Now though the Christian names which we give our children here in England, have no especial meaning to them, and have nothing to do with what we expect or wish the children to be when they grow up, yet the names of people in most other countries in the world have.
The Jewish names which we find in the Bible have almost all of them a meaning. So Simeon, I believe, means "Obedient"; Jehoshaphat means, "The Lord will judge"; Daniel, "G.o.d is my judge"; Isaiah means, "The Salvation of the Lord"; Isaac means, "She laughs," as a memorial of Sarah"s laughing, when she heard that she was to have a child; Ishmael means, "The Lord hears," in remembrance of G.o.d"s hearing Hagar"s cry in the wilderness, when Ishmael was dying of thirst.
Especially those names of which we read that G.o.d commanded them to be given, have meanings, and to tell the persons who bore those names what G.o.d expected of them, or would do for them. So Abraham means, "The father of many nations." So the children of both Isaiah and Hosea had names given them by G.o.d, each of them meaning something which G.o.d was going to do to the nation of the Jews. And so John means, "Given by the Lord," which name was given to John the Baptist by the Angel, before his strange birth, in his mother"s old age.
But we must remember that the heathens also gave names to their children, though they did not know that their children owed any duty to G.o.d, or belonged to G.o.d, and therefore we cannot call their names Christian names. Yes, the heathens did give their children names; some of them give their children names still. And there is to me something most sad and painful in those heathen names, and yet most full of meaning. A solemn lesson to us, to show us what the fall means; what man becomes, when he gives way to his fallen nature, and is parted from Christ, the Head of man.
First, these heathens had a dim remembrance that man was made in the likeness of G.o.d, and lived by Faith in G.o.d, and therefore that men"s names were to express that, as indeed many of their old names do.
But, alas! the likeness of G.o.d in fallen man is like a tree without roots, or rather a tree without soil to grow in. G.o.d"s likeness in man can only flourish as long as he is joined to Christ, the perfect likeness of G.o.d, the true life and the true light of men, the foundation which is already laid, and the soil in which man was meant to grow and flourish for ever, and as long as he is fed by the Spirit of G.o.d, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds--never forget that, or you will lose the understanding both of who G.o.d is and what man is--proceeds not only from G.o.d the Father, but also from G.o.d the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, in the heathen, G.o.d"s likeness withered and decayed, as a tree withers and decays when torn up from the soil. And first, they began to call themselves after the names of false G.o.ds, which they had invented out of their own carnal fancies. Then they called themselves after the names of their dumb animal"s. So, Pharaoh means, "The Sun-G.o.d"; the Ammonites mean, "The people who worshipped the ram as a G.o.d"; Potiphar means, "A fat bull," which the Egyptians used to worship; and I could tell you of hundreds of heathen names more, like these, which are ridiculous enough to make one smile, if we did not keep in mind what tokens they are of sin and ignorance, and the likeness not of G.o.d, but of the beasts which perish.
Then comes another set of names, showing a lower fall still, when heathens have quite forgotten that man was originally made in G.o.d"s likeness, and are not only content to live after the likeness of the beasts which perish, but pride themselves on being like beasts, and therefore name their children after dumb animals,--the girls after the gentler and fairer animals, and the boys after ravenous and cruel beasts of prey. That has been the custom among many heathen nations; perhaps among almost all of them, at some time or other.
It is the custom now among the Red Indians in North America, where you will find one man in a tribe called "The Bull," another "The Panther," and another "The Serpent," and so on; showing that they would like to be, if they could, as strong as the bull, as cruel as the panther, as venomous as the serpent. What wonder that those Red Indians, who have so put on the likeness of the beasts, are now dying off the face of the earth like the beasts whom they admire and imitate?
And this was the way with our own heathen forefathers before the blessed Gospel was preached to them. It is frightful, in reading old histories, to find how many Englishmen, our own forefathers, were named after fierce wild beasts, and tried, alas! to be like their names--children of wrath, whose feet were swift to shed blood, under whose lips was the poison of adders, and destruction and bloodshed following in their paths, not knowing the way of peace.
