,  whom  we  look  to  as  the  object  of 
our  faith.  By  common  consent  Jesus  Christ  has 
wrought  a  greater  change  in  the  world  than  any  who 
have  attempted  to  reform  or  benefit  it,  before  or 
since.  And  we  cannot  avoid  falling  under  the  influ 
ence  of  what  He  has  done,  and  sharing  in  the  benefits 
He  has  conferred,  whether  we  will  or  no.  In  that 


Christianity — what?  255 

sense  we  must  all  of  us  be  Christians,  for  the  in 
heritance  of  Christianity  has  descended  to  us,  and 
we  cannot  repudiate  it.  But  the  true  nature  of 
Christianity  consists  in  this,  that  it  connects  us 
directly,  not  with  any  system,  or  principles  of  con 
duct,  or  even  doctrine,  but  with  the  person  of  its 
founder,  with  Christ  Himself.  Men  may  be  good 
men,  men  of  charity  and  virtue,  given  to  good  works, 
leading  lives  of  purity,  a  blessing  to  all  around  them, 
and  may  reap  the  reward  of  all  this,  as  I  have  no 
doubt  many  heathens  will  do ; — but  they  are  no  true 
Christians  unless  they  attach  themselves  consciously 
and  really  to  the  very  person  of  Christ.  The  Apo 
stles  did  not  preach  Christianity  as  a  plan  or  system, 
but  Christ  Jesus  Himself.  And  herein  they  only 
followed  His  own  example.  If  it  is  true  in  one 
sense  that  He  did  not  bear  witness  of  Himself,  save  by 
the  works  that  the  Father  had  given  Him  to  finish, 
it  is  emphatically  true  that  he  did  preach  Himself, 
and  Himself  alone.  "  Come  unto  Me,"  He  said, 
"all  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  /  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  My  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn 
of  Me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  for  your  souls."  "  I  am  the  resurrec 
tion  and  the  life ;  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he 
were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live.  And  whosoever  liveth 
and  believeth  in  Me  shall  never  die."  The  preach 
ing  of  the  Apostles  is  variously  described,  as,  e.g.,  that 
they  preached  the  Word  or  the  Gospel,  but  it  all 
amounts  to  the  same  thing.  The  substance  of  what 
they  really  preached  was  the  person  of  Christ.  Christ 


256  Chris  tianity — w  ha  t  ? 

is  Christianity,  or  rather  Christianity  is  Christ,  though 
this  present  age  is  not  disposed  to  view  it  in  that 
light.  Christianity  is  not  related  to  Christ,  as  any 
philosophy  or  system  of  doctrine  to  the  person  who 
invented  it  and  then  launched  it  upon  the  world, 
leaving  it  from  thenceforth  to  rest  upon  its  own 
merits,  and  implying  no  necessary  relation,  beyond 
that  of  history,  between  its  author  and  those  who 
may  hereafter  accept  it.  It  is  true  that  devotion  to 
the  memory  of  one  who  has  done  great  things  for  us, 
must  be  a  natural  sentiment  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  an  intelligent  apprehension  of  what  has 
been  done  for  them.  But  this,  though  part,  is  a 
small  part  of  the  tie  which  must  unite  the  Christian 
to  his  Lord  and  Master.  It  belongs  to  Christianity, 
that  day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  the  Christian 
lives  in  conscious  self- sustained  communion  with 
Him  who  is  the  ever-living  and  ever-present  Author 
of  his  creed  and  life.  Take  away  Christ  and  Chris 
tianity  perishes,  whatever  moral  or  social  good  may 
incidentally  remain.  It  is  not  a  doctrine  bequeathed 
by  Him  to  a  world,  with  which  He  has  now  ceased 
personally  to  have  any  dealings ;  it  becomes  extinct 
directly  men  begin  to  abstract  it  from  the  person  of 
its  Founder.  He  is  felt  by  His  people  to  be  their 
ever-living  Lord,  present  with  them  now  and  for 
ever,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world.  Christians 
form  a  distinct  society,  but  how  different  from  any 
other  society,  for  there  are  other  societies  be 
sides  Christians.  Men  are  bound  together  by  various 
ties,  and  are  formed  into  various  groups.  They  are 


Christianity  —what  ?  257 

united  both  by  natural  and  voluntary  associations. 
Localities  of  birth  and  nationality  both  separate  and 
combine  men  into  different  families  ;  kindred  pur 
suits  are  the  bond  of  union  between  many.  "What 
ever  object  it  is  possible  for  men  to  pursue — pleasure, 
profit,  or  instruction — may  become  the  basis  of  an 
association.  But  all  these  combinations  are  of  a  tem 
porary  and  superficial  character;  they  exist  mainly 
during  our  own  pleasure,  and  may  be  broken  off  at 
an  instant.  They  do  not  go  to  the  heart  and  life  of 
our  being ;  we  can  sever  ourselves  from  them  as  we 
will,  and  enter  into  ne\v  combinations,  without  really 
being  affected  by  them  as  men.  But  Christians  are 
one  body,  and  cannot  be  otherwise ;  one,  not  by  act 
and  will  of  their  own,  or  by  power  of  flesh  and  blood, 
but  by  a  marvellous  union  with  Christ  the  Head, 
"from  which  all  the  body,  by  joints  and  bands,  hav 
ing  nourishment  ministered,  and  knit  together,  in- 
creaseth  with  the  increase  of  God." 

And  so  it  is  our  office  and  our  duty  to  preach 
Christ.  Faithful  are  we  in  the  discharge  of  our  duty 
if  we  do  in  fact  preach  Him.  If  we  go  into  topics 
which  do  not  seem  to  be  necessarily  connected  with 
Him ;  if  we  speak  to  you  of  repentance,  of  good 
works,  of  righteous  living,  of  charity,  of  temperance, 
of  the  practical  duties  of  life,  our  preaching  is  vain, 
if  the  end  is  not  to  bring  you  round  to  Him.  We 
have  just  passed  over  a  great  day  of  the  year,  and 
one  which  I  wish  was  more  observed  among  you. 
We  have  been  brought  round  to  the  last  act  and 
the  final  close  of  Christ's  mission  upon  earth.  There 

s 


258  Chris  tianity — w  ha  t  ? 

is  nothing  more  to  be  done,  nothing  beyond  to  be 
commemorated.  That  which  is  to  follow  has  no 
memory  in  our  minds,  we  can  only  dwell  upon  it  in 
anticipation.  u  Ought  not  Christ  to  have  suffered 
these  things,  and  to  enter  into  His  glory  ?  "  It  was 
decreed  in  the  mystery  of  God's  eternal  counsels  that 
He  should  so  suffer.  All  things  that  were  written 
in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets,  and  in  th< 
Psalms  concerning  Him  have  been  fulfilled,  and  H( 
has  therefore  entered  into  His  glory.  And  we,  if  w< 
are  His,  may  on  this  day  ask  with  something  like 
the  manifest  exultation  of  St. Paul,  "Who  shall  la; 
anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is  God 
that  justifieth.  Who  is  he  that  eondemneth  ?  It 
is  Christ  that  died,  yea  rather,  that  is  risen  again, 
who  is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also 
maketh  intercession  for  us."  He  died  as  man,  because 
for  this  purpose  He  came  into  the  world.  He  rose 
again  for  our  justification,  as  He  had  Himself  fore 
told,  and  to  that  sign  He  appealed,  by  which  men 
might  know  His  real  claim  to  their  homage.  His 
resurrection  is  but  the  prelude  to  His  ascension  into 
heaven ;  and  there  He  sits  to  complete,  in  the  pre 
sence  of  the  Father,  the  work  which  it  was  given 
Him  to  do  on  earth.  His  intercession  is  omnipotent ; 
He  intercedes  by  His  very  presence,  but  not  as  any 
human  intercessor.  He  is  no  suppliant  before  the 
majesty  of  God;  He  is  a  Priest,  but  a  Priest  all- 
powerful  upon  a  throne.  All  power  is  given  Him 
in  heaven  and  in  earth.  All  things  are  put  in  sub 
jection  under  His  feet.  To  be  a  Christian  is  not  to 


Christianity — what  ?  259 

be  a  philosopher,  or  a  moralist,  or  a  philanthropist, 
but  to  look  to  Ilim  as  our  Lord  and  God,  the  object 
of  our  faith,  the  receiver  of  our  prayer,  the  source  of 
our  life. 

"Who  shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Him?" 
asks  the  Apostle  in  the  sequel  of  my  text.  "I  am 
persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present, 
nor  things  to  come  ;  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any 
other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the 
love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 


s2 


SERMON  XV. 

imugtjttr  0f  ^ivfy,  bifr. 


2  SAM.  xxi.  14, 

"  And  after  that  God  was  intreatedfor  the  land" 

THE  chapter  which  you  have  heard  this  morning  as 
the  first  lesson  of  the  day  contains  an  episode  or 
isolated  event  in  the  history  of  David,  to  which  it  is 
difficult  to  assign  any  definite  place  in  the  history  of 
his  reign.     It  commemorates  one  of  the  many  judg 
ments  and  deliverances  of  his  people  by  which  his 
reign  was  marked,  but  we  are  unable  to  say  why  it 
was  introduced  in  this   particular   place.      Neither 
need  we  maintain  that  it  is  the  most  instructive  pas 
sage  of  his  history  that  could  be  offered  for  our  con 
sideration,  but  such  as  it  is,  I  do  not  think  the  short 
time  generally  allotted  to  a  sermon  will  be  wasted 
by  the  attention  which  I  propose  to  pay  unto  it.     It 
is  a  history  of  punishment  long  deferred,  but  in  the 
end  certain  to  be  inflicted,  for  a  cruel  and  a  grievous 
sin,  and  that  not  on  the  author  of  the  sin  himself, 
but  on  those  who  owed  to  him  the  gift  of  their  ex 
istence  ;  and  it  will  be  well  worth  our  while  to  con 
sider  it,  if  it  only  serve  to  impress  upon  our  min< 
that  the  evil  which  we  do  does  not  always  end  wit! 
ourselvBS,  but  tends  to  propagate  itself,  and  involve 
in  the  penalties  due  to  us  those  who  are  personally 


What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  AM,  did.       201 

innocent  of  our  sins.  The  Gibeonites  were  among 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Canaan,  and  you  may  re 
member  how  it  was  that  they  were  exempted  from 
the  general  sentence  of  extermination  that  was  passed 
upon  that  unhappy  race.  It  seems  that  they  saw 
further  into  the  future  than  the  other  nations  of  the 
guilty  land,  and  while  the  other  peoples  and  their 
kings  gathered  themselves  to  resist  the  invaders  by 
arms,  a  certain  presentiment  of  their  utter  destruction, 
warned  them  to  seek  safety  by  submission,  accom 
panied  by  what  we  should  consider  a  very  pardonable 
act  of  fraud.  They  sent  an  embassy  to  Joshua,  with 
old  sacks  upon  their  asses,  old  and  patched-up  wine 
bottles,  worn-out  garments  and  shoes,  and  every  mark 
of  a  long  and  tedious  travel.  They  represented  that 
they  had  come  from  a  distance,  where  the  report  of 
the  prowess  of  the  army  of  Israel  had  reached  them, 
and  were  anxious  for  terms  of  peace  with  the  mighty 
nation  whose  host  at  that  time  filled  the  camp  at 
Gilgal. 

To  Joshua  they  were  as  strangers,  and  he  pro 
fessed  that  he  had  never  heard  of  them ;  but  when 
they  offered  voluntary  submission  and  vassalage  he 
received  them  nnder  his  protection,  and  engaged  to 
them  that  they  should  live  without  molestation ;  and 
the  princes  of  the  congregation  entered  into  a  solemn 
covenant  with  them  on  these  terms.  They  had  not 
been  too  quick  in  their  movement,  for  only  three 
days  after,  Joshua  learned  the  deceit  that  had  been 
practised  upon  him,  and  that  the  men  whom  he  had 
engaged  to  preserve  were  of  the  race  which  he  was 


262       What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did. 

commissioned  to  destroy.  The  people,  when  they 
knew  the  truth,  were  clamorous  for  their  destruction, 
and  it  required  all  the  firmness  of  Joshua  and  the 
princes  to  resist  the  popular  feeling,  and  maintain  an 
engagement  which  had  been  wrested  from  him  by 
deceit,  but  the  terms  of  which  nevertheless  he  felt 
bound  by  the  sanctity  of  an  oath  to  observe.  But 
he  had  sworn  only  that  their  lives  should  be  spared, 
and  they  had  no  other  claim  upon  him ;  they  were 
an  humble  and  submissive  people,  their  spirits  were 
utterly  subdued,  and  they  were  well  satisfied  with 
the  condition  allotted  to  them.  They  became  a  kind 
of  inferior  caste,  though  with  a  kind  of  dignity 
attached  to  their  degradation.  For  "  Joshua  made 
them  that  day  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water 
for  the  congregation,  and  for  the  altar  of  the  Lord, 
even  unto  this  day  in  the  place  which  the  Lord  shall 
choose." 

Now  this  was  four  hundred  years  and  more  before 
the  time  of  Saul,  and  one  might  have  thought  that 
a  people  so  usefully  and  humbly  employed,  with 
a  prescription  of  four  hundred  years'  forbearance  in 
their  favour,  might  have  been  safe  from  the  fury,  if 
they  could  not  escape  the  notice,  of  the  capricious  and 
violent  king.  Yet  for  some  cause  or  other  they  fell 
under  his  wrath,  and  we  may  conjecture  from  the 
language  of  Scripture  that  the  result  was  a  general 
if  not  an  universal  massacre  of  the  helpless  and  un 
offending  tribe.  One  expression  gives  us  a  clue  to 
the  king's  motive :  he  did  it  in  "  his  zeal  to  and  for 
the  children  of  Israel  and  Judah."  He  acted  for  the 


What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aia/i,  did.       2G3 

good  of  his  people,  and  thought  it  was  for  their  in 
terest  that  the  feeble  remnants  of  these  ancient 
nations  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  exist  among 
them.  And  we  can  hardly  help  contrasting  and  con 
necting  his  cruelty  toward  this  helpless  tribe  with 
his  disobedient  mercy  toward  Agag  and  the  Amale- 
kites.  By  his  wilful  disobedience,  then,  he  lost  the 
throne  to  his  family  for  ever,  and  it  is  possible  that 
by  his  equally  wilful  severity  here  he  might  have 
thought  of  repairing  the  loss,  and  atoning  for  his  sin. 
The  great  fault  in  the  character  of  Saul  was  that  he 
would  not  submit  himself  to  the  direction  of  God, 
and  do  the  work  for  which  he  was  appointed  in  the 
way  in  which  it  was  commanded  to  be  done.  He 
could  not  resign  himself  to  be  a  mere  instrument, 
but  must  act  upon  his  own  judgment,  and  take  his 
own  course.  Having  been  brought  to  a  true  sense  of 
his  sin  in  his  treatment  of  Amalek,  it  would  belong 
to  the  same  temper  of  mind  to  offend  in  the  other 
direction  by  slaying  those  whom  he  was  under  a 
solemn  covenant  to  spare.  Were  they  not  of  the 
same  blood  as  the  nations  that  he  was  commanded  to 
destroy  utterly?  and  were  they  to  continue  for  ever 
to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  fraud,  and  the  protec 
tion  of  an  oath  that  ought  never  to  have  been  given 
them?  If  he  had  spared  Amalek,  and  thereby  lost 
his  high  position,  might  it  not  be  accepted  as  a  com 
pensation,  and  be  set  down  to  his  credit  on  the  other 
side,  that  he  had  massacred  Gibeon  ?  and  would  not 
his  zeal  for  Israel  and  Judah  be  a.  sufficient  justifi 
cation  for  the  deed  ?  We  are  speaking  of  times  when 


264        What  Rizpali,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did. 

men  were  familiar  with  deeds  of  blood  and  slaughter, 
but  the  tendency  of  human  nature,  in  its  self-defence, 
to  set  one  thing  thus  against  another,  and  our  will 
and  choice  against  our  positive  duty,  is  the  same  in 
all  times,  under  every  possible  difference  of  circum 
stance.  Saul  had  yet  to  learn — and  few  of  us  are 
there  who  have  not  yet  to  learn — the  lesson  that  "  to 
obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the 
fat  of  rams."  His  act  of  mistaken  zeal,  so  far  from 
being  acceptable  to  God,  became  a  sin  and  a  curse, 
bringing  evil  to  his  people,  and  destruction  to  his 
family. 

In  the  reign  of  his  great  successor  a  famine  arose 
in  Israel.  For  two  years  it  was  endured  in  silence, 
and  no  doubt  attributed  to  natural  causes.  Perhaps 
there  was  nothing  extraordinary  in  two  years'  drought 
or  unfruitful  harvests,  but  in  the  third  year  things 
began  to  look  serious,  and  David  enquired  of  the 
Lord.  Then  the  truth  became  known  that  God  was 
angry  with  His  people,  and  that  they  were  suffering 
the  penalties  of  their  sovereign's  crime.  When 
David  knew  the  cause  he  at  once  proceeded  to  offer 
such  satisfaction  as  the  nature  of  the  case  allowed. 
As  the  Gibeonites  were  the  injured  parties,  he  placed 
himself  in  their  hands  to  do  whatever  they  required ; 
"What  shall  I  do  for  you,  and  wherewith  shall  I 
make  atonement  that  ye  may  bless  the  inheritance 
of  the  Lord  ?"  Their  answer  was  in  accordance  with 
the  ideas  and  temper  of  the  times,  and  shews  a  noble 
ness  of  spirit  and  a  sense  of  justice  which  four  cen 
turies  of  oppression  had  not  destroyed. 


What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did.       2G5 

They  might  have  asked  for  some  sordid  compen 
sation  for  themselves,  for  some  relief  from  their 
burthens,  or  improvement  in  their  social  or  po 
litical  position ;  but  their  demands,  if  cruel  and 
bloody,  were  at  least  unselfish ;  they  asked  for  neither 
liberty,  nor  gold  and  silver,  nor  the  death  of  any 
other  Israelite.  It  was  the  house  of  Saul  that  had 
outraged  them,  and  the  vengeance  shall  be  confined 
to  the  house  of  Saul.  I  think  we  may  almost  acquit 
them  of  any  feeling  of  personal  vengeance,  they 
thought  rather  of  justice,  and  what  was  due  to  God. 
They  were  placed  in  the  position  of  judges,  and  they 
considered,  according  to  their  own  ideas,  what  justice 
required.  The  law  of  God  was  before  them,  "  He 
that  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood 
be  shed,"  and  it  was  open  to  their  very  eyes  that 
God  was  "  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children ; "  and  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  measure 
which  God  was  dealing  to  His  people  that  they  de 
manded  in  exchange  for  their  own  sons  the  lives  of 
seven  of  Saul's  sons.  The  strong  sense  of  justice  in 
the  mind  of  David,  and  his  affection  that  must  have 
been  deeply  wounded  by  the  terrible  demand,  did  not 
shrink  from  the  sacrifice,  and  he  delivered  unto  death 
two  of  Saul's  own  children  by  Bizpah,  and  five 
grandchildren,  who  are  described  as  "  the  sons  of 
Michal,  the  daughter  of  Saul,  whom  she  brought  up 
for  Adriel,  the  son  of  Barzillai,  the  Meholathite." 

There  is  some  difficulty  in  the  history  here,  for  you 
may  remember  that  David  himself  was  married  to 
Michal.  But  we  learn  from  the  same  history  that 


266        What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did. 

Merab  her  sister,  who  was  first  offered  to  David,  was 
married  to  Adriel,  and  it  would  seem  probable,  on 
the  supposition  of  her  death,  that  her  children  were 
adopted  by  Michal,  and  brought  up  by  her  for  their 
father.  If  this  were  so,  and  it  entirely  agrees  with 
the  language  of  Scripture  in  this  place,  they  musl 
have  been  almost  as  children  to  David  himself,  but 
he  could  not  bring  himself  to  give  up  Mephibosheth, 
the  son  of  Jonathan,  for  the  oath's  sake,  and  the  love 
that  had  bound  him  to  his  father.  But  the  number 
was  made  complete,  the  seven  were  given  up,  and 
hanged  before  the  Lord,  as  an  offering  to  Him,  and 
not  to  human  vengeance,  in  Gibeah  of  Saul.  Saul's 
own  city  was  the  scene  of  the  execution.  Those  pos 
sibly  who  had  witnessed  the  crime  were  made  wit 
nesses  to  the  punishment.  They  were  hanged  upon 
the  hill  before  the  Lord,  that  all  men  might  see  their 
doom,  for  a  warning  to  those  who  had  aided  or  been 
present  at  the  oppression  of  the  helpless.  And  here 
is  narrated  a  very  affecting  incident,  which  gives  a 
colour  of  tenderness  and  human  feeling  to  what  we 
might  otherwise  consider,  and  rightly  should  con 
sider,  if  enacted  in  our  own  days,  a  picture  of  ruth 
less  barbarity.  It  was  the  beginning  of  barley  har 
vest,  and  from  that  time  till  the  rain  fell — we  know 
not  how  long — the  bodies  of  the  slaughtered  victims 
were  kept  hanging  in  their  place  of  punishmenl 
Not  till  the  seasonable  rain  gave  tokens  of  the  Lord' 
'reconciliation  were  they  removed  from  their  gibbets, 
and  the  people  of  Gibeah  had  the  ghastly  memorial 
before  their  eyes.  It  may  be  presumed  that  they 


Wliat  Eizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did.       267 

averted  their  looks  and  turned  their  steps  another 
way  from  the  revolting  spectacle  of  the  putrifying 
corpses.  But  all  that  terrible  time  Bizpah,  the 
daughter  of  Aiah,  lay  upon  her  bed  of  sackcloth 
upon  the  rock,  and  kept  daily  and  nightly  watch 
over  the  festering  remains  of  her  slaughtered  sons. 
She  was  not  entirely  alone  in  her  melancholy  vigil, 
for  the  beasts  of  the  field  roamed  round  her  by  night, 
and  the  birds  of  prey  wheeled  round  her  during  the 
day.  Those  who  have  been  in  countries  that  lie  under 
the  keener  influence  of  the  sun  know  very  well 
what  that  implies.  "Where  the  carcass  is,  there 
shall  the  eagles  be  gathered  together."  You  see 
them,  if  any  animal  has  died,  or  beast  of  burthen 
has  fallen  by  the  way,  mustering  at  once  from  every 
quarter  of  heaven.  You  cannot  tell  where  they  come 
from,  or  what  secret  attraction  is  drawing  them  to 
their  prey.  It  cannot  be  sight,  for  they  seem  to 
rise  from  far  below  the  visible  horizon.  It  can 
hardly  be  scent,  for  they  come  from  the  direction 
of  every  wind  that  blows.  But  an  unerring  instinct 
guides  or  impels  them,  and  you  see  them  in  long 
lines  traversing  the  breadth  of  sky,  and  all  con 
verging  to  the  point  where  nature  summons  them 
to  their  loathsome  feast.  Such  creatures,  probably 
of  the  vulture  rather  than  of  the  eagle  kind,  kept 
screaming  and  croaking  round  the  unhappy  Kizpah 
on  her  sackcloth  bed.  But  she  kept  her  enemies 
at  bay,  and  maintained  her  guard,  "from  the  be 
ginning  of  harvest  until  water  dropped  upon  them 
out  of  heaven.  She  suffered  neither  the  birds  of 


268       What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did. 

the  air  to  rest  upon  them  by  day,  nor  the  beasts 
of  the  field  by  night."  And  when  the  atonement 
was  complete,  and  the  rain  from  heaven  gave  evi 
dence  that  the  wrath  had  passed  away  from  Israel, 
we  are  glad  to  find  in  David  also  a  return  to  the 
feelings  and  manners  of  humanity.  He  had  given 
up  the  children  and  descendants  of  Saul,  because 
he  believed  that  the  sacrifice  was  demanded  by  the 
God  of  justice ;  but  now  that  the  sacrifice  was  com 
pleted  and  accepted,  he  treated  their  remains  with 
all  the  honour  due  to  the  corrupting  relics  of  mor 
tality.  They  were  accursed  in  their  death,  but 
the  curse  had  passed  away,  and  they  were  reinstat 
in  honour  by  their  burial.  He  gathered  the  bone 
of  the  men  that  were  hanged,  and  buried  them  with 
the  bones  of  Saul  and  his  own  beloved  Jonathan, 
in  the  sepulchre  of  Kish  their  father.  He  that 
lamented  the  lamentation  which  we  have  read  in 
the  beginning  of  this  book,  who  spoke  of  Saul  as 
the  beauty  of  Israel,  slain  in  its  high  places,  of 
Saul  and  Jonathan  as  pleasant  and  lovely  in  their 
lives,  and  undivided  in  their  death,  who  called  upon 
all  the  daughters  of  Israel  to  mourn,  and  the  dew  to 
cease  from  the  mountains  of  Gilboa,  for  the  disgrace 
and  death  of  their  king  could  offer  them  no  higher 
honour.  They  lie  together,  the  offender  and  those 
who  paid  the  penalty  of  his  sin,  their  bones  ming 
ling  in  the  country  of  Benjamin,  their  common  patri 
arch,  in  Zolah,  their  souls  waiting  the  award  which 
God  will  judge  to  every  man  in  that  day  according 
to  his  work. 


What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did.      269 

I  hope  I  may  not  be  thought  to  have  wasted  time 
over  a  story  the  like  of  which  can  never  be  enacted 
again.  It  is  impossible  that  such  a  series  of  events 
could  take  place  in  our  own  days  and  in  this  our 
land.  But  the  tragedy  is  instructive  to  us  by  its 
very  contrast.  Few  men  now  think  of  enquiring  of 
the  Lord  concerning  any  evil  that  comes  to  us,  as 
we  say,  in  the  course  of  nature.  Drought  and  rain, 
storm  and  tempest,  are  natural  events,  and  men  look 
for  the  account  of  them  in  the  laws  that  are  ascer 
tained  to  regulate  the  course  of  nature.  And  it  is 
perfectly  right  to  search  thus  into  the  causes  of 
things — our  reasoning  powers  were  given  us  for 
this  very  purpose — but  if  we  are  not  to  carry  the 
search  backwards  to  infinity  it  would  seem  certain 
that  the  chain  of  causes  must  begin  somewhere, 
and  that  that  beginning  must  be  found  in  a  per 
sonal,  omnipotent,  over-ruling  will.  In  earlier  times 
men  looked  for  this  will  immediately  behind  the 
event  which  moved  their  gratitude,  or  excited  their 
alarm ;  and  it  is  possible  that  as  God  spoke  then 
in  a  more  personal  manner  to  His  people,  so  His 
personal  action  on  the  very  material  elements  of 
the  world  was  more  immediate  and  definite.  Let 
not  us,  who  are  in  so  many  respects  better  informed, 
turn  the  knowledge,  which  like  every  other  good 
gift  comes  down  to  us  from  the  Father  of  Light, 
against  the  truth  of  His  over-ruling  Providence. 

But  this  is  too  large  a  subject  to  enter  upon  now. 
I  have  thought  the  facts  of  the  history  well  worthy 
of  a  morning's  attention,  and  I  can  only  leave 


270       What  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  did. 

them  now  to  the  reflections  of  those  who  are  thought 
ful  among  you.  But  it  will  be  well  if  it  serve 
to  remind  us  that  in  this  world  the  innocent  often 
suffer  with  and  for  the  guilty ;  the  guilty  are  often 
saved  from  the  consequences  of  their  sin  at  the 
cost  of  the  innocent.  They  may  declaim  against 
the  justice  of  the  dispensation,  but  they  cannot 
deny  the  fact.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  ordinary 
experience  of  life,  and  it  is  sanctioned  by  the  highest 
possible  example. 

"  Christ  suffered  once  for  all  for  sins,  the  just 
for  the  unjust,  to  bring  us  unto  God;"  nay,  "  He 
was  made  sin  for  us  who  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might 
be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him." 


SERMON  XVI. 


GAL.  vi.  14. 

The  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  world 
is  crucified  unto  Me,  and  I  unto  the  world.11 


does  the  Church  bring  before  us  year 
after  year  the  great  facts  of  our  Lord's  life, 
by  which  our  salvation  was  worked  out.  And  not 
only  are  these  facts  brought  annually  to  our  re 
membrance  by  the  words  of  the  holy  Evange 
lists,  and  many  of  them  by  holy  days  and  comme 
morative  festivals,  but  we  are  called  upon  to  imitate 
and  reproduce  them  after  a  manner  in  our  own  lives. 
The  Christian  life  is  indeed,  and  is  intended  to  be, 
an  exhibition  of  the  Divine  life  of  our  Lord  upon 
earth,  cast  as  it  were  in  the  same  mould,  and  pre 
senting  the  same  essential  features,  as  far  as  can  be, 
in  a  grosser  material.  We  find  this  to  be  the  caso 
from  the  date  of  its  commencement.  His  earthly 
course  began  with  His  birth  into  the  world,  so  our 
heavenward  course  begins  with  our  second  birth.  As 
in  the  assumption  of  our  nature  He  was  born  of  a  pure 
virgin,  and  thereby  became  "  the  Son  of  Man,"  so 
did  He  give  to  as  many  as  received  Him  power  "  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe 
on  His  name  :  which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of 


272  Our  Cross. 

the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God."  And  as  He  thus,  born  among  the  children 
of  men,  grew  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit  filled  with 
wisdom,  so  it  is  our  prayer  when  thus  received  in 
the  family  of  God,  "  that  all  things  belonging  to  the 
Spirit  may  live  and  grow  in  us,  and  that  we  being 
regenerate  may  be  daily  renewed  by  the  same  Holy 
Spirit ;  which  God  gave  Him  not  by  measure  ;  and  of 
whose  fulness  we  have  all  received,  even  grace  for 
grace."  The  first  step,  therefore,  of  the  Son  of  Man 
earthwards  corresponds  to  our  first  step  heaven 
wards,  and  so  it  is  all  through.  As  He  in  fact  was 
made  like  unto  us  in  all  things,  so  it  is  our  duty  to 
be  conformed  to  His  image,  and  to  be  like  Him  in 
all  things,  even  to  the  exclusion  of  sin ;  and  He  has 
given  us  the  power  to  be  so  when  He  gave  us  the 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God.  There  is  even 
a  communion,  a  fellowship  of  suffering,  between  us 
and  Him.  In  some  mysterious  mode  His  sufferings 
are  ours,  and  ours  are  His.  He  bore  our  sorrows 
and  they  became  His  own.  We  are  not  His,  unless 
His  sorrows,  too,  are  ours.  St.  Paul  speaks  con 
stantly  of  our  being  dead:  "  We  are  buried  with 
Him  by  baptism  unto  death."  "Ye  are  dead,  and 
your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  He  argues 
upon  this  death  as  a  fact  that  was  beyond  dispute, 
and  that  carried  certain  consequences  with  it,  "  If  ye 
be  dead  with  Christ,  why,  as  though  living  in  the 
world,  are  ye  subject  to  ordinances?"  Nay,  we  are  dead 
by  the  very  instrument  of  His  death :  "  Our  old  man 
is  crucified  with  Ilim."  "They  that  are  Christ's 


Our  Cross.  273 

have  crucified  the  flesh  with  the  affections  thereof." 
"  The  cross  of  Christ,  whereby  the  world  is  crucified  to 
Me  and  I  unto  the  world."  We  do  not  stop  even  here. 
If  we  are  buried  with  Him  by  baptism  unto  death, 
in  baptism,  too,  we  are  risen  with  Him.  We  have 
passed  through  the  grave  and  door  of  death  not  into 
nothingness,  but  into  a  new  and  spiritual  life  derived 
from  Him  who  has  life  in  Himself:  "If  ye  be  risen 
with  Christ  seek  those  things  that  are  above."  Nay, 
while  we  look  hereafter  for  the  glory  that  shall  be 
revealed,  and  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature 
waiteth.for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  even 
here  we  are  in  a  manner  glorified,  and  the  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  "  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spi 
ritual  blessings  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ." 

