Part 5 (1/2)

G.o.d grant that in that day we may have courage to let the fire and the worm do their work--to say to Christ, ”These too are Thine, and out of Thine infinite love they have come. Thou requirest truth in the inward parts, and I will thank Thee for any means, however bitter, which Thou usest to make me true. I want to be an honest man and a right man! And, O joy! Thou wantest me to be so also. O joy! that though I long cowardly to quench Thy fire, I cannot do it. Purge me therefore, O Lord, though it be with fire. Burn up the chaff of vanity and self-indulgence, of hasty prejudices, second-hand dogmas,--husks which do not feed my soul, with which I cannot be content, of which I feel ashamed daily--and if there be any grains of wheat in me, any word or thought or power of action which may be of use as seed for my nation after me, gather it, O Lord, into Thy garner.” Amen.

_Letters and Memories_.

The Fire of G.o.d hardens a man and softens him at the same time. He comes out of it hardened to that hardness of which it is written, ”Do thou endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ;” and again, ”I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished my course;”--yet softened to that softness of which it is written, ”Be ye tender-hearted, compa.s.sionate, forgiving one another, even as G.o.d, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you;” and again, ”We have a High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that He has been tempted in all things like as we are.”

Happy, thrice happy, are they who have thus walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and found it a path that leads to everlasting life.

Happy are they who have writhed awhile in the fierce fire of G.o.d, and have had burned out of them the chaff, and the dross, and all which offends and makes them vain and light, yet makes them dull, and drags them down at the same time; till only the pure gold of G.o.d's righteousness is left, seven times tried in the fire, incorruptible, precious in the sight of G.o.d and man. Such need not regret, will not regret, all that they have gone through. It has made them brave, sober, patient. It has given them

The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength and skill;

and so shaped them into the likeness of Christ, who was made perfect by suffering; and though He were a Son, yet in the days of His flesh made strong supplication, and crying with tears to His Father, and was heard in that He feared; and so, though He died on the Cross and descended into h.e.l.l, yet triumphed over Death and h.e.l.l by dying and descending, and conquered them by submitting to them.

_Good News of G.o.d_--_Sermons_.

VI. OUT OF THE DEEP OF DEATH.

My heart is disquieted within me, and the fear of death has fallen upon me.--Ps. iv. 4.

My flesh and my heart faileth, but G.o.d is the strength of my heart.--Ps. lxiii. 25.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.--Ps. xxiii. 4.

Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.--Ps. cxvi. 8.

What will become of us after we die? What will the next world be like?

What is heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? Shall I be a man there, or only a ghost, a spirit without a body?

To this St. Paul answers, that Christ, the Son of G.o.d, after that He was manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not tell us what heaven is like, for though he had been caught up into the third heaven, yet what he saw there was unspeakable. Neither does he tell us what the next life will be like; all he says is, the Man Christ Jesus, who walked this earth like other men, was received up into glory, and He did not leave His man's mind, His man's heart, even His man's body behind Him. He carried up into heaven with Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even to the print of the nails in His hands, and in His most holy feet, and the wound of the spear in His most holy side. That is enough for us; because the Man Christ Jesus is in heaven, we, as men, may ascend to heaven. Where He is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is Man, we shall be. And this we do know, that we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

_National Sermons_.

Men are afraid of dying, princ.i.p.ally, I believe, because they fear the unknown. It is not that they are afraid of the pain of dying. It is not that they are afraid of going to h.e.l.l. Neither is it that they are afraid of not going to heaven. But when they think of actually _dying_, they feel as if to go into the next world was to be turned out into the dark night, into an unknown land, away from house and home, and all they have known and loved; and so they shrink from death.

_All Saints-Day Sermons_.

When you are in terror, trouble, and affliction, ay! and in the black jaws of death, and know not where to turn, that blessed thought, ”Christ is risen from the dead,” will be a s.h.i.+eld and a strength to you which no other thought can give. The Lord is risen--a man, with His man's body, and His man's spirit, His human love and tenderness; He has taken them all up to Heaven with Him. He is a man still, though He is very G.o.d of very G.o.d, He rose from the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand me and feel for me still--now--here in England in the nineteenth century just as much as He could when He was walking upon earth in Judea of old.

When this world is vanis.h.i.+ng from our eyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind us all we know, and love, and understand; then the thought of all thoughts--”Christ is risen from the dead” is the only one which will save us from sad, dark thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid carelessness, and the death of a brute beast, such as too many die. ”Christ is risen and I shall rise. Christ has conquered death for Himself, and He will conquer it for me. Christ took His man's body and soul with Him from the tomb to G.o.d's right hand, and He will raise my body and soul at the last day, that I may be with Him for ever, and see Him where He is.” In life and in death this is the only thing which will save us from sin, from terror, from the dread of the hereafter.

_National Sermons_.

Why did he die, we ask? There must be a final cause, a purpose for each death of every son of man, or the fact would be altogether hideous--a scribble without a meaning--a skeleton without a soul. Why did he die?

”I became dumb, I opened not my mouth; for it was Thy doing.” So says the Burial Psalm. So let us say likewise. ”I became dumb:” not with rage, not with despair; but because it was Thy doing, and therefore it was done well. It was the deed, not of chance, nor of necessity. Not so. For it was the deed of the Father, without whom a sparrow falls not to the ground; of the Son who died upon the Cross in the utterness of His desire to save; of the Holy Ghost, who is the Lord and Giver of Life to all created things. It was the deed of One who delights in Life and not in Death; in bliss and not in woe; in light and not in darkness; in order and not in anarchy; in good and not in evil. It had a final cause, a meaning, a purpose; and that purpose is very good. What it is, we know not; and we need not know. To guess at it would be indeed to meddle with matters too high for us. So let us be dumb. Dumb, not from despair, but from faith; dumb, not like a wretch weary with calling for help which does not come, but dumb like a child sitting at its mother's feet, and looking up into her face and watching her doings, understanding none of them as yet, but certain that they are all done in love.

_Westminster Sermons_.