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i. New Year's Sermon, 9

" In the beginning God created heaven and earth."— Gen. i. i.

I. New Year's Sermon

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth." — Gen. i. i.

THERE is a considerable satisfaction in believing the words of the text just as they are written ; and however much our philosophy may talk about the eternity of matter, however much our metaphysics may assert that heaven and earth could not begin, and in whatever intellectual jumble or gymnastics or cloudy mystery we may be thrown when we define any point as a commencement, yet our faith rejoices in the feeling, assurance, and comforting benediction that there is no limit to God's power, that there is no rival on God's throne, and that there is no interminable life behind our God. If God and matter be both eternal, then there are two Gods ; and, if matter existed before the Father, then God is dethroned, or we are subjected to a government that has no name, no identity, and no guiding fellowship. Let us then hear with patience, with considerable comfort, and with an earnest joy the declaration, " In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

The first New Year's celebration, therefore, took place at the dawning of creation; and what a joyous

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festival it must have been, what a glorious announcement, what a tremendous profusion of gifts, and what wonders, surprises, and glories were then bounteously revealed ! The birth of the sun, moon, and stars, of land and water, of man and woman, — just think of it! What glorious New Year's telegrams God sent to empty space, when He called the world into being ! and how grandly He has been renewing, each year ever since, these emblems of His bounty, these types of His love, and these messages of His grace!

Our first animating and prevailing thought on the threshold of the new days should be that every one of us has gifts from Almighty God.

No matter how poor nor how obscure nor how wicked we may have been or are or may continue to be, still many splendid presents are sent from Heaven, bearing our name, awaiting our acceptance and use, and hallowing our daily experience.

Life is given to us with all its privileges, powers, and glories, — a life watched over by angels, permeated by divine inspiration, engirdled by celestial promises, commissioned to perform mighty deeds, and somehow affiliated by spiritual bonds to the Creator Himself; and light is given to us, that our work may be irradiated, our health enforced and encouraged, and our hopes evoked and strengthened ; and darkness is given to us for our repose and clearer thinking, and that we may the better enjoy, by the contrast, the days in which we dwell; and mental vigor is given to us, by which we can measure the beauties, bounties, and glories around us, and thus become enthralled by the generous pro-

NEW YEARS SERMON II

visions that God has so lavishly made for the enrichment of our culture, the completion of our joy, and the glorification of our souls. Above all, a soul is given to us, by which we can somewhat compare time with eternity, earth with heaven, and rightly measure duty, responsibility, and judgment. Thanks, then, be to God, for these perpetual, holy, and inestimable bounties of life, light, darkness, mind, and soul ; and may we prove our sense of the value of the possession by our fidelity in the use of such a precious, holy, and gracious bestowal !

When we have found that there is a beginning to everything, and that there is a Creator, self-existent, who produced and is producing all things, let us not be in the least troubled about the chronology of the earth. No matter whether the world should be called six thousand or six million or six billion of years old. I have found my God, and I have found the Originator of all these grand mysteries above, around, and underneath me ; and this is enough. I do not want the exact date of the world's birth, for it would be foolish for me to get excited about so trivial a matter; and it is enough that the earth was born, that it was born in a good time, and that in it are many valuable things, about which we must study, the possession of which we must sometimes appropriate, and the glory of which ought to consecrate our souls. The Book of Genesis was written for some other, better, and holier purpose than to stir up our foolish quarrels about the length of ancient days or years ; and the grand truth that we must gather from this part of the Bible is simply the fact which its name betokens, and which we have thus far endeavored to set forth, — namely, that there was a commencement. Yes, we are to learn this inspiriting truth : that there is a genesis to the Bible, creation, and all things except Almighty God.

God out of nothing created something. Then the duty seems clear that we must constantly create something out of the slight materials at hand.

In every-day matters, how wonderfully the divine law of creation is obeyed ! for mountains have been tunnelled, rocks have been cleft in twain, forests have been levelled, rivers have been bridged, space has been annihilated, the atmosphere has been harnessed to wire, the heavens have been invaded, and the secrets there have been somewhat wrested by a telescope, oceans have been navigated, light has been imprisoned and compelled to obey, being turned into a portrait painter, and the earth has been lacerated, scourged, cut, and hollowed, till, tired of the treatment or forced to submit, it has paid its ransom in coal, gold, silver, iron, lead, copper, and in other valuable, attractive, and important minerals.

