{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4598", "width": "2677", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "4*\\nH\u00c2\u00b06\\nS*^\\n^3 A\\n*U A/ o o 4\\n\\\\2\\nS", "height": "4414", "width": "2766", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "\u00c2\u00b0o\\nf v ^jSK* s, \u00c2\u00b0\u00c2\u00bb?w^ y\\\\\\noV l\\nO\\n.^t*\\n4\\n/\u00e2\u0099\u00a6C^\\no V", "height": "4498", "width": "2734", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "SEKMONS\\nFOB\\nTHE NEW LIFE\\nB?\\nHORACE BUSHNELL\\nREVISED EDITION.\\n:iuu(\\nNEW YORK-.\\nSCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG CO.\\n1876.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "3X12L33\\nCOPTRIGHT v 1876, BY\\nMAHY A BUSHNELL,\\nJohn F. Trow Son,\\nPRINTERS,\\n205-213 Bast \\\\-2 th Street,\\nNEW YORK.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "TO MY DEAR FLOCK IN HARTFORD,\\nWHO HAVE ADHERED TO ME\\nIN DAYS OF ACCUSATION,\\nAND HAVE UPHELD ME POR A QUARTER OP A CENTUHI\\nIN THE MUCH GREATER TRIALS OF\\nA CONSCIOUSLY INSUFFICIENT AND DEFECTIVE M1NISTHY,\\nTHESE SERMONS ARE INSCRIBED\\nAS A TOKEN OF\\nRESPECT AND IMPERISHABLE AFFECTION.\\nII. B.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS\\ni.\\nEVERY MAN S LIFE A PLAN OP GOD.\\nFACE\\nIsaiah xlv. 5. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.\\nII.\\nTHE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\nJob xxxii. 8. But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration\\nof the Almighty giveth them understanding. 29\\nIII.\\nDIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE SHOWN PROM ITS RUINS.\\nRomans iii. 13-18. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with\\ntheir tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is\\nunder their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter-\\nness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and\\nmisery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have\\nnot known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. 50\\nIV.\\nTHE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nLuke xv. 17. And when he came to himself, he said, How\\nmany hired servants of my father s have bread enough and\\nto spare., and I perish with hunger. 71\\nY.\\nTHE REASON OP FAITH.\\nJoiin vi. 30. u But T said unto you, That ye also have seen me\\nand believe not. 87", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "IV CONTENTS\\nVI.\\nREGENERATION.\\nPAGE\\nJohn iii. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily\\nI say unto thee, except a man be born again, he can not see\\nthe kingdom of God. 106\\nVII.\\nTHE PERSONAL LOYE AND LEAD OF CHRIST.\\nJohn x. 3. And he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth\\nthem out. 127\\nVIII.\\nLIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nJob xxxvii. 21. u And now men see not the bright light which\\nis in the clouds but the wind passeth, and cleanseth them. 143\\nIX.\\nTHE CAPACITY OP RELIGION EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE.\\nMatthew xxv. 28. Take, therefore, the talent from him. 16\u00c2\u00a3\\nX.\\nUNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nJohn xx. 8. Then went in also that other disciple. 186\\nXL\\nOBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\nP ALH cxix. 54:. Thy statutes have been my songs in the\\nhouse of my pilgrimage. 206\\nXII.\\nHAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nxv. 11. These things have I spoken unto you, that my\\njoy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 225", "height": "4301", "width": "2766", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "CONTEXTS. V\\nXIII.\\nTHE TRUE PROBLEM OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.\\nPAQE\\nRevelations ii. 4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against\\nthee, because thou hast left thy first love. 243\\nXIV\\nTHE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\nJ John, iii. 3.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 And every man that hath this hope in him\\npurifleth himself, even as he is pure. 283\\nXV.\\nLIYIXG TO GOD IX SMALL THINGS\\nLuke xvi. 10. He that is faithful in that which is least, is\\nfaithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least, is\\nunjust also in much. 282\\nXVI.\\nTHE POWER OF AX ENDLESS LIFE.\\nHebrews vii. 16. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal\\ncommandment, but after the power of an endless life. 304\\nXVII.\\nRESPECTABLE SIX\\nJohn viii. 9. And they which heard it, being convicted by\\ntheir own conscience, went out, one by one, beginning at the\\neldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and the\\nwoman standing in the midst. 326\\nXVIII.\\nTHE POWER OF GOD IX SELF-SACRIFICE.\\nI Corinthians L 24.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Christ the power of God. 346", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "VI CONTENTS.\\nXIX.\\nDUTY NOT MEASURED BY OUR OWN ABILITY.\\nFA OS\\nLckr ix. 13. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat 364\\nXX.\\nHE THAT KNOWS GOD WILL CONFESS HIM.\\nPsAXii xl. 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within my\\nheart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I\\nhave not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from\\nthe great congregation. 382\\nXXI.\\nTHE EFFICIENCY OF THE PASSIVE VIRTUES.\\nRevelations i. 9. The kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. 399\\nXXII.\\nSPIRITUAL DISLODGEHENTS.\\nJeremiah xlviii. 11. Moab hath been at ease from his youth,\\nand he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied\\nfrom vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity;\\ntherefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not\\nchanged. 115\\nXXIIi.\\nCHRIST AS SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD.\\nHebrews vii. 26. Separate from sinners, and made higher than\\nthe heavens. 434", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "I\\nEVER1 MAN S LIFE A PLAN OF GOD.\\nISAIAH xlv. 5. u I girded thee, though thou hast not\\nknown meP\\nSo beautiful is the character and history of Cyrus, the\\nperson here addressed, that many have doubted whether\\nthe sketch given by Xenophon was not intended as an\\nidealizing, or merely romantic picture. And yet, there\\nhave been examples of as great beauty unfolded, here and\\nthere, in all the darkest recesses of the heathen world, and\\nit accords entirely with the hypothesis of historic verity\\nin the account given us of this remarkable man, that he is\\ndesignated and named by our prophet, even before he is\\nborn, as a chosen foster-son of God. I have surnamed\\nthee, he declares, I have girded thee, though thou hast\\nnot known me. And what should he be but a model\\nof all princely beauty, of bravery, of justice, of impartial\\nhonor to the lowly, of greatness and true magnanimity in\\nevery form, when God has girded him, unseen, to be the\\nminister of his own great and sovereign purposes to the\\nnations of his time.\\nSomething of the same kind will also be detected in the\\nliistory and personal consciousness of almost every great\\nand remarkable character. Christ himself testifies to the\\ngirding of the Almighty, when he says, To this end\\nwas I born, and for this purpose came I into the world.\\nAbraham was girded for a particular work and mission, in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "10 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nwhat is otherwise denominated his call. Joseph, in Egypt^\\ndistinguishes the girding of God s hand, when he comforts\\nhis guilty brothers in the assurance, So, it was not you\\nthat sent me hither, but God. Moses and Samuel were\\neven called by name, and set to their great life-work, in\\nthe same manner. And what is Paul endeavoring, in all\\nthe stress and pressure of his mighty apostleship, but to per-\\nform the work for which God s Spirit girded him at his\\ncall, and to apprehend that for which he was apprehended\\nof Christ Jesus. And yet these great master-spirits of the\\nworld are not so much distinguished, after all, by the acts\\nthey do, as by the sense itself of some mysterious girding\\nof the Almighty upon them, whose behests they are set en\\nto fulfill. And all men may have this for the humblest\\nund commonest have a place and a work assigned them, in\\nthe same manner, and have it for their privilege to be\\nalways ennobled in the same lofty consciousness. God is\\ngirding every man for a place and a calling, in which,\\ntaking it from him, even though it be internally humble,\\nhe may be as consciously exalted as if he held the rule of\\na kingdom. The truth I propose then for your considera-\\ntion is this,\\nThat God has a definite life-plan for every hitman person^\\ngirding him, visibly or invisibly, for some exact thing, tuhich\\nit will be the true significance and glory of his life to have\\naccomplished.\\nMany persons, I am well aware, never even think of any\\n8uch thing. They suppose that, for most men, life is a\\nnecessarily stale and common affair. What it means for\\nthem they do not know, and they scarcely conceive that it\\nans any thing. They even complain, venting heavy", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "A PLiU OF GOD. 11\\nsighs, that, while some few are set forward by God to do\\ngreat works and fill important places, they are not allowed\\nto believe that there is an} particular object in their ex-\\nistence. It is remarkable, considering how generally\\nthis kind of impression prevails, that the Holy Scriptures\\nnever give way to it, but seem, as it were, in all possi\\nble ways, to be holding up the dignity of common life,\\nand giving a meaning to its appointments, which the\\nnatural dullness and lowness of mere human opinion can\\nnot apprehend.\\nThey not only show us explicitly, as we have seen, that\\nGod has a definite purpose in the lives of men already\\ngreat, but they show us, how frequently, in the conditions\\nof obscurity and depression, preparations of counsel going\\non, by which the commonest offices are to become the\\nnecessary first chapter of a great and powerful history.\\nDavid among the sheep Elisha following after the plough\\nNehemiah bearing the cup Hannah, who can say nothing\\nless common than that she is the wife of Elkanah and a\\nwoman of a sorrowful spirit, who, that looks on these\\nhumble people, at their humble post of service, and dis-\\ncovers, at last, how dear a purpose God was cherishing in\\nthem, can be justified in thinking that God has no particu-\\nlar plan for him, because he is not signalized by any\\nkind of distinction?