Part 6 (2/2)

Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then.

He cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught creatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Judaea of old.

And we see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth of England improves, and the laws improve, and the knowledge of G.o.d improves, the condition of all sorts of poor creatures improves too, though they had no share in bringing about the good change. But we are all members of one body, from the Queen on her throne to the tramper under the hedge; and as St. Paul says: ”If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member rejoices, all the others” sooner or later ”rejoice with it.” For we, too, are one of the Lord's nations. He has made us one body, with one common language, common laws, common interest, common religion for all; and what He does for one of us He does for all. He orders all that happens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, He orders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work for the good, not merely of a few, but of as many as possible--not merely for His elect, but for those who know Him not. As He has been from the beginning, when He heaped blessings on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites--as He was when He endured the cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in wickedness; so is He now; the perfect likeness of His father, who is no respecter of persons, but causes ”His sun to s.h.i.+ne alike on the evil on the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.”

But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe my words to your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are ”the Gospel,” ”the good news of the Kingdom of G.o.d”--that is, the good news that G.o.d has condescended to become our King, to govern and guide us, to order all things for our good. But as St. Paul says, the Gospel may be a savour of death unto death, as well as a savour of life unto life. And I will tell you now; that you have only to do what the Jews just before the coming of our Lord did, and give way to the same thoughts as they, and then, like them, it were better for you that you had never heard of G.o.d, and been like the savages, to whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are all but without law. How is this?

As I said before--take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees took theirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying yourselves G.o.d's especial favourites. Now this was what happened to the Pharisees: they could not help knowing that G.o.d had shown especial favour to them; and that He had taught them more about G.o.d than He had taught the heathen. But instead of feeling all the more humble and thankful for this, and of remembering day and night that because much had been given to them much would be required of them, they thought more about the honour and glory which G.o.d had put on them. They forgot what G.o.d had declared, namely, that it was not for their own goodness that He had taught them, for that they were in themselves not a whit better than the heathen around them. They forgot that the reason why He taught them was, that they were to do His work on earth, by witnessing for His name, and telling the heathen that G.o.d was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. Now David, and the old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this.

Their cry is: ”Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.”

”Wors.h.i.+p the Son of G.o.d, ye kings of the earth, and make your peace with Him lest He be angry.” ”It was in vain,” he told the heathen kings, ”to try to cast away G.o.d's government from them, and break His bonds from off them,” for ”the Lord was King, let the nations be never so unquiet.”

But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that G.o.d had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for them, and actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true G.o.d all to themselves for their own private property; and that He had neither love nor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that is, the few heathens whom they could persuade and entice not to wors.h.i.+p the true G.o.d after the customs of their own country--that would not have suited the Jews' bigotry and pride--but to turn Jews, and forget their own people among whom they were born, and ape them in everything. And so, as our Lord told them, after compa.s.sing sea and land to make one of these proselytes, they only made him after all twice as much the child of h.e.l.l as themselves. For they could not teach the heathen anything worth knowing about G.o.d, when they had forgotten themselves what G.o.d was like. They could tell them that there was one G.o.d, and not two--but what was the use of that? As St.

James says, the devils believe as much as that, and yet the knowledge does not make them holy, but only increases their fear and despair.

And so with these Pharisees. They had forgotten that G.o.d was love.

They had forgotten that G.o.d was merciful. They had forgotten that G.o.d was just. And therefore, while they were talking of G.o.d and pretending to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d, they knew nothing of G.o.d, and they did not do G.o.d's will, and act like G.o.d; for (as we find from the Gospels) they were unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; and while they were looking down on the poor heathens, these very heathens, the Lord told them, would rise up in judgment against them: for they, knowing little, acted up to the light which they had, better than the Pharisees who knew so much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we fancy that G.o.d's great favours to us are a reason for our priding ourselves on them, and despising papists and foreigners instead of remembering that just because G.o.d has given us so much, He will require more of us. It is true, we do know more of the Gospel than the papists, how, though they believe in Jesus Christ, wors.h.i.+p the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and idols of wood and stone. But if they, who know so little of G.o.d's will, yet act faithfully up to what they do know, will they not rise up in judgment against us, who know so much more, if we act worse than they?