In fact, human beings, taking lessons from the highest and the holiest source, have done nothing but create ever since creation ; and we may yet look also for more wonders, for soon will the balloon be navigated, so that the winds will not overthrow it, nor the tempests conquer it, nor fire destroy it. Ay, soon shall discoveries and inventions not yet conceived dazzle our eyes, excite our gratitude, and fill us with a holy wonder. But, friends, while we have worked upon

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material things, have we remembered also our spiritual obligations, and have we created ourselves into noble patriots, heroic Christians, and into the pattern set before us on the mount ?

It was easy enough to build a railroad ; but it was not so easy to join the heart to the head, so that neither heart nor head should act without the advice, consent, and benediction of the other. It was easy enough to plan the telegraph, thus being able to speak to your friend a thousand miles away, seeking his kind advice ; but it was not so easy to establish a communication with heaven, thus speaking to God, gaining His counsel continually, and bringing heaven to earth. It was easy enough to plunge into the earth, disturbing its equanimity, and making it disgorge its treasures ; but it was not so easy for us to plunge into ourselves, finding the precious minerals in our own brain or heart, and knowing the value of our God-given natures. It was easy enough to catch light, making it yield a photograph of our features ; but it was not so easy to catch spiritual light, making it yield a photograph of our characters so faithfully that we should at once be led to contrition, consecration, and reformation. We might even scale the firmament, labelling the stars, and chronicling their birth, changes, and all the phenomena connected with them ; but it would not be so easy for us to scale God's throne, label His mercies, and chronicle their history, and all the wonders that cling to them.

Ah, my friends, I fear we have not attended to the second creation, which has been so graphically described all through Scripture, under the titles of new birth, regeneration, with other names as grand and as sublime as these. How was it with Jesus ? What did he teach us about creating spiritual and mental power, and about making a new heaven and a new earth within our minds and our hearts ? Certainly, our Master assured us that there was a beginning to the Christian life, and that each man, woman, and child, by the grace of God, could start that beginning, and could come out of darkness into marvellous light. His very appeals to the people to repent, and his pictures of the shortness of time, the certainty of death, and the reality of judgment, all prove the capacity that rests in each one of us, by aid from Heaven of course, to act from higher motives, to live more divinely, to square earthly conduct by Heaven's measure, and to arch all existence with the consciousness of God and eternity.

It was a happy new year when Jesus dissected human nature, proving how glorious a picture might be made of it, were the different parts and powers rightly interlaced, inwoven, and balanced, and were the whole structure made to resemble somewhat his own nature, which was God's picture, painted for the wonder, gratitude, and applause of all ages. " In the beginning God created heaven and earth."

We have now referred to the necessity that all things should have a commencement, and we have endeavored to show that none but God can be from everlasting to everlasting. And so we would follow out the great truth by asking all on this New Year's Sabbath to rejoice at the fresh chances, opportunities, and privileges

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that are offered for a commencement, for a new start on the life-journey, and for the turning over of a nobler, better, and holier leaf in the " Book of Life." We may have made mistakes before, — ay, we may have fallen into a great many slippery places. We may now hang our heads and cover our faces, and cry, Alas ! alas ! Let us not despond. The past cannot be helped now. That is a sad reality outgrown, that is done and determined ; and we must not load our coming days with the burden of other days, nor throw ancient shadows over approaching hours, nor take the poison out of our his* tory, and cause it to blacken, vitiate, and destroy all our future prospects.

What we have done is done, cannot be undone. We cannot rub the record out and write the tablet over, and turn a fact into a fiction ; but we can let the past alone, leave it with a merciful God, and not trouble ourselves with it at the present hour.

Let us all start the new journey with no clogs upon our wheels. Let us start it with hope, courage, faith, enthusiasm, and with the solemn resolve that we will become better men, women, and children, in all conceivable ways. I commend you, myself, and all, then, to hope, as I bid you God-speed on your new journey. Do not get easily discouraged, do not make mountains out of mole-hills ; and keep patient, quiet, and easy. Laugh a great deal, bid dull care begone, and have such a shining face that people shall mistake you for angels, looking quite earnestly for your wings ; and make your presence a sunbeam, your voice a chant, and all about you like the ^Eolian harp that is started into melody the most sweet, through the gaze of your benignant countenance. Hope for better times, for better circumstances, and, above all, for a better heart. Hope, though the skies lower, the thunder rattle, the lightning gleam, and although your whole experience appear to be a vast uproar, a terrible defeat, and one tremendous cloud.

