DEADLY PEACE OF THE UNAWAKENED
CONSCIENCE.
by the Rev. John Keble
Sermon XIX from Sermons for the Christian Year: Sermons for
Lent to Passiontide
THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT.
S.
LUKE
xi. 21.
"When a strong man armed keepeth his palace,
his goods are in peace."
THAT is, as long as the devil in his full power has possession of the
soul of a man, the man is apt to be in a sort of peace and quiet, his conscience
not disturbed, but well enough contented with himself.
This was plainly our Lord’s meaning, because the words are part of what
He said when He was discoursing with the Pharisees about a miracle which
He had just wrought in casting an evil spirit out of a man. They
in their profaneness and malice said, “He casteth out devils by Beelzebub
the chief of the devils:” as if it were a sort of agreement between our
Blessed Lord and the evil one, Satan consenting to seem to be cast out,
in order that he might in the end have the more power through the people’s
faith which they should have in his false prophet, for such they blasphemously
accounted our Saviour to be. With such a thought they said, “He casteth
out devils by Beelzebub.” But our Lord shewed them that could not
be, because Satan was too wise and crafty to be divided against himself.
He, Jesus Christ, as they might plainly see, was altogether against the
devil. They might plainly see it, if they would open their eyes and
look. They might see that not only did He by His word drive away
the unclean spirits, so that they could no longer hurt men’s bodies, tear
them to pieces, cast them into the fire, or the water, but also that by
His holy teaching, if men would but receive and obey it, He would no less
free their souls. The devil is an unclean spirit, but Jesus Christ
is all for cleanness of heart and life: the devil is all cruelty and malice,
but Jesus Christ is love: the devil is the father of lies, but Jesus Christ
is the truth: the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour, but Jesus Christ went about doing good, seeking whom He
might heal and save. Therefore they might plainly see that our Lord
was against the devil, not oniy by His outwardly casting him out, but by
the whole course and train of all His ways, and all His sayings.
After our Saviour had shewn them this, and so corrected their error,
He goes on to tell them the true state of the case. “When a strong
man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger
than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his
armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.” Those who heard our
Lord speak, would at once understand that He was describing the warfare
between Himself and the evil one: how the devil indeed, was mighty, but
He, the Son of the Most High, was far mightier, so that when He came upon
him, He would at once overcome him: He, the true Seed of the woman, God
the Son, made man in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, would, in His
own good time, bruise the head of the tempting and corrupting serpent.
He, the true David, would cast down the true Goliah, would take from him
all his armour wherein he trusted, his coat of mail, his sword, his spear
and his shield; and would divide his spoils, that is, would deliver out
of his hand, the unhappy souls of whom he had made spoil, and would appoint
each one of those souls to do some work in the service and kingdom of God.
This is called “dividing the spoils,” because in war it was usual for the
conqueror to take all the armour and precious things of the conquered,
and divide them among his soldiers and followers: and so our Lord having
overcome the devil, and taken out of his power all the precious things
of this world, will employ them all, sooner or later, to His Father’s Glory,
in one way or another. It is a short way of describing the great
victory, of which we read so much in the book of the Revelations: in which
the kingdoms of this world were to become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of His Christ, and He to reign for ever and ever.
This is the general meaning of the parable; but I wish now to draw your
attention to one particular expression in it: viz, the saying that the
strong man’s goods are in peace, so long as he, in his armour, is
allowed to keep his palace. We shall find a serious warning in this
if we consider it earnestly. For the strong man armed, as I said,
is the great enemy. He is strong, for he is a mighty angel, and although
for his sin cast down from Heaven, yet he is still permitted to retain
a great deal of the strength and subtlety, in which he was at first created.
He is therefore a strong one, strong to make war against us: and he is
armed, for besides the power and cunning, which as I said was left him
at his fall, he is more able to do us harm in consequence of our fall.