Now  the  meaning  of  all  these  and  other  passages, 
though  we  may  not  be  able  to  exhaust  its  fulness,  is 
at  the  very  least  this,  that  the  Christian  life  runs,  and 
is  intended  to  run,  parallel  in  all  its  stages  and 
in  all  its  circumstances  to  the  life  of  our  great  ex 
ample  and  Eedeemer.  And  this  is  true  not  only  of 
our  life,  taken  as  a  whole,  but  of  each  part  of  it,  as 
it  is  divided  into  years.  The  mysteries  of  redemp- 
,  tion  recur,  and  their  recurrence  brings  with  it  both 
the  remembrance  of  old  and  the  accession  of  new 
;  grace  to  the  Christian  soul.  If  our  spiritual  birth 
!  cannot  be  repeated,  if  once  born  again  we  cannot  be 
born  again  a  second  time,  any  more  than  a  man  can 
enter  his  mother's  womb  and  be  born  again  when  he 
is  old,  there  is  no  reason  why  there  should  not  be 
a  sensible  strengthening,  a  new  spring  of  life  on 

T 


274  Our  Cross. 

each  feast  of  the  Nativity.  It  may  be  a  date  not 
simply  in  our  calendars,  but  to  mark  a  sensible  pro 
gress  and  a  point  gained  in  grace.  Man,  it  is  true, 
grows  imperceptibly,  and  nature's  growth,  too,  is 
mostly  imperceptible.  After  a  considerable  interval 
we  find  our  stature  greater  than  it  was,  we  see  the 
result,  but  the  process  was  too  slow  to  note ;  and  so 
in  nature.  We  see  the  blade,  the  ear,  the  full  corn 
in  the  ear,  and  then  we  put  in  the  sickle,  but  no  eye 
can  see,  no  measurement  mark,  the  change  that  takes 
place  from  hour  to  hour,  or  even  from  day  to  day. 
So  as  to  our  spiritual  growth ;  if  we  are  really 
making  progress  we  can  look  back  upon  the  past, 
and  compare  ourselves  as  we  are  with  what  we  were. 
Happy  are  we  if  we  see  the  bonds  of  sin  loosened, 
our  old  follies  left  behind ;  wonder  at  the  temptations 
by  which  we  were  once  led  astray,  and  the  seduc 
tions  to  which  we  yielded ;  find  our  resolutions 
stronger  and  better  kept,  our  thoughts  more  on  God, 
and  our  minds  set  on  things  above ;  but  we  cannot 
always  trace  each  particular  action  of  grace  upon  our 
hearts,  or  every  motion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  which 
we  were  moved.  "We  cannot,  I  say,  always  do  this, 
but  it  will  be  strange  if  no  trace  of  hard  conflicts 
with  Satan  and  of  Divine  aid,  no  victory  over  our 
selves,  no  sense  of  special  weakness  and  of  strength 
renewed,  no  instance  of  the  sufficiency  of  God's  grace 
has  any  place  in  our  recollections  of  the  past.  These 
were  the  critical  points  of  our  lives,  and  there  are 
few  men  who  cannot  remember  occasions  when  their 
fate  seemed  almost  to  be  trembling  in  the  balance. 


Our  Cross.  275 

Yet  it  is  possible  to  measure  the  years  of  our  spi 
ritual  as  we  do  of  our  natural  life,  and  we  may  find 
ourselves  growing  better  as  we  know  that  we  are 
growing  older.  And  holy  seasons  like  that  on  which 
we  are  just  entering  give  us  an  opportunity  of 
taking  a  survey  of  the  past,  comparing  our  present 
with  our  former  stature,  and  ascertaining  whether 
this  is  the  case  or  no.  Are  the  things  belonging  to 
the  world  and  the  flesh  growing  weaker  in  us,  and  the 
things  belonging  to  the  spirit  growing  stronger  ?  and 
what  can  we  do  towards  crucifying  the  world  and  the 
flesh  that  claim  dominion  over  us?  This  is  a  fit 
enquiry  and  a  fit  employment  for  the  season  of  Lent. 
It  is  a  fast  of  forty  days,  and  in  keeping  it  we  are 
following  the  example  of  our  Lord,  who  for  our  sake 
suffered  being  tempted,  and  is  able  to  succour  those 
who  are  tempted.  There  is  indeed  a  difference  be 
tween  our  temptations,  and  there  is  a  mystery  in  His 
which  we  in  vain  attempt  to  solve.  Every  man  is 
tempted  when  he  is  drawn  away  by  his  own  lusts 
and  enticed.  Our  own  nature  is  our  temptation,  or 
if  Satan  tempts  us  directly  it  is  through  our  nature. 
'It  is  hard  to  see  how  his  temptations  could  reach  us 
if  there  were  not  in  our  nature  lust,  or  pride,  or 
some  form  of  evil  to  which  he  could  appeal.  There 
must  be  some  correspondence  or  affinity  between  the 
temptation  that  is  outside  and  the  evil  tendency 
within.  We  could  not  be  tempted  by  our  bodily 
appetites  if  we  were  not  susceptible  of  hunger  and 
thirst ;  objects  of  desire  would  have  no  influence  upon 
us  if  there  were  no  feelings  of  sensuality  to  be  irri- 

T2 


276  Our  Cross. 


tated  by  them;  and  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  this 
world  would  have  no  attraction  for  us  if  there  were 
no  feelings  of  pride  and  ambition  to  be  gratified  by 
them.  An  old  philosopher  says  that  temptation 
assails  those  who  have  no  understanding  from  every 
side.  Every  sense,  and  every  feeling,  and  every 
power  may  be  the  avenue  or  vehicle  of  its  approach, 
if  it  is  not  barred  by  the  stern  resolve  of  our  higher 
powers ;  our  necessary  employments,  our  tastes,  our 
business,  our  pleasures,  all  of  them  may  be  the 
sources  or  encouragements  of  temptation.  In  our 
blessed  Lord  there  was  no  trace  of  evil,  no  tendency 
to  sin ;  He  took  our  nature  on  Him,  but  it  was  that 
pure,  unspotted  nature  in  which  our  first  father  was 
created,  and  which  God  pronounced  good.  The 
temptation,  therefore,  of  Adam  was  external,  we 
trace  it  not  to  himself,  or  his  own  appetites,  but  to 
the  tempter.  The  serpent  beguiled  Eve  and  she  did 
eat,  and  gave  it  to  Adam,  and  thus  they  both  fell. 
They  were  free  from  sin,  and  yet  not  beyond  its 
power;  they  were  in  a  state  of  probation,  free  to 
obey  or  disobey,  free  to  choose  life  or  death,  not  in 
that  state  in  which  the  souls  of  the  just  made  perfect 
live  for  ever  beyond  the  possibility  of  misery.  We 
can  barely  conceive  how  Adam  was  tempted  and  how 
he  fell,  but  it  is  beyond  our  power  to  conceive 
how  the  force  of  temptation  acted  upon  the  pui 
soul  of  Him  who  was  altogether  holy,  harmless,  ui 
defiled,  and  separate  from  sinners.  But  in  all  thinj 
it  behoved  Him  to  be  made  like  unto  His  brethren, 
and  Divine  wisdom  found  a  way  for  that  which 


Our  Cross.  277 

passeth  human  understanding.  It  is  possible,  though 
it  may  seem  a  contradiction  to  say,  that  though  He 
could  not  sin,  though  His  divine  purity  repelled  the 
very  thought  of  evil,  that  the  temptation  itself  and 
the  nearness  of  sin  was  a  sorer  trial — a  trial  that  we 
cannot  conceive — to  His  perfect  innocence  than  it 
can  possibly  be  to  us  who  are  conceived  in  iniquity, 
and  whose  imaginations  are  evil  from  our  youth 
upward.  But  if  for  our  sake  He  was  tempted  in 
a  way  that  man  cannot  understand,  He  resisted  and 
conquered ;  by  the  same  arms  that  are  put  into  our 
hands,  and  which  are  mighty  now  as  then  to  pull 
down  the  strongholds  of  the  enemy,  by  the  spiritual 
armoury  that  is  provided  for  us,  and  by  the  word  of 
God  which  is  the  very  sword  of  the  Spirit,  leaving  us 
His  example  as  an  encouragement,  that  if  we  have 
the  boldness  to  say  to  the  tempter,  "  Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan,"  he  will  depart  and  leave  us. 

And  now  the  Church  calls  upon  us,  in  imitation 
of  Him,  to  keep  the  fast  of  forty  days,  as  a  prepara 
tion  for  the  great  day  of  atonement  that  we  annually 
keep.     How   shall  we   keep  this  holy   time   to  our 
profit,  devoted  as  it  is  to  the  work  of  repentance  and 
,the   mortification  of  our  sins?     It   would  be  mere 
i  affectation  to  pretend  to  be  ignorant  that  the  idea, 
and  still  more  the  practice,  of  fasting  in  the  literal 
i  sense,  as  part  of  a  religious  discipline,  is  almost  lost 
in   this   country.     Yet   it  is  strange  that   we    who 
above  all  other    Churches  profess  to  reverence   the 
Bible,  and  to  understand  it,  and  to  draw  each  one 
|of  us  our  faith  and  practice  from  it  overlook  or  ex- 


278  Our  Cross. 

plain  away  the  many  plain  passages  in  Scripture 
which  commend  this  practice  to  us,  if  they  do  not 
impose  it  on  us.  And  I  would  suggest  to  you  to 
consider  when  you  meet  with  such  passages  whether 
there  is  not  a  reality  and  meaning  in  them  which  has 
hitherto  escaped  your  notice?  Is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  our  Lord  would  have  given  directions  about  our 
demeanour  when  we  fast,  as  was  read  in  the  Gospel 
of  this  day,  if  it  was  intended  that  we  should  never 
fast  at  all  ?  and  were  prayer  and  fasting  united  by 
His  word  and  by  the  practice  of  the  Apostles  simply 
in  order  that  we  might  sever  them  in  ours  ?  When 
our  Saviour  said  "  This  kind  goeth  not  out  save 
by  prayer  and  fasting,"  what  could  He  mean,  except 
that  some  evil  spirits  might  yield  to  the  two  toge 
ther,  who  could  resist  prayer  alone?  And  if  there 
are  no  set  fasts  resting  on  the  authority  of  our  Lord, 
and  if  our  own  Church,  though  it  has  appointed  fasts, 
or  rather  received  those  that  have  ever  been  observed 
in  the  Church,  has  prescribed  no  fixed  mode  of  ob 
serving  them,  this  is  done  not  that  the  practice  might 
be  neglected  among  us,  but  that  each  member  might 
look  to  his  own  edification,  and  the  mortifying  of 
his  own  particular  lusts. 

The  question,  How  shall  we  keep  Lent  to  our 
advantage?  is  therefore  still  a  practical  one,  and 
it  concerns  you  all  not  to  neglect  it.  Speaking  to 
the  poor  it  would  be  a  mockery  to  urge  them  to 
abstain  from  the  food  so  hardly  earned  by  the  labour 
of  their  hands,  and  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
sustain  that  labour.  I  would  that  your  earnings 


Our  Cross.  279 

were  more  ample,  and  such  as  to  justify  me  in  calling 
upon  you  to  deny  yourselves  some  little  of  what 
might  be  called  the  luxuries  and  superfluities  of  life. 
But  I  know  that  it  would  be  an  idle  and  a  cruel 
thing  to  tell  the  poor  that  they  ought  to  live  on 
a  harder  or  a  scantier  fare  than  is  generally  their 
portion.  Yet  surely  if  there  is  any  indulgence  that 
you  feel  to  be  unnecessary,  or  perhaps  hurtful ;  that 
brings  no  good  upon  your  families,  but  rather  ruin 
into  what  might  be  a  happy  homo;  that  draws  you 
on  the  Lord's  day  far  from,  the  House  of  God  into 
the  haunts  of  sin,  that  unfits  you  for  the  duties  of 
your  place,  and  degrades  you  in  your  own  esteem, 
and  in  the  sight  of  other  men,  this  is  the  time  to 
cast  off  the  evil  habit,  and  abjure  the  miserable 
thraldom,  and  crucify  the  evil  lust  that  is  leading 
you  into  perdition.  And  if  we  have  any  taste  or 
any  pursuit  that  is  drawing  us  away  further  and 
further  from  God,  any  pleasure,  however  innocent 
in  itself,  that  is  getting  a  dangerous  hold  upon 
us,  surely  it  is  a  wise  institution  of  the  Church 
which  fixes  a  time  when  our  thoughts  may  be  turned 
backward  on  ourselves,  and  so  directed  upwards 
unto  Him  who  claims  the  service  of  our  hearts.  In 
the  Commination  service  of  this  morning  you  might 
have  heard  the  curses  pronounced  by  God's  authority 
upon  heinous  sinners;  but  after  the  mention  of 
various  crimes  and  sins,  punished  by  human  law, 
or  at  least  condemned  by  human  law,  we  come  to 
a  curse  which  seems  to  me  far  more  dreadful  than 
those  that  have  gone  before,  because  we  know  not 


280  Our  Cross. 

how  far  it  will  reach,  who  will  be  affected  by  it, 
or  how  near  we  may  be  to  it  ourselves :  "  Cursed 
is  every  one  that  putteth  his  trust  in  man ;  and  mak- 
eth  man  his  defence,  and  in  his  heart  goeth  from 
the  Lord."  For  if  we  fall  not  under  the  curse  pro 
nounced  against  the  unmerciful  fornicators  and  adul 
terers,  covetous  persons,  idolaters,  slanderers,  drunk 
ards,  extortioners,  it  is  so  far  well ;  but  it  will  avail 
us  nothing  for  our  salvation  if  our  hearts  have  de 
parted  from  the  Lord,  if  we  are  living  without  the 
love  of  Him,  or  even  without  the  fear,  caring  only 
for  the  world  without  its  grosser  sins,  and  fixing 
our  affections  upon  earthly  things.  Here,  then,  is 
an  employment  for  Lent,  or  rather  the  end  of  our 
employment,  whatever  form  it  takes,  to  tear  away 
our  hearts  from  the  world,  and  bind  them  closer 
unto  God.  "What  is  the  world  to  a  man  who  is 
dying  on  the  Cross?  Behold  it  is  fading  away  in 
the  night  that  is  falling  upon  his  eyes.  Or  what 
is  the  world  to  him  whose  life  is  hid  with  Christ 
in  God  ?  It  is  a  dead  world  crucified ;  it  hangs 
lifeless  and  worthless  on  the  cross,  and  has  no  at 
traction  for  him.  Therefore  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the 
' '  Cross  of  Christ,  by  whom  the  world  is  crucified 
to  Me,  and  I  unto  the  world." 

Happy  those  who  in  heart  and  soul,  by  endur 
ance  and  self-denial,  by  faith  and  prayer,  make  that 
cross  their  portion  here,  as  it  will  be  their  strength 
and  their  salvation  in  the  world  to  come. 


SERMON  XVII 

ailing   itnb 


ST.  MATT.  xxii.  14. 

"  For  many  are  called^  but  few  are  chosen." 

TIEESE  words  are  what  may  be  called  the  moral 
"  of  two  parables,  but  I  think  it  may  be  said  that 
they  do  not  give  what  seems  to  be  the  natural  moral 
in  either  case.  It  is  not  at  least  the  moral  that 
strikes  us  at  first  sight,  and  we  must  look  deeper 
than  the  surface  to  see  how  it  is  inherent  in  the 
substance  of  the  parable.  You  must  remember  the 
impressive  parable  of  the  labourers  called  to  work 
in  the  vineyard  at  the  different  hours  of  the  day. 
How  some  went  early  in  the  morning,  some  at  the 
third,  the  sixth,  and  ninth,  some  at  the  eleventh 
hour,  after  which  there  was  no  further  call.  You 
must  remember  how  at  the  close  of  the  day  all  were 
called  together  to  receive  their  wages ;  the  last  called 
receiving  their  wages  first,  and  the  others  in  like 
order,  till  the  first  came  in  their  turn.  And  how 
these  then  murmured  that  they  received  no  more, 
dissatisfied,  not  because  their  pay  was  insufficient, 
but  because  the  others'  pay  was  equal  to  it.  "  These 
last  have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and  Thou  hast  made 
them  equal  unto  us,  which  have  borne  the  burden 
and  heat  of  the  day."  And  you  must  remember,  too, 


282  Calling  and  Election. 

the  answer  to  these  murmurers :  "  Friend,  I  do  thee 
no  wrong ;  didst  thou  not  agree  with  Me  for  a  penny  ? 
Take  that  thine  is  and  go  thy  way.  I  will  give  to 
this  last  as  even  unto  thee.  Is  it  not  lawful  for  Me 
to  do  what  I  will  with  Mine  own  ?  Is  thine  eye  evil, 
because  I  am  good?"  And  the  conclusion  of  all  is, 
"The  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last ]  for  many 
be  called,  but  few  chosen."  Now  the  parables  of 
our  Lord  have  this  divine  peculiarity,  that  while 
the  simplest  minds  can  hardly  fail  to  catch  at  once 
the  practical  meaning  of  them,  there  is  a  depth  of 
inner  wisdom  in  them  that  the  spirit  of  man  seems 
hardly  able  to  fathom.  They  are  at  the  same  time 
the  easiest  and  yet  the  most  refined  method  of  teach 
ing,  equally  suited  to  the  elementary  lessons  of  child 
hood,  and  the  instruction  of  the  perfect  man  of  God. 
"What  power  of  learning  anything  can  that  man  or 
child  possess  who  does  not  feel  that  this  parable 
is  an  appeal  made  personally  to  himself,  to  leave 
the  idle  haunt  of  the  market-place,  and  go  and  do 
the  work  that  is  waiting  for  him  in  the  vineyard 
of  the  Lord?  and  yet  how  difficult  it  is  to  see  the 
entire  bearing  of  it  upon  the  solemn  and  alarming 
conclusion  by  which  it  is  wound  up.  For  previously 
there  has  been  no  hint  as  to  the  relative  numbers 
of  those  who  were  called  at  the  various  hours,  no 
comparison  of  them  as  few  or  many.  We  are  left 
in  ignorance  again  as  to  the  number  of  the  mur 
murers;  whether  all  who  commenced  their  labours 
early  in  the  morning  or  only  some  of  them.  The 
parable  speaks  of  them  in  general  terms,  but  our 


Calling  and  Election.  283 

Saviour  addresses  one  of  them  individually,  perhaps 
the  spokesman  or  ringleader  of  the  rest :  "  Friend, 
I  do  thee  no  wrong ;"  but  we  only  gather  incident 
ally  from  the  last  words  of  the  parable  that  he 
was  the  representative  of  the  majority.  And  what 
I  have  said  on  this  subject  applies  still  more  strongly 
to  the  parable  with  which  we  are  now  immediately 
concerned  as  the  Gospel  of  the  day.  For  here  one 
person  only  is  mentioned  at  all,  one  person  only  in 
the  whole  assembly  found  without  a  wedding  garment, 
without  a  word  to  suggest  that  there  was  any  other 
in  the  same  state;  and  yet  the  warning  meets  us 
again  that  practically  his  was  no  exceptional  case, 
but  a  type  of  many  among  which  we  ourselves  may 
be  found  :  "  For  many  be  called,  but  few  chosen." 

The  words  are  alarming,  and  fill  us  with  the 
dread  of  exclusion  while  we  count  ourselves  within 
the  pale  of  safety.  Let  us  endeavour  to  determine 
how  they  are  intended  to  affect  ourselves.  Now 
I  think  there  may  be  many  calls  and  many  choos- 
ings  before  we  come  to  the  final  and  irreversible 
election.  Speaking  generally,  any  presentation  of 
truth  or  duty  to  the  mind  and  heart  of  man  is  a 
call  to  those  whom  it  reaches  to  embrace  that  truth 
and  take  up  and  follow  out  that  line  of  duty.  But 
what  we  mean  by  a  call  in  a  true  religious  sense 
is  the  opportunity  of  hearing,  and  the  consequent 
duty  of  receiving,  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  all  men  to  whom  that  Gospel 
is  preached  have  in  a  general  sense  received  a  call. 
A  call  that  does  not  necessarily  reach  the  ears  of 


284  Calling  and  Election. 

all  with  the  same  clearness  and  distinctness  of  tone, 
nor  lay  all  under  the  same  guilt  for  rejecting  it; 
God  alone  is  judge  of  that,  whose  ears  are  closed 
by  dulness,  whose  heart  is  shut  against  the  truth 
by  wilfulness  ;  some  cannot  understand  the  things 
that  belong  to  their  peace,  and  are  to  be  pitied  ; 
others  will  not,  and  are  to  be  condemned;  "but 
the  sound  that  is  gone  out  into  all  lands  "  is  surely 
a  call  of  some  kind,  in  whatever  land  its  vibrations 
have  made  themselves  felt.  And  those  who  are 
called  in  this  way  are,  so  far  as  they  obey  the  call, 
and  in  fact  whether  they  obey  or  not,  elect ,  chosen 
that  is,  out  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  as  the  recipients 
of  a  blessing  not  shared  by  others,  distinguished 
by  God's  favour,  and  entrusted  with  the  deposit  of 
His  truth,  whether  they  will  hear  or  whether  they 
will  forbear.  Thus  St.  Paul  writes  to  the  Eomans 
generally  as  "  called "  to  be  saints,  sanctified  Le. 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  had  been  given  them. 
And  we  find  this  and  similar  titles  constantly  used 
by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistles  to  the  other  Churches, 
The  Corinthians,  for  instance,  are  spoken  of  as 
"  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,"  called  to  be  saints. 
And  writing  to  the  Ephesians  he  speaks  of  himself, 
with  other  members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  as 
"chosen  in  Him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world; 
to  be  holy  and  without  blame  before  Him  in  love. 
Having  predestinated  us  unto  the  adoption  of  chil 
dren  by  Jesus  Christ  to  Himself,  according  to  the 
good  pleasure  of  His  will."  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  a  call  is  to  those  whom  it  reaches  an  election, 


Calling  and  Election.  285 

or  selection,  to  some  particular  favour  which  is  not 
extended  to  the  world  at  large.  A  call  in  fact  in 
cludes  an  election,  just  as  the  greater  and  more 
general  includes  the  lesser  and  more  special.  All 
who  are  elected  are  called,  but  all  who  are  called 
are  not  elected.  And  if  it  is  asked  wherein  is  the 
ground  and  basis  of  the  distinction,  it  seems  to  me 
to  lie  in  this.  That  whereas  the  call  lies  entirely 
outside  our  own  act  and  concurrence,  we  cannot 
be  elect  without  the  consent  and  agreement  of  our 
own  wills.  It  is  said  in  our  Articles  that  we 
through  grace  obey  the  calling,  and  he  must  know 
little  of  his  own  heart  who  imagines  that  he  can 
raise  himself  from  earth  to  heaven  without  the 
aid  of  Divine  Grace  at  each  successive  step.  Nor 
will  we  perplex  ourselves  here  with  endeavouring 
to  determine  the  action  of  Divine  Grace  upon  the 
will  of  man.  It  is  enough  to  know,  and  a  practical 
answer  to  all  questions  to  feel,  within  ourselves 
that  God  is  working  with  us  both  to  will  and  to 
do  according  to  His  pleasure,  and  they  that  obey 
the  call  will  be  conscious  to  themselves  that  it  is 
by  grace  that  they  obey  it.  Anyhow  they  obey 
it,  and  by  that  act  they  rise  from  the  lower  rank 
of  the  "  called "  to  the  higher  order  of  the  elect. 
But  this  is,  after  all,  the  first  degree  of  election, 
and  they  cannot  rest  on  the  first  stage  of  their 
ascent  All  Christian  life  is  indeed  but  a  series 
of  calls,  and  there  is  a  sifting  and  election  on  each 
successive  call.  "We  are  called  out  of  darkness 
into  light,  out  of  ignorance  into  knowledge,  from 


286  Calling  and  Election. 

worldly  into  spiritual  duties  and  relations,  from 
a  low  and  sensual  life  into  a  high  and  hea 
venly  one,  from  the  shadows  and  vanities  of  this 
world  into  the  truth  and  realities  of  a  better. 
"Wherever  we  are  there  is  an  onward  call  to  us 
to  be  something  better  than  we  are,  more  pure, 
more  holy,  more  self-denying,  more  like  Him  that 
has  called  us  out  of  darkness  into  His  marvellous 
light,  and  wills  that  where  He  is,  there  we  should 
be  also, 

But  this  election  to  the  higher  implies  of  necessity 
the  rejection  of  those  who  are  content  with  the  lower. 
It  is  a  process  continually  going  on,  God  is  per 
petually  inviting  us  to  higher  privileges  and  a  fuller 
portion  of  His  love.  His  Holy  Spirit  is  ever  striving 
with  us  to  raise  our  thoughts  and  purify  our  hearts, 
and  conform  our  will  entirely  to  His  Will.  It  is 
ours  to  choose,  and  thereby  we  shew  that  we  are 
chosen.  It  is  ours  to  reject,  and  thereby  we  shew 
that  we  are  rejected  by  Him.  The  work  of  refine 
ment,  clearing  off  the  grosser  elements  and  sepa 
rating  the  higher  ones,  is  constantly  in  progress. 
"  Many  are  called  but  few  are  chosen."  These  words 
are  intended  not  to  depress  or  discourage  us,  but 
to  make  us  what  we  must  needs  be  here,  diligent  and 
careful,  working  out  our  own  salvation  in  fear  and 
trembling,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  God  who 
worketh  with  us  and  in  us.  What  was  the  case 
of  this  man  of  whom  we  have  just  been  hearing  in 
the  Gospel  ?  He  was  called,  and  he  obeyed  the  call. 
He  was  not  among  those  who  made  light  of  the 


Calling  and  Election.  287 

message,  or  pleaded  their  pleasure  or  their  business, 
or  who  entreated  spitefully  and  slew  the  messengers 
who  came  to  call  them.  lie  was  found  at  the  mar 
riage  supper  of  the  King,  and  surely  it  was  no  uncer 
tain  sign  of  election,  and  no  small  degree  of  favour 
to  be  admitted  to  the  royal  feast.  Good  and  bad 
were  there,  for  the  wedding  was  prepared  for  both. 
Good  men  such  as  Cornelius,  whose  prayers  and  alms 
had  already  gone  up  as  a  memorial  to  God.  Gentiles, 
who  having  not  the  law,  yet  shewed  the  work  of  it 
written  in  their  hearts,  and  were  a  law  unto  them 
selves  ;  others  far  gone  in  moral  depravity,  sinners 
of  the  worst  class,  which  St.  Paul  enumerates,  adding 
of  the  Corinthians  "  and  such  were  some  of  you." 
This  man  was  amongst  them,  but  he  was  without  the 
wedding  garment.  It  is  idle  to  enquire,  how  could 
it  have  been  otherwise?  How,  gathered  in  hastily, 
unsummoned,  from  the  highways,  could  he  have  pro 
vided  himself  with  one  ?  The  difficulty  belongs  sim 
ply  to  the  earthly  details  of  the  parable,  and  does 
not  attach  to  the  spiritual  truth.  It  would  not  have 
been  inconsistent  with  the  custom  of  a  royal  banquet, 
prepared  with  the  magnificence  due  to  the  marriage 
of  a  king's  son,  that  all  the  guests  were  provided 
with  garments  for  the  occasion.  There  are  traces  of 
such  a  custom  existing  in  the  East  in  former  times. 
At  all  events  the  gift  of  costly  garments  on  a  great 
occasion  was  considered  to  be  a  gift  worthy  of 
a  king,  and  the  rejection  of  the  gift  could  not  be 
taken  otherwise  than  as  a  marked  affront.  Had  this 
man  no  opportunity  of  dressing  himself  as  the  other 


288  Calling  and  Election. 

guests,  it  is  clear  that  a  great  wrong  was  done  unto 
him.  But  whatever  others  may  say  or  think  on  his 
behalf  he  himself  had  nothing  to  say,  he  was  speech 
less,  his  mouth  stopped,  actually  gagged,  with  no  plea 
of  inability,  no  defence  for  his  contemptuous  be 
haviour;  he  was  self-condemned,  and  judgment  im 
mediately  was  pronounced  against  him :  "  Bind  him 
hand  and  foot  and  take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into 
outer  darkness.  There  shall  be  weeping  and  gnash 
ing  of  teeth." 

There  is  something  very  striking  in  the  circum 
stance  that  no  one  seems  to  have  observed  the  state 
of  this  man  till  "  the  King  Himself  came  in  to  see  the 
guests."  None  had  seen  him  before,  or  at  least  ven 
tured  to  remove  him.  It  was  the  servants'  work 
to  gather  in  the  guests,  and  they  had  discharged  it 
faithfully,  but,  as  in  the  parable  of  the  wheat  and 
tares,  there  could  be  no  separation  of  the  worthy  and 
unworthy  till  He  whose  ministers  they  were  ap 
peared.  And  most  fit  it  was  that  this  office  should 
be  reserved  for  Him.  For  the  outer  garment  which 
all  may  see  and  judge  is  but  the  figure;  the  real 
garment  for  the  marriage-feast  is  the  clothing  of  the 
inner  man,  which  is  seen  and  known  not  of  man,  but 
of  God. 