I commend you, myself, and all to courage. Do not be cowards simply because you cannot see what is before you ; for it is no matter what is before any of us, as long as our spirit is right, our heart is brave, our right arm remains, and God's grace is at hand. Oh, let us not grow pale on account of imaginary dangers through the influence of our foolish surmises, and on account of the empty, vain, and wicked croakings of those whom we daily meet ! but let us put our armor on, and then march on undisturbed by the rattle of shot, the booming of cannon, and the hissing of shells, — undisturbed, although all the powers of the infernal regions have combined to bring about our overthrow.

I commend you, myself, and all to faith. Ay, without faith we can do nothing. Let us anchor our hearts on God, join hands with Jesus, and get large supplies of the Holy Spirit. Let us lean upon the Bible, and choose for companions the Patriarchs, Prophets, and the Apostles. Let us have faith in the possibilities that invest our nature, in the grandeur that encircles our destiny, and in the eternity that clings to our influence.

I commend you, myself, and all to enthusiasm. Let new year's sermon 17

us put fire into our action, galvanism into our muscles, and let a live coal from Heaven's furnace drop upon our hearts. Let us live as if we believed in living ; or die, if we must die, as if we were not afraid of death.

I commend you, myself, and all to the solemn resolve of becoming better men, or women, or children, in all conceivable ways. Ay, this is the time for reform ; for we have all of us been dead long enough, and the trumpet call of the resurrection is sounding its awful peals, and is bidding us awake to righteousness. The gentle sister whose presence we invoked, perhaps, as the clock was striking twelve on the evening of the last year, the beautiful New Year, is with us now ; and she comes with mercy on her face, and, with the greatest confidence in our possible characters, offers the best advice for our souls, and is waiting to hallow our new vows at this sacred hour.

All hail, New Year! Again we bid you all hail ! For you bear the olive branch in your hand. Help us to greet coming hours and approaching events in a proper and a religious spirit. Help us to govern ourselves aright, to teach others faithfully, to throw back the gates that open upon the holy mysteries of God's love, and unfold to us clearly the splendor and magnificence and glory of duty well performed, the sweetness and the grace of sufferings nobly and beautifully borne, and the majesty and the eternity of thoughts rightly and righteously moulded. Do not reveal to us those things that must in due time fall into our cup, and do not hold before us a mirror that shall reflect our coming gains or losses ; but do what is better : give us the sacred charm that shall keep away evil spirits, and that shall change disasters into benedictions.

Dear friends, I wish all a happy and most blessed New Year. May Jehovah bless and keep us, and cause His face to shine upon us ; and may thousands and tens of thousands of angels watch over and defend us, and on earth may we be continually prospered, and in heaven may mansions be prepared where we shall be forever sheltered! So may God grant through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master !

II. The Winter And The Summer Of Life

" Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter." — Matt. xxiv. 20.

I WANT to give to these words mainly a spiritual interpretation, and I hope that they will play around the region of the imagination, hover about the heart, and stir up the deepest recesses of the soul, until we are all strengthened, inspired, and comforted ; for it is ordained by a wisdom that never errs, by a love that never grows cool, and by a judgment that weighs eternity as well as time, that at some hour we all must take our flight to another kingdom and to a better home. Oh, may it not be in the winter ! That is, may we not march through the ever open gate when we are unprepared, are full of doubt, are covered by despair, and are embraced by sin.

A great many persons pass away from human sight at a time when, according to our earthly wisdom, we feel that they are the least fitted for the change, when we would fain keep them a little longer, teach them a great deal more, and give to them better credentials for their celestial visit ; but that cannot be helped now, and they have gone to a merciful God, while to His blessed care we must leave them, feeling that they will be educated, tutored, and purified in the way most fitting, by the process most kind, and by a spiritual economy that never allows of an ultimate waste or loss or failure. We have nothing to do about the departed, for they have passed into other hands ; but we have a great deal to do for ourselves, and we must strain every muscle of the brain, quicken all the pulses of the heart, and rouse to a keener insight all the eyes of the soul, so that our flight shall not be in the winter, but shall come when we are basking in the light, warmth, and beauty of the glorious summer of a noble faith and of a splendid Christian consecration.

