Part 4 (1/2)
We have hope in Christ for the next life as well as for this--hope that in the next life He will give us power to succeed where we failed here; that He will enable us to be good and to do good, and, if not to make others good (for there we trust all will be good together), to enjoy the fulness of that pleasure for which we have been longing on earth--the pleasure of seeing others good, as Christ is good and perfect, as their Father in Heaven is perfect.
_All Saints-Day Sermons_.
There are many who have in them, by grace of G.o.d, the divine thirst for the higher life; who are discontented with themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are tormented by longings which they cannot satisfy, instincts which they cannot a.n.a.lyse, powers which they cannot employ, duties which they cannot perform, doctrinal confusions which they cannot unravel; who would welcome any change, even the most tremendous, which would make them n.o.bler, purer, juster, more loving, more useful, more clear-hearted and sound-minded; and, when they think of death, say with the poet--
'Tis life, not death, for which I pant, 'Tis life whereof my nerves are scant, More life, and fuller, that I want.
To them we can say, for G.o.d has said it long ago--Be of good cheer. The calling and gifts of G.o.d are without repentance. If you have the divine thirst, it will be surely satisfied. If you long to be better men and women, you will surely be so. Only be true to those higher instincts; only do not learn to despise and quench that divine thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, of failures, even of sins, for every one of which last your Heavenly Father will chastise you, even while He forgives; in spite of all disappointment struggle on. Blessed are you who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be filled. To you, and not in vain, ”The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him drink of the water of life freely.”
_Water of Life_--_Sermons_.
The heart and soul of man wants more than ”a religion,” as it is written, ”My soul is athirst for G.o.d, even the Living G.o.d.” They want a living G.o.d, who cares for men, forgives men, saves men from their sins; and Him I have found in the Bible, and nowhere else, save in the facts of life, which the Bible alone interprets.
_Letters and Memories_.
What was Christ's life? Not one of deep speculation, quiet thoughts, and bright visions; but a life of fighting against evil; earnest, awful prayers and struggles within, continual labour of body and mind without; insult and danger and confusion and violent exertion and bitter sorrow.
This was Christ's life--this is the life of almost every good and great man I ever heard of. This was Christ's cup, which His disciples were to drink of as well as He; this was the baptism of fire with which they were to be baptised of as well as He; this was to be their fight of faith; this was the tribulation through which they, and all other great saints, were to enter into the kingdom of heaven. For it is certain that the harder a man fights against evil the harder evil will fight against him in return; but it is certain too that the harder a man fights against evil, the more is he like his Saviour Christ, and the more glorious will be his reward in heaven.
_Village Sermons_.
V. OUT OF THE DEEP OF DOUBT, DARKNESS, AND h.e.l.l.
O Lord G.o.d of my salvation, I have cried day and night unto Thee. Oh!
let my prayer enter into Thy presence. For my soul is full of trouble and my life draweth nigh unto h.e.l.l. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in a place of darkness, and in the deep.--Ps. lx.x.xviii. 1, 2.
If I go down to h.e.l.l, Thou art there also. Yea, the darkness is no darkness with Thee; but the night is as clear as the day.--Ps. cx.x.xix.
7, 11.
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my calling. He brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock. And He hath put a new song into my mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our G.o.d.--Ps. xl. 2, 3.
G.o.d hath delivered my soul from the place of h.e.l.l. He shall receive me.--Ps. xlix. 15.