It  is  idle  to  be  over  curious  in  enquiring  what 
that  grace  was  in  which  he  was  wanting,  when  we 
know  what  God  requires  us  to  be.  God  requires  us 
to  believe  in  Him,  to  obey  Him,  and  to  love  Him. 
Shall  we  say  that  his  faith  was  evident  from  his 
being  there  at  all,  when  like  others  he  might  have 


Calling  and  Election.  289 

refused  to  come,  and  therefore  say  that  he  had  faith, 
but  was  lacking  in  charity  ?  There  is  no  advantage 
in  thus  setting  up  one  grace  against  another,  as 
though  it  were  possible  for  them  to  be  independent 
of  each  other.  If  his  faith  went  no  further  than 
to  bring  him  to  the  feast,  because  he  believed  there 
would  be  a  feast,  without  any  regard  to  his  own 
fitness  to  appear  there,  it  was  that  faith  which  is 
pronounced  dead,  not  that  which  worketh  by,  or 
rather  is  made  active  and  energetic  by,  love ;  that 
faith  which  is  less  than  charity,  not  because  charity 
is  without  it  or  distinct  from  it,  but  because  charity 
is  its  flower  and  crown.  He  had  not,  according  to 
the  language  of  St.  Paul,  put  on  Christ,  clothed  him 
self  with  His  righteousness,  faith  being  the  power 
that  is  put  on,  righteousness  the  robe  that  is  worn, 
a  robe  not  of  our  weaving,  not  made  with  hands,  and 
yet  akin  to  us,  fitting  and  adorning  our  natures, 
though  far  above  them,  freely  offered  to  all,  and 
received  by  those  who  will  receive  it ;  the  righteous 
ness  which  is  in  Christ,  who  is  indeed  the  "  Lord 
our  Bighteousness." 

When  our  blessed  Lord  was  asked,  "  Are  there  few 
that  be  saved  ? "  as  a  speculative  question,  He  did 
not  care  to  give  a  direct  answer  to  it,  but  evaded 
it,  as  we  say,  by  a  solemn  and  practical  warning : 
"  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  but  He 
added,  "  For  many,  I  say  unto  you,  will  seek  to  enter 
in,  and  shall  not  be  able."  There  were  then,  and 
there  are  now,  many  obstacles  between  men  and  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven.  It  was,  as  our  Saviour  says, 

u 


290  Calling  and  Election. 

suffering  violence,  and  the  strong  men  were  taking 
it  by  force.     There  was  the  barrier  of  Jewish  pre 
judices  to  be  broken,  and  the  conceit  of  Jewish  pride 
to  be  humiliated,  the  folly  of  ages,  inveterate  in  the 
human  mind,  and  miscalled  wisdom,  to  be  convinced, 
human   nature   itself  to    be    overcome,    persecution 
promised  and  sure  to  ensue,  to  be  encountered  and 
endured.     Nothing  but  a  strong  purpose  and  a  reso 
lute  will,   divinely  formed  and  strengthened,  could 
be  expected  to  embrace  a  religion  with  such  require 
ments   and   such   prospects.      A   dilatory   wish   and 
a  feeble  sentiment  under  such  circumstances  would 
lead  to  nothing.     Most  of  these  difficulties  have  dis 
appeared,  the  material  obstacles  that  could  keep  men 
out  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  are  less  than  nothing. 
The  difficulties  and  obstacles  that  remain  are  simply 
those  that  arise  from  the  state  of  our  own  hearts. 
It  is  still  a  strife  and  a  struggle  to  enter  in,  and 
maintain   our   place   there  when   we   have  entered. 
It  is  according  to  that  state  that  we  shall  be  judged 
by  the  Discerner  of  all  hearts  when  He  shall  come  in 
to  see  the  guests.     Let  the  knowledge  that  if  there 
be  but  one  in  the  furnished  room  unworthy  to  sit 
there  the  eye  of  the  King  will   be  on  him  in  an 
instant,  and  detect  and  condemn  his  unworthiness, 
make  us  give  heed.     But  let  us  not,  on  the  strength 
of  our  Saviour's  words  of  caution,  narrow  the  breadth 
of  God's  kingdom,  either  to  the  exclusion  of  others 
or  our  own  despair.    Let  us  rather  think  of  His  large 
and  liberal  words  of  invitation,  of  God's  unbounded 
rnercy,  of  the  Saviour's  own  assurance,  "  that  whoso- 


Calling  and  Election.  291 

ever  cometh  unto  Him,  lie  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 
Be  sure  there  is  a  place  for  us  among  those  that 
shall  come  from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  and 
from  the  north  and  from  the  south,  and  sit  down 
in  the  kingdom ;  among  that  great  multitude  which 
no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds, 
and  people,  and  tongues,  who,  after  the  sealed  of 
Israel,  will  stand  before  the  throne  and  the  Lamb, 
clothed  with  white  robes  and  palms  in  their  hands, 
crying  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Salvation  to  our  God  and 
unto  the  Lamb." 


SERMON  XVIII. 


EOM.  vi.  21. 

"  What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof 
ye  are  now  ashamed?" 

CT.  PAUL  makes  an  appeal  here  to  the  experience 
of  those  to  whom  he  is  writing.  He  had  not 
drawn  from  his  imagination  such  attractive  and 
repulsive  pictures  of  two  different  modes  of  life 
as  might  come  from  the  pen  of  a  philosopher,  or 
moralist,  or  poet,  and  then  asked  them  which  they 
preferred,  as  to  its  pleasures,  or  troubles,  or  results, 
but  he  writes  to  them  as  men  who  in  their  own 
persons  had  already,  so  to  speak,  passed  through 
one  state  of  existence,  and  had  now  entered  upon 
another.  Pictures  of  happiness  or  misery  as  re 
sulting  from  this  or  that  line  of  conduct  may  have 
their  influence  on  our  hearts,  and  we  may  be  drawn 
onward  in  our  heavenly  course  by  the  idea  of  "  things 
which  the  eye  hath  never  seen,  nor  the  ear  heard, 
nor  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  con 
ceive;"  but  there  is  no  teacher  like  experience, 
and  he  that  has  passed  through  that  ordeal  can  give 
an  answer  to  the  question  that  is  asked  him,  as  to 
what  the  real  state  of  things  is  which  no  amount  of 
mere  thought  or  imagination  can  supply.  St.  Paul, 


Conversion.  293 

therefore,  puts  this  plain  question  to  tho  experience 
of  the  Komans,  "What  fruit  had  ye  then  in  those 
things  whereof  ye  are  now  ashamed?"  They  had 
lived  one  life,  and  they  were  now  living  another, 
and  they  could  compare  the  two  together.  If  we 
want  to  know  what  life  they  had  lived,  it  is  de 
scribed  in  few  but  very  significant  words:  "They 
had  been  servants,  or  rather  slaves,  of  sin, — 
their  affections  had  been  given  up  to  sin, — and 
righteousness  had  no  share  in  them."  And  as  in 
all  natural  motion  there  must  be  a  point  from  which, 
and  a  point  to  which,  and  a  space  through  which 
the  motion  takes  place,  so  is  it  with  regard  to  moral 
and  spiritual  change.  Servants  of  sin,  that  was 
their  fixed  and  normal  state,  their  starting-point, 
so  to  speak.  "But  they  had  obeyed  from  the 
heart  that  form  of  doctrine  that  was  delivered  to 
them."  Ilere  was  the  change  or  motion  of  the 
inner  man,  and  it  is  worth  noticing  how  it  is 
described.  We  should  be  disposed  to  connect  a  form 
of  doctrine,  i.e.  a  system  of  truth,  rather  with  the 
understanding  than  with  the  heart,  and  should 
speak  of  a  man  rather  as  assenting  to  it,  and  be 
lieving  in  it,  than  as  obeying  it.  Thus  if  I  were 
able  to  teach  an  ignorant  person  the  laws  of  astro 
nomy,  or  ,any  other  laws  of  the  material  universe,  and 
bring  them  home  to  his  comprehension,  I  should  say 
that  he  took  them  in — or  made  himself  master  of 
them — rather  than  that  he  obeyed  them.  The  natural 
world  goes  on  the  same,  whether  we  know  its  laws 
or  are  ignorant  of  them ;  and  the  man  of  science 


294  Conversion. 

deals  with  tangible  things  in  very  much  the  same 
way  as  the  practical  man  who  has  no  pretensions 
to  science.  People  formerly  thought,  and  very  ignor 
ant  persons  may  even  now  think,  that  the  sun  moves 
daily  round  the  earth,  and  each  glorious  morning 
recalls  to  us  the  idea  of  "  this  ruler  of  the  day  com 
ing  forth  as  a  bridegroom  out  of  his  chamber,  and 
rejoicing  as  a  giant  to  run  his  course."  But  if 
we  know  how  to  distinguish  between  appearances 
and  reality,  the  daily  routine  of  our  lives  does  not 
seem  to  be  in  any  way  affected  by  the  knowledge. 
"  Man  goeth  forth  to  his  work  and  to  his  labour 
until  the  evening/'  without  thinking  how  it  is  that 
day  succeeds  to  night,  and  night  to  day.  I  am  far 
from  saying  that  science  is  of  no  use  to  life,  but  that 
men  live  a  great  part  of  their  lives  without  conscious 
obedience  to  it.  The  laws  of  the  material  world 
do  not  necessarily  become  laws  of  their  conduct. 
And  this  is  the  great  difference  between  natural 
and  religious  truth.  Eeligious  truth,  the  form  of 
sound  doctrine,  once  received  and  believed,  becomes 
at  once  a  power  within  ourselves,  a  new  form  of 
conscience  which  will  be  respected  and  obeyed.  It 
may  be  expressed  in  words,  and  those  words  may  be 
learned  like  any  other  lesson,  the  intellect  may  even 
be  impressed  and  convinced  of  them,  and  yet,  by  the 
constitution  of  human  nature,  they  may  never  reach 
the  heart.  This  is  in  fact  degrading  religious  truth 
to  the  level  of  natural  truth;  it  is  what  may  be 
called  "  having  the  form  of  godliness  without  its 
power."  But  St.  Paul  thanked  God  for  the  converts 


Conversion.  !^95 

at  Borne,  not  that  they  had  embraced  the  "form  of 
doctrine "  which  he  had  delivered  to  them,  in  this 
sense,  but  "  that  they  had  obeyed  it  from  the  heart." 
It  had  become  a  rule  of  their  conduct,  in  thought, 
word,  and  deed,  not  reducing  it  to  order  and  system 
according  to  the  word  of  command,  and  a  moral 
drill,  but  determining  it  from  within,  by  its  own 
essential  force  and  constraining  motives,  bringing 
every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  Christ, 
and  yet  emancipating  them  into  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  Sons  of  God.  This  was  the  change  or  space 
through  which  they  had  passed,  and  here  is  the  point 
at  which  they  had  now  arrived  —  Servants  of  God. 
Let  me  repeat  again  the  whole  process.  They  had 
been  slaves  of  sin ;  they  had  obeyed  from  the  heart 
the  form  of  doctrine  delivered  to  them;  they  were 
now  slaves  of  God. 

Now  observe  that  St.  Paul  is  speaking  here  simply 
of  facts — of  the  actual  circumstances,  that  is,  of  the 
persons  to  whom  he  is  writing — respecting  which  ho 
appeals  to  their  own  experience  whether  the  account 
he  gives  of  them  is  not  true.  These  Eomans  were 
such,  and  he  thanks  God  for  it ;  but  he  by  no  means 
tells  us  that  all  persons  ought  to  live  such  lives  as  to 
oblige  them  to  confess  "that  they  had  ever  been 
servants  of  sin ;"  for  this  would  be  in  effect  to  deny 
that  God  had  ever  given  unto  those  whom  He  has 
adopted  into  His  family,  and  taken  into  the  arms  of 
His  mercy,  such  a  measure  of  grace  as  to  preserve 
them  from  sin ;  it  would  be  in  effect  to  declare  that 
the  prayer  which  we  offer  over  every  new-born  child 


296  Conversion. 

that  is  brought  to  the  laver  of  regeneration — "  that 
he  may  lead  the  rest  of  his  life  according  to  that  be 
ginning  " — is  a  mere  profane  mockery  of  idle  words, 
breathed  in  no  spirit  of  faith,  and  therefore  powerless 
to  obtain  any  spiritual  blessing;  it  would  be  to  de 
clare  that  it  is  by  God's  appointment,  and  not  by  our 
despite  of  His  long-suffering  and  goodness,  by  the 
failure  of  His  gifts,  and  not  by  our  neglect  and  wast 
ing  of  them,  that  umen  continue  in  sin,  in  order  that 
grace  may  abound."  There  is  the  same  cause  as 
ever  to  give  thanks  for  the  restoration  of  the  lost, 
and  the  recovery  of  the  sinner;  but  who  in  the 
very  heart  of  God's  Church,  and  with  His  Word  and 
Ordinances,  will  contend  that  it  is  necessary  that  all 
men  should  have  been  sinners — I  mean  in  the  sense 
of  "  servants  of  sin  ?"  for  no  one  will  suppose  that  those 
whom  St.  Paul  now  calls  " servants  of  God"  were 
absolutely  free  from  all  stain  of  sin.  The  ways  of  God 
are  mysterious,  and  past  finding  out.  The  Spirit 
moveth  where  He  listeth,  and  we  know  not  the  laws 
of  His  motion,  and  nothing  is  more  presumptuous  than 
either  to  say  or  deny  how  He  may  or  may  not  act 
upon  the  heart  of  man.  Therefore  while  we  may 
yield  hearty  thanks  to  Almighty  God  that  it  hath 
pleased  Him  to  regenerate  with  His  Holy  Spirit  each 
infant  that  is  brought  unto  Him  in  Baptism — to  re 
ceive  him  as  His  own  child  by  adoption,  and  to  in 
corporate  him  into  His  holy  Church — there  is  nothing 
to  hinder  us  from  believing — and  when  we  look  to  the 
irreligious  lives  of  many  who  are  sealed  with  the 
name  of  Christ  we  may  find  comfort  in  believing — that 


Conversion.  297 

He  may  act  also  with  power  and  efficacy,  and  in 
a  more  sensible  way,  upon  those  who  have  hitherto 
not  known  Him,  at  a  later  hour  of  their  day,  or  when 
the  shades  of  evening  are  closing  thick  around  them. 
To  use  the  familiar  word,  what  I  deny  is  not  the 
reality  of  conversion  in  particular  cases,  but  its  neces 
sity  in  all.  I  deny  its  necessity,  because  I  deny  the 
necessity  of  all  persons  ever  having  been  in  any  part 
of  their  lives  "  the  slaves  of  sin."  I  believe  God's 
grace  to  be  sufficient  for  men  in  any  part  of  their 
lives,  and  growth  in  grace,  just  as  much  as  growth 
in  stature,  to  be  the  proper  law  of  their  lives.  St. 
Paul  gives  a  fearful  list  of  persons  who  shall  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  among  whom  thieves, 
covetous,  drunkards,  are  not  the  most  abominable. 
Such  were  some  of  the  Corinthians,  but  what  higher 
language  can  be  used  than  that  in  which  he  now 
speaks  of  these  same  persons :  "  Ye  are  washed,  ye 
are  sanctified,  ye  are  justified  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God?"  but  is 
it  necessary  that  any  baptized  Christian  should  ever 
have  classed  himself  with  such  persons?  There  are 
such  persons  now,  but  when  he  that  steals  learns  to 
steal  no  more,  when  the  man  of  profligate  and  aban 
doned  life  manifestly  forsakes  his  sins,  and  alters  his 
ways,  when  the  obdurate  heart  is  broken  down,  and 
yields  to  influences  of  which  it  was  never  sensible 
before,  when  there  is  a  manifest  improvement,  and 
a  struggle  upwards — though  it  be  a  painful  one  and 
with  many  falls — then  I  see  a  good  work  beginning, 
and  there  is  ground  to  hope  that  He  who  has  begun 


298  Conversion. 

that  good  work  will  carry  it  on  unto  perfection. 
Such  a  man  is  passing,  if  he  has  not  passed  already, 
from  death  unto  life ;  old  things  are  passing  away, 
and  all  things  are  becoming  new.  He  is  really  cru 
cifying  the  old  man,  though  late,  and  putting  on  the 
new.  "We  will  not  differ  about  words;  let  it  be 
called,  if  you  please,  conversion,  or  even  a  new  birth ; 
for  it  is  in  effect  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness,  and 
we  may  say  truly  of  such  a  person,  "  He  was  dead, 
and  is  alive,  he  was  lost,  and  is  found." 

But  it  may  be  said,  though  all  men  need  not  have 
been  thieves  and  drunkards  and  extortioners,  and 
therefore  need  not  the  change  that  such  persons  are 
capable  of,  yet  that  there  is  even  among  persons  of 
irreproachable  lives  a  worldliness  and  a  deadness 
to  spiritual  things,  out  of  which  we  must  pass  before 
we  can  call  ourselves  the  true  children  of  God,  and  that 
some  persons  are  sensible  of  this  change  coming  over 
them  at  some  particular  period  or  even  moment  of 
their  lives — it  has  come  upon  some  we  know  in  their 
beds,  and  a  heavenly  influence  has  filled  the  dark 
ness  and  silence  of  the  night,  and  that  this  is  that 
conversion  of  which  our  Saviour  speaks  as  necessary 
to  those  who  would  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ; 
— let  them  give  thanks  to  Him  who  has  so  mysteri 
ously  called  them,  and  be  careful  to  date  a  really 
new  life  from  the  impression  which  their  memory 
records.  And  if  by  insisting  on  the  necessity  of 
some  such  change  as  this  they  merely  mean  to  say 
that  men  in  general  give  little  evidence  of  the  life 
of  God  within  them,  and  that  a  great  and  sensible 


Conversion.  299 

change  is  needed  before  they  can  call  themselves 
true  children  of  God,  so  far,  unhappily,  we  are  com 
pelled  to  agree;  but  let  them  not  deny  the  possi 
bility  in  other  cases  of  a  growth  of  grace  from  the 
first  stirring  of  Christian  life,  more  closely  resem 
bling  that  growth  of  natural  stature  by  which  the 
helpless  infant  is  advanced  to  the  full  measure  of 
a  man.  In  the  years  of  our  growth  we  cannot 
measure  ourselves,  or  estimate  the  increase  of  our 
strength  from  day  to  day ;  the  change  is  too  gradual 
to  be  perceived :  we  cannot  say,  this  day  I  ceased 
to  be  an  infant  and  began  to  be  a  child,  on  such 
another  day  I  counted  myself  to  be  a  man ;  but  after 
intervals  we  feel  that  we  are  taller,  stronger  than 
before ;  and  though  our  growth  has  been  continuous, 
circumstances  may  have  impressed  it  upon  us  at  par 
ticular  times,  so  that  we  can  distinguish  its  stages. 
Just  so  in  looking  back  upon  our  spiritual  life  we 
may  remember  critical  periods :  times  of  special 
experience,  moments  of  refreshment  by  God's  Holy 
Spirit,  hours  of  deep  and  solemn  thought,  days  of 
protracted  struggling,  how  we  strove  successfully 
with  some  besetting  sin  which  has  left  us  for  ever, 
how  we  formed  some  good  resolution  which  we  have 
consistently  kept.  These  are  the  red-letter  days 
of  our  calendar ;  on  each  of  these  we  made  a  sensible 
advance  towards  heaven,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
our  whole  course  has  not  been  upwards,  though  we 
only  felt  its  weariness ;  and  if  all  this  and  much 
more  should  be  compressed  into  one  moment,  so  that 
we  seemed  rather  to  be  borne  on  the  wings  of  a 


300  Conversion. 

dove  than  to  be  creeping  on  the  feeble  limbs  of 
a  man,  and  to  be  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven, 
yet  God  may  be  drawing  others  to  Himself  by  an 
other,  and  perhaps  a  safer  way,  not  of  transports 
and  ecstasies,  but  of  humble  faith,  and  patient  labour, 
and  ordinary  means  of  grace,  and  consistent  continu 
ance,  through  His  aid,  in  well-doing.  It  is  possible, 
too,  that  a  man's  sins,  or  some  sin,  may  drop  off  him 
all  at  once,  like  a  discarded  garment,  while  they 
may  cling  closely  to  others,  so  that  they  cry  in 
agony,  "  "Who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body 
of  this  death?"  But  let  those  who  feel  that  it  is  so 
with  them,  and  that  they  can  now  speak  of  the 
service  of  sin  as  a  thing  that  is  passed,  remember 
how  St.  Paul  writes  to  them  whom  he  yet  calls 
u  servants  of  God :"  "  They  are  free  from  sin,"  yet 
they  are  warned  not  "  to  let  sin  reign  in  theii 
mortal  bodies,"  which  implies  that  they  are  still 
under  its  influence.  They  are  to  yield  their  mem 
bers  servants  to  righteousness  as  they  once  did 
unto  iniquity,  which  implies  that  they  may  still 
"by  reason  of  the  infirmity  of  their  flesh,"  even 
if  their  will  be  good,  do  otherwise,  and  if  there  is 
no  condemnation  for  them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus, 
it  is  with  this  provision,  a  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  They  who  feel  that 
the  bonds  of  sin  are  really  loosening  from  them, 
and  the  burden  that  hinders  them  from  running 
their  course  freely  is  becoming  daily  lighter,  have 
every  encouragement  to  persevere ;  but  when  men 
profess  to  have  undergone  a  thorough  change,  and 


Conversion.  301 

to  have  passed  at  once  from  the  condition  of  "  ser 
vants  of  sin  "  to  that  of  "  servants  of  God,"  it  is  time 
to  warn  them  against  self-deceit,  and  to  bid  them 
take  heed  lest  they  fall.  The  Apostle  who  used  the 
strongest  language  on  the  perfection  of  Christian  obe 
dience, — who  tells  us  not  only  that  he  "  that  abideth 
in  God  sinneth  not,  that  whosoever  sinneth  hath 
not  seen  nim,  neither  known  Him ;"  nay  more,  that 
"  whosoever  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit  sin ; 
for  His  seed  remaineth  in  him  :  and  he  cannot  sin, 
because  he  is  born  of  God.  He  keepeth  himself,  and 
that  wicked  one  toucheth  him  not,"-— writes  also  in 
terms  that  are  familiar  to  all :  "  If  we  say  that  we 
have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is 
not  in  us.  But  if  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faith 
ful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us 
from  all  unrighteousness."  And  while  he  tells  his 
little  children  that  he  writes  to  them  "  that  they  sin 
not,"  he  almost  assumes  that  they  will,  for  ho  adds, 
"  And  if  any  man  sin,  we  have  an  Advocate  with  the 
Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous,  and  He  is  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins :  and  not  for  ours  only,  but 
also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world."  So  that  while 
it  is  a  disgrace  and  a  reproach  to  us  to  have  to  con 
fess  that  we  were  ever  "  servants  of  sin,"  we  may  not 
boast  ourselves  to  be  free  from  sin,  even  in  profess 
ing  ourselves  "  servants  of  God."  And  I  fear  there 
are  few  of  us  to  whom  the  question  of  St.  Paul  may 
not  be  put  with  more  or  less  of  fitness — "  What  fruit 
had  ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye  are  now 
ashamed?" 


302  Conversion. 

Which  of  us  can  unroll  the  record  of  his  past  life 
and  find  nothing  there  that  is  occasion  of  shame? 
A  great  deal  might  be  said  of  this  feeling  of  shame. 
It  is  a  sense  of  dishonour,  of  vileness,  of  degradation 
here.  It  is  a  painful  trouble  and  disturbance  of 
mind  when  we  are  grieved  and  cast  down  by  the 
remembrance  of  sin  against  God.  It  may  be  the  be 
ginning  of  repentance  when  we  resolve  that  we  will 
no  more  dishonour  and  defile  ourselves,  and  rise 
again  to  the  dignity  of  our  nature,  and  the  standard 
of  our  call.  And  so  far  it  is  a  good  affection,  though 
it  may  bring  an  agony  with  it ;  but  if  it  is  not  that, 
then  in  bad  men  it  becomes  part  of  the  tortures  of 
hell.  There  are  those  who  are  ashamed  of  "  the  Son 
of  Man  and  of  His  words  here,  and  of  whom  He  shall 
be  ashamed  when  He  cometh  in  the  glory  of  His 
Father  with  the  holy  angels."  And  then,  perhaps,  just 
so  much  of  a  reprobate  conscience  will  be  left  us  as 
to  make  us  feel  the  ignominy  of  being  objects  of  con 
tempt,  not  to  men  only,  but  to  those  higher  beings, 
who  might  have  ministered  to  us  as  heirs  of  salva 
tion,  or  rejoiced  over  us  as  repentant  sinners.  Let 
the  shame  which  surrounds  the  memory  of  past  mis 
deed  quicken  us  to  a  resolution  to  forsake  all  things 
that  put  us  to  shame,  and  bring  shame  on  us.  "  For 
the  end  of  these  things  is  death,"  death  of  the  body, 
even  when  renounced  and  repented  of,  otherwise 
death,  i.e.  infinite  misery  of  body  and  soul  together. 
4 'The  wages  of  sin  is  death."  What  a  lamentable 
consideration.  By  the  labour  of  a  whole  life  to 
have  brought  upon  ourselves  not  only  reproach  and 


Conversion.  303 

shame,  but  to  have  ensured  remorse  and  torment 
without  interval  or  limit.  And  that,  too,  not  from 
adverse  circumstances  out  of  our  control,  which  have 
confounded  our  plans,  and  disappointed  our  hopes, 
but  from  sheer  wilfulness,  because  we  would  not 
receive  a  blessing  prepared  for  us,  because  life  and 
death  were  set  before  us,  and  we  chose  death ;  for  if 
"  the  wages  of  sin  is  death,  the  gift  of  God  is  eter 
nal  life,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 


SEEMON  XIX. 

mah^tfj  Hlmt, — ^mmran  |)resib,enis. 


l  SAM.  x.  6. 

And  the  Spirit  of  tlie  Lord  will  come  upon  thce,  and  thou 
shalt  prophesy  idth  them,  and  shalt  be  turned  into  another 


F  KNOW  no  character  in  Scripture,  except  Saul  the 
son  of  Kish,  of  whom  these  words,  or  anything 
like  them,  are  used ;  and  virtually  they  are  explained 
by  what  is  said  a  few  verses  lower — that  "  God  gave 
him  another  heart."  They  may  remind  some  of  us, 
perhaps,  of  the  change  which  was  promised  by  our 
Lord  to  the  Apostles,  and  realized  on  the  day  of  Pen 
tecost,  "Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  come  upon  you."  But,  whereas  the  Apo 
stles  became  what  we  call  in  popular  language  "  dif 
ferent  men" — in  respect  of  their  ideas,  knowledge, 
and  action — we  cannot  help  feeling  that  Saul  was 
very  much  the  same  man  before  and  after  the  "  Spirit 
of  God  came  upon  him,  and  he  prophesied  among  the 
prophets,"  and  this  notwithstanding  the  change  which 
was  so  great  as  to  be  almost  inconceivable  among 
those  who  knew  him,  so  that  it  became  a  kind  of 
proverb,  which  was  used  familiarly,  "  Is  Saul  also 
among  the  prophets?"  By  saying  that  Saul  con 
tinued  to  be  very  much  the  same  man,  I  do  not  of 
course  mean  to  deny  that  the  Spirit  wrought  a  great 


Poivcr  makyth  Man.  305 

change  in  him,  I  mean  that  his  moral  qualities  and 
character  do  not  seem  to  have  been  materially  altered. 
These  qualities,  as  we  infer  from  his  history  in  Scrip 
ture,  were  partly  good  and  partly  bad.  We  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  first  were  wanting 
before  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him,  and  no 
one  would  think  of  attributing  the  second  to  that 
source.  Every  man  is  a  mystery  even  to  himself, 
he  has  an  individuality  which  belongs  to  no  one  else, 
he  is  not  an  unit  of  a  large  number,  but  stands  ab 
solutely  alone.  Hereafter  he  will  not  be  counted 
in  but  judged.  The  character  of  Saul  has  an  indi 
viduality  of  its  own,  mysterious  beyond  that  of  all 
other  persons.  We  cannot  say  whether  a  jury  of  the 
present  day  would  have  pronounced  him  mad  or  sane 
if  he  had  committed  the  crime  which  he  persistently 
attempted  of  the  murder  of  David.  The  strange 
influence  of  music  upon  his  wilful  and  passionate 
nature  belongs  to  those  secret  things  which  it  is  im 
possible  to  account  for  even  in  oneself,  yet  I  think 
we  can  all  feel  that  there  is  something  real  in  this 
influence,  and  that  it  is  not  altogether  strange  to 
our  experience.  "  It  came  to  pass,  wlien  the  evil 
spirit  from  God  was  upon  Saul,  that  David  took  an 
harp  and  played  with  his  hand :  so  Saul  was  re 
freshed,  and  was  well,  and  the  evil  spirit  departed 
from  him." 

