Out of the Deep Part 3

_National Sermons_.

G.o.d is not a tyrant who must be appeased with gifts, or a task-master who must be satisfied with the labour of his slaves. He is a Father, who loves His children, who gives and loveth to give, who gives to all freely, and upbraideth not. He truly willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. His will is a good will, and howsoever much men's sin and folly may resist it, and seem for a time to mar it, yet He is too great and good to owe any man, even the worst, the smallest spite or grudge. Patiently, n.o.bly, magnanimously, G.o.d waits--waits for the man who is a fool, to find out his folly; waits for the heart which has tried to find pleasure in everything else, to find out that everything else disappoints, and to come back to Him, that fountain of all wholesome pleasure, that well-spring of all life fit for a man to live. When the fool finds out his folly; when the wilful man gives up his wilfulness; when the rebel submits himself to law; when the son comes back to his father's house--there is no sternness, no upbraiding, no revenge; but the everlasting and boundless love of G.o.d wells forth again as ever. The Creator has condescended to wait for His creature, because what He wanted was not His creature's fear, but His creature's love; not his lip-obedience, but his heart; because He wanted him not to come back as a trembling slave to his master, but as a son who has found out at last what a father he has left him, when all beside has played him false. Let him come back thus, to find all is forgiven; and to hear the Father say, "This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

_Discipline and other Sermons_.

When the tempest comes; when affliction, fear, anxiety, shame come, then the Cross of Christ begins to mean something to us. For then in our misery and confusion we look up to heaven and ask, Is there any One in heaven who understands all this? Does G.o.d understand my trouble? Does G.o.d feel for my trouble? Does G.o.d care for my trouble? Does G.o.d know what trouble means? Or must I fight the battle of life alone, without sympathy or help from G.o.d, who made me and has put me here? Then, does the Cross of Christ bring a message to our heart such as no other thing or being on earth can bring. For it says to us, G.o.d does understand thee utterly; for Christ understands thee. Christ feels for thee; Christ feels with thee; Christ has suffered for thee, and suffered with thee.

Thou canst go through nothing which Christ has not gone through. He, the Son of G.o.d, endured poverty, fear, shame, agony, death for thee, that He might be touched with the feeling of thine infirmity and help thee to endure, and bring thee safe through all to victory and peace.

_Westminster Sermons_.

Though we, happily, no longer believe in the terror by night, which of old was thought to come from witches, ghosts, demons, yet there is a terror by night in which we must believe, for it comes to us from G.o.d, and should be listened to as the voice of G.o.d, even that terror about our own sinfulness, folly, weakness, which comes to us in dreams and sleepless nights. We may learn from these night fancies and night thoughts; for they are often G.o.d's message to us, calling us to repentance and amendment of life. They are often G.o.d's Book of Judgment, wherein our sins are written, which G.o.d is setting before us, and showing us the things we have done. G.o.d sends dreams to men which enable them to look back, and recollect things past, which they had forgot only too easily; and these humble and penitential dreams are G.o.d's warning that (as the Article says) the infection of nature doth remain even in those who are regenerate, and that nothing but the continual help of G.o.d's Spirit will keep us from falling back or falling away.

_Discipline and other Sermons_.

The religion of terror is the most superficial of all religions. G.o.d's arbitrary will and almighty power may seem dark by themselves though deep, as they do to the Calvinists, because they do not involve His moral character. Join them with the fact that He is a G.o.d of mercy as well as justice, remember that His essence is love, and the thunder cloud will blaze with dewy gold, full of soft rain and pure light. All the deep things of G.o.d are bright, for G.o.d is light.

_Letters and Memories_.

I am not, and will not (please G.o.d to help me, as He has. .h.i.therto) be anxious about anything. Why should we weary out the little life we have left in us, when He has promised to care for us, and make us renew our youth, and heap us with everything that is good for us?

And as for our difficulties. Has it not been fulfilled in them--As thy day so shall thy strength be? Have they not been G.o.d's sending? G.o.d's way of preventing the cup of bliss being over sweet? and consider, have they not been blessed lessons? Have we not had in all things with the temptation a way to escape? So out of evil G.o.d brings good; or rather out of necessity He brings strength. The highest spiritual training is contained in the most paltry physical accidents; and the meanest actual want may be the means of calling into actual life the possible but sleeping embryo of the very n.o.blest faculties.

This is a great mystery; but we are animals, in time and s.p.a.ce; and by time and s.p.a.ce, and our animal natures, are we educated. Therefore let us be only patient, patient; and let G.o.d our Father teach His own lesson, His own way. Let us try to learn it well, and learn it quickly; but do not let us fancy that He will ring the school bell, and send us to play before our lesson is learnt.

_Letters and Memories_.

In all the events of life pray, pray take what G.o.d does _not_ send as _not_ good for us, and trust Him to send us what is good. Remember all these things are right, and come with a reason, and a purpose, and a meaning; and he who grumbles at them believeth not (for the time being at least) in the Living G.o.d.

Ah! do not fancy that I am not often perplexed--"Cast down, yet not in despair." No; Christ reigns, as Luther used to say--and therefore I will not fear, "though the mountains be removed (and I with them) and cast into the midst of the sea."

