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PARISH PAPERS

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & C.°.

London, 32 Litdgate Hill.

Edinburgh, 35 Hanover Street,

Glasgow, I Royal Bank Place.

PARISH PAPERS

NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.

ONE OF HER MAJSSTY's CHAPLAINS FOR SCOTLAND
AUTHOR OF "THE OLD LIEUTENANT AND HIS SON " "THE EARNEST STOOENT"
ETC ETC

LONDON
ALEXANDER STRAHAN
1862

& C?-

Printed by Ballantyne & Company, Edinburgh.

2DetncareD

WITH MUCH AFFECTION

TO THE PARISHIONERS OF

LOUDOUN, DALKEITH, AND THE BARONY,

TO WHOM I HAVE MINISTERED

AS THEIR PASTOR.

CONTENTS.

Page

THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIANITY —

1. What is Christianity ? ..... I

2. Who was Jesus Christ ? .... 6

3. What can we Believe if we do not thus Believe

in Jesus? . . , . . . . -38

4. What if Christianity is not True ? . . .45

THOUGHTS UPON THE FINAL JUDGMENT, . . 56

1. The Judge, ...... -59

2. Who are to be Judged ? .... .65

3. "The Books shall be Opened," . . .63

4. Results of Judgment, . . • 77

THOUGHTS UPON FUTURE LIFE, .... 96

1. Our Physical Life in Heaven, . . . .100

2. Our Intellectual Life, . . . . .106

3. Our Devotional Life, . . . , .114

4. Our Social Life, .119

5. Our Active Life, -131

viii Contents.

Page

FUTURE PUNISHMENT, 141

WHAT AFTER DEATH ? 159

MOMENTS IN LIFE, l65

" LABOURERS TOGETHER WITH GOD," . . . l8l
REVIVALS —

1. Their Need, 198

2. Objections to Revivals, ..... 205

THE CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION, .... 228

THE CURE FOR SCHISM, 242

THE UNION OF MAN WITH MAN, . . . .252

PROGRESS OF MISSIONS, 263

THE MYSTERY OF SORROW, . . . . 283

THE BEGINNING OF A YEAR, 306

Advices on Entering a New Year, , . -317
THE CLOSE OF A YEAR, 319

THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIANITY.

HIS question refers to a matter of fact. I do not

ask whether the Christian religion is true, but
only, What is the Christian religion 1 What is that re-
ligion which has existed for eighteen centuries ; which
is professed by Christendom ; and which has been
more precious than life itself to millions who have
died in its faith, and is so still to millions who possess
it as their peace and joy?

But how are we to obtain a satisfactory reply to this
question ? Are we to examine the opinions of all the
various " churches," " sects," or " bodies," professing
Christianity, in order to determine what it is they
profess? If we adopted such a process of investiga-
tion as this, I believe we would reach, by a longer
road, the very same point which may be reached by a
shorter and more satisfactory process.

For I suppose it will be admitted that the Chris-

WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY 1

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tian religion is what Jesus Christ and His apostles
taught, and that we may rely upon the information
conveyed to us in the New Testament as to the sum
and substance of that teaching.

I do not even insist, as essential to my argument,
upon the inspiration of Scripture, according to any
theory whatever of that doctrine ; but assume only
that we have in the New Testament a true account of
the teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles, and that
we are able, therefore, to ascertain from its pages what
their Christianity was as an historical fact, with as much
certainty, surely, as we can learn from the Koran what
Mohammedanism was as taught by Mohammed, or
from any work of philosophy what were the opinions
of its author.

Now, if we read the New Testament with ordinary
attention, we must, I think, be struck by one feature
which is repeated in almost ever}' page, and is mani-
festly the all-pervading spirit and life of its teaching, —
that is, the peculiar place which Christ occupies in
relation to all other persons mentioned there. This
person, Jesus Christ, whoever He was, stands out pro-
minently before every other teacher of Christian truth.
The apostles speak of Him, point to Him, plead for
Him, labour for Him. He is not the greatest Teacher
merely among themselves, but the only Teacher, and
they but His scholars, who glory in having nothing
of their own to impart, and in being ministers,
" stewards," only of what they have received from
Him their Master. The subject of all their preaching
is this Person — not a system of morality, or doctrines,

Thoughts 011 Christianity. 3

or truths, apart from, but embodied in Him who was
the Truth and the Life — Jesus Christ. The text of all
their teaching is, " God forbid that we should know
anything among you save Jesus Christ." In order
to see this, take up any epistle, and mark how often
the name of Jesus Christ appears as the ever-present
thought, the centre of every idea

Again, consider how this Person is inseparably con-
nected with every motive, every duty, every joy and
hope of the Christian as he is described in the New
Testament. Christian love is there, not love merely
in the abstract, (if such is in any case possible,) but
love to Jesus Christ, and to all men because "in
Christ." The grand question proposed is, "Lovest
thou Me?" Christian obedience is not obedience
merely to a code of moral precepts, but to Jesus
Christ and " His commandments." Christian faith is
not faith in " mysteries," or things unseen, or truths
revealed, though such faith may be Christian, but its
essence is faith in Jesus Christ the living Person; the
supreme command being, " Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ." The Christian's hope is "hope in Christ;"
his joy, "joy in Christ;" his peace, "peace in
Christ;" his labour, "labour in Christ;" his strength,
"strength in Christ;" his life, "life in Christ;" his
death, " death in Christ ;" his immortality, " rising in
Christ;" his salvation, "salvation through Christ;"
and his heaven, " to be with Christ ! " On the other *
hand, all that is evil and disastrous to the soul is
summed up in being "without Christ." To reject
Christ, not to believe in Christ, to be enemies of

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Christ, to despise Christ, to be ignorant of Christ, to
lose Christ, to be commanded at the last to depart
from Christ — these are the characteristics of the
wicked and lost : for " there is no other name given
among men whereby man can be saved than the
name of Jesus Christ."

You will observe that I am not at present discussing
what Christ has done for us, but what, as a matter of
fact, Jesus Christ claimed from us and from all men,
and recognised to be the religion which He came
to establish upon earth. I repeat it, therefore, that
whether these claims were founded on fact or fiction,
whether the religion which He taught was true or
false, in accordance with, or opposed to, the will of
God, that nevertheless its sum and substance is supreme
love to Jesus Christ.

Now, if this, or anything even approaching to this,
is true, my reader will, I am sure, acknowledge that it
is not possible to separate Christ from the Christianity
of the New Testament. The person and the " reli-
gion" become, in fact, identical — so far at least that
both must be received or rejected. That a code of
morals may be extracted from the New Testament,
and Jesus himself, as its centre, be put aside, is quite
possible ; or that the character of Jesus may be recog-
nised as a perfect example of what He taught, a living
embodiment of His " beautiful precepts," is also pos-
sible, without recognising His claim to the supreme
love and unlimited obedience of every human being ;
but the question still remains, whether this " philoso-
phic" or "rational" system — this Christianity is really

Thoughts on Christianity. 5

the Christianity taught by Christ, or by Peter, Paul,
and John % I do not argue as to which " religion,"
" system," or " Christianity" is the best, but ask only
a question of fact, Which do you candidly believe to
be the Christianity of the New Testament 1 If you
hesitate ere you reply to this question of historical
fact, open again the New Testament, with a manly re-
solution to examine it, and obtain information, and
ask its pages, What is Christianity ? Read even such
passages as the following : — John x., xiv., and xv. ;
Acts, first four chapters ; the Epistles to the Ephesians
and Philippians — portions of Scripture which may be
read almost in an hour or two. You do not require
to master the whole world of truth which is there re-
vealed, but only to notice the Sun of that world ; and
say, is it not faith in Jesus, love to Jesus, obedience to
Jesus as to no one else in the universe except to God
Almighty 1

I at once frankly express my earnest conviction that
this, if true, involves the truth of what are recognised
to be the other " peculiar " doctrines or facts of Chris-
tianity— such as the divine, as well as holy and perfect
character of the Person so loved ; — His atoning work,
as the grandest expression of His love to us, and that
which most of all kindles love in us to Him; — the
teaching of the Holy Spirit, through whom alone
we, who are spiritually blind, can so perceive the
spiritual character and glory of Jesus as to admire
and love Him ; — and prayer, by which we can hold
actual, personal intercourse with, and thus come to
know and love Jesus more and more from experience :

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these, I say, and other doctrines appear to me to be
involved in the very idea that Christianity is supreme
love to Jesus Christ. But I shall not consider any of
them except one, the first and all-important, the very
pillar and ground of the truth — viz., the divinity of
Christ's Person. Let us therefore inquire —

II.

WHO WAS JESUS CHRIST 1

A more important question cannot be proposed for
our consideration ! Who is this, I ask with absorbing
interest, whom I am commanded to honour as I honour
the living God ? Who is this who claims my unreserved
faith, my unlimited obedience, my devoted love ? Who
is this who promises to pardon my sins through faith
in His blood ; to purify and perfect my nature through
faith in His power ? Who is this in whom I am to
abide in life : into whose hands I am to commit my
spirit, and the spirits of all who are dear to me, in the
hour of death ; whose voice is to call me forth from
the grave when He comes again, and who is finally to
judge me, and to determine my eternal condition ?

That Jesus Christ does make those claims upon us,
and those promises to us, is certain ; and it is equally
certain that they have been, and are, joyfully acquiesced
in by the Christian Church. The question, then, which
I have proposed for your consideration, is confessedly
one of equal importance with the truth of Christianity.
We cannot, with sincerity and intelligence, profess a
willingness to examine into the nature of the Christian

Thoughts on Christianity. 7

religion, much less profess faith in it, and yet reject
the consideration of the question regarding the Person
of Jesus Christ as being unimportant or unnecessary.

But before proceeding further in this inquiry, let
me remind you, and be myself reminded, of the moral
importance of truthfulness. I do not allude to the
truthfulness which despises all hypocrisy in word, and
seeks to maintain with sacred care an exact harmony
between what is believed in the heart, and confessed
with the lip; or which boasts, perhaps, of the honesty
that never conceals a creed, however offensive its doc-
trines may be to others. Let us not undervalue this
kind of honesty when real. But, alas ! how often is it
only apparent, while the real feeling is selfish vanity
craving notoriety, or moral indifference which is insen-
sible to the pain of either the existence or confession
of unbelief. And thus where that truthfulness of
character exists, which cannot give to others a false
impression of what is really believed, how often is there
wanting the kind of truthfulness, so much rarer and
more difficult to attain, so much nobler and more im-
portant to possess, which seeks to harmonise not only
profession with belief, but belief with truth itself. For
it is in the innermost sanctuary of the spirit, into which
no human eye can penetrate, and where truth, as a
holy messenger sent from God, presents herself, seek-
ing for admission to dwell there, and take possession
of the soul's temple for ever, — it is there that the reality
of a man's truthfulness, sincerity, and honesty must be
tried and decided upon by the all-seeing Judge, who
can alone search the heart. How do we deal there

Parish Papers.

with what claims to be truth 1 With what spirit do we
listen to her voice 1 With what care do we examine
her credentials'? These are questions settled in the
secret of our own personal experience ; and just as the
process of investigation is conducted before the eye of
conscience, can it be determined whether or not we are
really honest. But as sure as there is in us a genuine
truthfulness of spirit, it will, by a divine instinct, recog-
nise truth when revealed. Like a string rightly tuned
by God, the truthful soul will strike an harmonious
chord with the note of truth wherever it sounds. The
" single" eye will perceive the light from whatever
quarter it shines. When, therefore, I ask my readers
to consider, with sincerity and honesty, the teaching of
the Scriptures regarding the Person of Jesus Christ, I
crave from them that kind of honesty which is evi-
denced by the whole tone and spirit with which they
deal with what professes to come from God, and what,
therefore, claims their faith because it is true, and then-
love because it is good.

i. Consider this question in the light of His own
teaching. By this I mean, read the Gospels, and from
all Jesus said regarding Himself, say what impression
did He intend to convey as to His own person. Re-
member I am not asserting the truth of His claims, but
proposing merely to inquire into what His claims as a
I matter of fact were, in so far as we may fairly gather
these from His own words. Nor do I dispute the
possibility of giving a different meaning to His words,
for I know, and most gladly acquiesce in the right-

Thoughts on Christianity 9

eousness of the fact, that revelation is not demonstra-
tion, which necessarily overcomes even the truth-hater,
but such evidence as by its nature may satisfy the
truth-seeker. The criticism which is essential for our
inquiry is that which will receive, and not give a mean-
ing. With such a principle, let the readers peruse
any one Gospel — especially the Gospel of St John —
and in the presence of God say, Was it the intention
of Jesus himself to teach that He was human only,
or that He was divine also %

Now, to illustrate what I mean, and to aid the
reader to follow out this first branch of Scripture
evidence for himself, let us look, for example, at the
Sermon on the Mount. This wonderful portion of
our Lord's teaching is most frequently referred to by
those who profess to admire the precepts of the
gospel, but not its " doctrines," and to accept of
Jesus as a teacher of morality, though rejecting
Himself as divine. Yet is it possible to hear that
sermon even without perceiving a consciousness on
the part of the speaker of an authority, a power, a
dignity, which belonged to no mere creature? This
is not so much brought forward in distinct doctrinal
statements, but is assumed by Him, as that which
gave to fact and doctrine all the additional authority
which could be afforded by the lips of one who had
come from God. Consider such words, for instance,
as the following : — " Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord,

io Paris/i Papers.

Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in
thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done
many wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you : depart from me, ye that
work iniquity." Marvellous words indeed ! Who is
this, we naturally ask after hearing them, who at the
general judgment is to be addressed by "many?"
How should He be thought of at all amidst the awful
solemnities of that day, and be singled out and ap-
pealed to as one of such authority and power ? Who
is this that is addressed as "Lord, Lord?" What
"name" is this in which many prophesied, and by
which many were able to cast out devils, and to do
marvellous works ? Who is this that utters the sen-
tence, " Depart from me ?" and who is He that such
a sentence should be an object of dread, yea, the
very climax of human woe? He who uttered these
words was a poor man indeed, a Jewish artisan, at that
moment seated on a grassy hill surrounded by many
as poor and unknown as Himself ! But did He wish
to give the impression that He was nothing more ?
" The people were astonished at His doctrine, for He
taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
No wonder ! For what scribe — what teacher — what
apostle — what mere man who ever lived had authority
to utter such words as those we have just read ! (Read
also in connexion with this, Matt. xxv. 31-46.)

Almost every chapter in the Gospels contains simi-
lar assumptions, on the part of Jesus, of a dignity
which was divine. Think of the following assertions
from the Gospel of John, every portion of which

Thoughts 011 Christianity. 1 1

is irradiated by the glory of His person : — " The
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into
his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath ever-
lasting life : and he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." " For
as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth
them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son : that all men should honour the
Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honour-
eth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath
sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me,
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condem-
nation ; but is passed from death unto life. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now
is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God; and they that hear shall live." " Philip saith
unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how
sayest thou then, Shew us the Father 1 Believest thou
not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me 1
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of my-
self : but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth
the works." " Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall
not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak : and he will shew you things to
come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of

Parish Papers.

mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the
Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall
take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." " These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee : as thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Again I ask, What impression regarding His own
dignity were such words as these intended to convey
Consider them, and give an answer to God.

2. Consider Christ's Person as it was seen by His
tnemies and friends. Now, I bid you observe how
both received from His words the very impression
which I assume He intended to convey by them.

His enemies did so, and alleged that He claimed to
be Divine in the strictest sense of that word ; accord-
ingly they attempted to stone Him, and in the end
put Him to death on the very ground that He was a
blasphemer. "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou
art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abra-
ham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." " I and my
Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good
works have I shewed you from my Father ; for which
of those works do ye stone me 1 The Jews answered
him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but

Thoughts on Christianity.

for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God." " If I do not the works of my
Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe
not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and
believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. There-
fore they sought again to take him : but he escaped out
of their hand." " The Jews answered him, We have a
law, and by our law he ought to die,'"" because he made
himself the Son of God." " And the high priest arose,
and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing 1 what is
it which these witness against thee 1 But Jesus held
his peace. And the high priest answered and said
unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou
tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said : nevertheless, I
say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his
clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what
further need have we of witnesses 1 behold, now ye
have heard his blasphemy. What think ye ? They
answered and said, He is guilty of death. Then did
they spit in his face, and buffeted him ; and others
smote him with the palms of their hands."

Nor did the friends of Jesus endeavour to undeceive
His accusers. They did not say, "You have mis-

* " And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall
surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly
stone him : as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land,
when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to
death." — Lev. xxiv. 16.

Parish Papers.

understood His meaning ! He is not guilty of such
blasphemy ! He is a man like us, and does not claim
to be one with God, as you understand Him to do."
Instead of this, they too recognised His claims as
divine, and worshipped, loved, served, and preached
Him accordingly. I will return to this part of the
subject afterwards. I remind only the reader of it in
passing.

But before the force of such teaching as this of our
Lord's can in any degree be appreciated, two things
should be borne in mind : one is, the previous training
of the Jewish nation with reference to the being and
character of God; and the other is, the moral character
of Jesus.

As to the first of those points, remember only how,
from the very beginning, God had revealed Himself- —
that men might know the One living and true God ;
and worship and serve Him alone with heart, soul,
and strength. This was the lesson of all lessons.
This was the mighty theme of all God's teaching and
training of His people, from Adam to Christ, by patri-
archs, kings, and prophets ; by national blessings and
national judgments ; by captivities and restorations.
On the other hand, the sin of all sins was idolatry;
not the bowing down to stocks or stones merely, but
the giving, in any degree, that glory to another which
belonged exclusively to the One living and true God.
Had not their whole history been determined by their
adherence to God, or their falling away to idolatry ?
Enter, then, into the Jewish mind with reference to
this training, think how hallowed God's name was

Thoughts on Christianity. 1 5

above every other name — how enshrined it was in
the very holy of holies of the national faith, and how
it had become so only after a discipline of much
suffering, prolonged through many centuries, until at
last idolatry had been banished on the return from
Babylon ; — think of this while you read those utter-
ances I have quoted of a Jew to Jews. Do you
wonder that they called Him a blasphemer 1 for so,
indeed, He certainly was unless He was Divine.

But could such a one have been a blasphemer? Was
it morally possible that He could have uttered what
He did about Himself, unless it was true ? To estab-
lish His high claims, it might be sufficient to appeal
to His miracles, and assert that no such works of
power and love could have been done but by one
who verily had God with him ; as He himself said, —
" Believe me for the very works' sake. If I do not
the works of my Father, believe me not." Or I might
appeal to the witness God gave to His Son at His
baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and, above
all, when He raised Him from the dead, and thereby
declared " Him to be the Son of God with power."
But, putting aside all this evidence, I ask you to con-
template the moral character of Jesus, and say, Is it not
as impossible that such a person could have spoken
untruly or blasphemously regarding God, as that God
himself can be aught else than true and holy 1 Do not
let us evade this awful question of Christ's character —
He was an impostor unless he was Divine ! Either
Christ never uttered those things regarding Himself
which are here recorded, and so the history which we

Parish Papers.

have assumed as true is false in fact; or, having uttered
them, He spoke falsehood, and was a blasphemer, or
spoke the truth, and was Divine. To deny the Divinity
of His Person is to deny the truth of His character.

If any man replies that those sayings of Christ
may be interpreted differently, then I ask, What im-
pression did Christ intend to give ? If He was a mere
creature, how could He have used language to which
it was possible to give such an interpretation as would
imply Divinity % Only imagine any other man on earth
daring so to speak that his language could with diffi-
culty be interpreted as not necessarily implying his
assumption of Divine attributes ! But Jesus certainly
did so speak, and did give this impression to friend
and foe ; and He has left the same impression, in the
fonn of a living faith, more indelibly on the mind of the
Church than if it were engraven with a pen of iron on
the rock for ever. If this impression is blasphemy, He
himself, and none else, is to blame for having given it
to the world.

3. Consider Christ's Person as it was seen by tlie
apostles. "What did they believe regarding Him ? Yea
or nay, did they recognise Him as Divine 1

While quoting from their writings, I beg my readers
to keep in mind the previous education of these re-
markable men, in what may be termed the grand funda-
mental principle of the Mosaic legislation, — viz., the
worship of the one living and true God.

But, remembering this, let us hear some of the
things said by the apostles about Jesus of Nazareth.

Thoughts on Christianity. 1 7

We shall begin with Paid. His education was, if
I may so speak, intensely Jewish. He was " a
Hebrew of the Hebrews." "After the strictest sect
of his religion, he lived a Pharisee." So devoted was
he to " the religion of his fathers," so entirely one in
his views of Christianity with the priesthood and men
of authority, both civil and ecclesiastical, in Judea,
that he thus describes his feelings with reference to
Jesus : — -

" I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza-
reth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem : and many
of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests ; and when they were
put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I
punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled
them to blaspheme ; and, being exceedingly mad
against them, I persecuted them even unto strange
cities," (Acts xxvi. 9-1 1.)

Paul had never seen Jesus while He lived on earth ;
yet suddenly, and to the utter astonishment of friends
and foes, he becomes a believer in His name, and
ever after, for thirty years, until his death, preaches
that name as the only one given whereby men can be
saved. Now, what did Paul say of the dignity of this
Person ? A full reply to this question can be given only
by reading his epistles, and there seeing how saturated
they are with the Divine Presence of Jesus in every
thought, every doctrine, every command, and every
hope ; and how His name occupies a place which
that of no mere creature could occupy without mani-

Parish Papers.

fest blasphemy ; and how his own past, present, and
future were seen by him in the light of Christ, without
whom he would have been most miserable. But a
very few passages, out of many, may be selected from
two or three of his shortest letters, to illustrate his
teaching. In writing to the Philippians, he says : —

"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of
no reputation, and took upon him the form of a ser-
vant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name :
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things
under the earth ; and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father," (Phil. ii. 6-n.)

To the Colossians he writes :—

" Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made
us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light : who hath delivered us from the power
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins : who is the
image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature : for by him were all things created that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principali-
ties, or powers ; all things were created by him, and for

Thoughts on Christianity. 1 9

him : and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist : and he is the head of the body, the church ;
who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ;
that in all things he might have the pre-eminence : for
it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness
dwell : and (having made peace through the blood of
his cross) by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or
things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alien-
ated, and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy, and unblameable, and un-
reproveable in his sight," (Col. i. 12-22.)

Once more, when addressing Hebrews, he says : —
" God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners,
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whan
also he made the worlds; who, being the brightness of
his glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he
had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they," (Heb.
i. 1-4.)

Could Paul, I ask, have written in such language as
this, or anything approaching to this, unless he believed
Christ to have been divine, in the fullest sense of that
word 1 But believing this with all his heart, his whole
life and preaching were consistent with such a belief.

20 Parish Papers.

He preached Jesus as the Person whom all men were
to love and obey as God, confide and rejoice in as in
God, and to whom they were to commit themselves,
both soul and body, for time and for eternity, as to
God. What he wished others to do, he himself did.
For what was the source and strength of his life ?
" The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." " I
live ; yet not I, Christ lives in me." " I can do all
things through Christ that strengtheneth me." What
was the one object of his holy ambition ? " That I
may win Christ." What was his heaven1? "To be
with Christ." And after thirty years passed in His
service, and after having endured such sufferings as
never fell to the lot of one man, so far from uttering
the language of disappointment or regret, as of one
whose early convictions had not stood the test of ex-
perience, but had failed to sustain him when most
needed, he thus writes, with calm confidence and per-
fect peace, in his old age, and from a prison, to his
dear friend and follower Timothy : —

" For the which cause I also suffer these things :
nevertheless I am not ashamed ; for I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day." " Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same
commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a
good soldier of Jesus Christ." " But watch thou in ail

Thoughts on Christianity. 2 1

things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist,
make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready
to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day j and not
to me only, but unto all them also that love his ap-
pearing." "At my first answer no man stood with
me, but all men forsook me : I pray God that it may
not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord
stood with me, and strengthened me j that by me the
preaching might be fully known, and that all the
Gentiles might hear : and I was delivered out of the
mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me
from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his
heavenly kingdom : to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen," (2 Tim. i. 12, ii. 1-3, iv. 5-8, 16-18.)

Was that man an idolater and blasphemer, — the
dupe of his own fancy,- — deceived in his faith and
hopes, — or was he the ignorant deceiver of others 1

Moreover, let it be remembered that with this mighty
truth, as with a hammer, Paul went forth to destroy
the idolatries of the world, and gave them such blows,
that in Europe they finally tottered and fell. But did
he then only substitute one idolatry for another ? — did
he preach to Greece and Rome love and obedience to
a man, a better man, possibly, than any of the persons
whom they worshipped, but still a mere creature like
themselves? Hear Paul's memorable and glorious
words to the Athenians, and believe this if you can : —

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"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-hill, and
said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things
ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and be-
held your devotions, I found an altar with this inscrip-
tion, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom there-
fore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
God, that made the world, and all things therein, see-
ing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not
in temples made with hands ; neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything, see-
ing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things ;
and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined
the times before appointed, and the bounds of their
habitation ; that they should seek the Lord, if haply
they might feel after him, and find him, though he
be not far from every one of us : for in him we live,
and move, and have our being; as certain also of
your own poets have said, For we are also his off-
spring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like
unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's
device. And the times of this ignorance God winked
at ; but now commandeth all men everywhere to re-
pent : because he hath appointed a day, in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained ; whereof lie hath given assur-
ance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from
the dead," (Acts xvii. 22-31.)

If from Paul we turn to the other apostles, we shall
recognise in them the same convictions regarding the

Thoughts on Christianity. 23

person of Jesus. Let us hear, for example, some of
the declarations of the apostle John : —

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by him; and without him was not anything made that
was made. In him was life ; and the life was the light
of men. And the light shineth in darkness ; and the
darkness comprehended it not. There was a man
sent from God, whose name was John. The same
came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that
all men through him might believe. He was not that
Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth," (John
i. 1-14.)

" But these are -written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing
ye might have life through his name," (John xx. 31.)

" And we know that the Son of God is come, and
hath given us an understanding, that we may know
him that is true ; and we are in him that is true, even

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in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
eternal life," (i John v. 20.)

" Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, and the
first-begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings
of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us
kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Be-
hold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see
him, and they also which pierced him : and all kin-
dreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even
so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which
was, and which is to come, the Almighty." " I was
in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me
a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last." " And I turned to see
the voice that spake with me. And, being turned, I
saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of
the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the paps with a golden girdle. Llis head and
his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and
his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like unto
fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and his
voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in
his right hand seven stars ; and out of his mouth went
a sharp two-edged sword ; and his countenance was
as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw
him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me. Fear not ; / am the

Thoughts 011 Christianity. 25

first and the last : I am he that liveth, and was dead ;
and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and
have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. i. 5-8, 10,
12-18.)

Could John have written such things of a mere
man ? Could a pious Jew have done so without con-
scious blasphemy? It is in vain to reply that I have
quoted much of this from a vision. But would he have
dared to record such a vision, unless he believed Jesus
to have been Divine %

I am compelled, therefore, to admit that the apostles
believed Jesus of Nazareth to have been a Divine Per-
son. I am not asserting, at present, that what they
believed was true in fact, but only that they in fact
believed this to be true.

And here I might inquire, whether there was any-
thing in their personal knowledge of Christ which
could have suggested such a thought to those men.
We have seen that the grand lesson of their educa-
tion as Jews was, " Hear, O Israel : the Lord our
God is one Lord ; and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with
all thy might." Whatever other faith or worship
did not harmonise with this was deadly idolatry.
It is true that, with the exception of Paul, all the
apostles had seen Jesus in the flesh, and John spe-
cially pleads for His humanity, and presses it home
with every form of expression. " That," says he,
" which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands
have handled, of the Word of life." But if we lay

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aside all supernatural and miraculous evidences of
our Lord's person, what was there in His life which
could have produced this impression, or awakened
this strange conviction of His divinity] Not surely
His lowly birth, nor the long years in which He was
known only as the carpenter's son ; not the sorrow
and grief with which He was familiar, or the real
though sinless infirmities to which He was subject ;
not the reception He met with from His countrymen,
or the death by which His short earthly career was
ended ! What was there in an earthly life so intensely
human, to convince such true, thoughtful, godly men
as the apostles that this man was one with the Holy
One of Israel, the Almighty Creator of the heavens
and the earth'? Yet such was the conviction of John,
who leant upon His bosom at the Last Supper, watched
Him in Gethsemane, beheld Him in the judgment-hall,
and stood by Him at the cross ! Such was the faith
of Paul also who never saw Him in the flesh, or ever
heard His voice while He tabernacled among men.
If, however, the alleged supernatural facts in the Bible
are true, — including the gift of the Spirit who was to
" glorify" Jesus, — we can easily account for those con-
victions, but not otherwise.

And let me here notice in passing, how beautifully
harmonious the facts of this Person's life were as a
man, yet also as " Emmanuel, God with us ! " These,
when "called to remembrance," were such as must
have confirmed and established the faith of the apostles.
If there were evidences of a humility belonging to Him
as the Son of man, there were equal evidences of a

Thoughts on Christianity . 2 7

dignity which belonged to Him as the Son of God. He
was born of the Virgin Mary, yet by Divine power.
"The Holy Ghost," said the angel Gabriel to His
mother, " shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God." He was brought forth in a stable,
and laid in a manger, but wise men from the East,
guided by a star, came to worship Him, and to pre-
sent Him with kingly offerings, while the hosts of
heaven announced His birth with songs of rejoicing.
He was baptized of John, yet a voice from heaven
said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." During His life, while He submitted to
every trial and temptation to which humanity was
liable, "that in all things He might be like His
brethren," yet never was evidence wanting of a dignity
and glory which were divine. He was hungry, but fed
thousands ; wearied and asleep amidst the storm, but
He rebuked the winds and waves, so that there was a
great calm ; He was tempted of the devil for forty
days, but Satan did homage to His dignity, by offer-
ing Him as a bribe the kingdoms of the world, while
His grandeur was revealed in the command, " Get
thee behind me, Satan." He was so poor that pious
women ministered to Him of their substance, and
so sorrowful that He often wept ; yet He dried the
tears of thousands, healed all who came to Him of
every disease, and by a word of power raised the
dead, from their bed, from their bier, and even when
corruption had begun to do its loathsome work. He

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had His days of darkness, when He could say, " Now
is my soul troubled ; " yet a voice from heaven even
then witnessed to His glory. He washed the feet
of His disciples, yet it was at the very moment
when, "knowing that God had given all things into
his hands, that he came from God, and went to
God." He died and was buried, but though, dur-
ing all the hours which marked that saddest of all
tragedies, there were signs of human woe and weak-
ness, as if " Himself He could not save," yet what
signs of dignity and superhuman majesty ! For He was
addressed on the cross as a King by a dying criminal,
and as a King He promised to save him ; while the
darkened sky, the rending rocks, and all the august
circumstances which attended His humiliation, pro-
claimed, with the centurion, " Truly this was the Son
of God !" He lay in the grave, and His body received
the tears and affectionate ministrations of attached
friends ; but an angel descended and rolled away the
stone ; the Roman guard became as dead men ; " the
Lord was risen indeed ! "' and He appeared to His dis-
ciples, and so overcame the unbelief of Thomas by
His very presence, bearing the marks of His human
sufferings, that the doubter fell down and " worshipped
Him," saying, " My Lord, and my God ! " Jesus
remained on earth for forty days, and we still " behold
the man." He conversed familiarly with His apostles,
ate and drank with them, and instructed them in the
things pertaining to His kingdom : but He ascended to
heaven before their eyes, while angels announced His
second coming ; and soon the descent of the Holy

Thoughts on Christianity. 29

Ghost, with the great ingathering to the Church which
followed, testified to the truth of the apostolic preach-
ing, that Jesus was the Son of God, and that all
power was given to Him in heaven and on earth !

Now, in all this eventful history, there was that very
combination of earth and heaven, of the human and
superhuman, which received an interpretation from
the fact only of Christ's divine and human nature,
and which, along with Christ's own words, and the
teaching of His Spirit, made the apostles accept the
doctrine with profound conviction and deep joy ;
although, without some such overwhelming evidence,
the very thought must have been to them a blas-
phemous idolatry. They believed, because they had
sufficient grounds, from facts, for their belief. We
cannot, therefore, think that those who rejected the
claims of Jesus, and executed Him as a blasphemer,
were right, and that the apostles, who acknowledged
Him as one with God, were wrong, or that their faith
will ever be put to shame !

We have thus considered the Person of Jesus in the
light of His own teaching, as that too was understood
at the time, both by enemies and friends, and also in
the light of the faith and teaching of His apostles.

4. But there is yet another aspect in which we may
view this question — Viz., the faith and views of the
Christian Church.

As to the faith of the Church, using that word as ex-
pressing its creed, it is historically certain that since the
days of the apostles till the present time, this doctrine

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has formed a sine qua non of the creed of the whole
Church, whether called Popish, Protestant, Greek,
Armenian, Nestorian, &c. — of every branch, in short,
with the exception of the Unitarians. Amidst all differ-
ences, the millions of professing Christians have agreed
from age to age in this article. No theological strifes or
angry passions, no dissents or reformations, have dis-
turbed this truth as the foundation-stone of the Temple.
Now, if Christ is not a divine person, it follows that
the Christian Church is one huge institution of idolatry.
We do not, observe, attempt as Christians to conceal
our faith in Christ's divinity, or to modify it so as to
escape, if possible, such an imputation. We necessarily
accept this conclusion, unless our faith is grounded on
fact. We boldly declare that we believe in Jesus of Na-
zareth ; love Him, trust Him, obey Him, as we do God-
Almighty, and with the same degree of faith and rever-
ence. In the one name of the Father, Son, and Spirit,
we have been baptized, and that name we honour as
One, ascribing equal glory to each Person in the God-
head. Such a creed as this may startle some and
offend others, but it is nevertheless the creed which is
and has been the faith of universal Christendom,
which millions with ourselves believe unhesitatingly,
and confess as boldly as they do their faith in the
being of God. Now what we assert is, that if Jesus
was a mere man, or was not " God manifest in the
flesh," we and all Christians so believing are idolaters
in the strictest sense of that word. Our churches are
idol temples where a dead man is worshipped ; our
ministers idol priests, who ever preach and com-

Thoughts on Christianity. 3 1

memorate this man, pray to him, sing praises to him,
and consecrate generation after generation to his ser-
vice ; our people commit their souls and bodies to
the keeping of this man for time and eternity, and
all their hopes are inseparably connected with him
as their Lord ; — while amidst this universal defection
of the human race, this wide-spread idolatry which
has taken possession of the most cultivated and intel-
lectual nations, and threatens to overrun the world
and absorb all other idolatries into itself, there ap-
pears but a trifling number who maintain the pure light
of theism, and preserve the truth of God unsullied for
the coming, and it is to be hoped, therefore, for better,
ages of the world. And who are these 1 Jews, Deists,
and Unitarians. On these depend the world's hopes
of its ever becoming regenerated by a theology of truth
regarding God. Now, does it seem probable, we ask,
under the government of God, that these have dis-
covered the truth on such a fundamental fact in reli-
gion, while universal Christendom for eighteen centuries
has believed a lie 1 — and such a lie ! As a question of
probability, what weight can we attach to this testi-
mony, balanced not against numbers merely, but num-
bers along with the intellect, culture, and character of
those who have believed in, derived their soul's good
from, and perilled their soul's existence upon, Christ's
divinity ?*

* Mr Greg in his Essays, which at first appeared in the Edin-
burgh Review, admits this alternative. His language is, "To
a philosophic inquirer there will appear little doubt that Trinita-
rianism and idolatry — the worship of Christ as Cod, the worship

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Consider also, as I have suggested, the effect pro-
duced by such a faith when real upon the religious
ideas regarding God of all who really hold it. On the
supposition, for example, that the Christian's faith in
Jesus is vain — that he is worshipping, loving, serving
a creature, or a mere creation of his own mind, instead
of the only living and true God, — how can we account
for the actual results of a faith so false and blasphe-
mous upon his ideas regarding God 1

It is not denied that a vast body of men and women
in every age have had sincere faith in Jesus as God,
and loved Him with their whole soul. Now, what
effect has such faith upon their views of God, and
their feelings towards the Supreme Creator and Up-
holder of all things whom " pure Theists " profess alone
to worship? Has this faith in Jesus as divine had
the effect of producing false impressions of God on
the Christian's heart ; of exciting low and degrading
views of His being and attributes, lowering as it were
the Majesty of the heavens from His throne, bringing
Him to the level of our every-day humanity, and pre-
senting Him to the mind and imagination in an aspect
which inspires no reverence 1 Or has it not had the

of saints, the worship of the golden calf, have one common
origin, the weakness of human imagination and the unspiritu-
ality of human intellect." — Vol. i., p. 61. Mr Greg also says,
in a note to the above — "To accept the orthodox view of the
Christian Revelation," [i.e., Christ's divinity,) "is to our appre-
hension to deny the divine origin of the Jewish religion." But
was not "the view" of Jesus himself and His apostles the
"orthodox" one? And did they deny the divine origin of the
Jewish religion ? Who is right— Mr Greg or ?

Thoughts on Christianity . 33

very opposite effect, and that, too, just in proportion
as the worshipper has apprehended the oneness, in
His divine nature, of the Son with the Father 1 Has
not God, then, appeared more glorious and majestic
than ever ; His throne more elevated above every
other throne ; His glory more visible in heaven
and earth 1 Can any Jew, we ask, however devout,
appreciate more fully than a Christian the Old Testa-
ment descriptions ot the unity and perfections of
Jehovah, or prostrate himself with a more simple,
undivided, and confiding heart before the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 1 Can the synagogue sing
David's psalms with more truth than the church 1 or
does Unitarianism withdraw any veil which conceals
the perfections of God as Creator, Ruler, or Father,
from the eyes of him who has intense and undying
faith in Jesus as the Eternal Son 1 Oh ! where on
earth can we find more exalted and pure thoughts
of the one living and true God, as revealed in nature
and in the Old Testament, profounder admiration
of His character, or deeper reverence for His will,
than among Christians who love and honour the Son
even as they love and honour the Father 1 But how
is this to be accounted for if they believe a lie 1 How
has an idolatry, a baseless and profane hero-worship,
had this remarkable moral power of producing such
true and spiritual views of God, as all men must admit
to be most worthy? and producing, too, we dare to
add, such strong faith and affectionate reverence to-
wards this God, as exist in no other human bosoms'?
Is it possible that the true God can be thus appre-
c

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hended and loved through a medium so false as
idolatry ? On the supposition, however, but on no
other, that Jesus is really one with God, the know-
ledge and love of the Son must necessarily lead to
this very knowledge and love of the Father. " He
that seeth me, seeth the Father also." " If ye had
known me, ye should have known my Father also.'-'
"Ye believe in God, believe also in me.-'

5. Consider, again, the Person of Christ, not only
in the light of Christian character generally, but with
the addition of Christian knowledge as to its cause. It
will surely be admitted that, to whatever extent the
term Christian has been misapplied as indicating
character, and in however many cases it has been
unworthily or only formally assumed, yet it includes
within its widest embrace the best men and women
this earth possesses, or has ever possessed. There is
a certain kind of character which all men whose
moral sense is not blunted recognise as the culminat-
ing point and perfection of humanity. They may not
themselves attempt to realise it, or they may deem it
unattainable, but nevertheless the idea of what con-
stitutes a good or perfect man is no sooner presented
to their minds than conscience accepts it as that
which ought to be. Now, it is admitted even by the
atheist that such an idea is embodied in the historical
character of Jesus Christ, and in the life, consequently,
of every man just in proportion as he possesses His
Spirit, obeys His precepts, and walks in His steps.
But there are, and have been in every age, persons

Thoughts on Christianity. 35

who have done this, if not in a perfect, yet in a more
perfect degree than by any others among mankind. Or
supposing it were admitted, for the sake of argument,
that, so far as we had the means of judging, there has
occasionally appeared, without faith in Christ, a certain
product of character, apparently as pure, lofty, self-
denying, loving, and devoted to God as any which
ever professed to owe its origin to Jesus Christ ; yet,
where has there been on earth such a body of living
persons as those Christians who, within the bosom
of the universal Church, during eighteen centuries,
have manifested that kind of character which all
men profess to admire and reverence % In vain one
tries to conceive the flowers of moral beauty and
glory that have sprung up within the garden of
Christendom ! Being rooted in the earth, they may
have been soiled, indeed, by its dust, but they yet ex-
panded in loveliness to the sky, and sent forth a
fragrance to the air, peculiar to the plants raised by
the Great Husbandman. Number, if you can, the
saints of the Christian Church ; the young and old,
the poor and rich, who in every age and clime have
been truthful, simple, sincere, patient, forgiving, and
compassionate ; who have enjoyed an inward life of
peace with God, maintained an outward conduct, and
possessed a reality of abiding love to their Father
in heaven and to their brethren on earth peculiar
to themselves. Their lives have been a blessing to
the world, and a happiness to their own hearts ;
their deathbed has been freed from the fears of a
dark future, and brightened by the pure prospect of

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continued life and joy. The Christian Church, and
the Christian Church alone, contains such characters ;
and these are the lights of our homes, the salt of the
earth, and the only security of the world's progress.

Now, to what is this great result owing? How is
this product of character, which is affecting the
world's history, and gradually leavening the whole
lump of humanity, to be accounted for? What
power has originated it, or by what has it been sus-
tained? Who are more entitled to give a reply to
such questions than Christians themselves? They
alone can know by what motives they have been
actuated, by what strength supported, and by what
hopes animated. Ask them, then, and what will be
their reply ? Each and all will but echo the words of
Paul, as expressing the secret of their life : " I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life I live in
the flesh I live through faith in the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me." " The love of
Christ constraineth us." " I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me." " The Lord stood
with me, and strengthened me." " The Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me
unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory for ever
and ever ! " "I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me." This is the experience of
the living Church of Christ, of all lands, and of all
time, — the creed of each genuine believer ; of the
early martyr and mediaeval saint ; of the pious Pro-
testant and Papist ; of the cultivated Christian philo-
sopher and the half-taught Christian negro ; of the

Thoughts on Christianity. 37

young man who has overcome the wicked one, and of
the old patriarch who departs in peace, because his
eyes have seen salvation ; of the Christian Green-
lander who died yesterday, and of the sweet Christian
girl who died to-day, leaving the bosom of her mother
for the bosom of her God ; of each and all the ten
thousand times ten thousand who have so lived and
died, with one conviction of truth the strongest in
their minds, that whatever strength, peace, or good
they possess as true life, they owe all to the One
source of life,— the Lord Jesus Christ! What are
we to conclude from these unparalleled facts, which
can no more be denied than the realities of human
history or of human experience ? Have all Chris-
tians been deceived? Have they been believing a
lie, and has this great life of life in them been sus-
tained by a delusion? Is there no such person as
Jesus Christ, the Lord of life, the living Saviour
of sinners? Is this not a fact but a fiction? Can
it be that the moral government of God exists, and
yet that it admits of such a moral anomaly as this,
— the regeneration of human character by a false-
hood ! Impossible ! I say it with deepest reve-
rence,— as sure as there is a God of truth, impossible !
The Christian Church has not been deceived. Unbe-
lievers in Jesus have not had the light of truth given
them, while those who have loved and served Him
have been permitted to walk in the darkness of intel-
lectual untruth and in the vain belief of an idol !
Jesus is Divine as well as human. " He was, and is,
and liveth for evermore ! "

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III.

WHAT CAN WE BELIEVE IF WE DO NOT THUS
BELIEVE IN JESUS ?

If all this evidence is insufficient to prove the
Divine nature of Jesus Christ, it may be well to con-
sider on what religious fact or truth we can fall back,
as being based upon surer evidence, and affording,
therefore, a surer ground of faith and hope.

i. On what part of Christ's "work" on earth can
we fall back 1 We can no more recognise God the
Father as truly revealing Himself in Jesus as his co-
eternal Son ; and the whole light and life of such a
revelation in Christ, as hitherto seen and received
by the apostles and the Christian Church, is for ever
extinguished and destroyed. We can no more believe
Jesus as our Prophet, when we do not accept the very
truths to which He gave most prominence : nor can we
trust Him as our King, when we believe Him to have
been a mere man only, who neither possesses nor could
wield power adequate to govern the world : nor can
we trust Him as our Priest, for in Him is no longer
manifested the love of God in sending His own Son
to be a propitiation for the sins of the world. And
who, we may add, will believe in a Holy Spirit as a
Divine Person, whose very work is represented by Jesus
to be that of convincing the world of sin " because it
believes not in Him," as " glorifying Him," and taking
of His things to shew them to the spirits of men %

Thoughts on Christianity. 39

2. Can we, then, accept of Christ as a perfect
example? How is this possible? For remember, it
was the example of one who is assumed to be a man
like ourselves, but yet a man who never, by one act of
contrition or confession, acknowledged the existence
of personal sin or defect of any kind ; a man rarely
endowed, and yet who never once expressed gratitude
to God for His rich and varied gifts ; a man who
prayed indeed to God, yet as one who was His equal,
and who in His last hours uttered such words as these
— " All mine are thine, and thine are mine ! Father, /
will that they also whom thou hast given me, may be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory /"
Can we, sinners, follow this example, as that of " our
model man, in everything ?" Dare we closely follow
a life like this, and then end it by voluntarily giving
ourselves up as a ransom " for the remission of the
sins of many i"

3. Can we even retain the character of Jesus ? The
atheist admits that Jesus was the greatest man who
ever lived on earth. A worshipper of heroes says
of Him in his Hero Worship, — " The greatest of all
heroes is one whom I do not name here." The char-
acter of this wonderful Being has indeed been gene-
rally recognised as a bright spot amidst the world's
darkness ; as the only perfect model of goodness ever
seen on earth — yea, as moral beauty itself! But
unless the history we possess of Jesus is untrue, and
He was, therefore, no historical but a mere ideal per-
son,— or if He was a real person, as represented in

4°

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the gospel, yet not divine, — we cannot defend His
character without losing our own. For we have seen
how He certainly represented Himself as one with
God, — as one who alone knew God and truly revealed
Him, — as one who demanded the same honour and
love from man as were due to God, — who required
men to be willing to part with their dearest friends,
even life itself, rather than with Him, — who asserted
His right to assign to mankind their eternal destinies
according to the relationship in which each man stood
to Him, — who, when standing before an earthly judge,
crowned with thorns, insulted by the rabble, with every
sign of weakness, and as if literally forsaken by God
and man, did not abate one jot or tittle of His claims,
but asserted them in all their magnitude, announcing
His return to the world in glory as its mighty Judge ;
and much more to the same effect. Now, can any
man, we ask, of common honesty defend such a char-
acter as this from the charge of wilful imposition and
daring blasphemy, unless what He asserted was true %
With reference to all the good words or deeds which
His professed friends may claim for Him, yet so long
as He falsely claims to be divine, we are constrained
to reject Him, as the Jews did, and to say with
them, " For a good work we stone thee not, but
because thou, being a man, makest thyself God!" It is
not possible, therefore, to fall back on Christ's char-
acter, if we reject Christ's divinity ; for His character
was manifest untruth, and His claims an unprincipled
deception !

Thoughts on Christianity. 41

4. Can we preserve the character of the apostles ?
That, too, has hitherto been considered worthy of our
respect and regard. Never did men leave such a
record of moral teaching, and such an impress of a
holy life behind them, a life so pure, wise, loving, so
suited, in every respect, to bless mankind, and to
make a heaven below in proportion as it is received.
In these men we can detect no trace of avarice,
ambition, or selfish aims of any kind. They lived,
laboured, and died, that the world should become
better and happier, and they have so far succeeded
that civilisation can never more be separated from
their names. But what was the substance of their
teaching, and the one grand object of their existence'?
I again reply, without fear of contradiction, it was to
persuade mankind to trust and love Jesus Christ as
God ! The first Christian teacher who died a martyr's
death resigned his spirit into the hands of this Jesus,
as his Lord in glory ; and the last and oldest apostle
who first knew Him as his friend, represented Him
as the Alpha and the Omega, the King of kings and
Lord of lords. But if He was not this, how can the
character of those teachers be defended? As Jews
they could not be ignorant of the being and attributes
of God, nor as men of the earthly life and history of
Jesus ; yet they professed to preach Jesus as divine,
and to work miracles in His name! They could not
possibly have been themselves deceived, and must
therefore, if their faith was vain, have attempted to
deceive others. Common sense rejects every other ex-
planation. Anyhow, they were the successful heralds

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of an idolatry which, we may boldly affirm, will never
leave the world, and of a blasphemy whose praises will
never be silent on earth. Their character must perish
with that of their Master !

5. What, then, have we left us? The morality of the
New Testament ? No ! for all that is peculiar to its
morality are the duties which spring out of the assumed
relationship of Jesus to mankind. The gospel mo-
rality of supreme love to Jesus becomes z'/«morality, if
Jesus is not one with God. Prayer to Christ, personal
communion with Christ, personal attachment to Christ,
hymns of praise to Christ, abiding through faith in
Christ, advancing the kingdom of Christ, labouring for
Christ and keeping His commandments — in one word,
that whole life of the Christian towards God and man,
every portion of which is permeated by Christ as the
sunlight fills the atmosphere, can never be separated
from the morality of the New Testament.

Nor can we any longer rely upon Old Testament
facts, or on anything there revealed regarding God, as
distinct from what could have been discovered without
such a revelation, if our faith has been shaken in the
facts and the characters of the New Testament. He
who can reject the Christ of the New Testament,
must necessarily reject the God of the Old ; and he
who cannot rely on the apostles, cannot possibly rely
upon the prophets. All must be given up, and the
Bible become a mere curious record of falsehood.

6. Is this all 1 Enough one would think ! But

Thoughts on Christianity. 43

can we even fall back cm God? What evidence has
any man of the existence of a living personal God,
stronger than what he possesses of a living personal
Saviour 1 Can any revelation of God during the past,
and recorded in history, be received as worthy of
credit, if this alleged history of Jesus is rejected as
unworthy 1 If the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ is not the only living and true God, where is
the true God to be found ? If Jesus neither knew
Him truly, nor truly revealed Him, who can do either ?
And when, moreover, we have thus lost faith in the
character of Jesus and of His apostles, from what
better evidence of moral character or moral design
on earth can we henceforth reason upwards as to the
moral character of a Divine Being 1

In what position do we thus find ourselves 1 The
Church of Christ must be given up as a great false-
hood, a huge idolatry, a society of weak, deluded, or
bad men. The character of its early founders, and the
Person to whom it owes its name, must, for the same
reason, be abandoned. The Old Testament can form
but a feeble barrier to the flood which has thus swept
away the New, with all which has arisen out of the
assumed truth of its history. And thus each man, cut
off from the past, is left to discover a God for himself,
from evidence which, to satisfy him, must necessarily
be more overwhelming than that which he rejects, and
on which the faith of the Christian Church has rested
for eighteen centuries. Can any man be satisfied
with such a basis of religion as this ? Having rejected
God as revealed in Jesus, can he peril his soul in peace

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on the God discovered by himself? Having fled from
Christianity as a religion -whose foundations are in-
secure, can he repose with confidence in the building
which he himself has reared ! Or, if he moves at all,
must he not gradually slide into universal scepticism,
and conclude that, since he cannot believe in Jesus, he
can believe in no one else, — that if deceived by Him
he may be deceived by all, — that if there is no such
Person as the Divine Son, there is no such Person as
the Divine Father, — that if he must be without Christ,
he must necessarily be without God !

He may, indeed, in such a case, profess to believe
in a God ; but is He the living and true God, or one
who is but the product of his own mind, the shadow cast
by his own human spirit 1 Oh ! hear the words of Him
who is truth itself: " Ye believe in God, believe also in
me ;" " All things are delivered unto me of my Father:
and no man knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to
whom the Son will reveal him " Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest!" May the Lord's last prayer be answered
in us : " Father, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also
may glorify thee : as thou hast given him power over
all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as
thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent."

Thoughts on Christianity. 45

IV.

WHAT IF CHRISTIANITY IS NOT TRUE 1

Now to prove the Christian religion untrue, or to
prove that the evidences on which it rests are in-
sufficient, is a more difficult task than some of its op-
ponents appear to imagine, if we may judge from the
boastful language in which they record their supposed
achievements.

Let it never be forgotten, that the Christian religion
is founded upon certain alleged historical facts that
must be disposed of before it falls. " The holy temple
of a loving soul filled with the glory of Christ is spiritual,
but it is nevertheless based upon facts as on founda-
tion-stones, the chief corner-stone being Jesus Christ
the personal Saviour, "who was dead and is alive,
and liveth for evermore ! " Without these facts Chris-
tianity could not exist. The duty, for example, of

* Neander, in his preface to his "Life of Christ," quotes
from Niebuhr what he calls "the golden words of one of the
greatest minds of modem times." "The man," says Niebuhr,
"who does not hold Christ's earthly life, with all its miracles, to
be as properly and really historical as any event in the sphere of
history, and who does not receive all points in the Apostle»'
Creed with the fullest conviction, I do not conceive to be a Pro-
testant Christian. As for that Christianity which is such accord-
ing to the fashion of the modern philosophers and pantheists, —
without a personal God, without immortality, without an indi-
viduality of man, without historical faith, — it may be a very subtle
philosophy, but it is no Christianity at all. Again and again have
I said that I know not what to do with a metaphysical God,
and that I will have no other but the God of the Bible, who is
heart to heart.''''