If  we  look  to  the  good  features  of  Saul  as  a  natural 
man  I  think  we  shall  find  these  to  be  among  them ; 
he  was  generous  and  magnanimous,  he  had  energy 
and  decision  in  action.  When  his  elevation  to  the 

x 


306  Power  makyth  Man. 

kingdom  was  announced  to  him  he  was  not  unset 
tled,  but  kept  the  matter  secret.  When  the  divine 
lot  fell  upon  him  he  hid  himself,  as  though  he  shrank 
from  the  high  position.  When  the  children  of  Belial 
asked,  "  How  shall  this  man  save  us  ?"  and  "  despised 
him,"  he  shewed  no  resentment,  and  simply  held  his 
peace.  After  his  victory  over  the  Ammonites  the 
popular  cry  arose,  "  Who  is  he  that  said,  Shall  Saul 
reign  over  us  ?  bring  the  men,  that  we  may  put  them 
to  death  ;"  but  he  set  himself  against  the  cry,  "  There 
si i all  not  a  man  be  put  to  death  this  day :  for  to-day 
the  Lord  hath  wrought  salvation  in  Israel."  We  seem 
here  to  find  noble  traits  of  natural  character;  on  the 
other  hand  they  are  closely  associated  with  other 
qualities  of  reserve,  wilfulness,  pride,  and  self-will, 
which  are  at  the  same  time  symptoms  of  mental  aber 
ration,  and,  in  another  point  of  view,  not  inconsistent 
with  magnanimity.  The  persons  who  were  raised  to 
high  places  in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel  were, 
above  all  other  persons  in  the  world,  expected  to  be 
passive  agents  of  the  Divine  will,  they  were  to  do 
exactly  what  they  were  told  without  discretion.  This 
is  a  hard  place  to  occupy,  requiring  an  entire  sacri 
fice  of  one's  own  will,  and  Saul  would  not  consent  to 
it.  He  shewed  this  on  two  occasions,  and  both  occa 
sions  terminated  in  his  deliberate  fall.  When  sent 
to  inflict  judgment  on  the  Amalekites,  he  spared 
those  whom  he  was  ordered  to  slay ;  he  preferred  his 
own  ways  to  those  which  God  had  determined;  his 
obedience  was  not  refused,  but  it  was  limited  and 
discretionary,  and  it  called  forth  words  which  are 


American  Presidents.  307 

a  warning  to  all  men  to  the  end  of  time  :  "  Hath  the 
Lord  as  great  delight  in  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices, 
as  in  obeying  the  voice  of  the  Lord  ?  Behold,  to  obey 
is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat 
of  rams.  For  rebellion  is  as  the  sin  of  witchcraft, 
and  stubbornness  is  as  iniquity  and  idolatry." 

It  is,  I  say,  difficult  to  define  what  is  exactly  meant 
by  "  Saul  being  turned  into  another  man."  But  it  is 
well  pointed  out  that  the  word  which  we  translate 
"  heart "  in  x.  9  points  rather  to  the  intellect  and 
courage  than  to  the  affections  and  conscience.  He 
was  endowed  at  once  by  the  special  gift  of  God  with 
those  gifts  of  courage  and  intellect  which  fitted  him 
to  be  a  king  and  ruler  of  the  people  whose  destinies 
were  committed  to  him.  That  people  wanted  a  king 
to  lead  them  into  battle,  and  his  gigantic  stature  and 
majesty  was  endowed  with  a  capacity  for  ruling  a 
nation ;  the  humble  searcher  after  his  father's  asses 
found  himself  suddenly  an  anointed  king,  and  no  less 
suddenly  made  fit  for  it.  Surely  if  such  dignity  was 
thrust  upon  us  we  must  be  other  men  if  it  did  not 
crush  us ;  and  let  us  not  here  diminish  the  force  of 
the  words  of  Scripture.  Undoubtedly  they  imply 
that  a  special  divine  gift  and  illumination  was  con 
ferred  upon  him,  by  which  he  became  capable  of  be 
ing  what  the  old  Greek  poet  calls  in  his  grand  and 
simple  language  a  "  king  of  men."  And  here  we  are 
not  to  confound  the  special  action  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  with  that  development  of  unknown  and  unsus 
pected  powers,  which  is  sometimes  found  in  persons 
who  are  elevated  to  a  high  station.  An  eminent 

x2 


308  Power  makyih  Man. 

person  told  me  once  that  he  thought  any  one  had  wit 
enough  for  any  office  if  he  had  wit  enough  to  get  it. 
It  seemed  a  quaint  way  of  stating  what  has  really  a 
great  deal  of  truth  in  it.  A  man  is  not  without 
strong  reason  to  decline  any  office  of  which  other 
persons  think  him  worthy,  because  he  feels  himself 
unequal  to  it.  If  he  has  sought  a  position  by  dis 
honest  means  that  is  of  course  a  different  thing.  But 
if  he  has  won  it  by  means  not  to  be  ashamed  of,  or 
not  sought  it  at  all,  then  it  seems  to  come  to  him  by 
way  of  providence,  and  to  be  his  duty  to  accept  it ; 
and  it  seems  to  me  matter  of  experience  that  in  many 
such  cases  men's  powers  are  enlarged,  and  they  be 
come  different  men  from  what  they  were  supposed  to 
be.  I  would  mention  in  illustration  of  this  the  case 
of  the  Presidents  of  the  great  American  Republic,  the 
last  of  whom  is  lying  between  life  and  death  from  the 
bullet  of  an  assassin,  from  which  I  fear  neither  abso 
lute  power  nor  popular  election  can  secure  the  ruler 
of  a  country  who  has  enemies.  And  I  am  sure  that 
if  it  please  God  to  preserve  that  valuable  life,  there 
will  go  forth  to  the  great  daughter  from  the  great 
parent  country,  not  perhaps  a  formal  message  of  con 
gratulation,  which  must  needs  be  cold  and  dry,  but 
a  general  effusion  of  sympathy  and  joy  which  will  go 
far  to  draw  still  closer  the  ties  that  bind  them  in  a 
happy  union  of  interest  and  affection.  The  Greeks 
had  a  peculiar  word  to  express  the  feeling  between 
parents  and  children,  which  the  Latins  called  "  piety," 
and  it  was  extended  to  the  feeling  between  parent 
states  and  their  offshoots,  and  I  trust  this  feeling 


American  Presidents.  309 

exists  between  us  though  we  have  lost  the  word. 
But  it  is  the  word  used  by  St.  Paul,  where  it  is  men 
tioned  as  one  of  the  darkest  characters  of  heathen 
immorality,  that  they  were  "  without  natural  affec 
tion."  But  as  regards  these  American  Presidents,  I 
think  the  elevation  of  some  of  them  to  their  higli 
position  is  quite  as  extraordinary  as  that  of  Saul, 
who  went  out  to  look  for  his  father's  asses  and  found 
the  destiny  of  a  king  secured  to  him  before  he  came 
back.  The  election  of  a  President  in  America  is  the 
result  of  four  years'  intrigue,  combination,  wire  pull 
ing,  and  caucus  holding.  It  is  of  course  a  party 
affair,  and  people  are  able  beforehand  to  form  an 
opinion  as  to  which  is  the  strongest  party.  But  the 
strongest  party  do  not  always  choose  their  best  man. 
They  are  rather  afraid  of  pre-eminent  ability;  they 
want  a  man  whom  they  can  use  and  control,  and 
are  rather  afraid  of  one  who  is  likely  to  rule  them ; 
a  country  does  not  seem  likely  to  prosper  which  is 
afraid  of  its  best  citizens.  But  I  think  we  may  say 
that  in  America,  if  there  is  any  person  pre-eminent 
in  virtue,  principle,  and  power  he  would  not  be  likely 
to  be  President a. 

11  Upon  this  point  an  American  writer  (Mr.  George  Ticknor 
Curtis),  in  discussing  the  mode  of  electing  American  Presidents, 
makes  the  following  remarks: — "A  certain  number  of  throws 
from  two  dice-boxes  will  inevitably  give  a  major  number  of  points 
to  one  or  the  other  of  the  persons  playing :  but  a  bystander  might 
as  well  undertake  to  predict  what  is  to  come  out  of  a  given  number 
of  casts  of  dice  as  to  pronounce  beforehand  who  will  receive  the 
nomination  of  a  party  convention  for  the  great  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States.  Eminent  talent,  long  public  service,  high 
character,  statesmanlike  accomplishments,  which  would  seem  to  be 


310  Power  makyth  Man. 

In  England  we  can  forecast  with  some  confidence 
of  the  future  who  is  likely  to  be  Lord  Chancellor  or 
Prime  Minister  some  years  hence,  but  who  in  the  world 
can  mention  the  name  of  the  next  President  of  the 
United  States,  or  half-a-dozen  names  out  of  which  he 
will  be  chosen?  Nevertheless,  it  must  be  allowed 
that  the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  are  a  series 
of  most  remarkable  men,  and  that  no  one  of  them, 
not  even  of  those  who  seem  to  have  been  placed  in 
their  high  position  by  chance  rather  than  by  choice, 
has  been  found  unequal  to  its  duties.  It  was  said 
by  a  great  historian  of  Eome  that  one  of  its  emper 
ors,  in  the  judgment  of  all,  would  have  been  deemed 
worthy  of  empire  if  he  had  not  been  emperor.  But 
we  may  say  of  some  of  these  emperors  (for  the  position 
is  imperial)  that  they  would  have  been  deemed  unfit 
for  it  if  they  had  never  occupied  it.  The  inference 
I  draw  from  this  is,  not  that  anybody  will  do  for 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  but  that  these 
men  had  ruling  and  imperial  powers  in  them,  which 
were  drawn  out  and  developed  by  and  in  the  high 
office  to  which  they  were  providentially  called. 
They  were  in  fact  "  turned  into  other  men,"  but 

sure  elements  of  calculation,  are  the  least  potent  of  all  the  factors 
which  bring  about  the  result ;  and  of  those  factors  which  really 
produce  the  result  there  is  no  calculation  possible,  they  are  so 
diverse,  contradictory,  and  inappreciable.  The  only  tangible  one 
of  all  those  factors  is  money,  or  its  equivalent  in  the  shape  of  pro 
mises  of  future  preferment.  But  somehow  a  nomination  is  made. 
Thereupon,  instantly,  all  over  the  land,  throughout  all  the  adhe 
rents  of  the  party,  if  white  has  not  become  black,  and  black  white, 
it  has  become  inexpedient  to  speak  of  the  difference." — Century 
Magazine,  November,  1884. 


American  Presidents.  311 

I  should  be  sorry  you  should  suppose  that  this  is 
all  that  is  meant  by  what  is  said  in  such  a  striking 
way  of  Saul.  "  Power  will  shew  the  man  "  is  a  very 
old  saying,  i.e.  it  will  shew  what  a  man  really  is 
when  he  has  liberty  to  display  himself,  and  it  has 
shewn  it  in  the  case  of  these  men  ;  it  has  not  brought 
them  any  gifts  of  character  which  they  had  not  be 
fore  ;  it  has  simply  brought  out  into  activity  those 
which  were  already  in  them.  And  you  must  not 
suppose  this  is  the  interpretation  which  I  put  on  the 
words  of  Scripture  as  regards  Saul.  I  believe,  on 
the  contrary,  that  he  had  real  gifts,  and  was  "  turned 
into  another  man."  But  what  I  infer  from  this  his 
tory  is  that  there  are  real  gifts  of  power  in  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit  which  cannot  be  called 
graces,  because  they  do  not  touch  the  heart.  In 
the  case  of  Samson  there  was  a  gift  of  supernatural 
strength,  and  if  this  was  combined  with  the  grace 
of  faith  by  which  he  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and 
turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,  I  do  not  think 
that  we  can  mention  any  other  grace  that  is  united 
with  it.  In  the  New  Testament,  of  course,  we  ex 
pect  to  find  more  about  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  which 
were  to  be  poured  out  upon  all  flesh  than  in  the  Old, 
and  we  are  not  disappointed.  We  have  in  fact  a  spe 
cification  and  catalogue  of  the  powers  and  gifts  of 
the  Spirit  in  more  places  than  one,  e.g.  "To  one  is 
given  by  the  Spirit  the  word  of  wisdom,  to  another 
the  word  of  knowledge  by  the  same  Spirit,  to  another 
faith  by  the  same  Spirit,  to  another  the  gifts  of  heal 
ing  by  the  same  Spirit.  To  another  the  working 


312  Power  makyth  Man. 

of  miracles,  to  another  prophecy,  to  another  discern 
ing  of  Spirits,  to  another  divers  kinds  of  tongues, 
to  another  the  interpretation  of  tongues,"  and  we  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  list  is  thus  completed. 
But  I  will  just  point  out  to  you  that  no  one  of  these, 
except  faith,  touches  the  spirit  of  the  inner  man. 
They  are  really  gifts,  not  graces,  "  given  to  every 
man  to  profit  withal  by  the  self-same  Spirit  divid 
ing  to  every  man  severally  as  He  will,"  but  clearly 
to  profit  not  the  man  himself  but  the  Church.  Some 
of  them  might  even  be  occasions  of  confusion,  of 
unseemly  rivalry,  of  evil  rather  than  good  to  the 
Church,  and  of  falling  to  the  man  himself.  Would 
a  man  be  a  better  man,  and  nearer  to  salvation, 
because  he  had  the  gift  of  healing?  or  would  the 
gift  of  prophecy  imply  any  sanctification  of  the  heart  ? 
"We  know  that  it  did  not  in  old  time.  It  left  its 
possessor  sordid  and  profane  as  he  was  before,  and 
he  sold  his  soul  for  the  wages  of  iniquity,  as  Judas 
did.  St.  Peter  would  not  allow  a  miracle  which 
he  wrought,  to  be  attributed  to  any  holiness  of  his 
own.  And  St.  Paul  seems  to  refer  to  his  own  enu 
meration  of  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  and  almost  to 
set  them  aside,  in  that  beautiful  passage  with  which 
you  must  be  familiar — "  Though  I  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not  charity, 
I  am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal. 
And  though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  un 
derstand  all  mysteries,  and  all  knowledge;  and 
though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  moun 
tains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing.  And 


American  Presidents.  313 

though  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and 
though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not 
charity,  it  profiteth  me  nothing."  And  in  the 
same  way,  in  speaking  of  the  various  persons  given 
unto  the  Church,  Apostles,  Prophets,  Evangelists, 
Pastors,  Teachers,  he  tells  us  that  they  were  given 
"  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the 
ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ." 
But  none  of  these  persons,  as  such,  has  any  guar 
antee  of  salvation,  nor  any  security  for  it,  beyond 
that  which  the  humblest  Christian  who  is  not  called 
to  such  high  office  may  claim  for  himself.  These 
particular  gifts  are,  in  fact,  very  much  the  same 
as  the  particular  endowments  which  we  recognize 
among  other  men.  Such  are  wealth,  position,  power, 
learning  or  the  opportunities  of  obtaining  it,  elo 
quence,  temper.  All  these  tend  to  make  a  man 
eminent  among  his  fellows,  they  mark  him  out  as 
a  person  from  whom  more  and  better  things  may 
be  expected  than  from  other  men.  They  are  God's 
gifts,  and  they  are  good.  But  they  are  dangerous, 
because  "  to  whom  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  be 
much  required,7'  and  we  may  be  condemned  for  the 
use  or  misuse  of  talents  which  a  wise  man  would  not 
earnestly  covet,  but  which  he  must  accept  if  they 
are  offered  him.  We  must  not  confuse  doing  good 
with  becoming  better  ourselves.  It  is  a  blessed 
thing  to  be  able  to  do  good,  but  it  is  fur  more 
blessed  to  do  right,  and  to  grow  in  grace.  And 
if  in  looking  back  on  the  histories  of  men  who  had 
those  special  powers  which  we  read  of  in  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments  we  feel  that  we  do  not  ex- 


314  Power  makyth  Man. 

ercise  them  now,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  God 
regards  us  with  less  favour  than  the  men  of  old, 
or  is  less  liberal  of  His  mercies.  God  may  restore 
those  powers  to  His  Church  at  any  moment,  and 
it  seems  to  me  presumptuous  to  say  that  the  time 
for  them  is  gone.  That  they  are  not  now  necessary 
for  the  Church  is  a  pious  opinion,  because  we  do 
not  possess  them ;  but  if  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  suppli 
cation  were  poured  out  upon  it,  if  we  could  all  be 
brought  again  to  the  unity  of  the  Faith  in  the  Son 
of  God,  who  can  say  that  we  should  not  see  and  do 
" greater  things"  than  those  which  the  world  will 
hardly  believe  were  ever  done?  Meanwhile,  we  are 
supplied  with  everything  necessary  for  life  and  god 
liness.  And  the  one  gift  of  sanctification  that  tends 
to  the  salvation  of  its  possessor  is  guaranteed  to  all 
who  are  admitted  to  the  Fellowship  of  Christ's  Church. 
It  is  more  than  guaranteed  ;  it  is  stamped  upon  us  • 
we  are  already  sealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise ; 
we  are  sealed  by  Him  to  the  day  of  Eedemption, 
when  God  will  recognize  His  own  seal,  and  claim 
us  for  His  own. 

When  we  read  how  the  Spirit  came  upon  Saul, 
and  he  was  "  turned  into  another  man,"  we  cannot 
but  be  reminded  that  we  also  "  must  be  born  again," 
and  that  Christ  Himself  has  told  us  how  this  is  to  be, 
and  instituted  the  sacrament  of  regeneration.  I  might 
carry  on  the  parallel  further  if  I  had  time.  Even 
this  gift,  though  it  places  us  in  the  way  of  salva 
tion,  will  not  save  us  if  we  misuse  or  dishonour  it. 
The  Spirit  of  Grace  will  not  help  those  who  do 
despite  to  it.  And  the  Spirit  of  God  may  depart 


American  Presidents.  31 3 

from  us,  as  it  did  from  Saul,  and  our  last  end  will  bo 
worse  than  our  first.  And  though  we  have  under 
gone  the  new  birth  and  God's  gifts  are  without  repent 
ance,  yet  the  temper  and  spirit  of  the  flesh,  and  all 
that  St.  Paul  calls  the  old  man — whom  we  ought  to 
crucify  and  abolish — may  revive  and  get  the  upper 
hand,  and  then  what  good  will  even  the  grace  of 
sanctification  do  us  ?  For  even  this  grace  is  given  us 
to  be  used,  and  we  are  on  our  trial  in  respect  of  it. 
It  is  not  omnipotent  in  us,  and  will  not  force  us  into 
holiness  and  heaven  against  our  will  or  without 
our  will.  Abstract  questions  of  grace  and  nature 
may  employ  idle  disputants,  or  they  may  engage 
the  thoughts  of  the  holiest  men. 

It  is  easy  to  get  into  verbal  contradiction,  and 
to  quote  Scripture  against  Scripture.  Practically 
there  is  no  difficulty  which  a  holy  life  will  not  sweep 
away.  Solvitur  amlulando.  "Walk  worthy  of  your 
calling  and  your  walk  will  be  straight  and  plain. 
The  best  man  knows  by  his  own  experience  that 
it  is  possible  to  grow  in  grace  and  the  knowledge 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  He  knows 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  guides,  comforts,  supports, 
and  helps  him.  He  knows  that  he  is  led  by  the 
Spirit,  and  he  is  therefore  careful  and  fearful  be 
cause  he  also  knows  his  own  weakness.  He  knows 
that  he  is  being  drawn  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
He  feels  that  he  has  been  "  turned  into  another  man," 
that  he  is  consciously  a  "  son  of  God"  even  now, 
though  "it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  he  shall  be." 


SERMON  XX. 

0Iir  UUn's 

1  PETER  m.  15. 

"  Be  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh 
you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  you  with  meekness  and 
fear." 

THIS  wise  and  liberal  precept  of  St.  Peter  could  not 
be  better  illustrated  than  by  the  conduct  of  the 
Apostles  themselves  towards  the  various  classes  of 
men  with  whom  they  were  brought  into  contact  or 
collision.  And  it  is  laid  down  here  with  the  greatest 
possible  breadth  and  precision — "Be  ready  always 
and  to  every  man" — as  though  no  exception  need 
be  taken  into  account.  Christians  were  in  exclusive 
possession  of  the  truth,  and  it  would  have  been 
a  false  humility  of  mind  on  their  part  to  have 
allowed  it  to  be  made  a  question  of;  but  unlike  some 
societies  and  mysteries  of  ancient,  and  we  may  add 
even  of  modern,  times,  they  were  not  to  keep  it  as 
a  treasure  that  could  only  be  communicated  to  the 
initiated,  but  to  proclaim  it  boldly,  and  set  forth 
the  reasons  on  which  their  hopes  and  convictions 
rested.  "  With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  right 
eousness,"  but,  like  David,  they  were  not  to  hide 
it  within  their  hearts,  but  to  publish  it  in  the  great 


An  old  Man's  Reason.  317 

congregation  of  the  world  which  they  were  sent  to 
convert.  And  in  the  precept  to  be  ready  to  give 
a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  then)  it  is  of  course 
implied  that  the  hope  is  reasonable.  And  what  is 
said  of  our  hope  may,  I  think,  be  equally  said 
of  our  faith.  Indeed  in  this  passage  faith  and  hope 
may  be  considered  as  one,  for  our  hope  is  reasonable 
only  so  far  as  our  faith  is,  and  if  either  of  them  is 
given  up  as  not  being  so,  it  would  be  extremely 
difficult  to  maintain  the  other.  If  indeed  there  is 
anything  reasonable  in  the  world  I  would  maintain 
that  our  faith  is  eminently  so,  and  not  the  least 
so  in  those  parts  of  it  which  transcend  and  sur 
pass  reason.  I  am  speaking  of  it  of  course  as  re 
vealed  to  us  by  God,  and  not  discovered  by  the 
action  of  our  minds.  Now  a  revelation  is  the  un 
covering  of  what  is  unknown  and  beyond  the  range 
of  ordinary  knowledge,  and  it  is,  I  say,  highly  rea 
sonable  that  it  should  be  partial,  incomplete,  and 
imperfect,  just  as  our  minds  and  faculties,  however 
excellent,  are  imperfect ;  and  those  who  think  most 
deeply  on  religious  subjects  have  always  been  most 
ready  to  confess  this.  "  We  cannot  by  searching 
find  out  God,"  and  u  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly," 
are  confessions  that  appeal  to  the  consciences  of  Chris 
tians  in  proportion  to  the  seriousness  of  their  thoughts, 
and  the  light  that  they  have.  And  as  the  truth 
is  reasonable — otherwise  it  would  be  impossible  to 
give  a  reason  of  it — so  in  the  commandment,  that 
we  should  do  so  when  asked,  it  is  implied  that  men 
generally  also  are  reasonable,  i.e.  that  they  are  will- 


318  An  old  Mans  Reason. 

ing  to  hear  and  capable  of  understanding  a  reason. 
Men  are  creatures  endowed  with  reason,  and  it  is 
therefore  part  of  the  honour  due  to  all  men  to  deal 
with  them  as  such ;  and  it  is  our  duty  in  endeavour 
ing  to  impart  to  them  that  truth  which  we  possess 
to  appeal  to  their  reason.  Indeed,  we  need  not 
fear  to  say  that  it  is  one  of  the  marks  of  the  truth 
which  we  hold  that  it  does  not  shrink  from  the 
appeal  to  reason.  It  challenges  all  that  is  best  and 
noblest  in  man,  either  in  his  affections  or  in  his 
faculties  and  powers.  The  Jews  of  Bersea  were 
more  noble  than  those  of  Thessalonica,  in  that  they 
received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,  and 
searched  the  Scriptures  whether  these  things  were 
so — i.e.  that  they  applied  their  reason  freely  and 
without  prejudice  to  the  question  before  them— 
and  the  natural  consequence  was  that  "  many  of 
them  believed."  Remember  that  I  am  not  going 
myself  now  to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in 
me,  but  am  only  speaking  of  the  general  duty  of 
doing  so  when  asked.  But  I  must  not  misquote 
the  Apostle,  for  he  does  not  tell  us  actually  to  do 
so,  but  only  to  be  ready  to  do  it.  And  there  is 
clearly  a  difference,  for  we  do  not  always  do  what 
we  are  perfectly  ready  to  do,  unless  we  judge  the 
time  and  the  occasion  suitable.  And  if  people  ask 
us  for  a  reason,  it  must  of  course  be  assumed  that 
they  ask  us  in  sincerity,  and  with  a  real  wish  to 
be  informed.  And  though  we  are  not  to  be  sus 
picious  of  men's  motives,  but  rather  give  them  all 
possible  credit  for  honesty,  yet  it  is  necessary  to  ex- 


An  old  Mans  Reason.  319 

ercise  great  discretion  in  dealing  with  them.  Differ 
ent  persons  came  to  our  Saviour  with  their  questions, 
prompted  by  widely  different  motives,  some  simply 
with  the  hope  of  entangling  Him,  others  to  inform 
themselves  of  the  truth.  If  lie  saw  through  the 
wickedness  and  hypocrisy  of  one,  lie  was  able 
to  tell  another,  from  His  knowledge  of  what  is  in 
man  and  each  man,  that  "  he  was  not  far  from  the 
kingdom  of  God."  If  we  cannot  see  into  the  dark 
secrets  of  the  heart  as  He  could,  we  must  use  such 
powers  as  we  have,  in  charity,  of  discovering  the 
characters  of  those  with  whom  we  have  to  do.  If 
we  are  not  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  men  it  is  im 
possible  to  avoid  receiving  some  impression  of  their 
motives,  and  by  that  impression  our  conduct  must 
needs  be  influenced ;  otherwise  we  should  have  to  treat 
all  men  in  the  same  way,  casting,  perhaps,  our  pearls 
before  swine,  or  throwing  what  is  holy  unto  the  dogs. 
I  do  not  think  St.  Peter  meant  that  you  should  in 
troduce  and  discuss  the  truths  of  your  religion  with 
all  persons,  or  in  all  places  and  times.  And  I  would 
not  advise  you  to  be  drawn  lightly  into  argument 
uith  men  of  whom  you  know  nothing,  and  whose 
object  may  simply  be  to  perplex  your  understandings 
and  to  weaken  your  faith.  Our  reason  is  to  be  given, 
as  St.  Peter  says,  with  meekness  and  fear,  not  with 
arrogance  and  presumption.  For  we  may  well  feel 
humble  in  taking  upon  us  to  defend  the  truth  of  God, 
and  even  fearful  lest  we  should  injure  it  by  our  weak 
and  faulty  maintenance.  All  persons  can  give  a 
reason  for  their  faith  and  hope  by  simply  stating  it, 


320  An  old  Marts  Reason. 

which  is  certainly  one  part  of  St.  Peter's  meaning, 
though  not  the  whole  of  it ;  and  it  will  be  a  powerful 
argument  to  commend  our  faith  and  hope  to  the  minds 
of  men,  if  it  is  clear  that  we  live  according  to  them. 
But  to  suppose  that  each  of  us  is  in  full  possession  of 
all  that  can  be  said  in  their  defence  would  be  to 
court  assaults,  and  expose  our  own  faith  to  overthrow. 
Depend  upon  it  a  great  many  difficulties  may  be 
raised  about  the  Gospel,  and  religion  generally, 
which  it  is  very  hard  to  solve ;  and  we  must  be 
content  to  hold  our  own,  leaving  them  unsolved,  for 
we  have  here  to  live  and  walk,  not  to  hesitate  and 
stand  stilL  The  activity  of  unbelievers  in  endea 
vouring  to  make  other  men  like  themselves  was  never 
greater  than  at  the  present  time ;  but  you  may  take 
my  word  for  it  that  there  is  nothing  new  in  their 
cavils  and  objections,  nothing  that  wise  men  in  every 
age  have  not  thrown  away  as  worthless,  and  lived 
on  according  to  the  hope  that  is  in  them,  as  though 
such  things  had  never  been  presented  to  their  minds. 
When  our  convictions  are  fixed  and  solid  we  are 
not  much  occupied  or  troubled  by  ingenious  problems. 
We  have  too  much  pressing  business  on  hand  to 
give  ourselves  to  them,  and  we  have  faithful  sayings 
to  rest  upon  and  the  words  of  eternal  life.  Never 
enter  into  argument  with  any  one,  except  on  the 
understanding  that  the  faith  with  you  is  not  a  matter 
of  argument  at  all,  but  of  unshakeable  conviction. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  you  may  be  beaten  in  an 
argument  by  a  more  subtle  and  ingenious  dispu 
tant;  but  if  you  cannot  hold  your  faith,  notwith- 


An  old  Marts  Reason.  321 

standing,  it  is  better  not  to  be  drawn  into  an  ar 
gument  at  all.  As  a  man  is  not  to  allow  himself 
to  be  tempted  out  of  his  faith  by  his  passions  and 
interests,  so  neither  should  he  allow  it  to  be  wrested 
from  him  by  arguments.  Though  reason  is  our 
highest  gift,  yet  he  is  but  a  weak  and  feeble  crea 
ture  who  allows  himself  to  be  turned  and  twisted 
about  by  various  and  inconsistent  appeals  to  it. 
For  though  reason  in  itself  is  an  absolute  standard, 
our  own  particular  reason  may  be  weak  and  ill- 
informed;  and  in  mistrusting  it  we  do  in  fact  mis 
trust  ourselves,  which  most  wise  men  do;  and  the 
word  reason  must  be  taken  in  the  widest  sense. 

Man  is  not  a  calculating  machine,  to  be  carried  on 
to  a  conclusion  by  the  rules  of  arithmetic,  where, 
if  the  process  is  correct,  the  result  must  necessarily 
be  accepted,  however  contrary  to  what  he  supposed 
before ;  he  is  a  creature  of  affections,  and  hopes,  and 
fears,  by  which  his  actions  are  frequently  guided, 
and  even  his  judgments  determined.  "  Knowing 
the  terrors  of  the  law,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  we  persuade 
men."  And  this  mode  of  persuasion  is  just  as  legiti 
mate,  and  in  truth  as  reasonable,  as  the  appeal  to  his 
pure  reason.  Hope  and  fear  are  parts  of  our  nature, 
and  it  is  intended  that  we  should  be  moved  by  them, 
just  as  much  as  by  those  arguments  of  pure  reason 
that  take  no  account  of  them.  If  we  have  within  us 
the  fear  of  judgment  to  come  or  the  hope  of  immor 
tality,  that  profession  of  truth  which  would  move 
us  to  repentance  and  a  better  life  by  the  action  of 
the  one,  and  lead  us  onward  in  it  by  strengthening 

T 


322  An  old  Marts  Reason. 

the  other,  is  worthy  of  our  regard  and  acceptance  on 
that  very  account.  "Whatever  satisfies  the  wants 
of  human  nature  or  gives  its  energies  a  steadier  and 
more  worthy  aim,  has  in  that  very  satisfaction  and 
effect  upon  us  a  strong  argument  in  its  favour.  "  The 
Spirit  bearing  witness  with  our  spirit  that  we  are 
sons  of  God"  cannot  be  brought  into  court,  or  into 
the  arena  of  dispute,  as  an  evidence  to  other  men, 
but  it  speaks  to  those  who  have  it  with  a  power  and 
clearness  which  no  other  testimony  can  have;  nay, 
it  speaks  by  them  to  the  world  in  a  language  and 
with  an  authority  that  will  not  be  denied  a  hearing. 
The  Gospel  has  had  its  defenders  and  apologists 
(apology  is  the  word  in  the  original,  which  we  trans 
late  answer  in  the  text),  who  have  done  good  service 
to  the  Church,  by  stating  its  truths  in  form,  clearing 
it  of  the  false  opinions  which  surrounded  it,  mar 
shalling  its  evidences,  and  calling  its  witnesses  into 
court  as  by  a  legal  procedure,  and  have  done  well 
in  giving  a  reason  in  public  for  the  hope  that  was 
in  them,  and  submitting  to  be  tried  before  the  public 
tribunal  of  the  world,  though  not  accepting  its  ver 
dict.  But  however  valuable  their  labours,  it  was 
not  they  who  converted  the  world.  "  For  God  chose 
rather  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the 
wise,  and  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  mighty.  And  base  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  which  are  despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and 
things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that 
are."  The  faith  and  constancy  of  martyrs,  men, 
women,  and  children,  who  gave  up  their  lives  for 


An  old  Man's  ficason.  323 

the  truth  not  accepting  deliverance,  that  was  the 
victory  that  overcame  the  world,  and  won  over  the 
persecutor  many  times  at  the  altar  and  on  the  arena 
Many  of  those  who  yielded  their  souls  unto  death 
and  their  body  to  the  flames,  would  have  been  found 
very  feeble  in  argument  if  brought  into  conflict  with 
disputers  of  this  world,  and  the  philosophers  who 
thought  to  destroy  those  whom  they  could  not  con 
vince,  and  who  held  what  they  called  their  obstinacy, 
and  we  call  their  faith,  itself  as  a  sin  that  deserved  to 
be  visited  with  punishment.  Even  tender  children 
were  known  to  defy  the  utmost  efforts  of  their  perse 
cutors,  and  they  had  no  account  to  give  of  themselves 
except  the  simple  fact  that  they  were  Christians. 
That  confession  was  their  strength,  and  the  repetition 
of  it  their  comfort.  If  they  gave  up  that  they  were 
nothing,  but  holding  fast  this  they  had  strength 
to  fight  and  overcome  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil.  "  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings 
hast  Thou  ordained  strength,  or  perfected  praise," 
read  it  which  way  you  will  as  the  strength  of  a  firm 
purpose,  and  the  praise  of  a  true  confession,  and  "  the 
enemy  and  avenger  "  was  stilled. 

