"All these things are against me." Gen. xlii. 36.
SO spoke the Patriarch Jacob, when Joseph had been made away with, Simeon
was detained in Egypt, Benjamin threatened, and his remaining sons suspected
by him and distrusted; when out of doors, nay, at his door, was a grievous
famine, enemies or strangers round about, evil in prospect, and in the
past a number of sad remembrances to pain, not to cheer him,—the dreadful
misconduct of his own family and its consequences, and, further back, the
wrath of Esau, his separation from his father's house, his wanderings,
and his ill-usage by Laban. From his youth upwards he had been full of
sorrows, and he bore them with a troubled mind. His first words are, "If
God will be with me ... then shall the Lord be my God." His next, "Deliver
me, I pray Thee." His next, "Ye have troubled me." His next, "I will go
down into the grave unto my son mourning." His next, "All these things
are against me." And his next, "Few and evil have the days of the years
of my life been." [Gen. xxviii. 20, 21; xxxii. 11; xxxiv. 30; xxxvii. 35;
xlii. 36; xlvii. 9.] Blow after blow, stroke after stroke, trouble came
like hail. That one hailstone falls is a proof, not that no more will come,
but that others are coming surely; when we feel the first, we say, "It
begins to hail,"—we do not argue that it is over, but that it is to come.
Thus was it with Jacob: the storm muttered around him, and heavy drops
fell while he was in his father's house; it drove him abroad. It did not
therefore cease because he was out in it: it did not end because it had
begun. Rather, it continued, because it had begun; its beginning marked
its presence; it began upon a law, which was extended over him in manhood
also and old age, as in early youth. It was his calling to be in the storm:
it was his very life to be a pilgrimage; it was the very thread of the
days of his years to be few and evil.
And what Jacob was all his life, that was his son Joseph at least in
the early part of it; for thirteen years, from seventeen to thirty, he
was in trouble far greater than Jacob's;—in captivity, in slavery, in prison,
in bonds so tight that the iron is said to have entered into his soul.
And what Joseph was in the beginning of life, such was Abraham, his forefather,
in the latter half of it. For seventy-five years he lived in his "father's
house;" but henceforward he was a wanderer. Thus did Almighty God, by the
instance of the patriarchs of His ancient people, remind that people themselves
that this world was not their rest; thus did He foreshadow that condition
of life, which is not only a lesson, but a pattern to us of our very state
of life, "if we live godly in Christ Jesus." [2 Tim. iii. 12.] He Himself,
the Lord Incarnate, chose only to sojourn on earth; He had not where to
lay His head. "Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing
His reproach, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come."
[Heb. xiii. 13, 14.] In Jacob is prefigured the Christian. He said, "All
these things are against me;" and what he said in a sort of dejection of
mind that must the Christian say, not in dejection, not sorrowfully, or
passionately, or in complaint, or in impatience, but calmly, as if confessing
a doctrine. "All these things are against me;" but it is my portion; they
are against me, that I may fight against them and overcome them. If there
were no enemy, there could be no conflict; were there no trouble, there
could be no faith; were there no trial, there could be no love; were there
no fear, there could be no hope. Hope, faith, and love are weapons, and
weapons imply foes and encounters; and, relying on my weapons, I will glory
in my suffering, being "persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor Angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Rom. viii.
38, 39.]
That trouble and sorrow are in some especial sense the lot of the Christian,
is plain from such passages of Scripture as the following:—For instance,
St. Paul and St. Barnabas remind the disciples "that we must through much
tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Again, St. Paul says, "If so
be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." Again,
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." Again, "Yea, and all that
will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution." Again, St.
Peter, "If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this
is acceptable with God; for even hereunto were ye called." And our Saviour
declares, that those who have given up the relations of this world "for
His sake and the Gospel's" shall receive "an hundred-fold" now, "with persecutions."
And St. Paul speaks in his own case of his "perils," by sea and land, from
friend and foe, without and within him, of the body and of the soul. Yet
he adds, "I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities." [Acts
xiv. 22. Rom. viii. 17. 2 Tim. ii. 12; iii. 12. 1 Pet. ii. 20. Matt. xix.
29. Mark x. 30. 2 Cor. xi 30.]
To passages, however, like these, it is natural to object that they
do not apply to the present time; that they apply to a time of persecution,
which is past and over; and that men enter the kingdom now, without the
afflictions which it once involved. What we see, it may be said, is a disproof
of so sad and severe a doctrine. In this age, and in this country, the
Church surely is in peace; rights are secured to it, and privileges added.