The wolf was the common wild beast of England then; and there are, I should say, twenty common old English names ending in wolf, besides as many more ending in bear, and eagle, and raven. Fearful sign!
that men of our own flesh and blood should have gloried in being like the wolf, the cruellest, the greediest, the most mean of savage beasts! How shall we thank G.o.d enough, who sent to them the knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ, and called them to be new men in Christ Jesus, and called them to holy baptism, to receive new names, and begin new lives in the righteous likeness of G.o.d Himself?--that as by nature they had been the children of wrath, so in baptism they might become the children of grace; that as from their forefathers they had inherited a corrupt nature, original sin, and the likeness of the foul and ravenous beasts which perish, they might have power from the Spirit of G.o.d to become the sons of G.o.d, conformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, in peace, and love, and righteousness, and all holiness.
And yet, in names there is a lower depth still among fallen and heathen men; when they lose utterly the last dim notion that G.o.d intends men to be persons, even as G.o.d the Father is a person, and G.o.d the Son a person, and G.o.d the Holy Spirit is a person, and so lose the custom of giving their children personal names at all; either giving them, after they grow up, mere nicknames, taken from some peculiarity of their bodies, or something which they have done, or some place where they happen to live; or else, like many tribes of heathen negroes, just name them after the day of the week on which they were born, as some way of knowing them apart; or, last and most shocking of all, give them no names at all, and have no names themselves, knowing each other apart as the dumb animals do, only by sight. I can conceive no deeper fall into utter brutishness than that; and yet some few of the most savage tribes, both in Africa and in the Indian islands, are said--G.o.d help them!--to live in that way, and to have no names;--blotted, indeed, out of the book of life!
But is this the right state for men? No; it is the wrong state. It is a disease into which men are fallen; a disease out of which Christ came to raise men; and out of which He does raise us in Holy Baptism. Baptism puts the child into its right state--into the right state for a human being, a human soul, a human person. And baptism declares what that right state is--a member of Christ, a child of G.o.d, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. A member of Christ, and therefore a person, because Christ is a person. A child of G.o.d, and therefore a person, because a child"s duty is to love and trust and obey his father--and only a person can do that, not an animal or a thing. An inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, and therefore bound to cherish all heavenly thoughts and feelings, all righteousness, love, and obedience, which only spirits and persons, not animals or things, can feel.
Now can you not see why baptism is the proper time for giving the child a name? Because then Christ claims the child for His own;-- because having a name shows that the child is a person who has a soul, a will, a conscience, a duty; a person who must answer himself for himself alone for what he does in the body, whether it be good or evil. And that will, and soul, and conscience were given the child by Christ, by whom all things are made, who is the Light which lights every man who comes into the world.
Thus in holy baptism G.o.d adopts the child for His own in Jesus Christ. He declares that the child is regenerate, and has a new life, a life from above, a seed of eternal personal life which he himself has not by nature. And that seed of eternal life is none other but the Holy Spirit of G.o.d, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, the Lord and Giver of Life, who does verily and indeed regenerate the child in holy baptism, and dwells with his soul, his person, his very self, that He may educate the child"s character, and raise his affections, and subdue his will, and raise him up daily from the death of sin to the life of righteousness.
Therefore, when in the Catechism you solemnly ask the child its name, you ask it no light question. You speak as a spirit, a person, to its spirit, to its very self, which G.o.d wills should never perish, but live for ever. You single the child out from all its schoolfellows, from all the millions of human beings who have ever lived, or ever will live; and you make the child, by answering to his name, confess that he is a person, an immortal soul, who must stand alone before the judgment seat of G.o.d; a person who has a duty and a calling upon G.o.d"s earth, which he must fulfil or pay the forfeit. And then you ask the child who gave him his name, and make him declare that his name was given him in baptism, wherein he was made a member of Christ and a child of G.o.d. You make the child confess that he is a person in Jesus Christ, that Christ has redeemed him, his very self, and taken him to Himself, and made him not merely G.o.d"s creature, or G.o.d"s slave, but G.o.d"s child. You make the child confess that his duty as a person is not towards himself, to do what _he_ likes, and follow his own carnal l.u.s.ts; but toward G.o.d and toward his neighbours, who are in G.o.d"s kingdom of heaven as well as he. And then you go on in the rest of the Catechism to teach him how he himself, the person to whom you are speaking, may live for ever and ever as a person, by faith in other Persons beside himself, even in G.o.d the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as you teach him in the Creed; by doing his duty to other persons beside himself, even to G.o.d and man, as you teach him in the Ten Commandments; and by diligent prayer to another Person beside himself, even to G.o.d his heavenly Father, to feed and strengthen him day by day with that eternal life which was given to him in baptism.