Men,  whether  so  disposed  or  not,  will  at  last  judge 
the  tree  by  its  fruit,  and  it  was  forced  upon  men's 
minds  by  what  they  saw,  that  the  Gospel  was  not 
a  curious  device,  nor  a  speculation,  nor  a  philosophy, 
but  a  vital  power,  filling  those  who  embraced  it  with 
a  Spirit  that  could  not  be  overcome,  and  that  must 
go  forth  to  the  end  of  the  world  conquering  and 
to  conquer.  If  we  are  not  called  upon  to  shew  our 

Y2 


324 


An  old  Man's  Reason. 


constancy,  and  convince  men's  minds  in  the  same  way, 
our  constancy  need  not  therefore  be  the  less,  nor  the 
argument   of  our   Christian   conduct   less    effectual. 
At  all  events,  if  we  cannot  answer  objections  to  our 
faith  we  may  at  least  vindicate  its  character,  "  Hav 
ing  a  good  conscience ;  that,  whereas  they  speak  evil 
of  you,   as  of  evildoers,  they  may  be  ashamed  that 
falsely  accuse  your  good  conversation  in  Christ."     Or, 
as  St.  Paul  writes  to  Titus,  each  of  you  "  in  all  things 
shewing  thyself  a  pattern  of  good  works,  in  doctrine 
shewing  uncorruptness,    gravity,    sincerity,   that  he 
that  is  of  the  contrary  part  may  be  ashamed  having 
no  evil  thing  to  say  of  you."     Not,  however,  that  the 
firmest  conviction  of  our  own  minds  and  the  most 
consistent  conduct  will  always  have  their  due  effect. 
St.  Paul,  while  in  his  treatment  of  men  he  addresses 
them  uniformly  as  reasonable  creatures,   as   having 
a  right  to  ask  questions  and  to  expect  answers,  notes 
especially  some  persons  as  unreasonable,   and  prays 
to  be  delivered  from  them.     Their  minds  are  obsti 
nately  and  incurably  warped  against  the  truth ;  they 
can  neither  be  approached  by  argument,  nor  touched 
in  their  feelings,   nor  influenced  by  what  they   see 
with  their  eyes.     Unreasonable  men  can  only  be  left 
alone,  we  cannot  stay  to  argue  with  them,  and  must 
go  on  our  own  way  leaving  them  to  theirs.     They 
are  not  of  those  of  whom  St.  Peter  speaks,  as  asking 
a  reason ;  for  what  they  want  is  not  a  reason  but  a 
dispute  and  a  wrangle,  and  therefore  they  are  not 
of  those  to  whom  we  owe  an  answer  though  ready 
to  give  one.     Never  dispute  with  known  unbelievers 


An  old  Marts  Reason.  325 

and  scoffers,  and  be  careful  generally  with  whom 
you  do.  But  it  is  a  good  thing  for  all  of  you  to 
know  the  grounds  of  your  own  faith,  and  the  depth 
and  solidity  of  its  foundations,  and  if  the  question 
arises  in  your  minds  from  time  to  time,  "  Why  am 
I  a  Christian  ?  "  to  be  able  to  give  at  all  events  an 
answer  to  yourself.  I  have  lately  seen  an  answer 
to  this  question  by  an  old  man  who  has  seen  much 
of  the  world,  and  taken  a  leading  part  in  some  of  its 
most  important  transactions  for  half  a  century.  Ilav- 
ing  lived  much  in  foreign  lands,  among  Christians 
of  various  sects,  and  aliens  from  the  name  of  Christ, 
it  has  occurred  to  him  in  the  evening  of  his  days 
to  ask  himself  and  to  answer  this  very  question.  It 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  his  answer  would  satisfy 
all  persons,  for  the  truth  is  laid  hold  of  in  our  minds 
variously — one  person  rests  on  this  evidence,  another 
on  that — but  the  closing  words  of  the  wise  and 
thoughtful  old  man  will  commend  themselves  to  all : 
"What  we  designate  as  spots  upon  the  sun  are 
ascertained  by  astronomers  to  be  vast  tracts  of  infe 
rior  lustre  or  of  downright  opacity,  yet  do  we  not 
the  less  acknowledge  that  glorious  orb  to  be  the  centre 
of  light  in  our  system,  a  nurse  of  life  and  source 
of  vivifying  heat,  the  extinction  of  which  would 
plunge  us  in  irrevocable  destruction.  Suppose  a 
brighter  light — the  sun  of  salvation — extinguished 
in  our  minds,  where  should  we  turn  for  hope — how 
ever  small — for  a  glimmer  of  hopeful  light  beyond 
the  cold,  dark  goal  of  our  earthly  existence  ?  If  we 
reject  that  series  of  evidences,  some  single  portions 


326  An  old  Marts  Reason. 

of  which  go  far  to  settle  a  Christian's  belief,  and  the 
whole  of  which  leaves  infidelity  without  excuse,  what 
can  the  unbeliever  offer  to  make  up  for  so  immense 
a  sacrifice?  Senses,  faculties,  affections,  obliterated 
for  ever,  our  nature  degraded  to  a  level  of  the  beasts 
that  perish,  our  motives  of  action  reduced  to  vanities, 
appetites,  and  earthly  interests,  a  forfeiture  of  every 
promise  for  which  saints  have  toiled,  crusaders  fought, 
the  hermit  courted  poverty,  the  martyr  died  in  tor 
tures.  No  other  substitutes  he  would  have  us  to 
accept  for  all  the  consolations,  the  spiritual  supports, 
the  ennobling  convictions,  and  the  prospective  glories 
of  our  faith.  He  would  renew  the  fall,  and  annul 
the  redemption  of  our  race.  The  exchange  he  pro 
poses  has  too  much  the  stamp  of  loss  to  engage  my 
assent.  The  evidences  adduced  satisfy  my  reason, 
the  hopes  they  warrant  sustain  my  spirit.  In  them 
I  find  a  comfort  and  a  strength,  which  in  Christ's 
name,  and  with  God's  assistance?  I  would  fain  hold 
fast  unto  the  end." 


SEEMON  XXL 


Sir  Wi.     afer  mtb 


[T/ic  following  notices  of  two  men  eminent  in  different  icalks  of 
public  life  are  inserted  by  desire  of  some  who  heard  the 
Addresses  delivered.] 

ISAIAH  xl.  1. 

"  Comfort  ye  My  people" 

1  him  of  whom  I  am  about  to  speak  my  words 
will  not  be  many.  I  miss,  and  you  will  long 
miss  with  me,  that  venerable  face  which  I  have 
seen  turned  towards  me  with  attentive  ear  for  so 
many  years  in  this  pulpit.  And  as  what  I  say 
is  entirely  personal,  I  do  not  propose  to  touch  upon 
what  belongs  to  the  political  history  of  the  times, 
or  his  connection  with  it,  which  has  been  already 
taken  up  by  abler  hands.  It  is  known,  however, 
to  you  all  that  he  filled  a  very  important  place  in 
the  government  of  this  country.  A  place,  it  is  true, 
not  of  the  highest  rank,  but  one  which  required 
peculiar  qualities,  which  no  man  possessed  in  a  higher 
degree  than  himself a.  I  have  often  wondered  that 
he  never  occupied  the  position  of  a  cabinet  minister, 
but  I  think  the  only  reason  must  be  that  he  thought 

•  Sir  W.  Hayter  held  the  post  of  Political  Secretary  to   the 
Treasury  for  many  years. 


328  Sir  W.  Hayter. 

he  could  serve  his  country  better  in  a  lower  room. 
In  the  situation  which  he  filled  he  gained  the 
respect,  and  more  than  the  respect,  of  all  friends 
and  opponents;  and  when  on  leaving  the  House  he 
was  asked  to  receive  a  magnificent  testimonial  from 
those  with  whom  he  had  acted,  a  much  more  mag 
nificent  one  would  have  been  offered  if  it  had  been 
resolved  to  include  in  the  list  of  his  friends  those 
who  were  opposed  to  him  in  parliamentary  life.  In 
the  course  of  the  duties  of  his  office  he  must  have 
had  more  experience  of  men  than  falls  to  the  lot 
of  most  persons,  and  we  shall  not  be  accusing  any 
party  or  class  of  men  of  corruption,  if  we  think  it  pos 
sible  that  he  may  often  have  had  to  do  with  men  not 
actuated  by  the  highest  order  of  motives,  men  of  sel 
fish  objects,  seekers  of  place,  or  honour,  or  gain. 
Such  persons  hang  about  all  governments,  and  all  per 
sons  in  authority  who  are  able  to  be  of  use  to  others ; 
and  the  constant  intercourse  with  such  persons  is  apt 
to  make  others  hard-hearted,  cynical,  and  distrust 
ful.  Some  persons  display  a  perverse  ingenuity 
in  dissecting  the  motives  of  others,  and  getting 
to  the  bottom  of  them  when  they  are  two  and  three 
deep.  They  are  proud  to  be  thought  men  of  the 
world,  not  to  be  taken  in,  and  it  generally  happens 
that  they  are  taken  in  more  than  other  people  whom 
they  despise.  It  was  a  great  charm  in  Sir  W. 
Hayter  that  he  had  not  one  trace  of  this  in  his 
character.  He  was  as  free,  open-hearted,  and  gen 
erously-minded  as  a  high-born  boy,  who  has  not 
yet  learned  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  selfishness 


Sir  W.  Ilayter.  329 

or  imposture  in  the  world.  A  Greek  philosopher 
tells  us  how  men  are  made  misanthropes :  it  is  by 
a  succession  of  misplaced  confidences,  by  the  ex 
perience  of  trusts  betrayed,  till  at  last  you  have  lost 
all  faith  in  men,  and  begun  to  hate  your  kind.  The 
friend  whom  we  have  lost  had,  no  doubt,  his  ex 
periences,  but  they  led  him  on,  not  to  misan 
thropy,  but  in  the  direction  of  greater  kindness,  geni 
ality,  and  charity.  Fairness,  equity,  and  kindliness, 
were  among  the  marks  of  our  friend's  character; 
they  were  stamped  upon  his  features,  you  felt  the 
warmth  of  them  in  his  manner  before  he  expressed 
them  in  words.  His  virtues  were  not  only  true 
virtues,  but  they  were  amiable  and  attractive  vir 
tues.  The  virtues  of  some  persons  are  so  severe 
in  form  that  they  almost  repel  you  from  their  pre 
sence.  There  is  a  temper  that  rejoices  in  ini 
quity,  and  is  jubilant  when  it  has  found  it,  or  thinks 
it  has,  as  though  there  were  an  "  endowment  of  re 
search  "  in  that  direction.  Sir  W.  Ilayter  was  of  a 
temper  the  very  reverse  of  this.  He  was  incapable 
of  a  base  or  sordid  insinuation  to  account  for  con 
duct  that  was  not  base  or  sordid.  He  judged  men 
kindly  and  favourably,  and  I  believe  he  therefore 
judged  them  truly ;  and  yet  I  should  say  few  men 
have  been  less  deceived  in  life,  and  that  not  from 
any  extraordinary  insight  into  character,  though 
in  that  he  was  not  wanting,  but  from  the  simple 
straightforwardness  and  honesty  of  his  own  ways. 
You  would  not  like  to  deceive  him,  for  you  would 
feel  sure  you  would  be  found  out;  there  was  some- 


330  Sir  W.  Hayter. 

thing  in  his  countenance  that  told  you  the  attempt 
would  not  succeed.  But  besides  this,  honesty  not 
only  supposes  but  creates  honesty ;  you  actually 
make  men  better  by  thinking  better  of  them.  Even 
the  criminal  classes  are  some  evidence  of  this. 
They  are  raised  in  their  own  esteem  when  they 
know  there  is  anything  trusted  to  their  honour, 
and  they  will  not  sink  again  below  the  level  to  which 
they  are  raised  by  their  new  estimate  of  self.  This 
idea  is  in  fact  the  beginning  of  all  moral  reforma 
tion.  Men  feel  that  they  have  a  hope  of  a  better 
future  directly  they  know  that  any  one  has  a  better 
opinion  of  them.  I  am  sure  that  a  prudent  con 
fidence  in  humanity  is  not  folly,  and  life  would  be 
intolerable  to  me  if  I  could  not  entertain  it.  The 
misanthrope  is  the  most  miserable  of  men. 

Sir  W.  Hayter  told  me  not  long  since  that  he  had 
been  reading  a  good  deal  of  diplomacy,  and  that 
he  thought  that  after  all  diplomatists  were  honest 
men,  and  endeavoured  to  do  their  best  for  their 
countries.  I  was  delighted  to  hear  him  say  so ;  for 
I  do  not  pretend  to  understand  their  language,  and 
their  tortuous  and  technical  phraseology  requires  a 
man  to  be  well  educated  in  the  art  before  he  can 
understand  its  meaning.  No  doubt  every  phrase  has 
its  value  and  significance,  and  is  dealt  out  when 
occasion  requires  it,  as  if  it  were  a  coin,  at  its 
current  value.  But  the  kindly  and  equitable  judg 
ment  of  the  old  man  belonged  to  his  character. 
It  was  a  weighty  and  deliberate  judgment,  formed 
by  a  most  competent  and  conscientious  judge,  which 


Sir  W.  Ilayter.  331 

I  am  sure  must  rest  on  good  grounds,  and  I 
have  thought  better  of  diplomatists,  though  I  do 
not  pretend  to  understand  them,  ever  since  in  con 
sequence. 

I  have  said,  perhaps,  more  than  I  ought  upon  this 
particular  feature  of  his  character,  because  I  have 
always  been  much  struck  by  it,  and,  in  forming  my 
judgment  of  others,  perhaps  improved  by  it ;  neither 
is  it  necessary  to  speak  of  deeds  of  kindness  and 
generosity  of  which  many  of  you  are  sensible.  There 
are  those  here  who  know  that  he  would  not  only  do 
a  kindness,  but  how  he  would  labour  and  persevere 
in  doing  it,  at  the  expense  of  great  trouble  and  per 
sonal  exertion,  even  in  his  extreme  old  age  and  de 
clining  health.  And  his  attachment  to  this  church, 
which  would  not  have  been  built  as  it  is,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  him,  and  of  which  he  was  proud  to  be 
Churchwarden,  is  also  well  known  to  you.  And  you 
know  how,  too,  while  his  health  lasted,  and  even 
after  it  gave  evident  signs  of  failing,  no  engagement, 
no  weather,  kept  him  from  his  accustomed  seat. 
Even  last  Sunday  he  was  thinking  seriously  of  com 
ing,  and  would  no  doubt  have  come  if  the  weather 
had  permitted ;  but  he  is  gone  for  ever  from  us,  and 
we  shall  see  his  face  no  more. 

We  should  not  have  been  surprised  if  we  had 
heard  any  day  that,  full  of  years  and  full  of  honours, 
he  had  died  peaceably  in  his  bed.  His  wife,  whose 
life  has  been  bound  up  with  his  for  so  many  years, 
would  not  have  repined — I  know  not  that  she  will 
now — for  she  knew  well  the  time  was  coming.  She 
would  have  watched  him  over  the  dark  stream,  wait- 


332  Sir  W.  Hayter. 

ing  in  confidence  and  peace  for  the  messenger  to 
summon  her  to  meet  him  again  in  the  light  that  is  on 
the  other  shore ;  and  his  children  and  grandchildren 
around  his  bed  would  have  learned  how  the  way  of 
life  lies  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 

It  has  not  pleased  Providence  that  this  grand  and 
good  old  man  should  be  taken  from  us  in  this  way. 
It  pleased  God  in  His  inscrutable  wisdom — for  I  doubt 
not  His  wisdom — to  prolong  his  days  till  that  calm, 
equitable,  and  true-judging,  practical  mind  was  off 
its  balance,  and  he  became  haunted  by  the  idea  of 
imaginary  evils  which  pressed  upon  his  brain.  We 
simply  know  the  fact  of  his  end  and  the  mode  of  it. 
It  may  have  been  a  pure  accident.  We  are  fearfully 
and  wonderfully  made,  both  in  body  and  soul,  and 
when  I  consider  how  closely  reason  is  connected  with 
our  bodily  functions,  though  distinct  from  them,  I 
am  surprised  that  it  is  not  oftener  and  sooner  de 
throned.  It  is,  I  think,  permissible  to  pray  that 
we  may  be  called  away  before  such  a  thing  happens 
to  ourselves.  If  it  is  permissible  to  pray  for  deliver 
ance  from  sudden  death,  much  more  may  we  pray 
for  deliverance  from  the  sudden  derangement  or 
the  gradual  failure  of  the  regulating  powers.  Such 
a  death  of  such  a  man  increases  our  sorrow  but  does 
not  alter  our  opinions  of,  nor  our  affections  for,  him, 
and  still  less  our  hopes  of  his  eternal  future.  I  com 
mitted  his  honoured  remains  to  the  earth  with  the 
same  confidence  in  the  mercy  of  Almighty  God,  with 
the  same  trust  in  the  saving  virtue  of  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  with  the  same  sure  and  certain  hope  of 
a  resurrection  to  eternal  life  as  if  instead  of  dying 


Mr.  Delane.  333 

alone,  in  the  cold  water,  and  under  the  chill  cover 
ing  of  a  wintry  sky,  he  had  died  calmly  in  his  bed, 
surrounded  by  all  the  comforts  of  home  to  the  last, 
and  by  all  that  were  dear  to  him  to  catch  his  dying 
breath,  and  with  the  words  of  humble  resignation, 
or  rather  triumphant  hope,  upon  his  lips,  "Lord, 
now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace." 


Beside  this  striking  portrait  of  a  distinguished 
public  servant  let  the  companion  picture  of  Mr. 
Delane,  late  Editor  of  the  "  Times,"  take  its  place. 


THE  last  person  whose  mortal  remains  I  committed 
to  the  keeping  of  the  grave  in  this  churchyard  had 
not  even  attained  to  the  inferior  limit  of  the  ages 
fixed  by  the  Psalmist.  He  was  still  several  years 
short  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  and  therefore, 
as  regards  the  fruits  of  experience  and  full  maturity 
of  mental  power,  in  the  very  prime  of  life  for  action 
and  counsel.  I  am  not  going  to  add  to  or  repeat 
what  so  many  papers  have  said,  justly  and  truly  as 
far  as  they  went,  but  in  my  opinion  inadequately,  as 
regards  Mr.  Delane ;  but  I  cannot  let  his  memory 
pass  away  without  saying  something  of  him  as  my 
own  valued  [friend,  and  as  a  lover  and  benefactor  of 
this  parish.  lie  was  born  in  it,  and  his  affections 
were  centred  in  it ;  he  visited  it  constantly,  and  with 
pleasure.  When  in  the  midst  of  overwhelming  work 
it  was  the  best  part  of  a  chance  holiday  to  ride  over 
to  it.  In  the[  last  days,  or  rather  years,  of  his  long 


334  Mr.  Delane. 

illness  it  was  his  habit  and  refreshment  to  drive  into 
it.  In  fact,  at  last,  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  drive 
out,  I  think  he  never  drove  in  any  other  direction. 
You  do  not  know  all  his  munificence.  As  an  owner 
of  a  very  small  property  here  I  might  have  expected 
and  asked  a  little  from  him  for  such  parish  purposes 
as  I  have  been  able  to  accomplish,  but  I  never  asked 
him.  He  anticipated  and  surpassed  everything  I 
could  have  thought  of.  If  he  were  alive  he  would 
be  able  to  tell  you  that  I  was  obliged  to  check  and 
limit  his  munificence  where  I  thought  that  in  doing 
his  part  with  others  he  was  doing  injustice  to  himself. 
While  acknowledging  the  liberality  of  you,  my  par 
ishioners,  and  the  assistance  of  many  friends,  which 
I  have  great  pleasure  in  doing,  I  do  not  think  this 
church  would  ever  have  been  built  as  it  has  been 
but  for  him  and  for  his  family.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  them  certainly  it  would  not  have  been  so 
adorned.  I  am  reminded  of  him  weekly  as  I  have 
that  beautiful  window  of  the  parables  and  miracles 
of  our  Lord  before  my  eyes,  and  the  one  to  which 
your  backs  are  turned  in  the  tower,  when  I  address 
you  from  this  place.  And  I  rejoice  that  his  mortal 
remains  are  still  under  my  keeping,  with  those  of 
his  father,  mother,  and  brother,  in  the  churchyard 
which  he  loved  so  well. 

There  is  much  in  the  position  which  our  friend 
held,  as  editor  of  a  paper  which,  under  his  hands, 
was  for  years  without  a  rival,  to  absorb  all  his 
thoughts  and  feelings  as  well  as  his  time,  leaving 
no  room  in  his  heart  for  anything  else.  It  is 


Mr.  Dclane.  335 

a  position  or  profession  which  belongs  to  modern 
times;  there  was  nothing  like  it  in  ancient  days. 
If  it  requires  and  encourages  peculiar  virtues  and 
qualities,  discretion,  reserve,  quickness  of  observa 
tion,  decision,  almost  intuition ;  if  it  calls  into  action 
various  mental  gifts  and  powers,  it  cannot  be  said 
that  it  encourages  the  more  refined  graces  of  char 
acter  in  the  same  degree.  The  tendency  of  those 
who  have  most  to  do  with  men  in  the  way  of  prob 
ing  their  motives  and  divining  their  intentions  is  to 
become  hard,  and  dry,  and  cynical.  They  become 
like  the  persons  they  have  to  deal  with.  It  does  not 
improve  any  one  to  become  a  hanger-on  of  great 
people,  and  yet  such  people  must  be  approached  and 
got  at  if  possible  by  those  who  would  occupy  the 
position  of  our  friend.  It  is  to  his  honour  that  no 
one  ever  accused  him  of  being  the  sycophant  of  any 
man  or  party.  He  was  sought  out  by  others  rather 
than  sought  any  person's  favour  or  intimacy  himself. 
He  received  and  preserved  the  confidences  entrusted 
to  him  in  perfect  independence.  His  great  position 
enabled  him  to  do  many  acts  of  kindness  to  many 
persons,  and  I  should  be  much  surprised  if  I  were 
told  that  when  any  appeal  was  made  to  him  he  was 
ever  found  wanting.  Kindness  and  generosity,  and  a 
free  and  open  hand,  are  not  all  the  virtues  which  we 
would  like  to  see  in  a  Christian  man,  nor  when  these 
are  mentioned  is  the  list  of  those  by  which  my  friend 
was  adorned  exhausted.  It  is  comforting  and  con 
soling  to  hear  the  confession  of  Christ's  faith  and 
fear  from  the  lips  of  those  who  are  dear  to  us.  We 


336  Mr.  Delane. 

would  gladly  carry  the  echo  of  those  last  words, 
"  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,"  as  a  perpetual  music  in  our  ears.  But  death 
beds  are  not  always  or  even  generally  what  one 
might  expect,  when  one  considers  the  tremendous 
change  to  those  who  are  passing  from  life  into  death. 
It  very  commonly  happens  that  the  mind  and  the 
body  are  enfeebled  together.  The  body  cannot  move 
or  act,  and  the  mind  cannot  think.  There  is  no 
power  of  reflection  in  it  to  make  it  feel  anxiety. 
The  sleep  of  peace  cannot  always  be  distinguished 
from  the  coma  of  insensibility ;  nature  at  once  is 
motionless  and  dumb.  Some  of  the  most  religious 
men  I  have  known  have  been  most  reserved  and  un 
communicative  in  their  lives,  and  have  passed  away 
without  a  sign  or  with  a  slight  movement  of  their 
lips  from  which  we  could  only  hope  that  they  were 
breathing  a  prayer.  We  are  glad  of  any  evidence 
of  joy  and  peace  in  believing  where  it  is  evinced,  but 
it  does  not  follow  that  belief  is  wanting,  where  such 
evidence  is  wanting,  and  our  own  hope  and  belief  is 
not  to  wax  faint  because  it  derives  no  solid  support 
from  the  hope  and  belief  of  others.  No  man  know- 
eth  the  mind  of  a  man,  but  the  spirit  of  a  man  that 
is  within  him.  But  God  is  greater  than  our  hearts, 
and  to  His  love  and  keeping  we  can  commit  our 
selves  and  those  who  are  dear  to  us. 

The  death  of  friends,  old  and  young,  the  dull- 
toned  bell,  that  reminds  us  that  another  soul  has 
taken  its  flight,  do  but  add  to  the  warnings  of  this 
solemn  season.  They  warn  us  to  "  cast  away  the 


Mr.  Delane.  337 

works  of  darkness,  and  to  put  on  the  armour  of  light, 
now  in  the  time  of  this  mortal  life."  We  repeat  the 
words  from  the  first  day  of  Advent  unto  Christmas 
Eve,  and  to-day  wo  pray  that  we  may  embrace  and 
hold  fast  the  blessed  hope  of  everlasting  life  which 
is  given  us  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  be  sure 
that  this  hope  will  not  fail,  will  not  deceive  us,  will 
not  make  us  ashamed,  when  the  truth  and  falsehood 
of  everything  shall  be  tried  and  known.  And  the 
God  of  all  peace  fill  us  with  all  joy  and  peace  in 
believing,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


SEEMON  XXII. 

Crimtg  in  2Jnitga. 

REV.  iv.  8. 

" Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty" 
THE  great  festival  of  Trinity  Sunday  is  different 
from  any  other  by  which  the  course  of  the  Chris 
tian  year  is  marked.  Other  festivals  either  com 
memorate  what  I  will  call  historical  events,  or  are  in 
tended  to  bring  before  us  particular  men  whose 
names  are  held  in  honour  among  us,  as  apostles, 
evangelists,  confessors,  or  martyrs.  By  historical 
events  I  mean  things  that  happened,  and  the  truth 
of  which  may  be  established  by  such  evidence  as 
is  generally  held  to  be  sufficient  to  establish  the 
truth  of  events  of  like  nature.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  birth  of  our  blessed  Saviour  at  Bethlehem  is  an 
event,  the  evidence  of  which  is  of  the  same  character 
as  that  which  establishes  the  birth  of  any  other  child. 
His  death  upon  the  cross  was  attested  by  the  same  wit 
nesses,  and  by  the  same  kind  of  proof  as  the  death 
of  the  two  thieves  who  were  crucified  with  Him. 
St.  Paul  marshals  the  witnesses  of  the  resurrection 
just  as  he  would  do  if  he  were  called  to  produce  them 
in  a  court  of  justice.  Any  person  would  have  been 
competent  to  give  evidence  of  the  Ascension  if  he 
had  been  present  on  the  mountain  where  it  took 

a  This  Sermon  was  preached  by  Mr.  Gordon  on  Trinity  Sunday, 
May  20,  1883  :  he  died  on  the  Friday  following,  May  25. 