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supremely loving and devotedly serving Jesus Christ,
implies the truth of other facts, such as the fulfilment
of prophecies, miracles, the life and character of Jesus,
His atoning death, resurrection, &c, all of which esta-
blish His claims to our faith. But in addition to these,
and as their evidence also and result, there is the expe-
rience of the whole living Church, derived from faith
in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.

But before Christianity can be destroyed, it is ab-
solutely necessary to destroy the evidences of those
historical facts on which it rests. This, as I have
said, is no easy task. There are many high walls,
many encircling lines of defence around the old fort-
ress, each and all of which must be taken, ere the
citadel itself can be reached and laid in ruins. Now
this has never yet been done. The enemy has made
many attacks during the last eighteen centuries, and
on several occasions the last grand assault which was
to decide the long campaign has been threatened.
Every method has been adopted which critical skill
could apply, which the most subtle genius could in-
vent, and the most untiling perseverance execute
but, in spite of all, " the strong city," with " salvation
for walls and bulwarks," still remains strong as ever.
For, to drop all metaphor, in whatever way we may
account for it, the fact is undeniable, that Christianity,
in the form of supreme love to Jesus Christ as the Son
of God, not only survives, but in no age of the world's
past history has it been so strongly rooted in the con-
victions and affections of so many men, nor has it ever
been given such promise of filling the whole earth.

Thoughts on Christianity. 47

Let us suppose, however, for the sake of argument,
that by some process hitherto undiscovered, Chris-
tianity, as the religion of supreme love to this living
Person, Jesus Christ, is at last proved to be a fiction ;
that the millennium of infidelity has arrived ; that the
religion taught by Christ and His apostles has become
as dead to the world as that of Buddh or Confucius
is now to the mind of Europe ; that our Christian
churches, like the heathen temples of Greece or
Rome, remain but as monuments of a superstition
long ago exploded by the light of science and philo-
sophy ; that all those supernatural Christian facts and
truths, which like a mighty firmament of stars, now
cluster around the name of Jesus, have departed as
lights from the visible universe ; that Christian truth is
as silent before the world as Christ himself was when
He stood before Herod, and answered him nothing ;
until even the wailing cry has ceased of the last de-
sponding and disconsolate believer on earth, " They
have taken away my Lord, and I know not where to
find him ! " Well, then, the work is done ! The ener-
getic teachers of the propaganda of unbelief have
accomplished their long-cherished purpose, and the
professors of an earnest and devoted faith in Christ
have perished, leaving no memorial behind them
except their "curious books," or their hoary tomb-
stones, which record their old faith in Him as the
resurrection and the life.

When such a crisis as this has at last arrived, the
world will surely pause, and count the fruits of victory.
Wise men will then doubtless consider with an earnest

48 Parish Papers.

spirit what has been gained to humanity by this tre-
mendous revolution in all those opinions and ideas
cherished during so many ages ; and the well-wishers
of mankind will examine the spoils which the con-
querors have ready for enriching the poor and needy
as the result of this triumph over a religion that was
clung to by the best and noblest men with a tenacity
overcome only when earth was old, and time was
well-nigh ending. But may we not now anticipate
such a solemn review, by asking those who are wishful
to destroy Christianity, what they intend to put in its
place when their object is accomplished. If they
have anything else to give us, let us know what it is,
that we may see and judge if it is better than the old
religion ; if it is better suited to meet the wants of
man in every period and condition of his varied life ;
if it is likely to do better work on earth, and produce
better fruit ; if its truth rests on better evidence, and
if, in short, it is such a gift from heaven that angels
with songs of joy might announce this new gospel of
peace on earth, and this new message of good-will to
man. Strange to say, such questions, though often
asked, have hitherto remained unanswered. If there
be a something better in store for us than what we
profess, the blissful secret has not yet been revealed.
Infidelity, often so loud in attacking Christianity, is
silent as a god of iron or brass when we ask at its
shrine. If I give up faith in Christ, what wouldest
thou have me be and do, and how live and rejoice as
an immortal being %

What, then, I again ask, would be lost and gained

Thoughts 011 Christianity . 49

on both sides after the war, in the event of Christi-
anity being destroyed 1 We Christians know full well
what we would gain and lose ; — we know that we would
gain nothing, and lose everything ! We would lose
all which we most love in the universe of God, — all
which makes us rejoice in existence, — all which en-
ables us to look at the past, present, and future with
perfect peace ; and of all men we would be most
miserable ! It is true that in regard to many an object
of affection, it may be said —

"Better to have loved and lost, than never to have
loved at all ! "

But not so in regard to our love of Jesus Christ. Bet-
ter never to have seen that glory filling the heavens
and earth, and making life a constant thanksgiving
and praise, than, after having seen it, to be persuaded
by any witchery that it was all a dream — a fiction of
the imagination — a ghostly superstition — which it is
wisdom to banish from the memory. For once we
have lost Jesus Christ as our ever-living, ever-present,
all-sufficient Friend and Saviour, what are we to do ?
Can we contentedly fall back upon our own being,
or upon any other person, and live on " without Christ
in the world ! " Or are we in those circumstances to
be told that we may still have comfort in "religion
without the supernatural," and rejoice in "the eternal
and essential verities of morality ! " Only think of it,
Christians ! The living man, the light and hope of
the family, is murdered ; but a disciple of pure science
and calm philosophy enters it, and tells its agonised

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members that it is folly and ignorance to indulge in
such grief, for science has analysed their friend, and
preserved in a series of neat phials, which they may
easily carry about with them, all his constituent ele-
ments, his " essentials," his carbon, his silica, this and
that gas — everything, in short, which made up the
substance of him whom they were accustomed to
call their beloved ; therefore they may " comfort one
another with these words ! " And thus would the
enemy of Christianity presume to comfort us with his
" essentials," when our living Lord is gone ! Comfort
indeed !

" Comfort ? comfort scorn'd by devils ! this is truth the poet
sings,

That a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier
things ! "

But what can the unbeliever himself expect to gain
by its destruction ? "I have nothing to do with con-
sequences," may be his reply, " but with truth only J
let every lie be tested and exposed, whatever may be
the real or imaginary gain or loss to myself or others."
Brave words ! with which we have the deepest sym-
pathy ; for if they are the utterance of a truly sincere
heart, they evidence belief, and not unbelief; they
assume that there is an order and government in the
universe, which is on the side of truth, and that we
may therefore, at all hazards, discover what is true,
and cling to it in the full assurance of faith, — that ulti-
mately the right and true are in harmony with all that
is worth loving and worth living for. Amen ! we say
from our heart. At the same time, it is well to look

ThougJits on Christianity. 5 1

at some of the consequences which the destruction of
Christianity would involve even to him who destroys it.

It is obvious, for example, that should it cease to
exist to us as a reality, other realities would remain
irrespective of our belief. Existence would remain,
and it may be one as eternal as the life of God ;
sorrow and suffering would remain, to gnaw the heart,
darken the world, and cast deep shadows over a life
which must end with that dread event, death, and the
passing away of ourselves and of all we have from the
memories of mankind as if we had never been — and
whither ] Worst of all, sin would remain — dark, myste-
rious, and terrible sin ! And " obstinate questionings"
would remain to disturb and perplex the mind in
moments of earnest and silent thought. Men would
still ask, What if we are responsible to God for this
whole inner and outer life of ours, with its beliefs, pur-
poses, and actions % What if sin and its consequences
continue beyond the grave, with no remedy there unless
found here 1 What if there is no possible happiness but
in fellowship of spirit and character with God ; and what
if this is morally impossible for us to attain without a
Saviour and Sanctifier? What, in short, if all the evils
which Christianity professes to deliver us from remain
as facts in our history, just as diseases remain though
the aid of the physician, who reveals their nature,
and who offers to cure them, is rejected? or, as a
vessel remains a wreck in the midst of the breakers
after the life-boat which comes to save the crew is
dismissed 1 or, as the lion remains after the telescope
is flung aside which revealed his coming, and revealed

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also the only place of safety from his attack ? For it
is obvious that Christianity does not create the evils
and dangers from which it offers to deliver us, and
that these must remain as facts should it be proved a
fiction. So far, then, the infidel has gained nothing by
the overthrow of our religion. " Except truth ! " does
he exclaim ? Yet, I again repeat it, truth in its nega-
tive form only, as destroying supposed falsehoods, but
not in its positive form as establishing something to
rest upon.

Is there any other conceivable gain, then, which
would accrue to the unbeliever by his supposed suc-
cess ? Does he wish, for example, to relieve oppressed
souls of some great burden which crushes them ? But
what alleged truths or doctrine of Christianity, if
blotted out to-morrow from the circle of belief, would
ease a single soul, while it would unquestionably be
an irreparable loss to millions? Would a God be
more acceptable, and appear with greater moral
beauty, who was different from the God and Father
Df our Lord Jesus Christ1? Would He be more
attractive to our hearts if He did not forgive our sins
fully and freely, or if forgiveness was not offered
through such Divine self-sacrifice? Would it be a
relief to our moral being to be freed from the privi-
lege or duty of supremely loving Jesus Christ?
Would it lighten our hearts to be freed from the
burden of having communion with Him in prayer?
Would we have more security for light, life, strength,
holiness, peace, or comfort, if there was no such Per-

Thotights on Christianity. 53

son revealed as the Spirit of God, who freely imparts
His aid to all 1 Would it be glad tidings to hear that
men were not to be bora again, nor to repent, nor to
deny themselves, nor to do God's will, but their own ?
What is there which a good man would gain by the
destruction of the Christian religion !

I have one question more to suggest with reference
to the duty of an unbeliever towards us as Christians,
and it is this, Why should he disturb our faith, or, as
he might term it, our superstition % If he retorts by
asking why we should disturb his unbelief, our answer
is ready — because we wish with our whole soul to share
with him the blessings which God our common Father
has for him as well as for us ; because we truly lament
the loss to our brother who refuses the eternal good
which he may now enjoy with the whole family of
God ; because we love our God, and his God and
Saviour, and desire our brother to know and to love
them too ; because it is so unjust, so selfish, so hate-
ful, not to love and obey such a glorious Person as
Jesus Christ, who knows us, loves us, and has died to
gain our hearts ! These are some of the reasons,
rudely and roughly stated, why we desire, with all our
heart, that every man should believe in Jesus Christ
But if any man, for any reason which may be beyond
our understanding or sympathy, desires to destroy this
faith in all that is most precious to us, then I ask, not
in Christ's name, — for it is unnecessary to appeal to
Him, — but in the name of common sense and common
philanthropy, why he should not only labour to do

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this, but to do it without apparently any apprehension
of the untold misery which he must occasion if he
succeeds in his attempt 1 Do not tell us, with a boast,
that " the truth must be spoken, come what may ! "
Be it so ; but surely the kind of truth which must be
spoken must ever regulate the manner in which it is
spoken? Again, I bid you picture to yourselves a
person entering a family whose members were re-
joicing in the thought of a father's return, and
announcing the intelligence of that father's death,
with a smile of pity or a sneer of contempt at their
ignorant happiness ! Imagine such a one professing
to be actuated by a mere love of truth ! Oh ! if the
terrible duty has been laid upon any one with a
human heart, of announcing to others intelligence
which, if true, must leave a blank to them in the
world that can never be filled up, what tender sym-
pathy, what genuine sorrow becomes him who breaks
the heavy tidings ! And such ought to be the feelings
of every man who, from whatever cause, feels called
upon to announce that the Christian religion is false.
If he must make known that terrible fact to believers
in Jesus ; if he must tell them that the supposed
Source of all their life and joy has no existence, and
that their faith in Him is vain, let this be done with
the solemnity and the sorrow which a true brotherly
sympathy would necessarily dictate. If the mis-
sionaries of Christianity are warranted in preaching
their gospel with joy, the missionaries of an infidelity
which professes only to destroy and not to build up,

ThougJits on Christianity. 55

should go forth on their dreadful vocation with the
feeling of martyrs, and with no other notes of triumph
than sounds of lamentation and woe ! For if Chris-
tianity is false, we are " yet in our sins, all who have
fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and we are of
all men most miserable!"

THOUGHTS UPON THE FINAL
JUDGMENT.

HERE is no "fact of the future" more clearly

revealed in Scripture, or more certainly believed
in by the Christian Church, than that " God hath
appointed a day in which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ;
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that
he hath raised him from the dead."

No doubt this fact is denied or explained away by
many modern critics. ' But it would be difficult to say
what revealed fact, from Genesis to Revelation, is
admitted by them, or what things may now be " most
surely believed among us." We retain our first faith
in the future judgment, and shall endeavour to look
at it in a practical rather than in a speculative light.

There is, indeed, among mankind a general antici-
pation of a coming time when the mystery of God's
providence will be cleared up, and His righteousness
displayed in the final judgment to be then passed on
the evil and on the good. What the human race are

The Final Judgment. 5 7

led to anticipate, as likely to occur hereafter, from
the many unsettled questions here between man and
his brother, and between man and his God, Scripture
reveals to us as certain.

While, however, every Christian believes in the
coming of Jesus to judge the world as firmly as he
does in the fact of His having risen from the dead,
there seems to us to be very inadequate conceptions
in the minds of many as to the designs of this day, or
the ends which it is fitted to accomplish in the king-
dom of God.

It is hastily assumed, for example, that the day of
judgment will be short as the period included between
an earthly sunrise and sunset ; and that, during this
brief interval, the dead shall rise, and be judged before
the throne of Jesus Christ, along with fallen angels.
It is accordingly asked, with doubt and wonder, what
good can be gained, or what purpose served, by this
summoning those whose doom has long been sealed
to appear at the bar of Jesus, and there to receive
a formal sentence 1 If Judas goes to his own place,
and Stephen to the arms of his Redeemer; if the
wicked rich man departs to the burning flame, and
Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham ; if Satan and his
angels have long ago experienced the horrors of a
state which they know to be unchangeable, because
they are themselves unchanged ; what conceivable
reason can there be for appointing a day in which all
the wicked and the righteous are to be assembled,
only to receive their respective sentences of con-
demnation or acquittal 1

58 Parish Papers.

I know not how such questions can be answered
by those who suppose the day of judgment to be
nothing more than one on which Jesus Christ will
publicly declare what the eternal fate of His creatures
is to be for ever ; without any trial beyond that which
has already taken place in the court of each man's
conscience, and in the presence of the living God.

We at once admit that the difficulty, or impossibility
even, of answering such questions, is no adequate
. reason for our denying any fact clearly revealed in
Scripture which may suggest them. But if these be-
long, not to the fact itself, but to what appears to us
to be a wrong interpretation of it ; if a different view
is freed from such difficulties, without others, more
numerous and serious, being evolved ; if the infor-
mation afforded by Scripture is to be received as
authentic ; and if, moreover, while keeping strictly to
the letter of Scripture, it is more in harmony with the
grand ends to be accomplished by the kingdom of
Christ, and discloses more of the glory of the great
King, surely a presumption is thereby afforded in
favour of its truth, though, perhaps, at first sight it
may interfere with preconceived opinions.

Instead, then, of the day of judgment being a day
of twenty-four hours merely for the passing of a right-
eous sentence upon the good or bad, it seems to us
to be clearly revealed in Scripture that it will be a
period of time long enough for the peaceful and or-
derly ongoing of all its august proceedings j — when
Jesus Christ will summon to His immediate presence
all who have been the subjects of His mediatorial

The Final Judgment. 59

kingdom, or have been placed under His authority
for accomplishing the purposes of His reign when
each person will be tried in the presence of the assem-
bled universe, and his true relationship to his King
must be proved upon evidence minute, sifting, and
unquestionable ; — in one word, when the whole govern-
ment of the Mediator, from the beginning till the end
of time, over men, angels, and devils, shall be fully-
disclosed, and its excellence manifested to the con-
fusion of the wicked, the joy of the righteous, and the
glory of the Triune God !

Difficulties will, no doubt, be suggested by the
view we have thus so briefly stated, as well as by the
others I have been obliged to discard. But instead
of attempting to remove these, I shall at present pass
them by, leaving them to be tacitly and satisfactorily
answered by the positive truth regarding the judgment,
which I shall now endeavour to establish.

THE JUDGE.

The Judge will be Jesus Christ : —
" We must all appear before the judgment-seat of
Christ."

"Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the
dead, at his appearing and kingdom."

" The day when God will judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ."

" The Father judgeth no man, but hath coffimitted
all judgment unto the Son."

Now, there are several reasons discernible by us

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why Jesus Christ should thus be " appointed to judge
the world."

1. From the constitution of His person. As God,
He is possessed of omniscience to discern every
thought and intent of the heart ; unerring wisdom and
unsullied righteousness to try every case ; with omni-
potent power and sovereign authority to execute every
sentence. On the other hand, as " the Son of man,"
He will appear in His human nature, for " every eye
shall see Him." This "same Jesus," said the angels
at His ascension, "who is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen
Him go into heaven." Men will be judged by one
who is their Brother, "who, in all points, was tried
like one of us;" "who in all things was made like
His brethren."

2. Another reason why Jesus Christ will direct all
the proceedings of the day of judgment, arises from
the peculiar relationship in which, as the only Media-
tor between God and man, He stands to the human
race. Let us dwell for a moment upon this point.

We are informed in Scripture, that Jesus Christ is
the Creator of this world: —

" All things were made by him." " He was in the
world, and the world was made by him." " God who
created all things by Jesus Christ." " All things were
created by him and for him."

He is also Governor of the world : —

" God raised him from the dead, and set him at his
own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and

The Final Judgment. 6 1

eveiy name that is named, not only in this world, but
also in that which is to come ; and hath put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of
him that filleth all in all."

To accomplish the various ends of this glorious
government, He is King of nature; all the elements
of nature which can in any way affect the history or
destiny of the human race being directed and con-
trolled by Him. "The winds and the seas obey
Him ; " pestilence and famine, the volcano and the
hurricane, are ministers of His, that do His pleasure.
He is the King of providence; armies and fleets, con-
quests and invasions, discoveries and inventions,
migrations and settlements, — all are under the govern-
ment of His wise and omnipotent sceptre. He is the
King of grace; the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit
are dispensed to the persons and in the measure which
seem best to Him. Finally, He is the King of angels
and devils ; so that their power and agency, in relation
to the human family, are either controlled or guided
by Him.

Now, this kingdom of Jesus Christ, which began
with the history of the world at least, will one day be
resigned into the hands of God. " Then cometh the
end," says the apostle, " when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God the Father, that God may be
all in all." But ere that end comes, the Mediator
himself will, as we suppose, disclose the history of His
kingdom to the assembled universe. He will make
known " His ways and acts" towards the children of

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men. He will meet friend and foe, and disclose the
real history of each person who ever lived, from the
first moment of his birth to the moment of his trial ;
and of each family, and city, and kingdom, from their
rise till their final extinction in the dust ; and thus the
universe shall know how His government over human
affairs, in all ages and climes, has been conducted;
and in what manner His authority and power over all
things for His Church has been exercised ; that it may
be known on evidence, whether He is indeed worthy
to have received such honour and power in the great
and universal kingdom of Jehovah !

3. But there seems also a fitness in Jesus being the
Judge, from His peculiar relationship to tlie Church.
" He created all things, that unto principalities and
powers might be known by the Church the manifold
wisdom of God." And He is now, in virtue of what
He has done as a Priest, the Head over all things for
the Church as a King. " Because he humbled him-
self, God hath highly exalted him." The grand end
cf His whole mediatorial reign is, " that unto God
might be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus." But
the work of Jesus Christ as Mediator will not have
terminated, nor will He have received His full joy and
reward, until He raises His people from their graves,
and gathers His elect from the four winds of heaven ;
and opens the Book of Life, and from this biogra-
phical record adduces evidence of the reality of their
loyalty, and of their love to the King; and reveals
the glory of all His dealings towards them in every
age : — until, in one word, the living Church, of which

The Final Judgment. 63

He is the Head, which " He loved " and " purchased
with His own blood," and " sanctified and cleansed
with the washing of the water of His word," shall be
presented to Himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing, but holy and without blemish. His
judgment of the Church will be the consummation
of His mediatorial glory, and the fulness of His re-
ward.

As to the time when Jesus Christ shall judge the
world, we are ignorant. " Of that day knoweth no
man, not even the angels." We know only that it
will come suddenly — " as a thief in the night " — upon
the whole world ; and that " we shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed."

No words of man can venture upon any description
of the appearance of the Judge, or the accompani-
ments of that great and terrible day of the Lord. But
here are a few Scripture statements descriptive of this
solemn scene : —

" For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels ; and then he shall reward
every man according to his works," (Matt. xvi. 27.)

" And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man
in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from

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the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,"
(Matt. xxiv. 30, 31.)

" For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,
that we which are alive and remain unto the coming
of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first :
then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord
in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord,"
(1 Thess. iv. 15-17.)

" And to you who are troubled rest with us, when
the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on
them that know not God, and that obey not the gos-
pel of our Lord Jesus Christ," (2 Thess. i. 7, 8.)

" But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up," (2 Pet. iii. 10.)

" And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat
on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away ; and there was found no place for them. And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened : and another book was
opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it ; and death and hell deli-

The Final Judgment. 65

vered up the dead which were in them : and they were
judged every man according to their works," (Rev. xx.

WHO ARE TO BE JUDGED 1

We reply, men and f allot angels.

"We must all stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ." If the government of Jesus Christ over men
is to be revealed on that day, it is clear that all men,
without exception, must be judged. So linked, indeed,
is the history of each man with that of others, — as, for
instance, the tempter with the tempted, the oppressed
with the oppressor, the teacher with the taught, the
child with the parent ; — so necessarily is each man's
condition and character affected by that of all who
have gone before him, up to his first parents ; — so
truly do all human beings make up one race, one family,
from the life of each being more or less connected
with that of all, that the knowledge of the real history
of even one man, almost implies an examination into
the real history of the whole human race. And we
shall possess, for the first time, a true history of the
whole world, when we truly understand the history
of each person, family, and kingdom in it; and so
also shall we possess the true history of each indi-
vidual part, only when we know its relationship to
the great whole ; and the history of events, when we
perceive what bearing they have had on the kingdom
of Jesus Christ, whose history is that of the world.

It has been questioned how far the sins of the
people of God, which have been for ever pardoned,

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are to be revealed at judgment. But we see no reason
whatever why this should not be the case, and every
reason why it should. We might, beforehand, have
thought it more likely that God would not have re-
corded in the Bible, and exposed in the light of all
coming ages, the sins of His most eminent servants,
as those of Abraham, Moses, David, of Peter, or of
Paul. But He has told the whole truth regarding
them for our warning and instruction \ and so will
the whole truth be told regarding every saint at judg-
ment, " that no flesh may glory in His presence ;" and
that the reality of the wickedness of the old man may
be proven, as well as the reality of the holiness of the
" new man created in Christ Jesus unto good works."
And what saint can be unwilling to have revealed
what he was, that so the glorious love of God's Spirit
may be made the more manifest, as the sole cause of
what he has become, and will continue to be for ever
and ever?

Fallen angels shall also be judged upon that day :
" For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast
them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.'' " And the
angels which kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains,
under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day."
Under what dispensation those beings first sinned
against God, we cannot tell. All we know from the
information given us by God is, that they have been
permitted to exercise their power in this world, on the
side of evil, ever since the creation of man. Satan,

The Final Jtidgment. 67

the adversary, the tempter, the enemy, who is the head
of these principalities and powers, has been a " liar
and murderer from the beginning •" and in every age
and clime, he and his wicked spirits have advanced the
kingdom of darkness with indomitable perseverance,
untiring energy, ceaseless hate, and "all deceivabie-
ness and unrighteousness in them that perish." Fallen
angels having thus taken so dreadful a part in the
history of Christ's kingdom, and being responsible for
all they do, shall be tried at judgment ; and what a
revelation must their trial be of the character, the
hellish plots and machinations of those enemies of
Jesus Christ and His Church !

We have already alluded to the individuality of the
examination at the last day, — how " every one of us
must give an account of himself to God and " re-
ceive the things done in his body, according to what
he hath done, whether good or evil ; " and also, how
each fact must be brought to light upon evidence whose
truth cannot be questioned. Upon that day, mere
assertions will not be sufficient to establish the right
or the wrong condition of any one before the judg-
ment-seat. The universe must know the truth ! Evi-
dence must, therefore, be adduced which will "con-
vince all;" and that evidence, too, will be sifted.
Before sentence is passed, overwhelming proof will
demonstrate the righteous ground on which each indi-
vidual must take his place among those on the left
hand or on the right. Let us see if we can discover
any sources of evidence for the detection and discri-
mination of character.

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" THE BOOKS SHALL BE OPENED."

1. The Book of Providence will be opened. — In this
book has been recorded, and from its pages can be
shewn, by Jesus Christ, everything which has been
done to us, and for us, by Himself, since the hour of
our birth till that of our death. Every temporal mercy
or spiritual blessing — every advice given by ministers,
relations, or friends — every Sabbath which dawned
upon us — every stirring of conscience within us — every
visitation of sickness or domestic affliction — every
item, in short, of that immense sum of things which,
in His providence or by His grace, was given us each
successive hour of life, and which was intended to
mould our characters according to the will of God ; —
all shall be revealed at judgment, that the universe
may know what Jesus Christ, the King, has really
done for each one of His subjects, and what each
subject has been, and done, in relation to Him.

2. The Book of Memory shall be opened. — An awful
volume ! It seems almost certain that anything once
known to us must for ever abide in memory, and can
never be absolutely and for ever lost. Out of sight it
may be, but never really out of mind. It may appear
to be dead, though it only sleeps, ready to start into
vigorous life when touched by some hand which can
reach it in the dim mysterious recess where it lies con-
cealed. It is thus, before returning, after a long ab-
sence, to the home of our early life, we are unable to
discover any page in the volume of our memory in-
scribed with more than a few incidents which filled up

The Final Judgment. 69

those early years of gladness. Every page seems a
blank, or its records, if not obliterated, can hardly be
traced. But when we do return, what a magic influ-
ence is exercised by every tree, rock, and stream, and
by the old home itself with which these were once
inseparably associated ! The history of days and
years now glow with the vividness of first impressions,
where, until now, all was so indistinct and illegible.
Old familiar voices ring in our ears, beloved faces of
the old dead gaze upon us as of yore, and their forms
flit before our moist eyes. But were not these things
all the while in our memory, although unnoticed by
us until called forth by fitting circumstances 1 And
have we not seen evidence of the same mysterious life
of the past within us, when in extreme old age a second
childhood awakens all the incidents of the first ; when
memory, like a flash of lightning, irradiates the sky,
otherwise dark and wintry, revealing the scenes of
early days, which were before quite forgotten 1 More
wonderful still — it is certain that things once known,
which in health were as lost to memory as if they had
never been, are suddenly recalled, and appear in all
their former life and freshness, when fever touches the
brain with her delirious hand. The sick man, in his
ravings, speaks perhaps a language known only in his
infancy, and recalls incidents belonging to a period
which was a total blank in his recollections during
days of robust health. And what does all this prove
but the momentous truth, that anything which once
was done, — anything which we have ever thought,
uttered, or known, or was ever inscribed in the book

7°

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of memory, — remains there engraven in characters
more permanent than those which, cut deep in the
hoary monuments of Egypt, have outlived teeming
centuries of human history 1 Darkness may cover the
page, but by a vivid and mysterious flash every letter
is illuminated. That flash may be only some trifle,
such as a note of music — the tone of some voice —

" The subtle smell which spring unbends,
Dread pause abrupt of midnight winds, —
An echo or a dream ! "

And thus may it be at judgment ; by the extension of
the same kind of power, may our whole life, in its
minutest details, pass before our eyes, — each minute
of it delivering its own history of word or deed, of
things done or things received, — and each recognised
as true by the possessor of them all. Accordingly,
every man is now, whether he wills it or not, un-
consciously writing or daguerreotyping his own bio-
graphy ; — his whole life forming a work of more im-
portance, to himself at least, than any other in the
universe, — each volume a year, each chapter a month,
each day or hour a page. At judgment memory will
read the whole, and be compelled to feel that every
word is true. It is strange, too, how rapid — reasoning
from analog)' — such a review may be, without dimin-
ishing from its distinctness. States of being, or suc-
cessive acts, which occupied long periods of time, may
very rapidly be recalled in all their minute features.
In moments of sudden peril, when death seemed ap-
proaching, how frequently have men told us that they
beheld, in a twinkling of an eye, the great features

The Final Judgment. 7 1

of their whole life like a panorama passing before
their mind's eye ! And thus at judgment, clear, yet
rapid — intensely real and vivid, yet sudden as light —
may the life of the boy, and the man, and the patri-
arch, from the first till the last moment of conscious
and responsible existence upon earth, be presented to
the mind with a self-evidencing power of truth, which
cannot, which dare not, be denied or resisted ! Jesus
Christ will speak to the man from within the man,
and, with irresistible power, say to him, "Son, re-
member!"

3. The Book of Conscience shall be opened. — This will
afford abundant evidence, when read along with the
books of memory and providence, of the witness in
every man's soul for the moral government of God,
and that ever accused or excused his life. That tre-
mendous power which has dogged the murderer in his
flight, following him across the seas, tracking him to
his refuge in some solitary island or savage wilderness,
— that presence which, like an evil spirit from another
world, has disturbed the guilty in the midst of his
festivities, or sat heavily on his soul, brooding over
him in his slumbers as a horrible nightmare, until he
has started up in the agony of despair, — that judge
which has made kings tremble on their thrones, and
ruffians shiver in their silent cells, — that awful voice
will be allowed then to speak out with the power,
as well as with the authority, that belong to it. It
will pass judgment upon all the facts in each man's
life, which shall then, for the first time, be fully and
fairly submitted to its inspection ; and each page in

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memory's book will find a corresponding page in the
book of conscience, on that " day when God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." A thousand
excuses will be silenced by it, and false hopes crushed,
and a fiery law go forth to destroy all the coverings
which the deceitful heart now draws over its own wil-
ful and desperate wickedness.

4. "Another book will be opened, which is the
Book of Life."- — In that book are inscribed the char-
acters of all God's people, and the evidence of the
reality of their faith in Christ and obedience to
Him. " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord :
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours ; and their works do follow them ! " These
works, which are the evidence, results, and rewards of
faith, are recorded by that same Spirit through whose
power alone the soul has lived, believed, and been
enabled to bring forth such fruit to the praise of the
glory of God by Jesus Christ. In the book of life will
be found recorded by the omniscient Holy Spirit of
Truth, that secret life of every saint which was " hid
with Christ in God." Then shall be revealed the
reality of their repentance and inward renewal of
soul ; the sincerity of their love to God and to His
people ; their secret prayers, thanksgivings, confes-
sions, intercessions, and holy communion with God ;
their plans, longings, and sacrifices for the spread of
the gospel, and for the glory of God upon earth ; their
deeds of charity for Christ, — every prison they entered,
every naked one they clothed, the hungry they fed, or

The Final Jtidgment. 73

the offences forgiven by them from love to Him who
forgave them ; — that whole character, in short, which
is the result of union with Christ, will be evidenced to
the universe from what is recorded of it in the Lamb's
Book of Life.

And is there not another book, even "the Book,"
which may also be opened at judgment as a witness
for the Triune God in His dealings with mankind?
How many millions of men have possessed the Bible,
and acknowledged it as the word of God ! Who,
therefore, among them, will be able to plead ignorance
of any truth — any duty — any danger — any promise
— the knowledge of which could essentially affect
their eternal salvation 1 True, they may never have
opened the Bible, or have refused to believe it, or
have despised and rejected its warnings, counsels,
and reproofs ; but the Bible was nevertheless given
them, and their very ignorance may be their crime.
Or, if not ignorant, but only "hating knowledge," and
" not choosing the fear of the Lord," — their condem-
nation is, that they preferred the darkness to the light,
because their deeds were evil? Oh, what a witness
will that Book be against the slothful, the wilfully
ignorant and unbelieving !

Are these sources of evidence not sufficient where-
with to determine, to the conviction of the universe,
each man's character at the judgment of the great
day 1 Should more be required, many other witnesses
may be summoned, if necessary, before the white
throne. Satan and wicked spirits are ready to accuse

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the sinner, and to prove how he yielded to tempta-
tion, became habit and repute in sin, and a willing
and active instrument for destroying others. True,
Satan is a liar ; but is this testimony a lie ? Can these
accusations, if false, be disproved? Can Christ be
appealed to either as to their falsehood, or for excul-
patory evidences of genuine repentance or new life ?
And holy angels, too, are there, who will be able to
testify as to whether this man ever gave them joy as a
true penitent, was the object of their ministrations as
an heir of salvation, or known to them as a fellow-
worker in Christ's kingdom upon earth. Relations,
friends, neighbours, church-members, are also there to
tell, at Christ's bidding, what was the manner of his
life in the family, in society, or in the " household of
God." What has this man as a father, husband, or
child, done ? What example did he set ? What tem-
per and conduct did he manifest at home? What
was his influence as a companion ? Did he lead to
hell or heaven ? What did Christians find him to be
as a fellow-Christian? Was he cruel and covetous,
slothful and indifferent, uncharitable and censorious ;
or loving, zealous, and self-denying, the author of
peace and lover of concord, a friend and brother?
Oh ! surely, even now we can easily see how there can
be no want of means at the great day of judgment,
by which, without any revelation from the unerring
and all-seeing Judge himself, each man's character
may be searched and known to its inmost depths, and
in all its minute details be revealed.

The Final Judgment.

And now, reader, before we proceed, let us here
entreat of you to examine your present life. We ask,
whether you think it possible that it can afford any
evidence upon that day of sincere love to Jesus
Christ? — anything which can warrant the Judge to
say to you, " Well done, good and faithful servant 1 "
— anything in your aims, wishes, purposes, pursuits,
endeavours, which evidence the existence in the least
degree of that kind of life which is the result of being
born and sanctified by God's Spirit, and cannot other-
wise be accounted for?

How many shrink from that examination now, which
must take place then ! But is it not wiser to know your
sins, and see your danger now, when the one can be
pardoned, and the other averted, than, for the first
time, to awake to a sense of both, when your sins can
never more, as far as man can discover, be removed,
and your danger, if real, must end in ruin 1 We have
many foreshadowings of judgment revealed to us by
Christ ; and we have the unavailing pleadings of those
who desire to be recognised as among His friends.
" Lord, Lord ! " cry some, " open to us ! " These are
not infidels, but professed believers in Christ's supreme
authority. " Lord, hast thou not taught in our streets 1
— open to us ! " is the plea of those who heard the
truth spoken, it may be by Jesus personally ; of those,
at least, who had the privilege, and did not neglect it,
of hearing the word preached. " Lord, have we not
eaten and drunk in thy presence ? — open to us ! " ap-
pears to others sufficient evidence of friendship for

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the Redeemer, and such as might be urged by those
who followed Him in Judea, and saw His person,
heard His words, yea, sat at meat with Him as " His
familiar friends." " Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and done
many wonderful works 1 — open to us ! " Thus could
Judas have pleaded ; and many a man, perhaps, who
had the gift of miracles without the grace of God ; or
many more who have had rare gifts of talent, genius,
eloquence, which have done good to others, in spite
of their own selfish motives ; and who, by many
wonderful works, have cast out " evil possessions" of
wicked principles and practices from others, while
evil, nevertheless, possessed themselves. And with
as imposing claims many too may seek admittance
to God's kingdom, because they " gave their goods
to feed the poor, or their bodies to be burned."
Yet, to each and all such pleadings, Jesus repre-
sents himself as saying, " I know you not ! Depart
from me, all ye workers of iniquity ! " But if so,
we ask you, reader, what evidence of Christian life
can you adduce better or more satisfactory than all
this? Nothing, be assured, will be accepted which
does not prove a right spirit, or, in other words, the
existence in the soul of love to Jesus Christ in some
form or other. " Lovest thou Me 1 " will be the
grand question, the truthful reply to which will de-
termine our real state on that great day. Hence,
while the evidence of doing wonderful works, or of
giving our body to be burned, is rejected as worthless,
inasmuch as the one proves only the existence of

The Final Judgment. 7 7

power, and the other of what may be but a sacrifice
to self, and not to the Saviour, — yet the gift of a cup
of cold water to a disciple for the sake of the Master,
will suffice to open the doors of heaven, because
affording evidence of the heart which loves Jesus, and
for which heaven has been prepared. " Come, ye
blessed of my Father ! Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto the least of my disciples, ye have done it unto
me ! " " If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be accursed ! "

We need not add that we have assumed that the
persons thus judged have had full opportunities of
knowing and serving Jesus as their Lord.

RESULTS OF JUDGMENT.

What shall the results be of such a searching, im-
partial, and conclusive investigation into the history
of mankind'? Some of these we may, perhaps, be
permitted to anticipate.

The proceedings of the day of judgment will answer all
the accusations of Christ's enemies.

The government of Jesus Christ is hated and op-
posed here. This fact, alas ! in human history, can-
not be denied. We do not speak of Satan and his
angels, who war against the Lord, nor even of His
unconscious foes among the heathen ; but only of
those men who possess the Bible, and all the means
of knowing the will of their Divine King. Yet how
many among them are His open and avowed enemies.
There is not one feature of His character which men
do not blaspheme, — not one act of His government

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at which they do not cavil. He is alleged to be un-
righteous in His commands ; unfair in His treatment
of mankind ; unwise in His arrangements ; unfaithful
in His words ; and even vindictive, unmerciful, impla-
cable in His judgments, and in no respect worthy of
man's love and obedience. Jesus of Nazareth — be-
lieved in by the Church, known and loved by all its
living members — is still "despised and rejected of
men." Nor are His enemies ashamed to speak out
their thoughts, and openly to scorn and ridicule Him ;
asserting that He has no right to govern them or the
world, — and thus " denying the Lord that bought
them." Now, as on the day of His crucifixion, a
rabble of all ranks, talents, and professions, cry,
"Away with this fellow;" while they demand in His
stead some Barabbas "hero" of their own to worship.

There is often manifested an opposition to Christi-
anity which assumes the aspect of personal hatred. We
do not at all allude in these pages to the sincere,
reverential man, who doubts, questions, argues, op-
poses, sifts, denies, rejects, while endeavouring, with
an honest mind, to discover and believe the truth,
whatever that may be ; nor to the sadness of spirit of
one who wishes "the glad tidings" to be true, but can-
not arrive at a conclusion so desirable for his own
good and peace, as well as for that of society j nor to
the effects of a peculiar constitutional temperament
which has a tendency first to doubt and invest every-
thing with darkness, and then endeavours in vain to
dispel what itself creates. But when we speak of in-
fidels and unbelievers, we speak of ungodly men who

The Final Judgment. 79

dislike the truth of God, and who manifest this dislike
in their triumph when any supposed error in the life or
the doctrines of Jesus Christ is detected, or any evil
(for which He is held responsible) is exposed in His
followers, and who keep an ample mantle of charity
for those who disbelieve, but none for those who
believe in Jesus Christ as their only Saviour.

This opposition to the government of God through
Jesus Christ has not been a temporary outburst by a
few only. The kingdom of Satan has existed here
since the fall of man, side by side with Christ's king-
dom, and opposed it in every age and clime. The
kingdom of holiness and peace has never entered the
soul of any living man, without first meeting, and then
overcoming, enmity and ill-will by the power of truth
and love. It has never entered a single country on
the surface of the globe without terrible combats being
fought again and again, in which the best soldiers and
noblest subjects of the Great King have " had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of
bonds and imprisonments." " We will not have the
Lord to reign over us \ " has been everywhere the aw-
ful battle-cry ; and the conflict rages now as fiercely as
it did in any age of the world ! Nor, moreover, has
this opposition been given by uncivilised savages ; but
men of knowledge and of genius have dedicated all
the powers of their mind to the dread task of ridding
the world of the Redeemer's sceptre. What they have
thought, they have spoken ; what they have spoken,
they have written and recorded in books, that their
influence might extend beyond their own immeiated

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circle and their own time, and that other nations and
other generations might know what they thought of
the Saviour, — how sincerely they themselves despised
and rejected Him, and desired all others to do the
same. What is every infidel publication but an accu-
sation against Jesus Christ, a protest against His
government, and an attempt to rouse the world to
join in the rebellion ? " They take counsel together
against the Lord and his Anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords
from us ! "

And this hatred to Christ will continue till the end
of the world : for we read, that " in the last days will
come scoffers." Nay, it is quite possible that accusa-
tions against Him are, and shall be, maintained by
the wicked up till the very hour of judgment. For,
even as the criminal before his trial will feed his pride,
and soothe his conscience, by denying every charge
alleged against him, or by blaming every one but
himself; so it may be that the wicked, after death,
will continue to cast the blame upon the Saviour, for
all they are and have been, even when they can no
longer doubt the reality of His existence or govern-
ment.

And will Jesus ever answer those accusations 1 Why
should He 1 you perhaps exclaim. His character, you
say, cannot be affected in the estimation of the good
by anything which the enemies of all righteousness
can urge against it. His throne can no more be
shaken by the puny attacks of men or devils than the
everlasting mountains can be disturbed by the storm-

The Final Judgment. 8 1

blasts which howl around them. What more, then, is
needed, than to shut up the wicked in a prison-house,
through whose adamantine walls the accusing cry can
never pierce, and whose doors are for ever barred by
the holy decree of the Almighty 1 Ah ! were it so,
even this thought might possibly gratify pride and
enmity, could a condemned, though not judged, spirit
for ever carry with it a conviction of having waged a
war in which power alone had conquered weakness,
and might trampled upon right ; and that all its charges
remained unanswered and unanswerable ! But let no
one presume upon this. It is true that Jesus Christ
now, as when on earth He stood before His enemies,
" answers nothing." Do not misunderstand this
awful silence! You "marvel greatly" that He works
no miracle to satisfy your doubts, or you deny His
power of doing so, and therefore you imagine, that
because He replies not to your accusations, He either
hears them not, cares not for them, or cannot meet
them. But be assured, a day is appointed when the
question between you and Him will be fairly tried.
Unbelievers of all ranks, and whatever be their ability,
will have an opportunity of re-stating their case, and of
proving the truth of their accusations — if they can.
Let none suppose that Jesus will shrink from such an
investigation. Every utterance is reported for review
at judgment ; every book is kept for that day. It is
not the method of the divine government to put down
its enemies by mere physical power, as if the question
between God and man was indeed one of strength
and weakness, and not rather of right and wrong.

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The Lord will indeed answer his enemies ; but He
will do so by the irresistible power of truth, and the
omnipotent force of righteousness. He will crush
and overwhelm them ; but it will be in their own con-
science, and in their own estimation. He will expel
them from whatever refuge of lies they may vainly
attempt to seek for shelter, and expose them to the
full blaze of principle, until their inmost souls echo
the dread sentence of " guilty," which must be pro-
nounced upon them, while they stand " speechless "
amidst the assembled universe, and before the omni-
scient and holy Judge of all the earth. " He is coming
with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among
them of all their ungodly deeds which they have un-
godly committed, and of all their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him !"

Do we address one who is a professed unbeliever in
the truth, or rather, who "believes a lie," — that there
is no Saviour 1 We ask such a one to consider what
the certain, or even p?vbable consequences will be to
him, if all we have said is nevertheless true 1 What if
you shall see Jesus Christ face to face, and have your
whole outer and inner history, as it is known to God,
minutely revealed to your own mind, and to the
assembled jury of the universe 1 Will your thinking,
or saying, that the whole is a fiction, make it so?
Will your scoff at God's revelation of the future pre-
vent the dead from rising, or the Judge from appear-
ing? Will a foolish jest, or a proud callousness, or a
subtle argument, or a brave indifference to what others

The Final Judgment. 83

fear, enable you, on the resurrection morning, to shut
your ears against the sound of the last trump, or to
disobey the summons of the Son of God to rise from
the tomb, and to appear before Him % And if no un-
belief can change the will of God, or make that false
which He proclaims to be true, nor alter His prescribed
order in things to come, no more than it can do His
present order in the starry heavens, — what can you
say to Jesus Christ in your own defence 1 How can
you, in consistency with His Word, so justify your
own opinions and conduct, as to make it possible for
Him to say to you, " Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord 1 " But, blessed
be God ! the same Word of truth which condemns
the sinner, and shuts out all hope of safety to him,
while in his state of unbelief and ungodliness, invites
him, and commands him, to come out of that state,
and to share the life which is in Christ for every man.
We cannot repeat it too often that Jesus offers imme-
diate pardon and life through faith in His blood,
to the chief of sinners — to the oldest and most bitter
enemy which He has upon earth ! Jesus offers His
Spirit to every man, to enlighten his understanding,
renew his will, and spiritualise his taste and affec-
tions, and shed abroad the love of God in his heart ;
so that even thou, whoever thou art, mayest yet love,
and be loved by, Jesus Christ and His saints for
ever and ever ! " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shall be saved!" But should His long-
suffering patience, and abundant mercy, and rich love,
fail to gain your heart, — should you 11 prefer darkness

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to light," and " remain in unbelief," and live and die
without Him, — how can you escape 1 Is it not right-
eous that you should walk in the darkness which you
love, and be separated from your Saviour and His
people, whom you dislike, and be permitted " to eat
of the fruit of your own way, and be filled with your
own devices?" On "the great and terrible day of the
Lord," you will, alas ! be " convinced" that the sentence
pronounced upon you by the Saviour, of " Depart
from me ! " is but an echo of what your own heart is
now saying to Him ! Hear, I beseech you, the words
of warning which God now addresses to you, in order
that you may, in time, " flee from the wrath to come I"
" For if we sin wilfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour
the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses : of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son
of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace 1 For we
know him. that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto
me, I will recompense, ' saith the Lord. And again,
The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God," (Heb. x.
26-31.)

But let us further inquire, What shall be its results
with reference to the righteous ?

The Final Judgment. 85

1. The righteous will then fully understand the ex-
cellence of Christ's government over themselves.

How profoundly mysterious, as yet, to ourselves, is
our own individual history ! If we attempt to gather
up the past, and to trace the whole way along which
we have journeyed, with the innumerable windings of
the path, and all the dark valleys through which it has
led, the rugged places it has passed over, or the many
lofty hills up which it has ascended, — how endless,
how perplexing does it appear ! If, again, we try to
measure the various powers which have helped to
make us what we are, or to weigh the number and
relative importance of all the things which have com-
bined to produce the present result of character
within, and of circumstances without us, — how soon
are we lost amidst the mass of the infinite items which
make up the sum of even our little history. How in-
adequate are all our attempts to solve the problems
without number which every year suggests. Why,
for example, has this or that happened ? Wherefore
this sorrow or that joy? — why such changes of place
or of fortune ? — why the loss of old friends or the

gift of new ones? — why But the questions are

endless, and never can be answered till judgment.
It is true, that we are often privileged to see very
clearly the reason of many of Christ's dealings with
us here. He shews us His ways as well as His acts
— treating us as " friends " who " know what their
Lord doeth." The wheel of Providence often makes
its revolutions in so short a period that we see the
whole movement. It was thus in the case of Abra-

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ham. The mystery of God's command was resolved
after three days on Mount Moriah. Thus, too, the
darkness of family grief and of a distant Saviour,
which brooded over the household of Bethany, was
dispelled, and vanished before bright sunshine, at the
cry, "Lazarus, come forth!" But it is not always
thus ; and though it would be so more frequently if
we waited more patiently upon God and considered
His ways, yet, at best, but a small fraction of our life
is understood here. Moreover, our own history is so
interlaced with the history of others, that what is more
properly theirs, in some degree is ours also. Can
Moses, for instance, yet fully comprehend his own life
in its relation to the Jewish nation, whose fate is still
involved in darkness 1 Can any one of the saints of
old, whose deeds and words are recorded in God's
Book, and are telling every day and hour upon the
history of mankind, and must continue to do so till
time shall be no more, comprehend what they really
have done on earth 1 Must not the end of all things
come before they understand the place and the work
their Lord assigned to them 1 And so is it with the
humblest believer. He is a part of a great whole;
and to understand how Jesus has governed Himself
as a part, he must be able to see his own life in rela-
tion to the great whole. But each Christian who has
walked by faith, and held fast his confidence in Christ,
will then also have revealed how the Lord has governed
him, and all that He has done to him and for him, and
what He has enabled him to be and to do on earth.
The sackcloth and ashes of every patient Job will be

The Final Judgment. 87

turned into garments of praise ; and the lamentations
of every mourning Jeremiah into songs of gladness ;
and in adoring wonder and unutterable joy, every
head will be bowed down, every crown cast at
Christ's feet, and every heart will feel, and mouth
confess, " He hath done all things well I" What an
amazing disclosure will this be of the wisdom and
love with which our gracious Lord has assigned to
each servant his lot, — given to each " his work," and
so prepared all things for him in the world, and so
made all things work together for his good, that " the
fruit has been holiness, and the end everlasting life \"

2. But the Christian will also behold at judgment
the excellence of Christ's government over others, and
over the whole world.

If we are such mysteries to ourselves, and if we can-
not as yet truly write our own biographies, how much
more perplexing to us is the personal history of any
other in his relation to the Redeemer ! How im-
possible to discover the reasons of all, or of any, of
Christ's providential dealings with him, or to read
aright any one day in his life ! Was it possible for Job's
friends to interpret, at the time, Job's sufferings ? God
alone could have corrected Jacob when, in the dark
night of his sorrow, yet just before the daybreak of his
joy in Egypt, he cried, " Joseph is not, Simeon is not,
and will ye take Benjamin away? — all these tilings are
against me!" Daniel in the lions' den, or the three
young men in the furnace, with a wicked king in peace
upon the throne ; John the Baptist in the dungeon,
with Herod in the banquet hall ; Stephen falling asleep

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beneath the shower of cruel stones, and Saul gazing
complacently at the murderers' clothes laid at his feet ;
— these, and a thousand other such incidents in human
history, are, to beholders, involved in a portion of that
darkness which hung over the cross of Christ itself, at
the time, a mystery of mysteries to all who witnessed
its agonies ! But when, from the history of persons,
we rise to the contemplation of the history of cities,
countries, and nations ; or ascend to a still higher re-
gion in order to take in, if possible, the history of the
human race from age to age ; and to comprehend what
Jesus Christ has done for it, and how He has governed
it, — how much more profound is the darkness ! If,
for instance, we endeavour to form any estimate of the
effect which has been produced upon the character and
destiny of mankind by the present structure of the phy-
sical earth, with its mountains, seas, rivers, winds, and
climate — the house which Jesus Christ has built and
furnished for His creatures ; by the famines and pes-
tilences, wars and conquests, migrations and settle-
ments, arising out of circumstances more or less con-
trolling man, and beyond his will ; as well as by all
that has come, as it were, directly from Jesus, through
His Church, from Eden till this present hour how
infinite to us is the field of observation ! " O the
depth of the riches both of the knowledge and wisdom
of God ! How unsearchable are his judgments, and
his ways past finding out ! " We gaze upon those
majestic wheels of His providence, some of which take
whole cycles to revolve, and " their wings are so high,
that they are dreadful!" It is so, for example, with the

The Final Judgment.

history of Israel, which, commencing with Abraham,
when earth was young, four thousand years ago, is still
moving on as a distinct stream flowing amidst the wa-
ters of the great ocean, yet never mingling with them,
though nearing the unfathomable gulf where all is still.

But " what we know not now, we shall know here-
after," upon the great " day of the revelation of Jesus
Christ," when, in the light of unerring truth, the history
of each man, and of the whole race, will be seen, and
for the first time understood. " Now we know in part,
but then we shall know even as we are known." Every
question which here perplexes or pains the thoughtful
and conscientious inquirer, will be fully answered. The
secret and hitherto hidden springs of actions will be
laid bare, and their remotest results disclosed. We
shall apprehend the real life — the true philosophy — of
history. Then will the government of Jesus Christ
over the whole family of man, and every individual
member of it, be seen — what it has always by His
Church believed — to have been one of righteousness,
wisdom, and love.

3. Need I add, as the last grand result of judg-
ment, that the Triune God will be glorified 1

God the Father will be glorified ! The prayer of
Christ shall then be fulfilled : " Father, glorify thy Son,
that thy Son also may glorify thee ! " The doxology
of the apostle will be realised : "To him be glory by
the Church through Christ Jesus throughout all ages ! "
That glory will be seen in His having committed the
government of the world to Jesus Christ. Then will
be understood, as it never was before, how " God so

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loved the world in giving His only-begotten Son " to
be its Creator and Governor, and the Prophet, Priest,
and King of His Church.

God the Son will be glorified ! Every event and
act in His great mediatorial kingdom will shew the
grandeur of His character. The whole world's history
will be as a mirror, full of the light of this Sun of
Righteousness, — reflecting the greatness of His power,
the depths of His wisdom, the beauty of His holiness,
and the riches of His grace. He will " be glorified,
too, in His saints." Each believer will not only be a
living monument of what Christ has done, but, as a
child of God, will also be in his character an image of
what Christ the first-born is !