\\nBesides, what do the scriptures show lis, but that God\\nhas a particular care for every man, a personal interest in\\nhim and a sympathy with him and his trials, watching\\nfor the uses of his one talent as attentively and kindly\\nand approving him as heartily, in the right employment of\\nit, as if he had given him ten and, what is the giving out\\nof the talents itself, but an exhibition of the fact that God", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "12 EVERY MaK S LIFE\\nhas a definite purpose, charge and woik, be it tiiis or tha\\\\\\nfor every man?\\nThey also make it the privilege of every man to live in\\nthe secret guidance of God; which is plainly nugatory,\\nunless there is some chosen work, or sphere, into which\\nhe may be guided for how shall God guide him, having\\nnothing appointed or marked out for him to be guided\\ninto? no field opened for him, no course set down which\\nis to be his wisdom?\\nGod also professes in his Word to have purposes pre-ar-\\nranged for all events to govern by a plan which is from\\neternity even, and which, in some proper sense, compre-\\nhends every thing. And what is this but another way\\nof conceiving that God has a definite place and plan ad-\\nj usted for every human being And, without such a plan,\\nhe could not even govern the world intelligently, or make\\na proper universe of the created system for it becomes a\\nuniverse only in the grand unity of reason, which includes\\nit. Otherwise, it were only a jumble of fortuities, without\\ncounsel, end or law.\\nTurning, now, from the scriptures to the works of God,\\nhow constantly are we met here by the fact, everywhere\\nvisible, that ends and uses are the regulative reasons of all\\nexisting things. This we discover often, when we are\\nleast able to understand the speculative mystery of objects\\nfor it is precisely the uses of things that are most palpable.\\nThese uses are to God, no doubt, as to us, the significance\\nof his works. And they compose, taken together, a grand\\nreciprocal system, in which part answers actively to part,\\nconstructing thus an all-comprehensive and glorious whole.\\nAnd the system is, in fact, so perfect, that the loss or displace-\\nment of any member would fatally derange the genera]", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "A pla:n of god. 13\\norder. If there were any smallest star in heaven thai\\nhad no place to fill, that oversight would beget a disturb-\\nance which no Leverrier could compute because it would\\nbe a real and eternal, and not merely casual or apparent\\ndisorder. One grain, more or less, of sand would disturb7\\nor even fatally disorder ther whole scheme of the heavenly\\nmotions. So nicely balanced, and so carefully hung, are\\nthe worlds, that even the grains of their dust are counted,\\nand their places adjusted to a correspondent nicety. There\\nis nothing included in the gross, or total sum, that could\\nbe dispensed with. The same is true in regard to forces\\nthat are apparently irregular. Every particle of air is\\nmoved by laws of as great precision as the laws of the\\nheavenly bodies, or, indeed, by the same laws keeping its\\nappointed place, and serving its appointed use. Every\\nodor exhales in the nicest conformity with its appointed\\nplace and law. Even the viewless and mysterious heat,\\nstealing through the dark centers and impenetrable depths\\nof the worlds, obeys its uses with unfaltering exactness,\\ndissolving never so much as an atom that was not to be\\ndissolved. What now shall we say of man, appearing, as\\nit were, in the center of this great circle of uses. They\\nare all adjusted for him has he, then, no ends appointed\\nfor himself? Noblest of all creatures, and closest to God,\\nas he certainly is, are we to say that his Creator has no\\ndefinite thoughts concerning him, no place prepared for\\nhim to fill, no use for him to serve, which is the reason of\\nhis existence?\\nThere is, then, I conclude, a definite and proper end, or\\nissue, for every man s existence; an end, which, to the\\nheart of God, is the good intended for him, or for which\\nhe ft T as intended; that which he is privileged to become,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "14 EVERY MANS LIFE\\ncalled to become, ouglit to become that which God will\\n3t him to become and which he can not miss, save by\\nhis own fault. Every human soul has a complete and per-\\nfect plan, cherished for it in the heart of God a divine\\nbiography marked out, which it enters into life, to live.\\nThis life, rightly unfolded, will be a complete and beauti-\\nful whole, an experience led on by God and unfolded by\\nhis secret nurture, as the trees and the flowers, by the secret\\nnurture of the world a drama cast in the mould of a per-\\nfect art, with no part wanting; a divine study for the man\\nhimself, and for others; a study that shall forever unfold,\\nin wondrous beauty, the love and faithfulness of God;\\ngreat in its conception, great in the Divine skill by which\\nit is shaped above all, great in the momentous and glori-\\nous issues it prepares. What a thought is this for every\\nhuman soul to cherish What dignity does it add to life!\\nWhat support does it bring to the trials of life What in\u00c2\u00ab\\nstigations does it add to send us onward in every thing\\nthat constitutes our excellence We live in the Divine\\nthought. We fill a place in the great everlasting plan of\\nGod s intelligence. We never sink below his care, never\\ndrop out of his counsel.\\nBut there is, I must add, a single, but very important\\nand even fearful qualification. Things all serve their uses,\\nand never break out of their place. They have no power\\nto do it. Not so with us. We are able, as free beings, to\\nrefuse the place and the duties God appoints which, if we\\ndOj then we sink into something lower and less worthy of\\nus. That highest and best oondil ion for which God designed\\nus is no more possible. We are fallen out jf it, and it\\ncan not be wholly recovered. And yet, as that was the\\nbest thing possible for us in the reach of God s original", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 15\\ncounsel, so there is a place designed for us now, which is\\nthe next best possible. God calls us now to the best thing\\nleft, and will do so till all good possibility is narrowed\\ndown and spent. And then, when he can not use us any\\nmore for our own good, he will use us for the good of\\nothers, an example of the misery and horrible despera-\\ntion to which any soul must come, when all the good ends,\\nand all the holy callings of God s friendly and fatherly\\npurpose are exhausted. Or it may be now that, remitting\\nall other plans and purposes in our behalf, he will hence-\\nforth use us, wholly against our will, to be the demonstra-\\ntion of his justice and avenging power before the eyes of\\nmankind saying over us, as he did over Pharaoh in the\\nday of his judgments, Even for this same purpose have\\nI raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and\\nthat my name might be declared throughout all the earth.\\nDoubtless, He had other and more genial plans to serve in\\nthis bad man, if only he could have accepted such but,\\nknowing his certain rejection of these, God turned his\\nmighty counsel in him wholty on the use to be made of\\nhim as a reprobate. How many Pharaohs in common life\\nrefuse every other use God will make of them, choosing only\\nto figure, in their small way, as reprobates and descend-\\ning, in that manner, to a fate that painfully mimics his.\\nGod has, then, I conclude, a definite life-plan set for\\nevery man; one that, being accepted and followed, will\\nconduct him to the best and noblest end possible. No\\nqualification of this doctrine is needed, save the fearful\\none just named; that we, by our perversity, so often refuse\\nto take the place and do the work he gives us.\\nIt follows, in the same way, that, as God, in fixing on\\nour end or use, will choose the best end or use possible, so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "16 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nhe will appoint for us the best manner possible of attain-\\ning it for, as it is a part of God s perfection to choose the\\nbest things, and not things partially good, so it will be in\\nall the methods he prescribes for their attainment. And\\nbo, as you pass on, stage by stage, in jour courses of ex-\\nperience, it is made clear to you that, whatever you have\\nlaid upon 3 r ou to do or to suffer, whatever to want, what-\\never to surrender or to conquer, is exactly best for you\\nYour life is a school, exactly adapted to your lesson, and\\nthat to the best, last end of your existence.\\nNo room for a discouraged or depressed feeling, there-\\nfore, is left yon. Enough that you exist for a purpose\\nhigh enough to give meaning to life, and to support a\\ngenuine inspiration. If your sphere is outwardly humble,\\nif it even appears to be quite insignificant, God under-\\nstands it better than you do, and it is a part of his wisdom\\nto bring out great sentiments in humble conditions, great\\nprinciples in works that are outwardly trivial, great char-\\nacters under great adversities and heavy loads of incum-\\nbrance. The tallest saints of God will often be those who\\nwalk in the deepest obscurity, and are even despised or\\nquite overlooked by man. Let it be enough that God is\\nin your history, that the plan of your biography is his,\\nand the issue he has set for it the highest and the best.\\nly, then, man, with thy feeble complaints and\\nirish despondencies. There is no place left for this\\nkind of nonsense. Let it fill thee with cheerfulness and\\nexalted feeling, however deep in obscurity your lot may\\nbe, that God is leading you on, girding you for a work,\\npreparing you to a good that is worthy of his Divine\\ntnagnifii If God is really preparing us all to become\\nthat which is the very highest and best thing possible", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 17\\nthere ought never to be a discouraged or unclicerfal being\\nin the world.