Trinity  in  Unity.  339 

place,  though  the  actual  witnessing  was  committed 
to  the  Apostles.  Any  of  the  devout  men  who  were 
then  dwelling  at  Jerusalem,  and  possibly  the  scoffers 
also,  were  competent  witnesses  of  what  they  saw  and 
heard  upon  the  day  of  Pentecost.  And  therefore 
I  say  that  these  were  historical  events,  and  we  com 
memorate  them  as  such  on  Christmas  Day,  Good 
Friday,  Easter,  and  Whitsunday.  That  they  were 
miraculous  and  momentous  above  any  other  events 
in  the  world  does  not  deprive  them  of  their  historical 
character,  or  distinguish  them  in  that  respect  from 
events  of  the  most  ordinary  kind.  Of  course  the 
Divine  character  of  the  Person  concerned  in  these 
events  is  a  matter  of  faith,  but  the  events  themselves 
are  purely  historical.  A  person  might  have  wit 
nessed  the  Crucifixion  with  the  idea  that  our  Lord 
was  simply  one  of  three  criminals,  and  the  worst  of 
them,  but  that  would  not  discredit  his  testimony 
as  a  witness  of  the  Crucifixion.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  an  unbeliever  had  been  permitted  to  be  present 
at  the  Ascension  it  would  have  been  difficult  for 
him  to  have  avoided  the  impression  that  He  whom 
he  saw  received  up  into  the  clouds  before  his  eyes 
was  something  more  than  a  man  of  human  flesh  and 
blood.  Thus  you  understand  what  I  mean  by  say 
ing  that  these  are  historical  events,  and  you  must 
be  aware  that  the  statement  of  these  events  makes 
up  the  substance  of  the  creed  with  which  you  are 
familiar  from  your  infancy.  He  that  does  not  believe 
these  statements,  and  holds  them  as  undoubted  truths, 
is  no  Christian,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of  him. 

z2 


340  Trinity  in  Unity. 

There  is  a  strange  tendency  now  to  undervalue  creeds, 
and  to  think  that  we  can  get  on  as  well,  or  even 
better,  without  them ;  and  Christianity  is  supposed 
to  consist  not  in  the  maintenance  of  definite  articles 
of  faith,  but  in  a  certain  temper  and  habit  of  mind 
which  is  called  Christian  after  Him  who  is  a  perfect 
example  of  it.  It  is  thought  that  "  men  may  have 
the  mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,"  without  troub 
ling  themselves  to  know  or  ask  who  Christ  Jesus  was, 
and  in  fact  be  very  good  Christians  without  Christ. 
It  is  true  that  anything  like  the  mind  of  Christ  Jesus 
is  lovely  wherever  it  is  found,  whether  in  believers 
or  unbelievers,  and  they  who  have  that  mind  without 
His  faith  will  condemn  those  who  have  His  faith 
without  His  mind.  We  do  not  separate  those  things 
which  God  hath  joined  together,  and  the  Church 
in  her  prophetic  wisdom  sets  before  us  first  what  we 
ought  to  believe,  and  then  what  we  ought  to  be  and 
do;  holding  that  the  one  ought  to  follow  directly 
from  the  other,  nothing  doubting  but  that  her  most 
faithful  sons  will  celebrate  with  increasing  joy  and 
profit,  as  they  grow  older  and  wiser,  these  recurring 
festivals  of  the  great  events  of  our  Lord's  sojourn 
in  the  flesh.  But  other  festivals  are  in  commemora 
tion  not  of  events  but  of  persons.  The  Annun 
ciation,  and  the  Purification  of  the  Virgin,  and  the 
Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  may  certainly  be  called  events, 
but  if  you  look  over  the  list  of  festivals  in  general 
you  will  find  that  their  object  is  to  commend  to  us 
the  services  and  characters  of  persons,  doing  honour 
to  them  as  soldiers  who  have  fought  the  good  fig 


Trinity  in  Unity.  341 

of  faith,  and  shewn  us  by  example,  how,  being  fol 
lowers  of  them  we  may  be  followers  of  our  blessed 
Lord.  That  the  services  appointed  for  these  days 
should  bring  before  us  passages  illustrative  of  their 
character,  or  scenes  in  which  they  bore  a  prominent 
part,  is  but  natural,  the  object  of  these  festivals  still 
being  to  commemorate  not  events  but  persons.  And 
though  we  pay  so  little  attention  to  these  days  that 
if  the  observance  of  them  were  omitted  altogether 
few  of  you  would  notice  it,  yet  the  Church  at  large 
is  more  faithful  than  we  her  members,  and  it  is  well 
that  the  names  of  her  saints  should  continue  on  her 
calendar,  to  remind  us  of  what  we  owe  them,  and 
possibly  to  rekindle  from  time  to  time  the  love  and 
zeal  of  some  cold  and  sluggish  heart,  till  it  shall 
please  God  to  pour  out  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  suppli 
cation,  when  the  glorious  company  of  the  Apostles, 
and  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  Prophets,  and  the 
noble  army  of  Martyrs,  will  receive  from  her  mem 
bers  that  honour  which  the  Church  claims  as  their 
due. 

But  the  festival  of  Trinity  cannot  escape  our  notice 
in  the  same  way,  for  it  is  fixed  to  a  Sunday,  and  we 
are  reminded  of  it  every  week  for  more  than  half  the 
year.  And  it  is,  as  I  said,  different  from  other  festi 
vals,  for  it  commemorates  nothing  that  can  be  called 
an  event,  and  does  honour  to  no  created  being  how 
ever  high.  It  sets  before  us  for  our  adoration  the 
most  inscrutable  and  glorious  mystery  of  our  religion. 
It  calls  upon  us  to  steady  our  minds  in  and  by  the 
profession  of  a  true  faith,  and  to  lay  our  souls  pros- 


342  Trinity  in  Unity. 

trate  in  the  contemplation  of  God  Almighty  as  He 
has  revealed  Himself  unto  us,  one  in  substance 
but  three  in  person,  in  whose  name  we  are  baptized, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  Now  if  we  are  asked 
for  any  warrant  in  Holy  Scripture  for  the  truth  of 
this  doctrine,  I  do  not  think  we  could  refer  to  any 
thing  more  to  the  point  than  this  formula  of  baptism 
with  which  you  are  familiar.  Or  you  might  refer 
to  the  blessing  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  which 
must  be  scarcely  less  familiar :  "  The  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
fellowship  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all."  We 
should  be  rendering  a  sufficient  account  of  the  faith 
and  hope  that  is  in  us  if  we  were  to  say  that  we  com 
menced  our  Christian  life  in  the  name  of  these  three 
Persons,  and  that  our  highest  prayer  is  that  we  may 
spend  it  under  their  protection,  living  in  the  grace, 
love,  and  communion  of  each.  But  you  must  be 
aware  that  no  such  clear  doctrinal  statements  as  these 
are  to  be  found  in  the  pages  of  the  Old  Testament. 
God  deals  with  His  children  as  children,  giving 
them  from  time  to  time  such  lessons  of  truth  and 
intimations  of  His  will  as  are  suitable  to  their  age, 
and  they  are  able  to  receive.  The  education  of  the 
Apostles  under  their  divine  Master  was  progressive, 
and  He  had  to  tell  them  in  the  course  of  it,  "  I  have 
many  things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear 
them  now."  St.  Paul  says,  "  When  I  was  a  child 
I  thought  as  a  child,  I  spake  as  a  child,  but  when 
I  became  a  man  I  put  away  childish  things."  But 
any  one  who  will  read  the  passage  will  see  that  so 


Trinity  in  Unity.  343 

far  from  claiming  to  be  a  man  in  divine  knowledge 
he  still  professed  to  be  a  child,  and  only  looked  for 
ward  to  becoming  a  man  hereafter,  when  he  should 
no  longer  see  through  a  glass  darkly.  Some  persons 
fret,  and  become  impatient  under  this  condition  of 
knowledge,  and  are  disposed  at  once  to  reject  all 
knowledge  that  is  offered  them,  which  they  are  un 
able  to  understand.  Yet  it  seems  to  me  reason 
able  to  ask,  who  would  wish  nothing  to  be  true  except 
what  he  knows  to  be?  who  would  wish  his  own 
experience  to  be  the  ultimate  test  of  facts;  who 
would  wish  the  range  of  his  own  ideas  to  determine 
the  possibilities  of  truth  ?  Is  it  a  wide  or  a  narrow 
view  that  forbids  the  exercise,  or  condemns  the 
Teachings  out  of  faith  after  the  unseen,  and  regards 
it  a  vanity  or  presumption  to  dwell  on  the  prospect 
of  things  "  which  the  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  the  ear 
heard,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
to  conceive  ?  " 

Imagination  is  one  of  the  endowments  of  our 
nature,  and  therefore  has  its  proper  office  and  func 
tion,  as  our  other  gifts  have,  and  if  its  wanderings 
have  to  be  kept  within  the  lines  of  truth  there  is 
enough  within  those  lines  to  exercise  and  satisfy  it. 
Now  it  appears  to  me  that  those  who  lived  under  the 
old  dispensations  could  hardly  have  read  many  pas 
sages  of  their  own  Scriptures  without  deriving  thence 
some  imagining  of  a  truth  that  was  hidden  from 
them.  Many  learned  Jews,  for  instance,  have  ob 
served  what  does  not  appear  in  our  translations,  that 
the  word  God  is  really  Gods,  though  the  verb  which 


344  Trinity  in  Unity. 

follows  is  in  the  singular  number.  Again,  they 
observe  forms  of  consultation,  as  though  several 
persons  were  taking  counsel  together,  with  a  view 
to  united  action,  as  "Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image."  "  The  man  is  become  as  one  of  us."  "  Let 
us  go  down  and  confound  their  speech."  The  Jews 
allow  that  were  it  not  thus  written  it  would  not 
be  lawful  so  to  write.  Again,  those  passages  which 
name  God  as  sustaining  several  capacities  at  the 
same  time,  as  that  by  which  our  Saviour  perplexed 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees :  "  The  Lord  said  unto 
my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  My  right  hand,  till  I  make 
thine  enemies  thy  footstool.  If  David  then  call  Him 
Lord,  how  is  He  his  Son  ?  "  or  where  the  name  Jeho 
vah,  incommunicable  to  any  but  the  true  God,  is  used 
twice,  clearly  not  of  the  same  person,  "The  Lord 
rained  fire  upon  Sodom  from  the  Lord  out  of  Heaven." 
And  there  are  other  passages  in  which  the  name 
of  God  or  'His  Attributes  is  repeated  thrice,  which 
are  not  a  little  remarkable :  the  hymn  of  praise, 
for  instance,  in  the  vision  of  Isaiah,  which  is  repeated 
in  the  epistle  of  the  day,  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord 
God  of  Hosts,  the  whole  earth  is  full  of  His  glory." 
Indeed  that  vision  itself  is  perhaps  the  clearest  in 
the  whole  volume  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  pro 
phet  felt  that  he  had  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
Hosts ;  he  had  seen  God  as  no  mortal  eye  had  seen 
Him,  and  lived;  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  living 
among  a  people  of  unclean  lips,  he  felt  himself 
undone,  and  woe  upon  him.  But  a  seraph  flew  to 
him  with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar,  and  touched 


Trinity  in  Unity.  345 

his  lips.  Thus  his  iniquity  was  taken  away  and  his 
sin  was  purged,  and  he  was  able  to  hear  and  under 
take  the  mission  with  which  he  was  charged,  and 
which  he  received  from  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  It 
was  the  final  judgment  of  the  faithless  people  that 
he  had  to  declare,  "  Hear  ye  indeed,  but  understand 
not ;  and  see  ye  indeed,  but  perceive  not.  Make  the 
heart  of  this  people  fat,  and  make  their  ears  heavy, 
and  shut  their  eyes;  lest  they  see  with  their  eyes, 
and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand  with  their 
heart,  and  convert,  and  be  healed," — a  judgment 
so  true  that  it  is  repeated  by  each  of  the  Evangelists. 
But  St.  John  refers  the  words  and  the  whole  verse 
directly  to  Christ  Himself.  "  These  things  said  Isaiah, 
when  he  saw  His  glory,  and  spake  of  Him."  The 
Apostle,  like  Isaiah,  had  seen  the  glory  of  Christ,  and 
testified  to  what  he  had  seen.  But  St.  Paul,  quoting 
the  same  judgment  against  his  countrymen,  brings 
in  another  Person:  "Well  spake  the  Holy  Ghost 
by  Esaias  the  prophet  unto  our  fathers:"  and  thus 
we  are  able  to  account  for  the  three  Holies— Holy, 
Holy,  Holy — both  of  the  prophet  and  of  St.  John, 
and  for  the  single  Lord  God  Almighty  ;  for  "  they  are 
not  three  Eternals,  but  one  Eternal;  not  three  Al 
mighties,  but  one  Almighty  ;  not  three  Lords,  but  one 
Lord."  For  "  like  as  we  are  compelled  by  the  Chris 
tian  verity,  to  acknowledge  every  Person  by  Himself  to 
be  God  and  Lord,  so  are  we  forbidden  by  the  Catholic 
religion  to  say  there  be  three  Gods  or  three  Lords." 

No  person  would,  however,  think  of  basing  a  doc 
trine  on  such  passages  as  these  if  there  were  nothing 


346  Trinity  in  Unity. 

clearer  revealed.  Nor  are  we  at  liberty  to  frame 
doctrines  for  ourselves,  to  account  for  or  explain 
passages  in  Scripture,  because  without  such  explana 
tion  they  would  be  difficult  to  understand.  But 
when  a  key  opens  a  lock  it  is  a  strong  presumption 
that  it  was  made  for  that  lock,  and  the  more  compli 
cated  the  lock  the  stronger  the  presumption.  And 
when  learned  Jews  allow  that  God  is  spoken  of  in  Scrip 
ture  in  such  terms  as  it  would  not  be  lawful  to  use 
of  Him  without  that  authority,  this  itself  is  an  argu 
ment  that  that  doctrine  which  explains  and  accounts 
for  the  expressions  used  is  hidden  beneath  them 
and  is  true.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  Old  and  New 
Testament, — the  first  sending  our  thoughts  beyond 
itself  for  the  full  understanding  of  its  words,  the 
second  taking  up  and  carrying  out  the  obscure  inti 
mations  of  the  first, — lend  support  to  each  other  as  the 
mutually  involved  parts  of  a  consistent  and  gradu 
ated  revelation. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  Unity  is  of  the  very 
essence  and  life  of  our  religion.  It  was  declared  in 
the  very  terms  of  the  Annunciation:  "The  Holy 
Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the 
Highest  shall  overshadow  thee.  Therefore  that  Holy 
Thing  that  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the 
Son  of  God."  The  Persons  are  clearly  distinguished 
from  each  other :  The  Highest,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Son  of  God.  It  was  revealed  to  the  eye  and  ear 
at  our  Lord's  Baptism.  The  Spirit  of  God  descended 
like  a  dove,  and  was  seen  by  St.  John ;  a  voice  from 
heaven  was  heard,  the  voice  of  the  Father,  for  He 


Trinity  in  Unity.  347 

bore  witness  to  His  own  beloved  Son,  who  was  there 
in  His  own  Person.  Our  Saviour  engages  to  pray 
the  Father  to  send  us  another  Comforter,  who  shall 
abide  with  us  for  ever,  and  He  declares  that  this 
Comforter  is  the  Iloly  Ghost.  The  three  Holy 
Persons  are  engaged  again  in  promoting  the  salvation 
of  those  who  have  been  baptized  in  their  name. 
Here  again  we  find  acts,  and  persons,  and  capacities, 
distinct. 

The  Father,  from  whom  the  Spirit  proceeds,  whom 
the  Son  prays,  and  by  whom  the  Comforter  is  given. 

The  Son  praying  the  Father,  sending  the  Com 
forter  from  the  Father,  and  testified  of  by  the  Spirit 
so  sent. 

The  Spirit  prayed  for,  given  by  the  Father,  sent 
from  the  Father  by  the  Son,  testifying  of  the  Son, 
and  abiding  for  ever  with  those  disciples  when  the 
Son  had  departed. 

Allowing  for  the  imperfection  of  human  language 
which  belongs  to  things  and  relations  of  earth,  and 
is  only  borrowed  when  it  is  applied  to  the  things  and 
relations  of  heaven,  it  seems  impossible  to  conceive 
a  distinction  of  persons  more  clearly  set  forth,  just  as 
in  countless  other  passages  of  Scripture  nothing  can 
be  more  clear  than  the  declaration  that  the  Lord  our 
God  is  one  Lord.  And  we  may  conceive  that  in  a 
future  state,  and  among  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect,  there  will  be  powers  of  understanding  de 
veloped  in  us,  of  which  at  present  we  have  only  the 
germ  :  so  there  will  be  a  language  more  suitable  to  the 
realities  of  divine  things  than  that  which  we  are  here 


348  Trinity  in  Unity. 

compelled  to  employ,  At  present  the  doctrine  of 
the  Unity  is  guarded  by  the  Trinity  and  the  Trinity 
by  the  Unity;  and  it  is  a  great  protection  to  us  to 
be  taught  how  he  that  will  be  saved  must  not 
only  think,  but  even  speak  of  the  Trinity.  Words 
fashion  and  consolidate  thoughts,  and  they  that  have 
learned  to  speak  in  the  same  language  will  not  be 
likely  to  think  very  differently.  It  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  if  the  wild  speculations  of  presumptuous 
men  in  various  ages  have  driven  the  Church  to 
strict  definitions  and  stringent  formularies,  which 
are  irksome  to  some  as  checks  upon  their  liberty, 
but  are  thankfully  received  by  the  wise  as  guaran 
tees  of  their  safety. 

But  what  is  required  of  us  here  is  not  strictness 
of  thought  or  accuracy  of  language — though  both 
have  their  value — but  reverence  and  adoration ;  and 
if  the  will  of  God  may  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven,  we  may  anticipate  here  some  of  the  em 
ployments  of  heaven,  to  which  indeed  we  are  ex 
cited  by  the  portion  of  Scripture  appointed  for  the 
Epistle,  wherein  the  blessed  angels  and  spirits  that 
are  about  the  throne  of  the  Majesty  on  High  are 
represented  to  St.  John  as  with  most  awful  and  pro 
found  reverence  acknowledging  and  worshipping  the 
three  Holies,  who  are  one  eternal  and  Almighty 
Lord :  a  fit  example  for  the  Church  Militant  on  earth 
to  follow,  because  in  so  doing  we  not  only  copy  but 
even  anticipate  the  constant  employment  of  the 
Church  Triumphant  in  heaven. 

And  so  with  all  humility  and  reverence,  with  all 


Trinity  in  Unity.  349 

the  angels  and  all  the  heavenly  powers,  with  Cheru- 
bin  and  Seraphin,  with  apostles,  and  prophets,  and 
martyrs,  with  the  holy  Church  throughout  all  the 
world,  we  unite  in  praising  and  acknowledging  this 
"Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth:"  even 
the  Father,  of  an  infinite  Majesty ;  His  honourable 
true  and  only  Son;  also  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Com 
forter;  living  and  reigning  one  God  world  without 
end. 


EXTRACTS  FBOM  UNPUBLISHED  SERMONS, 


THE  following  Extracts  from  Sermons  which  cannot 
be  printed  entire  for  want  of  room,  are  intended 
to  throw  light  upon  Mr.  Gordon's  opinions  respecting 
several  subjects  in  which  he  took  particular  interest. 
He  was  always  strongly  opposed  to  the  exclusion  of 
religious  doctrine  from  Public  Elementary  Schools 
established  under  the  Act  of  1870.  His  views  have 
been  made  known  during  his  lifetime  in  several 
publications ;  but  he  constantly  recurs  to  a  measure 
which  seemed  to  him  little  short  of  a  national  abro 
gation  of  duty,  as  in  the  two  following  out  of  many 
passages : — 

I.  You  can  exclude  Christianity  and  all  religion  from 
schools,  but  admitting  it,  you  cannot  exclude  Christian 
dogma,  for  every  precept  carries  us  directly  into  it.  Christ 
is  at  the  same  time  our  authority  and  our  example,  for  He 
alone  entirely  fulfilled  every  precept  which  His  lips  delivered. 
To  take  these  precepts  without  His  authority  and  His  ex 
ample,  is  to  rob  them  of  their  vitality  and  power,  but  directly 
you  touch  either  you  are  in  the  region  of  dogma. 

The  law  was  of  old  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  men  unto 
Christ  the  true  Teacher.  That  will  be  a  miserable  law  that 
does  not  bring  them  still  to  Him.  Consider  for  a  moment 
yourselves.  In  three  weeks'  time  the  Cross  of  Christ  will 
be  again  lifted  up  before  your  eyes.  It  is  the  sight  of  sights, 
the  subject  of  subjects,  to  draw  to  itself  all  eyes,  to  engage 
all  hearts.  Yet  there  are  legislators  of  a  Christian  country 
who  tell  us  that  this  of  all  subjects  in  the  world  shall  never 


Extracts  from  unpublished  Sermons.          351 

be  mentioned  in  the  schools  to  which  the  poor  shall  be  com 
pelled  by  fine  and  imprisonment  to  send  their  children.  It 
shall  be  a  crime  to  speak  of  it ;  it  shall  be  banished,  if  pos 
sible,  from  their  thoughts. 

"These  things  which  I  command  thee  shall  be  in  thine 
heart.  And  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  to  thy  chil 
dren,  and  thou  shalt  talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine 
house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  when  thou  liest 
down  and  risest  up." 

This  was  the  law  of  a  Jewish  parent.  Take  the  negation 
of  each  part  and  you  will  have  the  law  which  it  is  sought 
to  impose  upon  every  schoolmaster  in  a  land  that  calls  itself 
Christian.  Will  you  not  join  with  me  when  I  say  "God 
forbid?" 

II.  I  have  already  spoken  to  you  on  the  efforts  that  are 
now  being  made  to  proscribe  and  exclude  all  religion  from 
the  education  to  which  your  children  shall  be  condemned, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  these  efforts  may 
succeed a.  No  doubt  many  compromises  will  be  proposed,  and 
one  in  particular — that  the  Bible  shall  be  read  in  schools  but 
no  definite  instruction  given — has  so  plausible  and  taking 
a  sound  that  some  persons  may  regard  it  as  a  valuable  con- 

a  These  apprehensions  were  not  wholly  groundless.  In  many 
Board  Schools  no  doubt  the  best  is  done  that  can  be  under  a  law 
which  forbids  any  teaching  of  definite  religious  doctrine,  though 
it  imposes  no  restriction  as  regards  the  opposite  extreme.  From 
a  Parliamentary  Return  it  appears  that  in  November  last  there 
were  45  Board  Schools,  chiefly  in  Wales,  in  which  no  religious 
instruction  whatever  was  given.  In  some,  such  instruction  was 
permitted  twice  a  week  between  1  and  2  o'clock  (the  dinner  hour). 
In  one  Board  School  an  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  a 
hymn  from  a  School  Board  Hymn-book,  with  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
at  the  opening  of  school.  But  a  member  of  the  Board  opposed 
the  motion  on  the  ground  that  though  he  had  no  objecticni 
himself  to  the  Lord's  Prayer,  many  of  the  ratepayers  had,  and  so 
the  motion  was  lost;  and  similarly  elsewhere. 


352  Extracts  from 

cession.  From  what  I  have  said  you  will  not  suppose  that 
I  undervalue  the  sacred  volume,  holding  it  to  be  in  reality, 
and  not  simply  to  contain,  somewhere  in  its  bulk,  the  true 
Word  of  God.  But  if  the  reading  of  it  is  to  be  considered 
the  sum  and  substance  of  a  religious  education,  I  must  pro 
nounce  it  to  be  a  snare  and  a  delusion.  Are  children  of  from 
six  to  twelve  years  of  age  supposed  to  be  capable  of  framing 
for  themselves  an  intelligible  idea  of  religious  truth,  out  of 
selections  made  we  know  not  on  what  principle,  or  possibly 
on  no  principle  at  all  ?  It  may  be  said  that  Christian  teach 
ers  would  of  course  select  such  passages  as  are  suited  to  the 
intelligence  of  children,  and  would  lead  them  on  naturally 
to  the  simple  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  duties  connected 
with  them.  But  what  security  will  there  be  that  teachers 
will  be  Christians  ?  and  if  they  are  not  so,  it  is  a  mere  pro 
fanation  of  Scripture  that  such  persons  should  read  it  as 
part  of  their  day's  work,  with  unbelief  in  their  hearts,  and 
possibly  contempt  in  their  voices.  And  if  they  are  Chris 
tians,  and  select  such  passages  for  reading  as  will  direct 
their  pupils  towards  such  truths  as  they  think  fundamental, 
then  they  will  be  simply  doing  in  an  indirect  and  ineffec 
tual  way  that  which  the  law  forbids  them  to  do  in  a  more 
direct  and  effectual  method;  for  a  selection  and  arrange 
ment  of  Scripture  is  in  effect  an  explanation  and  commen 
tary  and  summary  of  Scripture.  Only  this  summary  will 
not  be  that  which  the  Church  has  received  in  all  ages,  but 
something  that  commends  itself  to  the  individual  teacher. 
The  truths  of  Christianity  can  be  very  simply  stated,  and 
the  Church,  under  the  pressure  of  necessity,  but  under  the 
guidance  of  God's  Spirit,  has  thrown  them  into  such  a  form 
that  they  can  be  learned  and  understood  by  children ;  while 
they  are  held  as  a  precious  treasure  and  deposit  by  the  wise. 
And  Catechisms,  though  they  have  not  the  authority  of  the 
undivided  Church,  are  the  natural  mode  of  stamping  the 
impressions  of  truth  upon  the  infant,  and  even  upon  the 


unpullished  Sermons.  353 

adult  mind.  St.  Luke  wrote  his  Gospel  for  the  benefit  of 
Theophilus,  that  he  might  know  the  certainty  of  those  things 
wherein  he  had  been  instructed,  or  catechized,  as  the  word 
is  in  the  original.  And  in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  we  find 
traces  of  a  regular  system  of  instruction  proceeding  from 
principles  to  perfection.  "  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all 
that  which  I  also  received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  that  He  was  buried,  and 
that  He  rose  again  according  to  the  Scriptures."  Here  we 
are  almost  brought  to  the  very  language  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  as  far  as  concerns  one  article  of  faith,  and  we  do  not 
know  that  the  Apostles'  Creed  was  not  then  used  in  its  com 
plete  form.  And  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  repentance 
and  faith,  and  the  doctrine  of  baptisms,  and  of  laying  on  of 
hands,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  eternal  judg 
ment,  are  spoken  of  as  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of 
Christ.  Are  children  to  be  left  to  pick  out  these  principles 
for  themselves  out  of  the  sacred  volume,  or  such  portions  of 
it  as  may  be  selected  for  their  reading  ?  or  shall  we  not 
follow  the  Apostles'  example,  and  put  them  in  possession  of 
them  from  the  first  ? 

The  Scriptures  are  able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation, 
not  through  their  history,  not  through  their  study  as  a  literary 
work,  not  even  through  their  morality,  but  "  through  faith 
which  is  in  Jesus  Christ." 

We  baptize  your  children  into  that  faith,  and  we  endea 
vour  to  give  them  the  substance  of  it  in  that  form  of  sound 
words  which  has  been  delivered  to  us,  that  thus  they  may 
grow  in  faith,  and,  we  hope,  in  grace.  And  we  can  send 
them  freely  to  the  Word  of  God,  without  fear  and  without 
reserve,  holding  with  the  Apostle  that  "  All  Scripture  is 
given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable  for  doctrine, 
for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness," 
that  under  its  guidance  and  comfort  the  child  may  grow  up 
into  the  man. 

A  a 


354  Extracts  from 

"And  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  throughly  fur 
nished  unto  all  good  works." 

His  view  of  the  relations  which  ought  to  subsist 
between  masters  and  dependents  is  shewn  in  the 
following  passage,  possessing  a  peculiar  interest  from 
the  circumstance  referred  to  in  p.  57,  as  affecting  his 
own  household. 

III.  "  If  thou  have  a  servant,  let  him  be  as  thyself.  If 
thou  have  a  servant  entreat  him  as  a  brother,"  says  the 
author  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  and  he,  like  St.  Paul,  is 
speaking  of  a  bought  servant.  Let  me  give  you  an  account 
of  a  lady  in  Israel,  the  head  of  a  large  household,  and  living 
in  great  splendour.  "Who,"  asks  Solomon,  "can  find  a 
virtuous  woman  ?  her  price  is  far  above  rubies.  The  heart  of 
her  husband  doth  safely  trust  in  her."  She  is  industrious 
and  careful.  "  She  seeketh  wool  and  flax,  and  worketh 
willingly  with  her  hands.  She  riseth  while  it  is  yet  night, 
and  giveth  meat  to  her  household  and  a  portion  to  her  maid 
ens."  She  has  an  eye  to  business,  and  does  not  miss  a  good 
chance.  "  She  considereth  a  field,  and  buyeth  it.  With  the 
fruit  of  her  hands  she  planteth  a  vineyard."  But  her  special 
care  is  of  her  servants.  "  She  is  not  afraid  of  the  snow  for  her 
household.  All  her  household  are  clothed  in  double  gar 
ments  ;  she  looketh  well  to  the  ways  of  her  household,  and 
eateth  not  the  bread  of  idleness.  Her  children  rise  up  and 
call  her  blessed,  her  husband  also,  and  he  praiseth  her." 
We  wish  we  had  also  a  picture  of  a  husband  worthy  of  such 
a  wife ;  we  should  like  to  be  told  how  he  dealt  with  his  ser 
vants,  but  we  can  easily  imagine  it.  How  that  lady's  servants 
loved  their  mistress  ;  they  adored  her,  they  would  have  done 
anything  for  her.  They  would  not  calculate  the  least  they 
were  bound  to  do,  or  the  exact  amount  they  had  contracted 
to  do.  All  their  thoughts  would  be,  what  was  the  most  they 


unpublished  Sermons. 

could  do,  how  they  could  best  requite  her  care  and  love, 
and  how  they  could  exceed  their  obligations,  and  render 
some  service  that  would  be  a  free-will  offering.  Perhaps 
some  of  them  would  be  ungrateful.  But  what  did  that 
matter  as  regards  her  conduct  ?  She  at  least  had  done  her 
duty,  and  had  engendered  about  her  that  warmth  of  affec 
tion  and  love  which  was  her  own  comfort  and  reward.  I 
cannot  help  thinking  at  this  moment  of  our  Queen,  and 
of  the  loss  she  has  sustained  in  the  lower  department  of 
her  household.  I  think  we  know  very  well  that  the  regard 
of  Her  Majesty  was  not  limited  to  that  one  person  whom 
she  particularly  favoured.  He  was  a  single  instance,  but 
she  observed  and  watched  the  conduct  of  every  one  about 
her,  and  valued  them  accordingly.  Some  persons  may 
think  that  the  servant  whom  she  has  lately  lost,  and  whose 
loss  I  fear  may  have  affected  her  health  and  spirits,  enjoyed 
exceptional  and  even  excessive  favour.  But  I  never  heard 
that  he  was  unworthy  of  it,  and  I  know  what  it  is  to  lose 
the  sight  of  a  familiar  face,  even  though  it  be  the  face  of 
an  humble  dependent,  or  as  some  may  say  a  menial.  I  can 
only  think  of  the  Queen's  affection  for  her  faithful  servant 
as  an  instance  of  the  goodness  of  her  heart,  whose  sympa 
thies  extend  to  all  her  servants.  And,  so  far  from  thinking 
the  relation  between  them  as  exceptional,  I  rather  regard 
it  as  typical  and  exemplary,  as  a  type,  that  is,  and  instance  of 
the  feeling  which  ought  to  exist  between  all  masters  and 
all  servants,  each  of  course  according  to  the  faithfulness  of 
his  service  and  degree. 