Instead of despising them, we had better despise ourselves. Instead of fancying that G.o.d's love is not over them, and so sinning against G.o.d's Holy Spirit by denying and despising the fruits of G.o.d's Holy Spirit in them, we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of our own sins. We had better pray G.o.d to open our eyes to our own want of faith, and want of love, and want of honesty, and want of cleanly and chaste lives; lest G.o.d in His anger should let us go on in our evil path, till we fall into the deep darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For then while we were boasting of England as the most Christian nation in the world, we might become the most unchristian, because the most unlike Christ; the most wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, and honour, and justice, and honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits of the Spirit. And without them there is no use crying: ”We are G.o.d's chosen people, He Has put His name among us, we alone hate idols, we alone have the pure word of G.o.d, and the pure sacraments, and the pure doctrine;” for G.o.d may answer us, as he answered the Jews of old: ”Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, G.o.d is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” ...

”The Kingdom of G.o.d shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” Oh! my friends, let us pray, one and all, that G.o.d will come and help us, and with great might succour us, ”that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in running the race set before us, G.o.d's bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us,” and enable us to live faithfully up to the glorious privileges which He has bestowed on us, in calling us ”members of Christ, children of G.o.d, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;” in giving us His Bible, in allowing us to be born into this favoured land of England, in preserving us to this day, in spite of all that we have thought, and said, and done, unworthy of the name of Christians and Englishmen.

And then we may be certain that G.o.d will also fulfil to us the glorious promises which we find in another Psalm: ”If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, this land shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and satisfy her poor with bread. I will deck her priests with health, and her holy people shall rejoice and sing.”

XVIII--NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord G.o.d, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you... . And ye shall know that I am the Lord.-- EZEKIEL xx. 32, 33, 38.

A father has two ways of showing his love to his child--by caressing it and by punis.h.i.+ng it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, and ought to be. Just because he loves his child, just because the thing he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good, therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does wrong. Therefore anger against sin is a part of G.o.d's likeness in us; and he who does not hate sin is not like G.o.d. For if sin is the worst evil--perhaps the only real evil in the world--and the end of all sin is death and misery, then to indulge people in sin is to show them the very worst of cruelty.

To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is mere laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not show his love to the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he himself is carnal and fleshly; that he does not like to take the trouble of punis.h.i.+ng it, or does not like to give himself the pain of punis.h.i.+ng it; that, in short, he had sooner let his child grow up in bad habits, which must lead to its misery and ruin for years and years, if not for ever, than make himself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for a few minutes. That is not love, but selfishness.

True love is as determined to punish the sin as it is to forgive the sinner. Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that we can be angry without sinning; that is that there is an anger which comes from hatred of sin and love to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon tells us to punish our children when they do wrong, and not to hold our hands for their crying. It is better for them that they should cry a little now, than have long years of shame and sorrow hereafter. Therefore, in all countries which are properly governed, the law punishes in the name of G.o.d those who break the laws of G.o.d, and punishes them even with death, for certain crimes; because it is expedient that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

And this is G.o.d's way of dealing with each and every one of us. This is G.o.d's way of dealing with Christian nations, just as it was His way of dealing with the Jews of old. He never allowed the Jews to prosper in sin. He punished them at once, and sternly, whenever they rebelled against Him; not because He hated them, but because He loved them. His love to them showed itself whenever they went well with Him, in triumphs and blessings; and when they rebelled against Him, and broke His laws, He showed that very same love to them in plague, and war, and famine, and a mighty hand, and fury poured out. His love had not changed--they had changed; and now the best and only way of showing His love to them, was by making them feel His anger; and the best and only way of being merciful to them, was to show them no indulgence.

Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel's time, was to be like the heathen--like the nations round them. They said to themselves: ”These heathen wors.h.i.+p idols, and yet prosper very well. Their having G.o.ds of wood and stone, and their indulging their pa.s.sions, and being profligate and filthy, covetous, unjust, and tyrannical, does not prevent their being just as happy as we are--ay, and a great deal happier. They have no strict law of Moses, as we have threatening us and keeping us in awe, and making us uncomfortable, and telling us at every turn, 'Thou shalt not do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that pleasant thing.' And yet G.o.d does not punish them, as Moses' law says He will punish us.