\\nNor is it any detraction from such a kind of life that\\nthe helm of its guidance is, by the supposition, to be in\\nGod, and not in our own will and wisdom. This, in fact,\\nis its dignity: (it is a kind of divine order, a creation\\nmolded by the loving thoughts of God; in that view,\\nto the man himself a continual discovery, as it is unfolded,\\nboth of himself and God. A discovery of some kind it\\nmust be to all; for, however resolutely or defiantly we\\nundertake to accomplish our own objects, and cut our own\\nway through to a definite self-appointed future, it will\\nnever be true, for one moment, that we are certain of this\\nfuture, and will almost always be true that we are met by\\nchanges and conditions unexpected. This, in fact, is one\\nof the common mitigations even of a selfish \\\\nd self-\\ndirected life, that its events come up out of the unknown\\nand overtake the subject, as discoveries he could not shun,\\nor anticipate. Evil itself is far less evil, even to the\\nworldly man, that it comes by surprises. Were the\\nscenes of necessary bitterness, wrong, trial, disappointment,\\nself-accusation, every such man has to pass through in his\\nlife, distinctly set before him at the beginning, how forbid-\\nding generally, and how dismal the prospect. T\\\\ r e say,\\ntherefore, how frequently, I could not have endured these\\ndistasteful, painful 3-ears, these emptinesses, these trials\\nand torments that have rent me, one after another, if I had\\ndefinitely known beforehand what kind of lot was before\\ntne. And yet, how poor a comfort is it to such pains and\\ndisasters that they overtook the sufferer as surprises and\\nsorrows not set down beforehand in the self-appointed\\nprogramme of life. How different, how inspiring ar.d", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "18 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nmagnificent, instead, to live, by holy consent, a life all dis-\\ncovery to see it unfolding, moment by moment, a plan\\nof God, our own life-plan conceived in his paternal\\nlove each event, incident, experience, whether bright oi\\ndark, having its mission from him, and revealing, either\\nnow cr in its future issues, the magnificence of his favor-\\ning counsel to be sure, in the dark day, of a light that\\nwill follow, that loss will terminate in gain, that trial will\\nissue in rest, doubt in satisfaction, suffering in patience,\\npatience in purity, and ail in a consummation of greatness\\nand dignity that even God will look on with a smile.\\nHow magnificent, how strong in its repose, how full of\\nrest is such a kind of life Call it human still, decry it,\\nlet it down by whatever diminutives can be invented, still\\nit is great; a charge which ought even to inspire a dull\\nminded man with energy and holy enthusiasm.\\nBut, the inquiry will be made, supposing all this to be\\ntrue, in the manner stated, how can we ever get hold of\\nthis life-plan God has made for us, or find our way into it\\nHere, to many if not all, will be the main stress of doubt\\nand practical suspense.\\nObserve, then, first of all, some negatives that are im\\nportant and must be avoided. They are these\\nYou will never come into God s plan, if you study sin-\\ngularity for, if God has a design or plan for every man s\\nlife, then it is exactly appropriate to his nature; and, as\\nevery man s nature is singular and peculiar to himself, as\\npeculiar as his face or look, then it follows that God will\\nlead every man into a singular, original and peculiar life,\\nwithout any study of singularity on his part. Let him\\nseek to be just what God will have him, and the talents,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "A PL AX OF GOD. 19\\nthe duties and circumstances of his life will require hirn\\nto be, and then he will be just peculiar enough. He will\\nhave a life of his own a life that is naturally and, there-\\nfore, healthily peculiar a simple, unaffected, unambitious\\nlife, whose plan is not in himself, but in God.^\\nAs little will he seek to copy the life of another, No\\nman is ever called to be another. God has as many plana\\nfor men as he has men and, therefore, he never requires\\nthem to measure their life exactly by any other life. We\\nare not to require it of ourselves to have the precise feel-\\nings, or exercises, or do the works, or pass through the\\ntrials of other men for God will handle us according to\\nwhat we are, and not according to what other men are.\\nAnd whoever undertakes to be exercised by any given\\nfashion, or to be any given character, such as he knows or\\nhas read of, will find it impossible, even as it is to make\\nhimself another nature. God s plan must hold and we\\nmust seek no other. To strain after something new and\\npeculiar is fantastic and weak, and is also as nearly wicked\\nas that kind of weakness can be. To be a copyist, work-\\ning at the reproduction of a human model, is to have no\\nfaith in one s significance, to judge that God means nothing\\nin his particular life, but only in the life of some other\\nman./ Submitting himself, in this manner, to the fixed\\nopinion that his life means nothing, and that nothing is left\\nfor him but to borrow or beg a life-plan from some other\\nman, what can the copyist become but an affectation or a\\ndull imposture.\\nIn this view also, you are never to complain of youi\\nbirth, your training, your employments, your hardships;\\nnever to fancy that you could be something if only you had\\na different lot and sphere assigned you. God understands", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "20 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nhis own plan, and lie knows what you want a great\\ndeal better than you do. The very things that you most\\ndeprecate, as fatal limitations or obstructions, are probably\\nwhat you most want. What you call hindrances, obstacles,\\ndiscouragements, are probably God s opportunities; and\\nit is nothing new that the patient should dislike his medi-\\ncines, or any certain proof that they are poisons. No a\\ntruce to all such impatience Choke that devilish envy\\nwhich gnaws at your heart, because you are not in the\\nsame lot with others bring down your soul, or, rather,\\nbring it up to receive God s will and do his work, in your\\nlot, in your sphere, under your cloud of obscurity, against\\nyour temptations and then you shall find that your con-\\ndition is never opposed to your good, but really consistent\\nwith it. Hence it was that an apostle required his converts\\nto abide each one in that calling wherein he was called to\\nfill his place till he opens a way, by filling it, to some\\nother the bondman to fill his house of bondage with love\\nand duty, the laborer to labor, the woman to be a woman,\\nthe men to show themselves men, all to acknowledge\\nGod s hand in their lot, and seek to cooperate with that\\ngood design which he most assuredly cherishes for them.\\nAnother frequent mistake to be carefully avoided is that,\\nwhile you surrender and renounce all thought of making\\nup a plan, or choosing out a plan, for yourself, as one that\\nyou set by your own will, you also give up the hope or\\nexpectation that God will set you in any scheme of life,\\nwhere the whole course of it will be known, or set down\\nbeforehand. If you go to him to be guided, he will guide\\nyou but he will not comfort your distrust, or half trust\\nof him, by showing you the chart of all his purposes con-\\ncerning vou. lie will only show you into a way wtere^", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 21\\nif you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, lie will bIiotc\\nyou on still furtlier v /(N o contract will be made with you,\\nsave that he engages, if you trust him, to lead you into\\nthe best things, all the way through. And, .f they are\\nbetter than you can either ask or think beforehand, they\\nwill be none the worse for that.\\nBut we must not stop in negatives. How, then, or by\\nwhat more positive directions can a man, who really desires\\nto do it, come into the plan God lays foi nim, so as to live\\nit and rationally believe that he does? You are on the\\npoint of choosing, it may be, this or that calling, warning\\nto know where duty lies and what the course God himself\\nwould have you take. Beginning at a point most remote,\\nand where the generality of truth is widest,\\nConsider (1,) the character of God, and you will draw a\\nlarge deduction from that for, all that God designs for\\nyou will be in harmony with his character. He is a being\\ninfinitely good, just, true. Therefore, you are to know\\nthat he can not really seek any thing contrary to this in\\nyou. You may make yourselves contrary, in every attri-\\nbute of character, to God but he never made you to be-\\ncome any thing different from, or unworthy of, himself.\\nA good being could not make another to be a bad being,\\nas the proper issue and desired end of his existence; least\\nof all could one infinitely good. A great many employ-\\nments or callings are, by these first principles, forever cut\\noff. No thought is permitted you, even for a moment, of\\n[my work or calling that does not represent the industry,\\njustice, truth, beneficence, mercy of God.\\n(2.) Consider your relation to him as a creature. All\\ncreated wills have their natural center and rest in God s\\nwill. In him they all come into a play of harmony, and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "22 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nthe proper harmony of being is possible only in this way.\\nThus, you know that you are called to have a will perfectly\\nharmonized with God s and rested in his, and that gives\\nyou a large insight into what you are to he, or what is the\\nreal end of your being. In fact, nine-tenths of your par-\\nticular duties may be settled, at once, by a simple reference\\nin this manner to what God wills.\\n(3.) You have a conscience, which is given to be an in-\\nterpreter of his will and thus of your duty, and, in both,\\nof what you are to become.\\n(4.) God s law and his written Word are guides to\\npresent duty, which, if faithfully accepted, will help to set\\nyou in accordance with the mind of God and the plan he\\nhas. laid for you. I am a stranger in the earth, said one,\\nhide not thy commandments from me; knowing that\\nGod s commandments would give him a clue to the true\\nmeaning and business of his life.\\n(5.) Be an observer of P rovidence for God is showing\\nyou ever, by the way in which he leads you, whither he\\nmeans to lead. Study your trials, your talents, the world s\\nwants, and stand ready to serve God now, in whatever he\\nbrings to your hand.