God the Spirit will be glorified when the results are
made manifest of all He has done for and in the
Church, and of all which men have received from this
Teacher, Sanctifier, and Comforter ! If many will have
cause to mourn upon that day because they have re-
sisted and grieved Him by their wilful impenitency
and wickedness, what a multitude, greater than any
man can number, will adore Him for the spiritual
ignorance in the ways of God which He dispelled, —
the all-sufficient strength for duty and trial, for life and
death, which He imparted,— the holy love which He
shed abroad upon their hearts, — the good fruit which
by His aid they produced in their lives, — the calm
peace which He gave to their consciences, — the pray-
ers heard and answered by God which He prompted,
— and the joy unspeakable to which He often raised
their souls !

The Final Judgment. 9 1

Thus will the proceedings of the great day of judg-
ment, without one single exception, reveal to the
intelligent universe the glory of God, — Father, Son,
and Spirit, — as displayed in the government of the
world through Jesus Christ.

Oh, how can we form an adequate conception of
the overpowering effect which the revelations of this
eventful period in the history of the universe must
necessarily produce upon the saints and just men
made perfect, and upon the innumerable company of
angels, who, with intense interest and profound intel-
ligence, watch the proceedings before the immaculate
throne of the Son of man ! As age after age passes
in solemn review, and as each succeeding era, beneath
the light of investigation, emerges out of the darkness
in which it had hitherto been wrapped, — as city after
city, and kingdom after kingdom, from their early be-
ginnings, onwards through centuries of advancement
in power and influence, till their final silence in the
dust, are all reproduced in their living reality, — we
may conceive how the awful interest in the world's
trial must deepen itself in every bosom, and intelli-
gent eyes must gleam with a brighter intelligence,
and admiring souls burn with a profounder and holier
admiration, as they are enabled to perceive how, over
all this earth, to them hitherto so dark and cloudy,
Jesus had ever reigned with unclouded splendour,
as the sun reigns in the calm heavens, and pours
down his beams of light from a region far above the
tempestuous sky. And we can, in some degree, con-
ceive how their lips should ever and anon give birth

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to accents of heartfelt praise, as a deep moral order
and beauty are seen growing up, evolving out of the
chaos of history, even as a holy temple might rear
itself from what seemed to the eye of sense to be the
very "lines of confusion, and stones of emptiness."
We can imagine, too, when this long day of wondrous
disclosures is about to terminate, and its sun to set for
ever over the old order of things, how the joy of this
great assemblage should reach at last its climax, and
have a fulness of glory in it never before experienced ;
until, as judgment ended, and the whole government
of their blessed Lord was disclosed, their sense of the
grandeur and infinite majesty of His character and
ways should be such as to call forth from ten thou-
sand times ten thousand ecstatic souls, as the grand
verdict of the universe, those bursts of praise :
" Worthy is the Lamb that was slam to receive power,
and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory, and blessing." " Great and 7narvellous a?-e thy
works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways,
thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord,
and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy : for ah
natiojis shall C07ne and worship before thee; for thy
judgments are made manifest."

Such are a few of the more obvious results of a day
of judgment. But who will dare to deny that these
may possibly be extended to other worlds and other
orders of beings, and be made influential for the good
and happiness of the universe throughout limitless
ages, and be the means of impressing unfallen yet
peaceable creatures, with a more profound sense of

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the glory of God and the unchangeableness of His
government? We ourselves possess an experience
somewhat analogous to this, in the fact of God's
righteous dealings with another order of beings— the
fallen angels — having been revealed to us for our in-
struction and warning ; and thus, for aught we know,
the transactions of the coming day of judgment may,
in whole or in part, form such a living record of God's
government by Jesus Christ, as may be revealed to
millions, of whose existence and circumstances we are
as yet ignorant, and be to them for ever as a great
Bible, for their warning, comfort, and instruction in
righteousness.

We have now brought our thoughts upon "judg-
ment" to a conclusion. May they suggest others
more worthy of the theme to all who may peruse
them ! We have tried to view it in the light of
Scripture statement ; yet feeling deeply conscious of
how dimly and inadequately we perceive and judge of
the awful future ; of God's relationship to the human
family ; and of the manner in which the only wise and
merciful God will apply the eternal principles of justice
(which is but love dealing with sin) to the infinite
varieties of human character, or to the circumstances
of each human being. Questions innumerable suggest
themselves, which we cannot answer now, but which
will be answered then, regarding the heathen, and re-
garding millions who have lived and died without
knowing or loving Jesus Christ ; doubtless we shall all
then be amazed at our own ignorance and sin, and over-
whelmed by the majestic glory and excellence of God

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in Christ. But whatever the results of that day may
be, one thing is certain, that they will afford satisfac-
tion and joy unutterable to just and good men, yea,
to every human being who has any real sympathy
with Him whose "name is Love !"

But let us never forget that every day of our lives is
a day of judgment, in which Christ is searching our
hearts and judging our lives, condemning the evil and
blessing the good, and seeking to separate the one
from the other. If we are able to welcome Him as
our judge and deliverer in our present day, we shall
be able to do so also on " the last day."

I conclude with these words : —

" For we must all appear before the judgment-seat
of Christ ; that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of
the Lord, we persuade men."

" And we have seen and do testify that the Father
sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoso-
ever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known
and believed the love that God hath to us. God is
love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,
and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is
no fear in love ; but perfect love casteth out fear :
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not
made perfect in love. We love him because he first
loved us."

The Final Judgment. 95

" But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that
day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the
children of light, and the children of the day : we are
not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us
not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night ; and they that
be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who
are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of
faith and love ; and for an helmet, the hope of salva-
tion. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but
to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should
live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

" Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear
God, and keep his commandments : for this is the whole
duty of man. For God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or
whether it be evil."

THOUGHTS UPON FUTURE
LIFE.

TT is obviously impossible to treat a subject so vast
and so profoundly interesting as this within the
limits of a Parish Paper, except in the most cursory
and superficial manner. Yet I am induced to make
the attempt, in order, if possible, to impress my
readers with such ideas of our life in heaven as are
more in accordance with the nature of man and the
Word of God, than, I am inclined to think, obtain
among many sincere Christians, who accordingly are
deprived of encouragements in duty, comforts in sor-
row, and bright hopes to cheer them amid the world's
darkness, which they might otherwise possess.

Let us inquire, then, in what shall consist the be-
liever's happiness in God's presence.

Now, it will greatly aid us in answering this ques-
tion regarding our true life in eternity, if we first con-
sider what constitutes our true life in time, or what
would constitute our perfect happiness now, if in the
full enjoyment of all our mental and bodily powers,
and if, in the best possible circumstances, we perfectly
fulfilled upon earth God's purpose in our creation.

Future Life.

In endeavouring to solve this question, I remark
that our perfection consists in the gratification of every
part of our many-sided nature. Thus, for instance,
enjoyment might be derived through our senses,
though the intellect was comparatively weak, and our
moral being depraved ; or from the exercise of our intel-
lectual or spiritual nature, while the body suffered from
pain : or delight might be poured through all those
channels, but yet if we were doomed to be solitary
beings, without any companion or friend with whom
to communicate or share our gladness, or were pre-
vented from expressing our thoughts and desires by
action, the result in either of these supposed cases
would not be perfect happiness. But, on the other
hand, if we can imagine a man with his whole nature
in a state of perfect health, each portion demanding
and obtaining its appropriate nourishment, and with
all his powers beautifully balanced and in perfect
harmony with the plan of God, "according to the
effectual working of the measure in every part,"— the
senses ministering to the most refined tastes, — the in-
tellect full of light in the apprehension of truth, and
strong in its discovery, — the moral being possessing
perfect holiness and unerring subjection to the will of
God, — the love of society able to rest upon fitting
objects, and to find a full return for its sympathies
in suitable companionships, while ample scope was
afforded for activity by congenial labour ; — then would
such a state be perfection or fulness of joy in God's
presence here below. I do not, of course, allege that
every part of our being has the same capacity to afford

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us joy, or that the flood can pour itself into the
soul with the same fulness through each of these
channels, as if, for instance, we depended in the
same degree for enjoyment upon our sentient as we
do upon our intellectual or moral nature. All I mean
to assert is, that whatever proportion may come
through each, God has so made us, that perfect joy is
derived only through all. Such is man's actual con-
stitution as he came from the hands of his Maker ;
and such would have been his happiness had he
remained unfallen. Placed, as Adam was, in a ma-
terial world so rich in sources of physical happiness,
with an intellect capable of unlocking the countless
treasures of science, — with a nature pure and spotless,
delighting in the excellent God,- — with society begun
with woman as a helpmeet for him, and with the
active labour required "to dress and keep" his earthly
paradise, — he possessed, in such perfect adaptations,
a heaven upon earth. And had perfect man been
translated to another region, we cannot conceive his
joy thereby to become essentially different in kind,
though different in degree, supposing him to remain
the same being, and to possess the same human nature.
Now, man's fall has not altered this principle. Sin is
a perversion of human nature, not its annihilation ;
a disorder of its powers, not their destruction. Nor
is restoration by Jesus Christ the gift of a different
constitution, as if He made us something else than
human beings, but the renovation of the old consti-
tution after its original type. It is making the " old
man," diseased, bent down, paralysed, deaf, blind,

Future Life.

the " new man," with frame erect, limbs strong, eyes
and ears open, and all his powers fresh and vigorous
for immortality ; and, therefore, that which would
constitute the happiness of man were he perfect on
earth, will be his happiness, though in a higher de-
gree, when he is made perfect in heaven. This
supposition, I repeat, only assumes the fact that
we shall be the same persons for ever ; that human
nature will never cease to be human nature, or be
changed into a different species of existence, no
more than Jesus Christ, the Head of His Church,
will ever cease to be what He is — " the man Christ
Jesus," with a human body and a human soul, " the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

There is another way in which I might describe
the nature of our future life, although I shall base my
remarks on the principles now stated. We must ad-
mit that the perfection of our being is fellowship with
God the Father in the possession of that spirit of son-
ship which was revealed in Jesus Christ the Son of
God and the Son of man. Tins, and this alone, must
insure fellowship with Him in His character and joy.
We shall consequently rejoice in all that He rejoices
in — as far as this is possible for creatures. Thus, if
He rejoices in the glory of His own Being, as Father,
Son, and Spirit, so shall we ; if He rejoices in all His
works, so shall we ; if He rejoices in what He does,
in what He knows, in what He purposes, so shall we;
if He rejoices in the communion of holy and happy
men and angels, so shall we. In one word, if " our
chief end is to glorify God," when that end is ful-

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filled, we shall " enjoy Him for ever." And this was
our Saviour's prayer when He said, " The glory Thou
hast given me I have given them, that we may be

one ! "

But as those two lines of thought would lead prac-
tically to the same conclusion, it seems to me that the
nature of our future life will be best understood by
most of my readers if I endeavour to shew " what we
shall be," according to the arrangement already pro-
posed.

Let us, then, meditate on the glorious supply which
God has provided for filling up every part of this our
complex nature in heaven.

OUR PHYSICAL LIFE IN HEAVEN.

Speaking of the materialism of heaven, Dr Chalmers
truly says : — " The common imagination that many
have of paradise on the other side of death, is that of
a lofty, aerial region where the inmates float on ether,
or are mysteriously suspended upon nothing ; where
all the warm and felt accompaniments which give such
an expression of strength, and life, and colour to our
present habitation, are attenuated into a sort of spiri-
tual element, that is meagre, and imperceptible, and
wholly uninviting to the eye of mortals here below ;
where every vestige of materialism is done away with,
and nothing left but certain unearthly scenes that have
no power of allurement, and certain unearthly ecstasies
with which it is impossible to sympathise."' The

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101

sensitiveness with which many thus shrink from
almost alluding to the physical element of enjoyment
in heaven, because it is unworthy to be compared with
the spiritual glory that is to be revealed, arises, no
doubt, from the half suspicion that there is some
necessary connexion between materialism and sin ;
thus forgetting that the body, and the outward world
which ministers to it, are God's handiworks as well as
the soul ; and that it is He himself who has adjusted
their relative workings. And surely it is quite un-
necessary to remind you at any length how exquisitely
God has fashioned our physical frame, as the medium
of communication with the outer material world. The
nostrils inhale the sweet perfumes which scent the
breezy air, and rise as incense from the flowers that
cover the earth. By the eye the soul perceives the
glories of the summer sky, and searches for its mid-
night stars ; recognises splendour of colour, and beauty
of form ; gazes on the outspread landscape of fertile
field and hoary mountain, of stream, forest, ocean, and
island; and contemplates that world of profounder
interest still, the human countenance, of beloved
parent, child, or friend, strong with the power of ele-
vated thought, sublime with the grandeur of moral
character, or bright with all the sunshine of winning
emotion. The ear, too, is the magic instrument which
conveys to the soul all the varied harmonies of sound,
from the choirs of spring, and the other innumerable
minstrelsies of nature, as well as from the higher art
of man, that soothe, elevate, and solemnise. It is
true, indeed, that there are grosser appetites of the

102 Parish Papers.

body which many pervert so as to enslave the spirit ;
thus abusing by gluttony, drunkenness, and every
form of sensuality, what God the merciful and wise
has intrusted to man to be used for wise and merciful
ends. But even here there is already perceptible a
marked difference between those appetites and the
more refined tastes alluded to ; inasmuch as the for-
mer are found in their abuse to be, strictly speaking,
unnatural, and destructive of man's happiness ; and
even in their legitimate use they decay with advancing
years, thus proving that the stamp of time is upon
them as on things belonging to a temporary eco-
nomy ; whereas such tastes as those that enjoy the
beautiful in nature or in art, for example, abide in
old age with a youthful freshness, and more than a
youthful niceness of discernment : and so afford a
presumption that they are destined for immortality.
To the aged saint "the trees clap their hands, the
little hills rejoice, and the mountains break forth into
singing ; " and when the earth is empty of every other
sentient pleasure, it is in the beauty of its sights and
sounds, still full to him of the glory of his God.

And so must it be for ever ! The glorified saint is
not " unclothed," but "clothed upon." He inhabits
" a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
The future body is called a "spiritual body" to ex-
press, I presume, its pure and immortal essence ; for
though it will be somehow related to the present body,
— as the risen is related to the sown grain which has
perished through corruption, — it must be changed into
a new and higher form. " Flesh and blood cannot

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103

inherit the kingdom of God." "We shall all be
changed." " He shall change our vile bodies, and
fashion them like to His own glorious body." It is in
this new body, once sown in weakness, corruption,
and mortality, but raised at length in power, incorrup-
tion, and immortality, no more to suffer, and no more
to die, that we shall tread upon the new earth, gaze
on the new heavens, and walk in the paradise of our
God.

And who can tell what sources of refined enjoyment,
through the medium of the spiritual body, are in store
for us in God's great palace of art, with its endless man-
sions and endless displays of glory ! Well may we say
of such anticipated pleasures what good Izaak Walton
says of the singing of birds : " Lord, if Thou hast pro-
vided such music for sinners on earth, what hast Thou
in store for Thy saints in heaven \" For if this little
spot of earth is full of scenes of loveliness to us inex-
haustible : if, contemplating these in a body buoyant
with health and strength, we feel it is joy even to live
and breathe ; and if when, seeing God in them all,
the expression of praise rises to the lips, " Lord, how
manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast Thou made
them all : the earth is full of Thy riches ! " — oh,
what visions of glory may be spread before the won-
dering eye throughout the vast extent of the material
universe, comprehending those immense worlds which
twinkle only in the field of the largest telescope, and
vanish into the far distance in endless succession ;
and what sounds may greet the ear from the as yet
unheard music of those spheres ; while, for aught we

104 Parish Papers.

know, other means of communication may be opened
up to us, with objects ministering delight to new
tastes ; and sources of sentient enjoyment discovered
which do not exist here, or elude the perception of
our present senses. Add to all this our deliverance
from those physical evils and defects which are now
the causes of so much pain, and clog so terribly the
aspiring soul. For how affected are we by the slightest
disorganisation of our bodily frame ! A disturbance
in some of the finer parts of its machinery, which
no science can discover or rectify ; a delicate fibre
shadowed by a cloud passing over the sun ; or a
nerve chilled by a lowering of the temperature of the
atmosphere, will tell on the most genial temper, relax
the strongest intellect, and dim the brightest imagina-
tion ; while other physical causes, quite as mysterious,
can make reason reel and lunacy become ascendant.
The very infirmities of old age ; the constant toil re-
quired to satisfy our cravings for food and raiment ;
the wounds and bruises the body receives, and which
agonise it, and the deformity which so often disfigures
it, cramping the spirit within a narrow and iron prison-
house — these form a terrible deduction from that joy
which we are capable of deriving even now through
the medium of our physical organisation. Such evils
cannot here be rectified. They are the immediate, or
more remote consequences of man's iniquity; and
under Christ belong to that education by which bodily
suffering is made the means of disciplining the soul
for immortality. But in the new heavens and the new
earth the body will no longer experience fatigue in

Future Life.

labour, or be subject to hurtful influences from the
elements, nor ever grow old ; but be glorious and
beautiful as the risen body of Jesus Christ! "And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry-
ing, neither shall there be any more pain : for the
former things are passed away." I wonder not, in-
deed, that Paul should exclaim along with those who
had the first-fruits of the Spirit, " Even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that
is, the redemption of our body."

With these bright hopes let us who are now alive
seek to glorify God in the body which is to be glori-
fied together with Christ: " The body is for the Lord,
and the Lord for the body." " Know ye not that
your bodies are the members of Christ ? " " Know ye
not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost 1
If any man defile that temple, him will God destroy."
"When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall
ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth." Let us
honour the body as a holy thing ; and beware how we
put the chains of slavery upon it, or from our selfish-
ness expose it to hunger and nakedness. Let us
endeavour even to make art, that ministers to our
sense of the beautiful, minister also to our sense of
the true and good ; and ever speak to us of God as
seen in His works ; or in " His ways among the chil-
dren of men." And finally, as we contemplate the
body of a departed saint, let us behold it in the
light of this revelation. Let the grave in which it

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lies no longer be associated in our thoughts with
the worm and corruption only, and with all the sad
memorials and revolting symbols of mortality. Let
the voice of Him who is the resurrection and the life
be heard in the breeze that bends the grass which
waves over it, and His quickening energy be seen in
the beauteous sun which shines upon it ; and while
we hear the cry, " Dust to dust," let us remember that
the " very dust to Him is dear ; " and that when He
appears in His glory, He will repair and rebuild that
ruined temple, and fashion it in glory and in beauty
like His own !

II.

OUR INTELLECTUAL LIFE.

Let us consider the joy which God has provided for
our intellects during our immortal life in heaven.

There are many dear saints of God who have little
sympathy with those who associate happiness with the
pursuit or possession of intellectual truth. These
persons, perhaps, have had themselves such weak
intellectual capacities, as made the acquisition ot
knowledge impossible for them beyond its simplest
elements ; or their minds have been stunted in early
years from want of education ; or in the providence
of God they have been made " hewers of wood and
drawers of water," rather than intellectual princes
among the people. Yet let none of us who are so
ignorant, and who as yet think and speak like chil-
dren, be discouraged by a conscious sense of our

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107

weak intellectual grasp and scanty information ; but
rather rejoice with Christ in the dispensation by which
God reveals Himself not to talent but to goodness ;
not to the giant intellect but to the babe-like spirit :
" I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes ! "

God has, nevertheless, made the acquisition of
truth by the intellect a source of supreme delight.
You well know how every field in nature has been
searched, and every quarter of the globe ransacked,
and many days and nights of patient intellectual toil
consumed by men who have endured incredible
labour, supported by no other motive than their love
of knowledge. The immediate joy which is expe-
rienced by a great discoverer when a new fact or truth
flashes on his mind is to others almost inconceivable.
We read that when Newton, after years of difficulty,
was just about to step on the summit of that moun-
tain from which he knew he was to hear such intel-
lectual music as never before had sounded in the
mind of man, and to catch a glimpse of the hitherto
unseen glory of that new ocean of truth which he
alone had reached,— for

" He was the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea ! " —

his joy was so great that he was overcome by his
emotions, and wept ! This passion of acquiring know-
ledge is not the least remarkable fact recorded of
Solomon. We are told that " he spake of trees, and
of beasts, and of creeping things." He himself says

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of God, " He hath made things beautiful in time :
also He hath put it into man's heart to survey the
world, and to find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end." " When I applied
mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business
that is done upon the earth : (for also there is that
neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes :) then
I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find
out the work that is done under the sun ; because
though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not
find it ; yea, though a wise man think to know it, yet
shall he not be able to find it." There was in all
this no doubt " vanity and vexation of spirit," for the
attempt was vain to find satisfaction for the soul in
the knowledge of things themselves apart from the
knowledge of a personal God, or in any truth rather
than in Him who is true. And therefore many, per-
ceiving how intellect is often allied to ungodliness,
and fails of itself to insure either goodness or happi-
ness, are disposed to refuse to it the high place which
God has assigned to it in the soul, and to suspect the
reality of the exalted delight which He has designed
His saints and angels to enjoy in its exercise. But
while the deifiers of mere intellect are ever reminded
that it alone cannot deify, but may be abused so as to
demonise man, yet let those who slight it remember
also that it is the head without whose inventive genius
or directing skill the strong arms of labour would be
idle. Let the man of material wealth or material
power recollect that it is the wealth of science and
the power of mind, possessed perhaps by unknown

Ftt hire Life.

109

and lonely students who have all their lifetime been
struggling to obtain their daily bread, and to snatch
" the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table,"
which have created our manufactures, filled our ware-
houses, crossed our oceans, healed our diseases, and
reared the fabric of law and government.

And God, who has made the intellect the source of
delight to the individual, and of good to society here,
will surely perfect it hereafter. Whatever its capacity
may be, it shall then be filled to its utmost limit ; and
be characterised by a clearness, vigour, and precision,
unknown here to the greatest thinkers. All barriers to
its progress shall be removed, which were occasioned
here by the mortal body, the poor culture, the little
time, the few opportunities, the weak or sinful pre-
judices ; so that the poorest saint will shine there as
the sun in its strength ! And with this increased
power of knowing, how inconceivably increased must
be our sources of knowledge ; how boundless is the
field which supplies them ; how inexhaustible the
treasures it contains ; how unlimited the time for
gathering them ; how helpful the society that will
sympathise with and join in our pursuits ! No one
surely imagines that on entering heaven we can at once
obtain perfect knowledge — perfect, I mean, not in
the sense of accuracy, but of fully possessing all that
can be known. This is possible for Deity only. For
it may be asserted with confidence that Gabriel knows
more to-day than he knew yesterday. Nor is it diffi-
cult for us to conceive how, throughout eternity, and
revelling with freedom throughout God's universe, we

1 1 o Parish Papers.

may be occupied by the contemplation of new and
endless displays of the inexhaustible wisdom and
power of God in His works ; and see more and more
into the life of all things j and continually read new
volumes of that great book of nature and of truth,
whose first letters we are now learning with difficulty
to spell. And could we ever succeed in gathering to-
gether the present treasures of all worlds, why may
not new and varied creations for ever renew the uni-
verse, and grander displays be made of the glory and
majesty of the Creator ? Besides all this, must not
the ways of God, as well as His works, and the won-
ders of His moral government, extending over all His
creatures, and over all worlds, and throughout all ages,
afford inexhaustible subjects wherewith to exercise the
intellect of man % Is not every truth, too, with which
we are already acquainted linked to another and a
higher truth? And if so, when shall we reach the
end of that awful chain which is in the hand of God 1
But though for ever we shall thus dive deeper and
deeper into the divine mind, never, never can we
sound its unfathomable depths. Though we shall
ascend for ever from one intellectual height to another
in the eternal range of thought, we shall approach,
yet never reach, that unseen throne on which is seated
the I Am, the Comprehender of all truth, the Solver
of all mysteries, but who Himself, though known,
because revealed to us in His eternal Son and loved
as our Father, must ever, as the absolute One, be the
mystery incomprehensible !

From the few glimpses which we obtain in Scripture

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1 1 1

of angelic life, we may infer that the understanding of
the works and ways of God forms no small part of its
joy. We read of the sons of God crowding round the
earth, and we hear those morning stars singing for joy,
as they behold the commencement of this new theatre of
wonders added to those with which they were already
acquainted. I doubt not that these high intelligences
watched with intensest interest the progress of the
world's formation, and beheld order and beauty grow-
ing out of chaotic darkness and confusion, and during
the incalculable ages of the past, before man himself
appeared upon the scene, gazed with wonder on the
successive creations of animal and vegetable life, whose
remains we now see buried in their rocky sepulchres.
We know, too, the deeper interest which the angelic
host have taken in this world since it became the
abode of man. They are acquainted with all its in-
habitants, and have seen the mystery of God's provi-
dence here unfolding itself from age to age. A great
multitude of them hovered over the hills of Bethlehem
at that great era when "unto us a Child was born, and
unto us a Saviour was given, who was Christ the Lord ;"
and in sympathy with God and man they ascribed
"glory to God in the highest," because of the "peace"
which was proclaimed to earth, and of the " good-will "
which was expressed towards man. We know also how
they have taken an active share under Jesus the King,
in advancing the affairs of His kingdom, both by pun-
ishing the wicked, and ministering to the heirs of
salvation. And to put it beyond a doubt that scope is
given even here for the exercise of the intellect of the

I I 2

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angels, we are distinctly informed that all the marvel-
lous history now proceeding in this world had a direct
reference in its original design to their progressive
education : " For God created all things by Jesus
Christ, to the intent that now ittito principalities arid
powers might be known by the church the manifold
wisdom of God." There are indeed things even here
"which angels desire to look into !"

And though the redeemed from earth are not yet
revealed to us as being engaged in intellectual pursuits,
nevertheless two of them have revisited the earth and
appeared in the old land of their sojourning in visible
form, and bearing the names of Moses and Elias, so
familiar to the Church of God, and have spoken in
language intelligible to the children of men, and upon
a subject of all the most absorbing in its interest to
the Church above and below — the decease which
Christ was to accomplish at Jerusalem !

But I dare not enlarge on this part of my subject,
however inviting it may be. Let me only implore
of you to consecrate your intellects to God's service ;
and glorify Him in " soul and spirit " as well as
in "body." Reverence Truth in every department,
as it is the expression of the mind and will of God,
and seek it in humility, and with a deep sense of your
responsibility as to how you search and what you be-
lieve. And surely it is an elevating and comforting
thing to know, with reference to those who on earth
were adorned by God with high intellects, cultivated
with care, and sanctified for their Master's service ;
who thirsted for truth, and relished its acquisition

Future Life.

with peculiar delight, and the more so when it
led them directly to Him who is Truth itself, and
enabled them the better to behold His glory, that
their powers are now finding ample field for their
exercise, and can orb themselves around without a
limit. Not therefore with sadness but with joy we can
turn from beholding the dead unmeaning eye of the
lifeless body, through which the noble mind once
shone with mild intellectual lustre, and contemplate
the same mind rising over the everlasting hills, amidst
the fresh unsullied brightness of a new-born day, and
advancing for ever without a cloud amidst the endless
glories of the upper sky.

One other suggestion as to duty in connexion with
this part of our subject : take a peculiarly tender,
sympathising, and thoughtful care of those who are
deprived of the noble gift of intellect, and who in
God's providence may be cast on your mercy. Walk
by faith towards them. See them not as they are,
but as they shall be. Act as you would wish to have
done when you meet them in that world of light where
we shall no longer see through a glass darkly, and
where even he who seems exceeding fierce shall
sit at the feet of Jesus, meek as a child, and in his
right mind. Thank God, "there shall be no night
there!"

1 14 Parish Papers.

III.

OUR DEVOTIONAL LIFE.

Our joy in heaven will, above all, be derived from the
perfection of our moral being. We shall be " without
fault before the throne of God." " He shall present
us to Himself without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, or
any such thing."

Truly and beautifully has Sir Thomas Browne said,
— " There is no felicity in what the world adores : that
wherein God himself is happy, the holy angels are
happy, and in whose defect the devils are unhappy —
that dare I call happiness ; whatsoever else the world
terms happiness, is to me an apparition or neat de-
lusion, wherein there is no more of happiness than the
name." Following out this thought, let us reverently
inquire in what chiefly consists the joy of God, or
what especially constitutes His glory. Now, He is
glorious in that creative mind by which things are
made so wisely with reference to the end which each
has to serve ; and made so beautiful and grand in
their sculptured forms and harmonious colours. He
surveys all His works, and rejoices in them as " very
good." He is glorious also in that miracle of a won-
drous providence by which without a miracle the
wants of all the endless worlds of His creatures are
supplied ; and by which responsible persons also are
created and trained to glorify and enjoy Himself for
ever. But while perfection beams in every feature of
the Divine mind, His glory, His joy, is in His charac-

Future Life.

ii5

ter. Not His power, but the character which wields
the power; not His wisdom, but that which His
character accomplishes by it ; not His majestic
sovereignty, but that majestic character which stamps
His reign as one of right and therefore of might,
commanding, irresistible. This is the glory which
He made to pass before the eyes of Moses when upon
the mount ; which shone in the face of Jesus Christ
the Holy One of God ; and which fills the souls of the
rapt seraphim when they cry, " Holy, holy, holy, is the
Lord God of hosts : the whole earth is full of His
glory!" Thus God is happy and most blessed be-
cause He is " glorious in holiness," or, in one word,
because " His name is Love."

And in what, moreover, does the happiness of the
angels consist, but in sharing this life of God ? " These
bright ones, indeed, experience joy in contemplating
His works of creation and redemption, and have been
glad in acquiring truth throughout many ages ; but
the atmosphere which they breathe, the light in which
they dwell, is love. They are happy not merely in
what they hear, or see, or know of the things of God,
but chiefly in what they are towards God himself.
They know Him, and this is life eternal.

And, finally, it is in the defect of this in which
devils are unhappy. For Satan, as he " goes to and
fro in the earth, and in walking up and down in it,"
may hear those sounds of loveliness which delight our
ears, but they are no music to his jarring and dis-
cordant spirit ; and he may behold those sights of
loveliness which delight our eye, but he does so as

1 1 6 Parish Papers.

the prowling lion who perceives no grandeur in the
glorious mountains which echo to his savage roar.
Nor does the exercise of his subtle intellect afford
him joy, because it is not in harmony with truth,
nor with the God of truth ; but is as a " wandering
star, to which is reserved the blackness of darkness
for ever." And therefore, though he is a king, he is
king of darkness, and carries hell in his own bosom,
whether he moves among the beauteous bowers of
Eden, or dwells for days upon earth, in the wilderness,
in the holy temple, or on the high mountain, with
even God manifest in the flesh beside him. He has
no holiness, no love, and therefore no peace or joy.

And thus does our joy depend on our fellowship
with God in character. Other things may be, this
must be, if we are to be happy. Other things are re-
quired to give our joy fulness ; this is essential to give
it existence. For the body may be deprived of all
pleasurable sensation, and the intellect unable to
grapple with the simplest problem, " in the day when
the keepers of the house tremble, and those that look
out at the windows are darkened, and the daughters
of music are brought low," — yet the light of joy may
still shine in the soul, so long as the mind can discern
that " God is," and the heart feel that " God is love."
Not, therefore, in the gratification of his sentient
tastes ; nor in the certainties of pure intellect ; nor in
science, which " can put forth its hand and feel from
star to star ;" nor even in the exercise of that genius
— so like His own creative power! — whose contriv-
ances change the aspect of the world, and whose

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117

glorious flights can speed to airy regions " which no
fowl knoweth nor the vulture's eye hath seen not in
those outer courts of God's great temple has the Father
willed that His immortal children shall find their true
life, but in the holy of holies only of His own imme-
diate presence, and in the possession of the spirit of
life and of love which is in His first-born Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. And this was the glory and joy
which Jesus himself manifested on earth, when " He
had no place to lay his head and was " despised
and rejected of men ;" and His " countenance was
marred like no man's when He carried His cross ;
and revealed to us that true life which He died to ob-
tain, and rose from the dead to impart to us by His
Spirit. He did not come to teach us to become
artists, orators, or men of mere intellectual cultivation,
capable of creating a hero-worship. The race who
built Nineveh and Thebes, or produced the artists,
orators, poets, historians, or the world - conquerors
of Greece and Rome, needed no such teaching as
this. But He came to reveal to men — -who, what-
ever else they knew, did not know their Maker, but
"changed the truth of God into a lie" — that eternal
life of love which was with the Father, so that in
its possession they might have fellowship with the
Father, with the Son, and with one another, and in
this way only have His own joy fulfilled in themselves.
He taught us to follow Him, "with all lowliness and
meekness," and thus "to walk worthy of God who
hath called us to His kingdom and glory ! "

I have dwelt, perhaps, at unnecessary length upon

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this part of my subject, yet I am anxious to quicken in
you the conviction of what you cannot doubt, that our
moral nature can be satisfied only with God's likeness.
So is it now ; so will it be for ever. The sweet peace
which the believer enjoys in God here ; the elevating de-
light he experiences from contemplating His character,
and saying, " My Father, let Thy name be hallowed ! let
Thy kingdom come ! let Thy will be done !" — his joy
in the possession of the graces of the Christian life,
are not foretastes only, but earnests also, and pledges
of the coming fulness, the first-fruits of the approach-
ing harvest. " We shall be like Him ! " Oh blessed
consummation, before which everything else vanishes
in comparison ! Our souls cleansed from every stain
of guilt, and made white in the blood of the Lamb ;
and washed, too, from all the pollution of sin with the
waters of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, shall be " faultless," " not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing." The pure and holy God
resting on us as His own work through His Son and
Spirit, shall rejoice in that work as perfect; and every
redeemed soul will be as a mirror in whose transpar-
ent depths the Divine glory is seen reflected. Oh com-
forting and exalting thought ! that the weakest and
most imperfect, yet true child of God, who possessed
any real faith or real love, is thus at last " glorified
together with Christ" — their confessions of sin for
ever over ; their sense of their own emptiness lost in a
sense of Christ's fulness ; their ardent longings for un-
sullied holiness gratified as no faith or foretaste here
realised, even feebly, in their hours of most pious fer-

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119

vour ! Should it not delight us to think of even one
whom we have known and loved really possessing
such joy as this ; and ought we not to give united
thanks to God for their happiness with God, even
while we sorrow for their loss to ourselves during our
earthly pilgrimage ?

IV.

OUR SOCIAL LIFE.

Man is a social as well as a sentient, intellectual, and
moral being ; and as such he will have joy in the pre-
sence of God in heaven. We are made for brother-
hood. It was in reference to this original craving of
the heart for society that God said of man when he
came perfect from His hands, " It is not good for him
to be alone." The fact of solitariness is, indeed, un-
known in God's intelligent and moral universe. With
reverence, I remark, that God has existed as Father,
Son, and Spirit, three Persons in the unity of the God-
head. We cannot, indeed, conceive of God, whose
name is love, existing from eternity without a person
like Himself as an object of His love. Certain it is,
however, that for the creature to have joy in himself
alone, is impossible. Isolation would, in time, pro-
duce insanity. The heart will lavish its affection
upon the lowest forms of animal creation, or upon
ideal beings, rather than feed upon itself. But there
can be no solitude to him who knows there is a God,
nor who possesses any religion ; for religion is love to
God. And even where the society of men is shunned,

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and solitude fled to by the weary, this is often, after
all, but an unconscious protest in favour of brother-
hood ; the bitterness of one who, having sought it
from men in vain, feels as if robbed of his brother's
affections, which he had a right to possess as a portion
of his inheritance.

But while God has planted in every breast this pas-
sion for congenial society, and has supplied to so great
an extent its want by the family institution into which
we are born in our early years, and by the " troops of
friends" who accompany us during our pilgrimage,
and by the fellowship of the Christian Church, in
proportion as that fellowship is not a mere name,
but expresses the intention of Christ in gathering His
people into a society, — there are, nevertheless, innu-
merable drawbacks here to anything like its full gratifi-
cation. Take away the time consumed in the necessary
and often absorbing labour of life, and during the un-
avoidable separations and partings from those we know
and love, how little is left for the cultivation here of the
truest friendships. We are, moreover, severed as yet
by death from all congenial minds among past genera-
tions, and from those who are yet to come. Of the
many now alive whose hearts would beat to ours, could
we only meet and know them, how few can stand to-
gether on the small space allotted to us on the earth's
surface. Then, again, of those whom we know best and
love best on earth, and who know and love us best too,
oh, what mutual ignorance must necessarily exist of in-
numerable thoughts and feelings lying deep down in our
inner man, half hidden, half revealed, even to ourselves,

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121

but altogether incommunicable and unutterable by
word or sign to others ! We may at times be conscious
that we stand with them on the same lofty summit, and
gaze on the same prospect, but the atmosphere is too
rare to permit of any heard communication between us.
And thus in no case can there be, not the meeting,
but that blending of soul with soul by which one being,
without losing his individuality, seems completed in the
being of another. Add to all this the granite walls that
rise up between us during our wanderings in this desert
— the differences, not only from intellect, pursuits, rank,
education, but also from character, and those sins and
infirmities of which all more or less partake, such as
pride, vanity, prejudice, envy,- — one and all making sad
drawbacks from the fulness of joy which we are capable
of deriving even now from intelligent and holy society.
We are made to realise this fact in reading the history
of the holiest society that ever was on earth, that of
Jesus Christ and His apostles. Only three years to-
gether ! often separated during this brief period by
dark nights, stormy seas, long journeys, and the sin
and ignorance on their part which made Him exclaim,
" Nevertheless I am not alone, for the Father is with
me," intimating that, without this Divine sympathy,
He was indeed alone in His joys and in His sorrows
amidst His brethren. After His departure, how soon
were the apostles scattered, and how seldom did they
meet ! For years Paul was not acquainted with any
of them, and possibly never met them all, while he
was quite unknown by face to many of those Christian
churches who read his letters, and revered his name.

1 2 2 Parish Papers.

The apostle John complains that he could not com-
municate to his friends the many things he had to say-
by pen and ink, and longs for personal intercourse.
" I trust," he says, " to come unto you and speak face
to face, that our joy might be full" Ah, there is no
tabernacling here with Jesus, nor yet with Moses or
Elias ! But such a dispensation is no doubt wise. It
marks the condition of those who have no continuing
city here, but who look for one to come. It also
greatly helps to weaken, on the one hand, our tend-
ency to idolise the creature, and to strengthen, on the
other, our faith in God, who abideth for ever, and thus
to unite us to one another, both now and in the end,
more truly than we ourselves as yet understand. But,
nevertheless, the joy from Christian intercourse ex-
perienced here is among the most precious gifts of
God, and its value is enhanced by the prophecy which
it contains of the glorious future. Union is the gospel
watchword ; it is the grand result of redemption ; for
holy union is holy love, the drawing of heart to heart,
because all are drawn by one Spirit, through one Saviour,
to one God, a union which is to be perfectly realised
in our future social state, when we shall be fellow-
citizens with the saints in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Now, consider what ample resources heaven affords
for the cultivation of the social affections among those
of the highest intellect, taste, and moral worth in God's
universe. " But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and
unto the city of the lrring God, the heavenly Jerusa-
lem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
general assembly and church of the first-bom, which

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123

are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus the mediator of the new covenant." Here we
have summed up the society in our future home.

We shall there enjoy the society of the angels. We
know about those holy beings, but we do not know
themselves as yet. But how often does it happen
to us in regard to our earthly friends, that those
who are unknown to us in our early years even by
name, become in our latter years indissolubly bound
up with our history and our joy? And thus the
angels, whom on earth we have never seen, will,
nevertheless, when the manhood of our being is
reached, become our intimate friends and dear com-
panions for ever. Let us not forget, however, that
the angels know each saint on earth more intimately
than the saints themselves are known by their nearest
friends. " For are they not all ministering spirits,
sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation1?" But this fact suggests another analogy
between our social relationships with men and angels,
— viz., that as earthly friends who have been ac-
quainted with ourselves and our family history during
the forgotten days of infancy, are met by us, in after-
years, not as strangers, but with feelings of sympathy
and intimacy akin to those awakened by old kindred ;
even so will the saint, on reaching heaven, find God's
angels to be, not strangers, but old friends who have
known all about him from the day of his birth until
the hour of his death. It is true that these high and
holy ones belong to a different order of beings from

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ourselves, and this, we might be disposed to think,
must prevent the possibility of their sympathising with
us. But let us remember, that while in material forms
there is no one common abiding type, by which, for
example, the vegetable, beast, bird, or fish are formed 5
yet that it is quite otherwise with intellectual and
moral beings, who are all necessarily made like God,
and therefore like one another. And, finally, though
we might conjecture that beings possessed of such vast
stores of knowledge, the accumulated wealth of ages,
and of such high and glorious intellects, would neces-
sarily repel our approaches by the awe they would in-
spire in a child of earth when with all his ignorance
he enters heaven, yet let our confidence be restored
by remembering the fact, that in them, as in the great
Jehovah, all majesty and wisdom become attractive
when combined with, and directed by love. The love
which enables us to cling to the Almighty and love
Him as a Father, will enable us to meet the angels in
peace, and to love them as brethren. And thus I am
persuaded that a saint on earth, compassed about as
he is with his many infirmities, would even now feel
more " at home," so to speak, with angels, because of
their perfect sympathising love, than with most of his
fellow-men, because of their remaining pride and sel-
fishness.

But "just men made perfect" also form apart of
the society above. Their number is daily increasing.
Day by day unbroken columns are passing through
the golden gates of the city, and God's elect are
gathering from the four winds of heaven. There are

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125

no dead saints ; all are alive unto God, and " we live
together with them."

But I further remark in reference to all this glorious
society, that there shall be peifcct union among its
members. That union will not be one of sameness;
for there can be no sameness either in the past
history, or in the intellectual capacity of any of its
members. How vast must be the difference for ever
between the history of Gabriel, the thief on the cross,
the apostle Paul, and the child who died on its first
birthday! There is, moreover, every reason to be-
lieve that each person must retain his own indivi-
dual features of mind and peculiarities of character,
there as well as here. All the stars will shine in
brilliancy, and sweep in orbits more or less wide
around the great centre, but " each star differeth
from another star in glory." Yet this want of same-
ness is what will produce the deepest harmony, such
as one sees in the blending of different colours, or
hears in the mingling of different notes. And I repeat
it, the bond of this perfectness must be the same in
heaven as on earth — love. For it is love which unites
exalted rank to lowly place, knowledge to ignorance,
and strength to weakness ; thus bringing things oppo-
site into an harmonious whole. See accordingly how
the love which dwelt in " God manifest in the flesh,"
poured itself into the lowest depths of humanity, and
met men far down to lift them high up j so that
at the very moment, for instance, when Jesus was in-
tensely conscious of His dignity, " knowing that he
came from God and went to God," He even then

126 Parish Papers.

shewed how inseparable was true love from true
grandeur, for we read that "knowing" this, "He rose
from supper and girded Himself with a towel, and
washed His disciples' feet ! " And as Jesus in the
might of the same Divine affection bridged over the
gulf which separated man from Himself and His
Father, drawing the impure to Him the Holy One,
that they might become holy; and the ignorant to
Him the All-knowing, that they might become truly
wise; — so shall the same Divine love include within
its vast embrace all in heaven, from God seated on
the throne down through the burning ranks of cheru-
bim and seraphim till it reaches the once weeping
Magdalene, and the once sore-stricken Lazarus, and
the infant who has but the hour before left the bosom
of its weeping mother ! How glorious, again, is
the thought that the poorest saint here — the most
ignorant, the most despised, the most solitary and
unknown— shall not only admire and love, but be
himself the object of admiration and of love on the
part of the highest spirit there. For the King who is
not ashamed to call the poorest "brethren," will, in
His adornments of their mind and heart, as well as of
outward form, bestowed " according to His riches,"
make them in all things like Himself, and fit to move
in regal grandeur with all saints and angels in the
royal palace of his God. " Fear not, little flock ; it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the king-
dom."

After what has been said, it is unnecessary to prove
what I have assumed as so evidently true; I mean

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the future recognition of our Christian friends. It is
almost as unreasonable to ask for proofs of this as for
the probable recognition of friends in a different part
of the country after having been separated from one
another during a brief interval of time. What ! shall
memory be obliterated, and shall we forget our own
past histories, and therefore lose the sense of our
personal identity, and be ignorant of all we have been
and done as sinners, and of all we have received and
done as redeemed men 1 or, knowing all this, shall we
be prevented from communicating our histories to
others t Shall beloved friends be there whom we
have known and loved in Christ here ; with whom
we have held holy communion ; with whom we have
laboured and prayed for the advancement of Christ's
kingdom ; and with whom we have eagerly watched
for His second coming, — and shall we be unable
throughout eternity, either to discover their existence
or associate with them in the New Jerusalem 1 Are
the apostles now ignorant of each other ] Did Moses
and Elias issue out of a darkness which mutually con-
cealed them in heaven, and recognising one another
for the first time amidst the light on Tabor's hill, did
they then return into darkness again? Oh, what is
there in the whole Word of God, — what argument
derived from our experience of the blessings of Chris-
tian fellowship, — what in the character of God or His
dealings with man, — what in His promises of things
to come laid up for those who love Him, that could
have suggested such strange, unworthy, false, and
dreary thoughts of the union, or rather disunion, of

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friends in their Father's home ! Tell me not that
special affection to Christian brethren, from whatever
causes it may arise, is inconsistent with unfeigned love
to all, and with absorbing love to Jesus. It is not so
here, and never can be so from the nature of holy love,
and was not so in Christ's own case when He the Per-
fect One lived amongst us. With supreme love to God,
"He loved His church and gave Himself for it;" with
love to His church He yet loved the disciples as "His
own ; " while again within this circle one of these was
specially the loved one ; and beyond it " He loved
Martha and Mary and Lazarus ! " Tell me not that
it is enough to know that our friends are in glory. I
know this now in regard to some of them, as surely
as I know anything beyond the grave ; yet my heart
yearns to meet them "with the Lord," and I bless
Him that He permits me to comfort myself with the
hope of doing so. Nor let it be alleged as an insuper-
able objection to all this anticipated happiness, that
knowledge of the saved would imply knowledge of the
lost, and that this would balance the pleasure we
hope for, by the great pain by which we, it is assumed,
must thus be compelled to endure. For even admit-
ting that such knowledge would be possessed at all,
which is very doubtful ; yet surely, at the worst, this is
a strange way of escaping pain from the knowledge
that some are lost, by taking refuge in the ignorance
of any being saved ! I shall not prove this further,
but express my joy in heartily believing that we shall
resume our intercourse with every Christian friend ;
that remembering all the past, and reading it for the

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1 29

first time aright, because reading in the full light of re-
vealed truth, we shall know and love as we never knew
and loved here ; and shall sit down at that glorious in-
tellectual, moral, and social feast, not with ideal persons
and strangers, but with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with
Peter, Paul, and John, and with every saint of God !

But I have not as yet spoken of one friend there who
will be the centre of that bright society — " Jesus the
Mediator of the new covenant I" "I will take you to
Myself," is the blessed promise. "We shall see Him
as He is," is the longed-for vision. " We shall be like
Him," is the hoped-for perfection. To know, to love,
to be in all things like Jesus, and to hold communion
with Him for ever — what " an exceeding weight of
glory!" Jesus will never be separated personally
from His people ; nor can they ever possibly separate
their character, their joy, or their safety from His
atoning death for them on earth, or from His constant
life for them in heaven. It is the Lamb who shall lead
them to living fountains of waters ; and the Lamb
upon the throne who shall still preside over them.
The Lamb shall be the everlasting light of the New
Jerusalem; and " Worthy is the Lamb!" will be its
ceaseless song of praise. Beyond this I cannot go.
In vain I endeavour to ascend in thought higher than
" God manifest in the flesh," even to the Triune
Jehovah who dwelleth in the unapproachable light oi
His own unchangeable perfections ; and seek to catch
a glimpse of that beatific vision which, though begun
here in communion with God, is there enjoyed by
" the spirits of just men made perfect," " according
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to His fulness," and therefore in a measure which to
us passeth all understanding. But if any real spiritual
intercourse with Jehovah is now "joy unspeakable
if the hunger of the soul to possess more, fails often
from its intensity to find utterance for its wants in
words, what must it be to dwell in His presence in
the full enjoyment of Himself for ever ! There are
saints who have experienced this blessedness upon
earth to a degree which was almost too much for
them to bear ; and there are some who have had
glories flashed upon them as if snatched from the
light beyond, just as the soul was loosening from the
ligaments of the body, and preparing itself for flight
from the prison-house to its own home — strange mo-
ments when things beyond were seen by the eye
closing on the weary world, and overpowering bliss
was experienced by the chilling heart. And if men,
sinful men, yea, dying men, can behold such visions
of joy even while dwelling in tabernacles of clay that
are crumbling around them, what is the measure of
that bliss which fills the souls of those redeemed ones
at this moment in the temple above, in perfectly know-
ing and enjoying God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost !

May the Lord give us all grace to love on earth
such as we may hope to meet in heaven ; and if we
cannot as yet enjoy the communion of angels, may
we seek for, and enjoy, the communion of saints !

Future Life.

OUR ACTIVE LIFE.

It is unnecessary to do more than remind you how
labour is essential here to our happiness. Rest from
fatigue is indeed enjoyment ; but idleness from want
of occupation is punishment. Nor is this fact a part
of our inheritance as sinners. Fatigue and pain of
body from exertion may be so, but not exertion itself.
Perfect and unfallen man, as I have already reminded
you, was placed in the garden of Eden " to dress and
to keep it." And this is what we would expect as the
very appointment for a creature made after the image
of Him Avho is ever working, and who has imbued
every portion of the universe with the spirit of activity.
For nothing in the world of nature lives for itself
alone, but contributes its portion of good to the wel-
fare of the whole. And man, as he becomes more
godlike, rejoices more and more in the dispensation
by which he is enabled to be a fellow-worker with his
Father, and is glad in being able to give expression
by word or deed to what he knows and admires.

And if all this holds true of man now, what reason
have we for doubting that it shall hold true of man
for ever? Why should this inherent love of action,
and delightful source of enjoyment, so refined and
elevated, be annihilated'? and what shadow even of
probability have we for supposing that the heaven
revealed in Scripture is a world the occupations of

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whose inhabitants must for ever be confined to mere
ecstatic contemplation 1

This cannot be ! Such a heaven has not been pre-
pared for man. Arguing from analogy, the presump-
tion is that those mental and moral habits which have
been acquired with so much difficulty, and at so much
expense in this present world, will not be cast away
as useless in the next, but find there such scope for
their exercise as cannot possibly be afforded to them
within their present limited sphere of action. But
this presumption is immensely strengthened by what
we know of the life of the angels, to which I have
more than once alluded, as it bears so much upon
the several topics discussed by us. These angels
"excel in strength;" and they "do His command-
ments, and hearken to the voice of His word." As
" ministers of His," they " do His pleasure." They
are represented to us as ever actively employed as
messengers of peace or of woe. They have destroyed
armies and cities ; delivered captives ; comforted the
disconsolate; and are represented as the future reapers
of the earth's harvest. All this proves, at least, that
the sinless perfection and happiness of heaven are not
inconsistent with a life of busy labour ; and that
though God can dispense with the services of either
men or angels, yet, as they cannot be happy without
rendering such services to Him, He, in accordance
with His untiring, ungrudging benevolence, satisfies
this desire of their nature as created by Himself. Let
it be remembered also, that men have acquired a
wider experience than even angels, by reason of that

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133

very sin which might be supposed to render them less
fit for the exalted services of heaven. For the very
storms and vicissitudes of earth have given a form and
a strength to those "trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord," that could not have been acquired
amidst the sunny skies and balmy air of the heavenly
paradise. The saints of God have learned lessons
here of patience, endurance, self-denial, and faith, that
could not have been learned there. Like old soldiers,
they have been trained by long campaigns and terribU
combats with the enemy. On earth and not in heaven
are Marthas and Maries with whom we can weep ; and
prodigals whom we can receive back ; and saints in
sickness, in prison, or in nakedness, whom we can
visit, soothe, and clothe. And therefore is earth a
noble school by reason of its very sins and sorrows.
It is asked, indeed, in triumph, What employments
can there be in heaven for saints 1 This question I
cannot answer. The how employed, and where, must
be as yet mere conjecture. But who will be so bold
as to deny, that in the new heavens and in the new
earth, there may be employment for even those powers
— such as inventive genius — which might seem to be
necessarily confined to this our temporary scene 1 If
we are through a bodily organisation to be for ever
united to matter, why may not science and art be
called into exercise then as well as now, in order to
make it minister to our wants or desires 1 And even
as regards the noble creations of artistic genius, why
should the supposition be deemed as unworthy of the
most exalted and spiritual views of heaven, that man

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may for ever be a fellow-worker with the Divine Artist
who fills the universe with His own endless creations
of beauty and magnificence ? And can it be that our
moral habits and Christian graces shall never be called
into exercise in works and labours of love among
orders of beings of whom as yet we know nothing ?
Countless worlds may be teeming with immense popu-
lations, and who knows but such worlds may be con-
tinually added to the great family of God. And if
throughout the endless ages of eternity, or in any pro-
vince of God"s boundless empire, there should ever be
found some responsible beings who are tempted to
depart from God by the machinations of wicked men
or evil spirits, — permitted, then, it may be, as well as
now, to use all their powers in the service of sin and
against the kingdom of God, — and who being thus
tempted shall require warning or support to retain
them in their allegiance ; — or if there be found others
who are struggling in an existence, which, however
glorious, demands patience, fortitude, and faith in
Jehovah ; if there are now in other worlds, or ever
shall appear any persons who need such ministrations
as can be afforded only by those educated in the won-
derful school of Christ's Church : — then can I imagine
how God's saints from earth may have glorious labours
given them throughout eternity, which they alone, of
all the creatures of God, will be able to accomplish,
when every holy habit acquired here can be put to
noble uses there. I can conceive patience needed to
overcome difficulties ; and faith to trust the living God
amidst evolutions of His providence that baffle the

Future Life.