Thus the whole Catechism turns upon the very first question in it-- "What is thy name?" It explains to the child what is really meant, in the sight of G.o.d, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the whole Church in earth and heaven, by the child"s having a name of his own, and being a person, and having that name given to him in holy baptism.
And if this is true of our children, my friends, it is equally true of us. You and I are persons, and persons in Christ; each stands alone day and night before the judgment-seat of Christ. Each must answer for himself. None can deliver his brother, nor make agreement unto G.o.d for him. Each of us has his calling from his heavenly Father; his duty to do which none can do instead of him.
Each has his own sins, his own temptations, his own sorrows, which he must bring single-handed and alone to G.o.d his Father, as it is written, "The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its joy." There is a world, a flesh, and a devil, near to us, ready to drag us down, and destroy our personal and spiritual life, which G.o.d has given us in Christ; a flesh which tempts us to follow our own appet.i.tes and pa.s.sions, blindly and lawlessly, like the beasts which perish; a world which tempts us to become mere things, without free-wills of our own, or consciences of our own, without personal faith and personal holiness; the puppets of the circ.u.mstances and the customs which happen to be round us; blown about like the dead leaf, and swept helplessly down the stream of time. And there is a devil, too, near us, tempting us to the deepest lie of all,--to set up ourselves apart from G.o.d, and to try, as the devil tries, to be persons in our own strength, each doing what he chooses, each being his own law, and his own master; that is, his own lawlessness, and his own tyrant: and if we listen to that devil, that spirit of lawlessness and self-will, we shall become his slaves, persons in him, doing his work, and finding torment and misery and slavery in it. Awful thought, that so many enemies should be against us; yea, that we ourselves should be our own enemies! But here baptism gives us hope, baptism gives us courage; we are in Christ; G.o.d is our Father, and He can and will give us power to have victory, and to triumph against the world, the flesh, and the devil. His Spirit is given to us in baptism--that Spirit of G.o.d who is not merely a force or an influence, but a person, a living, loving, holy Person. He is with us, to give our persons, our souls, eternal life from His life, eternal holiness from His holiness; that so, not merely some part of us, but we our very selves and souls--we the very same persons who were christened, and had a name given us in holy baptism, and have been answering to that name all our life, and were reminded, whenever we heard that name, that we had a duty of our own, a history of our own, hopes, fears, joys, sorrows of our own, which none could share with us,-- that we, I say, our own persons, our very selves, may be raised up again at the last day, free, pure, strong, filled with the life of G.o.d, which is eternal life.
And then, what blessed words are these from the Lord Jesus, which we read in the book of Revelation? "And I will give to him that overcometh, a new name." A new name for him that overcometh world, flesh, and devil; that shall be our portion in the world to come. A new name, perfect like the name of the Lord Jesus, which shall express and mean all that we are to do hereafter, and all that we have done well on earth. A name which shall declare to us our calling and work in G.o.d"s Church triumphant, throughout all ages and worlds to come: and yet a name which no man knoweth saving he who receiveth it. Yes, if we may dare to guess at the meaning of those deep words, perhaps in that new name shall be recorded for each man all that went on, in the secret depths of the man"s own heart, between himself and his G.o.d, unknown and unnoticed even by the wife of his bosom. The cup of cold water given in Christ"s name; the little private acts of love, and kindness, and self-sacrifice, of which none but G.o.d knew; the secret prayers, the secret acts of contrition, the secret hungerings and thirstings after righteousness, the secret struggles and agonies of heart, which he could not, dare not, ought not to tell to any human being. All these, he shall find, will go to make up his character in the life to come, to determine what work he is to do for G.o.d in the world to come; as it is written, "Be thou faithful over a few things, and I will make thee ruler over many things." All these, perhaps, shall be expressed and declared in that new name, the full meaning of which none will know but the man himself, because none but he knows the secret experiences and struggles which went toward the making of it; none but he and G.o.d; for G.o.d will know all, He who is the Lord and Saviour of our souls, our persons, our very selves, and can preserve them utterly to the fulness of eternal life, because He knows them thoroughly and utterly; because He judges not according to appearance, but judges righteous judgment; because He sees us not merely as we seem to others to be, not even as we seem at times to ourselves to be;--but searches the heart, and can be touched with the feeling of its infirmities, seeing that He himself has been tempted even as we are, yet without sin; because, blessed thought!