Christians now, to say the very least, have liberty of person and property;
they live without disquietude, and they die happily. Nay, they have much
more than mere toleration, they have possession of the whole country; there
are none but Christians in it; and if they suffer persecution, it must
be (as it were) self-inflicted from the hands of each other. Christianity
is the law of the land; its ministry is a profession, its offices are honours,
its name a recommendation. So far from Christians being in trial because
they are Christians, those who are not Christians, infidels and profligates,
it is they who are under persecution. Under disabilities indeed these are,
and justly; but it would be as true to say that Christians are justly in
trouble, as to say that they are in trouble at all. What confessorship
is there in a man's putting himself in the front of the Christian fight,
when that front is a benefice or a dignity? Rulers of the Church were aforetime
marks for the persecutor; now they are but forced into temporal rank and
power. Aforetime, the cross was in the inventory of holy treasures, handed
down from Bishop to Bishop; but now what self-denial is there in the Apostolate,
what bitterness in Christ's cup, what marks of the Lord Jesus in the touch
of His Hand, what searching keenness in His sacred Breath? Of old time,
indeed, as the Spirit forthwith drave Him into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil, so they, also, who received the Almighty Comforter, in any
of His high gifts, were at once among the wild beasts of Ephesus, or amid
the surges of the sea; but there are no such visible proofs now of the
triumphs of God's grace, humbling the individual, while using him for heavenly
purposes.
This is what objectors may say; and, in corroboration, they may tell
us to look at the feelings of the world towards the Church and its sacred
offices, and to judge for ourselves whether they have not the common sense
of mankind with them. For is not the ministry of the Church what is called
an easy profession? Do we not see it undertaken by those who love quiet,
or who are unfit for business; by those who are less keen, less active-minded,
less venturous than others? Does it not lead rather to a land of Canaan,
as of old time, than to the narrow rugged way and the thorny couch of the
Gospel? Has it not fair pastures, and pleasant resting-places, and calm
refreshing streams, and milk and honey flowing, according to the promise
of the Old Covenant, rather than that baptism and that draught which is
the glory of the New? Facts then, it will be said, refute such notions
of the suffering character of the Christian Church. It suffered at first,—suffering
was the price of its triumphing; and since that, it has ceased to suffer.
It is as truly in peace now, as it was truly in suffering then;—one might
as well deny that it did suffer, as that it is in peace; and to apply texts
which speak of what it was then to what it is now, is unreal, offends some
hearers, and excites ridicule in others. This is what may be said.
Yet is it so indeed? Let us look into the Bible again. Are we to go
by faith or by sight?—for surely, whatever conclusions follow from what
we see, these cannot undo what is written. What is written remains; and
if sight is against it, we must suppose that there is some way of solving
the difficulty, though we may not see how; and we will try, as well as
we can, to solve it in the case before us.
Let us, I say, consider the words of Scripture again. Surely, if endurance
be not in some sense or other the portion of Christians, the whole New
Testament itself has but a temporary meaning; for it is all built upon
this doctrine as a groundwork. If "the present distress," [1 Cor. vii.
26.] of which St. Paul speaks, does not denote the ordinary state of the
Christian Church, the New Testament is scarcely written for us, but must
be remodelled before it can be made apply. There are men of the world in
this day who are attempting to supersede the precepts of Christ about almsgiving
and the maintenance of the poor. We are accustomed to object, that they
contravene Scripture. Again, we hear of men drawing up a Church government
for themselves, or omitting Sacraments, or modifying doctrines. We say
they do not read Scripture rightly. They answer, perhaps, that Scripture
commands or countenances many things which are not binding on us eighteen
hundred years after. They consider that the management of the poor, the
form of the Church, the power of the State over it, the nature of its faith,
or the choice of its ordinances, are not points on which we need rigidly
keep to Scripture; that times have changed. This is what they say; and
can we find fault with them if we ourselves allow that the New Testament
is a dead letter in another most essential part of it? Is it strange that
they should think that the world may now tyrannize over the Church, when
we allow that the Church may now indulge in the world? Surely they do but
make a fair bargain with us; both they and we put aside Scripture, and
then agree together, we to live in ease, and they to rule. We have taken
the world's pay, and must not grudge its yoke. Independence surely is not
the Church's privilege, unless hardship is her portion.
Well, and perhaps affliction, hardship, distress, ill-usage, evil report,
are her portion, both promised and bestowed, though at first sight they
may seem not to be. What proof is there that temporal happiness was the
gift of the Law, which will not avail for temporal adversity being that
of the Gospel? You say the Jews had the promise of this world. True. But
look at their history. Is that promise fulfilled on its surface? Had they
not long periods of captivity, war, famine, pestilence, weakness, internal
division? Look at their history as a whole. Is it not very like other histories?