135

understanding ; and indomitable courage, untiring
zeal, gentle love, heavenly serenity and intense sym-
pathy, yea, even the peculiar gifts and characteristics
of each individual ; — all having their appropriate and
fitting work given them. " Now abidcth faith, hope,
and charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is
charity." And what immense joy will be experienced
in each saint thus finding an outlet for his love, and
exercise for his knowledge, and full play for his every
faculty, in that "house of many mansions," with all
God's universe around and eternity before him ! I
borrow the language of the great and good Isaac
Taylor, who has written so eloquently and convinc-
ingly on this subject : — "There labour shall be without
fatigue, ceaseless activity without the necessity of re-
pose, high enterprise without disappointment, and
mighty achievements which leave behind no weariness
or decay ; — where ' they that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; shall
walk, and not faint.; "

Let this thought teach us to labour in harmony with
the will of God ; so that we may never run counter
to His wishes or His laws, but, both in the material
and spiritual world, ever seek to be " fellow-workers "
with Himself.

Let it also comfort us when we see " such a one
as Paul the aged " fall asleep after his day of toil :
and strengthen us to bow our heads in meekness
when we hear of the young man full of zeal and
ardour, apparently fully equipped for God's service,

136

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suddenly cut down ; or the self-sacrificing mission-
ary, who seems to have spent his strength in vain,
perish with no one in the wilderness to give him
burial. Oh, think not that the work of the old saint
who loved it so well, till the last hour of his existence,
is ended for ever ; or that the labours of younger
brethren so unfinished here, shall never be resumed
hereafter, and that all this preparation of years has
been a mere abortion, a mockery and delusion !
Believe it not ! No day of conscientious study for
Christ's sake has been spent in vain ; no habit of in-
dustry or self-denial acquired for Christ's sake has
been acquired in vain ; nor will the burning zeal to
do something for Him who died for them be ever
lost in darkness or put to shame. Soul, spirit, and
body, will yet do their work for which they have
been so exquisitely adapted, and so carefully trained.
He who has been " faithful over a few things will be
made ruler over many things;" and "he who has
been faithful in a very little, shall have authority over
ten cities ! "

Finally, this future life in heaven will be expressed
in praise. What are the ordinary ideas entertained
by many excellent Christians of this heavenly work,
or the manner in which it is to be performed, would
be painful to describe. But perhaps it is not too
much to say that the heaven of many is little more
than a grand, eternal act of worship by singing psalms
of praise. No doubt the chief work of heaven is
praise ; for praise is but the necessary expression of
love, admiration, joy. In what way this praise is to

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137

be expressed I know not : whether in the spontaneous
exercise of individual souls, "singing as they shine"
with hymned voice, and fashioned instrument of golden
harp or angelic trump ; or only by the rapt gaze of a
spirit absorbed in " still communion — and whether
in heaven as on earth there may be great days of
the Lord on which the sons of God, gathered from
afar, will come specially before the exalted Redeemer,
when their joy, uttered by outbursts of harmony, shall
wake the amphitheatre of the skies with impassioned
hallelujahs, — who can as yet tell ! But it must be
that each soul in heaven being for ever full of love,
will for ever be full of praise. Every new sight
of grandeur or of beauty, and every new contriv-
ance of the Creator's wisdom or power, will but
prompt the beholder to praise the wondrous Crea-
tor. Every intellectual height reached in the infin-
ite progress of the soul, onward and upward, must
awe it into a profounder sense of the glory of the
great Intelligence. Every active pursuit will swell the
tide of gratitude and praise to Him the ceaseless
worker, in whom all persons and things " live, move,
and have their being;" — while the loving and holy
soul, ever consciously dwelling in Him who is every-
where present, must derive from increasing knowledge
of, and communion with the infinite and glorious One,
a source of exulting, endless praise — praise which will
be intensified by the sympathy and song of the great
minds and great hearts of the " innumerable company
of angels," and of "just men made perfect !" But if in
that voiceful temple any one song of praise will, more

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than any other, issue from a deeper love, or express a
deeper joy, that must be the song of the redeemed !
For that is a " new song" never heard before by the
angels in the amplitudes of creation, and which the
strange race of mankind alone can sing ; for there
are peculiar notes of joy in that song which they alone
can utter ; and in their memories alone can echo old
notes of sadness that have died away in the far dis-
tance. And what shall be their feelings, what their
song, as they gaze backwards on the horrible kingdom
of darkness, from whose chains and dungeons they
have been delivered ; and trace all the mysterious
steps by which their merciful and wise Saviour led
them safely through danger, temptation, and trial,
and through the valley of death, until He bid them
welcome with exceeding joy ! What their feelings,
what their song, as they look around and contemplate
the new scene and the exalted society into which He has
brought them, and meet the responsive gaze of radiant
saints and of old familiar friends ! What their feel-
ings, and what their song, as they gaze forward, and
with " far-stretching views into eternity " see no limit
to their " fulness of joy knowing that nothing can
lessen it, but that everything must increase it through
eternal ages ; — that the body can never more suffer
pain, or be weakened by decay; — that the intellect
can never more be dimmed by age, nor marred by
ignorance 5 — that the spirit can never more be dark-
ened by even a passing shadow from the body of sin ; —
that the will can never for a moment be mastered, nor
even biased by temptation ; — that the heart can never

Future Life.

139

be chilled by unreturned kindness ; — that the blessed
society can never be diminished by death, nor divided
in spirit, but that, along with saints and angels, all
God's works shall be seen, all His ways known, all
His plans and purposes fulfilled, all His commands
perfectly obeyed, and Himself perfectly enjoyed for
ever and ever ! And then, at what might seem to be
the very climax of their joy, to behold Jesus ! And,
seeing Him, to remember the lowly home in Beth-
lehem ; the once humble artisan of Nazareth ; and the
sufferer, "who was despised and rejected of men,"
" the man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief
and the tempted one, who for forty days was with
the devil in the wilderness; — seeing Him, to remem-
ber Gethsemane with its trembling hand and cup of
agony ; the judgment-hall and Calvary with their hor-
rors of blood, of blasphemy, and mystery of woe ; —
seeing Him, to see all this history of immeasurable
love not only recorded in the glory of every saint
above, but embodied in the very person of that Sa-
viour, and in that human form which was " wounded
and bruised for our iniquities," and in that human soul
that was sorrowful unto death, in order that He might
be able to pour into the hearts of lost and ruined
men all the fulness of His own blessedness and joy!
What shall be the feelings, what the song of the re-
deemed, as all this bursts on their enraptured gaze !
Oh, blind discoursers are we of such ineffable glory !
Children-dreamers are we about this as yet unrevealed
vision ! What are all our thoughts but " fallings from
us, vanishings " from " creatures walking among worlds

140 Parish Papers.

not realised ! " But let us pray more and more that
the "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give unto us the spirit of wisdom and re-
velation in the knowledge of Him ; the eyes of our
understanding being enlightened ; that we may know
what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of
the glory of His inheritance in the saints ; " for though
"eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it
entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him," yet " God hath
revealed them unto us by His Spirit /"

FUTURE PUNISHMENT.

'T^HE subject of future punishment is one the con-
sideration of which gives mental pain. We
naturally shrink from it, would prefer to leave it
alone, and to think, as we say, of something else.

But the question won't leave us alone, and we must
think about it. It forces itself on our notice, and that,
too, in our most thoughtful and sober moments. We
cannot read the Scriptures without the dark vision
passing before our eyes with more or less gloom.
Conscience whispers to us about it. It recurs to
our thoughts amidst the penitential confessions and
earnest prayers of public worship. The theme is con-
stantly discussed in works and periodicals widely read,
and not even professedly theological.

There are few, we presume, who will assert that
every man, whatever his character may be when he
leaves the world, shall after death immediately pass
into glory, and be received into fellowship with God
and His saints. With such a belief earnestly enter-
tained, suicide would cease to be an evidence of in-
sanity, and murder would become philanthropy.

Most men are prepared rather to believe, apart
altogether from any Scripture statements on this

142 Parish Papers.

momentous subject, that punishment of some kind
or other must be awarded to crime at last, and in
some degree proportionate to the character of the
criminal, — that somewhere or other, by some means
or other, not yet discovered or revealed, reformation
if at all possible must necessarily be effected in order
that peace and happiness may be secured. Man's un-
dying sense of righteousness, and what ought to be, is
not satisfied by the prosperity which, in spite of every
drawback, so frequently attends the most selfish and
unprincipled villain to his grave. Like the Psalmist,
we all are disposed to exclaim when contemplating
such histories, " As for me, my feet were almost gone ;
my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious at
the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death, and their
strength is firm ; neither are they plagued like other

men Their eyes stand out with fatness ; they

have more than their heart can wish And they

say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge
with the Most High 1 "

But when we open the Word of God, it is impossible
for any honest man to deny, that whether its teaching
be true or false, the fact of future punishment is an
essential portion of what is taught. By no conceivable
perversion of the words of Christ, so often repeated
on this subject, and by no interpretation of His
parables, can it be denied that it was His intention
to give the very impression which the universal Church
has received, that there is a " wrath to come," and a
state of being which to some is " cursed," and so very

Future Ptmishment. 143

dreadful that, with reference to one of His own dis-
ciples, who is called " the son of perdition," the
Saviour said that it would have " been good for that
man had he never been born."

I must presume that this general statement regard-
ing the teaching of Christ himself, not to speak of
that of His apostles, requires no proof to any one
who has ever read the Gospels. Punishment of some
kind awaits the wicked after death. Yet if this much
is admitted, we have surely already reached a conclu-
sion which ought to fill with the most solemn awe
the mind of every man who has any reverence for
the Divine authority of Jesus Christ ; or who even
believes that He who represented Himself as saying,
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels," — " Depart
from me, I know you not, all ye workers of iniquity,"
and who narrated such a parable as that of the rich
man and Lazarus, was one incapable of all exaggera-
tion or evil passion, and one who possessed the only
perfect love which was ever manifested in humanity.
The apostles, who express in language as strong and
unhesitating the certainty and dread nature of future
punishment, were men also who, more than any who
have ever lived, loved their fellow-men, wept like their
Divine Master for their sins, and devoted their lives,
with untiring unselfishness, to rescue them from pre-
sent evil and future woe. Now, if this be so far a
true, if not a full, representation of the teaching of
Christ and His apostles on this momentous theme,
I may be permitted to put two questions of a practical

144 Parish Papers.

and personal kind to my reader. One is, — Whether the
knowledge of the character, apart from the authority,
of Jesus and His apostles, who spoke in such language
of the future history of some men in another world,
ought not to make us pause with becoming self-dis-
trust and reverence, if disposed to exclaim against
the possibility of so terrible an ending as a thing
"unjust," "revengeful," and "revolting to benevol-
ence?" Who are we, what have we been, or what
have we done for our fellow- men, that we should
thus presume to have a more tender regard for their
wellbeing than the Lord Jesus Christ or His apostles
had, and to be incapable of entertaining or of utter-
ing such "harsh thoughts" as they did about their
future state ?

The other question which I would humbly suggest
for consideration is this : — What is your real belief
in reference to man's future state? Have you any
faith in our Lord's teaching ? Any firm practical con-
viction in the fact of future punishment ? After you
have made every possible deduction from the weight
of Scripture testimony, and explained away every meta-
phor, parable, and dogmatic statement to the lowest
possible point short of absolute denial of their truth in
any fair sense of their meaning, — may I beg of you
to consider what, or how much, remains to be firmly
believed as the truth of God 1 For it does appear
to me that there exists a wide-spread callousness
and indifference, an ease of mind, with reference
to the fate hereafter of ungodly men, which cannot
be accounted for except on the supposition that all

Future Punishment. 145

earnest faith is lost in either the dread possibilities of
future sin or of its future punishment. Men seem to
have made up their minds that they have nothing to
fear in the next world, whatever they believe, whatever
they are, or whatever they do in this. We are, verily,
not incapable of experiencing fear, but in a vast num-
ber of cases we are great cowards, in spite of all our
bravery, — cowards when there is nothing actually pre-
sent to alarm us ; and each one of us seeks to his very
utmost to keep danger or suffering far away from him-
self or from those he loves. Accordingly, the possible
or near approach of mere bodily pain, or of domestic
sorrow, or the anticipated loss of money — not to speak
of such horrors as public disgrace from loss of charac-
ter, imprisonment, transportation as a felon, or exe-
cution as a criminal — would induce thoughtfulness,
anxiety, wretchedness. Yet, strange to say, the very
same persons who would tremble for such calamities
as these, treat with indifference a coming punishment,
which cannot, even in their own estimation, be less
terrible, and which, as sure as Christ's words are true,
they may themselves, because of their present charac-
ter, be liable at any hour to enter upon and endure.

But many of those readers, who, up to this point,
may heartily sympathise with me in my feeble efforts
to quicken a more earnest thoughtfulness on this sub-
ject, will be disposed to avoid its further considera-
tion. I would not blame them for so feeling. God
knoweth I have no wish to " dogmatise" on this sub-
ject, but to approach it with real sympathy for the diffi-
culties, the pains, the perplexities, which the noblest,

146 Parish Papers.

the truest, and the most reverential have experienced
when they have attempted really to believe in it. What
chiefly induces me to submit a few thoughts upon a
theme so solemn, is the " dogmatism" and unworthy
views of God which are attributed to all of us who
cannot discover sunrise beyond the gloom ; and the
conviction also that a more thorough belief in the
danger of sin, as well as its inherent vileness, and a
wholesome " terror of the Lord," would tend to " per-
suade men" to entertain with more earnestness the
deliverance promised in the gospel.

The idea which many have formed of punishment is
that of a mere arbitrary annexation of a certain amount
of suffering in the next world to a certain amount of
crime committed in this — so many stripes for so many
sins ; and, as if obvious injustice were inflicted on
men, by threatening them with coming woe for pre-
sent wickedness, they exclaim, " Surely such sins as
these do not deserve such punishment as that \" But
if sin itself, by an eternal moral necessity, carries
with it its own punishment, even as the shadow ac-
companies the substance, then the real question in
regard to the possible ending of future suffering is
merged in the deeper one of the possible ending of
future sin. And if so, what evidence have we from
any one source to inspire the hope, that the man
who enters the next world loving sin, and therefore
suffering punishment as its necessary result, will
ever cease to sin, and thereby cease to suffer? It
must, remember, be admitted as an indisputable fact,

Future Punishment. 147

that life eternal can only co-exist with a right state of
the soul. " This is life eternal, to know thee and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Up to the
moment in which the spirit turns with filial confidence
and obedience to God, there cannot be a cessation
either in the curse that must rest upon enmity and
disobedience, or in the pain which must be produced
by so terrible a malady. Some time or other, be it
near or remote, in one year or in a million, there must
be repentance in the sinner, a turning away from sin
and to God, as the only possible means of bridging
over the otherwise impassable gulf that separates the
bad from the good, or hell from heaven. There is no
salvation for man but from sin ; there is no restoration
for him but to love.

But if this change in the sinner is not accomplished
in this world, what evidence have we that it can be
accomplished in any place of even limited punish-
ment ? In what conceivable way, we ask with deepest
awe, is a moral and responsible being, who ends this
life and begins another at enmity to God, rejecting
Christ, disbelieving the gospel, dead in trespasses and
in sins, hateful and hating, selfish and vile, — in what way
is he to be made holy after death, and before entering
heaven, by a temporary discipline of mere suffering ?

We are here considering the possible future of one
only who knows the gospel of the grace of God,
and we ask, what advantages will such an one pos-
sess elsewhere for the attainment of piety that are de-
nied him here ? If all that God has done to gain his
heart has so far failed up till the hour of his death,

148 Parish Papers.

that he is morally unfit by his habits or even desires
for the society of God and His people, what appliances
can we conceive of more likely to influence the will
and gain the affections in a prison-house set apart for
the reformation of the impenitent? Can the sinner
expect to meet, in this supposed place of punishment
and consequent reformation, more loving friends to
win him by such solemn counsels and tender ministra-
tions as earth did not afford? Does he anticipate
daily returning mercies and sources of enjoyment more
rich and varied than those possessed here, in order to
bring him back to God ? Will he possess a healthier
body, a happier home, holier society, a more beau-
teous world with fairer skies and brighter landscapes,
or any of those innumerable blessings which have such
a tendency to tame and soften the rudest nature1?
Shall means of grace be afforded more powerfully
calculated to enlighten the mind, convince the under-
standing, influence the will, or draw the affections of
the heart towards God 1 Shall Sabbaths of more peace-
ful rest dawn upon the troubled heart, or sacraments
of more healing virtue be administered ? Can retreats
be secured where God's Word may be read and prayer
enjoyed with more undisturbed repose? Will the gos-
pel be preached more faithfully, and a people be found
more loving and pious to assemble for public or pri-
vate worship ? Can a Saviour be offered more able or
willing to save, and the Spirit of God be poured down
upon the burning soil in more plenteous or life-giving
pentecostal showers? Is this how men picture to
themselves the place in which they expect to atone

Ftiture Punishment. 149

for past sins by limited suffering 1 Impossible ! They
are thinking of a world better and more glorious than
the present ; — not of a hell, but of a heaven !

Even if such a place were prepared for the impeni-
tent and wicked, what conceivable security is there
that a new mind and spirit would be the necessary
result of those new and enlarged benefactions? We
must assume that the power of sinning remains,
otherwise man's responsibility would cease, and punish-
ment thereby become mere cruelty. If sin is thus
possible, then why may not the sinner indulge there
in the same selfishness, disobedience, and rebellion
which characterised him here 1 Why may it not be
with him as with many a man who loves sin in the
low haunts of profligacy and crime, but loves it not
the less when brought into circumstances of greater
comfort and among society of greater godliness ?
But should it be otherwise, and the supposed place
of future punishment have none of those advantages,
— and we are forced by the necessity of the case to
assume their absence, at least for a limited period, and
to admit, in some form or other, the presence of a
dread and mysterious sorrow, — we ask again, on what
grounds is it concluded that this anticipated punish-
ment shall itself possess a healing virtue to produce,
some time or other, that love to God which, up till
the hour of death, has never been produced in the
sinner? Men attach, perhaps, some omnipotent power
to mere suffering, and imagine that if hatred to sin
and love to God are all that is needed, then a short
experience of the terrific consequences of a godless

Parish Papers.

past must insure a godly future. Why do they think
so 1 This is not the effect which mere punishment
generally produces on human character. Its tendency
is not to soften, but to harden the heart, — to fill it not
with love, but with enmity. It cannot fail, indeed, to
make the sufferer long for deliverance from the pain ;
but it does not follow that he thereby longs for deli-
verance from the sin which causes the pain, and for
the possession of the good which alone can remove
it. It is certainly not the case in this world, that bad
men are always disposed to repent and turn to God
in proportion as they suffer from their own wilfulness,
and become poor from idleness, broken in health
from dissipation, alienated from human hearts by their
selfishness, or pass, with a constantly increasing
anguish, through all the stages of outcasts from the
family ; dwellers among the profligate ; companions
in crime ; occupiers of prisons ; members of convict
gangs, till the scaffold with its beam and drop ends
the dreadful history. Such punishment as this, con-
stantly dogging the crime which at first created it and
ever preserves it, only makes the heart harder, fans
the passions into a more volcanic fire, and possesses the
soul with a more daring recklessness and wilder despe-
ration. And arguing from this experience, to which
men appeal, as if it was truer than the Word of God,
what more special virtue will punishment have in the
next world than in this 1 What tendency will there
be in that long night of misery to inspire a man with
the love of God, whose very character, and whose
holy and righteous will, have annexed the suffering

Fuhire Punishment. 1 5 1

to the sin? If the sinner's character is not thereby
reformed, and all the while he retains his responsi-
bility,— as he must do on the assumption that reforma-
tion is possible, — and if he continues to choose sin
with more diabolical hatred to the good, is it imagined
that such a process as this, of continued sin accom-
panied by continued mental suffering, will at any
period render him more meet to enjoy the holiness
of her.ven than when he first departed from the world
to enter upon his new and strange probation 1 Oh,
the more we think of it, the darker does the history
grow, — the faster does the descent of the evil spirit
become, down that pit which, from its very nature,
seems to be bottomless ! If means are discoverable
there more suited to gain the end of moral regenera-
tion than any which exist here, let them be pointed
out. We have searched in vain to find them in the
Word of God, or in the mind and history of man.

Making eveiy allowance for the real difficulties
which beset this question, and for the peculiar feelings,
partly allowable, and largely the reverse, with which
it is entertained, we have no doubt that many have
been driven to the extreme of utter disbelief in the
existence of any punishment by the bold and presump-
tuous manner in which they may have heard men con-
sign all the heathen, and all Christendom, with the
exception of a very few, to this awful doom. Infants
even have not escaped the condemnation of some
who, professing to have more orthodox faith than their
neighbours, have really little or any faith at all in God,
but utter mere words to which — in this case, fortu-

152 Parish Papers.

nately for themselves — they attach no meaning. For
if they did, what would life be to them, believing that
it was possible for their babe, because of Adam's sin,
to be cast for all eternity into literal fire % But while
we have perfect confidence in the salvation of infants,
and of many more, we dare not condemn any. The
living God, who alone knows each man, may be deal-
ing in ways beyond our comprehension with the most
lonely savage, whose inmost spirit He ever sees, and
who is of more awful value in His sight than all the
stars of the sky. How the living and omniscient
Spirit of God has access to the inner spirit of man, I
neither know nor could perhaps understand if it were
revealed ; nor how He can teach that spirit without
the gospel or the ordinary means of grace, so as to
bring it under law to God. But when I saw a child
(Laura Bridgman) who was born deaf, dumb, and
blind, marvellously educated by the genius and wis-
dom of her remarkable instructor, I could not but
feel how grand ends might be accomplished in the
human soul by means which before this experience I
would have pronounced as impossible ; — and it sug-
gested also to me how a poor heathen even, like that
blind girl, might be really taught by another person,
and be receiving light within, though for a time utterly
ignorant of either the name, the character, or the pur-
poses of the unseen and unheard teacher, who yet in
his own way gradually was training his scholar for
fellowship with God and man.* We ignorant and sin-

* As an illustration of this, see a remarkable account of a
North American Indian, narrated by Brainerd in his Diary, date
September 21, 1745.

Future Punishment. 153

ful men must confine our judgments as regards others
to what is right or wrong in their actions, and that
solely to guide ourselves in our personal duties towards
God and one another. But as to deciding the eternal
fate of any man, that, thank God ! can be done only
by Him to whom all men belong. When disposed to
occupy the throne of the judge, and to scrutinise human
character with a jealous regard for the righteousness of
God, let us at once do so by summoning ourselves to
the bar !

This, however, amidst all perplexities we may cer-
tainly rely upon with perfect confidence, that whatever
is finally decided, and whatever punishment is finally
awarded to any, will be in accordance with the perfect
will of " God, whose name is love so that all the
true and just, the good and loving in the universe, will,
when they know all the grounds of His judgment,
sympathise with their whole soul in His decisions, and
see His glory revealed in them. We also know that
there will be " a multitude greater than any man can
number " in God's family ; that they will be gathered
" out of every nation, kindred, and tongue ;". and this
we may hope for, that the number of the lost may be
to those who are saved fewer far than the number
of those in penal settlements and prisons are to the
inhabitants of a well-ordered and Christian kingdom.

But not only are our thoughts of future punishment
naturally darkened into deepest gloom by the assumed
multitudes of those who will suffer, but also by the
nature of those sufferings which we also assume are to
be assigned to them. We literally interpret all those
images of unquenchable fire and the undying worm,

154 Parish Papers.

borrowed from the constant conflagrations and cor-
ruptions of the offal and carcases of dead animals in
the valley of Hinnom, (or Gaienna,) near Jerusalem,
and also the obviously metaphorical language used in
the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as if neces-
sarily teaching that worms or fire would be employed
to torture for all eternity the immortal bodies of the
lost. But what if there is to be no such bodily pain %
though possibly there may be some kind of physical
suffering immediately produced by sin there as well
as here. What if the wicked shall be punished
only by permitting them to "eat the fruit of their
own way, and to be filled with their own devices'?"
What if, instead of the wrath of God being poured
upon them to the utmost, it will be inflicted in the
least possible measure, and only in the way of natural
consequence 1 What if the sin which makes the hell
hereafter, is, in spite of all its suffering, loved, clung
to, even as the sin is which makes the hell now?
Nay, what if every gift of God, and every capacity
for perverting His gifts, are retained ; and if the
sinner shall suffer only from that which he himself
chooses for ever, and for ever determines to possess ?
I do not say that it must be so ; but if it is so, then
might a hell of unbridled self-indulgence be preferred
then, as it is by many now, to a heaven whose blessed-
ness consisted in perfect holiness, and the posses-
sion of the love of God in Christ, for ever and ever.
Let, then, the fairest star be selected, like a beauteous
island in the vast and shoreless sea of the azure hea-
vens, as the future home of the criminals from the

Ftiture Punishment. 1 5 5

earth ; and let them possess in this material paradise
whatever they most love, and all that it is possible for
God to bestow ; let them be endowed with undying
bodies, and with minds which shall for ever retain their
intellectual powers ; let them no more be " plagued
with religion let no Saviour ever intrude His claims
upon them, no Holy Spirit disturb them, no God re-
veal Himself supernaturally to them ; let no Sabbath
ever dawn upon them, no saint ever live among them,
no prayer ever be heard within their borders ; but let
human beings exist there for ever, smitten only by the
leprosy of hatred to God, and with utter selfishness as
its all-prevailing and eternal purpose; then, as sure as
the law of righteousness exists, on which rests the throne
of God and the government of the universe, a society
so constituted must work out for itself a hell of solitary
and bitter suffering, to which no limit can be assigned
except the capacity of a finite nature. Alas ! the spirit
that is without love to its God or to its neighbour is
already possessed by a power which must at last create
for its own self-torment a worm that will never die,
and a flame that can never more be quenched !

And yet, when forced to come to this conclusion,
especially after reading the Scriptures, which in our
judgment but confirm it, and give it the sanction of
Divine authority, who can, even then, with his human
heart silence a " timid voice which asks in whispers"
many questions suggestive of what would appear to be
the brighter hope? "Who can limit" (in some such
form might those questionings be put) " the resources

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of God's infinite love and wisdom? May there not
be found means, though yet to us unknown, and as
yet unrevealed, by which the good shall ultimately
triumph over the evil, — when every being whom God
has originally made capable of love and joy will at last
fulfil His glorious purpose, — when every sheep lost to
the Shepherd 'will be found, and brought with rejoic-
ing back to the fold, — when every lost piece of money
with the King's image, defaced, yet not destroyed, will
be recovered from the dust and restored to the King's
treasury, — and when every prodigal, weary of his wan-
derings, convinced at last, through self-inflicted misery,
of his folly, and remembering a Father, will return to
that bosom which never can reject a child seeking
there his rest and refuge, — until, finally, there shall
not be throughout creation even one sinner, but a
mighty family of immortal beings, who, after their ter-
rible experience of the reign of self, shall freely and
joyfully accept of the reign of the blessed and loving
God ? If it is possible, must it not be so ? May we
not, in our darkness and difficulty, rely upon One
who, knowing man's fallen condition, yet said, In-
crease, and multiply, and replenish the earth? upon
One who declared it to be a legitimate source of joy
to every mother that a child was born to the world ?
upon One whose love to all whom He has made is
to our love as the light of the mighty sun to a fire-fly's
spark wandering in darkness?"

' ' Oh, yet we trust that somehow good

Will be the final goal of ill,

To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood

Future Punishment 157

" That nothing walks with aimless feet ;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete :

" That not a worm is chosen in vain ;
That not a moth with vain desire
Is shrivell'd in a pent-up fire,
Or but subserves another's gain.

* * * *

" So runs my dream : but what am I?
An infant crying in the night :
An infant crying for the light :
And with no language but a cry.

* * * »
" I falter where I firmly trod ;

And falling with my weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar stairs,
That slope through darkness up to God,

" I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope."

With deep sympathy for all who thus feel the weight
and pain of the subject, and who hope against hope,
we ourselves are compelled to abide in our first faith.
We cannot forget that Jesus Christ, the Son of God
and the Son of man, who was perfect love, truth, and
life, has neither Himself, nor through His apostles,
given us by one word the slightest ground for hoping
that any man who leaves this world an enemy to God
will ever repent and become a friend of God in the
next. The whole teaching of Scripture is one with
what prudence and principle would dictate : — Believe
in Jesus ; ?iow or never!

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Hear, in conclusion, God's Word : — " For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have everlasting life He that believeth

on him is not condemned ; but he that beliveth
not is condemned already, because he hath not be-
lieved in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. . . . He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the
wrath of God abideth on him."

Hebrews ii. i, 3: — "Therefore we ought to give
the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. . . .
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ;
which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord,
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.'''

WHAT AFTER DEATH?

TT would be very difficult, I think, to put a more
serious question to ourselves than this, What is
to become of us after death ?

All of us, I daresay, know from experience what is
meant by thoughtlessness or indifference about our
state for ever. There are, no doubt, some who,
from having had a godly upbringing in their youth,
or at least religious instruction, have always thought
more or less about what would become of their souls.
Perhaps these thoughts made them uneasy, afraid, or
anxious ; but still they were often in their mind, espe-
cially in times of sickness, or when death came near
their doors, or any event occurred which obliged them
to think of eternity, and of what might happen to
themselves if they were to die suddenly, and appear
before God. But there are others, again, who seem
never at any time to have had a serious thought about
their life after death. They have, perhaps, not had
the same advantage with those I have been speaking
of, but from infancy have lived among worldly-minded
people, who gave the impression, by their conversation

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and general conduct, on week-days and Sundays, that
this world was everything, and the next world nothing ;
that this world alone was real ; and that man's chief
end was to labour in it, and for it alone, to make money
in it, be happy in it, get everything for self out of it,
and, as a matter of hard necessity, at last die in it, and
go from it — Whither ? Ah ! who could tell that ? — who
ever thought of that ? To them it seemed that death
ended all that was reality, and began all that was vision-
ary. But whether early education is to blame, certain it
is that many people do come to this state. They seem
stoneblind to the future. Not one ray of light gets an
entrance into their spirits from the great and eternal
world, on whose confines they every moment live.
They think, fear, hope, rejoice, plan, and purpose ;
but always about this world, — never about the other !
To rise in the morning ; to be occupied during the
day ; to buy and sell, and get gain ; to talk on politics
or trade ; to gossip about people, and all they speak
or do ; to marry or give in marriage ; to have this
meeting or that parting; to give a feast or partake
of one ; to fear sickness, and to keep it off ; or to be
sick, and to try and get better : — all this sort of life,
down to its veriest trifles, they understand and sym-
pathise with, and busy themselves about. But what
of God and Christ? — of eternal joy or sorrow ? — of
how a man should live to God, please Him, enjoy
Him, love Him, and walk daily in fellowship with
Him? What of such questions as, — What shall be-
come of us in eternity? What shall we do to be
saved ? How shall we obtain life eternal ? How

What after Death ? 1 6 1

shall we fulfil the end of our being ? All this — oh,
strange mystery ! — has no interest to them. These
thoughts, or any like these, never cross their mind,
perhaps, from morning till night, or from the first till
the last day of the year. They may, perhaps, have
heard these words, read them in books, or heard
ministers speak them from the pulpit on Sunday,
and they know that the words have to do with what
they call " religion," but never think they have to
do with what awfully concerns themselves ! They are
words, but not about realities ; or if they express reali-
ties, yet realities which belong to some world of mist,
and cloud, and darkness, far, far away — one not nearly
so real as this world of their own, made up of fields
and barns, streets and shops, sea and ships, friends
and action ! But what, let me ask, separates us from
that world which we think to be so very far off — so
very unreal ? The thin coat of an artery ! No more !
Let the thin pipe burst through which our life-blood
is now coursing in the full play of health, and where
then will our present world, now so very real, be to
us? In a single second it will have vanished for
ever from our grasp, like something we clutch at in
the visions of the night. And where then will that
other world be which to many is now so dim and un-
real as not to be worth thinking about? We, the
same living persons, will be in it — in the midst of
all its realities ; and with these we shall have to do,
and with these only, for ever and ever.

But many people do not wish to think about the
unseen future. It is not so much that no thoughts

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about it intrude themselves upon their minds, as that
all such thoughts are deliberately banished. It is with
the eternal future as with anything which here gives
them pain, — they " hate to think about it." This, of
course, arises from the suspicion, or rather the convic-
tion, that it cannot be a good future to them. They
have read enough about it from the Bible to make it
alarming. At all events, they have no security for its
being to them as happy as the present ; and so, whether
from a fearful looking for of judgment, because of their
sins, or from ignorance of the means of salvation, or
from unbelief in the good-will of God as ready to save
them, the result is, that they voluntarily shut their
eyes to, and banish all thought of, eternity. It pains
them — it agonises them — to put the question, "What is
to become of me when I die 1 " And the more pain the
question gives them, the more they fly to the world, and
occupy their minds with its society, its amusements,
and even its dissipation and debaucheries, in order to
banish care and snatch a fleeting joy. O my brother,
if you so act, from my soul I feel for you and pity you !
For the sick-bed is coming, and you may be compelled
to think there ; and if so, you are treasuring up tenfold
agony for yourself, by your present off-putting apathy
and wilful thoughtlessness. And should you manage,
even in the time of sickness, and up to the very hour
of death, to shut out the future from your mind; should
long and inveterate habit enable you to succeed in the
terrible, suicidal experiment, so that you shall die as
you have lived — fearing nothing, because believing
nothing, — can you avoid entering the other world ?

What after Death ? 163

Can you prevent a meeting between yourself and your
God ; or silence an accusing conscience for ever ; or
hinder Christ from coming to judge the world ; or fly
from the judgment-seat, and by any possibility delay
or prevent a minute examination of your life ; or stay
the sentence which the omniscient and holy Judge
shall pronounce upon you? And if you cannot do
this, — and if, rather, every power, faculty, and emotion
of your heart and soul must one day be roused to
the intensest pitch of earnestness about your eternal
destiny, — do you not think it wise, my brother, to think
about all this now? — now, when there is a remedy,
rather than then, when there is none %

This suggests another reason why possibly you hate
to think about the future. Not only are you conscious
of want of any preparedness for it, but you do not see
how it can be much better with you. You have, in a
word, lost confidence in God — have no faith in His
good-will to you. You think of Him — if you think of
Him at all— as one who watches you with a jealous
or angry eye ; who has no wish that you should be
better or happier than you are ; or who, if He can
save you, will not ; or who, if He will, offers to do so
only on such hard and impossible terms as to make it
practically the same as if there was no salvation for
you. In one word, you suspect God hates you, or at
least is indifferent to you — if, indeed, He knows any-
thing at all about you, which you are not quite sure
of! It is very shocking to write such things : but it is
much more shocking that any one should think or be-
lieve such things ; for he who so thinks and believes is

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as yet profoundly ignorant of God. What is called
God, is as unlike Him who is the living and true God
as is any hideous idol in a heathen temple. But this
ignorance breeds fear — and fear, hate — and hate in-
creases the fear, until the future, in which this God
must be met, is put away as a horrible thing, or never
thought of at all.

But, my brother, why should you thus think of God,
and so fear to think of the future % Read only what
the Bible says of Him, and learn what true Christians
know of Him, and listen honestly to how your own
conscience responds to all you hear about Him, and
then consider whether you can conceive of one more
glorious in his character, or more worthy of your love.
Peruse the history of Jesus Christ, and tell me any-
thing He ever said or did calculated to fill your heart
with fear or hate towards Him, — and remember, that
he who sees Him sees the Father. Think of all Jesus
suffered as our atoning Saviour, and all " to bring us
to God." Think of all God has promised to those
who will only trust Him through Jesus, — the pardon
of all sin, and the gift of a new heart ; with every-
thing which can do them good, or make them happy ;
and say, How can this make you dislike God 1 Think
of all He has given you since you were born, —
friends and relations, health of body, powers of
mind, much time, many happy days, innumerable
mercies and sources of enjoyment ; think how liber-
ally, ungrudgingly, He has opened His hand ; think
what patience, forbearance, kindness, He has shewn,
and what the eternal future has in store for all who

What after Death ?

165

love Him ; and tell me, What has He done to make
you dislike Him ? Reflect on what He could have
done and could do, if He disliked you as you dis-
like Him, and say, How can you continue in your
enmity? O my brother, "Only believe!" Believe
that " God is love." Believe that " in this is mani-
fested the love of God, that He gave His Son to be
a propitiation for our sins." Believe that He willeth
not that any should perish, — that He has no pleasure
in the death of sinners, — that He is ready to forgive,
— that this is the record, that " God hath given eternal
life." Believe — trust in God for the good, the whole
good, the most perfect good, that of a child's heart
and sincere love towards Him, which He seeks in you
— trust God for this through faith in Christ, and in
the mighty power of that Spirit who is love ; and de-
pend upon it, when you know God, and see how
excellent He is, and understand His love to you, and
what He is willing to make you, and to give you, and,
above all, when you know what He himself will be to
you for ever, you surely cannot choose but Him ! and
" there is no fear in love; because fear hath torment!"

MOMENTS IN LIFE.

T)Y moments in life, I mean certain periods which
occur more or less frequently in our history, —
when the spirit in which we then live, the step we
then take, the word we then utter, or what we at that
moment think, resolve, accept, reject, do, or do not,
may give a complexion to our whole future being both
here and hereafter.

Let me notice one or two features which charac-
terise those moments.

They may, for example, be veiy brief. Napoleon
once remarked, that there was a crisis in every battle,
when ten minutes generally determined the victory
on one side or other. Yet on the transactions of
those few minutes the fate of empires may hang, and
on the single word of command, rapidly spoken amidst
the roar of cannon and the crash of arms, the destinies
of the human race be affected. Men in public life,
who are compelled every day to decide on matters
of importance, appreciate the value of minutes, and
estimate the necessity of snatching them as they pass

Moments in Life.

167

with promptness and decision; — of "taking advantage
of the chance," as they say, knowing well that if that
moment is allowed to pass, "the chance" it brings
is gone for ever ; that whatever their hand " finds to
do" must be done then or never. The results to
them of what they decide at that moment may be
incalculable. What is then done may never be un-
done; yet not another second is added to the time
given them for action. Within the germ of that brief
moment of life is contained the future tree of many
branches and of much fruit.

AVhat a brief moment, indeed, in our endless life is
the whole period even of the longest life on earth ! It
is compared to a vapour, which appeareth for a short
time, and then vanisheth away ; to "a watch in the
night," — " a tale that is told." And if we but con-
sider how nearly a third portion of our threescore
years and ten is necessarily spent in sleep; and add
to this the years spent during infancy while prepar-
ing for labour ; during old age, when our labours are
well-nigh past ; and many more consumed in adorn-
ing and supporting or giving rest to the body ; and
then if, after summing up those years, we deduct what
remains of time at the disposal of the oldest man for
the formation of active thought and the improvement
of his spiritual being, oh ! how brief is the whole
period of our mortal life, when longest, though its
transactions are to us fraught with endless and awful
consequences !

Another characteristic of those moments in life is
the silence with which they may come and pass away.

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No " sign " may be given to indicate their importance
to us. They do not announce their approach with
the sound of a trumpet, nor demand with a voice of
thunder our immediate and solemn attention to their
interests ; but stealthily, quietly, with noiseless tread
like spirits from another world, they come to us, put
their question, speak the word, and vanish to heaven
with our reply. In after years, possibly, with " the
long results of time " to guide us upward as by a
stream to the tiny threads of this fountain of life and
action, we may be able in a greater degree to realise
of what tremendous importance they were to us.
" Had we only known this at the time ! " we exclaim,
as we revolve those memories, and think of all we
would have said or done ; — " had we only known ! "
But it is not God's will that we should know how
much of the future is involved in the present, or how
all we shall be is determined by what we may resolve
to be or do at any particular moment. Such a revela-
tion would paralyse all effort, and destroy the main-
spring of all right action. Sight would thus be sub-
stituted for faith ; the fear of evil consequences for
the fear of evil; and the love of future benefits for
the love of present duty. God will have us rather
cultivate habitually a right spirit at each moment,
so as to be able to act rightly when the all-important
moment comes, whether we then discover its import-
ance or not. Let us not be surprised, then, if God
comes to us, not in the strong wind, the earthquake,
or the fire, but only in the still small voice which
speaks to the heart or to the conscience, demanding

Moments in Life.

169

the conduct which becomes us as responsible beings
and as obedient children.

But let me illustrate these remarks by a few exam-
ples of " moments in life," and such as must come to
us all.

It is a solemn " moment in life " when the glad
tidings of the love of God in Christ Jesus are heard and
understood. Remember that we are saved by " the
truth;" born again "of the Word;" sanctified "by
the truth." To receive the truth of God, then, as a
living power into the mind and conscience, is of in-
finite importance to us. Now, while God's truth comes
to us " at various times and in diverse manners," there
are moments in life when we cannot choose but feel
as if it was addressing our inner spirit as it never did
before, and earnestly knocking for admission. The
circumstances in which this appeal is made may be
what are called commonplace ; such as when hearing
a sermon preached from the pulpit, when reading a
book by the fireside, or when conversing for a few
minutes with an acquaintance ; yet at such times
truth expressed in a single sentence, or in a few words,
may search our spirits, and gaze on us with a solemn
look, saying, "Thou art the man I am in search of!"
But, as it sometimes happens, the circumstances in
which we are thus arrested by the truth, and are com-
pelled to listen to it for weal or woe, may be peculiarly
impressive ; as when we are ourselves in sickness or
danger, or when addressed by a parent or dear friend
on their dying bed, or when in deep family distress, or
when standing beside the grave that conceals our best

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earthly treasure from our sight. At such moments
the voice of God's Spirit is awfully solemn as He
cries, " Now is the day of salvation ;" " To-day, if ye
will hear His voice, harden not your hearts ;" " Be-
lieve and live."

These moments may be very brief. The crisis of
the battle between God and self, right and wrong,
truth and falsehood, may be concentrated into a few
minutes. But time sufficient is, nevertheless, given
wherein to test our truthfulness, the soil in which truth
grows, the mirror that reflects its beams ; time suffi-
cient is given to say Yes or No to that God who
claims our faith and love. Truth comes with autho-
rity and majesty as an ambassador from the living
God, and with clear voice, pure eye, and an arm
omnipotent to save, offers to give light, life, and
liberty to the captive spirit. But we may evade his
bright glance, and close our ears to his voice, and
refuse to consider his claims, and deal falsely with his
arguments ; we may reject his offers, and, shrinking
back from his touch and his helping hand, retire into
the gloom of self-satisfied pride, preferring the darkness
to the light ; or we may make merry with Heaven's
ambassador, and mock him as they did the prophet of
old ; or cry out, "Away with him \" as the world cried
to the Lord of light and life. And what if the second
ambassador never comes again with such pressing
earnestness, but passes by the door once so rudely
closed against him, and will knock no more? Or,
though he may in mercy return again and again, what
if the eye gets blinded by the very light which it re-

Moments in Life.

171

jects ? and the ear becomes so familiar with the voice,
that it attracts attention no more than the winds that
beat upon the wall ; and the heart becomes so hardened
as to be unimpressible, until the dread sentence is at
last passed, — "Because I have called, and ye refused;
I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ;
but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would
none of my reproof : I also will laugh at your cala-
mity ; I will mock when your fear cometh ; when your
fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh
as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh
upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will
not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall
not find me : for that they hated knowledge, and did
not choose the fear of the Lord : they would none of
my counsel : they despised all my reproof. Therefore
shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices."

A young man came to Jesus seeking eternal life.
" Jesus, looking on him, loved him," and answered
his prayers by teaching him how eternal life could
alone be attained. But the young man went away
sorrowful, because he had much riches. What a his
tory was contained in that brief moment of his life !

Again, young King Agrippa, along with the young
Bernice, hear a sermon from Paul die prisoner. The
outward picture presented to the eye on that day
had nothing more remarkable or peculiar about it
than has been witnessed a thousand times before
and since. Those royal personages entered " the
place of hearing" with "great pomp," accompanied

172 Parish Pdpcrs.

by "the chief captains and principal men of the
city." And before them appeared an almost un-
known prisoner, upon whom his own nation, includ-
ing "the chief priests and elders from Jerusalem,"
demanded the judgment of death to be passed.
That prisoner, " in bodily presence weak and con-
temptible," was however "permitted to speak for
himself ;" and verily he did speak ! He spoke of God
and Christ ; of repentance and the new life ; and
of his own glorious commission to " open the eyes"
of men, "to turn them from darkness to light, from
the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive
the forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them
that are sanctified through faith in Jesus." What a
revelation was this from God to man ! The voice
which spoke from Sinai and through the prophets, the
voice of Him who is truth and love, spoke at that
moment of life through Paul to those royal hearers,
and to the captains and principal men. But Agrippa,
with a sneer or with some conviction of the truth,
replied, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Chris-
tian." Unlike St Paul himself, when the Lord spoke
to him on his way to Damascus, Agrippa was dis-
obedient to the heavenly vision. And so the sermon
ended; the gay multitude dispersed; the place of
hearing was left in silence, and echoed only the mid-
night winds or the beat of the sea-wave on the neigh-
bouring shore. St Paul retired to his cell; Agrippa,
Festus, and Bernice, to their chambers of rest, to
sleep and dream by night, as they slept and dreamt by
day. But they never heard the apostle preach again !

Moments in Life.

173

It was their first and last sermon ; that moment in
their life came and passed, but never returned. Like
two ships which meet at midnight on a moonlit sea,
those two persons, the prisoner and the king, spoke,
then each passed into the darkness, and onward on
their voyage to their several ports, but never met again !
Oh, how awful are such moments when truth reveals
herself to the responsible spirit of man ! And so, my
reader, does it ofttimes happen between thee and
God's Spirit. Let me beseech of thee to " redeem the
time," to know this " the day of thy visitation," and
to hear and believe " the word of the Lord."

Another " moment in life " which may be specially
noticed, is that in which we are tempted to evil.
Temptations are no doubt " common to man." Our
whole life in a. sense is a temptation, for whatever
makes a demand upon our choice as moral beings,
involves a trial of character, and tests the " spirit we
are of." But nevertheless there do occur periods in
our lives when such trials are^ peculiarly testing ; when
large bribes are offered to the sin that doth so easily
beset us, tempting us to betray conscience, give up
principle, lose faith in the right and in God, and to
serve the devil, the world, or the flesh. Such moments
may be very brief, yet decisive of our future life.
They may come suddenly upon us, though possibly
many notes of warning have announced their approach.
For they are often but the apex of the pyramid to
which many previous steps have gradually and almost
imperceptibly led ; the beginning of a battle, which
must at last be fought, and very shortly decided, but

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yet the ending of many previous skirmishings. Be
this as it may, that moment of life does come to us
all, when evil like the enemy appears to concentrate
against us its whole force, and when we must fight,
conquer, or die ; when like a thief it resolves to break
into our home and take possession ; when as a de-
ceiver it promises happiness, and demands immediate
acceptance or rejection of the splendid offer, — "All
these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and
worship me I"

What a moment is this in the life of many a young
person. How unutterably solemn is the first delibe-
rate act which opposes conscience, rebels against the
authority of God and of His law, shuts out the light,
and prefers darkness. Future character, and the life
and happiness of years, may be determined by it.
The step taken in that brief moment, the lie uttered,
the dishonesty perpetrated, the drunkenness or de-
bauchery indulged in, the prayers for the first time
given up, and the father's home left for the far country.
Who can realise the consequences of those first acts,
or estimate the many links of evil, and the endless
chain itself, that may connect themselves with the one
link of sin fashioned in that moment of life ! Who
can foresee the streams ever increasing in breadth and
depth which may flow from this letting in of water !
Would God that my readers, young men especially,
would but believe in the possibility even of the choice
they make at such a time determining their future
destiny. The thought of this might at least make
them pause and consider.

Moments in Life.

175

There is no exaggeration in this language. To real-
ise the danger, all we need assume is the law of habit ;
for, according to that law, we know that any act of
the will, good or bad, has a tendency to repeat itself
with increasing ease and decreasing consciousness,
until it becomes a " second nature." Hence the first
resistance of evil is much less difficult than any sub-
sequent attempt ; and he who in one moment of life
could by a manly effort become a conqueror, and
enter on a life of principle and peace, may, by yield-
ing, very soon sink down into a degraded slave, who
is held fast by the iron chain of habit, each link of
which he has himself forged by his own self-will.

What a moment was that in the life of Herod
when he permitted evil desire for Herodias to enter
his soul. That desire conceived sin, and sin when
finished brought forth death. Acts passed into habits,
and habits into a life of abandoned passion. Then
came the festive birthday, and the dancing before him
of the daughter of his paramour ; and then the foul
murder, with the spectacle of the bloody head, closed
eyes, and sealed lips of the greatest and noblest man
of his time ; and then followed the hour when Jesus
Himself was brought before the murderer, when the
Lord spoke not one word of warning, rebuke, or
mercy to him, but smote the wretch with the terrible
wrath and righteous judgment of silence !

What a moment in life was that, too, when Judas
welcomed covetousness into his heart as a most pro-
fitable guest. Then one day Covetousness offered
him thirty pieces of silver if he would betray his Lord;

1 76 Parish Papers.

and Judas agreed to the proposal. A whole eternity
of misery was involved in that moment of his life : for
the night soon arrived when the bargain was to be
kept. A few moments more, and the history will end
here to begin elsewhere. Yet there is not a sign on
earth or heaven to indicate the importance cf that
brief hour to Judas ! He forms one among the most
distinguished company that ever sat at the same table
since the earth began; and never did mortal ears listen
to such words uttered by human lips, nor did mortal
eyes ever contemplate such a scene of peace and love
as was witnessed in that upper room in Jerusalem.
But the hour has struck, and Judas rises to depart.
The deed of darkness must now be done. It is late,
and he has made a most important appointment; un-
less he keeps it, he may lose his money; and what a
loss to the poor follower of a man who had nowhere
to lay His head! Judas leaves that company; and
what was there in things visible to make him suspect
even that an awful moment of life — his last — had
come ? All was calm within that upper room, — all
was peace in the world without. The naked heavens
shone in the calm brilliancy of an Eastern night. The
streets of Jerusalem, along which the traitor passed
on his dreadful errand, echoed his footsteps in their
silence. Yet Judas, " the son of perdition," was at
that moment on his way " to his own place ! "

And thus it is with mam- a man in the hour of temp-
tation. The voice of sin speaks not loudly, but whis-
pers to his inner spirit. He pursues his path of evil
without alarm being given by sight or sound from

Moments in Life.

177

heaven or earth. There is nothing in the world with-
out to disturb the thoughts and purposes of the world
within his false and unprincipled soul. The moment
of his life brings the temptation, and he yields his
soul to its power, and the moment passes with as
noiseless a step ; and soon the last moment comes,
and passes away; but he too has noiselessly passed
away with it " to his own place ! "

The "moment in life" when we are called upon to
perform some positive duty, is one which is often very
critical and full of solemn consequences to us. The
duty may appear to be a very trifling one, — such as
writing a letter, visiting a friend, warning some brother
against evil, aiding another, or sympathising with a
sufferer in his sorrow. But whatever the work may
be, and in whatever way it is to be performed, whether
by word or deed, by silence or by speech, yet there is
a time given us for doing it, very brief perhaps, and
unaccompanied by any sign to mark its significance,
— a time, nevertheless, when whatever has to be done
must be done quickly, " now or never."