We have ourselves armed him against us. He has seen, and knows too
well, how frail and weak we are, and in what respects—he is like a soldier
who has won one victory, and is afterwards called to fight against the
same enemy. Something like this has been the case with Satan ever
since he won that first victory over our parents, Adam and Eve: he has
come to each fresh temptation in more and more hope of prevailing, because
of each fresh sin which he has prevailed on us to commit. This is
his armour, wherein he trusteth, the wilful sin and wickedness of men:
and because this has so abounded in all generations since the fall, therefore
the strong one has kept his palace, i. e., Satan has kept in a manner for
his own, this fallen and corrupt world. God indeed made it very good,
there was no spot of evil, nor poison of sin and death in it: but by man’s
frailty and Satan’s wickedness, sin too quickly entered into it, and it
went on from bad to worse, until that became true which S. John writes,
“ The whole world lieth in wickedness,” (S. John v. 1.) and he was in a
certain sense, the prince of this world; the wicked world was his palace
and castle, his stronghold, which he held so firmly, that in order to dispossess
him it was needful for God the Son to be made man, to suffer and die for
us. The world was Satan’s palace, and what were his goods, that it
was stored with? What, but the lost and fallen souls and corrupt bodies
of miserable men, into whom he had entered, as he did into Judas, possessing
them for his own, and urging them to commit all kinds of sin, and especially
all uncleanness, with greediness? These were the goods, the property of
Satan; his stolen goods, his usurped property; he had his will and his
way with them from all uncleanness to all idolatry. And so in a manner
they were at peace, they had no uneasiness, no misgivings, concerning what
might come hereafter, they went on undisturbed in their sins. So
it was with the world generally, before our Lord came into the world.
So it is now, with the heathen and unconverted world. Satan has dominion
over them: they sin on, and sin on, from morning to night, without any
misgiving at all: they are in darkness, and have no longing for light.
The God Who made them is in the world which He made; He is around them,
close to them on every side; but they know Him not, nor have any desire
to know Him. This is perfect heathenism, this is what Satan rejoices
in; that people should altogether forget God and their souls, and go on
quietly pleasing themselves, taking all liberties that come in their way.
Thus lived nearly the whole world, before Jesus Christ was born, and thus
lives the heathen world now.
But are the heathen, and the men who lived before Christ, the only persons
concerned in this saying? are there none among Christians, of whom there
is reason to fear that Satan has possession of their souls and bodies too?
quiet possession, so that in respect of them also it may be said, “his
goods are in peace”? Alas, it is too true as concerning Christians also,
that they may, and do, too often fall away from the grace that made them
Christians, and give themselves up to the evil spirit, who was driven out
of them in Baptism. The holy Church has always believed and taught,
that whereas we were born in sin, the children of wrath, and therefore
in a manner the property, the slaves of Satan, that chain is broken in
Baptism, and the devil commanded to depart, as truly and really as when
S. Paul, or any other Apostle, said to any evil spirit, as to that damsel
at Philippi, “I command thee in the Name of Jesus Christ to come out of
her.” Yes, my brethren we are to believe, though with our outward eyes
we see it not, that whenever an infant is baptized, that miracle is wrought
which our Lord in this Gospel describes. Jesus Christ, being stronger
than Satan, drives him away from that child, overcomes him, and divides
his spoils, takes that child to be His own. So it is for the time;
the child is surely delivered, and if it were to die presently, it is saved.
But what if that child growing up, turn aside unto the wrong path? what
if its parents live like heathens, and bring it up to live so too? Too
well do we know what will happen in such a case. The child, though
a Christian, will be like a heathen or worse: he will go on, without remorse
or trouble, in sins not fit to be named. His mouth will be full of
cursing and bitterness, his heart exercised in covetous and unclean practices:
he will be dishonest, false, envious, self-willed: and in all this he will
be in a manner at peace; i. e., he will pass his time without fear about
his soul: for why? it will not really come into his mind that he has any
soul at all, any eternal being, dependent on his present behaviour.
And thus in him, though baptized and living in a Christian laud, the strong
one, the destroying spirit, will have recovered his palace, and will keep
it, and reign in it at will, his goods being at peace.