_Letters and Memories_.

All these anxieties will be good for you. They all go to the making of a man--calling out that G.o.d-dependence in him which is the only true self- dependence, the only true strength. Well said old Hezekiah, "Lord, by all _these_ things men live (by trouble, sorrow, sickness), and in these things is the life of the spirit."

_MS. Letters_.

Our Lord said, "Take no thought for the morrow; the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matt. vi. 34. And do we not find that our Lord's words are true? Who are the people who get through most work in their lives, with the least wear and tear? Are they the anxious people? Those who imagine to themselves possible misfortunes, and ask continually, What if this happened, or if that? How should I be able to get through such and such a trouble? Far, far from it. Let us not waste the strength which G.o.d has given us for to-day in vain fears or vain dreams about to-morrow. To- day is quite full enough of anxiety and care. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof, and sufficient for the day is the good thereof. To-day, and to-morrow too, may end very differently from what we _hope_. Yes.

But they may end very differently from what we _fear_. Look not too far ahead, lest you see what is coming before you are ready for the sight. If we foresaw the troubles that are coming, perhaps it would break our hearts; and if we foresaw the happiness which is coming, perhaps it would turn our heads. Let us not meddle with the future but refrain our souls and keep them low, like little children, content with the day's food, and the day's schooling, and the day's play-hours, sure that the Divine Master knows all that is right, and how to train us, and whither to lead us, though we know not, and need not know, save this, that the path by which He is leading each of us--if we will but obey and follow, step by step--leads up to Everlasting Life.

_All Saints-Day Sermons_.

IV. OUT OF THE DEEP OF LONELINESS, FAILURE, AND DISAPPOINTMENT.

My heart is smitten down, and withered like gra.s.s. I am even as a sparrow that sitteth alone on the housetop--Ps. cii. 4, 6.

My lovers and friends hast Thou put away from me, and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight--Ps. lxxviii. 18.

I looked on my right hand, and saw there was no man that would know me. I had no place to flee unto, and no man cared for my soul. I cried unto Thee, O Lord, and said, Thou art my Hope. When my spirit was in heaviness, then Thou knewest my path.--Ps. cxlii. 4, 5.

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our G.o.d is merciful. I was in misery, and He helped me.--Ps. cxvi. 5, 6.

It is sorrow--sorrow and failure--which forces men to believe that there is One who heareth prayer, forces them to lift up their eyes to One from whom cometh their help. Before the terrible realities of danger, death, disappointment, shame, ruin--and most of all before deserved shame, deserved ruin--all arguments melt away; and the man or woman, who was but too ready a day before to say, "Tush, G.o.d will never see and will never hear," begins to hope pa.s.sionately that G.o.d does see, that G.o.d does hear.

In the hour of darkness, when there is no comfort nor help in man, when he has no place to flee unto, and no man careth for his soul, then the most awful, if most blessed of all questions is, But is there no One higher than man to whom I can flee? No One higher than man who cares for my soul, and for the souls of those who are dearer to me than my own soul? No friend? No helper? No deliverer? No counsellor? Even no judge? No punisher? No G.o.d, even though He be a consuming fire? Am I in my misery alone in the universe? Is my misery without any meaning and without hope? If there be no G.o.d, then all that is left for me is despair and death. But if there be, then I can hope that there is a meaning in my misery; that it comes to me not without cause, even though that cause be my own fault. Then I can plead with G.o.d, even though in wild words like Job; and ask, What is the meaning of this sorrow? What have I done? What should I do? I will say unto G.o.d, "Do not condemn me; show me wherefore Thou contendest with me. Surely I would speak unto the Almighty; I desire to reason with G.o.d." Oh, my friends, a man, I believe, can gain courage and wisdom to say that only by the inspiration of the Spirit of G.o.d. But when once he has said that from his heart, he begins to be justified by faith; for he has had faith in G.o.d. He has trusted G.o.d--and more--he has justified G.o.d. He has confessed that G.o.d is not a mere force or law of Nature; nor a mere tyrant and tormentor; but a Reasonable Being who will hear reason, and a Just Being who will do justice by the creatures He has made.

_Westminster Sermons_.

The deeper, the bitterer your loneliness, the more you are like Him who cried upon the cross, "My G.o.d, my G.o.d, why hast Thou forsaken me?" He knows what that grief, too, is like. _He_ feels for thee at least.

Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still, and if He be with thee, what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed are those that weep now, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth; and because He loves the poor, He brings them low. All things are blessed now but sin; for all things excepting sin are redeemed by the life and death of the Son of G.o.d. Blessed are wisdom and courage, joy and health, and beauty and love and marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers; for Christ redeemed them by His life. And blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, and a broken heart and a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, and blest the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, for Christ redeemed them by His death.

Blessed are all things, weak as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark as well as bright, for all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are His for ever.

Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; ache on, ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice that you are made free of the holy brotherhood of mourners; rejoice that you are counted worthy of a fellows.h.i.+p in the sufferings of the Son of G.o.d.

Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall come joy. Trust on; for in man's weakness G.o.d's strength shall be made perfect. Trust on; for death is the gate of life. Endure on to the end, and possess your souls in patience for a little while, and that, perhaps, a very little while.