Such a moment in life was that in the history of
the three apostles who accompanied our Lord, at
His own request, in order to watch with Him in His
last agony. As a man, He deserved their thought-
ful presence, their watchful sympathy, when enduring
the dread sorrow which filled His cup, from realising
by anticipation all that was before Him. Thrice
He came to them from the spot, not far off, where
He wrestled in prayer with His terrible agony.
Thrice He found them asleep. " What ! " he asked,

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" could ye not watch with me one hour ] " Ah ! they
knew not what an hour that was ! — what it was to
Him — what it was and might have been to them !
They might have had the joy, the exalted privilege,
which for ever would have been as a very heaven
of glory in their memory, of sharing, through the
power of sympathising love, the burden of their
Lord's anguish. But they yielded to the flesh, and
permitted that moment of time to pass ; and when
they at last roused themselves from their slumber, it
was too late. That moment in life had come and
gone, and could return no more. " Sleep on, and
take your rest ; behold, he who betrayeth me is at
hand ! "

And thus it often happens in the life of us all. An
hour is given us when something may be done for our
Lord or our brethren, which cannot possibly be done
if that hour is permitted to pass away unimproved.
Then we may teach an ignorant soul, or rouse a
slothful one to action ; we may alarm one who is
lethargic, worldly, sensual, "without God or Christ
in the world,-' so as to win him to both ; or we may
comfort the feeble-minded, and support the weak.
Circumstances may give us the opportunity, and the
"moment in life," when such works may be done.
The persons to be helped are perhaps inmates of our
dwelling ; they are our relations : they are sick or
dying ; or they have cast themselves upon our aid.
But we let the moment pass. The work given us is
not done. We have neglected it from sloth, pro-
crastination, thoughtlessness, or selfishness. And we

Moments in Life.

179

may become awake to our culpable negligence, and
rouse ourselves to duty. But, alas ! those whom we
could have aided are past help. They are dead, or
are removed from our influence, or in some way
" past remedy." And so the moment in life given
us is gone, and gone for ever, except to meet us and
to accuse us before the bar of God. And thus it is
with duty in countless forms. What our hands find
to do must be done quickly, if done at all, and in the
time given us. If not, a night comes, and may come
soon and come suddenly, in which either we ourselves
cannot work, or in which, though at last willing to do
it, it is no longer given us to do.

But there is one moment in life — and I conclude
by suggesting it to your thoughts — which must come
to every man, and which generally comes with signs
sufficiently significant of its importance, — I mean the
last moment which closes our life on earth. Come it
must. And, as an old writer remarks, "the day we
die, though of no importance to the world, is to our-
selves of more importance than is all the world." That
moment in life ends time to us, and begins eternity ;
it ends our day of grace and begins the day of judg-
ment ; it separates us from the world in which we
have lived since we were born, and introduces us to
the unseen, unknown world of things and persons in
which we must live for ever during the life of God.
What a moment is this ! It may come in the quiet of
our own chamber, or amidst the confusion and excite-
ment of some dread accident by land or sea ; it may
be heralded by long sickness or old age, and accom-

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panied by much weakness and bodily suffering. Eut
if that moment, when it comes, is to bring us peace,
let our present moments, as they come, find us watch-
ful, conscientious, believing, and prayerful. And
should these words of mine be read by chance by
one who has begun his last moment without having
begun the work for which he was created, preserved,
and redeemed, let me beseech of him to improve it
by repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ,
who will pardon his sins, give him a new heart, and
save him as he did the thief on the cross. If every
hour of his day of grace has been misimproved, let
not this last be added to the number. If he has stood
all the day idle, let him in the eleventh hour accept
his Master's work of faith alone in his own soul, and
do what he can for the good of others. But let this
moment in life pass, then shall the next moment after
death bring only fear and anguish ; for, be warned and
also encouraged by the words of the truthful and
loving Jesus, uttered with many tears, over lost souls,
— " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this
thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace ; but
now they are for ever hid from thine eyes ! "

"LABOURERS TOGETHER
WITH GOD."

HESE words seem to me to express the idea of

-** true labour, such as God calls us to, and in
the doing of which there is a great reward. They
imply that the living God has a work to do on earth,
in men and by men ; that in this work He has — if I
may so express it — a deep personal interest, because
it is one worthy of Himself, and for the advancement
of His own glory, and the good and happiness of man.

Now, God wishes us to know this work, and to
sympathise with Him in it. He does not conceal
from us what He wishes done, or what He himself is
doing ; nor obliges us to remain for ever blind as to
His will and purposes regarding ourselves or others ;
so that, if we work at all, we must work according to
our own wills only, and for our own purposes. Instead
of this, He reveals in His Word, by His Son, through
His Spirit, and in the conscience, what His will is —
what He wishes us to be and do. Nor does He say
to us, " Learn my commands, and obey them ; but
seek not to know why I have so commanded." Were

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it impossible, indeed, to know why any command
was given, the mere fact of its injunction would itself
demand instant compliance ; " but," says our Lord,
"I have not called you servants, but friends, for
the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth." The
servant or slave does not occupy the place which
the friend does. The one hears only what is com-
manded ; but the other, through personal acquaintance
with the master, is enabled to sympathise with the
righteousness and love in the command. The friend
not only knows what, as a servant, he must do, but
sees how right and beautiful it is that he should be
commanded so to do. In like manner, we read that
God made known His "ways" to Moses, but only
His " acts " to the children of Israel. This revelation
of principle and plan to His sen-ant was indeed a
speaking with him " face to face ;" and thus does God
speak to us now in these latter days by the grace and
truth revealed in His Son. And it is only when we
thus know God's work on earth, and when, from a will
and character brought into harmony with His, we see
how excellent the work is, that we can be, not labourers
only, but "yi'//<?zi/-labourers" with God; — not workers
only, but '; workers together with Him.

Consider, for instance, the work of God in our
men souls. This is, as far as we ourselves are con-
cerned, the most important work in the universe.
Upon it depends whether the universe shall be to
us a heaven or a hell. " What will a man give in
exchange for his soul V is a question which assumes

" Labourers together with God." 183

that to the man himself nothing can be so valuable.
But has God any work to do in our souls? Has
He ever expressed any wish as to what He would
have us believe, become, or enjoy, or revealed for
what end or purpose He made our spirits ? Is there
no wrong state or condition in us with which He
is "angry" and grieved," and no right state with
which He is "delighted," and over which He "re-
joices?" Has He laid no command upon us to
"work out our own salvation with fear and trem-
bling?" and has He given no intimation of His
"working in us to will and do?" Or is it to Him
the same whether we are wrong or right ? Surely
we can have no difficulty in replying to such all-
important questions ! If a man loses faith in the
reality and sincerity of God's wish, that he personally
should have his guilty soul freely pardoned, and his
unholy soul sanctified, and his whole being renewed
after God's own image, — that he himself should be a
good, a great, a happy man, by knowing and loving
his God ; and if a man brings himself to such a state
of practical atheism as to doubt whether God knows
or cares anything about him ; — then it is impossible
for such a man to be " a fellow-labourer," a "worker
together" with God in his own soul ; for he does not
know and has never heard of any work of God re-
quired there. But if he believes that God is indeed
his " Father in heaven /'—that He has goodwill to
him, and therefore desires his good by desiring him
to be good ;— that, for the accomplishment of this
end, all has been done which is recorded in the

184 Parish Papers.

Bible, from Genesis to Revelation ; — that God has
been working in him, through agencies innumerable,
since his childhood, by parents and friends, by tender
mercies and bitter chastisements, by Sabbath ordi-
nances and pulpit ministrations, by the constant wit-
ness of conscience and the Word of God, in order
that he should know and love God his Father, —
then, seeing this, will he see also how he may be a
" fellow-labourer with God." And have not you, my
reader, been conscious of this work ? You cannot get
quit of the conviction that there is One higher than
yourself with whom you have to do, — One who is
ever with you, seeking to deliver you from evil, from
your own evil self, — One whose voice is never silent,
and who is righteously judging your daily life. And
have you never been conscious, too, of fighting against
what you certainly knew was not self, but a holy,
winning, mysterious power or Person, who opposed
self, and for that very reason was resisted by self?
And therefore your sin has not been the ignorance of
good, but opposing the good, — not the absence, but
the resisting of a good work in you. It is on this
very principle men will be condemned, for " This is
the condemnation, that light hath come into the world,
and men prefer darkness to light, because their deeds
are evil." And if this has been your sin, so has it
been your misery. In exact proportion as you thus
"hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of
the Lord," you become wretched and unsatisfied. No
wonder ! for with whom does the man work when he

" Labourers together with God." 185

works in opposition to the will of God 1 In refusing
to serve God, he serves Satan, and becomes a " worker
together" with "the spirit who now worketh in the
children of disobedience I"

Well, then, what are you to do? I reply: "Yield
yourselves to God;" "be subject to the Father of
your spirit, and live." " Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread ? and your la-
bour for that which satisfieth not 1 Hearken dili-
gently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and
let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your
ear, and come unto me : hear, and your soul shall
live." Instead of being workers against, seek to be
" workers together" with God in your own souls ; to
have His " work of faith and love," and everything
beautiful and holy, perfected in you. Believe in Jesus
Christ as the living Person who alone can and will
save you, by pardoning your sins, and giving you His
Spirit to make you like Himself. Begin your work
by assuming that God is working in you to will and
do ; and because you have Him, through His omnipo-
tent Spirit, working in you, do not be as one who
beats the air in aimless and profitless warfare, nor
strive against nor grieve that Spirit, but through
Him " work out your own salvation." In thus plead-
ing with you, I feel that I myself am but working with
God ; for I can say with the apostle, " Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be
ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to

1 86 Parish Papers.

be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as
workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye
receive not the grace of God in vain."

Put this question in another way : Suppose you had
met Jesus Christ when He was on earth ; that you
had listened to one of His appeals when He preached
the gospel from city to city, and felt His eye looking
at you as He spoke in His own name, and in the
name of His Father, saying, " Come unto me, all ye
who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you
rest " — " The Son of man hath come to seek that
which is lost," and the like ; that you had witnessed
the delight it gave Him to do good, and to find any
one willing to receive His overflowing love, and the
sorrow He endured when men would not believe
in Him or trust Him, but preferred remaining with-
out the blessing ; and that you had accompanied
Him during His ministry on earth, and studied His
character from all you saw and heard, — could the
impression made upon you in such circumstances
be thus expressed, " I believe that Thou carest not
for me ; that my well-doing or ill-doing are equally
matters of indifference to Thee ; and that there is
no faith or love that Thou desirest to see accom-
plished in my soul?" Would you have dared to
speak in anything like this strain of blasphemy to
the holy Saviour had you met Him % Or would you
not have been overwhelmed by the conviction, that
whether you yielded to His wishes or not, these wishes
were clear and unquestionable — that from His char-

" Labourers together with God" 187

acter as a man having fellowship with God, His work
as the Saviour of sinners, His revealed will as Lord,
nothing could be more certain than that He wished
you personally to be holy and happy through faith in
His name ; and accordingly, that if you accepted His
call, and His offer of power to be so, you were but
working with Him ; and that if you neglected both,
you were certainly working against Him ?

But with this personal Saviour you have to do just
as really and truly now as any of His disciples who
had followed Him when on earth ; and so I beseech
you to be fellow-labourers with Him in His own holy
and living work within your own soul. Let your
prayer then be : " Thy will be done ! Let Thy holy
and loving will, my Father, be done in me ! I believe
in Thy forgiveness, and am at peace with Thee, ac-
cording to that will, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus. And as this is also Thy will, even my
sanctification, and Thy revealed purpose, that I should
be made conformable to the image of Thy Son, so let
Thy grace, which is sufficient for the chief of sinners,
daily bring this salvation into me, by teaching me to
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world ; that so
learning Christ, taking up His cross daily, following
Him and being disciplined by Him, I may be taught
to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of
my mind ; and, as Thine own workmanship, be created
anew in Christ Jesus unto good works. Amen ! "

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Let us consider for a little longer God's work in us,
by His providential dealings towards us. A moment's
reflection will suffice to remind you that God, in His
providence, is constantly working with you. He is,
for instance, a wonderful Giver. "He gives us all
things richly to enjoy." " He openeth His hand
liberally." His mercies are more than can be num-
bered ; though as a father He also chastises His
children. " The Lord gives, and the Lord takes
away." Now, in whatever way God deals with us,
whether He gives or takes, there is a purpose which
He wishes accomplished. He has a work to do in us
by every joy and every sorrow. There is a voice for
us in the rod of darkness, and in the ray of sunshine ;
and it is our duty, our strength, our peace, to hear
that voice, and to know that work of providence so as
to be fellow-labourers with God in it. Perhaps you
are disposed to excuse yourselves for want of sober
inquiry into God's dealings with you, by saying, that
it is very hard to know, and often impossible to dis-
cover, what object or purpose He has in view when
sending to us this gift or that grief. In some cases it
may be so ; but it is much to know and to remember
what God's purpose is not, and what He can never
wish to have accomplished, either by what He gives
to us or takes from us. Never can it be the purpose
of God, in any case, to advance the work of Satan in
our souls, or to retard within us the coming of His
own glorious kingdom of righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Never can He send us a gift
to make us proud, vain, indolent, covetous, earthly-

" Labourers together with God." 189

minded, sensual, devilish, or in any degree to alienate
us from Himself as our chief good. For whatever
purpose He fashioned our body with such exquisite
care, providing so rich a supply for all its senses, it
was not, assuredly, that we should make that body
the instrument of degrading and ruining the immortal
soul, and of sinking our whole being down to a level
with the beasts that perish ! He never gave beauty
of form to make us vain or sensuous ; nor poured
wine into our cup that we should become drunk-
ards ; nor spread food on our table merely to pamper
our self-indulgence and feed our passions. He never
gave us dominion over the earth that we should be
Satan's slaves. He never awoke from silence the
glorious harmonies of music for our ear, nor re-
vealed to our eye the beauties of nature and of art,
nor fired our soul with the magnificent creations of
poetry, that we might be so enraptured by these as
to forget and despise Himself. He never gifted us
with a high intellect, refined taste, or brilliant wit, to
nourish ambition, worship genius, and to become pro-
fane, irreverent, and devil-like, by turning those god-
like powers against their Maker and Sustainer. We
cannot think, that if money has been poured at our
feet, He thereby intended to infect us with the curse
of selfishness, or to tempt us to become cruel or
covetous men, who would let the beggar stand at our
gate, and ourselves remain so poor as to have no
inheritance in the kingdom of God; or to make us
such "fools" as to survey our broad acres and teem-
ing barns with self-love and worldliness, exclaiming,

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" Soul, take thine ease ; thou hast much goods laid
up for many years ; eat, drink, and be merry ; " or to
tempt us to refuse the cross, and to depart sorrowful
from Christ, because we had great possessions ; or to
choke the seed of the Word as with thorns, so that
it should bring forth no fruit to perfection ! Can
it be possible that He has spared our family, and en-
riched us with so many friends, in order that, being
"so happy" with them, we should never wish to
know God as our Father, Christ as our Brother, or
have any desire to become members of the family of
God? Has He given us so much pleasant, useful,
or necessary labour in the world, that we should
forget the one thing needful, and leave undone the
work for which we were created * Has He given
us the Church, the ministry, the Sabbath, the sacra-
ment, that we should make these ends instead of
means- — instruments for concealing, rather than re-
vealing our God and Saviour ] And if the Lord has
taken away, and visited us with sharp sorrows and
sore bereavements, was this "strange work" done by
Him who does not "willingly afflict" His children,
in order that we should have the pain without the
"profit," "faint under" or "despise" the chastise-
ment, or become more set upon the world and the
creature, more shut up in heart against our Father,
more dead to eternal things, or fall into despair, and
curse God and die 1

Without prolonging such inquiries, enough has been
said, I hope, to enable you to apprehend what I mean
by our being fellow-workers with God in all His works

" Labourers together with God." 191

of providence that concern ourselves. We believe
that these things, whether of joy or sorrow, do not
come by chance, nor through the agency of dead
mechanical laws, but that a living Person is dealing
with us wisely, lovingly, righteously, — that, in truth,
"the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away," and
that, accordingly, there must be a design or purpose
to serve in what He gives or withholds, — that this
never can be an evil purpose, but must, in every case,
be good, and that we may derive good and a blessing
from it. Let us, then, be fellow-workers with Him in
seeking, through faith and love, to have this purpose
realised, and to have the end designed by God fulfilled
in us or by us, so that every joy and sorrow may bring
us nearer the glorious God, and make us know Him
better, and love Him more, and thus possess " life
more abundantly," even " life eternal ! "

But not only is there a work to be done in us,
but also by us, in the doing of which we are to be
"labourers together with God."

This kind of labouring with others is illustrated
by Saint Paul when he says, what I have already
quoted, " Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He
hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him. We then, as workers together with Him, be-
seech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain." He is here, you perceive, addressing those

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who were enemies to God, and beseeching such to be
" reconciled." But in what spirit does he plead with
them ? In labouring to bring them into reconciliation
with their Father, and to save their souls, he does not
feel himself alone and solitary in his work and labour
of love ; as one prompted by his owm goodwill to lost
sinners, and his own wishes to redeem them from evil,
yet in doubt or in ignorance as to what God's wishes
or feelings were in regard to them. He does not pro-
claim the gospel to one or to many sinners with such
thoughts as these : " It is no doubt my duty to preach
to them, and to plead with them, and from my heart
I pity them, love them, and could die to save them ;
but whether God pities them or not, or truly wishes
to save them, I do not know, for I am totally ignorant
of His will or purpose." Surely such were not the
apostle's convictions ! Did he not rather engage in
this work of seeking to save souls with intense ear-
nestness, because he knew that however great his love,
it was but a reflection, however dim, of the infinite
love of God to them, and his desire to save them
but a feeble expression of the desire of God ? Was
he not persuaded, that in "beseeching" them to
be reconciled, he could speak "as though God did
beseech" them by him, as one " in Christ's stead ;"
and that "in beseeching" them "not to receive the
grace of God in vain," he was but " a worker together
with God?"

In this same spirit may we, and must we seek to do
good to others. We dare not look upon our brother
as one belonging exclusively to ourselves, or one dear

" Labourers together with God." 193

to ourselves only, but as one belonging to God his
Creator, and dear to God his Father. We must ever
keep before us the fact, that there is a work which God
wishes to have accomplished in his soul, as well as in
our own ; and that our brother is given to us in order
that we should be workers together with God in helping
on that good work. And if so, this will very clearly
teach us at least what we ought not to do to our
brother. We should never, by word or by example, by
silence or by speech, strengthen in his spirit the work
of evil : for that is not God's work. For when we
flatter his vanity, feed his pride, shake his convictions
of the truth, or when, in any way whatever, we lay
stumblingblocks in his path, or tempt him to evil, we
are surely not workers together with God. In our
conduct to our brother, let us ask ourselves, Is this
how Christ would have acted to any one with whom
He came in contact when on earth 1 Is this helping
on His work now1? But, on the other hand, when
our brother's soul is dear to us, — when, at all hazards,
we seek first, and above all, his good, — when our love
is such that we are willing to have its existence sus-
pected, and ourselves despised and rejected by him,
even as our loving Lord was by His " own whom He
loved," rather than that we should selfishly save our-
selves, and lose our brother; then indeed we are
labourers together with God, and possess the spirit of
Jesus ! Oh, little does the world understand the deep
working of this kind of love, which, however imperfect
it may be, yet burns in the heart of Christians only,
because they only partake of that love which is pos-

194 Parish Papers.

sessed in perfection by Him who loved us, and gave
Himself for us !

Let us, then, remember that we are not to concern
ourselves about another's good as if we were alone
in our labours, our wishes, and our sympathies ; as if
we really cared more than God does about the well-
being of this relation or of that friend. Let our love
flow out with all its force, and express itself with holiest
longings and tenderest sympathies ; yet infinitely above
all this love is the love of our God and their God ! In
our truest and holiest working be assured that we are
but a worker together with Him, the tine and holy
One, otherwise our labours could not be right; for
they would not be in harmony with God's will, or
such as He could command or bless.

The same principle applies to our more extensive
labours for the good of the whole world, and is the
very life and soul of home and foreign missions. We
can enter the abodes of ignorance and crime at home,
and ply with offers of mercy the inhabitants of the
foulest den, and plead with every prodigal to return
to his Father, because we believe that in all this we
are in Christ's stead, and are warranted to beseech in
God's name, and with the full assurance that we are
not working alone, but "together with God." We
can visit any spot in heathendom, cheered and borne
up by the same assurance amidst every difficulty, dis-
couragement, and danger. Whatever else is doubtful,
this, at least, is certain, that in every endeavour to
save sinners, we are but expressing our sympathy with
Jesus in His love to them, in His longing to see of

"Labourers together with God." 195

the travail of His soul, and to be satisfied in their sal-
vation j and that when experiencing the deepest sorrow
because men will not believe, we are only sharing the
sufferings of Him who mourned on account of unbelief,
and wept over lost Jerusalem because it would not
know the things of its peace. All this is as certain
as that there is such a living person as the Saviour,
unchanged in character, everywhere present, seeing
the evil and the good, hating the one and loving the
other, whose labour and whose joy is that God's name
should be hallowed, His kingdom come, and His will
be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

Oh, how depressing, how deadening, to have any
doubts as to this reality of the interest which our God
and Saviour takes in the good of human souls ! How
must the dread thought silence the tongue, wither the
heart, and paralyse the hand, that however ardent the
wish influencing us to be good ourselves, or to do good
to others, God is indifferent to both, and has no real
interest in either — as if we had more love, more holi-
ness, and more desire that the kingdom of righteousness
should advance, than the loving and holy God ! Nay,
how is it possible for us to have any true love at all to
human friends unless it is first kindled by Him, and
is in sympathy with Him, who loved His neighbour
as Himself ?

Let me here remind you of the only other alterna-
tive set before you, — it is the awful one of being a
"labourer together" with Satan. Our Lord rejects
neutrality ; for such is really impossible. He recog-
nises the no real friend as a positive enemy. " He that

196 Parish Papers.

is not with me is against me ; " " He who gathereth
not scattereth " Ye cannot serve God and mammon,"
but must serve either. Now, Satan has a work on
earth. It is this spirit which " worketh in the children
of disobedience.*' Will we, then, work with him in
his desire to destroy our own souls ? Will we have
"fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness," and
take part with that wicked one in his dread work of
opposing the kingdom of light, and advancing the king-
dom of darkness in the world ? Will we assist him in
tempting others to evil, — in entangling souls more and
more in the meshes of sin, — in propagating error and
opposing truth 1 And will we, by our words and ex-
ample, by our coldness or open opposition, help to
keep any man back from Christ, or to drag down to hell
a neighbour or friend, a brother, sister, or child ? A
labourer together with Satan ! Oh, consider the pos-
sibility of this being the record at judgment of our
history, that we may start, as from a nightmare, from
so hideous an imputation ! Instead of anything so in-
conceivably dreadful being true of us, may we know
and love the Father, through the Son, and by His Spirit,
and thus realise more and more in all our labours the
strength and blessedness of being " labourers together
with God ! "

The more we reflect upon this principle which I
have been illustrating, the more we shall see that it
is die life of all true work, and can be applied to any
work in which a Christian can engage. The true
artist, for example, ought to occupy the elevated
position of being a labourer with God in faithfully,

" Labourers together with God!' 197

industriously, and conscientiously working in harmony
with Nature, which is " the Art of God." He ought
to study, therefore, the sculpture, the paintings, the
music, of the Great Artist, and understand the prin-
ciples on which He produces the beautiful in form,
in colour, or in sound. The humblest mason who
plies his chisel on the highest pinnacle of a great
building, or who fashions the lowliest hut, should
have an eye to Him who makes all things very good,
and for conscience' sake, ay, for God's sake, he should,
to the very best of his ability, work in the spirit of the
Great Architect, who bestows the same care in build-
ing up the mountains, moulding the valleys, fashioning
the crystal, making a home to shelter the tiny insect,
or a nest where the bird may rear her young. With-
out loving our work, and doing it to the best of our
ability, as in the sight of God, we cannot be fellow-
workers with Him who hath made our bodies so
wonderfully, and cultivated our souls so carefully ; for
"ye are God's building" — "ye are God's husbandry."

REVIVALS.

THEIR NEED.

N awakening " expresses better than the stereo-

typed phrase " revival," the idea of a wide-
spread interest in religious truth. This is the response
to the righteous demand, " Awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee
light;" for at such a time men but awake to the reality
of truth, which was previously dim and shadowy to
them as things seen in dreams ; or formerly the awful
facts of God's revelation had been as pictures hung up
on the wall, which now suddenly become alive.

Before entering on the discussion of this rather
delicate subject, there is one question which we would
respectfully press upon the attention of the reader,
and that is, Whether he would like a revival of genuine
religion ? We do not question him regarding his sym-
pathy with any particular form in which the supposed
revival might come, far less with any of those peculiari-
ties which are supposed by some to be necessarily

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199

characteristic of a revival ; but supposing that such an
awakening or revival occurred by means of any agency,
or any process, that it was accompanied by such out-
ward signs of calm and peace as he himself would
select, and that its results were unquestionable 3 — sup-
posing that society was unusually pervaded by a spirit
of truth and holiness, that no countenance could be
given to evil by word, look, or sentiment, but only to
all that was pure, lovely, and of good report, — would
such a heaven upon earth be readily rejoiced in by
him 1 If this question is fairly and honestly put to the
heart and conscience, the manner in which we enter-
tain the thought of the mere possibility of a revival
becomes a trial of our own spirit, a test of our sincerity
when we pray, " Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done
on earth as it is done in heaven."

The weakest Christian has but one answer to give
to such a question. He may be pained by antici-
pating the contrast which he thinks is not unlikely to
be presented between himself and others more holy;
or he may fear that what is false and fleeting, but more
attractive, may, in a time of excitement, usurp the
place of what is real and permanent, though less obtru-
sive ; but he cannot but desire with his whole heart
that he himself and all men may become more and
more awake to the realities of truth, and be revived
as by the breath of a new spring, so as to grow more
in grace, and bring forth more fruit to the glory of
God.

For, given that a revival is possible, — that a wide-
spread interest in the will of God towards men, with a

20o Parish Papers.

corresponding power vouchsafed to know it and do
it, may be suddenly produced and permanently sus-
tained in the minds of men, — we ask, Is not this the
one grand blessing from God which we require t To
the question, " What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee I" which we may conceive our loving Lord put-
ting to His blind, deaf, lame, even dead brethren of
mankind, does not the response come from individuals
and congregations, from solitary mourners, and from
unhappy hearts, from the weary, the hopeless, the
despairing, the labourers at home and abroad — "Life,
Lord ! We need life in our souls, life in our duties,
life in our minds, life in our families, life in our teach-
ing and hearing, in our working and praying, life in
all and for all!"

All our clergy constantly need a revival of genuine
life, — life which no parishioner might be able to define,
but which, if there, every one would soon perceive. It
would be felt in every home like the breath of spring,
experienced beside every sick-bed like a touch of heal-
ing, and be heard in every sermon like a voice from
heaven. Oh, what a heavenly gift to himself and
others would this be, and what a time of refreshing
from the Lord ! And how many would share the bless-
ing, now hindered, perhaps, by his own unbelief and
satisfaction with indifference. For though "dead"
ministers may in some rare cases have succeeded in
saving souls, we never heard of living ones who had
in every case failed. God has ordained that a living
ministry — the preaching of those who utter what they
themselves know from personal experience to be true

Revivals. 20 1

— shall be His most powerful instrumentality for con-
verting the world. We believe, accordingly, that every
minister, whose own soul became alive, would soon
find that his life was contagious, and that his living
spirit would tell upon other spirits in a way never
before realised by him. That indescribable impres-
sion made by a genuine Christian character, which
never can be successfully imitated, would exercise a
marvellous influence upon all with whom he came
in contact ; and if he had one sorrow for life, it would
be the remembrance of the dark and horrible time
when he was a mere formalist, dead to the eternal
interests of his own soul and the souls of others.

Again, What parish does not stand in need of such
a quickening"? Few ministers are encouraged and
stimulated to aim at and attain higher measures of
good, from the abounding evidences of Christian life
among their parishioners. Many more are tempted,
by all they see around them, to wax cold in love, and
to lower their standard of personal and ministerial
life, — to become quite satisfied with the every-day,
stereotyped formalism of things around them, or to
submit to it as if it were a doom. The very smile of
incredulity with which the account of alleged revivals
is received, — the wonder which good men express, if
told of many being awakened by the mere preaching
of the Word in some congregation or district, — only
indicates how all hope has perished of our people
ever becoming what the preacher in words urges them
to become, or of their ever being delivered from the
torpor, the indifference, the death, which in words he

202 Parish Papers.

tells them are the preludes of coming death etemaL
Is not our hope well-nigh lost regarding many a parish ;
and what but the quickening and reviving power of
God s Spirit can restore it ?

And is there no revival needed in our most living
congregations 1 We may, indeed, have cause to thank
God for many signs of genuine life within them, and
for such good works as indicate a living spirit in the
body. But in the most encouraging cases we have
more cause to deplore the vast extent of the ground
where the seed sown has been carried away, withered,
or choked with thorns, rather than to rejoice in the
small patches which may be bringing forth fruit Let
any minister, as he surveys his congregation, and as
he visits them from house to house, ask himself the
question, How many of these really care about Christ,
and ever pray to Him, or try to serve Him ? and making
every allowance for our ignorance of other men's con-
dition, for the life that may be hidden from the eye,
yet will there not be innumerable evidences, forcing
upon him the conviction, that if the doctrines he
preaches are true, death reigns to a very awful extent
even among members of the Church J We do not
wish to exaggerate, or make out a case against pastors
or their flocks, but we leave it to ever)- candid man
who will dare to look the truth in the face, to deny the
existence among us of a mighty want — the want of a
revival of spiritual religion among both.

Once more, let us look at our missions, and consider
whether there is any need of a revival in this depart-
ment of Church life. We confess that a mingled feel-

Revivals.

203

ing of shame and sorrow swells our hearts as we think
of the contributions, whether of men or of money,
furnished by all Christendom for the conversion of
heathendom. It is not that Protestantism is behind
Romanism even in the number of its missionaries,
while in quality, and even permanent and holy results,
we never will compare these two sections of the Chris-
tian Church. But how can we hope to possess such
missions as shall be worthy of the Protestant Church,
without a revival of spiritual religion throughout the
parishes, families, theological halls, and congregations
of Europe and America 1 Is it too much to expect,
for example, that Christian parents, who would now
rejoice if their sons received "an excellent civil ap-
pointment in India," or " a commission without pur-
chase," or " a partnership in a first-rate house," shall
also rejoice in the prospect of one of their children
becoming a missionary of the Cross 1 Is it too much
to expect that those licensed to pi each the gospel shall
love the work for the work's sake, and that some
years at least of health and strength may be given to
the foreign field t What is needed more than a revival
among our preachers, before we can look with hope
for a revival in our missions 1

And, finally, is not a revival much required to
banish the estrangement, coldness, envy, which exist
between the clergy of different Churches ? There are
delightful exceptions, where genuine Christian good-
will and love exist. But, alas ! we sadly miss the
want of that manly, truthful maintenance of what
appears to us to warrant our own church organisation,

204 Parish Papers.

with that just appreciation of the sense, principle, and
judgment of those who have no sympathy with our
views. Surely every great branch of the Church has
at this time of day proved to every honest and fair
man, that enough can be said in its favour to justify
a man in belonging to it without his belying his Chris-
tian profession, or being either a fool or a hypocrite.
Yet, what an inward chuckling is often manifested at
each others blunders, failures, or even sins, — what a
straining for the masteries between the rival sects, —
what an utter absence, in innumerable cases, of the
slightest sign or symptom of that Christian love and
forbearance which is the very proof of being children
of God — nay, how little of the good-breeding and kind-
ness which are universal among gentlemen ! And all
this evil, and more than we have described, is often
glossed over with such an evangelical phraseology,
that what is of the earth earthy is made to appear
as if it were heavenly ; and the coarsest product of the
coarsest and most vulgar vanity, self-seeking, and pride
is so painted and misrepresented as to look like love
of principle or love of truth. What will put an end
to the proud antagonism, the Popery, the Church
idolatry of Protestantism 1 Can it ever be that we
shall carry one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ, and so love the Church and its Head as to
love ourselves and our sections of the Church less,^
that we shall so love our brethren of every name, tha'
their sins shall be our grief, and their well-being our
blessing, — that we shall be willing to decrease, if Christ
only increases, by whatever means He may in His

Revivals.

205

sovereign wisdom select 1 In one word, can it be that
Christian ministers and people of every church shall,
in any town or district, come to love one another
with a pure heart fervently, because loving the Lord 1
Who would not long for such a blessed consumma-
tion! " But, behold, if the Lord would make windows
in heaven, might this thing be !" So we exclaim in
our unbelief. But, unless we have lost all faith in the
power of God's Spirit, why should we not believe that
God can open the windows of heaven, and pour forth
such showers of His grace that ministers shall believe
what they know, and act as they teach, and be what
they profess, and that thus the parched places shall
rejoice and blossom as the rose. Then, indeed,
would be fulfilled the gracious promise made to a
renewed Church: — "For ye shall go out with joy, and
be led forth with peace : the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of
the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle-tree : and it shall be to
the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall
not be cut off."

II.

OBJECTIONS TO REVIVALS.

It cannot be denied that very strong prejudices
are entertained by many of our most intelligent,
sober-minded, and sincere Christians against revivals.

200

Parish Papers.

It is both unjust and untruthful to allege that their
real objection is against all vital godliness and genuine
Christianity. Such persons as those we allude to love
both, and desire the advance of truth as truly and sin-
cerely as any " revivalist " in the land, and much more
so than many who bear the name. But from their
education, their temperament, their views of truth, and
from what they have seen or heard regarding the " re-
vival movements," they have been led to question the
reality of sudden conversions, the evidence of the in-
strumentalities and means ordinarily employed to effect
them, and the correctness of the teaching imparted,
either to awaken or build up \ while other things which
appeared always to accompany " a revival," as if essen-
tial to it, — such as the extravagant and exaggerated
coarse addresses of some, the impudence, conceit, and
spiritual pride of others, the thrusting aside, as if of no
value, all that was quiet, sober, and truthful, and the
bringing forward all that was noisy, demonstrative,
talkative, and excited, — has had such an effect on
their minds that the very name of " a revival meeting"
produces a feeling of repulsion and aversion as against
a falsehood.

Now, we do not profess by any means to defend
whatever has presented itself to public notice in any
village or district as "a revival." A good name,
whether assumed by men, meetings, or movements,
does not necessarily make either of them good or
worthy of their name.*

* It is very unfair to represent those clergy as opposed to re-
vivals who may not have attended "revival meetings." These

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207

On the other hand, whatever form revivals may
take, or have taken, in any country or district, what-
ever mistakes have been made, or whatever evils have
accompanied them or been occasioned by them, yet
we cannot admit that any objections can be valid
which would hinder us from hoping for such wide-
spread and rapid extension of the gospel as we have
never yet seen, nor from believing that a very real
and genuine revival has to a remarkable extent taken
place, and is yet going on, throughout our country
and the world.

But let us briefly state the ordinary objections
against revivals : —

1. "We have no great faith in sudden conversions,"
is a form of expression in which we hear revivals ob-
jected to, when the subject happens to be the topic
of conversation in ordinary society.

Alas ! how many have little faith in the necessity of
any conversion ! A want of hearty conviction regard-
meetings were often summoned and managed by self-appointed
committees of laymen, whose names were unknown to the clergy,
and no guarantee whatever was afforded as to who would address
them, or how they would be conducted. Clergymen, therefore,
were unwilling either to attend as mere spectators, or to appear
on the platform, where they might be placed in the unpleasant
position of either opposing or acquiescing in what was said or
done. They, therefore, confined their labours to their own flock,
thankfully acknowledging the good which may have been done
by others in the way which seemed best to them ; and also them-
selves finding, when sought, a portion of the blessing for their
people.

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Parish Papers.

ing human sinfulness and guilt, and a tendency rather
to flatter man's character, worship his genius, and
almost deify his powers, lies too much at the root of
many of the views and feelings of our day about reli-
gion : and hence there is a corresponding want of
faith in the necessity of that "new life" which some
time or other even- one must possess, or in the " super-
natural'' means required either for the removal of
man's guilt and his restoration to the Divine favour,
or for the renewal of man's nature and his restoration
to the Divine image. There are, in short, very inade-
quate convictions — if these are brought to a Scripture
test — either as to the state out of which or into which
even- man must be brought before he can be saved.
But, nevertheless, there are moral necessities grounded
on the character of God as it is, and the character of
man as it is and ought to be, which remain the same
in every age and clime. Some of these necessities
are expressed by such declarations as — "Ye must
be born again." "Except ye be converted, and be-
come as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven." " If any man is in Christ Jesus,
he is a new creature.''

Yet while conversion is absolutely necessary for
even- man, we by no means assert that its inner his-
tory must, in each step, be necessarily the same,
though the results must be essentially the same in
even case. The Spirit of God, who works when and
how He pleases, may, in some cases, so work in the
soul from its earliest years, that the time when the
seed of a new life entered it, and the process by which

Revivals.

209

it has gradually increased there, until it now brings
forth fruit, are both unknown. Not unknown is the
fact that life is there, for it is recognised and evidenced
by its fruit, but when it began may be unknown ; and
the rate or successive stages of its increase may be
equally unknown, or at least unmarked.

This is true in some cases — or, let it be admitted,
in many cases, chiefly among those favoured ones
who have been reared from childhood within the
paradise of a truly Christian home, — still, why should
we deny the reality of many conversions on the mere
ground of their suddenness 1

We shall not appeal to authentic historical facts to
refute the objection, but simply remind our readers of
such sudden conversions as those of Paul the apostle,
the jailer at Philippi, or the thousands on the day of
Pentecost at Jerusalem. Would we be warranted in
rejecting those, because a few days or hours only
marked a transition from death to life, from darkness
to light, from their serving Satan to serving God, from
being enemies to their being friends of Jesus'?

But apart from this evidence, what, we would ask,
is there in the nature of conversion inconsistent with
its alleged suddenness 1 There may indeed be a pre-
paredness for it that may occupy much time, as dawn
ushers in the sunrise, or as months of travail precede
the " child born into the world and there may be
results whose character may require time to determine.
Nevertheless, why should not conversion itself, apart
from its antecedents or consequents, be sudden ? Let
us consider briefly what conversion is.

2 IO

Parish Papers.

It is not, for example, the attainment of good habits,
nor even the doing of good works, though it leads to
and must end in this, if genuine. These are the re-
sults of conversion. Xor, again, does it imply any-
thing like a full or accurate knowledge of the Christian
scheme, far less of its " evidences ;" for how little
could have been thus known by the converted jailer
of Philippi, who was one day a heathen, and the next
day a baptized Christian — or by the converted thief
on the cross — or by the three thousand converts on
the day of Pentecost !

But in conversions there must be thorough earnest-
ness about the salvation of the soul, or of our relation-
ship to God. And why should not this feeling be sud-
denly kindled ? Men can be easily roused to sudden
earnestness, in order to save their bodies, when they
realise present danger ; and why not to save then-
souls ? If, indeed, the soul can never be in such
danger, or if a man can never be ignorant or forgetful
of the fact, or if in no circumstances or by any means
he can be roused to a sense of his danger, then may
such sudden earnestness be impossible ; but if his
danger is real, and deliverance near, surely all this is
possible, and even probable, and of infinite import-
ance, seeing that the day of grace ends with life, and
life may end in any moment If this night a man's
soul may be required to give its account, surely on
this day conversion is required to make that account
one of joy, and not of sorrow.

Conversion implies also faith in what God has

Revivals.

2 I I

revealed to us. And why should we not at once believe
God ? Do we think it necessary to hesitate for months
and years ere we believe the word of an honourable,
truthful man, in matters of fact about which he cannot
possibly be mistaken 1 And shall we think it strange
to believe God's Word the moment we hear it 1 Now,
that Word tells us many things which, if true, cannot
be believed without producing immediate results. It
tells us that we are lost sinners " condemned already;'''
that God, in love, has had pity on us, and sent His
Son to save us ; that He died on the cross for sinners,
so that " whosoever believeth in Him shall never
perish that He lives to quicken and sanctify through
His Spirit all who will receive Him ; that there is "no
other name given under heaven whereby a man can
be saved;" and that "he who believeth not shall be
damned." Now, is it really impossible for a man at
once to believe all this, or even thus far to understand
his danger, and believe the gospel as the only deliver-
ance ? Does it seem strange that men should have
at once believed Christ, or any of His apostles, when
they preached 1 Or, does it not seem more strange
that some were " fools, and slow of heart to believe?"
And why should it seem incredible that a sincere and
earnest man should now believe the moment he hears
the same gospel, and say, " I have been a great sin-
ner in hitherto treating this message with so much
neglect ! By my disbelief I have made God a liar ; I
shall do so no more ! Thy Word is truth. Lord, I
believe ; help mine unbelief!

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Parish Papers.

Conversion implies a " yielding ourselves to God,"
because thus believing in His love manifested through
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Such a state of
mind might be thus expressed : " Lord, I shall fight
against Thee no more ! I believe in Thee, and yield
myself to Thee for time and eternity, to have the
good pleasure of Thy righteous will done in me and
by me ; to be pardoned, sanctified, and governed
wholly by Thyself, and in Thine own way. I am
Thine — save me ! " Surely this attitude of soul may
be assumed at once towards God the very moment the
gospel of His goodwill to us, and of His desire to
possess our hearts, is heard.

Conversion implies some degree at least of peace
with God. Many seem to think it almost presump-
tuous to look for peace or to expect joy in God. " It
betokens," they say, " a want of humility." Love
and humility are one. Both are a going out of our-
selves, and finding our good, strength, peace — all in
God. It is surely a poor compliment to pay a friend,
if we rebuke those who dare to be happy in his pre-
sence or to find peace in his society. What hard
thoughts have men of God when they do not see how
He must ever rejoice in the good and peace of His
children ! Oh, shame upon us that we do not <: re-
joice in the Lord always," and possess the " love
which casteth out fear, for fear hath torment." Why,
then, should it seem impossible for a man to have
peace, the moment he can say with the apostle John,
" We have known and believed the love that God hath
to us?" Cannot that love be seen in its own light

Revivals.

213

when revealed 1 And if so, why should the possession
of immediate peace, in a degree corresponding to faith
in God, seem to be so wonderful'? Would not its
absence be more so ? The very hope, methinks, of
pardon, when first entertained by the condemned cri-
minal— or of deliverance and return to home, when
first realised by the shipwrecked sailor — or of life
and health, when first deemed probable even, by the
hitherto despairing invalid — or of meeting his long-
injured, but still patient and loving father, by the miser-
able prodigal — may well kindle sudden joy and peace.
Much, no doubt, may have been done before any
hope could dawn to the captive, to the shipwrecked,
to the invalid, or the prodigal ; yet the hope itself
may suddenly flash on each, as the message enters the
cell to assure the criminal of his safety, or the signal
is seen on the distant horizon that promises succour
to the mariner, or the smile plays on the countenance
of the physician, telling that the dread crisis is over
and that progress towards recovery has begun, or the
remembrance of a father's love is rekindled in the
heart of the wanderer. And thus a man who has
been roused to see his moral guilt, as well as moral
depravity — to see his dread and terrible danger —
may well find unutterable peace the very moment he
believes that there is for him deliverance from the
evil, and forgiveness with God, " that He may be
feared " — or even when the maybe dawns upon him
that he, the hitherto dead, careless, presumptuous
sinner, has not been so shut out of his Father's heart
and home, but that there is yet grace omnipotent to

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Parish Papers.

save him, to take away his sins, renew his whole being,
and make him and keep him a child of God. When
the prodigal in the far country was planning only his
return, he resolved to say to his father, " Make me
one of thy hired servants ! " To be for a time a very
slave in his father's house, seemed in prospect as a
very paradise when compared with his present wretch-
edness ; but to be received at once as a son — that he
would not be so presumptuous as to dream of. Ah !
he had forgot his fathers character in the far country.
Unbelief had done its work, and " cut off his hope."
But however dark and dim his views were, he never-
theless returned, was met afar off, and was at last
received in his fathers arms. There he poured forth
the confession which relieved his choking heart, " I
am no more worthy to be called thy son ! " True.
But did he add, " Make me a hired servant ? " No,
he could not, for he had already been received as
a son.

Our Lord tells us how some hearers may receive the
Word immediately with joy, and yet give up when it is
the occasion of their being brought into outward perils
or difficulties. Paul complained that Demas had for-
saken him, and John of many who, he says, " went
out from us.'"' We must not think it strange, more-
over, if the visible Church should ever and anon dis-
close to us how much evil as well as good it contains.
Our Lord never contemplated a Church on earth as
possible — owing to the sinful offences which must
needs come — which should be otherwise than a mix-
ture of good and bad. There was one in twelve of

Revivals.

2I5

His own pure apostolic Church a traitor. Among the
members of the pentecostal Church, two were struck
down dead for falsehood of the blackest kind. Among
the earliest professed converts in Samaria was Simon
Magus, in the bonds of iniquity. . And so it will ever
be. The field will contain tares as well as wheat, and
both must grow together till the harvest ; the net must
gather into it bad fish as well as good, until the great
day of final separation comes at the end of the world.
Eut, nevertheless, the field may now contain a glorious
crop of wheat, and the net, after a night of toil, be
sometimes full of good fish, so as to excite the wonder
and praise of the " fishers of men." Those converts
who fall away have probably misunderstood the true
idea of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. They
looked for safety from punishment apart from salva-
tion from sin ; upon Jesus as a deliverer from guilt
and hell only, and not also a deliverer from sin, by
giving that life which is heaven ; they looked for that
life hereafter, and not now ; or they imagined faith as
an act done once for all — a coming to Christ once
only for what was required, instead of as a state which
receives at once pardon and acceptance through the
merits of Christ, and abides in Christ for ever as the
only source of life.

We have dwelt upon this point longer than we had
at first intended ; for the doubt so often expressed, of
the possibility of one who is lost finding immediate
peace when he finds his God — and so has found
himself — betrays great unbelief or great ignorance of
God. Pride is at its root ; — a desire to find some-

2l6

Parish Papers.

thing wherewith to commend ourselves to God — some
evidence of a good character first — some work done
as a hired servant, in order to entitle us with any hope
to call God father and be at peace with Him; instead
of our beginning all work by first being at peace — by
our being reconciled at once to God through faith
in His love to us, revealed in the atonement of Jesus
Christ. We may just add, what ever)- true man knows,
and rejoices to know, that the hour which begins
his peace with God necessarily begins also war with
all sin in his own heart. His friendship with God
implies enmity to all in himself which is opposed
to God.

2. " But the whole tendency of revivals, and of this
theory of sudden conversions by means of any man's
preaching, is to disparage God's appointments of the
Church and the family for accompkshing genuine con-
version."

If by this is meant that God ordinarily blesses for
the saving of souls what are termed " the means of
grace," or " the truth as it is in Jesus,'' whether incul-
cated by the parent, the teacher, or the minister, and
presented to the mind, and impressed upon it patiently
and laboriously during a course of years, — then we
also believe this, and cordially admit it. Nay, we
would have all " friends of revivals " keenly alive to
the danger of so expressing themselves as to seem
even to disparage such earnest painstaking, and we
would have them to avoid seeking to attain by a
summary process what thousands strive to attain, and

Revivals.

217

actually do attain, only by a prayerful diligence, which
begins with sowing the seed in childhood, and never
ceases until there is the blade and the full ear ending
in the golden harvest. We feel assured that the faith-
ful minister who has seen many souls born to God
under his teaching, will acknowledge that these results
were connected not so much, or probably not at all,
with any sudden change, from some striking sermon
he had preached, but from a series of impressions
made by pious parents in their home-training, or by
himself in his congregational class, or by the whole
tone and tenor of his public ministrations, &c. How
often has it thus happened that others have laboured,
and that he has but entered into their labours ! The
conversion of his hearers has been the culminating
point of a thousand appliances, and, in the vast ma-
jority of cases, it has been reached by degrees. The
glorious summit has been attained, not by a leap from
the valley, but after many preparatory steps. The
light of life has not flashed out of darkness, but has
dawned by imperceptible degrees, until the glory of
God was seen in the face of Christ Jesus. If the new
life itself has been suddenly experienced, yet let us
not overlook the preparatory work of the shaking of
the dry bones, then of the bone coming to its bone,
and, finally, the flesh and skin covering the skeleton,
and so preparing a home in which the living spirit
could dwell and act. We cannot use language strong
enough to express our conviction of the blessing which,
as an ordinary rule, is sure to follow from the Lord
on the faithful and prayerful labour of a pious parent,

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Parish Papers.

Sabbath-school teacher, or pastor. Let nothing be
said in favour of wide-spread and sudden revivals to
discourage these hopes ! A true revival, we believe,
shall ever, in God's own time, attend such labours.
This is emphatically true regarding the work of the
ministry. We believe that the ministry is of God as
much as the Bible is — one of the most precious gifts
obtained for the Church by the risen Saviour; and
that now, as ever, the preaching of the Word by
ministers duly prepared and regularly called and or-
dained by the Christian Church, is the grand means
for converting sinners ; that this power never grows
old or loses its adaptation to the wants of man
amidst the constant changes of society, any more
than a lens does in transmitting the rays of the sun
from age to age.

Yet, with all these admissions, and with profound
veneration for the ordinary calm and methodical
means of grace, we can nevertheless believe in wide-
spread sudden " conversions," and that too through
other instrumentalities, and in circumstances which
leave no doubt of their being caused by what has
been termed an extraordinary outpouring of God's
Spirit. For let us beware of dogmatising irreverently
as to when and how that living Spirit shall operate
on the souls of men, who worketh according to His
own counsel of unerring and inscrutable wisdom.
" Who hath known the mind of the Lord, and who
hath been his counsellor, that he should instruct
Mm t" As a Person, He acts as " He wills," and in
every case with perfect wisdom and perfect love.

Revivals.

219

And it is in keeping with this truth, or rather a neces-
sary consequence from it, that God's Spirit should
teach and educate individuals and churches differently,
or at least in accordance with their respective and
specific wants. If His outward dispensations towards
the same person constantly vary, yet all work towards
one end, the soul's good, — even as the combinations
of the elements vary day by day, yet all help on the
earth's fruitfulness, — we might expect that His dealings
with the inner life of persons should also vary, while
one glorious scheme of education for heaven is carried
on in all and by all. And if so, why do we think it
strange that an individual should have his times of
comparative spiritual darkness and light, strength and
weakness1? or that churches should also experience
different kinds of treatment, so to speak, from the
same wise Spirit, yet all suited to advance more and
more in the end, both in us and by us, that kingdom
which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost 1

Then, again, as to the instrumentalities which
God's Spirit employs, these may be often exceptional
to His general rule. For it is surely a great mercy
when the regular ministry, or any other ordinance of
His, becomes inefficient through sinful indifference
or unbelief, that He should raise up in such an
emergency, and that too from the most unexpected
quarters, those who will do the work which others
ought to have done. The grand end of saving lost
souls, and bringing many sons and daughters unto
God, cannot be sacrificed to any organisation ordained

220 Parish Papers.

for that purpose when it fails either to seek it or
accomplish it. Thus

" God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."'

If, therefore, we find, as a matter of fact, that some
one who follows not us — why he does not follow with
us we may not be able to understand — is yet con-
fessing Christ's name, and so doing Christ's work that
devils are cast out by him, we dare not say, " Forbid
him."' Our Lord does not command us to forbid him,
any more than He commands him to follow us. He
says only, " Forbid him not He who is not against
us is for us."' We all need humbly to act on such a
principle. But should we in our pride and ignorance
condemn a sincere and faithful labourer for Christ,
our Lord will not confirm our judgment On the
other hand, he who does not " follow " the ministers
of Christ's Church, whom he finds already engaged
in the Master's work, must answer to the Lord for
incurring so solemn and serious a responsibility.

But we must pass rapidly and more briefly to the
consideration of one other objection to revivals.

3. " We object entirely to revivals because of the
great excitement which attends them."
To this we reply —

We admit the possibility of great excitement
connected with religious truth, in spite of the total
absence of religious character. There is no more
interesting or remarkable chapter in history than that

Revivals.

221

which records the manias that have spread like epi-
demics at different periods (especially during the
middle ages) over Europe. They are cases of hysteria
upon a great scale ; and that these should take a
religious form as well as any other is no way impos-
sible. It has happened a hundred times before, and
will happen often again. We have seen cases of
" revival " which were purely physical, with little
religious knowledge and no religious character, in
those who were most under the influence of the
preacher, but with much ignorance and great nervous
susceptibility. Preachers as ignorant as these people
have been deceived by such appearances, which, not
being able to account for by any natural cause, they
at once attribute to supernatural agency. But, putting
aside those illustrations of very common physical
phenomena, we admit —

That excitement is by no means to be desired.
Its tendency is to produce reaction, and, when the fire
passes, to leave nothing but ashes behind. We may
receive the Word with joy, and yet it may soon
wither ; and also give our bodies to be burned, and
yet be nothing. Mere excitement is next door to
grossness and licentiousness. Both have the same
sensuous elements in them. Had we our choice, we
would prefer a revival without any excitement.

It is, therefore, not only possible, but it has fre-
quently happened, that hundreds have been power-
fully moved by a revival, have professed faith in
Christ, found peace with God, and been assured by
enthusiasts and fanatics that they were now actually

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Parish Papers.

" saved," who soon gave token that they never had
been saved from either gross ignorance or gross sin,
but destroyed rather by want of sense in themselves,
and in those who, from ignorance or vanity, excited
their feelings, and worked on their mere animal sen-
sibilities.