\\nAgain (6,) consult your friends, and especially those who\\nare most in the teaching of God. They know your talents\\nand personal qualifications better, in some resjDects, than\\nyou do yourself. Ask their judgment of you and of the\\nspheres and works to which you are best adapted.\\nOnce more (7,) go to God himself, and ask for the calling\\nof God; for, as certainly as he has a plan or calling for\\nyou, he will somehow guide r ou into it. And this is the\\nproper office and work of his Spiri t By this private\\nteaching he can show us, and will, into the very plau that", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 23\\nis set for us. And this is the significance of what is pre-\\nscribed as our duty, viz., living and walking in the Spirit\\nfor the Spirit of God is a kind of universal presence, or\\ninspiration, in the world s bosom; an unfailing inner light,\\nwhich if we accept and live in, we are guided thereby into\\na consenting choice, so that what God wills for us we also\\nwill forourselves. settling into it as the needle to the\\npole.yfBy this hidden union with God, or intercourse with\\nhim, we get a wisdom or insight deeper than we know\\nourselves; a sympathy, a oneness with the Divine will\\nand love. yWe go into the very plan of God for us, and\\nare led along in it by him, consenting, cooperating,\\nanswering to him, we know not how, and working out,\\nwith nicest exactness, that good end for which his unseen\\ncounsel girded us and sent us into the world. In this\\nmanner, not neglecting the other methods just named, but\\ngathering in all their separate lights, to be interpreted in\\nthe higher light of the Spirit, we can never be greatly at\\na loss to find our way into God s counsel and plan. The\\nduties of the present moment we shall meet as they rise,\\nand these will open a gate into the next, and we shall thus\\npass on, trustfully and securely, almost never in doubt as\\nto what God calls us to do.\\nIt is not to be supposed that you have followed me, in\\nsuch a subject as this, without encountering questions from\\nwithin that are piercing. It Las put you on reflection; it\\nhas set }^ou to the inquiry, what you have been doing and\\nbecoming thus far in your course, and what 3-011 are here-\\nafter to be? Ten, twenty, fifty, seventy years ago, you\\ncame into this living world, and began to breathe this\\nmortal air. The guardian angel that came to take change", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "24 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nof you said, To tin s end is he born, for this cause 13 he\\ncome into the world. Or. if this be a Jewish fancy, God\\nsaid the same himself. lie had a definite plan for you, a\\ngood end settled and cherished for you in his heart. Thia\\nit was that gave a meaning and a glory to your life. Apart\\nfiom this, it was not, in his view, life for you to live; it\\nwas accident, frustration, death. What now, soul, hast\\nthou done what progress hast thou made how much of\\nthe blessed life-plan of thy Father hast thou executed?\\nHow far on thy way art thou to the good, best end thy\\nGod has designed for thee\\nDo I hear thy soul confessing, with a suppressed sob\\nwithin thee, that, up to this time, thou hast never sought\\nGod s chosen plan at all. Hast thou, even to this hour,\\nand during so many years, been following a way and a\\nplan of thine own, regardless, hitherto, of all God s pur-\\nposes in thee Well, if it be so, what hast thou gotten\\nHow does thy plan work Does it bring thee peace, con\\ntent, dignity of aim and feeling, purity, rest or, does it\\nplunge thee into mires of disturbance, scorch thee in flames\\nof passion, worry thee with cares, burden thee with bitter\\nreflections, cross thee, disappoint, sadden, sour thee And\\nwhat are thy prospects what is the issue to come After\\nthou hast worked out this hard plan of thine own, will it\\ncome to a good end Hast thou courage now to go on\\nand work it through\\nIVrhaps you may be entertaining yourself, for the time,\\nwith a notion of your prosperity, counting yourself happy\\nin past successes, and counting on greater successes to come.\\nDo you call it, then, success, that you are getting on in a\\nplan of your own There can not be a greater delusion", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 25\\nYou set up a plan that is not God s, and rejoice that it\\nseems to prosper not observing that you are just as much\\nfarther off from God s plan for you and from all true wis-\\ndom, as you seem to prosper more. And the day is com-\\ning when just this truth will be reyealed to you, as the\\nbitterest pang of your defeat and shame.\\nNo matter which it be, prosperity or acknowledged de-\\nfeat, the case is much the same in one as in the other, if\\nyou stand apart from God and his counsel. I There is\\nnothing good preparing for any man who will not live in\\nGod s plan.y If he goes a prospecting for himself, and will\\nnot apprehend that for which he is apprehended, it can not\\nbe to any good purpose.\\nAnd really, I know not any thing, my hearers, more\\nsad and painful to think of, to a soul properly enlightened\\nby reason and God s truth, than so many years of Divine\\ngood squandered and lost; whole years, possibly many\\nyears, of that great and blessed biography which God\\ndesigned for you, occupied by a frivolous and foolish in-\\nvention of your own, substituted for the good counsel of\\nGod s infinite wisdom and love. 0, let the past suffice\\nYoung man, or woman, this is the day of hope to you.\\nAll your best opportunities are still before you. Now,\\ntoo, you are laying your plans for the future. Why not\\nlay them in God? Who has planned for you as wisely\\nand faithfully as he? Let your life begin with him.\\nBelieve that you are girded by your God for a holy and\\ngreat calling. Go to him and consecrate your life to him,\\nknowing assuredly that he will lead you into just that life\\nwhich is your highest honor and blessing.\\nAnd what shall I say to the older man, who is further\\n3", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "26 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\non in liis course and is still without God in the world?\\nThe beginning of wisdom, my friend, you have yet to\\nlearn. You have really done nothing, as yet, that yon\\nwas sent into the world to do. All your best opportuni-\\nties, too are gone or going by. The best end, the next\\nbest, and the next are gone, and nothing but the dregs of\\nopportunity is left. And still Christ calls even you.\\nThere is a place still left for you not the best and bright-\\nest, but an humble and good one. To this you are called\\nfor this you are apprehended of Christ Jesus still. 0,\\ncome, repent of your dusty and dull and weary way, and\\ntake the call that is offered.\\nAll men, living without God, are adventurers out upon\\nGod s world, in neglect of him, to choose their own course.\\nHence the sorrowful, sad looking host they make. 0, that\\nI could show them whence their bitterness, their dryness,\\ntheir unutterable sorrows, come. 0, that I could silence,\\nfor one hour, the noisy tumult of their works, and get\\nthem to look in upon that better, higher life of fruitfulness\\nand blessing to which their God has appointed them.\\nWill they ever see it Alas I fear\\nFriends of God, disciples of the Son of God, how in-\\nspiring and magnificent the promise, or privilege that is\\noffered here to yoiu Does it still encounter only unbelief\\nin your heart? (does it seem to you impossible that you\\ncan ever find your way into a path prepared for you by\\nGod, and be led along in it by his mighty counsel? Let\\nme tell you a secret. It requires a very close, well-kept\\nlife to do this a life in which the soul can have confidence\\nalways toward God; a life which allows the Spirit always\\nto abide and reign, driven away by no affront of selfishness.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "A PLAN OF GOD. 27\\nTliere must be a complete renunciation of self-will. God j\\nand religion must be practically first; and the testimony\\nthat we please God must be the element of our peace^/\\n/And such a disciple I have never known who did not have\\nit for his joy that Gocl was leading him on, shaping his life\\nfor him, bringing him alone out of one moment into the\\nnext, year by year J To such a disciple, there is nothing\\nstrained or difficult in saying that God s plan can be found,\\nor that this is the true mode and privilege of life. Noth-\\ning to him is easier or more natural. He knows God ever\\npresent, feels that Gocl determines all things for him, re-\\njoices in the confidence that the everlasting counsel of his\\nFriend is shaping every turn of his experience. He does\\nnet go hunting after this confidence it comes to him,\\nabides in him, fortifies his breast, and makes his existence\\nitself an element of peace. And this, my brethren, is your\\nprivilege, if only you can live close enough to have the\\nsecret of the Lord with you.\\nHow sacred, how strong in its repose, how majestic, how\\nnearly divine is a life thus ordered! The simple thought\\nof a life which is to be the unfolding, in this manner, of a\\nDivine plan, is too beautiful, too captivating, to suffer one\\nindifferent or heedless moment. Living in this manner,\\ne\\\\(2vy turn of your experience will be a discovery to you\\nof God, every change a token of his Fatherly counsel.\\nWhatever obscurity, darkness, trial, suffering falls upon you;\\nyour defeats, losses, injuries; your outward state, employ-\\nment relations what seems hard, unaccountable, severe,\\nor, as nature might say, vexatious, all these you will see\\nare parts or constitutive elements in God s beautiful and\\ngood plan for you, and, as such, are to be accepted with a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "28 EVERY MAN S LIFE\\nsmile. Trust God! have an implicit trust in God! and\\nthese ver}^ things will impart the highest zest to life. If\\nyou were in jour own will, you could not bear them; and,\\nif you fill], at any time, into your own will, they wil]\\nbreak you down. But, the glory of your condition, as a\\nChristian, is that you are in the mighty and good will of\\nGod. Hence it was that Bunyan called bis bero Great\\nHeart; for, no heart can be weak tbat is in the confidence\\nof God. Sec how it was witb Paul counting all things\\nbut loss for the excellency of the knowledge; enduring,\\nwitb godlike patience, unspeakable sufferings; casting\\nevery thing behind him, and following, on to apprehend\\nthat for which he was apprehended. He had a great and\\nmighty will, but no self-will therefore, he was strong, a\\ntrue lion of the faith.