Part 1 (1/2)
The Life of Duty.
by H. J. Wilmot-Buxton.
SERMON x.x.xV.
THE OPEN DOOR.
(Trinity Sunday.)
REV. iv. 1.
”A door was opened in Heaven.”
When Dante had written his immortal poems on h.e.l.l and Purgatory, the people of Italy used to shrink back from him with awe, and whisper, ”see the man who has looked upon h.e.l.l.” To-day we can in fancy look on the face of the beloved Apostle, who saw Heaven opened, and the things which shall be hereafter. We have summed up the great story of the Gospel, and have trodden the path of salvation from Bethlehem to Calvary. We have seen Jesus, the only Son of G.o.d, dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification, and ascending into Heaven to plead for us as our eternal great High Priest. We have heard of the coming of G.o.d the Holy Ghost, the gift of the Father, sent in the name of the Son. To-day, the Festival of the Blessed Trinity, Three Persons, yet one G.o.d, we are permitted to gaze for a moment through the open door, on the Home of G.o.d, yes, and the Home of G.o.d's people, who are redeemed with the Precious Blood of Christ.
Now, there are many people who never think of Heaven at all, and many who think of it in a wrong way. When we were baptised, the door was opened for us in Heaven, and Jesus said to us, ”Behold, I set before you an open door.” From that day we were permitted to look with the eye of faith upon those good things which pa.s.s man's understanding.
But some of us would not look up. We were like travellers going along a muddy road on a starlight night, and who look down on the foul, dirty path, and never upwards to the bright sky above. My brother, turn your eyes from this world's dirty ways, look away from your selfish work, and your selfish pleasure, look up from the things which are seen and are temporal, from the fas.h.i.+on of this world which pa.s.seth away, and gaze through the open door of Revelation at the things which shall be hereafter. I said that many people never think of Heaven at all.
These are they who love this world too well to think of the world to come, they are of the earth, earthy. ”As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy, and as is the Heavenly, such also are they that are Heavenly.”
I said, too, that many think of Heaven in a wrong way, as did the lady of fas.h.i.+on, who fancied Heaven would be like the London season, only better, as there would be no disagreeable people. Now, if we are to think rightly of Heaven, we must do as S. John did. He heard a voice saying, ”Come up hither, and I will show the things which shall be hereafter. And immediately he was in the Spirit.” We must ask for the Holy Spirit to lift our hearts and minds to Heaven; we must try to go up higher in our thoughts, words, and works; we must try to get above the world, above ourselves, so shall we be able to look, though with bowed head and shaded eyes, through the open door. Let us reverently do so now, and see what we can learn of the things which shall be hereafter. First, I think we learn that Heaven and earth are not, as some people fancy, two very different places, very far apart. The Church of Christ is one family, bound together by _one_ faith, _one_ Baptism, _one_ hope, acknowledging one G.o.d and Father of us all. This family has one Home; here in earth it dwells in a lower chamber, after death it pa.s.ses into a higher room of G.o.d's great House. The Apostle, speaking of the Church, says, ”Ye _are_ come, (not ye _will_ come,) unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living G.o.d, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general a.s.sembly and Church of the firstborn which are written in Heaven, and to G.o.d the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
In a word, our Heavenly life should commence when we are baptised, day by day ought we to grow in grace, and when we have grown sufficiently, G.o.d takes us to the upper Room above. It is this mistake of separating Heaven and earth which makes people careless of their lives. If you want to dwell with G.o.d through all eternity, you must walk humbly with G.o.d all the days of your earthly life. Look again through the open door, and learn that in Heaven G.o.d is the central figure. So, if we are living here as Christ's people, G.o.d will be the central figure in _our_ life, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all our work, our wish, our plan. My brothers, if you feel that with you _self_ is the chief object in your existence, be sure that you are not living the Heavenly life. You have put yourself in the place of G.o.d.
Again, as we look through the open door, we see the intense _beauty_ of the Heavenly life. We see gates of pearl, and a throne on which sits one like a jasper and a sardine stone, and the rainbow round about the throne is in sight like unto an emerald. In all ages precious stones have been objects of the greatest value. We are told that Julius Caesar paid a hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl, and monarchs have boasted of possessing a diamond of priceless value.
You remember that G.o.d says of His redeemed ones, ”they shall be Mine in that day that I make up My jewels.” Well, I think we hear so much of precious stones in the description of Heaven, that we may learn that its great glory and beauty consists in the holiness of those who dwell there. _They_ are the pure and precious pearls which build up the foundation, and they get their brightness from G.o.d, who sits enthroned among them, and who is to look upon as a jasper and a sardine stone.
And these precious stones are of different colours, as they reflect the light from a different point. So is it with the people of G.o.d, they reflect the light from the face of G.o.d in various ways, and so have various virtues. One s.h.i.+nes with fiery zeal, like the red ruby.
Another glitters with the soft beauty of a humble spirit, like the pearl, whilst yet another sparkles with many graces, like the parti-coloured flashes of the diamond. Some lives which here are obscure and neglected, like the precious gem at the bottom of the ocean, shall one day glitter in Heaven, and be among the jewels of the Master.
