Part 6 (1/2)

Now the Bible teaches us that man did not get these family feelings from his flesh, from the animal, brute part of him. They are not carnal, but spiritual. He gets them from his spirit, and they are inspired into him by the Spirit of G.o.d. They come not from the earth below, but from the heaven above; from the image of G.o.d, in which man alone of all living things was made.

For if it were not so, we should surely see some family feeling in the beasts which are most like men. But we do not. In the apes, which are, in their shape and fleshly nature, so strangely and shockingly like human beings, there is not as much family feeling as there is in many birds, or even insects. Nay, the wild negroes, among whom they live, hold them in abhorrence, and believe that they were once men like themselves, who were gradually changed into brute beasts, by giving way to detestable sins; while these very negroes themselves, heathens and savages as they are, HAVE the family feeling--the feeling of husband for wife, father for child, brother for brother; not, indeed, as strongly and purely as we, or at least those of us who are really Christian and civilized, but still they have it; and that makes between the lowest man and the highest brute a difference which I hold is as wide as the s.p.a.ce between heaven and earth.

It is man alone, I say, who has the idea of family; and who has, too, the strange, but most true belief that these family ties are appointed by G.o.d--that they are a part of his religion--that in breaking them, by being an unfaithful husband, a dishonest servant, an unnatural son, a selfish brother, he sins, not only against man, and man's order and laws, but against G.o.d.

Parent and child, brother and sister--those ties are not of the earth earthy, but of the heaven of G.o.d, eternal. They may begin in time; of what happened before we came into this world we know nought. But having begun, they cannot end. Of what will happen after we leave this world, that at least we know in part.

Parent and child; brother and sister; husband and wife likewise; these are no ties of man's invention. They are ties of G.o.d's binding; they are patterns and likenesses of his substance, and of his being. Of the eternal Father, who says for ever to the eternal Son, 'This day have I begotten THEE.' Of the Son who says for ever to the Father, 'I come to do thy will, O G.o.d.' Of the Son of G.o.d, Jesus Christ, who is not ashamed to call us his brethren; but like a greater Joseph, was sent before by G.o.d to save our lives with a great deliverance when our forefathers were but savages and heathens. Husband and wife likewise--are not they two divine words- -not human words at all? Has not G.o.d consecrated the state of matrimony to such an excellent mystery, that in it is signified and represented the mystical union between Christ and his Church? Are not husbands to love their wives, and give themselves for them as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it? That, indeed, was not revealed in the Old Testament, but it is revealed in the New; and marriage, like all other human ties, is holy and divine, and comes from G.o.d down to men.

Yes. These family ties are of G.o.d. It was to show us how sacred, how G.o.dlike they are--how eternal and necessary for all mankind-- that Joseph's story was written in Holy Scripture.

They are of G.o.d, I say. And he who despises them, despises not man but G.o.d; who hath also given us his Holy Spirit to make us know how sacred these bonds are.

He who looks lightly on the love of child to parent, or brother to brother, or husband to wife, and bids each man please himself, each man help himself, and s.h.i.+ft for himself, would take away from men the very thing which raises them above the beasts which perish, and lower them again to the likeness of the flesh, that they may of the flesh reap corruption.

They who, under whatever pretence of religion part asunder families; or tell children, like the wicked Pharisees of old, that they may say to their parents, Corban--'I have given to G.o.d the service and help which, as your child, I should have given to you'--shall be called, if not by men, at least by G.o.d himself, hypocrites, who draw near to G.o.d with their mouths, and honour him with their lips, while their heart is far from him.

I think now we may see that I was right when I said--Perhaps the history of Joseph is in the Bible because it IS a family history.

For see, it is the history of a man who loved his family, who felt that family life was holy and G.o.d-appointed; whom G.o.d rewarded with honour and wealth, because he honoured family ties; because he refused his master's wife; because he rewarded his brothers good for evil; because he was not ashamed of his father, but succoured him in his old age.

It is the history of a man who--more than four hundred years before G.o.d gave the ten commandments on Sinai, saying,

Honour thy father and mother,

Thou shalt not commit adultery,

Thou shalt not kill in revenge,

Thou shalt not covet aught of thy neighbours--It is the history, I say, of a man who had those laws of G.o.d written in his heart by the Holy Spirit of G.o.d; and felt that to break them was to sin against G.o.d. It is the history of a man who, sorely tempted and unjustly persecuted, kept himself pure and true; who, while all around him, beginning with his own brothers, were trampling under foot the laws of family, felt that the laws were still there round him, girding him in with everlasting bands, and saying to him, Thou shalt and Thou shalt not; that he was not sent into the world to do just what was pleasant for the moment, to indulge his own pa.s.sions or his own revenge; but that if he was indeed a man, he must prove himself a man, by obeying Almighty G.o.d. It is the history of a man who kept his heart pure and tender, and who thereby gained strange and deep wisdom; that wisdom which comes only to the pure in heart; that wisdom by which truly good men are enabled to see farther, and to be of more use to their fellow-creatures than many a cunning and crooked politician, whose eyes are blinded, because his heart is defiled with sin.

And now, my friends, if we pray--as we are bound to pray--for that great Prince who is just entering on the cares and the duties, as well as the joys and blessings of family life--what better prayer can we offer up for him, than that G.o.d would put into his heart that spirit which he put into the heart of Joseph of old--the spirit to see how divine and G.o.d-appointed is family life? G.o.d grant that that spirit may dwell in him, and possess him more and more day by day. That it may keep him true to his wife, true to his mother, true to his family, true, like Joseph, to all with whom he has to deal. That it may deliver him, as it delivered Joseph, from the snares of wicked women, from selfish politicians, if they ever try to sow distrust and opposition between him and his kindred, and from all those temptations which can only be kept down by the Spirit of G.o.d working in men's hearts, as he worked in the heart of Joseph.

For if that spirit be in the Prince--and I doubt not that that spirit is in him already--then will his fate be that of Joseph; then will he indeed be a blessing to us, and to our children after us; then will he have riches more real, and power more vast, than any which our English laws can give; then will he gain, like Joseph, that moral wisdom, better than all worldly craft, which cometh from above--first pure, then gentle, easy to be entreated, without partiality, and without hypocrisy; then will he be able, like Joseph, to deliver his people in times of perplexity and distress; then will he by his example, as his n.o.ble mother has done before him, keep healthy, pure, and strong, our English family life--and as long as THAT endures, Old England will endure likewise.

SERMON VIII. THE BIBLE THE GREAT CIVILIZER

(Fourth Sunday in Lent.)

PHILIPPIANS iv. 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

It may not be easy to see what this text has to do with the story of Joseph, which we have just been reading, or with the meaning of the Bible of which I have been speaking to you of late.

Nevertheless, I think it has to do with them; as you will see if you will look at the text with me.

Now the text does not say 'Do these things.' It only says 'THINK of these things.'

Of course St. Paul wished us to do them also; but he says first THINK of them; not once in a way, but often and continually. Fill your mind with good and pure and n.o.ble thoughts; and then you will do good and pure and n.o.ble things.

For out of the abundance of a man's heart, not only does his mouth speak, but his whole body and soul behave. The man whose mind is filled with low and bad thoughts will be sure, when he is tempted, to do low and bad things. The man whose mind is filled with lofty and good thoughts will do lofty and good things.