^y Away, then, with all feeble com-\\nplaints, all meagre and mean anxieties. Take your duty,\\nand be strong in it, as God will make you strong. The\\nharder it is, the stronger, in fact, you will be. Under-\\nstand, also, that the great question here is, not what you\\nwill get, but what you will become. /The greatest wealth\\nyou can ever get will be in yourself. Take your burdens,\\nand troubles, and losses, and wrongs, if come they must\\nand will, as your opportunities, knowing that God has\\ngirded you for greater things than these. O, to live out\\nsuch a life as God appoints, how great a thing it is! to\\ndo the duties, make the sacrifices, bear the adversities.\\nfinish the plan and then to say, with Christ, (who of ug\\nwill be able u It Is finished", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "II\\nTHE SPIRIT IX 1CAK.\\nJob xxxii 8. But there is a spirit in rnan, t and the\\ninspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding\\nIt is something great in man, as the speaker, Eliku,\\nconceives, that he is spirit, and, as being such, is capable\\nof being inspired. For he is not, as some commentators\\nappear to suppose, re-publishing here, the historical fact,\\nthat the Almighty breathed into man, at the first, a living\\nunderstanding soul but, speaking in the present tense, he\\nmagnifies man as being able to be inspired, because he ia\\nspirit, and God that he inspires him.\\nI undertake to enlist you here in a range of contempla-\\ntion exceedingly remote from the apprehension of most\\npersons in our time. So completely occupied are they\\nwith the humanitarian, world-ward relations of life, that\\nthe God-ward relations pass unheeded, and, for the most\\npart, unrecognized. Or, if they sometimes think of such\\nrelations, it is only in the sense that we are responsible to\\nGod, as we are to any human government, for what we do\\nas men, not in the sense that our very nature has itself a\\nGod-ward side, being related constitutionally to him, as\\nplants are to the sun, or living bodies to the air they\\nbreathe. That we may duly apprehend a truth so far out\\nof the way of our times, and yet so necessary to any fit\\nconceptions of our nature and life, let me bespeak, on your\\npart, even a voluntary and compelled attention.\\n3*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "30 THE SPIRIT IK MAN.\\nMy subject is, the spirit in man; or what is the same, the\\nfact that ice are, as being spirit, permeable and inspirable\\nby the Almighty.\\nThe word spirit means literally, breath, and it is ap-\\nplied to the soul, not merely because of its immateriality,\\nbut for the additional reason that the Almighty can breathe\\nhimself into it and through it. The word inspiration\\nas here used, denotes this act of inbreathing, and it will\\nserve the convenience of my subject to use it in this mean-\\ning in my discourse though it is not exactly coincident\\nwith the more common meaning attached to it, when we\\nspeak of the inspiration of the writers of Scripture. I\\ncertainly need not apologize for the use of a term, in, at\\nleast, one of its Scripture meanings. I only notify you that\\nany one is inspired, as I shall here speak, who is breathed\\nin, visited internally, and so, all infallibility apart, raised in\\nintelligence, guided in choice, convinced of sin, upheld in\\nsuffering, empowered to victory. In this more general\\nsense, Bezaleel was inspired when he was filled with the\\nSpirit of God, in wisdom and in understanding, to devise\\ncunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,\\nand in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of\\ntimber. Any one is inspired, as we now speak, just as\\nfar as he is raised internally, in thought, feeling, perception,\\nor action, by a Divine movement within. In the capacity\\nof this, lie is called an inspirable creature, and has this for\\none of his highest distinctions. What higher distinction\\ncan lie have, than a apaeity for God; to let in the Divine\\nre, to entertain the eternal spirit witnessing with his\\nspirit, to be gifted thus with understanding, ennobled in\\nimpulse, raised in power, and this, without any retrenchment", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MAN. 31\\nof his personal freedom, but so as even to intensify his\\nproper individuality.\\nJust as it is the distinction of a crystal, that it is trans-\\nparent, able to let the light into and through its close flinty\\nbody, and be irradiated by it in the whole mass of its\\nsubstance, without beino- at all more or less distinctly a\\ncrystal, so it is the grand distinction of humanity that it\\nis made permeable by the divine nature, prepared in that\\nmanner to receive and entemple the Infinite Spirit to be\\nenergized bv him and filled with his ptotv, in every fae-\\n\u00c2\u00a35 v O v J vi\\nLilty, feeling and power. Our accepted doctrine of the\\nHoly Spirit really implies just this, that we are made capa-\\nble of this interior presence of the divine nature that, as\\nmatter is open to the free access and unimpeded passage of\\nthe electric flash, so is the soul open to the subtle motions\\nof the Eternal Spirit, and ready, as it were, to be the vehicle\\nof God s thought and action; so of his character and joy.\\nAs to the manner of this divine presence, or working,\\nwe, of course, know nothing. We only know, reverting\\nto comparisons just given, that, as matter conducts elec-\\ntricity, so the human soul becomes a conductor of the di-\\nvine will and sentiments. Or as we cannot see how the\\ncrystal receives the light, or how, being a perfectly opaque\\nbody in itself, it becomes luminous without the least\\nchange in its own organization, so here we can understand\\nthat the human soul, or spirit, is made capable of the di-\\nvine spirit, without any loss of itsownhuman individuality;\\nbut, the manner of the fact is, in both cases, uninvestigable\\nand mysterious.\\nThe Scriptures use a great variety of figures to represent\\nthis truth, and give us a vivil practical sense of it, but", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "32 the spirit in man.\\nthey do not undertake to show ns the manner. They\\ncompare it to the mind that bloweth where it listeth thou\\ncanst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.\\nThey speak of it as teaching he shall teach you all things.\\nDrawing, except the Father which hath sent me draw\\nhim. Quickening it is the spirit that quickenetk. Beget-\\nting anew, born of water and of the spirit. Sealing,\\nsealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Dwelling in the\\nsoul, the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Walking in it, I\\nI will walk in them. Leading, led of the Spirit. Strength-\\nening, strengthened with might by thy Spirit. Witnessing\\nreciprocally with us, bearing witness with our spirit. By\\nreason of a certain analogy that pertains between the works\\nof the Spirit in lost man, and the working of the life prin-\\nciple in bodies, it is also called, comprehensively, the spirit\\nof life. In which, however, nothing is explained to us\\nrespecting the manner for we do not know, at all, how\\nthe life-principle works, we only know its effects; that it\\nquickens the dead matter, organizes, vivifies and conserve,-}\\nfa by its presence, and that, somehow, the matter, without\\nceasing at all to be matter, obeys it.\\nLet us now consider what and how much it signifies\\nthat we are spirit; capable, in this manner, of the divine\\nconcourse. In this point of view it is, that we are raised\\nmost distinctly above all other forms of existence known\\ndo us. When it is declared in the scripture, that the Spirit\\nof God moved upon the waters of chaos, it is not meant\\nthat be was inspiring chaos, but only that he was acting\\ncreatively in it. So it is not understood, when all the\\nhost of heaven are said to be created by the breath of\\nthe Almighty, that the stars arc inspired creatures; much\\nless, that the brute animals are inspired, because they are", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "THE SPIKIT IN MAN. 3d\\nsaid to live, when the Almighty senclcth forth his Spirit\\nThe will, or force of God, can act omnipotently on all cre-\\nated things, as things. He can penetrate all central fires\\nand dissolve, or annihilate, every most secret atom of the\\nworlds, but it can not be said that these things receive him.\\nNothing can truly receive him but spirit. He may pass\\nthrough things and have them pliant everywhere to his\\ntouch, but they derive nothing from him that is personal\\nto him. No creature can truly receive him, save one that\\nis constitutionally related to him in terms that permit\\ncorrespondence there must be intelligence offered to his\\nintelligence, sentiments to his sentiments, reason to his\\nreason, will to his will, personality to his person. To speak\\nof an inspired mountain, or planet, or breeze of air, an in-\\nspired block, or an inspired brute, has even a sound of\\nirreverence. Not so to speak of an inspired man for man\\nis spirit, a nature configured to God, and therefore able to\\nreceive him. And by this, he is separated from, and set\\nabove all other of God s creatures, and shown to be scarcely\\nless different from them in kind than the Creator himself\\nTrue, he is a creature, but a creature how gloriously dis-\\ntinguished; one that can partake the Infinite Creator him-\\nself, and come up thus into the range of his principles,\\nmotives, thoughts and powers. Not even the obedient\\nworlds of heaven can so receive him. Following in the\\ntrack of his will, and filling even immensity with their stu-\\npendous frame of order, they yet have nothing fellow to God\\nin their substance, and can not, therefore do what the ham-\\nblest soul is able can not receive the communication of God.\\nThey can be shaken, melted, exploded, annihilated by his\\nwill, but they are not vast enough, or high enough in qual-\\nity to be inspired by him Spirit only can be inspired.