Ah! my brothers, are _our_ lives such that we can ever hope to adore G.o.d's jewel-house above? Can these poor dull characters of ours ever s.h.i.+ne as the stars for ever and ever? Think, what makes a gem flash and sparkle? Light. Well, then, let us walk as the children of light, let us look up, and catch the radiance from the face of Jesus, and reflect it in our lives; then will our light s.h.i.+ne here before men, and one day s.h.i.+ne yet brighter as we draw nearer to the source of all light. And think again that often the brightest and fairest forms come from the least likely materials. Of the same mould are the black coal, and the glittering diamond. The unsightly slag which is thrown away from the iron furnace forms beautiful crystals, and the very mud under foot can, as men of science tell us, be turned into gleaming metal, and sparkling gem. The fair colours which dye our clothing can be formed from defiling pitch, and some of the most exquisite perfumes are distilled from the foulest substances. My brother, the same G.o.d who brings beauty out of ugliness, and fair purity from corruption, can so change our vile nature, and our vile body, that they may be made like unto Him. The work of the Blessed Trinity, of the Creator, the Saviour, the Sanctifier, is day by day operating on the children of G.o.d, and making all things new in them. And remember that work is gradual. A man can make a sham diamond in a very short time, a real gem must lie for ages buried in the earth. So, if we are really and truly G.o.d's people, we must grow gradually, and bear all the cutting and polis.h.i.+ng which G.o.d sees right, before we are fit for the royal treasury.
The same Divine Hand which changed Mary Magdalene to a loving penitent, and the dying thief to a trusting disciple, and lifted Augustine from the foul grave of l.u.s.t to be a pillar of the Church, can likewise change us, and make us to s.h.i.+ne with the light of a stone most precious. Once again, as we gaze through the open door, we hear of music in Heaven. Those who have wrong ideas of the life to come seem to imagine that the Heavenly existence consists in minstrelsy and nothing else. Surely the song of the redeemed, and the music of the golden harps, are a type of the perfect _harmony_ of Heaven. This life is often full of discords, the life to come is perfectly in tune. Here on earth our lives are very like musical instruments. One plays nothing but dirges of sorrow and discontent. Another life is made up of frivolous dance music; another is hideous with the discord of ”sweet bells jangled, out of tune, and harsh.” The life to come is one of perfect harmony, for each servant will be in complete accord with the Master's will and pleasure. And I think the vision of those who play upon their harps, and sing their song before the throne, show us that the life to come is one of _occupation_. There will be, doubtless, growth, progress, experience, work in Heaven. But there we shall be able to do what we so seldom do here--all to the glory of G.o.d. Here we work so selfishly, there all work is wors.h.i.+p. Here we struggle for the crown that we may wear it, there they cast down their crowns before the Throne of G.o.d. When we speak of resting from our labours after death, and being at peace, we cannot mean, we dare not hope, that we shall be idle. When a famous man of science died, his friends said one to another, ”how busy he will be!” We are bidden to be workers together with G.o.d, and we may believe that He has new and higher tasks for us all, when we shall have pa.s.sed through that door in Heaven which Jesus has opened for all believers.
SERMON x.x.xVI.
THE CONTRAST.
(First Sunday after Trinity.)
S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20.
”There was a certain rich man, . . . and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus.”
What was the rich man's sin? We are not told that he had committed any crime. He is not described as an extortioner or unjust. There is no word about his having been an adulterer, or a thief, or an unbeliever, or a Sabbath breaker. Surely there was no sin in his being rich, or wearing costly clothes if he could afford it. Certainly not: it is not _money_, but the _love_ of money, which is the root of all evil. The sin of Dives is the sin of hundreds to-day. He lived for himself alone, and he lived only for this world. He had sunk all his capital in his gold and silver, and purple and fine linen. He had no treasure laid up in Heaven. So when the moth and rust had done their work, and death had broken through like a thief and stolen all his earthly goods, he had nothing left. This parable is full of sharp contrasts. First, there is the contrast in the life of these two men. The one rich, the other a beggar. The one clothed in purple and fine linen, the other almost naked, and covered with sores. The one fared sumptuously every day, the other lay at the gate starving, and longing for the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. The one had friends and acquaintances who ate of his meat and drank of his cup, the other was ”a pauper whom n.o.body owns,” and the dogs were his only earthly comforters. The rich man had great possessions, yet one thing he lacked, and that was the one thing needful. He had the good things of this life, yet he had not chosen the good part which could not be taken away from him. He had gold and silver, purple and fine linen, but he was without G.o.d in the world. Lazarus, the beggar, was after all the truly rich man, ”as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”
Next, there is a contrast in the death of these two men. One expired in a luxurious bed. No doubt there were learned physicians beside him, and perhaps friends and relatives, though, as a rule, selfish people have few true friends. The other died we know not where, perhaps in the hot dusty road at the rich man's gate. There were no doctors to minister to his wants, no kindly hands to sooth his burning brow, to moisten his parched lips, to close his glazing eyes. But the angels of G.o.d were about his bed, and about his path, and in their hands they bore him up, whom no man on earth had loved or cared for. And there is a contrast in the after time for these two men. The rich man was buried, doubtless, with great pomp. Some of us have seen such funerals. What extravagance and display take the place of reverent resignation and quiet grief! Of the beggar's burial place we know nothing. But the sharpest contrast of all is in the world beyond, from which for a moment Jesus draws back the veil. He who had pampered his body and neglected his soul is now in torment; he who never listened to the whisper of his conscience, is forced to hearken to its reproaches now; he who had great possessions is worse off than a beggar--he had gained the whole world and lost his own soul. And worst of all, he sees Paradise afar off, and Lazarus resting there, where he may never come. That beggar whom he had despised and neglected, to whose wants he had never ministered, is comforted now, and the rich man is tormented.
Oh! awful contrast! Dives in his misery of despair looks up, and for a moment sees--