But we have not our choice in such matters. We
cannot change the laws of the human mind, and as
long as these remain, it may not in every case be
possible to prevent some degree of excitement by
what so powerfully appeals to every feeling and affec-
tion in the soul of man. Given only that the facts of
Christianity are true regarding man's condition with-
out a Saviour, and all that has been done for him,
and must be done in him, before salvation is possible,
with the tremendous consequences throughout eternity
attached to his faith and repentance in time, — and
excitement is very natural, and not altogether unbe-
coming, in him who sees and believes, and, as it
generally happens where excitement exists, who hears,
these truths for the first time in his life. Would not
calm self-possession, in such circumstances, if more
reasonable, be more wonderful than excitement among
those, especially without culture? It is quite true
also that excitement will much less frequently occur
among strong-minded educated people, who are ac-
customed to keep their emotions under control ; while
many, with a, comparatively speaking, weak emotional
nature, but with sound head and sound sense, and
wakeful conscience, seldom, in any case whatever,
betray much feeling. Violent excitements, as a rule,

Revivals.

223

are found only among northern nations, among the
ignorant masses, or those who have more feeling than
judgment.

But why may not a wide-spread excitement about
religious truths, though in some persons a mere
physical condition of the nervous system, be the very
means, under God, of arresting their mind or the
minds of others, and disposing them to consider and
receive the truth itself? What is it which we have
most to complain of as an obstacle to the gospel ?
Not infidelity, nor active opposition, nor ignorance,
but indifference, — cold, heartless indifference in those
who may go to church, stand up at prayer, hear or
sleep, read or dream, agree with everything the
minister says, yet verily believe nothing, and are
therefore neither roused by fear nor gladdened by
hope, but live on, day by day, buying and selling,
eating and drinking, respectable, it may be, and re-
spected, as good farmers, decent tradesmen, honest
shopkeepers, but to spiritual things in their living
reality and momentous importance — indifferent!
Could any one but read the thoughts, hear the con-
versation, or watch the effects on the great mass of
the hearers, one day or one hour, after hearing the
most impressive and earnest sermon, in which the
minister before God sought to save their souls, what
a fearful vision of the mystery of indifference would
be revealed !

Whatever, then, breaks this up is a blessing. No
excitement can be so dangerous, so deadly, as this
indifference. Better a thousand times the wild hurri-

224 Parish PaJ>crs.

cane than the calm miasma. Better the stream which
rushes impetuously over its banks, earning with it de-
vastation for a time, than the dead and foetid marsh.
The one may be turned into a new channel, and made
available as a power for advancing the interests of
man, but the other is " evil, and only evil continually."
Whatever, therefore, we repeat it, tends in providence
to destroy indifference, and induces people to listen
with earnestness and attention to the truth, — be it the
excitement of a storm or earthquake, of a great reli-
gious revival, or of domestic bereavement and sorrow,
— whatever it be, yet is it a blessing if it prepares the
soul to receive the seed of the gospel, by inducing men
even to think seriously, as the first condition for their
ultimately believing seriously.

But this excitement which alarms so many sober-
minded people was not, after all, an element which
vitiated the religious " movements " in the early ages
of Christianity. There were rational Sadducees,
learned scribes, and formal Pharisees, who were much
displeased at the excitement of the multitude when
Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
But when our Lord was asked to rebuke them, He
replied that the very stones would cry out if these
were silent. Was there no excitement on the day of
Pentecost when thousands were crying out, "What
shall we do to be saved V The preaching of the gos-
pel was everywhere accompanied by such awakenings
as arrested the attention of cities and nations. Would
God it were so now !

But, in once more meeting this objection, we

Revivals.

225

cannot help noticing the character of the persons who
most generally urge it. How often does one hear
from the lips of the intensely worldly-minded fears
expressed at the danger of religious excitement ! And
if the symptoms of such a terrible state of mind mani-
fest themselves in son or daughter, even in the form
of thoughtfulness in regard to their duty to God, or of
fear about their state, or doubts with reference to the
manner in which they have been accustomed to spend
their time and talents, how often does the very mother
who bore them become herself thoughtful and con-
cerned about her child ! " She so much dislikes reli-
gious excitement. She likes cheerful Christians, —
religious people now-a-days are so sad and gloomy, —
she is really anxious about her poor daughter," &c.
And all this from persons who live in a constant whirl
of excitement, to whose daily life excitement is essen-
tial, not as a means of temporary relief from severe
thought and action, but as the very end of existence.
And whence is their excitement derived 1 From the
most contemptible and silly frivolities, from balls,
parties, visits, and gossip without end — excitements
utterly selfish, which materialise the soul, debase its
tastes, enervate its powers, rendering it incapable of
all earnest labours or self-denial, and which incapaci-
tate it from apprehending the purity, the majesty, and
the surpassing wonder of spiritual realities. These
are the persons who, forsooth ! are so much alarmed
lest their dear children should become excited about
the things which arrest the attention and engage the
thoughts of the mighty angels, yea, of Jesus Christ

226 Parish Papers.

himself. Believe it, that whatever excitement may
possibly accompany the commencement of the Chris-
tian life in one who has never been trained to think
seriously or act conscientiously, the only persons in
the world who are habitually free from all excite-
ment, or violent emotions of any kind, are true Chris-
tians, because they have the " love which casteth out
fear,'-1 and enjoy " the peace of God which passeth all
understanding."

We must here conclude these brief and very imper-
fect remarks upon a great subject. We end, as we
began, by expressing our profound conviction that the
want of all our wants is this, and this only, a Revival
of Spiritual Religion; or, in other words, genuine,
simple, truthful, honest love to Jesus Christ, to His
people, to His cause, and to the whole world ! This,
and this alone, will fulfil the longing of many a wean',
thirsty soul for better things than at present seem
probable or possible.

" Who will shew us any good V is the despairing
cry of many a thoughtful man, as he passes in review
before his anxious eye the dark side of things, such as
careless-living students of divinity, who are to be the
future teachers of this great nation ; ministers and
congregations apparently dead as stones; churches
becoming idols, claiming the reverence and love of
their members, and jealous of any other idol usurp-
ing their throne ; scoffing infidelity among the igno-
rant ; philosophic scepticism among the intelligent ;
indifference among thousands j while abroad heathen

Revivals.

227

nations, with countless millions, are opened up to the
Protestant Church, which can only send driblets of
two or three missionaries here and there, many of
whom go in tears to live in comfort as well-paid gen-
tlemen, while thousands of common soldiers pour out
their life's blood for their country. " Who will shew
us any good V Our hope, O Lord, is in Thee !
" Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance
upon us ! " Pour Thy Spirit upon the thirsty ground !
Our strength is gone ; arise, O Lord, and revive Thy
work among us all. Come Thou and help us, for Thy
great name's sake. The cause of righteousness is
Thine own. Do Thou hear and help us, then shall
death be changed to life, and truth shall banish error,
and disunion be lost in love, and out of this valley of
dry bones, and from all sects and parties, a great army
will arise, strong and united through the power of the
Spirit who will dwell in each and all, and be mighty
to pull down all the strongholds of Satan, and to
advance the kingdom of our blessed Lord at home
and abroad, to the joy of men and angels !

THE

CHRISTIAN CONGREGATION.

CHRISTIAN" congregation professes to be a

congregation of Christians, and to represent the
same kind of body which, in the apostolic epistles, is
termed a " church" — " saints and faithful brethren" —
" faithful in Christ Jesus "— " holy brethren."

It is not, therefore, a number of people meeting
only to hear a sermon, or even to unite in public wor-
ship, but without any visible coherence, social life, or
united action, but a body, an orgcuiised whole; the
Lord's Supper being the grand symbol of the unity of
its members with one another, and with the whole so-
ciety of the Christian Church on earth and in heaven.*

* The social character of the Lord's Supper, and its being a
constant witness to the oneness of the whole body of Christ and
the communion of saints, has been often so perverted as to have
become in the minds of many the grand test and evidence of
sectarian division, while "hearing a sermon" is the utmost
latitude which is given to the believer who wishes to testify his
love to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. " I would hear
him preach, but I would not join with him," (i.e., I would
not remember Christ with him,) is the strange view of many a
professing Christian, in Scotland at least.

The Christian Congregation. 229

Now, the congregation, as an organised Christian
society, has a twofold work to perform. The first is
within itself, and includes whatever is done by the
members of the congregation for their mutual good ;
the second is beyond itself, and includes the good done
by the whole body to the world "without."

It is thus with the living body of the Church as with
the dead machinery of a steam-engine, which first feeds
itself with coals and water, and then turns the wheels
of the whole factory.

The inner and outer work of the congregation as
a body may be briefly indicated in a few sentences,
though volumes might be profitably filled with its
details.

1. The inner work is accomplished within the soul
of each member through the preaching and reading of
the Word of God, public prayer, and partaking of the
sacrament. By these means chiefly comes that " king-
dom of God which is within us," and is " righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Every other work
will be done efficiently by the whole body just as this
inner work begins and progresses among its individual
members. But the fellowship and mutual aid of the
members of the Church in " considering one another,
and provoking to love and good works," and in con-
tributing their share of God's gifts and grace bestowed
upon themselves for the comfort and edification of
their brethren, also belongs to the inner work of the
Church. This will express itself and be strengthened
by meetings for social prayer and Christian inter-
course, and by those works and labours of love for

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Parish Papers.

which the congregation itself has the first claim. These
labours of love include the religious instruction of its
young members the baptized children ; the visitation of
sick • its support of the poor and destitute brethren.
In these and other forms of well-being and well-doing
which will suggest themselves, abundant scope will, in
most cases, be afforded for exercising the energies, and
calling forth the love of the members of the congrega-
tion within the limits of their own society.

2. The work external to itself to be performed by
the congregation, as a body, consists generally in its
" doing good unto all as God giveth it an opportunity."
The home mission within the district or city in which
it is placed will engage its first efforts ; and after that,
or along with that, the aiding by its contributions and
prayers to evangelise the world.

But the point which I would specially insist upon
in this paper is, the vast importance of developing,
combining, and directing the gifts of all the members
of the congregation for accomplishing both its inner
and outer work.

If we read the apostolic epistles, (see i Cor. xii.
14-27,) the impression which, as I have already said,
they give us of a Christian congregation is that of a
body so organised as that each and every member is
made useful to the whole body, and the particular
gift which God bestows upon the weakest and most
insignificant (for " He hath set the members in the
body as it hath pleased Him ") is so appreciated and
applied, that " the head " or " the eye " — the most

The Christian Congregation. 231

intelligent or most discerning — cannot say to that
weak member, " I have no need of thee."

It may be alleged that the congregations of the
primitive Church are not intended to be models in
their peculiar organisation for modern times. But is
not the primitive Church system of union and mutual
co-operation essential to the very idea of a Christian
society ? And what authority is there for its assembling
together to hear sermons, to pray, or to partake of the
sacraments, which is not equally binding for its per-
forming of all the other duties and enjoying all the
other privileges described by the apostles as pertaining
to church-members 1

Now, in most cases, everything is left to the minis-
ter or his official assistants. The calculation is never
soberly made as to his bodily or mental powers to do
all which is expected of him. There is an immense
faith in both. It is assumed that he, and not the
congregation, is the body; that he alone, therefore,
possesses the eye, the tongue, the ear, and the hand ;
— and some ministers seem so pleased with their ele-
vated position as to be unwilling that any should
share it with them. But when the minister is alive
to the responsibility of his position, and when he is
so fortunate as to have in his congregation men and
women who share his convictions, and are willing to
share the labour which these entail, even then there is
still the tendency on the part of the great bulk of the
members to have their work done by proxy. They have
no objection that visiting, teaching, almsgiving, and the

232

Parish Papers.

like, should be done by " the committee," — while the
committee, perhaps, are inclined, in their turn, to leave
it to Mr A., or Miss B., who are active members of
it. It is true we must labour, in the meantime, with
whatever instrumentality God furnishes, and make the
most of it, but we must not cease to aim at realising
the noble end of making each member, according to
his gifts and abilities, manifest the spirit of Him
whose saying it was, — " It is more blessed to give
than to receive ! " No doubt, much wisdom is re-
quired upon the part of office-bearers to whom the
government of the congregation is intrusted, to dis-
cern gifts, and to apply them. But the " one thing "
chiefly needed is " love iti the Spirit f It is for this
we should chiefly labour ; for, let love to Jesus be
once kindled by the Spirit of God through faith in
His love to us, and love, which unites us to Him, will
unite us to one another.

But admitting all we have said to be true regard-
ing the congregations of the primitive Church, and
acknowledging, moreover, that it would be highly
desirable could such Christian congregations reappear
in our day, it may be reasonably questioned whether
this is possible in the present state of society, or
whether any attempt to realise it is not a pious imagi-
nation, which would lead to extravagances and fanati-
cal disorders such as have often characterised minor
sects, who, in seeking to rise up as perfect churches,
have sunk down into perfect nuisances 1 It may be
said, " Only look at the elements you have to work
upon ! Deal with the actual flesh-and-blood men and

The Christian Congregation. 233

women who necessarily form the bulk of our congre-
gations, and not with ideal persons. Look at this
farmer or shopkeeper — that servant or master; enter
the houses of those hearers or parishioners in town or
country, from the labourer to the proprietor ; — is there
the intelligence, the heart, the principle, the common
sense — any one element which could unite those mem-
bers into a body for any high or noble end? They
provoke each other to love and good works, or help
to convert the world ! Would it were so ! but it is
impracticable."

Such thoughts we have ourselves experienced with
feelings of despair. But there are others that make
us hope that Christian congregations throughout our
land may yet rise out of their ashes, living bodies im-
bued with life and love from their living and loving
Head.

Are not all the difficulties, for example, connected
with the proper organisation of the congregation
those only that pertain to the existence of a living
Christianity among its members 1 Given, that church-
members individually were what they profess to be —
" believers "■ — " disciples " — " brethren " — would they
not, as a necessary result of this character, act collec-
tively, as we suppose a Christian congregation ought
to act? And, therefore, when we assume that it is
vain to think of congregations becoming, as a whole,
and in spite of many exceptions, living bodies of
Christians — men united for mutual good and for the
good' of the world — do we not thereby assume that
it is vain to expect professing Christians to become

234

Parish Papers.

"constrained by the love of Christ not to live to
themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose
again?" Must we confess it to be utterly hopeless
to look for such manifestations now of the power of
the Spirit as will produce, in our cities and parishes,
such congregations, ay, and far better ones, as once
existed in Jerusalem, Ephesus, or Philippi %

There is another thought which encourages us, and
makes us hope that these same " elements we have to
work upon," and which appear to make our congrega-
tions incapable of accomplishing the high and holy
destinies in the world to which we think they are
called. It is this : — that just as there are in nature
hidden forces — in a quiet and apparently harmless cask
of gunpowder, or electric battery, for instance — which
lie concealed until the right spark calls forth their latent
power into action, so there are, in many more indivi-
duals than we suspect, hidden forces of some kind or
other capable of doing greater things than we could
ever have anticipated, and which require only the
right spark of spiritual life and energy to excite them
also into vigorous action. It is thus that heroic bra-
very and sublime self-sacrifice have been manifested
in the hour of sudden and appalling danger, or during
seasons of long and dreadful suffering, by those who
were never until then suspected of possessing so great
a spirit, and who, but for such an occasion occurring
for its manifestation, might have been doomed for ever
to remain helplessly among the most commonplace in-
capables. Had a Grace Darling or a Florence Night-
ingale been known only as a sitter or pewholder in a

The Christian Congregation. 235

congregation, they might have been deemed unfit for
any work requiring courage, self-sacrifice, or persever-
ance. But these noble qualities were all the while in
them. In like manner, have we never seen among
our working classes a man excited by some religious
enthusiast or fanatical Mormonite, who all at once
seemed inspired with new powers, braved the sneers of
companions, consented to be dipped in the next river,
turned his small stock of supposed knowledge into
immediate use, exhorted, warned, proselytised among
his neighbours, spoke in the lanes and streets un-
abashed, and gathered his knot of disciples from
among the crowd of his old comrades, thus giving
token of a force having been lying hid in orte who
seemed capable only of work on week-days and of
sleep on Sundays. There is not a Hindu fakir, who
swings from a hook in the muscles of his back, or
measures with his body a long pilgrimage to Jugger-
naut ; not a Popish devotee, who braves the opinion
of society with naked feet, comical garment, and self-
imposed " bodily exercise," but demonstrates what a
man can and will do, if the mainspring of his being is
touched. There is not a sailor or soldier who does
not, at sea or in battle, shew a greatness which he
seems incapable of when seen in ordinary circum-
stances. It is thus, we repeat it, that most undoubt-
edly there are, in every congregation, men and women
who have in them great powers of some kind, which
have been given them by God, and which, though
lying dormant, are capable of being brought out, in a
greater or less degree, by fitting causes. Nay, every

236 Parish Papers.

man is enriched with some talent or gift — if we would
only discover it and bring it into action — which,
if educated and properly directed, is capable of en-
riching others to a far greater extent than he himself
is the least aware of. But what power will develop
this force ? What power, we reply, in the universe is
so fitted to do so, and to bring out of a man all that
is in him, and to direct all the force of his being
to worthy and ennobling objects, as the power of a
living Christianity ? If the love of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, understood, believed, felt, does not
kindle all the love in a man's heart, and fire it with
all the enthusiasm, and inspire it with all the bravery
of self-sacrifice, and nerve it with all the indomitable
perseverance of which it is capable, then we know
nothing else which can do this, or anything like this.
Christianity has not become effete ! It is still the
" power of God and the wisdom of God." It is still
mighty in pulling down strongholds. It can still con-
vert " the elements we have to work upon'"'' into in-
struments of righteousness, and " make the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise and "the
weak things of the world to confound the things that
are mighty; and the base things of the world, and
things that are despised, and things that are not, to
bring to nought the things that are.'"' But we must
have real, living, and undying faith in Christ's life
and power to do this, and be earnest in personal
and social prayer; and then only will we be able to
judge as to the capabilities of "the elements we have
to work upon."

The Christian Congregation. 237

There is no department of congregational work in
which the personal ministration of the individual mem-
bers is more required than in its Home Mission. The
sphere of this mission must necessarily be a district
in which the members of the congregation can labour.
We may assume that there is no district even in
this Christian land in which are not to be found a
number who require to be instructed in the gospel, and
brought into the fellowship of the Christian Church,
as well as a number who require to be ministered to
in private owing to the infirmities of their bodies, the
bereavements in their households, or other necessity
of supplying their temporal or spiritual wants. In
large cities not only does each district inhabited by
the poorer classes abound in what has been termed
a "home heathenism;" but this population is so
fluctuating from month to month, that a more ex-
tended and vigorous agency is required to make use
of the brief opportunity given us for doing it any
good.

Now, one thing we hold as settled by the whole
design of Christianity, and amply confirmed by daily
experience and observation of human nature, and that
is, that to seek and save the lost, a living agency is
absolutely necessary. Religious tracts alone won't do.
Far be it from us to write in an apparently slighting
manner of what we so greatly value as good tracts,
when we can find them. But, on the other hand, let
us beware of exaggerating the power of such an
agency, or demanding impossibilities from it. A great
number in our large cities and manufacturing districts

238 Parish Papers.

who require to be reclaimed from ignorance and vice
cannot read at all. Those who can do so are yet so
imperfectly instructed in the art as to be utterly un-
able to comprehend a continuous narrative of facts, far
less any exposition of doctrine or duty ; while those
best able are not always willing to read anything of
a religious character. The most efficient method, in
our opinion, of making use of tracts in all such cases,
is to read them, when possible, to others, and, if
necessary, explain them, and then distribute them.
But what is a dead tract to a living person ? — what
is any description of Christianity on paper, as com-
pared to the living epistle, which all men can read ?

We want Christian men and women; not their books
or their money only, but themselves. The poor and
needy ones who, in this great turmoil of life, have
found no helper among their fellows ; the wicked and
outcast, whose hand is against every man's, because
they have found, by dire experience of the world's
selfishness, how every man's hand is against them; the
prodigal and broken-hearted children of the human
family, who have the bitterest thoughts of God and
man, if they have any thoughts at all beyond their
own busy contrivances how to live and to indulge
their craving passions, — all these, by the mesmerism
of the heart, and by means of that great witness, con-
science, which God, in mercy, leaves as a light from
heaven in the most abject dwelling on earth, can, to
some extent, read the living epistle of a renewed soul,
written in the divine characters of the Holy Spirit.
They can see and, feel, as they never did anything else

The Christian Congregation. 239

in this world, the love which calmly shines in that eye,
telling of inward light and peace possessed, and of a
place of rest found and enjoyed by the weary heart !
They can . understand and appreciate the unselfish-
ness— to them a thing hitherto hardly dreamt of —
which prompted this visit from a home of comfort or
refinement, to an unknown abode of squalor or disease,
and which expresses itself in those kind words and
looks that accompany the. visit. They can perceive
the reality of the piety, which also reads to them,
in touching tones, the glory of Him who came to
seek and save the lost \ and their souls cannot re-
fuse some amen, however faint, echoed by their very
misery, and from their yearnings for a good they
have never known, to that earnest prayer of faith
uttered, in the bonds of a common brotherhood, to
one who is addressed as a common Father, through a
common Lord. If ever society is to be regenerated,
it is by the agency of living brothers and sisters in
the Lord ; and every plan, however apparently wise,
for recovering mankind from their degradation, and
which does not make the personal ministrations of
Christian men and women an essential part of it, its
very life, is doomed, we think, to perish.

It is thus that our Father has ever dealt with His
lost children. He has in every age of the world
spoken to men by living men ; and " God, who at
sundry times, and in divers manners, spake unto our
fathers by the prophets, has in these latter days
spoken to us by his Son ! "

But are there any willing to labour ? Yes ; many

240 Parish Papers.

are labouring, and thousands in this land are pre-
pared in spirit to join them ; for every Christian has
a longing to do something for God's kingdom on
earth, and to employ usefully time and talents which
he feels are running to waste. Why, then, with so
much to do through a living agency, and with a
great army of living agents yet unemployed, is there
so little done % We reply again, from want of congre-
gational organisation. Our congregations want order,
method, arrangement. There is not yet a sufficiently
clear apprehension of what their calling is in the
world, or of the work given them to do ; nor is there
found that wise and authoritative congregational or
church direction and government, which could at least
suggest, if not assign, fitting work for each member,
and a fitting member for each work. Hence little,
comparatively, is accomplished. The most willing
church-member gazes over a great city, and asks in
despair, "What am I to do here?" And what would
the bravest soldiers accomplish in the day of battle,
if they asked the same question in vain 1 What would
a thousand of our best workmen do in a large factory,
if they entered it with willing hands, yet having no
place or work assigned to them 1 And thus it is with
many really self-denying Christians ; because a prac-
ticable and definite field of labour is not pointed out,
the necessary result is idleness — unwilling idleness;
or self-organised and self-governed " associations,"
" committees," " societies," spring up to accomplish
what the Christian society itself was designed to,
and could accomplish in a much more efficient and

The Christian Congregation. 241

orderly manner; or, as it more frequently happens,
those energies and ardent feelings, and love of ex-
citement even, which could have found sufficient
scope for healthy exercise in such practical labours
of faith and love as we have alluded to, are soon
engrossed by merely speculative questions about " the
church," or about " religion," and the stream which,
had it been directed into a right channel, and to a
right point, would have been made a power for im-
mense good, soon rushes over the land a wide-spread,
muddy, devastating flood, oozes out into stagnant
marshes, full of miasma and fever, or evaporates into
thin air !

THE CURE FOR SCHISM.

" OCHISMS" are not peculiar to the Church of
^ the present day, nor are they " the result of
Protestantism," as some allege, unless Protestantism
is understood to represent that doctrine which is
termed "the right of private judgment," but which
might be described rather as the absolute necessity
for each man to believe the truth for himself, and not
to be satisfied that another man should see and be-
lieve it for him. This " doctrine," which is essential
to the reception of any truth whatever, must neces-
sarily open the way to error ; just as the possession
of reason, which is essential to a man's thinking at
all, must, in every case, involve the risk of his thinking
wrong.

But we know something of a Church founded by an
apostle, presided over for a time by an apostle, which
was full of schisms. This was the Church of Corinth.
(See First Epistle to the Corinthians, first three chap-
ters.)

These schisms were marked by differences of mind
and judgment j and by " envying, strife, and divi-

The Cure for Schism. 243

sions." Its " Protestantism " may, no doubt, have
occasioned this.

But along with these divisions, and partly their
cause, partly their effect, there was not only a warm
attachment to particular ministers, but positive anta-
gonism to others professing the same faith, and doing
the same work. From the sameness of human nature
in every age, we can quite understand how each party
would defend their sectarianism. " We are of Apol-
los," some might have thus said. " We do not admire
Peter. He is too much of a Jew for us ; besides, he
denied his Lord, and dissembled along with Barnabas
at Antioch. We prefer our own minister even to Paul.
He is a much more eloquent man ; of a much more
commanding figure and appearance ; and how pro-
found he is in his knowledge of the Scriptures!"
"We are of Paul," others might have cried; "for he
was chosen specially by Christ ; and he has been
honoured by Him more than all ; and does not the
Church of Corinth, moreover, owe its very existence
to his preaching and labours 1 It is a shame to belong
to any other!" "We cling to Peter," a third party
might have said ; " he lived with Christ when He
was on earth, saw His miracles, heard His words, was
treated after the resurrection with special love, and
received from Him a special commission to feed His
sheep. Apollos is no apostle; and as for Paul, he
persecuted the Church, and confesses himself that he
is not meet to be called an apostle. Apollos is good,
Paul better, but Peter is best ! " " We belong to
neither," others could have boasted : " your divisions

244 Parish Papers.

are so many, your differences so great, that we have
retired from all your meetings in weariness ; and each
of us are of Christ only, and call no man master but
Him ; you should all join us, the Christians :" — thus
making use of the very name of Christ to characterise
a sect. Such were some of the schisms ; and to the
schismatics St Paul said, " Ye are yet carnal : for
whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and
divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men 1 For
while one saith, I am of Paul ; and another, I of
Apollos ; are ye not carnal ?''

The apostle desired to heal those schisms, and
to bring the members of the Church into one mind.
How did he endeavour to effect this 1

Had he been a Papist, he might have said — " Why
thus divided ? Because you are not building on the
one true foundation, which is Peter ! Do you not
understand the meaning of the name, Cephas, or the
Rock, given to him, and intended to teach all Chris-
tians that the temple of the Church was to be built
upon this rock, and this only ; against which the gates
of hell cannot prevail ? Therefore, you who say, ' I
am of Cephas,' are right ; all others are schismatics."
Never, apparently, had a man a better opportunity of
revealing to the world this great secret of unity than
St Paul had, if such was his faith, especially when he
compares the Church to a building, and speaks of a
foundation-stone. "As a wise master-builder," he
says, " I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth
thereon. . . . For other foundation can no man lay
than that is laid, which is " — Cephas, or the rock ?

The Cure for Schism. 245

No ! but 11 Jesus Christ." Not one word of Cephas as
the centre of unity. Strange silence for a " Roman
Catholic ! "

Had Paul been a " High Churchman," viewing with
deep awe the mystery of sacramental grace, we can un-
derstand how he would have spoken to the schismatic
Corinthians of the vast importance of their submitting
to absolute apostolic authority, and of " the awful
powers with which God's ministers had been vested,
of regenerating souls by the waters of baptism •" and
how " such a clergy should command unqualified obe-
dience." If these, or anything like these, were Paul's
sentiments, and such as we are every day familiar
with, it is not easy, to say the least of it, to account
for his language to the Corinthians. What does he
say of the exalted privilege of being able to baptize 1
" I thank God I baptized none of you, but Crispus
and Gaius:" strange words from a "High Church-
man!" or a "High" Baptist! "I baptized also the
household of Stephanas : besides, / know not whether
I baptized any other:" strange forgetfulness on such
a supposed centre point of Church unity! "For
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel :" strange idea of the relative importance of
preaching and baptizing for a " High Churchman" to
hold ! And as to the " commanding authority" of
the apostles, merely because they were apostles, apart
from the commanding authority of the eternal truth
which they "commended" to the conscience and
judgment of their hearers, Paul asks, "Who then is
Paul, and who is Apollos % " Methinks we hear some

246 Parish Papers.

exclaim : " Oh, these men were the greatest, the most

remarkable, the " We will not, however, take

up space by repeating the laudations with which
some would exalt their authority, with the view of
magnifying the mere official authority of the clergy.
But what says the apostle himself? He says they
were only " ministers by whom ye believed.'' It was
not the minister who did good, but the truth which he
ministered, and which he had received from another.
It was not the man who sowed the seed, or the basket
which held it, that gave the crop ; but the living seed
itself. Hence he adds : " So then neither is he that
planteth anything, nor he that watereth ! " What 1
Neither presbyter nor bishop, neither Paul nor
Apollos, anything ? Strange words, again we say,
from a " High Churchman," whether Episcopalian,
Presbyterian, or any other denomination ; for " High
Churchmen" are common to all Churches. Yet not
strange from St Paul, who knew how true his words
were, and that not man, but God, who gave the in-
crease, was "everything."

What, then, was the apostle's method of curing
schism, and of making men truly one who had been
"divided?"

He directed every eye, and every heart, and every
spirit, to one object — Jesus Christ, the personal
Saviour, the centre and source of unity \ in fellow-
ship with whom all men would find their fellowship
with each other.

" We preach Christ crucified." " I determined not
to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and

The Cure for Schism. 247

Him crucified." " For other foundation can no man
lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." These
are his declarations. And his conclusion from this
great and blessed principle is just what we might ex-
pect : "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
" Let no man glory in men : for all things are yours ;
whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come :
all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is
God's."

Professing Christians would do well to weigh the
apostle's cure of schism. Our divisions of heart and
alienation of spirit are unworthy of educated men, and
of the citizens of a free state, while they are in spirit
utterly subversive of the whole principles of Protes-
tantism. What ! not able to hear the gospel preached
from the lips of a minister of another church, nor to
remember Jesus with him or his people % Not willing
even to be on kind, or perhaps on speaking terms
with a brother minister % Such things not only have
been, but are; and while, thank God, they are repudi-
ated and detested by men of all Churches, they are
common, we fear, among too many. No wonder
Roman Catholics point at our frequent boasting of
Protestant " oneness in all essentials," and ask with
triumph, how it happens, then, that we are such ene-
mies on mere non-essentials 1 How it is that we pre-
tend to be one when attacking Papists, and then turn
our backs on each other when left alone 1 No wonder
the High Churchman of England asks the Presby-
terians in Scotland to forgive him if he never enters

248

Parish Papers.

our Presbyterian churches, hears our clergy, partakes
of our sacraments, when so very many among ourselves
practically excommunicate each other. No wonder
the infidel lecturer describes to crowds of intelligent
mechanics, in vivid and powerful language, the spec-
tacle presented by many among our Christian clergy
and people, and asks, with a smile of derision, If this
is a religion of love which they see around them — if
these men believe the gospel — and if Christians have
really more kindness and courtesy than "publicans
and sinners % " Worse than all, no wonder our churches
languish, and men are asking with pain, why the
ministry is not producing more true spiritual fruit,
which is love to God and man 1 The Churches are,
no doubt, doing much. We have meetings, associa-
tions, and organisations, with no end of committees,
resolutions, and motions ; we raise large sums of
money; we have large congregations; — yet all this,
and much more, we can do from pride, vanity, love
of party, love of power, the spirit of proselytism, and
the like. We may possess many gifts, understand
mysteries and all knowledge ; we may bestow our
goods to feed the poor, in zeal for Church or party
we may be willing to give our bodies to be burned ;
but before God it profiteth us nothing, unless we
have the "love that suffereth long, and is kind, that
envieth not, that vaunteth not itself, is not puffed
up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ; rejoic-
eth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; bear-

The Cure for Schism. 249

eth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things."

Surely our schisms may be healed if there be a
Saviour thus to heal them !

One word in conclusion. Neither the letter nor
the spirit of the apostle's teaching condemn a warm
and firm attachment to " our own Church," but an-
tagonism only to other Churches. A soldier may
love, and ought to love his own regiment with peculiar
affection, more especially if he has been born in it,
and brought up from childhood, as it were, in its
ranks. And it should be his honest pride to see
that it is one of the best drilled, most orderly, most
efficient, and bravest in the whole army. But that
is no reason why he should go about with a drum
to recruit from, weaken, or break up other regiments ;
or why he should deny that there are other regiments
which equally belong to the grand army, and may be
even more efficient than his own, though they do not
wear the exact pattern of uniform, or may charge
on horseback while his marches on foot, or possess
cannon while his own have but small arms. Why
should he be jealous of their achievements? Why
should he be disposed to fight against them instead
of against the common enemy 1 And, worse than all,
why assert and boast that this one regiment of his is
tJu army, while all others are mere unauthorised volun-
teers, or enemies in disguise t It is full time for sen-
sible men to give up this vain boasting, proud anta-
gonism, and irritating ambitious proselytism.

250 Parish Papers.

Instead, therefore, of any man attempting, what is
impossible during a lifetime, to understand the dis-
tinctive principles of each of the many sections of the
Christian Church, so as to "join" that one which
seems most " pure " and " scriptural," he is much
better, as a rule, to remain, if it is at all possible for
him, in the Church of his fathers, in which he was
baptized and reared, and to do all in his power, by
his example, his prayers, and his steady, manly, firm
attachment, to make " his own Church " more effi-
cient, and to permit others, without interference, to
do the same. Thus may a man be a good Presby-
terian in Scotland, and also a good Episcopalian in
England, or possibly a Nonconformist in both, unless
he believes in the Divine origin and authority of some
one ecclesiastical system, and the mundane origin of
all others. With perfect consistency and sincerity he
may dearly love his Church, but yet love Christians
more, because he loves Christ best of all.

These sentiments may be considered by many good
Christians as sinfully " latitudinarian ;" but to all who
think so we would suggest the following simple experi-
ment. When they have perused with care and reflec-
tion those portions of the Epistles of St Paul, and
those incidents in his missionary journeys, which re-
veal most clearly what we might term his " church
views," let them conceive of this same holy apostle
suddenly awaking from his grave and visiting the
different churches in our country, and then honestly
say, from what they know of his character and teach-
ing, whether they think it improbable or impossible

The Cure for Schism. 251

that he would countenance all our churches in so far
as they sincerely desired to do God's will and advance
His kingdom. Would he not as of old say, " Grace
be with all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sin-
cerity ! "

" Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall pros-
per that love thee. For my brethren and companions'
sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because
of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy
good."

THE

UNION OF MAN WITH MAN.

HE mutual dependence of material things is per-

A ceived on a moment's reflection. Not one atom
in creation, for example, exists by itself or for itself
alone, but, directly or indirectly, influences and is
influenced by every other atom. The movements of
the tiniest wave which rises slowly over the dry pebble
on the beach, marking the progress of the advancing
tide in the inland bay, is determined by the majestic
movements of the great ocean, with all its tides
which sweep and circulate from pole to pole. The
rain-drop which falls into the heart of a wild -flower,
and rests there with its pure and sparkling diamond-
lustre, owes its birth to the giant mountains of the old
earth, to the great sea, to the all-encompassing atmo-
sphere, to the mighty sun ; and is thus, by a chain of
forces, united in its existence, its figure, its motion,
and its rest, to the most distant planet, which, beyond
the ken of the telescope, whirls along its path on the
mysterious outskirts of space. Thus, too, the needle

The Union of Man with Man. 253

of the electric telegraph trembles beneath the influ-
ence of hidden powers which pervade the earth, which
flash in the thunder-storm, awaken the hurricane, or
burst in those bright and brilliant coruscations that
shoot across the midnight of our northern sky. And so

" The whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God."

But the unity which exists among intelligent and
responsible persons, their mutual dependence and re-
lationship, is just as real as that which obtains among
material things, and is far more wonderful, more
solemn and important in its nature, causes, and con-
sequences.

The human race is an organic whole. The indivi-
dual man is more intimately united to every other
man, and to all past and coming generations, than
the leaf which flutters on the twig of a great tree is
connected with the tree itself, and with every other
leaf that swells its foliage, or with the seed which
was ages ago planted in the soil, and from which the
noble plant has issued. That organic unity of the
Church, springing chiefly out of a common life, de-
rived from Christ and maintained by His indwelling
Spirit, and which the apostle Paul so fully illustrates
by the union of the members of the human frame,
holds equally true of the whole family of man.

And what is true in this respect of the human race,
is as true of all spiritual intelligences in the universe
of God. " We are all members one of another." We
form a part of a mighty whole that finds its unity in

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God. Subtle links from within and from without in
God's infinite network, bind us for good or evil, for
weal or woe, to spirits of light and of darkness ; to
principalities and powers in other spheres and systems
of being, from the lowest outcast in the unseen world
of criminals, up to Gabriel before the throne of God ;
while over all, comprehending all, sustaining and har-
monising all, is the great I AM — Father, Son, and
Spirit.

Consider, for example, how, according to the ar-
rangements of the Divine government, man is linked
to man from the mere necessities of his physical and
social being.

In this aspect of our life it is evident that its whole
history is one of mutual dependence, and one in which
we are compelled to receive and to give, to partake
and to share. We enter upon life as weak, uncon-
scious infants, depending every moment on other eyes
to watch for us, and other hands to minister to us,
while we kindle in their hearts the most powerful
emotions, and unconsciously react upon them for joy
or sorrow. But we are not less dependent on our
fellow-creatures for our continuance in life from the
cradle to the grave. There is not a thread of clothing
which covers our body, not a luxury which is placed
on our table, not an article which supplies the means
of labour, not one thing which is required by us as
civilised beings, but involves the labours and the sac-
rifices of others in our behalf ; while by the same law
we cannot choose but contribute to their well-being.
The cotton which the artisan weaves or wears has

The Union of Man with Man. 255

been cultivated by brothers beneath a tropical sun,
and possibly beneath a tyrant's lash. The tea he
drinks has been gathered for him by brothers on the
unknown hill-sides of distant China. The oil which
lights his lamp has been fetched for him out of the
depths of the Arctic seas by his sailor brothers ; and
the coal that feeds his fire has been dug out by
swarthy brethren who have been picking and heaving
for him amidst the darkness and dangers of the mine.
If the poorest mother writes a letter to her son in
some distant spot in India and puts it into the win-
dow-slit of a village post-office, without a word being
spoken, how much is done for her before that letter
reaches its destination ! The hands of unknown
brethren will receive it, and transmit it ; rapid trains
will hurry it over leagues of railways ; splendid steam-
ships will sail with it, and hundreds of busy hands
will pass it from port to port, from land to land. It
is watched day and night, through calm and hurri-
cane, and precious lives are risked to keep it in secu-
rity, until in silence and in safety, after months of
travel, it is delivered from the mother's hand into the
hand of her child.

And thus it is that, whether we choose it or not, we
are placed by God as " members one of another," so
that we cannot, if we would, separate ourselves from
our brother. For good or evil, prosperity or adversity,
we are bound up with him in the bundle of this all-
pervading and mysterious life. If one member suffers
or rejoices, all are compelled in some degree to share
his burden of joy or sorrow. Let disease, for example,

256 Parish Papers.

break out in one district or kingdom, and, like a fire,
it will rush onward, passing away from the original
spot of outbreak, and involving families and cities far
away in its desolating ruin. Let war arise in one
portion of the globe, it smites another. The passion
or the pride of some rude chief of a barbarous tribe
in Africa or New Zealand, or the covetousness and
selfish policy of some party in America, tell upon a
poor widow in her lonely garret in the darkest corner
of a great city; and she may thus be deprived of her
labour through the state of commerce, as really as if
the hand of the foreigner directly took her only hand-
ful of meal out of the barrel, or extinguished the cruise
of oil, leaving her in poverty and darkness to watch
over her dying child.

Now all this system of dependence, as we have said,
is beyond our will. We do not choose it, but are com-
pelled to accept of it. It is a fact or power, like birth
or death, with which we have to do in spite of us. No
questions are asked by the great King as to whether we
will have it so or not ; yet of what infinite importance
to us for good or evil is this great law of God's govern-
ment. We are thus made to feel that a will higher
than ours reigns, and that by that supreme will we are
so united to one another, that no man can live for
himself or die for himself alone ; that we are our
brother's keeper, and he ours ; that we cannot be
indifferent to his social well-being without suffering in
our own ; that our selfishness, which would injure him,
must return in some form to punish ourselves ; and
that such is the ordained constitution of humanity,

The Union of Man with Man. 257

that though love and a consistent selfishness start
from different points, they necessarily lead to the same
point, and make it our interest, as it is our duty, to
love our neighbour as ourselves.

But here we may just notice, that some of those
evils which afflict one portion of the human family
are nevertheless the occasion of good, when they
remind us of our common humanity. Such painful
events, for example, as the famine in the Highlands
of Scotland, which called forth the sympathies of kin-
dreds and tongues, unknown by name, to the sufferers,
and was relieved by the inhabitants of China and
Hindostan ; or the like famine in Ireland, which the
Mohammedan sultan was among the first to help to
alleviate ; or the Syrian massacres, or Indian famine,
that united Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic,
in the bonds of pity ; — these wounds of humanity are
surely not without their good, when they afford an
opportunity to the Samaritan of shewing mercy to the
Jew, and cause the things which separate and the
differences that alienate man from man, to be for a
time forgotten in the presence of their common bro-
therhood. And thus, too, the shutting of the Southern
ports of America, which entails temporary distress upon
many in our manufacturing districts, reminds us how
the sufferings of others must be shared by ourselves,
calls forth the benevolent sympathies of the rich to
alleviate the wants of the needy, and bridges over with
love and gratitude the gulf which too often separates
classes ; while, on the other hand, it may form the
indirect means of developing the growth of cotton,

258 Parish Papers.

and the consequent industry of thousands in Africa
and India, who will thus be brought into closer and
more fraternal relationships with civilised nations.

But there is another link, and -one more spiritual,
which binds man to man for good or evil, and that
is moral character. This influence is partly beyond
and partly within the region of our will. That
which is beyond the will is the fact of the neces-
sary influence of character ; while within the will is
the character, good or bad, which we may choose to
possess. Now, it cannot be questioned that character
tells for good or evil beyond its possessor. That
which a man is — that sum total made up of the items
of his beliefs, purposes, affections, tastes, and habits,
manifested in all he does and does not — is contagious
in its tendency, and is ever photographing itself on
other spirits. He himself may be as unconscious of
this emanation of good or evil from his spirit, as he is
of the contagion of disease from his body, or — if that
were equally possible — of the contagion of good health.
But the fact, nevertheless, is certain. If the light is in
him, it must shine ; if darkness reigns, it must shade.
If he glows with love, its warmth will radiate ; if he is
frozen with selfishness, the cold will chill the atmos-
phere around him ; and if he is corrupt and vile, he will
poison it. Nor is it possible for any one to occupy a
neutral or indifferent position. In some form or other
he must affect others. Were he to banish himself to
a distant island, or even enter the gates of death, he
still exercises a positive influence, for he is a loss to
his brothers ; the loss of that most blessed gift of God,

The Unio7i of Man with Man. 259

even that of a living man to living men — of a being
who ought to have loved and to have been beloved.
" No man liveth to himself, or dieth to himself;" — he
must in some form, for their good or evil, their glad-
ness or sadness, influence others.

The influence of individual character extends from
one generation to another. The world is moulded by
it. Does not history turn on the influence exercised
by the first and second Adam 1

No one questions the reality of the influence of a
bad character upon others. The existence of evil per-
sons here or elsewhere, and their power to infect other
persons through the foul malaria of the evil in which
they live, may be unaccountably mysterious when seen
in the light of God's infinite love ; but they are, never-
theless, the most certain facts within the field of our
own observation and experience.

This malign influence is of every degree — from the
undesigned yet real injury which is done to others
by the merely slothful or indifferent man, who never,
as he says, "intended to injure any one," and "never
thought" he was doing so, but who, nevertheless,
injures many a cause, and freezes and discourages
many a heart, by his selfishness in not thinking and
not doing ; — up to the injury which is done by the cool,
designing villain, who, in his plots and plans to sacri-
fice others to himself, has reached the utmost limit
which distinguishes the bad man from the demon.

The evil influence exercised by wicked parents on
their families ; by wicked companions upon their fel-
lows ; by wicked books upon their readers ; by wicked

260 Parish Papers.

persecutors and tyrants upon the world — needs neither
proof nor illustration. Yet let us remember, for our
strength and comfort, that because we are not things
but persons, it is impossible to compel any man, from
whatever influence, to prefer the darkness to light, or
to choose the evil instead of the good. Hence the
power which was designed to lead us into evil may be
converted by ourselves into a power for good, while it
strengthens our moral principles, demands a firmer faith
in God, and prompts more earnest desires and efforts
to overcome the evil by the good. It is thus too, in the
wonderful providence of God, that while evil remains
evil, it has nevertheless been the indirect means of
calling forth the noblest efforts on the part of man,
and on God's part the most glorious revelations of
His character in conquering it, and such as, without
evil in the universe, could not, as far as we can see,
have been possible.

But no less real is the influence upon others of a
holy character. " The evil men do lives after them ; "
but we do not believe that " the good is oft interred
with their bones." No, it is as immortal as the Divine
Being in whom it originates. The good must ever
live, and " walk up and down the earth," like a living
spirit guided by the living God, to convey blessings to
the children of men, and is more powerful, diffusive,
and eternal than the power of evil. It lives in hu-
manity, in some form or other, like the subtile sub-
stance of material things, which though ever changing
never perishes, but adds to the stability, the beauty,
and the grandeur of the universe. The influence of

The Union of Man with Man. 261

the holy character passes even beyond the stars, giving
joy to our angel brothers, and to our elder brother
Jesus Christ, who, in seeing reflected in His people
His own love to His God and our God, to His neigh-
bour and ours, beholds the grand result of the travail
of His soul, and is " satisfied."

The grand practical lesson, therefore, which is im-
pressed upon us by this fact of the union of man
with man, is for each of us to be right, and to do
right. Each man is responsible for himself, and for
himself only, — for what he himself is and does. The
secret, then, is a very simple one, by which we can at
once receive all the good that can possibly be derived
from whatever influences are brought to bear upon
ourselves, and do all the good which can possibly be
conferred by whatever influence we can exercise upon
others ; and it is this — to be good ourselves ! This is
the one centre point of light in the soul, its one germ
of immortal life, which must be possessed in order
that all light and life may come to us, and emanate
from us. Let us only possess the right state of spirit
to God and man, and we have the divine chemistry
which will convert all we receive and all we give into
what will surely bless ourselves and others.

And if it is asked how this secret can be ours, we
have but one reply, and it is the old one — Believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, live, and love ! Jesus Christ
is the living Head of the human family. " The Head
of every man is Christ." As the eternal Son, He
dwelt among us, and revealed to us the Father and
Himself, the elder brother. " He is the propitiation

262

Parish Papers.

for our sins : and not for our sins only, but also for
the sins of the whole world." He has ascended up
on high, and ever liveth for us as Mediator, "to bring
many sons and daughters unto God." He has sent
His Holy Spirit to be with us, and to abide in us for
ever. That Spirit reveals to all who will receive His
teaching, the glory of God our Father in Christ Jesus
the Son, our Brother.

Just in proportion as men know God as their
Father in Christ, and become true sons to Him, will
they become united to each other as true brethren ;
and thus the real and highest unity of man with man
will be realised as the' Church of Christ possesses the
earth, and her prayer is answered, "Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done on earth as it is done in
heaven !"

PROGRESS OF MISSIONS.

The beginning of the nineteenth century marks an
epoch of revival in the Protestant Church. It would
be going beyond the limits prescribed by our subject
to consider the causes of that remarkable reaction into
indifference of life, or of positive error in doctrine,
which followed more or less rapidly the stirring period
of the Reformation. Such tides, indeed, in the affairs
of men, — now rushing with irresistible waves to the
utmost limit of the land ; then receding and leaving
behind but a few pools to mark where the waters once
had been ; and again, after a longer or a shorter
interval, advancing with a deep flood over the old
ground, — are among the most striking phenomena in
history.

The last century witnessed the Protestant Church
at its lowest ebb. We thankfully acknowledge that
God did not leave Himself without holy men as living
witnesses in every branch of that Church. And we
record, with deepest gratitude, how, more than in
any other country, He preserved in our own country
both individual and congregational life, with orthodox

264 Parish Papers.

standards of faith. Still, taken as a whole, the Pro-
testant Church was in a dead state throughout the
world ; while, during the same period, infidelity was
never more rampant, and never more allied with philo-
sophy, politics, science, and literature. It was the age
of the acute Hume and learned Gibbon ; of the ribald
Paine, and of the master of Europe, Voltaire ; with a
host of literati who were beginning to make merry, in
the hope that God"s prophets were at last to be de-
stroyed from the earth. Rationalism triumphed in
all the Continental Churches. Puritanism in England
became deeply tainted with Unitarianism. The de-
fendants of the Pilgrim Fathers had, to a large extent,
embraced the same creed in America. The Estab-
lished Churches in England and Scodand, though
preserving their Confessions, and having very many
Jiving men in the ministry, suffered, nevertheless, from
that wintry cold which had frozen the waves of the
£reat Reformation sea, and which was adding chill to
chilL The French Revolution marked the darkest
nour of this time : yet it was the hour which preceded
/he dawn. It was the culminating point of the infi-
delity of kings, priests, and people ; the visible ex-
pression and embodiment of the mind of France, long
tutored by falsehood and impiety; the letting loose of
Satan on earth, that all might see and wonder at the
Beast ! That Revolution inscribed lessons in letters of
blood for the Church and for the nations of the world
to leam. Christians accordingly clung nearer to their
Saviour amidst the dreadful storm which shook and
destroyed every other resting-place, and were drawn

Progress of Missions. 265

to the throne of mercy and grace, thereby becoming
stronger in faith and more zealous in life. The indif-
ferent were roused to earnest thought by the solemn
events which were taking place around them. Specu-
lative infidels even, became alarmed at the practical
results of their theories. Mere worldly politicians
trembled at the spectacle of unprincipled millions
wielding power that affected the destinies of Europe,
and recognised the necessity of religion to save the
State at least, if not to save the soul. Men of pro-
perty, from the owner of a few acres to the merchant
prince, and from no higher motive than the love of
their possessions, acknowledged that religion was the
best guarantee for their preservation. In countless
ways did this upheaving of society operate in the same
direction with those deeper forces which were begin-
ning to stir the Churches of Britain, and to quicken
them into new life.

The history of Europe during the first part of the
present century, is a history written in blood. It is
one of war in all its desolating horrors, and also in all
its glorious achievements and victories in the cause of
European liberty and national independence. Never
was war so universal. It raged in every part of the
earth. For years, the Peninsula was a great battle-
field. Belgium and the plains of Germany were satu-
rated with blood. Allied hosts conquered France.
Annies crossed the Alps and ravaged Italy, and were
buried beneath the snows of Russia. The contest was
waged from the Baltic to the Bosphorus. The old
battle-fields of Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor,

266 Parish Papers.

Persia, and the Crimea, were again disturbed. War
swept the peninsula of India to the confines of Cash-
mere. It penetrated beyond the walls of China, and
visited the islands of the Eastern Archipelago ; touched
the coasts of Arabia, and swept round Africa, from
the Cape to Algiers. It marched through the length
and breadth of the great Western Continent, from the
St Lawrence to the Mississippi, and from Central to
Southern America. Every kingdom experienced its
horrors but our own; every capital was entered by the
enemy but our own f During all this terrible period,
our Sabbath services were never broken by the cry
of battle. The dreadful hurricane raged without, but
never for a single hour disturbed the peace of our
beloved island-home. No revolution from within de-
stroyed our institutions, and no power from without
prevented us from improving them. The builders of
our spiritual temples did not require to hold the sword.
Our victories, with their days of national thanksgiving,
and our anxieties, with their days of national fasting,
tended to deepen a sense of religion in every heart.
Men of God, in rapid succession, rose in all the
Churches. A pious laity began to take the lead in
advancing the cause of evangelism. In Parliament
there was one man, who, by the purity of his private
life, the noble consistency, uncompromising honest)',
and unwearied philanthropy of his public career, along
with his faithful published testimony for the truth as
it is in Christ, did more, directly and indirectly, than
any other of his day for the revival of true religion,

Progress of Missions.

267

especially among the influential classes of our land :
that man was William Wilberforce.

But without dwelling upon the fact of the great
revival which has occurred in the Protestant Church
during the present century, let us notice one of its
more prominent results. We mean the increased ac-
tivity manifested by all its branches in advancing the
Redeemer's kingdom.

At the commencement of this century, the whole
Protestant missionary staff throughout the world
amounted to ten societies only. Of these, however,
two only had really entered the mission -field with any
degree of vigour — viz., the Society for the Propaga-
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; and, above all,
the Society of the Moravian Brethren. The Wesleyan,
Baptist, London, and Church Missionary Societies,
though nominally in existence, had hardly commenced
their operations. There were, besides the above, two
small societies on the Continent ; two in Scotland ;
and not one in all America ! How stands the case
now? The Protestant Church, instead of ten, has
fifty-one societies ; the great majority of which have
each more labourers, and a greater income, than all
the societies together of the Protestant Church pre-
vious to 1800 !