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "34 THE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\nWe sometimes undertake to magnify the dignity of man\\nby dwelling on the wonderful achievements of his intelli-\\ngence. He creates and uses language, makes records of\\nthe past, enacts laws, builds institutions, climbs the heav-\\nens, searching out their times and orbits, penetrates the\\nsecret affinities and counts the atoms of matter, bridges\\nthe sea by his inventions, commands the lightning itself\\nto think his thoughts and run upon his errands in the ends\\n!)f the world, none but a stupendous creature, we suppose,\\nand rightly, can be manifested in acts of intelligence like\\nthese. And yet, to be penetrated and lighted up from\\nwithin by the mind of God, to have the understanding of\\nthings unseen by the inspiration of the Almighty, in one\\nword, to be spirit, and have the consciousness even of God,\\nas being irradiated and filled with his divine fullness this,\\nafter all, is the distinction that makes any mere show of\\nintelligence quite insignificant.\\nWe sometimes dwell on the fact of the moral nature in\\nman, conceiving that in this, he is seen to be, most of all,\\nexalted. And our impression is right, if by the moral we\\nunderstand, also, the spiritual and religious nature, as we\\noften do. But, in strict propriety, the moral nature is\\nquite another and vastly inferior thing, as respects the\\nscale of its dignity. The spiritual is even as much higher\\nthan the moral, as the moral is higher than the animal,\\nTo be a moral being is to have a sense of duty and a\\npower of choice that supports and justifies responsibility,\\nTt is that in us which recognizes the supremacy of moral\\na or abstract notions, and acknowledges their binding\\nforce, as laws or principles. Animals, for example, have\\na certain power of intelligence, but they have no sense of\\nduty, or law; that is a point quite above their tier of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MA If 35\\nexistence. But to be raised in this manner above tliem, as\\nbeing simply a moral creature, is by no means any princi-\\npal distinction. An atheist can have moral ideas, and,\\nacting on the plane of the world as a member of human\\nsociety 3 can feel and can personally honor the obligations\\nof principle. But, to be spirit, or to have a spiritual na-\\nture, is to be practically related to a being m us and about\\nus. who is above all mere abstractions, or principles viz.,\\nto the person of God Himself. It is to be capable, not of\\nduty only, or of sentiments of duty, but of receiving God,\\nof knowing Him within, of being permeated, filled, enno-\\nbled, glorified, by his infinite Spirit. Ideas can not walk\\nin us, or witness, or beget anew, or seal; but, the living\\nGod, communicating Himself to souls, can do this and\\nmore can raise them to his own plane of existence, and\\nmake them partakers with him, even in his character itself.\\nAnd here it is that humanity culminates, or reveals the\\nsummit of its dignity it is. in beino- spirit, and, as such,\\nopen to the visitation and the indwelling power of God.\\nThis it is, and this only, that makes us properly religious\\nbeings. Angelic nature can not, in this view, be higher.\\nNo creature being can excel in order a soul so configured to\\nGod as to be inspirable by him able to receive his im-\\npulse, fall into his movement, rest in his ends, and be finally\\nperfected in the eternity of his joys.\\nIt is also in virtue of this distinction between a merely\\nmoral nature and spirit, that redemption, or the restoration\\nfrom evil is possible; for that we are down, under evil, can\\nnot be denied. Were there no other way for us, but to\\nact on ourselves, and bring ourselves out of our disorder\\ninto the abstractions of law and duty, our case were utterly\\nhopeless. As certainly as sin exists, we are in it forever.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "DO THE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\nWere there no divine access to us, no capacity of inspira*\\ntion in us, the body of a common rock could as well light\\nitself up by the sun, as we come into the light again of\\ntrue virtue, assisted only by the abstract principles, or light\\nof duty. There is no possibility of redemption, or spirit-\\nual restoration for us, save that, as being open to the in-\\nbreathing of God, we may so be impregnated with a new\\npower of life, and, by force of a divine visitation within,\\nbe regenerated in the holiness of God. All which is de-\\nscribed in the scripture as being born of God. And what\\na height of almost divinity do we look upon in such a\\ntruth as that What man will not even tremble, as in awe\\nof himself, when he contemplates, in this word of scrip-\\nture, the eternal Spirit of God coursing through the secret\\ncells and chambers of his feeling, turning him about in his\\nmotions, breathing in his thoughts, and calling back his\\nwild affections to a common center with His own.\\nGlance a moment also, at this point, on the origin and\\nconstituted relation of our human nature, as spirit, with its\\nauthor and creator. In the original scheme of existence,\\nit was planned that man should be complete, and, as it\\nwere, infinite in God, by reason of his continual participa-\\ntion of God. And this is the true normal state of man.\\nIn which normal state he was to be a continually inspired\\ncreature, conscious always of God as of himself, actuated\\nby the divine character, exalted by the divine beatitude.\\nThis, accordingly, is the true idea of the fall. It is not\\nthat man fell away from certain moral notions, or laws,\\nbut it is that he fell away from the personal inhabitation.\\nof God, lost inspiration, and so became a dark, enslaved\\ncreature, alienated, as the apostle says, from the life of\\nof God. Still, his capacity of inspiration is not absolutely", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MAN. 87\\ngone, or closed up, and God is striving ever in the gospel,\\nto regain Ms dominion over him, again to fill him as a re-\\nnewed creature with his Spirit. And when he is truly\\nyielded up again to the inspiration of God, when he is\\nborn of the Spirit, then he is so far restored to the normal\\nstate from which he fell; made conscious again of Gcd,\\nknowing God as revealed in his inmost life, by a knowl-\\nedge that is immediate filled with joy and peace, fortified\\nin strength, guided by the motions of eternal wisdom.\\nThis is the real significance, as we just now saw, of Chris-\\ntian regeneration. It is not that the subject is set in a new\\nrelation to certain abstract laws, tests, obligations, but it\\nis that he is brought back into his true normal relation to\\nthe Eternal Spirit of God, and begins to live, as he was\\nmade to live, an inspired life, led of the Spirit, dwelt in,\\nwalked in by the Spirit, made to be a temple for the in-\\nhabitation of God, as he was originally designed to be.\\nSanctification, properly regarded, is, accordingly, nothing\\nbut a completed inspiration a bringing of every thought\\ninto captivity to the divine movement. And then, if we\\nlook at the attributes of character perfected, how superla-\\ntive, how evidently divine they are the self-renunciation,\\nthe patience, the fortitude in suffering, the courage superior\\nto death and all torments of persecution, the repose, the joy,\\nthe abounding beneficence, the forgiveness of enemies, the\\nfidelity to God, that dies sooner than renounce Ilim\u00e2\u0080\u0094 these\\nare the results and characters, by which the inspired life is\\ndistinguished. Meantime the subject of this grace is no\\nway taken off from his proper individuality, by the state\\nof inspired impulse into which he is come, but he appears\\nrather to others, and also seems to himself, to have risen to\\na more complete and potent individuality than ho cvcj\\n4", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "SS THE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\nknew before. It is as if lie had just here discovered him-\\nself and awakened to the consciousness of his sovereignty\\nover all things round him. Knowing that God worketh in\\nhim to will and to do, his willing and doing are just so much\\nthe more energetic, because he is raised in such a degree,\\nby the new flood of movement upon which he is now em-\\nbarked. He governs himself the more sublimely, and, as\\nit were, imperially, that he is crowned as a king hj the in-\\nspiration he feels. He subdues the body, tramples pain\\nand scorn, rides over death, and takes a reigning attitude\\nin all things with his master simply because the individu-\\nality of his nature, never before developed under the bond-\\nage of his fallen state, is now developed by his inspira-\\ntion. As being spirit, he could never be developed, save\\nin the divine atmosphere, and, therefore, being now at\\nhome in God again, he discovers at once what it is to be\\na man.\\nObserve also, in some particulars, what takes place in\\nthe human soul, as an inspirable nature, when it is practi-\\ncally filled and operated by the Spirit of God. It has\\nnow that higher Spirit witnessing with itself. Witness-\\ning with, there is a glorious and blessed concomitancy\\nin the subject, a kind of double sense in w T hich he takes\\nnote, both of God and of himself together, and is, at one\\nand the same moment, conscious of both. He is no lon-\\nger a simple feather of humanity, driven about by the\\nfickle winds of this world s changes, but, in the new sense\\nhe has of a composite life, in which God Himself is a pre-\\nsiding force, lie is raised into a glorious equilibrium above\\nhimself, and set in rest upon the rock of God s eternity.\\nSis strength is immovable; indeed he is, in a sense, im-\\npassible. All his powers and talents are quickened to a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "THE SPIEIT IN T\u00c2\u00a3XN. 39\\ngi( /w. His perceptions are cleared, his imagination exalted\\nand his whole horizon within is gloriously luminous.