Why have I made so special mention of this sad, but too common case?
why have I tried so particularly to set it before you? Not so much that
I think it likely to be the exact case of any of you, my brethren, now
here present: when a person is going on in such utter outrageous profaneness
as I have now described, this is not the place where I should expect to
find him: I trust that how fallen soever any of us may be, there are none
here so entirely forgetful of God, and withal so entirely without fear
about their own souls: but the special reason why I have now reminded you
that there are such persons, is this: I want you to consider how dangerous
it is for a man to account himself safe, and in a good way, merely because
he is not troubled about his soul. We know there are persons of that
way of thinking: they say, they are quiet and comfort-al)le in themselves,
they let nothing daunt them, they lie down at night with easy undisturbed
consciences: and therefore they take it for granted, all is right.
If one tells them of any fault, or still more, if one remind them of any
duty left undone, they reply confidently, it does not trouble them, it
is not at all upon their conscience, whatever other people may think: and
this they take for an answer and go on just as they were. “We are
at peace”, they say, “our consciences are quiet: what more would you have?”
A great deal more, my brethren: for only consider these heathenish Christians,
of whom I have now been speaking, who never say any prayers, never come
near the Church at all, never speak of God but to blaspheme; are not they
too in a kind of peace? are not their consciences quiet? yet surely none
of us would say that they were in a good way. So it may be, that
although you go on decently and religiously in many things, and persuade
yourself that all is well enough; though you have all your life gone on
taking this for granted, yet all the while your peace may be the false
and deadly peace of the devil’s palace, he may be abiding in your soul
and body, with all his armour, all the bad ways by which you have helped
him to prevail against you, and so you may seem to be at peace, because
you have no misgivings, no fear for your soul. It may be so: till
you have inquired, you cannot say but it really is so.
Remember the case of those Pharisees, to whom especially our Saviour
gave this very warning: they were not troubled about their souls: they
thought all was going on well within them. They fasted, no doubt,
regularly; they kept to their rules of prayer; they were scrupulous in
paying their tithes; many other things there might be in which they were
careful to set a good example: and so they were on the whole well pleased
with their own doings: they were ready to ask, as one did ask in his ignorance,
“what lack I yet ?“ Surely they seemed to have peace: and yet these were
the very persons on whom our Lord pronounced such heavy woe, eight times
repeating it on one occasion. Though their own consciences troubled
them not, they were to His all seeing Eye full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
So may any one of us, who at this or any other moment may seem to himself
most clear in conscience. We must not trust that all is right merely
because nothing troubles us. Rather, if we be wise, we shall very
seriously mistrust and suspect ourselves, when we find our souls free from
misgiving. When we set to work, as we all ought to do, to examine
ourselves before our evening prayers, if we cannot remember anything to
reprove ourselves for, instead of making ourselves easy, and being lifted
up, let us rather be ashamed that we have not kept stricter account, and
let us beg pardon and cleansing for those secret faults, which, if we had
been more diligent, we should have been surely aware of. Let us take all
the hints which our merciful God may give us, to help us in finding out
the plague of our own hearts. Instead of being angry or sullen, let
us strive to be really thankful for every thing that at all helps us to
know ourselves better. If we thus watch and pray, no doubt He will
quickly help us to see enough of evil in ourselves to alarm and make us
careful: and so far, our peace of mind may seem in a certain sense to be
disturbed: but what of that? it will be but like the noise made in a prison,
when he comes who shall deliver the prisoners. O my brethren, joyful
and glad in the end will that hour be to you, in which by the light of
God’s word, you shall come to know of some sin, perhaps some grievous wasting
sin, in which you are now living, not aware how bad it is. And let
me add, to many of you, blessed will be the hour in which you shall be
moved to open your mind concerning your soul, to God’s appointed servant,
you will bless God by and by for this, and all the ways by which he convinced
you concerning your sin, how wretched and how wicked you were becoming
unawares. Instead of the false, unreal peace, which you have hitherto
seemed to enjoy in your worldly and carnal doings, you will taste the true
peace of God, the blessing of them that mourn. Hitherto you have
said, we have no sin, no sin that need disturb us; thus you have deceived
yourselves and the truth has not been in you; but now if you earnestly
search out, and confess your sins, you will find Him here in His Church,
faithful and just, to absolve you from your sins, and to cleanse you from
all unrighteousness.