Had not their power a beginning, a progress, and an end? Did they not pass
through those successive stages which other states pass through? What prosperity
had they, to go by appearances, which other states had not? What trouble
had other states which they were spared? If, then, the face of things be
taken to prove that the Christian Church is not born to trouble, would
it not also prove that the Jewish Church was not allotted prosperity? And
if, in spite of appearances, we yet say that the Israelites had special
temporal blessings, why may we not, in spite of the appearance, say that
Christians have special temporal trials?
You will say, perhaps, that the Jewish promise was suspended on a condition,
the condition of obedience, and that the Jews forfeited the reward, because
they did not merit it. True; let it be so. And what hinders, in like manner,
if Christians are in prosperity, not in adversity, that it is because they
too have forfeited the promise and privilege of affliction by disobedience?
And what hinders that, as in spite of the sins of the people, the Jewish
Church still in some sufficient sense did obtain the temporal promise;
so, in like manner, in spite of the sins of the multitude of Christians,
the Christian Church as a whole, and her true children in particular, may
partake in the promise of distress?
It is very difficult then to argue from what we see, and there are many
ways in which what is written may be fulfilled in spite, or by means, of
it. All that clearly can be pointed out is the word of promise. It was
said of Israel, "He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand; and
they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words ... Let
Reuben live and not die; and let not his men be few ... Hear, Lord, the
voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people. Let his hands be sufficient
for him, and be Thou an help to him from his enemies." And of Levi; "Let
Thy Thummim and Thy Urim be upon Thy Holy One ... Bless, Lord, his substance,
and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that
rise against him, and of men that hate him, that they rise not again."
And of Benjamin: "The Beloved of the lord shall dwell in safety by Him."
And of Joseph: "Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things
of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that toucheth beneath, and for
the precious things brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things
brought forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains,
and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious
things of the earth, and the fulness thereof." And of Zebulun: "Rejoice,
Zebulun; in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents ... they shall suck
of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand." And, "Blessed
be he that enlargeth Gad; he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with
the crown of the head." And, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full
of the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the west and the south." And,
"Let Asher be blessed with children; thy shoes shall be iron and brass;
and as thy days, so shall thy strength be." And of all of them together
it was said, "Israel shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob
shall be upon a land of corn and wine; and his heavens shall drop down
dew." [Deut. xxxiii.] These were the bright and pleasant things promised
to the first people of God, in the plains of Moab, on their entering into
the land. And now in turn, what did the second and greater Prophet of the
Church declare, when He was set upon the mount, with the people around
Him, and published His covenant of grace. "He opened His mouth and said,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek
... Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness ...
Blessed are the merciful ... Blessed are the pure in heart ... Blessed
are the peacemakers." And lastly, "Blessed are ye when men shall revile
you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely
for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in
heaven; for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you." And
by contrast, He added, "But woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received
your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe
unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when
all men shall speak well of you, for so did their fathers unto the false
prophets." [Matt. v. 2-12. Luke vi. 24-26.]
At another time He spoke thus: "Sell that ye have, and give alms." "If
thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor."
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a
rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." "Whosoever will be chief among
you, let him be your servant." "If any man will come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." And, in a word, the
doctrine of the Gospel, and the principle of it, is thus briefly stated
by the Apostle, in the words of the Wise Man. "Whom the Lord loveth He
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons ... If ye be without chastisement, whereof
all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." [Luke xii. 33.
Matt. xix. 21, 24; xx. 27; xvi. 24. Heb. xii. 6-8.] Can words speak it
plainer that, as certainly as temporal prosperity is the gift of the Law,
so also are hardship and distress the gift of the Gospel?
Take up thy portion, then, Christian soul, and weigh it well, and learn
to love it. Thou wilt find, if thou art Christ's, in spite of what the
world fancies, that after all, even at this day, endurance, in a special
sense, is the lot of those who offer themselves to be servants of the King
of sorrows. There is an inward world, which none see but those who belong
to it; and though the outside robe be many-coloured, like Joseph's coat,
inside it is lined with camel's hair, or sackcloth, fitting those who desire
to be one with Him who fared hardly in the wilderness, in the mountain,
and on the sea. There is an inward world into which they enter who come
near to Christ, though to men in general they seem the same as before.
They hold the same place as before in the world's society; their employments
are the same, their ways, their comings in and goings out. If they were
high in rank, they are still high; if they were in active life, they are
still active; if they were wealthy, they still have wealth. They have still
great friends, powerful connexions, ample resources, fair name in the world's
eye; but, if they have drunk of Christ's cup, and tasted the bread of His
Table in sincerity, it is not with them as in time past. A change has come
over them, unknown indeed to themselves, except in its effects, but they
have a portion in destinies to which other men are strangers, and, as having
destinies, they have conflicts also. They drank what looked like a draught
of this world, but it associated them in hopes and fears, trials and purposes,
above this world. They came as for a blessing, and they have found a work.