His  regard  for  dumb  animals,  noticed  in  p.  67, 
appears  in  the  following  striking  description : — 

IV.  I  would  ask  here,  is  there  any  doubt  that  animals 
have  thoughts,  memories,  and  feelings,  if  they  have  no  arti 
culate  mode  of  expressing  them  ?  That  they  have  memories 
is  beyond  all  doubt.  Their  recollection  of  places  is  mar- 


A  a  2 


356  '   Extracts  from 

vellous,  and   in   respect  of  permanence  and   accuracy  far 
exceeds  our  own.     The  attachment  of  the  higher  order  of 
domestic  animals  to  those  who  treat  them  well  is  a  lesson 
to  the  ingratitude  of  man.     It  has  been  well  observed  that 
the  nobility  of  animals  is  in  exact  proportion  to  their  capa 
bility  of  attachment  to  a  being  higher  than  themselves,  i.e. 
to  man.     And  man  rises  in  the  scale  of  being  in  proportion 
as  he  is  capable  of,  and  filled  with,  the  love  of  God.     A  per 
fectly  independent  animal  would  only   deserve  to   be   de 
stroyed;  a  perfectly  independent  man,  if  we  can  conceive 
such  a  one,  would  be  the  most  degraded  of  his  kind.     We 
are  exalted  by  our  dependence  on  Him  who  made  us,  and 
by  our  sense  of  it.     I  do  not  know  anything  more  beautiful 
or  more  pathetic  than  the  way  in  which  subservient  animals 
submit  their  own  wills  to  the  wills  of  us  their  masters  and 
the  lords  of   Creation.     They  must  do  many  things  con 
trary  to  their  own  wishes  and  impulses,  simply  because  they 
know  we  wish  them.     I  will  not  slander  them  by  saying 
that  it  is  from  fear,  it  is  from  a  higher  motive.     A  word, 
a  motion,  or  a  touch  of  the  bridle  is  enough,  and  they  re 
sign  themselves.     Isaiah  compares  the  brute  creation  with 
the  very  people  of  God,  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
latter :  "  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's 
crib,  but  Israel  doth  not  know,  My  people  doth  not  consi 
der."     Do  you  suppose  that  the  horse  does  not  remember 
his  long  years  of  faithful  service,  and  that  when  he  is  cruelly 
treated  his  thoughts  are  not  exactly  those  which  found  ex 
pression  in  the  mouth  of  Balaam's  ass  ?    There  is  a  pathetic 
power  in  his  reproach,  which  is  far  more  telling  than  if  it 
came  from  a  human  creature.     He  pleads  for  mercy  and 
justice  the  more  powerfully  because  he  is  perfectly  helpless. 
He  acknowledges  himself  to  be  a  slave,  "Am  not  I  thine 
ass,  upon   which  thou  hast  ridden  ever  since  I  was  thine 
unto  this  day  ?  was  I  ever  wont  to  do  so  unto  thee  ?"    If 
dumb  creatures  could  speak  would  they  not  frequently  have 


unpublished  Sermons.  357 

occasion  to  speak  in  this  way  to  us  ?  They  do  virtually  say 
it ;  they  reproach  us  with  their  eyes  ?  I  have  known  them  do 
it.  They  reproach,  and  they  forgive.  One  word,  one  touch 
of  kindness  is  enough,  and  everything  is  forgotten.  If  they 
are  inferior  to  us  in  not  being  able  to  weigh  injuries  or  un- 
kindness  with  precision,  they  are  an  example  to  us  in  for 
giving  them.  Man  is,  as  I  said,  lord  of  Creation,  and  may 
kill  and  eat  what  he  likes,  but  cruelty  to  dependent  crea 
tures  seems  to  me  to  be  like  the  unpardonable  sin. 

The  following  passages  bring  before  the  mind's 
eye  pictures  of  various  kinds,  the  more  pleasing  from 
their  perfect  simplicity. 

(a.)  Of  the  Table  in  the  Wilderness. 

V.  The  table  that  was  spread  in  the  wilderness  was  thus 
sanctified  and  increased  by  a  marvellous  increase.  It  grew 
in  the  Apostles'  hands,  and  multiplied  as  it  was  distributed. 
In  their  case  it  was  literally  true — "There  is  that  scatter- 
eth  and  yet  increaseth," — a  visible  instance  of  that  law  of 
charity  which  cannot  exhaust  herself  by  giving,  but  ever 
finds  the  blessings  which  she  bestows  on  others  coming  back 
in  fuller  measure  to  her  own  bosom.  But  when  we  ask  the 
manner  of  this  increase,  or  seek  to  realize  it  to  ourselves, 
the  whole  thing  eluding  the  grasp,  we  cannot  follow  it  even 
in  imagination.  There  were  five  loaves  to  begin  with,  the 
material  basis  of  the  miracle  —  they  were  blessed  and 
broken;  but  how  each  of  them  became  the  seed  of  other 
loaves,  increasing  in  the  hands  of  the  Apostles  as  they  passed 
along  the  lines  of  the  multitudes,  would  be  an  idle  enquiry, 
and  it  belongs  to  the  wisdom  of  the  sacred  narrators  to 
leave  unattempted  the  description  of  that  which  cannot  be 
described. 

But  let  not  the  marvellous  character  of  that  which  we 
have  never  seen  make  us  insensible  to  the  wonders  that 
daily  pass  before  our  eyes.  Let  not  God's  every-day  mira- 


358 


Extracts  from 


cles  grow  cheap  in  our  sight  because  we  are  familiar  with 
them,  while  we  confine  our  admiration  to  those  special  acts 
by  which  the  Son  of  Man  signalized  His  Mission  among 
men.  Who  can  tell  us  how  it  is  that  a  single  grain  of  corn 
cast  into  the  earth  decomposes,  and,  as  the  Scripture  says, 
dies,  but  in  its  death  gives  birth  to  a  new  progeny  after  its 
kind,  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear.  Take  the  grain  and  examine  it  as  you  please  ;  analyse 
and  separate  its  elements ;  subject  it  to  every  kind  of  scien 
tific  skill,  and  you  will  search  in  vain  for  the  principle  of  life 
that  is  called  into  activity  by  the  genial  influence  of  the 
sun  and  rain.  It  obeys  a  law  of  its  own,  and  obeys  it  under 
due  conditions,  with  unwavering  fidelity;  but  the  process  is 
a  hidden  mystery  to  us  when  we  attempt  to  trace  it,  and  is 
therefore  a  fit  type  of  that  greater  mystery  which  shall  be 
disclosed  when  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality,  and 
we  shall  be  changed.  If  we  cannot  understand  earthly 
things,  how  can  we  expect  to  understand  heavenly  ?  There 
is  need  of  the  same  faith  in  both.  "For  it  is  by  faith  only 
that  we  understand  that  the  worlds  were  framed  by  the 
Word  of  God,  so  that  things  which  are  seen  were  not  made 
by  things  which  do  appear." 

(£>.)  The  ripening  Corn  in  Summer. 

VI.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  there  is  no  scene 
in  nature  more  delightful  for  the  eye  to  rest  upon  than 
a  bright  field  of  ripening  corn.  It  is  so,  not  only  for  the 
ideas  of  peace  and  industry,  and  the  promise  of  comfort  and 
plenty  that  it  suggests,  but  from  its  very  aspect  and  appear 
ance.  Watch  it,  as  it  bends  and  waves  beneath  the  light 
winds  of  summer,  or  as  the  clouds  and  sunshine  sweep  over 
it  in  succession,  giving  it  almost  the  expression  of  a  smile, 
and  you  will  have  a  picture  of  light  and  shade,  of  form  and 
colour,  of  rest  and  motion,  drawn  for  you  by  nature  herself, 
and  defying  the  imitation  of  art.  It  may  be  that  all  persons 


unpullished  Sermons.  359 

have  not  eye  for  these  things,  but  those  who  lack  it  cer 
tainly  lack  a  power  of  enjoyment  which  is  a  source  of  infi 
nite  happiness  to  its  more  fortunate  possessors.  And  the 
aspect  of  the  cornfield  seems  to  me  to  be  invested  with 
other  powers  besides  that  of  giving  pleasure.  It  teaches  us 
a  high  moral  and  religious  lesson.  It  is  a  visible  token 
and  witness  of  God's  Providence  and  goodness,  a  memento 
of  our  entire  dependence  upon  Him.  A  heap  of  corn  rising 
up  stage  above  stage  on  the  terraced  hills  of  Judaea  was  one 
of  the  promised  blessings  of  the  reign  of  Solomon,  and  the 
abundance  of  its  increase  is  ever  associated  with  the  bounty 
of  Him  who  is  the  Giver  of  all  good  things.  It  appears  to 
me  to  have  a  natural  tendency,  before  anything  else,  to 
dispose  the  human  heart  to  goodwill  and  gratitude,  and  he 
must  be  a  worse  man  than  I  should  like  to  imagine  any 
man  to  be,  who  can  walk  through  the  impressive  silence  or 
gentle  murmur  of  the  cornfield,  in  an  unthankful  temper, 
or  harbouring  any  evil  thoughts,  either  towards  God  or  man. 
Is  not  the  cornfield  more  than  a  moral  lesson  to  us  ?  Is  it 
not  a  visible  parable  of  life,  and  death,  and  resurrection  ? 
"Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." 
Who  can  compare  the  bare  brown  fields  of  the  present 
season  with  the  richness  of  their  summer  clothing,  without 
feeling  that  there  is  a  deep  mystery  that  works  this  won 
drous  change.  St.  Paul  at  least  thought  so — "  Thou  fool, 
that  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die.  And 
that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that 
shall  be,  but  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat  or  of  some 
other  grain.  But  God  giveth  it  a  body,  as  it  hath  pleased 
Him,  and  to  every  seed  his  own  body." 

(c.)  Of  Foreign  Missions. 

VII.  If  we  wish  to  strengthen  the  Church  in  our  own 
lands,  the   way  to  do  so  is,  I  am  sure,  by  extending  and 


360  Ex  tracts  from 

planting  it  in  other  lands.  Earthly  kingdoms  may  be  weak 
ened  by  their  extension,  and  a  lengthened  position  may  be 
only  a  source  of  weakness ;  but  it  is  not  so  with  the  king 
dom  of  God.  We  cannot  round  its  borders,  or  make  it  neat 
and  compact  just  for  ourselves  to  dwell  in.  Extension  and 
progress  are  the  very  law  of  its  being,  and  the  necessity  of 
its  existence.  It  is  most  safe  at  home,  when  it  is  most  ag 
gressive  and  enterprising  abroad.  To  cease  to  conquer  is 
to  cease  to  live ;  and  what  is  true  of  the  whole  is  true  of 
every  part.  Life  at  home  is  sustained  and  strengthened  by 
life  and  activity  abroad.  If  we  have  much  to  Co  among  our 
own  people,  unconverted  heathen  even  at  our  doors,  go  more 
largely  arid  freely  into  missionary  efforts,  and  the  blessing 
that  you  carry  into  other  lands  may  return  upon  you  ten 
fold  here.  It  is  no  spirit  of  faith,  but  one  of  mistaken  cal 
culation,  that  would  deter  us  from  the  fields  abroad,  because 
the  fields  are  calling  for  more  labourers  here.  I  do  not 
believe  it  can  be  shewn  that  any  Church  was  ever  in 
jured  by  missionary  zeal,  or  that  it  lost  anything  by  send 
ing  even  its  best  and  noblest  sons  to  bear  the  cross  in  other 
lands.  And  hard  pressed  as  many  parishes  are  to  supply 
their  own  immediate  wants,  with  schools  and  churches  to 
build,  ministers  to  support,  works  of  love  and  charity  to 
establish  and  maintain,  they  will  derive  not  weakness  but 
strength,  not  exhaustion,  but  a  renewal  of  their  vigour,  by 
throwing  themselves  heartily  and  zealously  into  the  great 
work  of  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  All  are  not 
called  to  be  evangelists,  it  was  not  so  at  the  beginning,  and 
it  is  not  so  now.  "He  gave  some  apostles,  some  prophets, 
some  evangelists,  some  pastors  and  teachers."  Men's  gifts 
varied,  and  their  calls  varied;  but  the  end  of  all  was  "the 
perfecting  of  the  Saints,"  the  work  of  the  ministry,  the 
edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ.  But  all  are  called  upon  in 
their  degree  to  promote  the  kingdom  of  God,  for  the  corning 
of  which  they  daily  pray  in  our  Lord's  own  words.  We  who  re- 


unpullishcd  Sermons.  361 

main  at  home,  whose  lot  is  cast  in  the  pleasant  places  of  our 
own  land,  who  minister,  or  are  ministered  to,  in  the  churches 
where  our  fathers  worshipped,  and  tread  daily  or  weekly 
the  soil  that  is  hallowed  by  their  graves — are  one  in  faith 
with  those  who  are  carrying  on  the  holy  warfare  in  the  dark 
places  of  the  earth.  We  have  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  bap 
tism,  it  will  be  our  own  fault  if  we  have  not  one  common 
interest  in  the  work  they  have  to  do.  Think  you  that  the 
memory  of  all  that  they  have  left  behind  never  recurs  to 
those  soldiers  of  the  cross,  that  alone  among  the  heathen, 
or  in  the  unmeasured  wilderness,  or  primaeval  forest,  they 
never  think  of  the  peaceful  homes,  and  familiar  faces,  and 
sacred  walls  and  decent  ornaments  of  public  services  that 
they  have  left;  or  contrast  the  meagre  congregations — the 
two  or  three,  perhaps,  whom  they  have  gathered  together 
with  pains  and  difficulty  to  learn  the  first  rudiments  of 
truth  —  with  the  overflowing  congregations,  and  united 
voices,  and  peals  of  praise,  which  they  have  often  heard 
filling  the  vast  expanse  of  minster  or  cathedral;  heard  it, 
perhaps,  for  the  last  time  when  they  received  the  Holy 
Spirit  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,  and  were  commended  to 
their  work  with  prayer.  And  what  greater  encouragement 
for  them  in  their  labour  and  solitude,  than  to  know  that 
our  hearts  too  are  with  them  in  their  work,  that  they  are 
not  looked  upon  as  men  who  have  thrown  themselves  away, 
or  separated  their  interests  from  ours ;  but  that  we  are 
embarked  in  a  common  cause,  fellow-workers  in  the  same 
high  enterprise,  fellow- workers  with  God ;  and  that  they 
will  have  a  constant  share  in  our  prayers,  and  sympathies, 
and  alms  ? 

VIII.  Pearls  at  random  strung. 

There  is  this  reason  for  keeping  past  sins  in  remem 
brance,  that  ve  shall  be  in  danger  of  forgetting  the  mercy 
that  forgives  if  we  forget  the  sin  that  is  forgiven. 


362  Extracts  from 

One  vice  for  a  time  destroys  another,  till  at  last  all  be 
come  confluent,  and  the  whole  man  corrupt  in  every  part. 

Out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,  and 
sometimes  out  of  its  emptiness. 

Upon  Congregational  Music  : — "  In  ordinary  chanting,  I 
think  that  those  who  have  no  ear  or  voice  may  be  silent  in 
Church  without  compromising  their  rights." 

Charity  is  that  affection  of  the  mind  whereby  we  love  God 
for  His  own  sake,  and  our  neighbour  for  God's  sake. 

A  Proverb  is  a  saying  which  embodies  the  wisdom  of  one 
man  and  the  experience  of  many. 

Mystery  is  correlative  to  Revelation.  Revelation  is  the 
bright  and  Mystery  the  dark  side  of  the  same  providential 
scheme. 

That  Government  is  best  which  is  least  felt. 
Though  sin  is  hereditary  we  can  break  off  the  entail. 

Of  our  public  dealings  with  China  : — "  If  we  have  forced 
upon  the  Chinese  a  drug  which  we  know  to  be  poisonous, 
we  have  at  least  abstained  from  forcing  upon  them  a  religion 
which  we  believe  to  be  true." 

The  existence  of  evil  in  any  form  under  the  government 
of  an  Almighty  and  all-good  Governor  of  the  world  is  the 
great  insoluble  problem  ;  which  question  those  who  presume 
to  enter  into  must  be  much  wiser  or  much  more  foolish  than 
myself. 

The  strength  of  prayer  is  feebleness,  if  we  do  not  try  to  be 
that  which  we  pray  to  be. 

Of  field  sports  : — "  I  hope  that  I  may  be  allowed  to  take 
delight  in  wild  animals  without  being  under  the  necessity 
of  killing  them." 

When  certain  of  the  congregation  left  the  church  before 
the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  their  practice  was 


unpublished  Sermons.  3G3 

held  up  to  them  as  ultra-popish,  because  whereas  Roman 
Catholics  remained  without  communicating,  they  carried 
their  principle  a  step  further  and  went  away  altogether : 
possibly  with  no  greater  effect  in  convincing  the  seceders 
of  the  nature  of  their  fault,  than  Yorick  in  maintaining  to 
his  astonished  host  that  the  vice  of  the  French  character 
was  over-seriousness. 

These  extracts  may  perhaps  be  most  fittingly 
closed  by  the  expression  of  a  sentiment  deeply  rooted 
in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  yet  co-existing  with  abso 
lute  loyalty  to  his  own  Church. 

IX.  I  thank  God  that  I  may  allow,  not  in  the  niggard 
spirit  of  an  acknowledgment  that  has  been  forced  from  me, 
but  of  a  free  and  grateful  confession,  that  God  has  raised 
up  many  a  prophet,  and  witness,  and  preacher  of  righteous 
ness,  among  those  who  do  not  agree  with  us  on  matters 
which  we  think  of  great  importance,  particularly  on  the 
subject  of  an  ordained  ministry,  which  traces  its  commission 
to  the  laying  on  of  hands  by  the  Apostles, — and  we  look 
forward  to  the  happy  time  when  the  schism  which  now  exists 
shall  be  closed.  Wounds,  as  I  am  told,  heal  in  two  ways, 
by  first  intention  as  it  is  called,  when  the  separated  parts 
are  brought  together  at  once  and  immediately  unite,  and 
by  granulation,  where  the  process  is  slower  and  the  cure 
is  effected  by  new  flesh  forming  on  both  sides,  till  the  chasm 
is  filled  up.  Believe  me  that  the  granulation  of  charity 
will  fill  up  the  wounds  that  are  now  gaping,  and  when 
charity  has  its  work,  that  which  is  wanting  on  either  side 
will  be  felt  and  supplied.  Apostles,  prophets,  pastors,  and 
teachers,  will  not  be  wanting  "  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity 
of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God, 
unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ." 


APPENDIX  I. 


ORATIO  PROCURATORIA  CORAM  ACADEMIA 

HABITA  TERM.  PASCH.  INEUNTE 

MDCCCXLVII. 

TVIIHI  hanc  concionem  pro  officii  more  habituro  nihil 
prius  in  mentem  venit,  quara  ut  semestri  tantura  honore 
insignitus,  fortunam  Universitatis  nostrae,  quoe  hoc  anno 
gravissimi  magistratus  mutationem  sustinuit,  coraraemorera, 
meam  vicem  etiara  condoleam,  qui  me  in  locum  viri  multo 
magis  idonei  subrogatum  esse  sentio. 

Cujus*  profecto  a  nobis  discessum  baud  sine  causa  de- 
ploraremus,  si  eo  tantum  modo  operam  Academiao  dedisset, 
quo  civis  unusquisque  aut  alumnus  qui  in  loco  aut  collegio 
suo  muneribus  sibi  permissis  pro  parte  virili  defungitur, 
toti  adeo  civitatis  aut  Academic  corpori  prodesse  censendus 
est.  Verum  ille  quidem  non  illorum  magis  causa  qui  intra 
parietes  -ZEdis  suoo  commorantur,  quam  alienorum  omnium 
(absit  verbo  invidia)  elaborarat. 

Quam  bene  de  Groscis  litteris  est  meritus,  testis  est  in 
omnium  manibus  lexicon  Grseco-Anglicum,  quod  magna 
ex  parte  a  Germanico  fonte  sumptum,  magna  tamen  ex 
parte  denuo  recudit,  auxit  et  concinnavit.  Cujus  duabus 
editionibus  fere  exhaustis,  tertia  jam  ante  diem  postulatur. 

Ceterum  id  jam  diu  factum  est  et  celebratura,  et  id  opus 
fortasse,  quod  ille  etiam  alter  adjutor  suus  et  gloria  par 
absens  potuisset  absolvere,  hoc  vero  anno  ad  Archididascali 
Westmonasteriensis  dignitatem  evectus,  procuratoris  simul, 
moralis  philosophise  professoris,  instituti  Tayloriaui  cura- 
toris  officia  aliis  mandanda  atque  obeunda  reliquit.  Et  in 

•  Rev.  H.  G.  Liddell,  the  present  Dean  of  Christ  Church. 


366  Appendix  I. 

philosophia  quidem  ethica  quam  vocant,  lectiones  ejus  quam- 
quara  rerum  multarum  turba  impediti  tanta  frequentia  audi- 
torum  celebrabantur  ut  satis  essent  documento,  nee  classem 
professoribus  nostris,  nee  adolescentibus  audiendi  voluntatem 
deesse,  ubi  spes  certa  fructus  percipiendi  ostendatur.     Nee 
id  mihi  erat  mirum.     Hem  enim  subtilissimam  ita  tractabat, 
ut  cum  in  veterum  philosophorum  opinionibus  ac  disciplinis 
illustrandis  plurimum  versaretur,  permulta  tamen  ad  quaas- 
tiones    et    officia   nostrae   ipsorum    aetatis   pertinentia   inde 
deduceret.     Scilicet   in    eo   erat    prsecipua    qusedam    animi 
ejus  excellentia,  quod  veteres  philosophos  in  eadem  materia 
elaborare,  in  eosdem  errores  incidere,  in  iisdem  difficultati- 
bus  hserere,  eadem  qurerere  ac  nostri  temporis  homines  vide- 
bat.     Itaque  lectiones  ejus  erant  non  ut  de  re   antiqua  et  \ 
vetustate  exoleta  et  a  nobis  aliena,  sed  ut  de   hodierna  et  ; 
maxime  ad  nos  pertinenti,  cum  non  ad  reconditas  opiniories   < 
explicandas  sed   ad  vitam   et  mores  dirigendos  spectarent. 
Quo  circa  (id  erat  ejus  ingenium)  nullus  equidem  dubito,  quin 
in  hoc  etiam  loco  quern  extra  sortem  occupavi,  multi  vestrum 
prudentiam  ejus   et   in   rebus    agendis  sollertiam   desidera- 
veritis,   et  fortasse  magis  desideravissetis  nisi  me  simul  et 
Vice-Cancellarii  benignitas  singularis,  et  collegao  mei  opera 
atque  industria  sustinuerat.     Vice-Cancellario  quidem  maxi- 
mas   agendas  esse  gratias  sentio,  quod   bis   uno  eodemque 
anno,    quod    perraro    accidit,    novi    procuratoris    inscitiam 
non  aequo   animo  et  facillima  humanitate  tantum  pertulit 
sed  judicio  suo  et  auctoritate  compensavit.     Collega  vero  b 
meus  is  fuit   in   rerum   omnium  administratione,  ut  indies 
magis  sentirem   me   eum    sorte  officii  juuiorem,   prudentia 
consilio    viribus    sicut    annis    aliquauto    fortasse   seniorem 
habere.     Sed  in   disciplina   nostrae  civitatis   tuenda,  mores 
et    voluntas    juvenum    ipsorum    maximo    rerum    omnium 

b  The  late  Kev.  Thomas  Chaffers,  E.D.,  well  known  as  Yice- 
Principal  of  Erasenose  College. 


Appendix  I.  367 

adjumento  sunt.  In  nostro  enim  officio  vis  imperil  paruin 
valet  ad  utilitatem  publicam,  nisi  anirai  adsint  ad  audi- 
endum  dociles,  ad  obedientiam  parati,  et  ad  bonos  mores 
amota  legum  coercitione  inclinati.  Nee,  mehercle,  nobis 
gloriosum  esset  aut  vobis  jucundum,  compressos  tumultus, 
vindicatam  legum  majestatem,  reos  cujuscunque  generis 
compreliensos  jactare,  si  pax  et  concordia  ordinum  et  boni 
mores  et  honestatis  amor  abessent.  Nemo  certe  nisi  qui 
cum  tempestate  conflictare,  quam  in  portu  navigare  mallet, 
annui  magistratus  duceret  esse,  magnum  aliquid  et  in- 
auditum  facinus  edere,  potius  quam  tuendo  innocentes  coer- 
cendo  malitiosos  ne  quid  e  corruptione  privata  res  publica 
detrimenti  capiat,  curare.  Satius  est  profecto  si  fieri  potest, 
culpam  omniuo  prohibere  quam  in  noxios  animadvertere. 
Itaque  nobis  quam  maxime  gratulamur,  quod  per  totum 
annum  perpauci  quidam  sive  exilio  sive  majori  aliquo  sup- 
plicio  affecti  sunt.  .  .  . 

In  annum  magna  ex  parte  quietum  incidimus — niliil  fere 
omnino  turba3  aut  tumultus  reminiscor — quod  eo  magis 
gratum  ferre  debemus,  quod  clamores  dissoni  usque  a  Cami 
ripis  auditi  illic  nobis  procuratorias  vires  non  tantum  maxi 
ma  vi  oppugnatas,  sed  debilitatas  fractas  profligatas  nuntia- 
vere.  Et  nos  etiam  aliquando  perterrefacti  sumus,  ne  ad 
nostram  urbem  contagia  inali  ingravesceutis  et  uondum  ut 

accepimus    extincti   serperent Sed   quoniam    sororis 

nostraa  ut  ita  dicam  CantabrigiaB  mentiouem  fecimus,  non 
possumus  non  recordari  luctum  ilium  atque  mrerorem :  quo 
nuper  obruta  est  Cancellarii0  morte  inopiuata,  egregii  no- 
minis  viri,  et  celeberrimum  in  antiquissimis  regni  annalibus 
locum  obtinentis.  Nam  si  ea  est  hominum  inter  se  necessi- 
tudo  ut  nemo,  nisi  qui  ab  humana  societate  abhorreat,  hu- 
mani  aliquid  a  se  alienum  putet,  si  hac  conciiiatio  non 
homines  tantum  sed  urbes  gentes  regna  inter  se  coustringit, 

e  Hugh,  Duke  of  Northumberland. 


368  Appendix  1. 

quanto  arctior  inter  geminas  universitates  debet  esse  amoris 
ac  studiorum  conjunctio.  Itaqne  et  audita  morte  Cancel- 
larii  condoluimus,  et  nunc  iidem  Isetamur,  Principem  illus- 
trissimum,  Regium  Conjugem  afflictam  Academiam  erigere 
ac  consolari  dignatum  esse.  Quern  nostris  etiam  adscrip- 
tum  et  honestissirao  gradu  decoratum  grato  animo  recor- 
damur,  nee  dubitaraus  quin  quicquid  dignitatis  praesidii 
honoris  in  Regio  Cancellario  litterarura  fautore  munificen- 
tissimoque  artium  patrono  insit,  ejus  nos  quoque  non  ut 
alienos  sed  ut  sure  etiam  tutelae  pro  re  et  parte  nostra  par- 
ticipes  fore. 

Annum  vero  cetera  prosperum,  lugubrem  ante  omnia 
fecit  et  funestum  fames  et  pestis  vi  per  multa  srecula  inau- 
dita  Hiberniam  devastans.  Nos  etiam  nonnihil  passi 
sumus  et  patimur,  sed  nuntii  ab  extremis  ejus  insulae  oris 
egenae  semper  jam  vero  ope  destitute  indies  magis  terrifici, 
ululatus  mortis,  salutis  desperatio  mali  quemque  sui  imme- 
morem,  ad  levandas  Hiberniae  miserias  accendit.  Causa 
morbi  diu  qusesita,  sive  ex  malignitate  cceli  oriundi  sive  ex 
insectorum  multitudine  illati,  omnes  adhuc  fefellit.  Nun- 
quam  vanior  fuit  philosophorum  jactatio,  nunquam  largior 
totius  ut  ita  dicam  orbis  terrarum  misericordia.  Ab  re- 
motissimis  imperii  fere  infiniti  oris,  a  sociis  gentibus,  a  civi- 
bus,  a  coloniis  immensa  pecunia?  tritici  hordei  omnis  generis 
cibi  subsidia  ad  levandam  Hiberniae  inopiam  confluentia 
audivimus.  In  hac  pietatis  contentione,  tester  libens  eum 
animum  juvenum  nostrorum  fuisse,  ut  inter  primes  ultro 
miseris  succurrere  atque  opitulari  decernerent;  neque  id 
pro  facultatibus  tantum  sed  effusiori  quadam  liberalitate, 
ita  ut  multi  voluptatibus,  immo  necessariis  qui  perhibentur 
sumptibus,  modum  imponerent,  ne  quis  sive  dignus  sive  in- 
dignus,  ipsis  divitibus,  egeret.  Ita  solatia  quidem  si  non 
remedia,  morbo  quaosivimus,  sed  ea  est  mali  natura  ut  spem 
salutis  non  in  nostra  ipsorum  opera  sed  in  Dei  Opt.  Max. 
prsesidio  ponamus.  Idcirco  solemnes  supplicationes  habitae 


Appendix  I.  369 

sunt  ad  pacem  Dei  exorandam,  et  jejunia  cum  singular!  cleri 
populiquc  consensu  indicta  ct  observata — ecclesioo  ubique 
maximis  irara  divinam  deprecantium  multitudinibus  cele- 
bratse,  conciones  ad  caritatem  ad  poenitentiam  ad  bona 
opera  cohortantes  habitoo.  Et  etiam  nunc  acies  ferri  hebe- 
tari  videtur,  comraeatus  ab  occidente,  annona  aliquanto 
laxior,  vis  februm  in  nonnullis  locis  pigrior,  veris  seri 
quidern  sed  non  infausti  temperies  spem  rerum  omnium 
abundantiao  facere. 