How finely has the other world been called the " Summer Land " ! and let us all try to go, as summer birds, into its garden of peace, its groves of plenty, and cathedrals of glory. I want to ask everybody, not with any ecclesiastical austerity, not with any dogmatical intent, and entirely free from a selfish curiosity, but with the most cordial interest for each one's true welfare, with the most sincere desire for the joy of all, and with a sweet, sacred, and tender gaze into the sacred longings of each soul, Are you prepared to die ? Or, rather, are you prepared to live, not here, but there, where the greater part of your existence will be spent, where your years will be eternal, and where your true self will be published ? I am considerably surprised at the zeal with which so many strive to get along in this world, and at the amount of time, labor, pain, and anxiety that are spent and endured for that which at any moment they may be obliged to give up, especially when so little attention is paid to the accumulation of that spiritual coin which can always be kept, which never gets tarnished, which is current in the Eternal Kingdom, and which is cordially recognized in the banks of the Celestial City. Suppose that we live to be a hundred years old, — and, ah, how few of the children of God will ever see half of that time ! — yet, when the hour comes for the flight, we shall feel that our days were few, and, as we look foward to the billions and the trillions of years that are to be spent in another condition, we shall wonder that we have thought so little of that kingdom that is to have the possession of us for so vast a period. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not wish that any one should be all the time brooding over the future or should neglect the present, and I want that all should banish always a long face and sepulchral tones ; for God does not ask for dreamers, but for workers, and we should make but poor specimens of humanity if we gave up all our powers to speculating about the spirit world.

What I ask is, not that we should extinguish the present, but that we should illuminate it. Let us live to-day after God's holy law, and then to-morrow will take care of itself. Only let us remember that there is a to-morrow, into which results must inevitably leap, and which will be tinged somewhat by what we are doing now ; and let us carry into our daily deeds the mighty spirit of a holy accountability. We must take care of our family of course, we must attend to our out-door affairs, and we have the obligations of friendship and of neighborhood to greet ; but let all these duties be sanctified by prayer, consecrated by a devout trust, and bound somehow to the throne of Almighty God by cords that are woven by angel fingers. Let us enter upon the work of the flesh, feeling that every action vibrates through heaven, and is there recorded to our honor or to our shame. Let the merchant put at the head of every page of his ledger, — in thought, if not by the written word, — "Thou God seest me" ; and let him make every bargain under the inspiration of that august declaration, "Thus saith the Lord." Let him remember the claims of the distressed, stirred up to benevolence by the apostolic exclamation, " God loves a cheerful giver"; and let him wake up each Sunday morning with the ancient command stereotyped upon his brain and his heart, "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." Let the mechanic, the professional man, and every man, woman, and child " seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near," remembering that He is with us always, even unto the end, — with us in every machine that we make, in every paper that we write, in every word that we speak, and in all our household duties, waiting for our penitence, craving our consecration, and urging us to be faithful. Friends, that our flight may not be in the winter, we must plant a good many more flowers in the garden of our hearts, and we must pull up a great many weeds that are nestling quite complacently in the conspicuous spots of the inner citadel. We must plant chastity, humility, serenity, courage, and devotion ; and we must weed up and weed out selfishness and all its kindred sins.

Chastity. "The pure in heart shall see God." We must keep the mind, body, and heart clear as crystal. Let us think only great and noble thoughts, feel only high and sacred affections, and bear in memory continually that our bodies are the "temples of God." Nothing can stand in the place of this inward or outward cleanliness, to any avail. Politeness, chivalry, and all their refined associates are but the masquerade of it ; and, if we desire an easy, beautiful, and sublime ascent to God, we must be inwardly, outwardly, thoroughly, consistently, publicly, and privately pure. This is the flower that the spiritual gardener calls the jessamine, because it is so sweet, fragrant, and attractive.

Again, let us plant humility. " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." This is the lily of the valley, that is so beautiful and so graceful, drooping its head with such exquisite loveliness, and yet shining all the time with a glory that enchants, and somehow festooning the mind and the heart with a sublime attractiveness. It is a small flower, — it will not take up much room, — and can we place it around the edges of our character ; but it will challenge more attention, charm more hearts, and sanctify more lives than many virtues of a larger growth. Let us be humble. Why not ? Everything we have is loaned ; while the loan is on call, and the call, too, may come at any minute. Why, then, should we not keep all high feelings back, and, as is proper for servants and borrowers, wear our honors gratefully, gracefully, and sweetly, ready at any time to have them plucked, and ready at all times to give them up ?