He can pierce through the very marrow of our being, and discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts, and see what we long to be, and what we ought to be; so that we can safely and hopefully commend our spirits to His hand, day by day and hour by hour, and can trust Him to cleanse us from our secret faults, and to renew and strengthen our very selves day by day with that eternal life which He gives to all who cast themselves utterly upon Him.
SERMON V. SPONSORSHIP
1 Cor. xii. 26, 27. Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or whether one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
I have to tell you that there will be a confirmation held at ...
on the ... All persons of fit age who have not yet been confirmed ought to be ready, and I hope and trust that most of them will be ready, on that day to profess publicly their faith and loyalty to the Lord who died for them. I hope and trust that they will, as soon as possible, tell me that they intend to do so, and come to me to talk over the matter, and to learn what I can teach them about it. They will find in me, I hope, nothing but kindness and fellow- feeling.
But I have not only to tell young persons of the Confirmation: I have to tell all G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers of it also. Have any of you here ever stood G.o.dfather or G.o.dmother to any young person in this parish who is not yet confirmed? If you have, now is the time for you to fulfil your parts as sponsors. You must help me, and help the children"s parents, in bringing your G.o.dchildren to confirmation. It really is your duty. It will be better for you if you fulfil it. Better for you, not merely by preventing a punishment, but by bringing a blessing. Let me try to show you what I mean.
Now G.o.dparents must have some duty, some responsibility or other;-- that is plain. If you or I promise and vow things in another person"s name, we must be bound more or less to see that that other person fulfils the promise which we made for him: and so the baptism service warns the sponsors as soon as the child is christened, "Forasmuch as this child has promised," &c.; and then we have a plain explanation of what a G.o.dfather and G.o.dmother"s duties are. "And that your G.o.dchild may know these things the better,"
&c.: and finally, "you shall take care that this child be brought to the bishop to be confirmed."
That is the duty of G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers. Those who stand for any child do it on that understanding, and take upon themselves knowingly that duty.
Now, I will not threaten you, my friends; I will not pretend to tell you how G.o.d will punish those G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers who do not do their duty; because I do not know how he will punish them. He has not told us in the Bible; and who am I, to deal out G.o.d"s thunders as if they belonged to me, and judge people of whose real merits and dements in G.o.d"s sight I have no fair means of judging?
I always dread and dislike threatening any sinner out of this pulpit, except those who plainly break the plain laws which are written in those Ten Commandments, and hypocrites: because I stand in awe of our Lord"s own words--"Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men"s shoulders, while you yourselves touch them not with one of your fingers." There is too much of that now-a-days, my friends, and I have no mind to add my share to it. And sure I am, that any G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers who do their duty, only because they are afraid that G.o.d will punish them if they do not, will not do their duty at all. But sure I am also, and thankful to G.o.d, that we cannot neglect any duty whatsoever without being punished in some way or other for our neglect of it. That is not a curse, but a blessing: it is a blessing to us to be punished. The only real curse of G.o.d in this life is to be left unpunished for our sins. It is a blessing for us that our sins find us out. For if our sins did not find _us_ out, we should very often, I fear, not find our sins out. And, therefore, when I tell G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers, not that G.o.d will perhaps punish them for their neglect, but that He does punish them for it already, I am telling them good news, if they will only open their hearts to that good news.