Death comes swiftly, and more swiftly still perhaps, the day of the Lord.

The deeper the sorrow, the nearer the salvation:--

The night is darkest before the dawn; When the pain is sorest, the child is born; And the day of the Lord at hand.

_National Sermons_.

Thou who art weary and heavy laden; thou who fanciest at moments that the Lord's arm is shortened that it cannot save, and art ready to cry, G.o.d hath forgotten me, take comfort, and look upon Christ. Thou wilt never be sure of the love of G.o.d, unless thou rememberest that it is the same as the love of Christ; and by looking at Christ, learnest to know thy Father and His Father, whose likeness and image He is, and see that the Spirit which proceeds alike from both of them is the Spirit of humanity and love, which cannot help going forth to seek and to save thee, simply because thou art lost. Look, I say, unto Christ; and be sure that what the good Samaritan did to the wounded traveller, that same will He do to thee, because He is the Son of Man, human and humane.

Art thou robbed, wounded, deserted, left to die, worsted in the battle of life, and fallen in its rugged road, with no counsel, no strength, no hope, no purpose left? Then remember that there is One walking to and fro in this world unseen, but ever present, whose form is as the form of the Son of Man. And He has time, as He has will, to turn aside and minister to such as thee! No human being so mean, no human sorrow so petty, but that He has the time and the will and the power to have mercy on it, because He is the Son of Man. Therefore He will turn aside even to thee, whoever thou art, who art weary and heavy laden, and can find no rest for thy soul, at the very moment, and in the very manner which is best for thee. When thou hast suffered long enough, He will stablish, strengthen, settle thee. He will bind up thy wounds, and pour in the oil and the wine of His Spirit--the Holy Ghost, the Comforter--and will carry thee to His own inn, whereof it is written, "He will hide thee secretly in His own presence from the provoking of men; He will keep thee in His tabernacle from the strife of tongues. He will give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways;" and He will give thee rest at last in the bosom of the Father, from which thou, like all human souls, camest forth at first, and to which thou shalt at last return, with all human souls who have in them the Spirit of G.o.d and of Christ, and of eternal life.

_Discipline and other Sermons_.

We all like comfort. But what kind of comfort do we not merely like, but need? Merely to be comfortable? To be free from fear, anxiety, sorrow?

The comfort which poor human beings want in such a world as this is not the comfort of ease, but the comfort of strength. The comforter whom we need is not one who will merely say kind things, but give help--help to the weary, lonely, heavy-laden heart which has no time to rest. We need not the sunny and smiling face, but the strong helping arm. For we may be in that state that smiles are shocking to us, and mere kindness--though we may be grateful for it--of no more comfort to us than sweet music to a drowning man. We may be miserable, and unable to help being miserable, and unwilling to help it too. We do not wish to flee from our sorrow: we do not wish to forget it. We dare not. It is so awful, so heart-rending, so plain-spoken, that G.o.d, the master and tutor of our hearts, must wish us to face it and endure it. Our Father has given us the cup--shall we not drink it? Oh! for a comforter who will help us to drink the bitter cup--who will give us faith to say, with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him"--who will give us the firm reason to look steadily at our grief, and learn the lesson it is meant to teach--who will give us the temperate will to keep sober and calm amid the shocks and changes of mortal life! If we had such a comforter as that, we should not care if he seemed at times stern, as well as kind; we could endure rebuke from him if we could only get from him wisdom to understand the rebuke, and courage to bear the chastis.e.m.e.nt. Where is that comforter? G.o.d answers: That Comforter am I, the G.o.d of Heaven and Earth. There are comforters on earth who can help thee with wise words and n.o.ble counsels, can be strong as man and tender as woman. But G.o.d can be more strong than man, more tender than woman likewise; and when the strong arm of man supports thee no longer, yet under thee are the Everlasting Arms.

_All Saints-Day Sermons_.

. . . You are disappointed. Do remember if you lose heart about your work, that none of it is _lost_. That the good of every good deed remains, and breeds, and works on for ever; and that all that fails and is lost is the outside sh.e.l.l of the thing, which perhaps might have been better done, but better or worse has nothing to do with the real spiritual good which you have done to men's hearts, for which G.o.d will surely repay you in His own way and time.

_Letters and Memories_.

Don't be downhearted if outward humiliation, disappointment, failure, come at first. If G.o.d be indeed our Father in any real sense, then whom He loveth He chasteneth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

And "till thou art emptied of thyself, G.o.d cannot fill thee," though it be a law of the old Mystics, is true and practical common sense. Go thy way, though the way to true light is a long ladder.

_Letters and Memories_.

As for any schemes of mine, it is a slight matter whether they have failed or not. But the failure of a hundred schemes would not alter my conviction that they are attempts in a right direction; and I will die in hope, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and confessing myself a stranger and a pilgrim.

So I am content to have failed. I have learnt in the experiment priceless truths concerning myself, my fellow-men, and the City of G.o.d, which is eternal in the heavens, for ever coming down among men, and actualizing itself more and more in every succeeding age.

_Letters and Memories_.