They are soldiers in Christ's army; they fight against "things that are
seen," and they have "all these things against them." To their surprise,
as time goes on, they find that their lot is changed. They find that in
one shape or other adversity happens to them. If they refuse to afflict
themselves, God afflicts them. One blow falls, they are startled; it passes
over, it is well; they expect nothing more. Another comes; they wonder;
"Why is this ?" they ask; they think that the first should be their security
against the second; they bear it, however; and it passes too. Then a third
comes; they almost murmur; they have not yet mastered the great doctrine
that endurance is their portion. O simple soul, is it not the law of thy
being to endure since thou camest to Christ? Why camest thou but to endure?
Why didst thou taste His heavenly feast, but that it might work in thee?
Why didst thou kneel beneath His hand, but that He might leave on thee
the print of His wounds? Why wonder then that one sorrow does not buy off
the next? Does one drop of rain absorb the second? Does the storm cease
because it has begun? Understand thy place in God's kingdom, and rejoice,
not complain, that in thy day thou hast thy lot with Prophets and Apostles.
Envy not the gay and thriving world. Religious persons ask, "Why are we
so marked out for crosses? Others get on in the world; others are prosperous;
their schemes turn out well, and their families settle happily; there is
no anxiety, no bereavement among them, while the world fights against us."
This is what they sometimes say, though with some exaggeration certainly,
for almost all men, sooner or later, have their troubles, and Christians,
as well as others, have their continual comforts. But what then, be it
ever so true? If so, it is but what was foretold long ago, and even under
the Law fulfilled in its degree. "They have children at their desire, and
leave the rest of their substance for their babes." "They are in no peril
of death, but are lusty and strong. They come in no misfortune like other
folk, neither are they plagued like other men … Their eyes swell with fatness,
they do even what they lust ... Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper
in the world, and these have riches in possession." Such is the portion,
such the punishment of those who forsake their God. "Verily, I say unto
you, They have their reward." [Ps. xvii. 15; lxxiii. 4-12. Matt. vi. 5.]
When, then, my brethren, it is objected that times are changed since
the Gospel was first preached, and that what Scripture says of the lot
of Christians does not apply to us, make answer, that the Church of Christ
doubtless is in high estate everywhere, and so must be, for it is written,
"I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for Thy possession." Yet that while she maintains her
ground, she ever suffers in maintaining it; she has to fight the good fight,
in order to maintain it: she fights and she suffers, in proportion as she
plays her part well; and if she is without suffering, it is because she
is slumbering. Her doctrines and precepts never can be palatable to the
world; and if the world does not persecute, it is because she does not
preach. And so of her individual members: they in their own way suffer;
not after her manner, perhaps, nor for the same reason, nor in the same
degree, but more or less, as being under the law of suffering which Christ
began. Judge not then by outward appearance; think not that His servants
are in ease and security because things look smooth, else you will be startled,
perhaps, and offended, when suffering falls upon you. Temporal blessings,
indeed, He gives to you and to all men in abundance; "He maketh His sun
to rise upon the just and unjust;" but in your case it will be "houses
and brethren and lands, with persecutions." Judge not by appearance, but
be sure that, even when things seem to brighten and smile upon God's true
servants, there is much within to try them, though you see it not. Of old
time they wore clothing of hair and sackcloth under rich robes. Men do
not observe this custom now-a-days; but be quite sure still, that there
are as many sharp distresses underneath the visible garb of things, as
if they did. Many a secret ailment or scarcely-observed infirmity exercises
him who has it, better than thorns or knotted cord. Many a silent grief,
lying like lead within the breast, or like cold ice upon the heart. Many
a sad secret, which a man dare not tell lest he should find no sympathy.
Many a laden conscience, laden because the owner of it has turned to Christ,
and which he would not have felt, had he kept from Him. Many an apprehension
for the future which cannot be spoken; many a bereavement which has robbed
the world's gifts of their pleasant savour, and leads the heart but to
sigh at the sight of them. No; never while the Church lasts, will the words
of old Jacob be reversed,—all things here are against us but God; but if
God be for us, who can really be against us? If He is in the midst of us,
how shall we be moved? If Christ has died and risen again, what death can
come upon us, though we be made to die daily? what sorrow, pain, humiliation,
trial, but must end as His has ended, in a continual resurrection into
His new world, and in a nearer and nearer approach to Him? He pronounced
a blessing over His Apostles, and they have scattered it far and wide all
over the earth unto this day. It runs as follows: "Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." "These
things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world
ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
[John xiv. 27: xvi. 33.]