Restat  ut  res  anno  procuratorio  gestas  breviter  recens- 
eam.  Inter  has  semper  moris  fuit  libros  a  prelo  Academico 
editos  enumerare;  nee  id  quidem  injuria,  quoniam  hoc  si 
non  pra3cipuurn  at  domesticum  saltern  esse  videtur  opus 
Academic,  aut  nova  in  quoque  doctrinoo  genere  proferre, 
aut  antiqua  emendatiora,  et  ad  auctoris  manum,  quantum 
ex  subsidiis  superstitibus  colligi  potest,  propius  accedentia 
edere.  Hunc  annum  numero  sterilem,  dignitate  et  gravi 
tate  operum  qiue  publici  juris  facta  sunt,  haud  infecundum 
habemus.  Libri  de  quibus  operao  pretium  erit  dicere  duo 
sunt.  Alter,  Demosthenis  editio  a  Dindorfio  concinnata  et 
emendata.  Alter  Reliquiarum  Sacrarum  a  venerabili  viro 
Collegii  S.  Magdalena3  Pra3side,  editio  secunda.  Vellem 
equidem,  magnopere  novam  hanc .  eloquentissimi  omnium 
oratorum  editionem  animos  juvenum  nostrorura  ad  per- 
legendum  opera  summi  dicendi  artificis,  immo  ad  imitandam 
industriam  posse  excitare.  Animadverti  euim,  non  sine 
admiratione  et  dolore,  quum  nomina  eorum,  qui  honesti- 
orem  in  litteris  humanioribus  locum  ambibant  officii  mei 
jure  accipiebam,  ne  unum  quidem  nisi  me  memoria  mea 
fefellit  Demosthenis  aut  Ciceronis  orationes  cognitas  ha- 
bere  professum  esse.  Quod  et  per  se  mirum  est,  et  nobis 
qui  in  diligenti  Graecorum  exemplarium  studio  laudem 
proocipue  quoorimus,  satis  credo,  inhonestura.  Vereor  tamen 
ne  malum  hoc  et  incuria  radices  altius  egerit,  quam  cui 
nova  libri  editione  speremus  mederi.  Vereor  ne  adolescentes 

is  b 


370  Appendix  L 

nostri,  aut  temporum  angustiis,  aut  exilitate  quadam  doc 
trine,  aut  ipsa  studiorura  ratione  a  splendidissimis  ingenii 
atque  eloquentise  monuraentis  excludantur.  Haud  inopia 
librorum,  sed  inopia  legentium  laboratur.  Patent  omnibus 
plures  Demosthenis  qualescunque  orationum  editiones,  patent 
baud  ita  magno  pretio  annotationes  virorura  doctorum  a 
Gothofredo  Shsefero  in  unum  corpus  dejectse,  omnigenaque 
doctrina  refertse;  nemo  tamen  Demosthenem  perlegit, 
nemo  in  historia  Demosthenis  aut  Ciceronis  temporum, 
uberrima  exemplis,  ad  cognoscendum  gratissima  versatur. 
Sperarem  equidem,  si  fieri  posset,  hoc  dedecus  a  nobis 
amoveri :  sed  ad  alterum  librum  transeo.  Vir d  omni 
laude  major,  et  jam  nonagesimo  aetatis  anno  exacto, 
alteram  reliquiarum  sacrarum  post  triginta  annos  editi- 
onem  denuo  ornatam  emendatamque  procudit.  In  quo 
dubito  utrum  fortunam  viri  magis  debeamus  admirari,  qui 
etiam  vivus  et  superstes  famse  honorisque  pii  prasmia,  quibus 
mortuos  prosequimur  videtur  praecepisse,  an  indolem  atque 
industriam,  quao  tantos  doctrine  fructus  cumulavit,  et  per 
tot  annos  ab  opere  institute  nunquam  descivit.  Quod  eo 
magis  est  admirabile,  quod  cum  primum  animum  sacrarum 
litterarum  studio  intendebat,  fere  neminem  aut  laborum 
socium  aut  operas  cohortatorem  habuit ;  jam  vero  cum 
plurimi  nostrum  iisdem  studiis  incumbere  cceperunt,  ipse 
se  facile  omnium  principem  et  ducem  vise  paratum  obtulit. 
Vir  vere  catholicse  mentis,  et  qui  nos  ad  mores  catholicos 
jure  quodam  et  exemplo  suo  possit  revocare.  Altera  scilicet 
manu  ecclesiam  patrum  ab  Apostolicis  temporibus  proxi- 
morum,  altera  Scotorum  oppressam  spoliatam  disjectam 
amplectitur;  ipse  totus  noster  est.  Et  mihi  quidem  pra3- 
cipue  placuit,  quod  opus  suum  ultimo  limae  labore  exor- 
natum  quasi  jam  vita?  suse  munere  absolute  sacro  Scoticae 
ecclesiae  clero  constituit  dicare.  "  Aurea  ha3C,"  inquit,  "pri- 

-  Rev.  Dr.  Kouth,  late  President  of  Magdalen  College. 


Appendix  I.  371 

orum  sacculorum  scripta  raisi  ad  vos,  Venerandi  Patres, 
qui  laude  morum  antiquorum,  discipline  Apostolicae,  fidei 
Catholicse  floretis.  Sunt  hae  quidem  reliquiae  fragmenta 
taiitum  flebilis  naufragii,  et  humilis  atque  depressac  ecclesise 
inonumenta,  sed  eo  magis  vobis  offerenda  quia  et  ipsi  fortuna 
minus  prospera  utirnini."  Quis  non  amabile  illud  et  dulce 
fideique  plenum  viri  ingenium  admiretur  aut  omen  illud 
quo  ad  finem  dedicationis  meliora  tempora  praesagire  ausus 
e>t,  nolit  accipere?  "Faustura  omen  accipite.  Commu- 
nionem  potissimum  vestram  voluit  esse  ecclesiao  Novo-An- 
glicao  matricem,  summus  ille  ecclesiarum  pater  et  dominus, 
Dominus  et  Deus  noster  Jesus  Christus.  Magnum  certe 
clarumque  Divinae  benevolentiae  indicium.  Quo  etiam  pro- 
visum  est,  ut  cui  genti  vos  ipsi  successionem  vestram  sacer- 
dotalem  debetis,  in  ejus  progenie  parem  referatis  gratiam, 
et  ipsi  emineatis  nequaquam  minimi  in  priucipibus  Judao. 
Valete." 

Vereor  ne  longior  sim  quam  pro  norma  orationis  meae,  et 
patientiam  vestram  jam  diu  defatigaverim.  Sed  una  adhuc 
res  mihi  nequaquam  est  proetereunda.  Leges  et  regulas 
Instituti  Tayloriani  plus  semel  propositas,  et  a  vestra  pru- 
dentia  et  voluntate  rejectas,  unum  tandem  in  corpus  rede- 
gimus  et  suffragiis  vestris  commendavimus.  Arduum  sci 
licet  erat  et  perdifficile  rem  novam  et  iutentatam  et  a  nobis 
quodam  tenus  alienam  ad  opiniones  omnium  et  voluutates 
accommodare.  Nos  autem  pro  viribus  nostris  in  eo  tantum 
elaboravimus,  ut  quam  plurimis  vestrum  placeremus,  et 
ntilitati  totius  Academiao  quantum  in  nobis  situm  est  con- 
suleremus.  Ea  utilitas  qualis  et  quanta  sit  futura  libera 
omnibus  est  existimatio.  Sunt  qui  timeant,  sunt  etiam 
qui  sperent.  Equidem  nee  nimis  spero  nee  magnopere 
timeo.  Dissentio  prorsus  ab  iis,  qui  neotericorum  scripta 
qualiacunque  sive  nostra  sive  aliena  in  studiorum  cursu 
et  formula  Examinationis  voluut  includerc;  dissentio  non 
minus  ab  iis,  qui  animos  juvenum  a  neotericorum  scriptis 


372  Appendix  I. 

deterrendos  et  ad  antiqua  revocandos  esse  censent.  Suo 
quisque  sseculo  nascimur,  vita  cuique  quotidiana  est  viveuda, 
nostri  officii  est  aiiimos  in  tutelarn  nostram  permissos  in 
optimis  quibusque  studiis  instituere,  sed  ad  omnia  armare, 
immo  etiam  pessimis  aliquando,  sicut  milites  hosti  cum  quo 
dimicaturi  sunt,  assuefacere.  Credo  equidem  si  commercia 
hominum  hodierna,  si  societatis  fcedera  indies  conjunctiora, 
si  facilitatem  hue  illuc  commeandi  admirabilem  et  patribus 
nostris  ignotam  contemplamur,  baud  nos  pcenitebit,  lin- 
guarum  doctrinarumque  uostri  ipsorum  temporis  studia  in 
nostram  potestatem  et  moderationem  recepisse.  Sed  de 
qusestione  universa  jamdudum  judicavit  Universitas,  mag- 
nifica3  istius  haereditatis  cretione  unde  tota  novi  Instituti 
impensa  deprompta  est.  Nostri  fuit  in  legibus,  quibus  res 
nova  administranda  est,  ferendis,  voluntati  et  commodo 
vestro  consulere.  Non  est  cur  vos  longiori  oratione  more- 
mur  et  in  publica  commoda  peccemus. 

Itaque,   quod  bonum  felix   faustumque  sit,  officia  atque 
insignia  nostra  successoribus  nostris  commendamus. 


APPENDIX  II. 


ORATIO   CENSORIA  IN  REFECTORIO 
CIIRISTI  IIABITA  POST  OBITUM  TIIOM2E 
GAISFORD   S.T.P.   .ZEDIS   CIIRISTI    DE 
CANI:    NECNON    REGII   GR.EC. 
LING.   PROFESSORIS,  TERM.  MICH. 
EXEUNTE   MDCCCLV. 

T)LUS  semel  mihi  accidit  exeunte  auuo  orationera  lugu- 
hrem  et  funestam  habere.  Neque  temporum  vices,  aut 
fortunam  meam  adhuc  conquestus  sum,  si  mihi,  turn  erga 
eos  qui  nobiscum  familiariter  versati,  et  mihi  ipsi  conjunc- 
tissimi  immatura  morte  dec^sseruut,  turn  eos  qui  fama 
rerum  gestarum  noti  aetate  rernotiores  .2Edi  Nostrao  Acade- 
miocque  universao  decori  et  pracsidio  fuere,  hoc  pietatis  offi- 
cium  suscipiendum  erat ;  nisi  quod  ingenium  materia  dignum 
et  vires  oueri  sustentando  pares  desideravi.  Sperabam 
vero  hodiernum  munus,  quod  invito  nee  tameu  dulcedinem 
ejus  abimenti  fungendum  est,  alii  cuivis  mandatum  fore. 
Sperabam  me,  qui  usque  a  tyrocinio  primo,  unius  tantum 
Decani  meminerim,  eum  a  quo  tot  tantisque  beueficiis 
cumulatus  fui,  aetate  quidem  provectiorem,  sed  viribus 
animi  corporisque  florentem,  in  sua  sede  relicturum  esse. 
Sperabam  quamvis  rerum  humanarum  haud  immemor,  me 
saltern  sub  nullo  alio  Preside  hujusce  -^Edis  administrationis 
participem  fore.  Hoc  enim  in  me  est  proecipuum  et  sin- 
gulare.  Nonnulli  vestrum  qui  adestis  jamdudum  hauc 
aBclem  domicilio  habueratis,  antequam  ego  ad  earn  accessi. 
Maxima  vero  pars,  sub  eodem  Decano,  quod  de  me  prae- 
d:cavi,  civitatem  nostram  nacti  estis  sub  iisdem  auspiciis 
ad  huuc  fere  diem  munere  quisque  suo  qualicumque  defuncti- 


374  Appendix  II. 

Sed  ut  ea  tenus  vestrao  conditionis  socius  fui,  ita  ad  eos 
actate  proximus  accedo,  qui  alias  hujusce  jiEdis  vicissitudiries, 
alienam  auctoritatem,  alia  regna  possint  recordari.  Ex  hac 
frequentia  ni  fallor  primus  nostrorura  numero  manu  ejus 
adscriptus  sum,  ultimus  a  latere  jam  moribundo  discessi. 
Temporis  quod  interfuit  memoria,  tarn  arcta  familiaritate 
viri  eximii  commendata  et  consecrata,  tanta  me  recolentem 
beneficiorum  multitudine  oppressit,  ut  qui  eum  optimo  jure 
in  ore  et  mente  habere  deberem,  nemini  noii  libenter  partes 
hodiernas  concederem.  Quippe  persaepe  non  magis  rerum 
inopia  quam  vehementia  affectuum  impedita  haeret  mens 
et  laborat  oratio,  et  multo  pronius  est  vanum  dicendo  fiugere 
quam  vero  satisfacere  desiderio. 

Sed  ne  circa  nos  nostramque  ipsorum  segritudinem  diu- 
tius  commoremur,  ab  inutili  dolore  deducendi  et  avocandi 
sumus  ut  vitam  et  labores  ejus  quem  deflemus  comme- 
morare,  immo  indolem  et  imaginem  aliqua  ex  parte  et  pro 
viribus  reprsesentare  possimus.  Unicus  erat  si  quis  alius, 
Academiae  filius,  almas  matris  alumnus.  Nutricem  ingenii 
juvenilis,  fautricem  virium,  singular!  quadem  fide,  ut  ita 
dicam 

IKTLVCOV 

adulti  ingenii  fructibus  nutrivit,  et  nomine  suo  tutatus  est. 
In  privata  schola  Wintonise  sub  magistro  veteris  disci- 
plina?  litterarum  elementis  imbutus,  doctrinam  accura- 
tiorem  potius  quam  diffusiorem,  dotes  animi  admirabiles 
et  incredibilem  industriam  ad  nostra  studia  et  exercitationes 
contulit.  Superest  adhuc  apud  nos,  et  diu  supersit,  vir 
venerabilis  qui  multa  de  ejus  vita  quotidiana  et  moribus  pos- 
sit  commemorare.  Supersunt  pauci,  unum  et  alterum  rede- 
untes  anni  abstulere,  et  haud  diu  erit,  quum  tyrocinii  ejus 
et  adolescentise  nomen  et  imago  fortasse  exoleverit.  Itaque 
pergratum  est,  amici  et  sodalis,  qui  uuper  ipse  decessit 
et  quem  unice  diligebat,  testimonium  proferre  et  verba 


Appendix  II.  375 

usurpare.  "Quinque  eramus  arctissimis  amicitiao  vinclis 
conjunct!.  Satis  erit  haec  nomina  transcripsisse,  ut  horas 
feliciter  actas,  festivos  sermones,  studiorum  consortium, 
litterarum  disceptationes  in  mentera  revocem  et  jam  fere 
oblivione  evanescentia  repraesentem.  Hos  inter  homines, 
si  quid  in  me  pravi  erat  emendatum,  si  quid  boni  auctum, 
si  quid  infirmi  confirmatum  testor.  Multorum  quidem 
comitum  et  jucundse  sed  infructuosao  societatis  diu  me 
poenituit,  et  tempus  in  alia  quavis  consuetudine  consumptum 
vellem,  dies  vero  cum  his  sociis  et  praecipue  cum  nostro 
actos  semper  lucro  apposui."  Erant  tune  temporis  neque 
eidem  ad  honores  aditus,  neque  eadem  ingenii  prsemia  et 
industrial  incitament'a.  Itaque  et  ipse  palmas  hodie  stu- 
diosis  propositas,  et  nos  factorum  monumenta  desideramus. 
Sed  in  eo  fortasse  id  habuit  commodi,  quod  ingenium  ejus 
libero  spatio  evagari,  et  se  quocunque  vellet  convertere, 
nullo  studiorum  curriculo  praefinito  et  nullis  impeditum 
cancellis  potuit.  Sed  suo  ipsius  judicio  et  voluntate,  ipsa 
natura  jubente,  ad  ea  studia  qua?  turn  apud  nos  in  maximo 
honore  erant  ferebatur.  Itaque  imprimis  accuratiori  lingua 
Graecae  scientise  totum  se  dedit,  et  hanc  sibi  provinciam, 
quam  senior  tanta  cum  laude  exornavit,  adhuc  adolesccns 
exoptaverat.  Primum  ingenii  specimen  et  laboris  fructum, 
perelegantem  Electne  Euripidis  editionem,  quod  et  con- 
sentaneum  erat  earn  vitae  rationem  instituenti  et  modestiam 
viri  coarguit,  in  usum  puerorum,  nisi  Westmonasterienses 
alumni  nomen  dedignentur,  rogatus  ut  accepi  dedicavit. 
Quas  deinde  per  quinquaginta  fere  annos  veterum  auctorum 
editiones,  grammaticorum  philosophorum  poetarum  his- 
toricorum  exemplaria,  quot  volumina  intermissa  nunquam 
serie  publici  juris  fecit,  contra  patientiam  vestram  peccarem, 
et  in  ignota  fortasse  nonnullis  vestrum  materie  versarer  si 
tantum  enumerare,  nedum  aliqua  ex  facte  uniuscujusque 
merita  examinare  instituerem.  Neque  enim  iis  tautum  auc- 
toribus  qui  sunt  in  manibus  et  quotidiano  usu  familiares, 


376  Appendix  II. 

quales  sunt  Grsecorum  poetarum  optimi,  Homerus  Euri 
pides  Sophocles;  inter  Historicos  Herodotus;  philosophos 
Aristoteles,  et  in  quo  de  provincia  sua  decessit,  Tullius, 
operam  impendebat,  sed  ex  arcanis  et  pulvere  Bibliothecarum 
turn  domi  turn  foris  quasque  cognitione  dignissima  admira- 
bili  quadam  sagacitate  eruebat.  In  quo,  quanquam  apud 
nos  qui  tritam  et  usitatam  studiorum  orbitara  sequamur 
magni  merito  auctoritas  ejus  habebatur,  multo  tamen  ma- 
jori  gloria  apud  exteros  et  doctissimura  quemque  judicera 
florebat.  Fama  erat  apud  omnes  Europae  universitates  prae- 
cipua,  et  ea  inter  doctos  priraa  cura,  ut  de  Decano  nostro 
sciscitarentur ;  ita  ut  mihi  ipsi  nonnihil  aliquando  accederet 
honoris,  cum  me  ejus  discipulum  et  ejusdem  JEdis 
alumnum  profiterer.  Sed  cum  utilitati  eruditissimorum, 
potius  quam  oblectationi  vulgi  consuleret,  reprehendebant 
harum  litterarum  rudes,  quod  in  sua  etiam  provincia  per- 
paucos  auctores  aut  insigni  commentariorum  copia  aut  ulla 
interpretationis  novitate  illustrasset.  Mirabantur  virum 
ea  ingenii  ubertate,  ea  doctrinae  copia,  iis  industriao  quas 
prima  adolescentia  compararat  subsidiis  in  mendis  et  lituris 
codicum,  in  litterarum  et  syllabarum  minutiis  demer- 
sum  atque  occupatum  fuisse.  Inceptis  et  operum  labore 
obstupescebant,  sed  rem  molimine  indignam  judicabant.  Fe- 
fellit  eos  sententia  viri  deliberata,  et  lex  quam  sibi  vitas 
cursum  ineunti  pracscripserat,  alios  jamdudum  Graecis  et 
Latinis  auctoribus,  quod  ad  Commentarios  et  Annota- 
tiones  attinet,  satisfecisse  aut  satisfacturos,  sibi  aliam  esse 
viam  neque  de  Graecis  litteris  se  male  meriturum  esse  si  id 
potissimum  curaret,  ut  veterum  scripta  quae  in  tutamen  suum 
receperat,  indies  emendatiora,  novis  subsidiis  munita,  et 
ad  manum  et  mentem  auctoris  quam  proxime  accedentia 
exhiberet.  His  studiis  deditum,  et  hoc  sibi  fine  proposito, 
jure  suo  Professoris  Regii  dignitatem  suscepisse  nemo  non 
confessus  est.  Hanc  sibi  Professor  provinciam  peculiarem 
depoposcit,  hoc  munus  vitse  praocipuum  promisit.  Itaque 


Appendix  II.  377 

quamquam  nemo  minus  opinionis  hominum  studiosus,  nemo 
Professoriam  dignitatem,  si  non  vocis  laterumque  conten- 
tione,  at  oleo  et  industria,  si  non  corona3  plausibus,  at 
doctorum  judicio  melius  sustentavit.  Quas  virtutes  in 
scribendo,  quantam  subtilitatem  in  corrigendo,  quantam 
modestiam  in  judicando  adhibebat  vererer  equidem  descri- 
bere  nisi  alienam  laudem  in  suum  praconium  oonvertere 
liceret.  Inter  Anglicanos  auctores  Pearsonum  praocipuo  ho- 
nore  colebat;  baud  mirum  igitur  si  e  Pearsoni  laudatione 
multa  in  ipsius  honorem  convenirent.  "  Nihil  in  his  Anno- 
tationibus  ambitiose  scripturn  est ;  nulla  inest  glorioloe  qua? 
ex  doctrinoo  ostentatione  quaeri  solet  captatio ;  emenda- 
tiones  simpliciter  propositoe  sunt,  et  verba  quemadmodum 
ex  nostri  sententia  legi  debent  nude  proferuntur;  virorum 
doctorum,  quorum  acumen  aut  sollertia  profuit,  emenda- 
tiones  et  observata  strictim  apponuntur,  prave  aut  temere 
eorum  excogitatis  leni  et  modesta  animadversione  adhibita." 
Si  vestigia  aliorum  qui  iisdem  studiis  operam  dederant 
sequebatur,  ipsum  iterum  loquentem  audiamus ;  "  Laudi 
potius  clandum  quam  vitio  vertendum  quod  in  eadem  cum 
aliis  eorundem  studiorum  cursu  valentibus  incident."  Neque 
frustra  haec  in  lucem  edita  quis  existimet,  nam  indignum 
erat,  ut  tantus  labor  totque  vigiliarum  fructus  incassum 
perirent ;  deinde  memorabili  exemplo  ostendendum  erat 
quantopere  in  scriptis  veterum  auctorum  legendis  pensi- 
tandisque  elaborandum  sit,  si  quis  litterarum  studiosus  idem 
honoris  culmen,  in  quod  sudando  evasit  noster  attingere 
velit. 

Sed  cuique  sua  est  jactura,  suus  dolor,  et  nos  in  hac  acde 
ubi  adhuc  adesse  et  pracsidere  videtur,  Decani  propius 
quam  Regii  Professoris  linguaD  Graecac  contingit  memoria. 
Florente  aetate  integrisque  animi  corporisque  viribus  ad 
gubernaculum  hujus  sedis  accessit:  dignitatem  et  honorem 
Decanatus  si  nou  iuvitus  suscepit,  at  nulla  certe  cupiditatc 
exoptaverat,  aut  mala  arte  ainbiverat  Erat  enim  jam- 

c  c 


378  Appendix  II. 

dudum  eo  loco  constitutus,  iis  fortunse  beneficiis  cumulatus, 
in  quibus  quivis,  nedum  vir  singularis  temperantiae  et  mo- 
destiao  facile  posset  quiescere,  et  cui,  ne  ab  episcopali  quidem 
apice  quern  oblatum  declinavit,  aliquid  spleudoris  potuisset 
accedere.     Sed    quum   longinqua   commoratio   et  diuturna 
absentia  Canonico  Dunelmensi  necessaria  vitse  et  studiorum 
rationes   conturbabat,  magnificentiam  et   res   opimas   ejus 
ecclesiae  cathedralis  coelo  nostro  societate  doctorum  homi- 
num  subsidiis  Bibliothecae  publicse,  quibus  carere  non  po- 
terat,  otio  et  quiete  umbra  et  lucis  peramaenis  Academiae 
libenter   commutavit.      Ubicunque   esset   mente   tamen   et 
voluntate  ad  hanc  oodem  revertebatur,  Decanatus  honorem 
et  raolestias  alii  cuivis  concessurus  si  modo  in  inferiorem 
locum  liceret  descendere.     Sed  ubi  nullus  huic  spei  exitus 
expediri  videbatur,   multa  gravatus  in  hanc  sedem  ascen- 
dit   ubi   post    administrationem    quatuor   et    viginti   anno- 
rum  e  vivis  excessit.     Et  quamquam  pristinae  hujus  ^Edis 
vix  pares  fuimus,  quamquam  unius  Decani  quern  ipse  patro- 
num  colebat  nomen  omnium  qui  eum  secuti  sunt  fulgore 
quodam  suo  obscuravit,  nemo  tameu  dubitavit  quin  Decanum 
eximiis  virtutibus  praeditum  et  felicia  Decanatus  tempora 
defleamus.     Nemo    ei    ingenii    constantiae  justitiae   laudem 
invidebit ;  indolem  conciliandao  et  regendae  juventuti  minus 
aptam  et  duritiam  quandam  imperii,  sunt  qui  objectaverint. 
Profecto  si  ad  opiniones  hominum  exigendus  sit,  res  lege 
uon  arbitrio,  ratione   certa  non   voluntate  administrandas 
esse  duxit.     In   quo  si  quis  inerat  error,  idem   erat  erga 
omnes :  gratise  odii  favoris  simultatis  aberat  suspicio.    Omnia 
in  eo  sincera  saltern  et  aperta  fuere.     Crimina  etiam  gra- 
vissima,  in  quae  instituenda  erat  qusestio,  delitescere  potius 
quam   inhonestis   artibus   detegi   maluit.     Testimonia  lion 
quorumvis   in   aurem   insusurranda ;    sed   spectatorum   ho 
minum  palam  recitanda  esse  duxit,  si  de  quo  forte  judi- 
candum  erat,  ne  dicam  animadvertendum.     Ab  omni  dela- 
torum  turpitudine,  non  tantum  consilio  sed  ipsa  cogitatione 


Appendix  II.  379 

abhorruit.  Qui  vero  severitatis  accusant,  verara  viri  natu- 
ram  et  indolem  prorsus  ignorant.  Pancorum  hominum  est 
et  perraroo  felicitatis  ita  leges  et  disciplinam  vindicare,  ut  iis, 
de  quibus  cognoscendum  sit  placeas,  neque  mirum  si  ii  de 
quibus  judex  constitutus  es  male  de  te  judicent.  Itaque 
difficile  erat,  in  necessaria  rerum  administratioue  in  admo- 
nendo  coercendo  castigando  male  feriatos  et  minus  obse- 
quentes,  offensiones  omnium  evitare,  et  in  multorum  animis 
fortasse  Decani  nostri  memoria  cum  quadam  tristitiso  et 
inclementia?  specie  conjuricta  crit. 

Sed  nescio  an  in  alio  homine  frontem  animo,  speciem 
veritati  magis  contrariam  viderim.  Hro  quidem  omnibus 
patebant ;  de  illis  vero,  de  humanitate  ejus  erga  omnes,  festi- 
vitate  sermonum,  quam  leniter  de  delictis  etiam  graviorilws 
judicabat,  quam  facilis  ad  ignoscendum,  quam  paratus  ad 
excusandum  fuit,  quam  saepe  defensoris  partes  agebat,  et 
festinationem  nostram  mora  interposita,  iracundiam  ali- 
quanto  consilio  temperabat,  de  his  ad  eos  testes  provocan- 
dum  est  qui  eo  familiarissime  utebantur. 

Sed  si  quid  in  ejus  indole  erat  severitatis,  id  omne  ante 
mortem  exuerat.  Et  nos  qui  moribundo  fere,  et  in  do- 
mestico  luctu,  nee  tamen  officii  oblito  per  ultimos  illos  dies 
aderamus,  siugularcm  illam  indulgentiam  et  morum  dulce- 
dinem  memoriis  fovebimus.  Et  illi  fortasse,  qui  ad  nos 
eo  die  matriculandi  advenerant,  quos  tam  benigne  accepit, 
tarn  leniter,  si  forte  verecundia  tanti  viri  et  in  fans  pudor 
libere  profari  vetuit,  adjuvit  et  lapses  erexit,  farnam  si  quae 
superest  severitatis  et  inclementirc  increduli  mirabuntur. 
Neque  ego  qui  solus  aderam,  cum  illorum  nomina  vix  a  me 
ipso  adjutus  et  tremebunda  manu  nostro  numero  adscripsit, 
placidi  illius  vultus  et  lumine  quodam  caritatis  offusi  obli- 
viscar. 

Fama  tandem  divulgata  scdem  Decani  vacuam  csse, 
eadem  omnium  desideria  iidem  luctus,  et  nou  Decanum 
modo  sed  ^Edis  patrem  ferali  pompa  deducere  et  sepulcro 


380  Appendix  II. 

condere  videbamur.  Mortuus  est  tempore  opportune  sibi 
sed  luctuoso  nobis,  et  fortasse  discrimina  temporum,  peri- 
cula  Universitatis,  quge  diu  praesagiverat  animo,  mutata 
rerum  conditio,  senescent!  ingrata  quanquam  necessaria 
aliquid  acerbi  segro  et  adfecto  attulerant. 

Nee  mihi  dubium  quin  Universitate  omnibus  patefacta, 
in  cseterorum  collegiorum  aemulatione  certamen  anceps  viri- 
bus  impares  conditionibus  iniquis,  et  optimo  quoque  milite 
aliena  fortasse  castra  affectante,  inituri  simus.  Licet  saltern 
dicere,  Trjs  q/ueTepas  ap^s,  r\v  KCU  TravQfj,  ov/c  adv/jLOVfiev 
TT]v  reXevTijv.  ^Hyefioviav  satis  amplam  et  diu  defensam  aut 
digniori  concedemus,  aut  quod  equidem  non  despero.  si 
quid  in  auctoritate  Decani  nostri  consilio  viribus  inest 
pra3sidii,  melioribus  auspiciis  et  exitu  opinione  laetiori  certa- 
binius. 


2Deo. 


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8 


POETRY, 


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ARCHITECTURE  AND  ARCHEOLOGY.  11 


KEV.  J.  C.  BLOMFIELD,   M.A. 
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12  ARCHITECTURE  AND  ARCHEOLOGY. 


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14 


OXFORD  POCKET  CLASSICS. 


A  SERIES  OF  GREEK  AND  LATIN  CLASSICS 
FOR  THE  USE  OF  SCHOOLS. 


GREEK    POETS. 

Cloth. 

Cloth. 

s.     d. 

s. 

d. 

jEschylus       .        .         .         .30 
Aristophanes.     2  vols.    .         .60 
Euripides.     3  vols.         .         .66 
Tragoediae  Sex         .36 

Sophocles       .... 
Homeri  I  lias 
Odyssea 

3 
3 
3 

0 
6 
0 

GREEK  PROSE  WRITERS. 

Aristotelis  Ethica           .         .20 
Demosthenes  de  Corona,  et  )        on 
JEschines  in  Ctesiphontem  ) 
Herodotus.     2  vols.        .        .60 

Thucydides.     2  vols. 
Xenophontis  Memorabilia 

5 

1 
2 

0 
4 
0 

LATIN    POETS. 

Horatius        .         .         .         .20 
Juvenalis  et  Persius       .        .16 
Lucanus         .         .        .        .26 

Lucretius        .... 
Phaedrus         .... 
Virgilius         .... 

2 
1 
2 

0 
4 
6 

LATIN  PROSE  WRITERS. 

Csesaris  Commentarii,  cum  Sup- 
plementisAuliHirtii  et  aliorum  2     6 
•             Commentarii    de   Bello 
Gallico        .         .         .         .16 

c\r  T^rlln  Pivili        1       fi 

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