Next let us plant serenity. Let us remember that Christ said, " Peace, be still," even to the angry winds and the boisterous waves ; and so let us to our hearts say the same thing, amid all the winds and waves of circumstances, as they beat against the little, frail bark of our mortal tenement. One has sweetly said : —

" I know not what shall befall me, God hangs a mist o'er my eyes ; And at each step in my onward path He makes new scenes to arise, And every joy He sends to me Is a strange and sweet surprise.

" It may be that He has waiting, For the coming of my feet, Some gift of such rare blessedness, Some joy so strangely sweet, That my lips shall only tremble With the thanks they cannot speak.

" O wistful, blissful ignorance !

It is blessed not to know : It keeps me still in the arms of God, Which will not let me go, And hushes my soul to rest In the bosom that loves me so.

" So I go onward, not knowing, — I would not if I might : I would rather walk in the dark with God Than walk alone in the light ; I would rather walk with Him by faith Than walk alone by sight."

This virtue of serenity is the little harebell that grows under adverse circumstances, and that is found

2 5 even on mountain heights. Oh, then, let us be serene, although we may be deserted, although everything seems to go against the grain of our will, and although we may be engirdled with intense pain ! yet let us be resolved that nothing shall cast a ruffle across the sweet peace in our eyes, and may our looks always show that we are transfigured by the radiance that is cast upon us from the lights that are hung upon the battlements of the Celestial City. Like the Pilgrim in Bunyan's " Progress," even in our greatest straits let us take out our "roll," and then read Scriptural promises, and take out our musical instruments, and then play divine melodies ; and thus giants will be conquered, beasts will run away, ditches will be filled up, rough places will be made plain, while the desert will blossom as the rose.

Let us plant courage. The Psalmist says, " Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart." This let us call the snow-flower in the garden, that comes up in early spring notwithstanding the rough weather, that wins us by its beauty when all things else are bleak. We cannot live here without a large quantity of bravery, for there is quite an amount of fighting that we must do all the time. Saint Paul speaks of the armor that we ought to wear ; and he mentions the shield, helmet, and shoes. " Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; above all, taking the shield of faith, . . . the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit." That we may use these weapons aright, we must never think of being cowards. We must expect hot shell, look for leaden balls, and watch for sabre cuts ; but remember we must press on, and press on, until the stirring bugle notes from Canaan's shore shall order a retreat. And maynothing drive us from the field save a peremptory command from the head-quarters that are established in the city of the New Jerusalem.

Let us plant devotion. The Master says, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." Well might all the flowers represent devotion, — those that bloom only in the morning, those that turn only to the sun, and those that bend to the gentlest breeezes of heaven, — all, all. We must be full of the spirit of worship, would we always be thoroughly prepared for whatever Providence sees fit to send. There is no peace and no joy like that which talking with Heaven will certainly bring. And thus we obtain a chastity that is stanch, clear, comprehensive, and enduring ; we get a safeguard for our humility, by which it is kept from the invasion of all petty tyrants, so that it is encircled with a sure defence that no possible enemy can break down ; and thus our serenity is established beyond a peradventure, being kept ever unruffled, and being made continually sweet, sacred, and comforting; and our courage is armed with celestial fire, being placed in authority over the artillery of heaven. Yes, devotion is the very mainspring of all spiritual success, while it perfumes the soul that clings to it forever and forever.

But planting, my friends, is not all that we have to do in the garden of the soul : we must also clear out the weeds, so that the whole surface of the ground shall not be disfigured, and so that no one can say of us, as was said thousands of years ago, " I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo ! it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."

There is a little weed that many years ago was imported from Europe by one who, not knowing its nature, thought that it was a very attractive flower. He planted it in one of our country towns, and, lo ! our nation now is filled with it ; while it falls by the thousands and by the tens of thousands each year under the relentless plough. Let that weed typify the monstrous sin that swarms in all the gardens of the human heart, caused by improper self-seeking ; for out of selfishness all wrongs are apt to spring, all pains are sure to come, and everything bad and unholy will constantly spring forth. Ah, friends, we must look out for the good of all, — yes, the good of the whole, although we may only be able to bring about that grand result through great, terrible, and heart-rending tribulation.