If the last sixty years be divided into three equal
periods, nine societies belong to the first, fifteen to
the second, and twenty-four to the third.

The following facts, collected from statistics of the
great missionary societies up to 1861, will afford — as

268

Parish Papers.

far as mere diy figures can do — a general idea of the
present strength of the mission army of the Protestant
Church, with some of its results :—

There are now 22 missionary societies in Great
Britain, 14 in North America, and 15 on the Con-
tinent of Europe ; in all, 51. These employ, in round
numbers, 12,000 agents, including ordained mission-
aries, (probably 2000,) teachers, catechists, &c. ;
occupy 1200 stations; have 335,000 communicants
from heathendom; 252,000 scholars; 460 students
training for the ministry; and are supported by an
income of £860,000 per annum.

The greatest results have been attained by England.
Connected with her great societies, there are nearly
7000 agents, 630 stations, 210,000 communicants,
208,000 scholars, with an annual income of £510,000.*

* One or two facts in connexion with missionary effort may
interest our readers : — ■

Mr Miiller of Bristol supports, in connexion with his famous
Orphanage, 22 foreign and 80 home missionaries.

The Moravian Missionary Society has sent, since 1732, 2000
missionaries, of whom 643 have died in mission sen-ice ; 9 on
mission journeys ; 13 on the voyage out or home ; 22 by ship-
wreck ; and 12 were murdered.

Gossner of Berlin alone originated and conducted a mission
which has sent out 14 1 missionaries. Pastor Harms of Her-
mannsburg has also, by his own efforts, built a mission ship, and
has sent out 150 missionaries, of whom 100 are colonists, and
proposes to send 24 every two years.

Ten years ago there was little or no fruit among the Kohls of
India. There are now 30,000 receiving Christ.

In India there are 500 missionaries ; in Tinnevelly, above
70,000 Christians.

The American Board alone has sent out in fifty years 900

Progress of Missions. 269

But in order to enable our readers still more clearly
to realise the advance which the Church has made
during the last half century, let us consider the pro-
gress of one of those societies, and take as an illustra-
tion the Church Missionary Society. It was founded
a few months before 1800. Its income in 1802 was
£356. It now amounts to £104,273. In 1804, it had
one station abroad, two ordained European mission-
aries, but no native assistants. It has now 148 sta-
tions, 258 ordained clergymen, (many of whom have
studied in the English Universities,) a large staff of
native clergy, with 2034 other agents, most of whom
are natives. In 1810, it had 35 male and 13 female
scholars in its schools ; it has now 3 1,000 scholars.
In 1816, the good Mr Bickersteth had the privilege
of receiving its first converts, amounting to six only,
into the communion of the Church. Its communicants
now number about 2 1,000.

Let us, however, examine the missionary labours of

missionaries (500 being native) and 400 teachers ; 55,000 have
been received into church - membership, and 175,000 children
passed through their schools.

America contributes £180,000 to foreign missions, and 2000
agents.

The Presbyterian Churches of the world have come late into
the field, but they contribute about 900 agents, and 230 ordained
missionaries, with an income of about £110,000.

One of the oldest Protestant missionary societies in existence
(though now confined to home operations) is the Society in con-
nexion with the Church of Scotland "for Promoting Christian
Knowledge." It supported Brainerd and the Elliots more than
a century ago.

270 Parish Papers.

the Protestant Church during this century from an-
other point of view. Take the map of the world,
look over its continents and islands, and contrast
their condition, as to the means of grace, in 1800 and
1862.

In 1800, the only missions east of the Cape of Good
Hope were in India. These were confined to the
Baptist Mission, protected in the Danish settlement of
Serampore; and the missions in Tanjore, in Southern
India. The former was begun by Carey and Thomas,
(in 1793,) who were joined by a few brethren in 1799.
The first convert they made was in 1800. The
latter mission had existed since 1705, and numbered
about nine labourers at the commencement of the
century.*

Of the East India Company's chaplains, Claudius
Buchanan alone had the courage to advocate in India
the missionary cause ; and his sermon preached upon
the subject in 1800, in Calcutta, was then generally
deemed a bold and daring step. Hindustan was
closed by the East India Company against the mis-

* The first Protestant missionary who visited India was
Ziegenbalg, who was sent out by the Halle-Danish Missionary
Society in 1705, to Tranquebar. He was joined by Plutschow
in 17 19. The mission was then adopted by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel. Grmidler followed in 1720, and
Schultze in 1727. The mission, in 1736, had four stations, one
being in Madras; 24 native assistants; and 3517 baptized
members ! The great Schwartz laboured in, and extended the
mission from 1749 till 1798. According to Dr Carey, 40,000
had been converted to Christianity during the last century
through this mission. Dr Claudius Buchanan reckons the
number as high as 80,000 !

Progress of Missions.

271

sionaries of the Christian Church. China, too, seemed
hermetically sealed against the gospel. The Jesuit
mission had failed. Christianity was proscribed by
an imperial edict. Protestant missions had not com-
menced. The language of the nation, like its walls,
seemed to forbid all access to the missionary. In
Africa there were but few missionaries, and these had
lately arrived at the Cape.* In the black midnight
which brooded over that miserable land, the cry of
tortured slaves alone was heard. New Zealand, Aus-
tralia, and the scattered islands of the Southern Seas
had not yet been visited by one herald of the gospel.
A solitary beacon gleaming on the ocean from the
missionary ship Duff had indeed been seen, but
not yet welcomed by the savages of Tahiti. The
mission was abandoned in 1809, and not a convert
left behind ! No Protestant missionary had preached

* The first missionary to South Africa was George Schmidt,
sent by the Moravian Brethren in 1736. He laboured alone with
some success till 1743, when he was compelled by the Dutch
East India Company to return to Europe. The mission was
resumed in 1 792, when three additional missionaries sailed for the
Cape. A few others joined them in 1798. At the beginning
of the century, the converts amounted to 304. The illustrious
Dr Vanderkemp, along with three other missionaries, were sent
to South Africa by the London Missionary Society in 1799. The
only attempts made to Christianise Western Africa previous to
1800 were by the Moravians in Guinea, in 1737 ; but all the
missionaries, eleven in number, dying, the attempt was aban-
doned ; and by the Scottish Missionary Society, in 1797, who
sent thither six missionaries. One (Greig) was murdered, an-
other (Brunton) returned, and went to Tartary ; the rest, we
believe, went to other spheres of labour. The Church Mission-
ary Society entered upon this field in 1801.

272 Parish Papers.

to those Indian tribes beyond the Colonies, who
wandered over the interminable plains which stretch
from Behring's Straits to Cape Horn. Mohammedan
States were all shut up against the gospel ; and to
forsake the Crescent for the Cross, was to die. In
this thick darkness which covered heathendom, the
only light to be seen — except in India — was in the
far north, shed by the self-denying Moravians, — a
light which streamed like a beautiful aurora over the
wintry snow and ice-bound coasts of Greenland. To
this gloomy picture we must add the indifference of
the Protestant Church to God's ancient people. No
society then existed for their conversion ; and of them
it might indeed be said, " This is Israel, whom no man
seeketh after ! "

How changed is the aspect of the world now !
There is hardly a spot upon earth (if we except those
enslaved by Popery) where the Protestant missionary
may not preach the gospel without the fear of perse-
cution. The door of the world has been thrown open,
and the world's Lord and Master commands and in-
vites His servants to enter, and, in His name, to take
possession of the nations. Since 181 2, India, chiefly
through the exertions of Mr Wilberforce,* has been

* In 1812, we find from Mr Wilberforce's Life (vol. iv., p. 10)
how he was "busily engaged in reading, thinking, consulting,
and persuading," on the renewal of the East India Company's
charter. He was fully alive to the importance of the crisis with
reference to the interests of Christianity. He thus writes to his
friend Mr Butterworth : — "I have been long looking forward
to the period of the renewal of the East India Company's charter
as to a great era, when I hoped that it would please God to

Progress of Missions. 273

made accessible to the missionaries of every Church.
Christian schools and chapels have been multiplied ;
colleges have been instituted ; thousands have been
converted to Christ ; and tens of thousands instructed
in Christianity. The cruelties of heathenism have
been immensely lessened ; infanticide prohibited ;
Sutteeism abolished ; all Government support with-
drawn from idolatry ; and the Hindu law of inherit-
ance has been altered to protect the native converts ;
while a new era seems to be heralded by the fact that
a native Christian rajah has himself established a
mission among his people.

All the islands in the Eastern Archipelago are now
accessible to the missionary ; most of them have been
visited. Ceylon has nourishing congregations and
schools ; Madagascar has had her martyrs, and has
still her indomitable confessors.

China, with its teeming millions, has also been

enable the friends of Christianity to be the instruments of wiping
away what I have long thought, next to the slave-trade, the
foulest blot on the moral character of our countrymen — the
suffering our fellow-subjects (nay, they even stand toward us in
the closer relation of our tenants) in the East Indies to remain,
without any effort on our part to enlighten and inform them,
under the grossest, the darkest, and most depraving system of
idolatrous superstition that almost ever existed on earth." The
deepest anxiety was felt by all Christians for the issue of the
debate. "I heard afterwards," he writes, "that many good
men were praying for us all night." These prayers and efforts
were crowned with success ; and Mr Wilberforce, when com-
municating the joyful news to his wife, writes — "Blessed be
God ! we carried our question triumphantly, about three, or
later, this morning ! "

274 Parish Papers.

opened to the gospel. The way had been marvel-
lously prepared by Dr Morrison, who as early as 1807
had commenced the study of the language which he
lived to master. Accordingly, when the conquests of
Britain had obtained admission for, and secured pro-
tection to the missionaries as well as to the merchants
of all nations, the previous indefatigable labours of
Morrison had provided, for the immediate use of the
Church of Christ, a dictionary of the language, and
a translation of the Word of God. The Christian
religion is tolerated by law since 1844, and may
be professed freely by the natives. The gospel is
now advancing in that thickly-peopled land of pa-
tience and industry, and native preachers are already
proclaiming to their countrymen the tidings of sal-
vation.

Africa has witnessed changes still more wonderful.
The abolition of the British slave-trade in 1807, and
of slavery in the British dominions in 1834, has re-
moved immense barriers in the way of the gospel.
The whole coasts of Africa are being girdled with
the light of truth. It has penetrated throughout the
south, where the French* and German Protestant
Churches labour side by side with those of Britain to
civilise the degraded Bushman, the low Hottentot,
and warlike Kaffir. The chapel in Sierra Leone,
built from the planks of condemned slavers, and con-

* The missions of the French Protestant Church are situated
inland from Port Natal, and along the river Caledon from its
junction with the Orange River. It has gathered upwards of
2000 Bechuanas into regular church-fellowship.

Progress of Missions. 275

taining 1000 worshippers, is a type of the blessings
brought through Christianity to injured Africa.

Abyssinia has also been visited with every prospect
of success.

And how glorious has been the triumph of the
gospel throughout the whole Pacific! In 1837,
Williams was able to address royalty in these noble
words — " It must impart joy to every benevolent
mind to know, that by the efforts of British Christians
upwards of three hundred thousand of deplorably igno-
rant and savage barbarians, inhabiting the beautiful
islands of the Pacific, have been delivered from a
dark, debasing, and sanguinary idolatry, and are now
enjoying the civilising influence, the domestic happi-
ness, and the spiritual blessings which Christianity
imparts. In the island of Raratonga, which I dis-
covered in 1823, there are upwards of 3000 children
under Christian instruction daily; not a vestige of
idolatry remains j* their language has been reduced
to a system, and the Scriptures, with other books,
have been translated. But this is only one of nearly
a hundred islands to which similar blessings have been
conveyed." Tens of thousands of souls more have
been added to this number since these words were
written ! In no part of heathendom has the gospel
produced, in so short a time, such wonderful fruit as
in Polynesia. The labours and sacrifices of the con-
verted natives are more striking than in any other

* The first idol which a catechist from Raratonga, who
visited London in 1848, ever beheld, was in the Museum of the
London Missionary Society.

276

Parish Papers.

missions. Many islands have been converted solely
by means of a native agency, and are superintended
by native preachers only. Let us take the Sandwich
Islands as illustrating what has been accomplished for
the natives, and by them. The American Mission was
commenced in 1824. These islands have been con-
verted long ago to Christianity, so that not a vestige
of idolatry remains, and not only do they support their
own clergy and schools, but have their own Bible and
Foreign Missionary Society. They raise for these ob-
jects about £4000 per annum, and support six mis-
sionaries to the heathen islands around them. The
communicants in the islands amount to upwards of
25,000, and the children who attend the common
schools to a still greater number.

If we turn our eye to the great Western Continent,
we see the gospel preached to its wandering Indian
tribes ; while the condition of Mexico and of California
affords every prospect of the rapid extension of truth
through kingdoms long benighted.

Mohammedan countries have also been opened to
the missionary. Through the influence of Lord Aber-
deen and Sir Stratford Canning, the Sultan was induced
in 1844 to give religious toleration to his subjects ; so
that now, for the first time, a Mussulman may change
his faith without incurring punishment. Several
societies labour in Algiers, Egypt, Palestine, Asia
Minor, Greece, and Constantinople. The Euphrates
is being dried up. The Mohammedan power is totter-
ing, and ready to fall ! When it dies and is buried,
who will wear mourning at its funeral ?

Progress of Missions. 277

And how strange is the meeting between the distant
East and West, the distant past and near present,
visible in the fact, that it is missionaries from America
who now unveil to the dwellers in the land of the
Chaldees, and to the wanderers among the mountains
which shadow the birth-place of the human race, that
blessed faith and hope which dwelt in Abram, as he
journeyed at the dawn of history from that old land,
and which has returned thither again in Christian men
embued with Abram's faith, after having accompanied
civilisation around the globe 1 God's blessing has
signally attended the American mission among the
Nestorians. The revival of religion in their school's
and churches has been great and glorious.

May we not exclaim, What hath God wrought !
Yet how can any statistics carry to our hearts a sense
of what has been done for immortal souls by the
gospel during this eventful period? What homes
have been made happy by it ; what families united in
the bonds of love j what sick-beds soothed ; what
dying beds cheered ; what minds illumined, and what
hearts filled with joy unspeakable, and full of glory !

In close connexion with mission work, we may
state the progress made during the present century
in leavening the world with the Word of God. Pre-
vious to the formation of the British and Foreign
Bible Society in 1804, there was not one society in
existence whose sole object was the distribution of
the Bible in all lands. There are now upwards of 50
principal, and 9000 auxiliary Bible societies. In

278 Parish Papers.

1804, the Bible was accessible to only 200 millions of
men. Now it exists in tongues spoken by 600 millions.
The London Bible Society alone sends forth annually
upwards of 1,787,000 copies. During the last sixty
years it has issued 39,315,226 Bibles, in 163 different
languages, and in 143 translations never before printed.
Its receipts for 1862 amount to £168,443.*

It surely cannot fail to fill the heart of every Chris-
tian with deepest thankfulness, to contemplate these
glorious achievements. The Church, like the angel
seen in prophetic vision, has been flying with the
everlasting gospel to every nation, and kindred, and
tongue, and people. It has given the Bible to the
inhabitants of the old lands of Egypt, Ethiopia,
Arabia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and Persia ; to the in-
domitable Circassian ; to the mountaineers of Afghan-
istan ; to tribes of India speaking thirty-two different
languages or dialects ; to the inhabitants of Burmah,
Assam, and Siam ; to the islanders of Madagascar
and Ceylon ; to the Malays and Javanese of the
Eastern seas ; to the millions of China, and the wan-
dering Kalmuck beyond her great wall ; to the brave
New Zealander; to the teeming inhabitants of the

* The American Bible Society circulates upwards of 600,000
copies of the Word of God annually, at home and abroad. Be-
sides assisting in publishing translations issued by other societies,
it has been at the sole expense of publishing the Armeno-Turkish,
and Modem Syriac New Testament ; the entire Bible for the
Burmese, and also for the Sandwich Islands ; the Ojibbeway
New Testament ; the Gospels, or some portion of the Bible, into
the languages of the Sioux, Mohawks, Seneca, and Cherokee
Indians.

Progress of Missions. 279

island groups which are scattered over the Southern
Pacific ; to the African races, from the Cape to Sierra
Leone ; to the Esquimaux and Greenlander, within
the Arctic circle ; and to the Indian tribes of North
America. All are now furnished with a translation of
that wonderful volume, which, with the light of the
universal living Spirit of God, at once reveals to man,
in every age and clime, his lost and miserable con-
dition, and tells him of a remedy that is adapted to
meet every want of his being — to redeem him, by a
moral power it alone can afford, from all sin and
misery, and to bring him into the glorious fellow-
ship of the holiness, the blessedness, and joy of
Jesus Christ, and all the family of God in earth
and heaven !*

* The following facts regarding tract societies may be here
stated : — The Religious Tract Society of London was formed in

1799. During the first year of its operations, ending in May

1800, it had issued 200,000 tracts. What is its present working
power? Its annual income from sales and benevolent contribu-
tions (£12,500) is £95,000. Its annual distribution of tracts,
including handbills, from the London Depository is — in English,
20,870,074, and in foreign languages, 537,729, making an an-
nual total of 21,407,803. It publishes tracts in 117 different
languages. Taking into account the number of affiliated socie-
ties, the total probable annual distribution of tracts, British and
foreign, in connexion with the London Tract Society, amounts
to 28,500,000. Several religious bodies in the United States
maintain Tract or "Publication" Societies. But the "Ameri-
can Tract Society" (founded 1825) is the largest and most in-
fluential in the United States, and has a catholic constitution
similar to our own Tract Society. It is supported by more
than 700 auxiliary societies — those in Boston, Philadelphia, and
New York being large and efficient. We may add that its cir-

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Parish Papers.

And now let us ask, What shall be the history of
the Church during the rest of this century 1 Without
attempting with a vain or profane hand to uncover
what God has concealed, it is surely a comfort to be
able to take our stand on the immovable rock of His
promises to Christ, and to rejoice in the assurance,
that, sooner or later, His name must be glorious in all
the earth !

But when 1 Is it too much to assert, that before the
end of the present century, the gospel shall have been
preached to all nations, the Bible translated into all
tongues, and the last visible idol on earth cast down
amidst the triumphant songs of the Church of Christ ?
We might expect this blessing judging only from the
past, and the constantly-increasing ratio with which
society advances. Yet, as revolutions in the physical
world anticipate in a single night the slow progress of
ordinary causes, so, for aught we know, may God, by
some evolution of His providence, make one year do
the work of many.

But while we do anticipate the most glorious re-
sults ever attained by the human race during this cen-
tury, we anticipate, also, from the signs of the time,
a desperate conflict of opposing systems, both of truth
and error. It is not a little remarkable, that never
before was there such a life and strength in every

culation is not confined to the United States, but extends to
Mexico, Central and South America, and to those districts in
the East and Asia Minor where the American missionaries are
labouring. It has issued upwards of 200,000,000 of publications
since its commencement

Progress of Missions. 281

system as at this moment. Protestantism, Popery,
Infidelity, and even Judaism,* were never so alive ;
and never were alive together before. Does this not
look like a coming struggle?! But what may appear
suddenly and unexpectedly, may nevertheless be the
necessary results of long preparation ; like the water or
the gas, which suddenly enter a thousand city houses
to refresh and illuminate them, but which are the results
of years of labour in digging trenches, laying pipes, and
erecting reservoirs, during all which time no streams
of water or of gas were ever present to the senses.

But we know from the testimony of God's Word,
strengthened by the experience of past ages, how cer-
tain victory is in the end, however long and apparently
doubtful the campaign may be between His kingdom
and every form of evil. The day has been when " the
Church" was "in the wilderness;" and when within
that Church four men only held fast their confidence
in God, believed His word, and exhorted that Church
to take possession of the land of promise, saying,
" Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the
people of the land : their defence is departed from
them, and the Lord is with us : fear them not." And
how was that missionary sermon received 1 " All the

* It is only within twenty-five years that preackinghas become
common in all their synagogues, while, during the same period,
ten periodicals have been started by the Jews, in different parts
of the world, in defence of Judaism, in some form or other.

t In a conversation which we had with Neander in 1848,
(immediately before the continental revolutions,) he said, "I
believe we are entering a period of unprecedented warfare, which
will issue in the increased glory and purity of the Church. The
light and darkness will every year be more and more separated ;
the one becoming more bright, the other more densely dark."

282 Parish Papers.

congregation bade stone them with stones ! " And had
they done so, the world's only true lights were extin-
guished and lost in universal unbelief and heathenism.
It was in such desperate circumstances as these that
the Lord himself came to the rescue of the world, and
it was then these marvellous words of promise were
uttered, " As truly as I live my glory will fill the earth !"
The day has been, too, when " the Church" met in an
upper room with shut doors, for fear of the Jews ;
but it was even then that its Lord said, "All power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth : go ye there-
fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost :
and, lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the
world." Never more can the glory of God appear to
the eyes of the weakest faith to be so dim, or the cause
of Christ to be so hopeless, as it hath been in those
days of old ! The glory of God is filling the earth,
and the gospel is being preached to all nations. Mere
rays of light, which we see breaking over the mountain
tops in heathen lands, are beautiful in themselves; but
far more beautiful to the eye of faith are the first beams
of that sun which is yet to stream into every valley
now lying in darkness, and steep in its glory all the
habitations of men. Those notes of joy and thanks-
giving, too, are beautiful which ascend from many a
heart in " Kedafs wilderness afar;" but they are still
more beautiful to the ear of faith as echoes from the
Rock of ages, and the prophetic song uttered by "great
voices in heaven," saying, "The kingdoms of this
world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever ! "

THE MYSTERY OF SORROW.

HE patriarch Job experienced the darkness and

mystery of sorrow when he thus spoke : — " Know
now that God hath overthrown me, and hath com-
passed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong,
but I am not heard : I cry aloud, but there is no judg-
ment. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,
and he hath set darkness in my paths. He hath
stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from
my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and
I am gone ; and mine hope hath he removed like a
tree." " Even to-day is my complaint bitter ; my
stroke is heavier than my groaning. O that I knew
where I might find him ! that I might come even to
his seat ! " " Behold, I go forward, but he is not
there ; and backward, but I cannot perceive him : on
the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot be-
hold him : he hideth himself on the right hand, that I
cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take :
when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

The sweet singer of Israel sung in darkness when
he said : — " My heart is sore pained within me ; and

2S4 Parish Papers.

tha terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness
and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath
overwhelmed me. And I said, O that I had wings
like -a dove ! for then would I fly away, and be at
rest." " Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark-
ness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Thou
hast put away mine acquaintance far from me ; thou
hast made me an abomination unto them : I am shut
up, and I cannot come forth."

The prophet Jeremiah cried out of the depths of
mysterious sorrow when he poured forth these lamen-
tations : — " I am the man that hath seen affliction by
the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought
me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against
me is he turned ; he turneth his hand against me all
the day." " He hath set me in dark places, as they
that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that
I cannot get out ; he hath made my chain heavy."
" And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace :
I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord : remembering mine
affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall,
lily soul hath them still in remembrance, and is
humbled in me."

And did not our blessed Lord himself experience,
as a man, the mystery of sorrow when he cried in
Gethsemane, " If it be possible, let this cup pass from
me;" and when, during that "hour and power of
darkness " on the cross, He exclaimed, " My God, my
God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? "

The Mystery of Sorrow. 285

if, then, our Father visits us with any sorrow which
is to us dark and mysterious, let us "not think it
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, as
if some strange thing happened to us." Let us rather
gratefully remember, that ever since our Lord has
ascended up on high, and given us His Spirit to teach
us and to abide with us for ever, and for our profit has
recorded in His holy Word not only His acts, but also
His ways towards the children of men, we are enabled
to see much light piercing our greatest darkness and
sorrow, and so to know God as to strengthen our
faith in His wisdom and love.

I do not know any narrative in the whole Word of
God which at once reveals so much of this darkness
and light — of the mystery of sorrow for a time, and
the solution of the mystery afterwards — as that of the
sickness, death, and resurrection of Lazarus.

That family in Bethany, we know, consisted of La-
zarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary. They were
poor, and unknown to the great and busy world ; but
their riches and rank in the sight of the ministering
angels were great indeed, for Jesus " loved them."
This was the charter of the grandest inheritance. But
though loved by Jesus, that love did not hinder them
from being visited by a sudden affliction, and plunged
for a while into deepest gloom. We are able in spirit
to cross their lowly threshold, and to understand all
that took place in that humble home : for human hearts
and human sorrows are the same in every age. Lazarus,
the head of the house, is laid on a bed of sickness.
We need no details to enable all who have watched the

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progress of disease in the beloved member of a family
■ — and who has been exempted from this anxiety1? —
to realise how the symptoms of illness, treated at first
perhaps lightly, would become more serious, then
alarming, until foreboding thoughts of death pained
every tender affection ; and we can understand how
advice would be asked from kind neighbours, and
every possible remedy applied. But in vain ! The
sufferer gets worse, and the signs of approaching dis-
solution rapidly succeed in delirium, prostration of
strength, or altered features, until the chill of hope-
lessness creeps over the hearts of the sisters, and hot
tears fill their watching eyes, and prayers tremble
upon their pale lips, as in silence they wait for the
dread hour of death to their dear one ! We see it
all !

But ere this last moment was reached by Martha
and Mary, they are full of hope that it may be averted,
for they have a secret source of relief in a Physician
of body and soul. So long as they have Jesus with
them, they cannot despair. He is not, however, in
Bethany, but at Bethabara beyond the Jordan, a day's
journey off. Yet they can send for Him ; and they
accordingly do so, with this simple message, " Lazarus,
whom thou lovest, is sick." It is enough. There is
not a word of their love, or of the love of Lazarus to
Him. The appeal is to His own heart. No request
is proffered. Everything is left to Himself.

Did they not, however, feel assured that Jesus
would manifest His love to them in the way which
seemed to them the best way, — nay, the one way only

The Mystery of Sorrozu. 287

by which they could receive comfort, and be relieved
from their anxiety and sorrow, — and that was by de-
livering Lazarus from sickness and death 1 For they
could not but recall at that moment the many in-
stances in which Jesus had displayed His power and
love during the three years He had lived amidst the
sorrowing and suffering in Judea ; how unwearied
His goodness had ever been; how "multitudes" had
come to Him, and " He healed them all how
health had flowed from His hands and His lips, and
from His very garments; how He had showered down
His blessings upon Gentile as well as Jew, upon those
who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and were accounted as " dogs ;" how He had healed
by merely speaking a word at a distance, and even
anticipated prayer, by restoring a dead son to his
widowed mother, who had never asked or expected
such a blessing. And now ! will He refuse to help
His own beloved friend 1 Shall strangers, heathen,
publicans and sinners, be promptly heard and an-
swered, and Lazarus whom He loved forgotten ? Im-
possible ! The healing word must be spoken, or Jesus
himself will come and manifest Himself as mighty
to save !

Who can doubt but that such were the anticipations
of Martha and Mary, when they sent in their distress
the message to their Lord and Friend — " Lazarus,
whom thou lovest, is sick 1 "

The messenger has departed. With what anxiety
must they have measured out the time within which it
was possible for Jesus to receive the intelligence. They

2 88 Parish Papers.

who have sent far away for a physician in a critical
case, when every minute was precious, can sympathise
with their anxiety. Time passes : has the Saviour
yet received the tidings of their grief? Probably not,
for there is no improvement in Lazarus. The healing
word has not been spoken. Time passes : now He
must have heard ! Yet Lazarus is no better. Time
passes : and the messenger has returned, but without
Jesus ! Yet surely not without some message of con-
solation? some hope held out of relief? He brings
neither ! Jesus had said, indeed, that this sickness
was not unto death, or rather, was " unto death only
for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be
glorified thereby." But what means tins'? Does it
mean that Lazarus was to die % Has Jesus, then,
actually refused to aid them? Though He did not
promise to come, or had not spoken the word of
healing, He must surely do either ! It cannot be, no
it cannot be, that He will desert them, or leave them
alone in this trial! "Jesus, tarry not!" might have
been their wailing cry : " Lazarus whom thou lovedst
is sinking fast, and soon all will be over Avith him.
Friends, neighbours, look along the road, watch the
brow of that distant hill, look along that valley, and
see if there are any signs of His coming 1 "

Alas ! 'tis all in vain ; Lazarus is dead ! And be-
side that silent body the two sisters are breaking
their hearts. Life and death, faith and unbelief, are
struggling terribly for the mastery, and strange thoughts
of Christ flit across their minds like storm-clouds
athwart the sun. One brother is gone, the other has

The Mystery of Sorrow. 289

not come. The one dearly loved them ; the other ! —
they had believed in Jesus as the Messiah : they had
loved Him with reverent and deep affection, they had
worshipped — and now ! — God of Abraham, forsake us
not utterly ! Our fathers trusted Thee, and were not
put to shame ! Oh, deliver our feet from falling, and
our souls from going down to the pit ! Lord, help
our unbelief!

In some such form as this the storm of doubt and
anguish must have torn the minds of those mourners.
But the storm is not yet over; the deepest darkness
has not yet come. Their brother is dead. Death
with his marks, which once seen can never be mis-
taken, stamps every lineament of that well-known
countenance. It is death's colour on the cheek ;
death's cold stiffness in the limbs ; and no hand
but his could so close those eyes and make rigid
those lips. There is no swoon here ! Swathe him
then in the garments of the grave; make ready for
the funeral; let him be buried for ever out of sight;
follow him to the ancestral tomb, and let the other
household dead be remembered, and the other sad
processions from the home of the living to the home
of the lost and gone be recalled, and think that as
they never returned, so never can he. Lay the body
gently down beside those who have been long sleeping
there; look at it; remember the past since childhood;
weep and say farewell; return, Martha and Mary, with
wrung hearts to your home, and see the empty room
and listen for a voice that is no more, and experience
a second death in the emptiness, the silence of this

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changed abode, and let the heaviest burden of all be
borne, the deepest sorrow of all be endured — the doubt
of a Saviour's love!

Yes, that terrible agony of doubt was there. Other
friends came to sympathise with them, and to be pre-
sent with them at the funeral ; but this Friend was
absent, and did not send even one comforting mes-
sage ! Of what avail is His coming now 1 for Lazarus
has been dead four days, and corruption is already
doing its foul work on his body. Here is " darkness
that might be felt ! "

Would that we could feel how real all this myste-
rious sorrow must have been to those sisters — our
sisters, with our hearts, affections, and sympathies —
that so we may be the more prepared to receive the
blessed teaching which this narrative is designed to
afford, and have our faith strengthened by seeing how
the darkness and perplexity which belong so often to
God's providential dealings towards us, may be caused
by the deepest workings of that very love which we
do not for a time see, and therefore may in our blind-
ness and weakness for a time doubt.

But we must now look at the other portion of this
history, which interprets the one we have been con-
sidering, and reveals the mind and ways of Jesus,
now, as then, to His sorrowing friends.

We read that " when Jesus heard that Lazarus was
sick," " he abode two days still in the same place
where he then was." But His thoughts and His heart
were all the while in Bethany. He saw all that was
taking place there. He was cognisant of every groan

The Mystery of Sorrow. 291

and tear ; yet He did nothing to prevent the progress
of the disease, or to lessen the intensity of the sorrow.
At the very moment when the sisters watch their
brother's last breath, Jesus " said unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead."

Let us inquire, then, whether we can discover any
reasons which could have induced our Lord thus to
prolong His stay at Bethabara, and to absent Himself
from Bethany. What means this deep calm and quiet
at such a time beside the troubled waters of the Jor-
dan?

Now, we must ever remember that the grand end
of all our Lord did, was that " God might be glorified
thereby," — that the character of the Father might be
revealed in the fullest possible manner in and by Jesus
the Son. But in order that this, in the circumstances
in which He was then placed, might be accomplished,
He had many things to consider ; many complex in-
terests pertaining to the kingdom of God to weigh
and to reconcile, so as to bring out of them all glorj
to God in the highest, with good-will to man.

(a.) Jesus had in the first place to consider the good
of His beloved friends in Bethany. They were think-
ing probably of their own comfort only, and of that
too as coming but in one way, by the deliverance of
Lazarus from sickness or death. But there is some-
thing of more importance to immortal beings than
mere comfort. Love to souls is a very different senti-
ment, and manifested in a very different manner, than
love to mere animals. To get quit of grief; to have
tears dried up and smiles restored ; to be delivered

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from all anxiety, and relieved from the heavy burden
of sorrow, never mind how, — this is surely not the
highest end which one who, wisely and truly loved,
would seek for his brother in adversity % The highest,
the best, the enduring and eternal interests of the
lufferer must first be considered. His comfort, doubt-
less, cannot be overlooked, but then it must be such
comfort as God can sympathise with and rejoice in ;
a comfort, therefore, which is in harmony with true
spiritual life, and which will strengthen that life unto
life eternal. Every other comfort is a delusion, a
cheating of the soul, a laughter that must end at last
in the experience of a deeper sorrow than before.
He who bids us seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, cannot discipline us or aid us to
seek any lower good first, because He loves our true
and highest good most. Jesus had therefore to con-
sider how He could bring true good, and therefore
true comfort in the end, out of this sickness and
death, to Martha, Mary, and also to Lazarus. To
restore the brother to his sisters — was this best for
them, taking into account every circumstance of their
history within and without'? To restore Lazarus to
life — to a world of sin and temptation, again to die
■ — was this the best for him ? These were solemn
questions, which Divine love and wisdom alone could
answer.

(b.) But Jesus had to consider the good of His disci-
ples. For years these simple-minded men had followed
Him, and had been educating by Him to become the
teachers of the world. How then shall this event be

The Mystery of Sorrow. 293

best turned to account for the strengthening of their
faith, for the enlarging of their spiritual vision of
God's glory, as revealed by His Son 1 But Jesus re-
membered them also : " I am glad," He said, " for
your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye
may believe."

(c.) Beyond the inner circle of His friends in Bethany
and His more immediate followers, there was the mul-
titude of poor, ignorant, fanatical, and unbelieving
Jews — the wandering sheep, many of whom had to
be gathered into the fold of this the Good Shepherd.
Jesus had their interests also at heart, as is evident
from His prayer subsequently at the tomb of Lazarus :
"Because of the people which stand by I said it, that
they may believe that thou hast sent me."

(d.) Nor must we, in contemplating the many objects
of love which occupied the thoughts of the Saviour,
forget how intimately connected the raising of Lazarus
was with His own death. That last great miracle of
Divine power and love — almost, if not His last on
earth — was to mark the beginning of His own deepest
humiliation and sorrow. The hatred of the Jews was
at this time so intense, that Thomas was amazed that
He should hazard a journey to a place so near Jeru-
salem as was Bethany. " The Jews of late sought to
stone thee ; and goest thou thither again 1 " And so
dangerous did this journey seem, that while bravely
resolving to accompany Him, Thomas said, " Let us
also go, that we may die with him." But this hatred
was to be intensified by the display of Christ's glory
at the tomb of Lazarus ; for we read that " from that

294 Parish Papers.

day forth they took counsel to put Him to death."
The opening of the tomb to bring Lazarus forth was
thus the opening of His own to descend thither
as "crucified, dead, and buried." The gratitude of
Mary for having her brother restored was soon to be
unconsciously expressed by her anointing his mighty
Restorer for His own burial. No wonder that Jesus
paused ere He took this last step which intervened
between Himself and the death which should end His
work and mission upon earth.

(e.) And, as including all these considerations and
many more, His own glory as the Divine Son of God
was involved in what was to take place at Bethany.
And this, again, involved the destinies of the human
race, and the good and comfort of the Church through-
out coming ages. Whatever became of Martha or
Mary or Lazarus, — though the sisters should weep out
their little day of life, and though their brother's sleep
should be unbroken till the resurrection morning, —
what was all this to the revealing of Jesus as the
Saviour of men, and as the "resurrection and the
life " of human bodies and of human souls 1 Incon-
ceivably less in proportion than are the interests of
one person to those of the whole universe ! And thus
you see that while those humble mourners, in the weak-
ness of the flesh, and in their earthly short-sightedness,
were thinking only of themselves, Jesus the Saviour of
mankind had to think of many persons and of many
things, so that every interest might be attended to,
and the good of the whole kingdom of God be remem-
bered, while not a hair on the head of Martha, Mary,

The Mystery of Sorrow. 295

or Lazarus was forgotten. Oh, blessed Saviour and
glorious King ! who can thus govern worlds and
mould the ages of human history, while His ear is
open to the prayers, and His thoughts occupied with
the concerns, of the humblest mourners, as if they
alone existed in the mighty universe of God !

Before shewing the blessed teaching which sufferers
may gather from this twofold picture of mysterious
sorrow and of thoughtful love, let us study for a
moment the circumstances attending the meeting of
Jesus with Martha and Mary. Many of these are
deeply interesting and full of instruction ; but I con-
fine myself to one point only, the evidence which I
cannot but think they afford of the shaken faith of the
sisters for a time in the love of Jesus.

Martha was the first to meet Him outside of the
town, where in quiet, and undisturbed by the noisj
mourners from Jerusalem, and by their sympathising
friends, Jesus desired, with His considerate kindness,
to probe and heal those sorely wounded hearts. And
what was her salutation t " Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died ! " What means this 1
Is it an expression of confidence only in His power'?
Is it a confession of faith? Or does it not rather
evidence unbelief? Does it not imply a sorrow-
ing complaint, uttered, indeed, with reverence, and
in such gentle language as was compatible with sin-
cere faith, but still a complaint from a wondering and
disappointed because wrung spirit, expressed in lan-
guage which suggested the additional question asked
only in the heart, "And why wcrt Thou not here?"

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Jesus reasoned with her. She believes, yet still doubts
and questions why He had not come ; she trusts Him,
yet sees no light with reference to His dealings to-
wards themselves. One thing she will do, however,
amidst the darkness — she will cling to Christ as her
only hope and refuge ! Man* remains in the house.
Why ] Was it that she had not heard of the arrival
of Jesus, or of Martha having gone to meet Him ? Or
is her heart so torn by distracting thoughts, that for a
moment she knows not what to do ? She dare not
say to Him all she feels. Her keen and sensitive
heart is agonised by entertaining for a moment even
the bare suspicion of unkindness on His part. She
fights against the horrid thought, which, like a demon,
torments her, yet she cannot yet quite banish it, and
meet Him with the full, unreserved, gushing love which
something tells her is His due. But however this may
have been, a message from Himself rouses her : " The
Master is come, and calleth for thee ; and as soon as
she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto him."
But how did she meet Him ! Ah ! Martha and she
have surely been together pondering over the mystery
of His absence, and they have inwardly come to the
same conclusion : and so she too fell at the Masters
feet, with the same waning cry from her full heart,
" Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not
died!" As she uttered these words, " Jesus wept!"
There are expressions and single words in Scripture
which reveal a whole heaven of glory — like the open-
ing in the telescope, which, though but as a pin-point of
light, reveals the glory of sun, moon, and stars. What

The Mystery of Sorrow. 297

a revelation of love is this — " Jesus wept !" But what
mean these tears? They are visibly significant of
much sorrow. The cup of the " Man of sorrows"
was always full j what caused it thus to run over 1
Only twice in His life do we read of the Saviour's
weeping, — now, when at Bethany, and in a few days
afterwards, when entering Jerusalem during the week
of His crucifixion. Did Jesus now weep from mere
human sympathy with sisters mourning for a dead
brother 1 or did He weep because He mourned then-
own lost faith in His love to them? We are well
aware of the tenacity with which most people cling to
the former method of accounting for the Saviour's
tears, and what pain it seems to give when the latter
view is pressed upon them, as if they were thereby
robbed of some special source of comfort in affliction,
and left without any other declaration in the Word of
God — at all events, without any other incident in the
life of Jesus — fitted to inspire confidence in His sym-
pathy. It is not difficult to account for this feeling
on our part. For it is much easier to understand
tears shed for mere human suffering, than tears shed
for human sin. The one kind of sorrow is common,
the other is rare. The one is almost instinctive, and
necessarily springs from that benevolence which be-
longs to us as men, but the other can only spring from
that love of souls which belongs to us as " partakers
of the sufferings of Christ," and from possessing, there-
fore, a realising sense of the infinite importance of a
right or wrong state of being towards God, and from
beholding the darkness of evil casting its dread

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shadows over a dear one's spirit. Hence an atheist
can mourn over our loss of friends by death, while the
man of God alone can mourn over our loss of God
himself by unbelief. Then, again, every person wel-
comes the sympathy of another in his sorrows ; while
he might at the same time have no sympathy with the
grief experienced by another for his sins. The one
might be gladly welcomed as most loving, but the
other be proudly rejected as most offensive.

Why therefore should true Christians cling with such
fondness to the idea of Christ weeping with Martha
and Mary, because they lost their brother, and not
rather see a far deeper love and a source of far deeper
comfort in his tears, because they had, for a moment
even, lost their faith ? Surely those who know Christ
do not depend solely on such a proof as this of the
reality of His humanity, and of His sympathy with the
affliction of His brethren ; nor can that kind of sym-
pathy be the highest which can be afforded by all men
whose hearts are not utterly steeled by selfish indiffer-
ence. Besides, however real Christ's sympathy was
with sorrow of every kind, why did He express it on
this occasion more than on any other? Nay, why
did He weep at the very moment when He purposed,
by a miracle of power, to restore the dead brother to
his sisters, and in a few minutes to turn their sorrow
into joy? Why weep with those whose tears were
shed in ignorance only of the coming event which was
so soon to dry them ? But the Saviour's tears came
from a different and a profounder source ! They
welled out of a heart whose deep and tender love was

The Mystery of Sorrow. 299

not trusted in, but doubted even by those whom He
loved most deeply and tenderly, and at the very mo-
ment too when He was about to pour forth upon them
the richest treasure of His love, and to do exceeding
abundantly above all they could ask or think. Re-
member only how He of all men loved ; how as a man
He longed for His brother's sympathy, and how as a
holy Saviour He longed for His brother's good. Re-
member how earnestly He sought for the one grand
result, that of hearty confidence in His goodwill, as
the only restorative of humanity fallen and in ruins
through the curse of unbelief. Remember, too, how
lonely He was in the world ; how few understood
Him in any degree, or responded even feebly to the
constant, boundless outpouring of His affection ; and
how many returned His good with evil, His love with
bitterest hate ; — remember all this, and conceive if
you can what His feelings must have been when re-
turning to this home of His heart, to this green spot
amidst the wilderness of hateful distrust, with His
whole soul full of such glorious purposes of love and
self-sacrifice, and then at such a time to find his best
and dearest friends smitten with the universal blight,
fallen to the earth and prostrate in the dust under the
crushing burden of unbelief ! He does not weep, at
first, when Martha addresses him ; but when Mary,
the loving and confiding — she of all on earth — com-
plains ; when faith has failed in even her ! — oh, it is
too much for His heart ! " And thou too ! " — -" Jesus
wept ! " Ah ! that shadow of death in such a soul as
this was infinitely sadder to Him than the dead body

30o

Parish Papers.

of her brother, nay, than the contents of all the fester-
ing graveyards of the world ! For what is death to
sin? and what is the power which can restore by a
word the dead body to life, in comparison with that
which is required to restore an unbelieving soul to
God ? It was this unbelief, the most terrible spectacle
which earth presents to the eye of a holy and loving
Saviour, that made Him weep as He beheld it for a
moment, like a demon-power taking possession of His
own best beloved. And it was this same essential
evil, and this alone, which made Him weep once
again as He entered Jerusalem, when He cried,
" How often would I have gathered you, but ye
would not ! "

In perfect accordance with this view, we read that
when some of the Jews said, as He walked towards
the tomb of Lazarus, " Could not this man, which
opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even
this man had not died I" "Jesus therefore again groan-
ing in himself, cometh to the grave." For again the
words expressed lost faith in His power, or in His
love to "this man." In like manner, when Martha,
as if to persuade Him not to attempt impossibilities,
reminded Him of the long time in which Lazarus had
lain in the grave, saying, " Lord, by this time he stink-
eth," Jesus sternly rebukes her, "Said I not unto thee,
that if thou ivouldest believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God V And tell me, is there not inexpres-
sible comfort in this love which mourns over sin as
the greatest loss and the greatest sorrow ? I can get
many, as I have said, in the world to understand and

The Mystery of Sorrow. 30 1

to feel with me in all my sufferings from loss of wealth,
of health, of friends, or of any earthly blessing. Re-
lations, acquaintances, strangers, even enemies, could
be found who would do so. But who will so love me
as to carry my crushing burden of sin 1 Who can fully
understand its exceeding sinfulness 1 Who can fathom
the depths into which I have fallen, or enter the body
of death which imprisons my spirit. One only, the
truest, the best, the most loving of all, my Saviour !
And His hatred of my sin, and His sorrow for it, is
just the measure of His love to me, and of His desire
to deliver me, and to make me a partaker of His own
blessed rest and peace, through faith and love in His
Father and my Father, in His God and my God !

I shall pass by the remaining facts in this narrative,
the raising of Lazarus, and the memorable scene when
Jesus sat as a guest with the family of Bethany, again
restored to one another, and to Himself in love ; and
when Mary with unutterable thoughts anointed His
feet with ointment, and wiped them with the hair of her
head. I would rather occupy the space which remains,
in gathering from what has been said a few general
lessons of importance chiefly to mourners.

My suffering brother or sister ! permit me to address
you as if personally present with you, seeing your
distress, and sharing it as those cannot choose but
do who have themselves experienced the darkness of
sorrow. Such darkness and perplexity I have known,
and I so remember with deepest gratitude the strength
and comfort which were then afforded by the revela-
tion of the ways of Christ, as illustrated by this narra-

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tive, that I desire to help others as I have been myself
helped.

The one grand lesson which it teaches us is, never,
in our darkest hour, to lose confidence in the love of Christ
towards us, as if He had forgotten to be gracious, and
either could not or would not help us. Banish the
sinful thought F " Beware lest there should be in any
of you the evil heart of unbelief." For such unbelief
is the greatest calamity which can befall us. It is,
verily, " sorrow's crown of sorrow." Let us rather
" hold fast our confidence, which hath a great reward."

Like the family in Bethany, you too, I shall sup-
pose, are visited with a sudden and "mysterious"
bereavement. Like them you may pray to Christ,
and ask a specific blessing ; and like them you may
think He has not heard your prayer, nor ever will
answer it, because He does not do this at the time
or in the manner you wished or anticipated. His
thoughts and ways with reference to you may thus be
utterly dark — darker than blackest night. Yet the
servant of the Lord, " though he walks in darkness,
and has no light," must " trust in the Lord, and stay
himself upon his God." For the ways of Christ to
His suffering friends in Bethany, when absent from
them beyond the Jordan, are a revelation of His ways
to us now, when He is in glory beyond the tomb.
Now, as then, He never forgets us, never overlooks
the least circumstance in our history, and never ceases
for one moment to have that interest in us which is
possible only for such a Brother or Saviour to possess.
But now, as then, He has manifold interests to consider;

The Mystery of Sorrow. 303

ten thousand times ten thousand complex and crossing
consequences to weigh. While we, perhaps, have our
thoughts wholly occupied with but one desire, our own
individual comfort, our own deliverance from this or
that trial, the wise and all-loving Jesus has to provide
for much more than this. Our own good and growth
in grace — the good of those in sickness — the good of
children, relations, friends, yea, it may be of genera-
tions yet unborn, who may be affected at this crisis in
our family history by what Jesus does or does not, —
all this must be considered by Him who loves all, and
seeks the good of all, and who alone can trace out the
marvellous and endless network of influence by which
man is bound to man from place to place and from
age to age. No one, therefore, but the Lord of all
can decide what is best to be done in the circum-
stances of each case, in order that most good may be
done, and that God may be glorified thereby. He
alone knows how this link of " sickness unto death"
is connected with other links in the mysterious chain
of human history. And if so, then surely it becomes
us, poor, ignorant, blind, selfish creatures, to bow be-
fore His throne with holy reverence ; to yield ourselves
and all our concerns meekly and lovingly into His
hands, in the full assurance of faith that our interests
are there in best and safest keeping ; to feel that it is
our first duty and noblest privilege to trust Him when
we cannot trace Him, being persuaded that He does
all things well, and that what we know not now we
shall h//07u hereafter.

Amidst all darkness, perplexity, and apparent con-

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fusion, remember the certainties which abide unmoved,
and "shine aloft as stars/' It is certain that "all
things work together for the good of those who love
God ; " that " thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
soul is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee
and that " nothing can separate us from the love of
Christ." (His love to us.) It is certain that our Chris-
tian dead are in His presence : and that no one knows
them or loves them as that Saviour does, who made
them with His own hands, and redeemed them with
His own blood. It is certain that if we are believers
in Christ, we are still united to those departed ones,
in labour, in worship, in love, in hope, and in joy;
for, " whether we wake or sleep, we live toget/ier with
Him." It is certain, that if "we are Christ's,'5 "all
things are ours, whether life or death, things present
or things to come !"

Hold fast, then, O mourner, thy confidence in thy
Lord! Have patience, fret not, despair not, and a
day shall come to thee like that which came at last to
the mourners in Bethany — it may be here, it may not
be until we meet Him beyond the bounds of time,
yet come it must — when all this earthly history, and
all His doings towards us, shall be read in the clear
and full light of perfect knowledge : when out of
this seeming chaos and confusion the most perfect
order will be evolved before our wondering eyes ;
and when we shall joyfully acknowledge with what
majestic grandeur the world has ever been governed
by its glorious King ! Then, when we hear how
He has governed ourselves, and trace the path along

The Mystery of Sorrow. 305

which He has led us since childhood, and under-
stand the reasons which induced Him at such a
time and in such a way to afflict us ; — then, when
the ways and thoughts of that mind and heart
are laid bare • — and then, too, when we recall our
fears, our doubts, our rebellions, our want of confi-
dence in Him, what shall our thoughts and feelings
be1? When His love and ours, His wisdom and
ours, His plans and ours, are thus contrasted, as we
sit down at the great supper with our own Martha,
Mary, and Lazarus, and every one worthy of our
love restored to us for ever, beholding the unveiled
face of our Lord in glory; oh, then, it might seem
almost essential to our peace to be able to weep bit-
terly, and repent heartily, for our unworthy suspicions
and ungenerous treatment of such a Friend and Savi-
our ! But, blessed be His name ! we shall then be
able to give Him all He asks, oar whole hearts, and,
like Mary, kneel at His feet, and there pour forth the
sweet fragrance of our gratitude, love, and joy, as we
too hear from His lips such words as these uttered
amidst the light and glory of the upper sanctuary :
" Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God !"

THE BEGINNING OF A YEAR.

T"^7HAT will happen during this year to our-
selves and to those whom we love 1 Life or
death — health or sickness — joy or sorrow — good or
evil 1 What will the coming twelve months bring to
me and mine ? What may be — what must be — what
ought to be 1 Such questions, multiplied a hundredfold,
or broken up into every variety of anxious inquiry, often
fill the heart and mind on the first day of a new year.

Now, is it possible for us to find rest and peace for
our spirits as we steadily contemplate the future, with
its darkness and light, with all the duties and trials
which it contains, and with all that it may and must
bring forth 1 Is there any secret of strength and com-
fort by which we can with courage and hope encounter
all the possibilities of the future ? There is. Let us
only trust God, and we need not fear anything, but
welcome everything !

Let us consider this ; and, first of all, understand
what is meant by trusting God.

To trust God, remember, is to trust Himself— -a

The Beginning of a Year. 307

living, personal God. It is not to trust to any means
whatever whereby He makes Himself known ; but to
look through them all, or to go by them all, to the
living God himself. This is more than trusting to any
truth even revealed in the Bible, for it is trusting the
Person who spoke the truth, or of whom the truth is
spoken.

To trust God is to trust Him as He is revealed in
all the fulness of His glorious character. It is to
trust Him as true, and therefore as faithful in keeping
every promise, and in fulfilling every threat ; as wise,
and therefore as never erring in any arrangement made
for the well-being of His creatures ; as righteous, and
therefore as doing right to each and all ; as holy, and
therefore as hating evil, and loving good ; as merci-
ful and therefore as pardoning the guilty through a
Redeemer ; — it is, in one word, to trust Him " whose
name is Love ! " — love which shines in every attri-
bute, and is the security for every blessing ! Trust
and obedience are therefore, from their nature, in-
separable.