It is sometimes true, that suns.h.i.+ne comes after storm. Sometimes true--or who could live?--but not always. Equally true that in most human lives there are periods of trouble, blow following blow, wave following wave, from opposite and unexpected quarters, till all G.o.d's billows have gone over the soul. How paltry and helpless in such dark times are all proud attempts to hang self-poised in the centre of the abyss, and there organise for oneself a character by means of circ.u.mstances. Easy enough it seems for a man to educate himself without G.o.d while he lies comfortably in idleness on a sofa. But what if he found himself hurled perforce among the real universal experiences of humanity; and made free in spite of himself, by doubt and fear and horror of great darkness, of the brotherhood of woe, common alike to the simplest peasant woman, and to every great soul, who has left his impress upon the hearts of after generations? Jew, Heathen, or Christian; men of the most opposite creeds and aims--whether it be Moses or Socrates, Isaiah or Epictetus, Augustine or Mohammed, Dante or Bernard, Shakespeare or Bacon--each and all of them have this one fact in common--that once in their lives, at least, they have gone down into the bottomless pit, and there out of the utter darkness have asked the question of all questions--”Is there a G.o.d? and if there be, what is He doing with me?” What refuge then--when a man feels himself powerless in the gripe of some unseen and inevitable power, and knows not whether it be chance or necessity, or a devouring fiend--to wrap himself sternly in himself and cry, ”I will endure though all the universe be against me”? How fine it sounds! But who has done it? No, there is but one escape, one c.h.i.n.k through which we may see light, one rock on which our feet may find standing-place, even in the abyss; and that is the belief, intuitive, inspired, due neither to reasoning nor to study, that the billows are G.o.d's billows; and that though we go down into h.e.l.l, He is there also; the belief that not we, but He, is educating us; that these seemingly incoherent miseries, storm following earthquake, and earthquake fire, as if the caprice of all the demons were let loose against us, have in His mind a spiritual coherence, an organic unity and purpose, though we see it not; that these sorrows do not come singly, only because He is making short work with our spirits; and because the more effect He sees produced by one blow, the more swiftly He follows it up by another; till in one great and varied crisis, seemingly long to us, but short compared with immortality, our spirits may be--
”Heated hot with burning fears, And bathed in baths of hissing tears, And battered with the strokes of doom, To shape and use.”
_Two Years Ago_.
There is no darker temptation than that which comes over a man when the devil whispers to him such thoughts as these, ”G.o.d does not care for me--G.o.d hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There seems some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let G.o.d first change to me and then will I change towards Him. But G.o.d will not change; He has determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for everything goes wrong with me. Then what is the use of my repenting. I will go my own way--and what must be must.” Have you ever had such thoughts? Then hear the word of the Lord to you: ”When, whensoever, wheresoever, the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he has committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord, and not rather that he should be converted and live?” Never believe the devil when he tells you that G.o.d hates you. Never believe him when he tells you that G.o.d has been too hard upon you, and placed you in such circ.u.mstances of temptation, ignorance, poverty or anything else, that you cannot mend.
What does the promise of your Baptism say? ”Be you poor, tempted, ignorant, stupid, be you what you will, you are G.o.d's child--your Father's love is over you, His mercy ready for you.” You feel too weak to change. Ask G.o.d's Spirit to give you a strength of will you never felt before. You feel too proud to change. Ask G.o.d's Spirit to humble your proud heart, to soften your hard heart; and you will find to your surprise that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed of yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel unworthy to look up to G.o.d, that then will come a n.o.bler, holier, manlier feeling--self-respect, and a clear conscience, and the thought that, weak and simple as you are, you are in the right way; that G.o.d and the Angels of G.o.d are smiling on you; that you are in tune again with all earth and heaven, because you are what G.o.d wills you to be. Not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying yourself strong enough to go alone, when you are really the slave of your own pa.s.sions and appet.i.tes and the playthings of the devil; but His loving, loyal son through the strength of G.o.d, and able to do what you will, because what you will G.o.d wills also.
_National Sermons_.
To escape atheism and despair, let us remember that the Creator and Ordainer of the circ.u.mstances of life is not chance or Nature, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of us.
When you feel you are in the deepest and gloomiest doubt, pray the prayer of desperation; cry out, ”Lord, if Thou dost exist, let me know that Thou dost exist! Guide my mind by a way that I know not into Thy truth,” and G.o.d will deliver you.
_Letters and Memories_.