\\nSee how it is in examples what a man is before the holy\\nvisitation, and what he becomes in it. The man Enoch,\\nwalked in the deep mires of this world, as little superior\\nto them, or as little raised above them, as other men\\nof his ungodly times. But, when the testimony came\\nthat he pleased God, when the internal witness of God s\\nlove was unfolded in his consciousness, his affinities were\\nchanged, even to such a degree that the earth could hold\\nhim down no longer. Joseph, as Joseph, is the favored\\nson of his father, distinguished by a certain natural grace,\\nand the wearing of a particular coat. But he begins to\\nhave dreams, and then a power to interpret dreams, and\\nGod is with him in both, leading him on to a great and\\nsplendid future, and finishing a glorious beauty in his char-\\nacter, so that even we can see it as confidently as he knows\\nit himself. Moses passes through the preparations of the\\nscholar, then becomes a refugee tending sheep on the back-\\nside of Horeb a man scarcely more, to us, than if he had\\nbeen kept, till this time, in his mother s basket among the\\nrushes of the Nile. But the call overtakes him and the\\nspirit now of God s own might enters into him. He be-\\ncomes, at once, a prophet and a commander, the Liberator\\nand Leader and Law-giver of his people, and the founder,\\nin that manner, of a history that foreshadows, and even\\nprepares a language for, the doctrines of Christ and the\\ngreat mystery of salvation to be revealed in Christ, after\\nfifteen centuries have passed away. Peter, again, the com-\\npanion of Jesus and the hearer of his word, knew less, in\\nfeet, of Christ, and the real import of his mission, than\\nMoses was able to represent, or anticipate, in the forms of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "40 THE SPIKIT IN MAN.\\nhis ritual. He even seemed to imagine, down to the day\\nof Pentecost itself, that the kingdom of Christ was explo-\\nded in his death. But when his dull humanity was lighted\\nup by the advent of the Spirit on that day, a marvelous\\ninsight rakes him, and he preaches Christ and the saving\\nwonder of his death to three thousand men, as strangely\\novertaken with another sense of the glorious crucified as\\nhe. That was Peter as a man this is Peter the rock, on\\nwhom God is building his Church. So the man Paul is\\ngoing to Damascus, full of learning, and exceedingly mad\\nwith Pharisaic sanctity, there to exterminate the hated, sect\\nof Jesus. But this Paul is spirit, and behold a power\\nbreaks into him, on his way, and a voice internal calls to\\nhim, by which he is immediately become another himself,\\nyet still another; an apostle whose inspiration is Christ\\nand for whom he is ready to die. Then how little, how\\nmad with a man s animosities now how lofty in his re-\\npose, how mighty in his action, hoAv nearly divine in his\\ncharacter. When John, the apostle, lands, or is landed\\nat Patmos, it does not appear that he carried to it thoughts\\nor perceptions that were higher, or more far-reaching than\\nmany others might carry. But he is in the Spirit on the\\nLord s day, and heaven is opened within, discovering to\\nhim, in scenes and images how sublime, the successive\\nchapters of all the future ages of the kingdom. So there\\nhave, in all ages, been prophetic gifts, intimations, premo-\\nnitions, dreams, visions, powers of healing, gifts of under-\\nstanding, discernings of spirits, whenever the eternal Spirit,\\nin souls, lifts them above their merely human range, and\\nbecomes the inhabiting grace f their personality. lie en-\\nriches them with wisdom, tills them with a supernatural\\nconfidence, opens resources of character, and shows their]", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IK MAN 41\\nto the world in the grand koinonia or fellowship of hi?\\nown majestic life. TVe see them girded thus, and going\\nforth to subdue kingdoms and conquer the world to Christ;\\nand we discover, in what they show of heavenly fire and\\nbrightness, how much it signifies that God comes into men,\\nor can, in the communication of himself. Apart from God,\\nthey are low, short-sighted, earthly and weak but, being\\nspirit, no sooner does the inspiration of the Almighty\\nbreathe into them, than they become powerful, and sea\\nafar, and shine with a dignity that is visibly divine.\\nBut we do not really conceive the height of this subject,\\ntill we bring into view the place it holds in the economy\\nof the heavenly state. All good angels and glorified men\\nare distinguished by the fact that they are now filled with\\na complete inspiration from the fullness of God. It is their\\nspiritual perfection that they are perfectly inspired, so that\\ntheir whole action is in the divine impulse. All sin, all\\ndefect and spiritual distemper are drunk up or lost in the\\ndivine perfection. Their complete inspiration is their dig-\\nnity, their strength, the spring of their swiftness and joy;\\nand the Alleluia of their adoring eternity the Lord God\\nOmnipotent reigneth, celebrates a reign not about them\\nin things, nor in some third heaven above, but in them, in\\nthe more magnificent heaven of their own exalted powers\\nand thoughts, and the glorified passions of their spirit.\\nInspiration is their heaven the Lord God giveth them\\nlight. All that we mean by the heavenly joy and perfec-\\ntion is nothing but the restoration and the everlasting\\nbloom of that high capacity for God, in which our normal\\nstate began, and of which that first state was only the\\ngerm, or prophecy. Man finds his paradise, when he is\\nimparadised in God. It is not that he is squared to certain\\n4*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "42 THE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\nabstractions, or perfected in his moral conformity to cer-\\ntain impersonal laws but it is that he is filled with the\\nsublime personality of God, and forever exalted by his\\ninspirations, moving in the divine movement, rested on\\nthe divine center, blessed in the divine beatitude.\\nOn the other hand, what is called hell, in the scripture,\\nis a world of misery, constituted by the complete absence\\nof God. It is outer darkness, because it is that night of\\nthe mind, which overtakes it when it strays from God and\\nhis light. To be severed eternally from God s Inspirations\\nis enough, as Ave are constituted, to seal our complete misery.\\nNo matter whether it be that our capacity of inspiration\\nis extinct, or whether it continues, gasping after the inspir-\\ning breath of God forever shut away. One is the misery\\nof deformity and weakness; the other of exile and want.\\nOne is that of a soul halved in its capacity, which leaves\\nthe other half unregulated and torn by disorders which it\\nhas no higher nature left to subordinate and quell; the\\nother is that of a soul in full capacity, torn by disorders\\nequally hopeless and struggling with immortal want beside.\\nI have endeavored, in this manner, to unfold, as I was\\nable, the real import of the spirit in man, taken as a na-\\nture capable of receiving the inspiration of the Almighty.\\nThis, it can hardly be questioned, is the greatest of all dis-\\ntinctions, superior to free will, to conscience, to reason,\\nand to every other gift or faculty of human nature. An\\nimportant light is shed by this great truth on many points\\nthat meet us in the facts of human life and religious\\nexperience.\\n1. It is a singu]ar and somewhat curious confirmation\\nof what I have been saying, that poets and orators have", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "THE SPIKIT IN MAN. 43\\nbeen so ready, in all ages of the world, to invoke inspira-\\ntions. It is not a mere rhetorical flourish of trumpets ag\\nthe critics appear to suppose. It is because they are made\\nto be inspired. What they ask for, whether they know it\\n01 not, is suggested by native affinities that crave a state of\\ninspiration. They really want to be exalted above them-\\nselves, and speak from a higher point as being divinely\\nempowered. Hence their invocations of the Muses, and\\nApollo, and Mars, of seraphim and of Christ. They want\\nsome deific impulse. A something in their nature lifts\\nthem up to this. And the same is in us all. K o man has\\nany satisfaction in himself, simply as a person acting from\\nhis own center. He dwindles painfully in this manner\\nand becomes a mere dry point, position without magnitude.\\nWe never come into the sense of magnitude till we receive\\nGod s measures in our feeling and rise to an attitude ex-\\nalted by the consciousness of God.\\n2. We discover in this subject what is the true ground\\nand the rational significance of the doctrine of the Holy\\nSpirit, as advanced in the gospels. It is not simply that\\nsin has made a necessity for the divine nature to do some-\\nthing new, but rather that sin had abolished something\\nold, which needs to be restored. The doctrine of the Holy\\nSpirit is grounded in the primordial nature of all spiritual\\nbeings. They are made, as we have said, to be divinely\\ninhabited, made to live in eternal inspiration. The doc-\\ntrine of the Holy Spirit pertains to all created spirit in all\\nworlds, only with modifications adapted to their state. To\\nbe in the Spirit is their noimal condition, their conserving\\nlaw, their light, and strength, and glory. And therefore,\\nwhen they sin, falling away from God s Spirit and drop-\\nping into the daikness of mere self-hood, there can, of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "44 THE SPIRIT IN MAN.\\ncoarse, be no recovery, till the eternal Spirit is re-installed\\nin their nature. They require to be regenerated, born of\\nthe Spirit, which only means that the lost inspiration is\\nnow restored. Accordingly, the question so often mooted,\\nwhether men have power to regenerate themselves, is seen\\nto be idle and even senseless for the plain reason that be-\\ning regenerated is the same thing as having inspiration;\\nthat is, being in the divine impulse and order. The pre\u00c2\u00b0\\ncise thing needed is to be raised out of the separated, self-\\ncentered, evil state into the inspired state, and the regula-\\ntive order of God s own movement. Are we then going\\nto regenerate ourselves, going to inspire ourselves? If\\nit were a merely moral change, a change before the mind s\\nown abstractions, ideas, or principles, it would not be plainly\\nabsurd to think it; but, when it is a renewal that even con-\\nsists in the inbreathing of God s Spirit, and the being in\\nhis impulse, what Scougal appropriately calls The Life\\nof God in the Soul of Man, how shall it even be imagined\\nthat we can pass the change upon ourselves? And yet\\nhow simple it is How much easier, in fact, than to drag\\nourselves into good of any kind. Open your whole na-\\nture to God, offer yourselves in the spirit of contrition and\\nof a real, unquestioning faith, to the occupancy of God,\\nand the light will not more certainly break into the sky,\\nand fill the horizon with day, when the morning sun is\\nrisen. Ask, in one word, and ye shall receive, seek and ye\\nshall find. This now is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit\\nIt is not some new idea of the gospel. It is an advance\\nof the Divine love to recover lost ground and bring back\\nguilty souls among men, to that which is the original,\\neverlasting bliss and beauty of all the created intelligences\\nof God.