For G.o.d does punish people for neglecting their G.o.dchildren. Those who have eyes to see may see it round us now, in this very parish, and in every parish in England, in the selfishness, distrust, divisions, and quarrels which prevail. I do not mean that this parish is worse than others, or England worse than other countries.
That is no concern of ours: our own parish, and our own evils, are quite concern enough for us.
Are people happy together? Do they pull well together? Look at the old-standing quarrels, misunderstandings, grudges, prejudices, suspicions, which part one man from another, one family from another; every man for his own house, and very few for the kingdom of G.o.d;--no, not even for the general welfare of the parish! Do not men try to better themselves at the expense of the parish--to the injury of the parish? Do not men, when they try to raise their own family, seem to think that the simplest way to do it is to pull down their neighbour"s family; to draw away their custom; oust them from their places, or hurt their characters in order to rise upon their fall? so that though they are brothers, members of the same church, nation and parish, the greater part of them are, in practice, at war with each other--trying to live at each other"s expense. Now, is this profitable? So far from it, that if you will watch the history, either of the whole world, or of this country, or of this one parish, you will find that by far the greater part of the misery in it has sprung from this very selfishness and separateness--from the perpetual struggle between man and man, and between family and family: so that there have been men, and those learned, and thoughtful, and well-meaning men enough, who have said that the only cure for the world"s quarrelling and selfishness was to take all children away from their parents, and bring them up in large public schools; ay, and even to try plans which are sinful, foul, and wicked, all in order to prevent parents knowing which were their own children, that they might care for all the children in the parish as much as if they were their own.
A foolish plan, my friends, and for this one reason, that it is driving out one evil by a still greater one. It destroys the root to get the fruit; by destroying family life, and love, and obedience, to get at the communion of saints, or rather at some ghost of it. The real communion of saints is founded on the Fifth Commandment--"Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother;" and grows out of it, not by destroying it, but by fulfilling it, as the tree grows out of the root, without taking away from the life of the root, but rather by nourishing and increasing it. Now, the ancient inst.i.tution of G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers would, it seems to me, if it were carried out honestly and really, do for us what we certainly have not done for ourselves as yet, and bind us all together as one family. It would do all the good which those fanciful philosophers of whom I first spoke, have dreamt, without any of the evil; and it would do it because it goes simply on the belief that the foundation is already laid, and that that foundation is Christ. It says, because this child is not merely the child of his father and mother, but the child of G.o.d, the universal Father, therefore other people besides his parents have an interest in him: all who are children of G.o.d as well as he have an interest in him; for they are all his brothers, and have a brother"s interest in his welfare. Because this child is not merely a member of the family whose surname he bears, but a member of Christ, a member of G.o.d"s great adopted family, in the hearts of every one of whom His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is working; therefore this child ought to be an object of awe, and of interest, and love, and care to every other member of Christ"s Church. Moreover, the child is an inheritor of a heavenly kingdom--a kingdom of grace--a kingdom of G.o.d,--which is love and justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit--all personal, spiritual, heavenly, G.o.d-given graces;--and he cannot have them without being a blessing to all around him; and he cannot be without them, without being a curse to all around him. If, in after life, when he comes to be confirmed, he claims his inheritance in this heavenly kingdom, he will be full of love, justice, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit. If he refuses to claim his inheritance, and despises his heavenly birthright, and lives as if he were a mere earthly creature, only to please himself, and help himself, he will not be full of those graces. And what then? That he will be full of their opposites, of course. If he has not love, he will be unloving, selfish, hard, cold--to _you_ and yours. If he has not justice he will be unjust--to you and yours. If he is not at peace he will be at war, quarrelling, grudging, envying, backbiting--you and yours. If he has not joy in the Holy Spirit, he will have joy in an unholy spirit, for he must have joy in some spirit; he must take pleasure in some sort of way of thinking and feeling, and some sort of life--in short, in some sort of spirit; and whatsoever is not holy is unholy, whatsoever is not good is bad, whatsoever is not of G.o.d"s Holy Spirit is of the Devil;--and therefore, if the child as he grows up has not joy in the Holy Spirit, and does not enjoy doing right and pleasing G.o.d, and being like the Lord Jesus Christ, then he will enjoy doing wrong, and pleasing himself, and being unlike the Lord Jesus Christ; and so he will set a bad example, and be a temptation to all young people of his own age, ready to lead them into sin, and draw them away to those sinful and unholy pleasures in which he takes delight,--whether it be to rioting and drinking, or to uncleanness and unchast.i.ty, or to sneering and laughing at G.o.dliness, and at good people. And that, as you know by experience, may be the worse for you and the worse for your children. Is that the sort of young person with whom you would wish to see your children keeping company? Is that the sort of young person next door to whom you would wish to live? Is not such a person a curse, just because he is a person, a spiritual being with an evil spirit in him, which can harm you, and tempt you, and act on you for evil; just as if he had been a righteous person, with the holy and good Spirit in him, he would have helped you, and taught you, and worked on you for good? But so it is: we are members one of another, and if one member goes wrong, and gets diseased, and suffers, all the other members are sure to suffer more or less with it, sooner or later: you feel it so in your bodies--be sure it is so in G.o.d"s church. But if one member is sound and healthy, all the other members must and will be the better for its health, and rejoice with it, and be able to do their own work the more freely, and strongly, and heartily.