This trust in God is not common. Nothing, in-
deed, so common in men's mouths as the phrases,
" I trust in God," " I have all my dependence on
God," "We have none else to look to but Him,"
and the like. But, alas ! how meaningless often to
men's hearts are those sayings in men's mouths !
They frequently express confidence only in God's
doing what He has never promised to do; — as when
a slothful, idle, dissipated man continues in his wick-
edness, yet "trusts God" will ward off poverty from

308 Parish Papers.

him, or provide for his family whom he is all the
while robbing. Or the words express confidence in
what God has positively declared He never will nor
can do ; — as when an impenitent man, who has no
faith in Christ or love to Him, " trusts God will for-
give him," or make him happy, or not punish him,
should he die as he is. All this, and such like trust,
is "vain confidence," trusting a lie, and believing a
delusion. Others, again, professing to trust God's
word, manifest a total want of trust in His ways,
and do not walk in His commandments, nor submit
to His corrections, believing neither to be the will of
a holy and loving Father. And thus, men who in
theory say they trust God, practically have no trust
in Him, whatever they may have in themselves, in the
world, or in things seen and temporal. But oh the
blessedness and the peace of him whose trust is in the
Lord!

Read a few declarations from God's Word upon the
crime of want of trust, and the peace enjoyed when
possessing it : —

"Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose
heart departeth from the Lord : for he shall be like
the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good
cometh ; but shall inhabit the parched places in the
wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." " The
Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge
in times of trouble. And they that know thy name
will put their trust in thee : for thou, Lord, hast not
forsaken them that seek thee." " Many sorrows shall

The Beginning of a Year. 309

be to the wicked : but he that trusteth in the Lord,
mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the
Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous : and shout for joy,
all ye that are upright in heart." " What time I am
afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his
word, in God I have put my trust ; I will not fear

what flesh can do unto me In God have I

put my trust : I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me." " Trust in the Lord with all thine heart ;
and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
paths." " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee : because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah
is everlasting strength."

Now, this trust in God has been the character of
all God's people in every age, and under every dis-
pensation. We who live in these latter days may
say of all our spiritual ancestry, " Our fathers trusted
thee." They all had faith in the living God, and
believed His word to be true, and His ways to be
excellent. Abraham did so, when he went forth into
the wide world, not knowing whither he went, having
but God's word as a staff to lean on ; and when he
offered up his only son, believing that God was able
even to raise him from the dead. Moses did so, when
" by faith he forsook Egypt," and preferred " the
reproach of Christ," and "endured, as seeing Him
who is invisible." Job did so, when deprived of
everything but God himself; when he sat in sackcloth
and ashes, and bore the glorious testimony in the

♦

310 Parish Papers.

presence of men and devils, " Though He slay me,
yet will I trust in Him." David did so during his
whole life, and his sacred songs are anthems of joy-
ful trust, which the Church of God can never cease to
sing till faith is lost in sight. And Jehoshaphat did so,
when in the presence of the great invading army he
addressed his small band with the noble words, " Trust
in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established."
And Daniel did so, when he entered the den of lions,
and came out unscathed, "because he believed in the
Lord his God." And Paul did so, when he ended his
triumphant life, which he " lived by faith in the Son
of God," with the shout of victory, saying, " I know
whom I have trusted, and I am persuaded He can
keep what I have committed to Him until that day."
All the children of God have known, loved, and trusted
iheir Father, and have reflected that holy light which
shone with unclouded and faultless lustre in the First-
born of all the brethren ; for Jesus ever held fast His
confidence in God until His last cry of faith, "Father,
into Thy hands I commit my spirit!"

Begin the year and spend it in this frame of mind.
Know God, trust Him, and go on thy way rejoicing,
whatever that way may be. Heaven and earth may
pass away, but thou art safe, because right.

Do you, for example, fear the future because it is
unknown % Trust God, and fear not ! This ignorance
of coming events which are to affect our own happi-
ness for time or for eternity is very remarkable, espe-
cially when contrasted with our minute and accurate
knowledge of other things \ such as the future move-

The Beginning of a Year. 311

ments of the moon and stars, — events which, though
revealing the history of immense worlds, are yet to us
of far less importance than the malady which may
enter our home to-morrow, and close for ever the
eyelids of a babe ! In proportion, indeed, as the things
of each day are to affect us, God has so concealed
them, that we know not what one day is to bring
forth. And this ignorance is surely intended to
accomplish at least one blessed end — that of mak-
ing us fly to God himself, and look up to Himself
for guidance, for protection, and for peace. The
feeblest child thereby becomes filled with such assur-
ance of faith, that, whatever is before him, he caK.
say, " Nevertheless I am continually with thee : thou
hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me into
glory." How grand, then, is this thought, that what-
ever may come to the believer out of the mysterious
womb of time, or out of the vast recesses of an un-
known and immense eternity, nothing can possibly
destroy his soul's peace ; for nothing can separate
him from the love of the ever-present, unchangeable,
omnipotent God. The stars of heaven may fall, and
the heavens depart as a scroll, and every mountain
and island be moved out of its place ; but the meekest
child of God will be kept in perfect peace on the
bosom of his Father, and there rest, untouched by
the revolutions of coming ages, as the rainbow re-
poses on the bosom of the sky, unmoved by " the
strong wind which rends the mountains, and breaks
in pieces the rocks before the Lord."

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Parish Papers.

"Whether, therefore, the year is to bring life or death,
poverty or riches, health or sickness to us or to our
friends, — all is beyond our knowledge or our wilL
But, thank God, it is nevertheless within the province
of our will to secure to ourselves perfect peace and
rest This sure hope is based on the glorious fact
that there is a God — a living God who verily governs
the universe ; whose kingdom is one of righteousness ;
whose omnipotence is directed by love ; and who,
consequently, so administers the affairs of His blessed
kingdom, as that all its complex machinery of events
move in harmony with the safety and peace of every
true child.

Again, Do you fear because of coming duties or
trials which you cannot but anticipate 1 Trust God,
and fear not ! " Cast thy burden " — however great —
" upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee." Experi-
ence tells us that the evils which we once most feared
never came, but were purely imaginary, while the
things really appointed to us were never anticipated.
Let this help us to appreciate God"s goodness and
wisdom more in commanding us to "take no an-
xious thought about the morrow," because "suffici-
ent for the day is the evil thereof."

Still you are certain of some duties or trials before
you. This sickness, you say, must end in death ; or this
journey must, if you are in life, be taken to a foreign
shore, and last farewells be spoken ; or this year you
must enter upon this new profession so arduous and so
full of risks. And thus each one, with more or less
degree of certainty, chalks an imaginary outline of his

The Beginning of a Year. 3 1 3

future course. But supposing all your anticipations to
be well-founded, yet, oh ! believe that when your day ot
trial or of duty comes, a Father, if you know Him and
trust Him, will come with it. You will have on that
dark day a Father's unerring wisdom to guide you, a
Father's omnipotent arm to uphold you, a Father's in-
finite love to soothe you, comfort you, and fully satisfy
you. Hear these precious commands and promises : —
" Hold fast your confidence, which hath a great reward ! "
" Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God ; and the peace of God, which
passeth understanding, will keep your mind and heart
through Christ Jesus ! "

Once more, Do you fear the future, lest you should
sin and depart from God as you have done in the
past 1 Trust God, and fear not ! For how did you
depart from God before t From want of trust. You
lost confidence in your Father's teaching, and leant
on your own understanding, or listened to the voice
of strangers ; you first lost confidence in your Father's
love and goodwill to you, and in His power to satisfy
all your wants, and to give whatever was best for you
out of His rich and inexhaustible treasures, and then
you demanded the portion of your goods, and departed
from Him, and ceased to pray to Him or to think of
Him at all, but gave your heart, soul, and strength to
the creature. But you had no peace. You left the
cistern of living waters ; but the cisterns hewn out
by yourselves held no water to assuage your soul's
thirst. You found it to be "an evil and a bitter

3 1 4 Parish Papers.

thing" to forsake God. Hear, then, His invitation
on the first day of a new year : " Return to the Lord
thy God ! " Arise, and go to thy Father; " abide" with
Him ; and never more lose thy confidence in Him as
thy strength, thy peace, thy life ! Trust His mercy to
pardon the past ; His grace to help in the present ;
and His love to fill up thy being at all times. " Fear
not : I am with thee : I will uphold thee with the right
hand of my righteousness ! " Your only strength
and safety are in God. Daily seek Him, daily trust
Him, and you will daily serve Him.

But perhaps you fear the future lest you should
not "redeem the time" as you ought to do to the
glory of God 1 Trust God, and fear not ! Lost time
is a sad and oppressive thought to the child of
God. What might he have done ! What might
he have been ! How might he have improved his
talents, and cultivated his spirit, and done good to
relations, friends, neighbours, and to the world, had
he only redeemed days, hours, minutes, which have
been spent in sloth or folly ! And not one second
can be restored. Shall the future be a similar record
to the past ? You fear to think of it ! But be assured
that till the last hour ot the best spent life, you will
need the atoning blood of Jesus for your innumerable
shortcomings as a miserable sinner. The very " light
of life " which enables you to know and rejoice i.i
Jesus, will enable you also, in proportion as it burns
brightly, to know and to mourn over yourselves. But
while there is cause for earnest thoughtfulness about
coming time, as a talent to be improved for your own

The Beginning of a Year. 315

good and God's glory, there is no cause for unbeliev-
ing fear, for such " fear hath torment." God does not
give you a year to spend ; He gives you but a day ;
nay, not even that, but only the present moment.
He divides the talent of time into minutes, fractions,
and says to you, "Employ this one for me." Therefore
do not concern yourself with what is not yours ; but
as each day or hour comes, trust God ! He is not a
hard master, reaping where He does not sow ; but is
a Father sowing in you, and by you, in order that you,
as well as Himself, might reap ; so that " both sower
and reaper might rejoice together." Trust Him for
always pointing out to you the path of duty, so that,
as a wayfarer, you will never err. Be assured, that
when the moment comes in which you must take
any step, He will, by some voice in His Word or
providence, say to you, "This is the way, walk ye in
it ! " Be assured, also, that amidst many things un-
done, or ill done by you, He will still so help you, if
sincere, to labour in His cause here, and to improve
your time and talents, as to be able hereafter to say,
even to you, " Well done, good and faithful servant !
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." " In the name of
the Lord, then, let us lift up our banners ! " Enter
upon the labours and duties of the year -with joy!
Art thou not a fellow-labourer with thy brother saints
and angels, yea, even with thy God ? Doth not that
omnipotent Spirit of light and love, who uniteth all in
one, and who hath led the Church of Christ from grace
to glory, dwell in thee? Wherefore, then, dost thou
dishonour God and His word by unbelieving fear?

3 1 6 Parish Papers.

Finally, the experience of the past may strengthen
your faith in God for the future. You have never
trusted Him in vain. He has never failed you in time
of need. You have always found His strength suffi-
cient to uphold you, and His wisdom able to arrange
for you, and His love inexhaustible in supplying your
manifold wants. Ah! had you foreseen, years ago,
all the past journey, so often dark and perplexing,
which you have since pursued ; and also all the duties
which have successively claimed your energies for their
performance j and all the trials, so many, so varied,
which you have had to endure ; would you not have
sunk down in despair before the spectacle 1 But you
did not foresee what is now past. God in mercy con-
cealed it from you, as He does what is now future.
And therefore you did not then, as you cannot now,
despair. The Lord has hitherto helped you, and led
you through the wilderness, and held you up, and
kept you from falling ; and so it is that both in your
inward and outward state, you are this day a monu-
ment of His power, mercy, patience, grace !

And now, in peace of heart, say with Paul, " I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"
Lord, it is enough ! Never separated from Thyself
for one moment in our existence, here or anywhere,
we can never be separated from the chief object of
our affections, from Him who is the fulness of our
whole being, the never-failing source of our blessed-

The Beginning of a Year. 3 1 7

ness and joy. Believing in Thee our Father, we enter
another year, and advance along our endless journey,
not knowing what a day or an hour may bring forth ;
but knowing this, as all we care to know, that during
every day and hour we are "continually with Thee."
A long life on earth may be ours, but neither its
labours nor its cares, its temptations nor its trials, shall
be able to destroy our peace, because unable to sepa-
rate us from Thy love. Thy love will give life to
every duty, deliverance from every temptation, guid-
ance in every perplexity, and comfort in every trial.
Death may come, in what form or in what circum-
stances, how soon or how late, we cannot tell; but
we fear no evil, however dark its shadow, for " Thou
art with us." Eternity must come, and may come to
us ere the year ends. But whatever things beyond
the grave are hidden from us, Thou Thyself, our
Father, art revealed ! We know Thee, and this is
life eternal !

ADVICES ON ENTERING A NEW YEAR.

1. Let a short portion of time be spent each day
this year in private prayer, in reading God's Word,
and, if possible, some devotional book.

2. Let it be the great work of the year to become
better acquainted personally with Jesus Christ as the
living and ever-present Friend, Brother, and Saviour.

3. Endeavour to concentrate your efforts to do good
upon some definite unselfish work in your family or

3i8

Parish Papers.

out of it, which may help others, as it certainly must
help yourself.

4. In all things try to live more towards God, seek-
ing His approval of your inner and outer life. The
less you talk about yourself or your doings before men,
the better for yourself and for them.

5. Aim this year at being a peacemaker between
professing Christians ; to allay disputes, and to heal
breaches among friends and relations ; and to make
men respect and esteem each other more.

6. Do not leave behind you in the old year guilt
unpardoned, but believe in Jesus for the remission
of sins ; nor enter a new year with sin loved and
cherished, but accept of and rely upon His Spirit to
sanctify you. Begin the year without enmity to any
"man on earth, "forgiving one another, if any man
have a quarrel against any : even as Christ forgave
you, even so do ye."

7. If you are the head of the house, resolve to read
a portion of God's Word once a-day at least to the
family ; and either read or offer up, always with them,
a short but hearty prayer.

8. Endeavour to keep an account of your income
and expenditure, that you may be able to live justly
and generously. Give what you can to assist poor
relatives, and poor Christians, and the Church of
Christ. Try this one year to tax yourself ten per
cent, on your free income for such purposes.

Learn to do these things, and many more will the
Lord teach thee to know and do ; and may the God
of love and peace be with thee !

THE CLOSE OF A YEAR.

EMEMBER all the way the Lord hath led
thee " during the past year.

Remember His Mercies. — Calmly review, as far
as you can, what God has given you these bygone
months.

Have you been blessed with bodily health 1 If so,
consider what a gift it is to be spared the tortures some
endure : the restless, feverish nights ; the long weary
days ; the unceasing pain ; the no-hope of relief in this
world.

Have you been blessed with mental health 1 If so,
think of the mercy of not having been visited with
insanity, or of having been freed from the suffering of
even mental depression, so touchingly described by
the poet as

"A grief without a sigh, void, dark, and drear,
A stifled, drowsy, unimpassion'd grief,
That finds no natural outlet, no relief,
In word, or sigh, or tear! "

Think of the mercy of having been able to enjoy God's
beautiful world, and to feel the life in its scenery,

3-o

Parish Papers.

its music, and its blue sky, during the summer that
has passed, as you walked along the sea-shore, among
the woods, across the green fields, up the glen, over
the moorlands, or gazed on the glorious landscape
from the windy summits of the old hills. Health of
body and of mind ! — Oh, common, most blessed, yet,
alas ! how often unnoticed, gifts of God !

Have you received other mercies connected with
your temporal well-being ? Perhaps at the beginning
of the year (as at the beginning, maybe, of many a
year before) things looked very dark for you and
yours. Yet "hitherto" God has helped you. You
may never have had more light on your path than
what enabled you to take the next step with safety,
but that light has never failed you. God has been
pleased thus to discipline many of His people. You
may, possibly, remember also peculiar deliverances
from sickness ; from money difficulties ; from bodily
dangers ; with unexpected additions to your means of
comfort and of usefulness.

Again, call to remembrance your social mercies,
which have come more indirectly through others.
Think of the relations and friends who have been
spared to you ! Begin with your dearest, and pass
on from those to others less closely allied, but still
most valued, and number them all, if you can. Do
any remain whom death threatened to remove during
the past year ? Have any, have many, been a com-
fort to you ? Have your anxieties regarding the tem-
poral or spiritual well-being of others been lessened ?
Have beloved ones been given to you during the

The Close of a Year.

321

year — such as a wife, a husband, or a child ? If
God hath led you in this way during the past year,
it ought indeed to be remembered !

And if any of those Christian friends have fallen
asleep in Jesus, then it is a great mercy to know most
certainly that they are your friends still, and your
best friends too; and you should thank God for the
happiness which they now enjoy, and which you hope
to share with them.

But you have other mercies to remember besides
these. Surely much has been done for your spiritual
good by your Father in heaven. He has shewn
patience, forbearance, and long-suffering towards you ;
and has been teaching you during these past months
by faithful ministers or faithful friends; and has been
striving within you to bring you to Himself, and to
keep you there. Have you enjoyed no peace in be-
lieving, nor gained any victories over self and sin ?
Have you possessed no more calm and habitual
fellowship with God % Have you done no good ?
Has prayer neither been offered in truth, nor answered
in love 1 Has all been fruitless and dead 1 Oh,
let us beware of the falsehood of denying spiritual
mercies bestowed on us by God ! " If I should say
I know Him tut, I should be a liar like unto you,"
said our Lord. The graces of the Spirit, the least of
them, are the earnests of eternal good, the assurances
of enjoying the whole fulness of God.

But you have Sorrows to remember. Alas !
we are in little danger of forgetting these. The sunny
days may come and go unheeded, but the dark ones
x

322

Parish Papers.

are all registered. We cannot forget that " the Lord
taketh away ; " but why do we not as vividly remem-
ber that the same Lord " giveth," and that in both
cases we have equal cause, did we only see it, to ex-
claim, " Blessed be the name of the Lord ! " I ask not
what these sorrows have been. Enough that they are
very real to you, or to those who are bound up with
you in the bundle of life. It was a weary time to you
in the wilderness, and it is well to remember that por-
tion of the way in which you have been led, which
was as a dark valley and shadow of death.

And what of Sin 1 That is what makes it so
hard for us to remember the past journey. The back-
slidings and falls in the way ; the careless straggling
behind; the lazy resting-places ; the slow progress; the
careless devotions ; the misspent days of the Lord ;
the opportunities lost of doing good to others, or of re-
ceiving good ourselves, through procrastination, sloth,
and indifference ; the manifestation of our unloving
and selfish spirit towards our brother, in envy, bad
temper, backbiting, jealousy, or unguarded speech ;
the little done or given for God's work on earth, in
charity to the poor, or to " our own flesh " who re-
quired assistance ; — the everything, in short, which
deters memory from looking steadily at what it would
if it could blot out for ever from its records ! Yet it
is of great importance that this portion of the journey
should be remembered ; although it is not the way in
which God led us, but which we chose for ourselves in
our ignorance and self-will. Ponder it well ! Recall
what your conduct has been in avoiding temptation ;

The Close of a Year.

323

how you have made use of the means of grace; the
days in which you may have lived without God, or if
you prayed to Him, when you did so as a form,
without any real faith or love ; the days in which you
have been so presumptuous as to live without " faith
in the Son of God," and to meet trials, temptations,
and duties, without seeking strength from the Holy
Spirit; the Sundays that have come and gone without
having been improved, and sermons heard in vain,
and public worship joined in outwardly only, without
reality; the little help, or possibly great discourage-
ment given to Christian ministers and Christian mem-
bers by your very coldness ; the time lost never to be
recalled, and of all that could have been done for the
ignorant, the afflicted, the wicked, the sick and dying,
for friends and relations, which has been left undone,
and never can be done in the other world. Think
of what your Master has said, who is to judge you—
that "herein is my Father glorified, that ye bring forth
much fruit " — that " if any man will be my disciple,
let him take up his cross daily, and follow me " — that
" many will say in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
eaten and drunk in thy presence 1 hast thou not taught
in our streets! have we not done many wonderful works
in thy name 1 and I will say unto them, I know you
not; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity:" —
think of this now, for think of it one day you must :
and if you do so with any degree of truthfulness, I am
sure you cannot enter another year without pouring
out your heart in humble confession, and laying down
your burthen at the foot of the cross, crying out,

324 Parish Papers.

" God be merciful to me a sinner ! " " Have mercy
upon me, 0 God, according to thy loving-kindness,
and according to thy tender mercies blot out all my
transgressions ! "

Allow me now to put what I have to say in a
practical form : —

1. When you review your mercies, consider how you
are affected by them. It is easy, I know, to say, and
to say so far truly, " Thank God for them ! " Yet
the whole spirit in which they are possessed may be
intensely selfish. We may have been seeking our
life in them to the very exclusion of God from our
hearts, forgetting that " a man's life," says our Lord,
" consisteth not in the abundance of the things which
he possesseth." What things'? Any creature things
whatever ! To make these our life, that is, our hap-
piness, or to esteem them as essential to our happi-
ness, is, as our Lord adds, for a man " to lay up
treasures for himself, and not to be rich towards
God." This is that " covetousness which is idolatry,"
— the worship of Self, through what ministers to Self.

2. As you remember your sorrows, remember not
only how you were sustained and comforted under
them, but, what is of incomparably more importance,
consider how far you have been realising God's pur-
pose in sending them. That purpose may have been
to perfect you by trial ; or to prove your loyalty to
Him ; or to prevent evil in yourselves and others.
But never forget that the lesson of all lessons is, that
we or others should find life, and life eternal — that is,
as I have said, life in the knowledge and in the love

The Close of a Year. 325

of God, which will satisfy and endure for ever ; or, if
this is already found by us, that we should possess it
"more abundantly." Now, whatever tends to make
us realise that what we often call and think to be
"our life" is yet no life — that money, friends, or
earthly enjoyments cannot fill the immortal soul, or
be its portion for ever; — whatever awakes us from
this dream and dispels the delusion, and makes us
know the excellence and reality of true life in God,
must be a blessing of the highest and richest kind.
Yet what has such a tendency to do all this as sorrow,
and the very trials which we so much deplore ? The
pain is no doubt great — often agony — a very cutting
off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye ; but the
gain intended by the operation is incalculable and
endless. Yet, what if all the good is lost through our
blindness, ignorance, hardness of heart, pride, self-
will, and unbelief] Alas! alas! if we too "go away
sorrowful" from Christ when He threatens to take
away our " much riches," though He does so in order
only through this very discipline to induce us to fol-
low Himself, and by the cross to gain life eternal !
Alas ! when it can be said of us, " Yet the Lord hath
not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see,
and ears to hear, unto this day; that ye might know
that I am the Lord your God." And what is their
punishment? "They have forsaken the Lord, they
nave provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they
are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken
any more ? Ye will revolt more and more ! " What
a real loss of friends would this be ! For by separat-

326 Parish Papers,

ing ourselves through unbelief from Christ, we thereby
for ever separate ourselves from our friends in Christ,
if they are with Him !

Ye who have experienced comfort from good in
affliction, bless God ! " O Lord, my strength, my
fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction ! "
" Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that is within
me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits." Let the remembrance
of the past, also, strengthen your faith for the future.
As you "let your requests be made known to God
with prayers and supplication," do not forget the
" thanksgiving," for this will help you henceforth to
" be careful for nothing." He who has led you out
of Egypt, through " the depths," and across the desert,
will never leave you nor forsake you.

3. As you remember your sins, consider how very
ignorant you are of their number or their heinousness.
But if you could enumerate each sinful thought, word,
and action committed during the past year and dur-
ing your past life, there is something in you worse
than sins, and that is sin itself, the evil heart, the wrong
mind, out of which sins proceed ; for the corrupt tree
is worse than any definite quantity of fruit which it
has produced ; the ever-flowing bitter fountain is
worse than any definite quantity of water which has
come from it. But whatever you have been or done
in time past, what do you intend to be and to do
now ? Is it your intention to continue in sin 1 How-
ever dreadful the thought is, yet many, if such is
your real intention, will sympathise with you. For

The Close of a Year.

327

many do continue in sin, and resolve to do so, for the
present at least. Will you, then, permit the year to
close, and with an unconcerned eye behold all its
sin and sins added to those of other impenitent years,
finally sealed up for judgment? How will you then
stand the reading of your autobiography ? Read over
any page now, peruse the life of any day, and ask,
Has this been the life of one who believes there is
a God to whom he is responsible1? Point out one
solitary proof, and such as you think Christ will accept,
in all these twelve chapters of the past year, of a
heart which loved God, or had one mark of a sincere
though an imperfect follower of Jesus Christ. And if
you cannot do so, will you permit the volume to close
for ever without a cry for mercy, without imploring
God to wipe out or destroy in the atoning blood of
Jesus these pages, which cry " Guilty " in every line I
Will you not resolve rather, through the grace given
to every honest man who wishes it, to begin and write
a new volume, which shall witness to a changed life,
and be inscribed no longer with all that is selfish,
and of the earth earthy — " without God or Christ in
the world." Let it be so, I beseech of you, my
reader. Have done, now and for ever, with this
shocking mutiny against your God. End the weary,
shameful strife. Be, then, at peace with God, and
remember that for you, if you believe in Jesus, there
is free pardon, restoration to favour, a new heart, a
new life, which is now life eternal.

And for you who have long given up sin as a mas-
ter— who know that while the " flesh wars against the

328

Parish Papers.

spirit, the spirit wars against the flesh," thank God
and take courage ! " Sin shall not have dominion over
you ; for ye are not under the law, but under grace."
Hear the words of our invincible Leader, " Ee of good
cheer; I have overcome the world;" "Greater is he
who is in you than he who is in the world."

This year we may die. Let this mere possibility
lead us to redeem with greater earnestness what re-
mains of life to the service of our God ; so that when
the next year dawns upon this world it will find us, if
we are in the other world, remembering our mercies
before God's throne, our sorrows for ever vanished,
and our sins for ever blotted out; but that if we are
still here, it will see us living more worthy of our
mercies, finding true good in our sorrows, and ob-
taining the victory over our sins J

THE END.

Batlantyne and Company, Printers, Edinburgh.

Ludgate Hill, September 18G2.

BOOKS FOR THE PEOPLE.

Now in course of Publication,

STRAHAN'S
FAMILY LIBRARY

BOOKS AT ONCE CHEAP, VALUABLE, AND
INSTRUCTIVE.

In Crown 8vo Volumes, printed on toned paper, and elegantly bound,
Price 3s. <5d. each.

All that the Publishers wish to say, by way of prospectus, is that
their aim in this Library ia not ignobly to interest, or frivolously to
amuse, but to convey the wisest instruction in the pleasantest manner.
They desire, in short, to produce a series of Books which will not only
be worth reading, but will be worth keeping, and which will find their
way to tens of thousands of British homes, to be well thumbed and
dog eared by the children and the grown people, on the journey and
at the fireside.

The following are a few of the Books which will be earliest
issued :—

THE RECREATIONS OF A
COUNTRY PARSON.

Originally published in Fraser's Magazine,
ii.

SPEAKING TO THE HEART.

By THOMAS GUTHRIE, D.D.,
Author of "A Plea for Ragged Schools," "The Gospel in Ezekicl," io.

PARISH PAPERS

PERSONAL, SOCIAL, AND CONGREGATIONAL.
By NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D., of the Barony Parish, Glasgow.

Contents.

I. Thoughts on Christianity.

1. What is Christianity ?

2. Who was Jesus Christ?

3. If we do not Believe in Jesus

as God with us, what can we
Believe in ?

4. What if Christianity is not

True?

II. The Week of the Crucifixion.

III. The Day of the Resurrection.

IV. The Final Judgment.
V. Life in Heaven.

VI. The Congregation.
VII. Revivals.

VIII.

IX.
X.

XI.

XII.
XIII.
XIV.

XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.

XX.

51 issions.
Our Neighbours.
Labouring with God.
Working in Earnest.
The Wonder of Indifference.
What have you Done ?
Hints to Hearers.
The Cure of Schism.
Perils of the Sea.
Comfort under Trial.
Thoughts at the Close of a Year.
Thoughts at the Beginning of a
Year.

Stories of God's Providence.

PRAYING AND WORKING;

BEING SOME ACCOUNT OF WHAT MEN CAN DO WHEN IN EARNEST.
By WILLIAM FLEMING STEVENSON'.

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN PURSUIT
OF SCIENCE.

By Professor C. PIAZZI SMYTH, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, Author of
"Three Cities of Russia." "The Peak of Teneriffe," &c.

VI.

THE HOUSEHOLD HYMNS OF GERMANY AND
THE NORTH.

Edited and Translated under the direction of Miss GREENWELL,
Author of "The Patience of Hope."

TO.

THE GRAVER THOUGHTS OF A
COUNTRY PARSON.

By the Author of " Recreations of a Country Parson."

VIII.

JOHN EVANGELIST GOSSNER:

HIS LIFE AND HIS DEEDS.
By the Rev. Dr PROCHNOW, Berlin.

IX.

SUBURBAN:

A BOOK OF ESSAYS WRITTEN IN THE COUNTRY.

By ALEXANDER SMITH, Secretary to the University of Edinburgh,
Author of "The Life Drama," "City Poems," &c.

A POPULAR EDITION OF

THE EARNEST STUDENT;

BEING MEMORIALS OF JOHN MACKINTOSH.
By NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D., of the Barony Parish, Glasgow.

XI.

NEW LIFE IN THE PARISH:

A RECORD OK COMFORTING EXPERIENCES.
By the Rev. Dr BUCHSEL, Berlin.

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO.,

32 Ludqate Hill, London.

In Two Vols., Crown 8vo, Price 12s.,
THE

OLD LIEUTENANT AND HIS SON.

BY NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.,

ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S CHAPLAINS FOR SCOTLAND.

EXTRACT FROM PREFACE.

" Why should a man, who is ' some fifty,' apologise to the public for
beginning to tell stories ? Is not this a very common phenomenon
' at his time of life ? ' I have indeed no good reason to give for writing
this tale, except one — which, after all, is no reason, but the mere state-
ment of a fact, whatever be its reason — viz., that I could not help it !
When I began to write about the Old Lieutenant, it was my intention
merely to occupy a chapter or two of Good Words with a life-sketch
gathered from memories of the past. But the sketch grew upon me.
Persons, and things, and scenes, came crowding out of the darkness ;
and while I honestly wished to mould them for practical good, I felt
all the while more possessed by them than possessing them. My own
half-creations became my tyrants ; and so I was driven on, and on,
from chapter to chapter, until, fortunately for myself, and much more
for my readers, the end of the volume, and the end of the year, forced
me to stop.

" Having taken, however, the first bold step of publishing the story
in Good Words, the second which I now take, of publishing it separately,
can hardly make matters better or worse for me. The fact of an un-
authorised edition being issued in America confirms me in the resolu-
tion to publish a corrected one here.

'•' I have only further to state, that as the story was written and
published month after month, amidst the more grave and heavier
labours of a large parish, a few changes are made, which would have
been unnecessary had it been first written as a whole before publica-
tion.

" With these explanations I send the ' Old Lieutenant and his Son '
once more on their voyage. May they do evil to no man, but do good
to many ! "

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO.,

32 Ludgate Hill, London.

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GOOD WORDS,

Edited by NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.

Contents of the

1. A Word in Season. By the Editor.

2. The Facts and Fancies of Mr Dar-

win. By Sir David Brewster.

3. Out of Doors in January. By the

Countess de Gaspariu. Illustrated
by J. D. Watson.

4. At Sea in Winter. By William Han-

sard, Sailor. Illustrated by An-
drews.

5. Concerning the Reasonableness of

Certain Words of Christ. By
A. K. H. B., Author of "The Re-
creations of a Country Parson."

6. Olaf the Sinner and Olaf the Saint.

By H. K. Illustrated by J. E.
Millais.

7. The Union of Man with Man. A

Present- Day Paper. By Norman
Macleod, D D., Editor.

8. Food. By Archbishop Whately.

January Part.

9. Go and Come. By Dora Greenwell.
Illustrated by Holman Hunt.

10. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. I. and

II. By the Author of "John Hali-
fax, Gentleman." Illustrated by
J. E. Millais.

11. All about the Indigo. By Thomas

Smith, A.M., late of Calcutta. With
Illustrations.

12. Above the Clouds. By Professor C.

Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer-Royal
for Scotland. Three Illustrations.

13. The Christmas Child. By Isa Craig.

Illustrated by Morten.

14. At Home in the Scriptures. A Series

of Family Readings. By the Rev.
William Arnot.

15. Our Widowed Queen. By W. H.

Latchmore.

Contents of the

1. Moments in Life. By the Editor.

2. Days and Nights in Greenland. By

David Walker, M.D., F.R.G.S.,
F.L.S. With Four Illustrations by
the Author.

3. The Worse the Better. By the Rev.

Hugh Stowell Brown.

4. Old Customs and Old Folk. By the

Countess de Gasparin, Autlior of
" The Near and Heavenly Hori-
zons." Illustrated by J. D. Watson.

5. The Battle of Gilboa. By the Author

of " Kelavane." Illustrated by
John Tenniel.

6. The Blessings of those who Wepp.

By the late Rev. Edward Irving.

February Part.

7. Gifts. A Parable from Nature. By

Mrs Gatty.

8. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. III. and

IV. By the Author of "John
Halifax, Gentleman." Illustrated
by J. E. Millais.

9. My Photographic Album. By Ann

Warrender. Illustrated by T. B.
Dalziel, (from a Photograph.)

10. The Uses of the Moon. By Princi-

pal Leitch.

11. The Newspaper. By M. B.

12. The Carrier Pigeon. By Dora Green-

well. Illustrated by T. Morten.

13. At Home in the Scriptures. By the

Rev. William Arnot.

Contents of tl

1. What if Christianity is not True?

By the Editor.

2. Three Lives Worth Knowing about.

By the Rev. W. P. Stevenson.

3. Causes and Remedies of Colliery

Calamities. By J. R. Leifchild.

4. A Cast in the Waggon. By Miss

Sarah Tytler, Author of " Papers
for Thoughtful Girls." Illustrated
by J. D. Watson.
Chap. 1. Dulcie's Start in the
Waggon, and her Cooi-
pauy.

,, 2. Two Lads Seek a Cast

in the Waggon.
,, 3. Redwater Hospitality.

5. Rung into Heaven. By Horace

Moule. Illustrated by M. J.
Lawless.

Contents of the

1. Sunday. By the Editor.

2. Sliort Papers. By Archbp. Whately.

I. Hope and Fear. II. Influence.

3. Pictures in the Fire. By Gerald

Massey. Illustrated by T. Morten.

4. A Cast in the Waggon. By Miss

Sarah Tytler, Author of ' ' Papers
for Thoughtful Girls." Illustrated
by J. D. Watson.
Chap. 4. Other Casts following
the Cast in t he Waggon.
,, 5. Dulcie and Will at Home

in St Martin's Lane.
,, 6. SamandClarissain Com-
pany in Leicester Sq.
,, 7. Strips someoftheThorns
from the Hedge and the
Garden Roses.

5. Colliers in their Homes and at their

Work. By J. R. Leifchild. With
Seven Illustrations.

i March. Part.

6. Concerning Atmospheres. With
some Thoughts on Currents. By
A. K. H. B., Author of "Recrea-
tions of a Country Parson."

7. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. V. and
VI. By the Author of "John
Halifax, Gentleman." Illustrated
by J. E. Millais.

8. The Eye : Its Structure and Powers.
By Sir David Brewster. With
Eight Illustrative Diagrams.

9. A Year of the Slavery Question in
the United States, (1859-60.) By
John Malcolm Ludlow.

10. Love in Death. By Dora Green well.
Illustrated by Fred. Walker.

11. At Home in the Scriptures. By
the Rev. William Amot.

April Part.

6. What a Working Man said the other
Day at the Opening of a Dissent-
ing School in Hertfordshire. Re-
ported by Himself in a Letter to
a Friend.

7. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. VII.,
VIII., and IX. By the Author of
" John Halifax, Gentleman." Il-
lustrated by J. E. Mjllais.

8. A Day in the Woods of Jamaica. By
Philip Henry Gosse.

9. Time and its Measurement, By Pro-
fessor C. Piazzi Smyth, Astrono-
mer-Royal for Scotland. With an
Illustration by the Author.

10. King Sigurd, the Crusader. A Norse
Saga. By the Author of "The
Martyrdom of Kelavene." Illus-
trated by E. B. Jones.

11. At Home in the Scriptures. By the
Rev. William Arnot.

Contents of t

1. Missions in the Nineteenth Century.

By the Editor.

2. What Sent Me to Sea. By William

Hansard. Illustrated by J. Pettie.

3. War.iie— Spring Time. By Alexan-

der Smith. With Two Illustrations
by W. P. Burton.

4. Concerning Beginnings and Ends.

By A. K. H. B., Author of "The Re-
creations of a Country Parson."

5. Moshesh, the Chief of the Mountain.

By J. M. Ludlow. With an Illus-
tration.

6. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. X. and

XI. By the Author of " John Hali-
fax, Gentleman." Illustrated by
J. E. Millais.

e May Part.

7. Old Maids and Young Maids. By

the Author of " Memoirs of an Un-
known Life."

8. The Crimson Flower. By the Coun-

tess de Gasparin, Author of "The
Near and Heaveidy Horizons." Il-
lustrated by J. D. Watson.

9. Church Scandal in Rome in the

Third Century. By Principal Tul-
loeh.

10. Is He Stingy? By James Knox.

11. " Until Her Death." By the Author

of "John Halifax, Gentleman."
Illustrated by F. Sandys.

12. At Home in the Scriptures. By the
Rev. William Amot.

Contents of the June Part.

1. Five Shillings' Worth of the Great

World's Fair. By the Author of
" John Halifax, Gentleman."

2. May-Day, 1862. An Ode. BylsaCraig.

3. Three Present-Day Tracts. By the

Editor.

I. The Right Work at the Right
Time.

II. The Question of Future Pun-
ishment.
III. The Cure of Schism.
4 How an Irish Girl Raised the Fac-

torv. With an Illustration.
5. On Glaciers. The First of Two
Parts. By Principal Forbes. Il-
lustrated.

C. God's Hand in the Paddle Power of
England. A Lecture delivered in

a Hertfordshire Dissenting School-
room.

7. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. XII.

and XIII. By the Author of •' John
Halifax, Gentleman." Illustrated
by J. E. Millais.

8. An Essay on an Old Essayist — Mon-

taigne. By Alexander Smith.

9. The Summer Woods. By William

Forsyth Illustrated by Frederick
Walker.

10. On Some Guessers at Truth. By

S. W. With an Illustration.

11. Summer Evening. By John Hol-

lingshead. Illustrated by W. P.
Burton.

12. At Home in the Scriptures. By the
Rev. William Arnot.

Contents of the

1. Four Difficulties Solved in Jesus

Christ. By the Editor.

2. Highland Flora. Illustrated by J. E.

Millais.

3. An Exhibition Homily. By the Rev.

J. LI. Davis.

4. The East. By the Countess de Gas-

pai-in, Author of " The Near and
Heavenly Horizons." Illustrated
by J. D. Watson.

5. On Glaciers. The Second of Two 10.

Parts. By Principal Forbes. With
Illustrations.

6. Houses and Homes. By Dr. W. T. 11

Gairdner.

July Part.

. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. XIV.
and XV. By the Author of "John
Halifax, Gentleman." Illustrated
by J. E. Millais.

Matthew Claudius, Hnmme de Let-
tres. By W. Fleming Stevenson.

Some Verses Written by a Working-
Man for the Children to Sing at an
Anniversary Meeting in Hertford-
shire. Illustrated by J. D. Watson.

Outside. By A. K. H. B., Author of
"The Recreations of a Country
Parson. "

At Home in the Scriptures. By the
Rev. William Arnot.

Contents of the

1. Rambling Notes on a Rambling

Tour. By the Editor.

2. Vistas in the Russian Church. The

First of Two Papers. By Professor
C. Piazzi Smyth. With Two Illus-
trations.

3. Wicklift'e's Version of the New Tes-

tament. By the Rev. Hugh Stowell
Brown.

4. Our Neighbour. By the Editor.

5. On Solitude. By iEneas Sage. Il-

lustrated by F. Stone.
C. Albert's Tomb. Ry Gerald Massey.

August Part.

7. Mistress and Maid. Chaps. XVI.,

XVII., and XVIII. By the Author
of " John Halifax, Gentleman."
Illustrated by J. E. Millais.

8. Pages from my Note-Book. By Arch-

bishop Whately.

9. The Human Eye : Its Phenomena

and Illusions. By Sir David Brew-
ster.

10. My Treasure. Illustrated by A. B.

Houghton.

11. At Home in the Scriptures. By the
Rev. William Arnot.

MISTRESS AND MAID,

The NEW STORY irv the AUTHOR of "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN,
Will be completed in the December Part.

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO.,

32 Ludgate Hill, Lokdon.

In One Elegant Volume of 750 Royal Octavo Pages, Extra Cloth, Full Gilt,
Price 7s. 6d-,

GOOD WORDS

FOR 1861.

Edited by XORMAX MACLEOD, D.D.,

And Illustrated with Eighty Wood Engravings, printed on toned and white paper.

The Publishers respectfully direct attention to the four importaxt sew voeks
which are published in this Volume.

THE RELIGION OF LIFE ILLUSTRATED AND
APPLIED.

By THOMAS GUTHRIE, D.D., Eddcbcrch.

II.

THE OLD LIEUTENANT AND HIS SON.

By NORM AN" MACLEOD, D.D., Editor.
III.

OUR SUNDAY EVENINGS.

A SERIES OF PAPERS FOR FAMILY READING, BY

JAMES HAMILTON. D.D.
A. P. STANLEY, D.D.
W. L. ALEXANDER, D.D.
DAVID BROWN. D.D.
Rev. THOMAS BINNEY.
Rev. W. M. PUNSHON.

JOHN EADIE. LL.D.. D.D.
J. M. M'CULLOCH, D.D.
J. R. MACDUFF. D.D.
Rev. THOMAS SMITH. A.M.
ROBERT LEE. D.D.
NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.

IV.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. BY J. B.

Twelve full-page Illustrations, engraved by Dalziel Brothers, and printed on
toned paper.

The following List of Papers will serve to indicate the General
Contents of this Volume : —

Give Us Air. By the Author of "John
Halifax."

The Original Ragged School. How it
teas Got Up, and What it has Done. By
Thomas Guthrie. D D, Edinburgh.

Wee Davie. By Norman Macleod. D.D.

The Doctor. By John Brown, M.D..
Author of " Rab and his Friends."
1. Our Duties to the Doctor. 2. The
Doctor's Duties to Us. 3. Health.

4. Children, and How to Guide Them.

5. Medical Odds and Ends.

Good Words for

The Light of the World. By Adolph
Saphir.

Honesty is the Best Policy. By Hugh

Stowell Brown.
The Working Associations of Paris. By

J. M. Ludlow.
The Paradise of Fools. By J. H. Fyfe.
What is a Pound? By John Hollings-

head.

An Hour among the Torbay Sponges.
By P. H. Gosse, F.R.S.

A Sabbath at Aldershott. By J. R.
Macduff, D.D.

Cain's Brand. By H. K.

The First Look Out on the World. By
the Author of "John Halifax."

The Life and History of a Salmon. By
the Rev. David Esdaile.

The South Sea Islands. 1. As they Were
Twenty Years Ago. 2. As they Are
To-Day. By the Rev. John lnglis,
Missionary to the New Hebrides.

A Journey Through Space. By Prin-
cipal Leitch.

The House of Mirth. By the late Rev.
Edward Irving.

The Waker, the Dreamer, and the
Sleeper. By the Rev. J. De Liefde,
Amsterdam.

Facts from a South Staffordshire Ragged
School. By the Rev. H. W. Holland,
Author of " Thieves and Thieving.'

The Ever-Shining Stars. By Isaac Tay-
lor.

My First Geological Excursion. By

Archibald Geikie, F.G.S.
Memoirs of an Unkuown Life. By an

Unknown Author.
A Peep at Russia and the Shores of the

Baltic. By Norman Macleod, D.D.
Pictures from the Early Life of the

Church. By Principal Tulloch.
Eastern Prisons. By Thomas Smith,

A.M., Calcutta.
P. T. Fitzroy, Esq. By Norman Mac-
leod, D.D.
A National Song. By Dora Greenwell.
Street Scenes in Canton. By an Officer

in the Royal Navy.
The Ways and Works of the Blind. By

J. H. Fyfe.
What Have You Done? By Norman

Macleod, D.D.
Goby Hunting. By P. H. Gosse, F.R.S.

1861— continued.

Telescopes and Astronomers. By Prin-
cipal Leitch.

The Cerealia: A Standing Miracle. By
Professor Harvey.

The Ball of Worsted. By the Author of
11 Memoirs of an Unknown Life."

The Bee-Hive Close. By the Countess
de Gaspariu, Author of "The Near
and the Heavenly Horizons."

Flowers for the Poor. By the Rev. J.
Erskine Clark.

St John of the East Sea. By W. F.
Stevenson.

Missionary Enterprise iu Equatorial
Africa. By the Rev. A. Bushnell,
Resident Missionary in the Gorilla
Country.

The Man of War and the Parish School.
By the Rev. W. G. Blaikie.

Short Papers for the Times. By Arch-
bishop Whately.

All About the House. By Margaret
Maria Gordon.

Deaconess Institution of Kaiserswerth.
By William Fleming Stevenson.

London Model Lodging-Houses. By
John Hollingshead.

The Coming of the Spring. By the
Author of " John Halifax."

Scenes from the Life and Travels of our
Lord. By the Rev. J. L. Porter,
Author of " Murray's Handbook of
Palestine."

Light and Scenery as Affecting Health.
By Dr Angus Smith, Manchester.

The Wonder of Indifference. By Nor-
man Macleod, D.D.

Peter Floger, the Tailor of Buinen. By
the Rev. J. De Liefde. Amsterdam.

Patent Medicines. By Thomas Herbert
Jones.

Village Incidents. By Elsie Garret.

Bees and the Art of Queen-Making. By
Principal Leitch.

The Creation of the World. By John
Stuart Blackie, Professor of Greek in
the University of Edinburgh.

The Emancipation of the Serfs. By C.
Orischinsky, St Petersburgh.

Books of Devotion. By W. F. Steven-
son.

The Strange Origin of the Friesland Cap.
A Legend of Holland. By the Rev.
J. De Liefde, Amsterdam.

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO ,

32 Ludgate Hill, London.

In One Elegant Volume of SOO Royal Octavo Pages, Extra Cloth, Full Gilt,
Price 7s. 6d.,

GOOD WORDS

FOR I860.

Edited by XORILAX MACLEOD, D.D.

And Illustrated icith 102 Wood Engravings from Designs by Eminent
Artists.

Among the Authors are—

The Rev. John Caird, D.D., Glasgow.
Miss Mnocs, Author of " John TTalifav,

Gentleman."
Dr Merle DAubigxe, Geneva.
Professor David Brown, Aberdeen.
The Author of the " Xut-Brown Maids."
Gerald M asset.
The Rev. W. Morlet Puxshon.
The Rev. John Cumming, D.D.

Mrs Margaret Maria Gordon.
The Rev. Hugh Stowell Brown.
Principal Tulloch.

The Rev. J. De Liefde. Amsterdim.

Author of " The Pastor of Gegenburg. '
The Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D.
Principal Lettch.
Miss Marsh.

The Rev. Xorman Macleod, D.D.

Among the Artists are—

James Archer. R.S.A
James Drummond. R.S.A
Erskine Xicol, R.S.A
Goublat Steell, RS.A
Samuel Bough.
Clark Stanton.

William Q. Orchardson.
John Macwhirter.
Clarence Dobell.
Robert Herdman.
C. A Doyle.
Keelev Halswelle.

Among the Contributions are—

GOD S GLORY IX THE HEAYEXS. 10 Chapters.

By PRINCIPAL LEITCH.

COUXSELS FOE YOUXG MEX. i Chapters.

By XORMAN" MACLEOD, D.D., Editor.

MEDLTATIOXS OX HEAYEX. 7 Chapters.

By the Rev. J. R. MACDUFF, D.D., Author of the " Morning and Night Watches."

LADY SOMERYILLE'S MALDEXS. A Story. 29 Cliapters.

By the Author of the " Xur-Brown Maids."

THE GOLD THEE AD. A Story for the Young. 5 Chapters.

By XORMAN" MACLEOD, D.D., Editor.

DAILY MEDITATIOXS : or, Good Words for Every Day,
(365 Readings.)

Good Words for

Pictures from the Life of the Early
Church. Three Chapters. By Prin-
cipal Tulloch.

Aspects of Indian Life during the Re-
bellion. Six Papers. By J. M.
Ludlow, Esq.

Photographs from the Gospels Three
Chapters By Professor David Brown.

Missionary Sketches. Six Papers. By
Thomas Smith, A.M.

Christian Life in Germany in the Nine-
teenth Century. Ten Chapters. By
W. F. Stevenson.

Bible Records of Remarkable Conver-
sions. Three Papers. By Adolph
Saphir.

Joy among the Angels. By Rev. W.
Landels.

Song of Antioch. By J. M. Ludlow, Esq.
Incident in the Arctic Seas. By Rev. J.

R. Macduff, D.D.
On the Atlantic. By Norman Macleod,

D.D.

Auroras. By W. Jack, of St Peter's

Hall, Cambridge.
The Caravansery of Bagdad, from the

Danish.

Bees and Bee-Hives. By John Gum-
ming, D.D.

The Destroyed Cities of the Plain. By
the Rev. Dr Jamieson.

St Columba. By Professor Shairp, St
Andrews.

Concerning Childhood. By Geo. Hume.
Illustrations of Providence. By Canon
St.owell.

Doctor Sparrow. By Adolph Saphir.
A Summer's Study of Ferns. By Miss

Fernlover.
1515 verms 1860. By Dr M. D'Aubigne.
What has been done in the Fiji Islands.

By Miss Farmer.
Protestantism in France. By Principal

Tulloch.

The Fate of Franklin. By J. M.

A Summer Hour iu my Garden. By

George Hume.
How I became a Governess. By Miss —
The Evils of Great Cities. By A. T. I.
The Crowded Harbour. By Miss Marsh,

Author of " Memorials of Hedley

Vicars."

A Door Opened in Heaven. By Profes-
sor David Brown.

Highlanders at Home and Abroad. By
Norman Macleod, D.D.

Professor George Wilson. By W. Lind-
say Alexander, D.D.

1860— continued.

Scenes in Italv. By William Arthur,
A.M.

Latimer in the Pulpit. By Hugh Stow-

ell Brown.
The True Rest for Man. By Norman

Macleod, D.D.
David Chart's Memoranda. By Miss

Howitt.

Methodism in the Far West. By
W. H. G.

Ascent of Mont Bianc. By a Member
of the Alpine Club.

Sketches in Natural History. By Wil-
liam Keddie.

The Midnight Mission. By L. C. C.

The Story of Ninian. By Professor
Shairp.

Nuremberg Stories. By Adolph Saphir.
Our Bob. By Norman Macleod, D.D.
A String of Pearls. By the Rev. Dr

M'Farlane, Author of "The Night,

Lamp."

The Power of Prayer. By W. F. Steven-
son.

Concerning Each One's Religious His-
tory. By A. T. I.

Saul of Tarsus a Chosen Vessel. By the
Rev. Dr M'Culloch.
! The Little Screw. By the Rev. J. De
Liefdc, Amsterdam, Author of "The
Pastor of Gegenburg."

Popular Misapplications of Scripture.
By Hugh Stowell Brown.

The Broken Link. By Mrs Margaret
Maria Gordon.

Old Jenny of Glen Immern. By Nor-
man Macleod, D.D.

In the Life of a Village Schoolmaster.
By W. F. Stevenson.

Reflections of a Ride Volunteer. Bv
A. T. I.

Symbnlism in the Christian Economy.

By John Caird, D.D.
Journey by Sinai to Syria. By the Rev.

Donald Macleod.
Massacre of Christians in Syria. By

Professor J. L. Porter, Author of

" Murray's Hand-book of Palestine "
The Little Rift. By L. C. C.
Alexander von Humboldt. By the Rev.

Dr Hoffman, Royal Chaplain, Berlin.
An Autumn Psalm. By the Author of

"John Halifax, Gentleman."
Garibaldi By Gerald Massey.
The Lone One. By H. Mary"T.
The White Crusade — Italy, 1860. By

the Author of " The Patience of

Hope."

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO.,

32 Ludgate Hill, London.

" (ffoofc toorts arc faortfj mucf) anti tost little." — Herbert.

MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE 6d.,
Profusely Illustrated with Woodcuts from Designs by
Millais, Holman Hdnt, Tenniel, Watson, Keene, Walker, Wolf.

EDITED BY NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D.,

ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S CHAPLAINS FOR SCOTLAND.

THOMAS GUTHRIE, D.D.,

(AUTHOR OF " THE GOSPEL IN EZEKIEL," ETC.,)
Is preparing a New Work to be published in GOOD WORDS for 1863.
To commence in January and be computed in December.

JOHN CAIRD, D.D.,

(AUTHOR OF " THE RELIGION OF COMMON LIFE," ETC.,)
Is preparing a New Work to be published in GOOD WORDS for 1863.
To commence in January and be completed in December.

ANTHONY TROLLOPE,

(AUTHOR OF " FRAMLEY PARSONAGE," ETC.,)
Is preparing a New Stcry to be published in GOOD WORD3 for 1863.

JOHN E. MILLAIS, R.A.,

Is to Illustrate Dr GUTHRIE'S New Work in GOOD WORDS for 1863.

ALEXANDER STRAHAN & CO.,

32 Ludgate Hill, London.

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