These a.s.syrians and Babylonians above all--they are stronger than we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have horses and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews cannot get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from earthquakes, and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by all the nations round us, one after another, they go on conquering, and spreading, and succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at Babylon,” said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; ”a few generations ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest, richest, and strongest nation in the whole world. G.o.d has not punished it for wors.h.i.+pping G.o.ds of wood and stone, why should He punish us? These Babylonians have prospered well enough with their G.o.ds, why should not we? Perhaps it is these very G.o.ds of wood and stone who have helped them to become so great. Why should they not help us? We will wors.h.i.+p them, then, and pray to them. We will not give up wors.h.i.+pping our own G.o.d, of course, lest we should offend Him; but we will wors.h.i.+p Him and the Babylonian idols at the same time; then we shall be sure to be right if we have Jehovah and the idols both on our side.” So said the Jews to themselves. But what did Ezekiel answer them? ”Not so, my foolish countrymen,” said he, ”G.o.d will not have it so. He has taught you that these Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught you that He can and will help you, that He can and will be everything to you; He has taught you that He alone is G.o.d, who made heaven and earth, who orders all things therein, who alone gives any people power to get wealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for any appearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He has chosen you to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His name to them, that they may give up their idols and serve the true G.o.d, in whom alone is strength. He chose you to be these heathens' teachers, and He will not let you become their scholars. He meant the heathen to copy you, and He will not let you copy them. If He does, in His love and mercy, let these poor heathen prosper in spite of their idols, what is that to you? It is still the Lord who makes them prosper, and not the idols, whether they know it or not. They know no better, and He will not impute sin to them where He has given them no law. But you do know better; by a thousand mighty signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been teaching you ever since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is all-sufficient for you, that all power is His in heaven and earth. He has promised to you, and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His law and walk in His commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing; that you shall have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and prosperity, for the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and night, at home and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. Moses' law tells you this, G.o.d's prophets have been telling you this, G.o.d's wonderful dealings with you have been telling you this, that the Lord G.o.d is enough for you. And if you, who are meant to be a nation of kings and priests to G.o.d, to teach all nations and serve solely Him, fancy that you will be allowed to throw away the high honour which G.o.d has put upon you, and lower yourselves to the follies and sins of these heathen round you, you are mistaken. You were meant to be above such folly, you can be above it; and you shall not prosper by serving G.o.d and idols at once; you shall not even prosper by serving idols alone. G.o.d will visit you with a mighty hand, and with fury poured out, and you shall know that He is the Lord.”

Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it has to do with us--that if G.o.d taught the Jews about Himself, He has taught us still more. If he has shown signs and wonders of His love, and wrought mightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more mightily for us; for He spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely for us. If He promised to teach the Jews, He has promised still more to teach us; for He has promised His Holy Spirit freely to young and old, rich and poor, to as many as ask Him, to guide us into all truth. If he expected the Jews to set an example to all the nations around, He expects us to do so still more. And if He punished the Jews, and drove them back again by shame, and affliction, and disappointment, whenever they went after other G.o.ds, and tried to be like the heathen around, and despised their high calling, and their high privileges, He will punish us, and drive us back again still more fiercely, and still more swiftly. G.o.d has called us to be a nation of Christians, and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We are longing to do in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are all too apt to say to ourselves: ”Of course we must love G.o.d, or He might be angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved? But the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great many rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very well without G.o.d, by just wors.h.i.+pping selfishness, and money, and worldly cunning, and why should not we do the same?--why should we not wors.h.i.+p G.o.d and Mammon at once, and serve G.o.d on Sundays, and the selfish ways of the world all the week? Surely then we should be doubly safe; we should have G.o.d and the world on our side both at once.”

Now, my friends, G.o.d will not allow us to succeed on that plan. We are members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself for sinners; whose members are all brothers of His Church, which is held together by self-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to be like the heathens, and fancy that we can succeed by selfishness, and cunning, and covetousness, G.o.d will not let us fall from the honour which He has put on us, and trample our blessings under foot. He will bring our plans to nought. Whomsoever he may let prosper in sin, He will not let those who have heard the message prosper in it. Whatever nation He may let become great by covetousness, and selfish competing and struggling of man against man, He will not let England grow great by it. He loves her too well to let her fall so, and cast away her high honour of being a Christian nation. By great and sore afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to nothing, He will teach us that we cannot wors.h.i.+p G.o.d and Mammon at once; that the sure riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money, but righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish compet.i.tion which men wors.h.i.+p nowadays, and fancy that it is the secret cause of all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no place in the church of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for those who hated Him, and came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father; not to enable men to go to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the power of His Spirit--the spirit of love and fellows.h.i.+p to sweep all selfishness off the face of G.o.d's good earth. By sore trials and afflictions will G.o.d in His mercy teach this to England, and to every man in England who is deluded into fancying that he can serve G.o.d, and selfishness at once, till we learn once more, as our forefathers did of old, that He is the Lord.

Because we are His children G.o.d will chasten us; because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He has prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us fill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb beasts, snarl and struggle one against the other for a place at His table, as if it were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for ten times as many more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying that we are to be the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry to s.n.a.t.c.h it out of our neighbours' hands. In one word, G.o.d will not give us false prosperity, as the children of the world, the flesh, and the devil, because he wishes to give us real prosperity as the sons of G.o.d, in the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us.

XIX--THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM

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