Just think for yourselves; consider, you who are grown up, and have had experience of life, the harm you have known one bad man do, the sorrow he will cause, even to people who never saw him; and the good which you have seen one good man, not merely do with his own hands, but put into other people"s hearts by his example. Is not both the good and the harm which is done on earth like the ripple of a stone dropt into water, which spreads and spreads for a vast distance round, however small the stone may be? Indeed, bold as it may seem to say it, I believe that, if we could behold all hearts as the Lord Jesus does, we should find that there never was a good man but that the whole of Christendom, perhaps all mankind, was sooner or later, more or less, the better for him; and that there never was a bad man but that all Christendom, perhaps all mankind, was the worse for him. So fully and really true it is in everyday practice, that we are members one of another.
Now this is the principle on which the Church acts. For the little unconscious infant is treated as what it is, a most solemn and important person, who has other relations beside its father and mother, as a person who is the brother of all the people round it, and of all the Church of G.o.d, and who, too, may hereafter do to them boundless good or harm, and they to it.
Therefore we must have some persons to bear witness of that, to remind the child himself, and the whole Church, that he is not merely a soul by itself to be saved, but that he is a brother, a member of a family; that he is bound to that family henceforth, for good and for evil. And this the G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers do: they represent and stand in the place of the whole Church. In one sense, every Christian who meets that child through life, or hears of it, ought to behave, as far as he can, as its G.o.dfather; ought to help and improve it if he can. But what is everybody"s business, says the proverb, is n.o.body"s business; and therefore these G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers are called out from the rest, as examples to the rest, to watch over the child, and to help and advise its father and mother in guiding and training it: but not by interfering with a parent"s rights, G.o.d forbid! or by drawing away the child"s affections from its own flesh and blood; for if a child be not taught first to honour its father and mother, there is little use in teaching it anything else whatsoever; and a G.o.dfather"s first duty is to see that his G.o.dchild obeys its earthly parents for the Lord"s sake, for that is right, and G.o.d"s will, whatever else is not.
Now just conceive--I am sure that you easily may--what a blessing to this parish, or this part of the country, it would be, were the duties of G.o.dfathers really carried out and practised. Every child, beside his father and mother, would have some two or three elder friends at least, whom he had known from his childhood, whom he could trust, to whom he could go in trouble as to his own flesh and blood. The orphan would have, if not relations, still G.o.dparents, to comfort and protect him. No one could go abroad without meeting, if not a G.o.dparent, yet the G.o.dparent or G.o.dchild of a friend or a relation; someone, in short, who had an interest in him, and he in them. All would be bound together in threefold cords of interest and affection. How many spites, family quarrels, mistakes, and ignorances about each other would be done away, if people would but thus simply enter into that communion of saints to which, by right, they belong, and bear each other"s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.--Unless you think that men are such ill-conditioned creatures that the less they mix with each other the better. I do not. I believe that the more we mix with each other, and the better we know each other, the more we shall feel for each other: that the more we help people, the more we shall find that they are worth helping; that the more, in a word, we try to live, not after the likeness of the beasts, selfish and apart, but after the order and const.i.tution of G.o.d"s Church, to which we belong, and which is, that we are all fellow-members of one body, then the more we shall find that G.o.d"s order is the right, good, blessed order, by obeying which we enter into comfort of which we never dream as long as we lead selfish, separate, worldly lives; as it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which G.o.d has prepared for those who love Him."
This may seem a fanciful dream, too fair to be possible; but what prevents it from being possible, save and except our own selfishness and laziness?
And as for what fruit will spring from it, I have seen, by experience, the blessing of G.o.dfathership and G.o.dmothership, where it is really carried out; how it will knit together, in sacred bonds of friendship, not merely the children, but the grown persons of different families, and give them a fellow-feeling, a mutual interest, which will prevent a hundred quarrels and coldnesses among frail human creatures. And to those who are childless themselves, what a blessing to have their love and self-sacrifice called out, by being bound in holy bonds, if not to children of their own, at least to children of G.o.d!--to have young people to care for, to teach, to guide, and so to win for themselves in the Church of G.o.d a name better than that of sons and daughters. And have no fear that by bringing your kindness to bear especially upon your G.o.dchildren you will narrow your love, and care less for children in general. Not so, my friends; you will find that your love to your G.o.dchildren, like love to your own children, will make all children lovable in your eyes: you will learn how worthy of your love children are, what capacities of good there are in them, how truly of such are the kingdom of heaven; and their simplicity will often teach you more than you can teach them. Their G.o.d-given instincts of right and wrong, truth and falsehood, which come from the indwelling Word of G.o.d, Jesus the Lord, will often enough shame us, will teach us more and more the depth of that great saying, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Thou, O G.o.d, hast perfected Thy praise."
Now try, I entreat you, all G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers, to carry out these hints of mine, and so fulfil your duty to your G.o.dchildren, sure that you will find it a blessing to yourselves as well as to them.
After all it is your duty. But do not let the slandering Devil slander to you that blessed word, Duty, and make you afraid of it, and shrink from it, as if it meant something burdensome, and troublesome, and thankless, which you suppose you must do for fear of punishment, while you have a right to see how little of it you can do, and try to be let off as cheaply as possible. Beware of that evil spirit, my friends, for he is very near you, and me, and every man, whenever we think of our duty. Very near us he is, that evil Jesuit spirit, that spirit of bondage unto fear, which is continually setting us on to find out with how _little_ service G.o.d will be contented, how human slaves may make the cheapest bargain with some stern taskmaster above, of whom they dream. And from that temptation there is no escape, save into the blessed name of G.o.d Himself--our Father.
Our Father!--whenever you think of your duty to G.o.d or man, think but of those two words. Remember that all duty is duty to a Father; your Father; and such a Father! Who gave His only begotten Son to die for you, who showed what He was in that Son--full of goodness, perfectly loving, perfectly merciful, perfectly just; and then you will not be inclined to ask how _little_ obedience, how _little_ love, how _little_ service, He will allow you to pay to Him; but how much He will help you to pay to Him. Then you will feel that His service is perfect freedom, because it is service to a Father who loves you, and will help you to do His will. Then you will feel that His commandments are not grievous, because they are a Father"s commandments, because you are bound to do them, not by dread and superst.i.tion, but by grat.i.tude, honour, affection, respect, trust.
Then you will not be thinking of what punishment will come if you disobey--no, nor of what reward will come if you obey--but you will be thinking of the commandment itself, and how to carry it out most perfectly, and let the consequences take care of themselves, because you know that your _Father_ takes care of them; that He loves you, and therefore what He commands must be good for you, utterly the best thing for you; that He only gives you a commandment because it is good for you; that you are made in G.o.d"s image, and therefore G.o.d"s will must be for you the path of life, the only rule by which you can prosper now and for ever.
Do try, now, all you who are G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers, and for once look on your duty in this light. Be sure that in trying to do your duty you will bring a blessing on yourselves, because your duty is to a Father in heaven. Be sure that, in trying to better your G.o.dchildren, you will better yourselves; in trying to teach them, you will teach yourselves; in trying to bring them to confirmation, you will indeed confirm, root, and strengthen yourselves the more deeply in all that is good; because your G.o.dchildren are indeed G.o.d"s children, and whatsoever you do for them you do for His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, as He Himself says, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these little ones, ye did it unto Me."
Do not be afraid of trying; you will have a hundred reasons for not trying rise in your mind, the Devil will find you a hundred lying excuses: "It will be so difficult; and you do not like to interfere with other people"s children; and you have never cared about your G.o.dchildren yet, and it will seem so odd to begin now; and the children may not listen to you; and besides, you do not know enough to teach them; you are not good scholar enough, good liver enough, you can"t preach where you don"t practice." Oh, how ready the Devil is to help a man to excuses for not doing his duty; how careful he is to keep out of a man"s mind the one thought which would sweep all those excuses to the wind--the thought that this same duty, which he is trying to make look so ugly, is duty to a loving Father. Do not listen to his lies; look up to your good Father in heaven; and try.
It is G.o.d"s will that these children should be confirmed; it is His will that you should help to bring them to confirmation; and if it is His will, He will help you to do that will of His. It may seem difficult: but try, and the difficulty will vanish, for G.o.d will make it easy for you. You may be afraid of interfering: believe that G.o.d"s Spirit is working in the hearts of your G.o.dchildren, and of their parents also; and trust to G.o.d"s Spirit to make them kindly and thankful to you about the matter, and glad to see that you take an interest in their children. You may seem not to know enough: O, my friends, you know enough, every one of you, if you have courage to confess how much you know. Ask G.o.d for courage to speak out, and He will give it you. And even if you are no scholar, be sure that, as the old proverb says, "Teaching is the best way of learning."
Any parent, or G.o.dfather, or G.o.dmother, who will try to teach their children G.o.d"s truth and their duty, will find that in so doing they will teach themselves even more than they teach the children. I say it because I know it from my own experience. And for the rest, again I say, is not G.o.d your Father? Therefore, if any man be in want of wisdom, or courage, or any other heavenly gift, let him ask of G.o.d, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not, and he shall receive it. For after all, when you ask G.o.d to teach you, and strengthen you to do your duty, you do but ask Him for a part of that very inheritance which He has already given you; a part of your inheritance in that kingdom of heaven which is a kingdom of spiritual gifts and graces, into which you were baptized as well as your G.o.dchildren.
Try then, each of you, what you can do to bring your own G.o.dchildren to confirmation, and what you can do to make them fit for confirmation; for you are members one of another, and if you will act as such, you will find strength to do your duty, and a blessing in your day from that heavenly Father from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth, and yours among the rest, is named.
SERMON VI. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH
Ephesians ii. 5. By grace ye are saved.
We all hold that we are justified by faith, that is, by believing; and that unless we are justified we cannot be saved. And of all men who ever believed this, perhaps those who gave us the Church Catechism believed it most strongly. Nay, some of them suffered for it; endured persecution, banishment, and a cruel death, because they would persist in holding, contrary to the Romanists, that men were justified by faith only, and not by the works of the law; and that this was one of the root-doctrines of Christianity, which if a man did not believe, he would believe nothing else rightly. Does it not seem, then, something strange that they should never in this Catechism of theirs mention one word about justifying or justification? They do not ask the child, "How is a man justified?"
that he may answer, "By faith alone;" they do not even teach him to say, "I am justified already. I am in a state of justification;"
but not saying one word about that, they teach him to say much more-- they teach him to say that he is in a state of salvation, and to thank G.o.d boldly because he is so; and then go on at once to ask him the articles of his belief. And even more strange still, they teach him to answer that question, not by repeating any doctrines, but by repeating the simple old Apostles" Creed. They do not teach him to say, as some would now-a-days, "I believe in original sin, I believe in redemption through Christ"s death, I believe in justification by faith, I believe in sanctification by the Holy Spirit,"--true as these doctrines are; still less do they bid the child say, "I believe in predestination, and election, and effectual calling, and irresistible grace, and vicarious satisfaction, and forensic justification, and vital faith, and the three a.s.surances."