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MAN. 45\\n3. We discover, in our subject, what significance tlierc is\\nin the pride which looks on spiritual religion as a humili-\\nation, or deems it even a mortification not to be endured.\\nA mortification for this tiny speck of mortality not to stay\\nby itself in its own littleness and frailty A mortification\\ntc be brought up into the sense of God s own greatness\\nA mortification to be ennobled by the Spirit of God, to\\nhave all our experience modulated and glorified by him!\\nA mortification to be in God s wisdom, to be established\\nin the confidence of his infinite majesty, to think with him\\nand from him, to move in the glorious order of his perfect\\nmind, and be the embodiment eternally of his impulse\\n0, how petty and weak this pride how contemptible\\nthis contempt And yet, to be a Christian, to be given up\\nto the Spirit of God and carefully offered to his holy\\nguidance, how many look on it as a weakness, a loss of\\ndignity, a thing which only the tamer and less manly\\nsouls can descend to. I know not any thing else that ex-\\nhibits the folly and conceit of man like this pride. As\\nif it were some loss or abatement to be set in a plane with\\nGod, to have the inspiration of the Almighty, to receive a\\nhigher nature and life in the Eternal Life and impulse of\\nGod. It is as if the world of matter were to be ashamed\\nof the sun, and shrink with inward mortification from the\\nstate of day! TThat is God but our day, the sun of our\\neternity, the light of our light, without whom, as the\\nlight of our seeing, the universe of nature were a mere\\nphosphorescence of fete, unintelligent and cold, life a\\ndriblet of vanity, and eternity itself a protracted and\\namplified nothingness 0, my friends, this pride you have\\nagainst religion will sometime be inverted, and you will\\nbe overwhelmed by the discovery of its true merit. You", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "46 THE SPIEIT IN MAN.\\nhave read those powerful words, shame and everlasting\\ncontempt. And what do j-ou think is their meaning?\\nIt is to look on the saints in the glory of their resurrection,\\nand see them visibly perfected and ennobled by the inhabit-\\nation of God, and remember that such was the honor ycu\\nrejected: to wither and mentally die in the sense of yout\\nown little separated speck of vanity, when surrounded\\nwith holy myriads, gloriously transfigured by the light of\\nGod upon them, this is shame and everlasting contempt.\\nO, that I could help you to understand, as then- you will,\\nhow great a thing it is to be established everlastingly\\nin the inspired state. These are they who are made kings\\nand priests unto God the kinsmen of angels, the compan-\\nions of seraphim, bright, and strong, and free, because the\\nEternal Spirit leads them, and shines forever, in glorious\\nevidence, through them. The Lord God giveth them light.\\nDespised of man, they are princes now at God s right\\nhand. Wise, great, mighty and majestic, creatures in the\\nrange of divinity, you may see, in their glorious beauty\\nand the royal confidence of their eternity, how much it\\nsignifies to be a spirit capable of God and the abiding\\ngrace of his presence.\\nFinally, it remains to conduct you forward into that\\nview of the great future of Christianity on earth, in which\\nmuch of the practical interest of our subject lies. It is a\\ngreat misfortune, as I view it, that Ave have brought down\\nthe word inspiration to a use so narrow and technical; as-\\nserting it only of prophecy and other scripture writings,\\nand carefully excluding from it all participation, by our-\\nselves, in whatever sense it might be taken. We cut our-\\nselves off, in this manner, from any comraon terms with\\nthe anointed men of scripture and the scripture times.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MAN, 47\\nThey belong to another tier of existence, tvith which we\\ncan not dare to claim affinity; and so we become a class\\nunprivileged, shut down to a kind of second-hand life,\\nfeeding on their words. The result is that we are occupied\\nalmost wholly with second-hand relations to God. Our\\nviews of life are low and earthly, because our possibilities\\nare low. And then we complain that Christian character\\ngrows worldly, and loses depth and tone, as if it were\\nfinally going to quite vanish out of the world that reli-\\ngious convictions grow feeble that the ministry and the\\npreached word produce no longer the true apostolic effects.\\nAs if any thing apostolic in power could remain, when no\\napostolic faith or grace is left us; when, in fact, the apostles\\nand all scripture writers are really set between us and God\\nto fence us away, not before, as examples to help us on\\nfor they, we are told, were inspired, which we, in no sense,\\ncan be. And so, being shut down to a meaner existence,\\nthere is no relief for us but in a recoil against inspiration\\nitself, even that of the Holy Scriptures for, who will be-\\nlieve, (how many are beginning to ask it,) that men were\\ninspired long ages ago, when now any such thing is\\nin credible?\\nThere is yet to be a revision of this whole subject. Not\\nthat we are to assert or claim the same inspiration with\\nthe writers of scripture. God has a particular kind of\\ninspiration for every man, just according to what he is and\\nthe uses he will make of him for the tradesmen Bezaleel\\nas truly as for Moses. He will dignify every right calling\\nby being joined to us in it; for there is nothing given us\\nto do, which he will not help us to do rightly and wisely,\\nfilling us with a lofty and fortified consciousness of hia\\npresence with us in it. Tt is not for us to say, beforehand,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "48 THE SPIRIT IE MAN\\nwhat gifts, or what kind of inspiration God will bestow.\\nEnough that he will take us into his own care, and work\\nhis own counsel in us. We have no lisp of authority\\nfor assuming that he never wants another book of scrip-\\nture written, though probably enough he does not. He\\nwill take care of that only let us set no limits to the Holy\\nOne of Israel, and be ready to admit his guidance, and\\nwait to be his qualified instruments, whether in work or\\nsuffering, whether as tradesmen., or merchants, or teachers,\\nor ministers, or prisoners, or domestics, or slaves.\\nI believe, furthermore, that there is going, finally, to be\\nentered into the world a more general, systematic and\\nsoundly intellectual conviction respecting all these secret\\nrelations of souls to God. When we have been out into\\nall the fields of science, and gotten our opinion of the\\nscientific order by which God works in matter, and the\\nlaws immaterial by which all matter is swayed, I believe\\nthat we shall turn round God-ward, to consider what our\\nrelations may be on that side and then we shall not only\\ntake up the doctrine of the Spirit and of holy inspiration,\\nlooking no more, as now, after some mere casual, fitful,\\npartially fantastic, visitations of what we call the Spirit,\\nbut we shall discover in it the truth of a grand, universal,\\nintelligent, systematic, abiding inspiration, and the whole\\nhuman race, lifted by this discovery, will fall into this gift,\\nknowing that in God is the only divine privilege of exist-\\nence. To be in this inspiration will be nothing extraordi-\\nnary new, any more than that men should be sober, which\\nout of it they are not. Without something like this break*\\ning into the world s mind, that kingdom which is righteous-\\nness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, and which it is\\npromised shall finally fill the earth, can, manifestly, never", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "THE SPIRIT IN MAN 49\\ncomo. These, too, are the last days of the promise days\\nwhen the apostolic grace, instead of being confined to\\napostles, and shut away from the living, is to bathe, and\\nfill, and glorify itself in all created minds on earth.\\nAnd the sooner, brethren and friends, we begin to look\\nfor this the better. And what shall we do sooner than\\nprepare ourselves for the grace that is offered. First, be-\\nlieve that yon may have it, and may live in this abiding\\nwitness and participation of God s Spirit. Sacrifice every\\nthing cheerfully and calmly for this. Esteem it no forbid-\\nding sanctimony to be holy. Aspire to these majestic\\nhonors, by a life rationally set to do God s will and purified\\nto receive it. Live as with God and, whatever be your\\ncalling, pray for the gift that will perfectly qualify you in\\nit. Let his tabernacle so be set up in you, and be a witness\\nfor him, in that manner, of the day, when it shall be said,\\nin the fullness of his universal light, the tabernacle of\\nGod is with men.\\n5", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "ITT.\\nDIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE SHOWN FROM ITS RUINS.\\nEOMANS iii., 13-18. Their throat is an open sepulchre,\\nwith tlieir tongues they have used deceit the poison of o^sps is\\nunder their lips. Whose mouth is full of classing and bitter-\\nness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and\\nmisery are in their zuays. And the way of peace they have\\nnot known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.\\nA MOST dark and dismal picture of humanity, it must\\nbe admitted; and yet it has two sides or aspects. In\\none view, it is the picture of weakness, wretchedness,\\nshame and disgust all which they discover in it who most\\nsturdily resent the impeachment of it. In the other, it\\npresents a being higher than even they can boast; a fear-\\nfully great being great in his evil will, his demoniacal\\npassions, his contempt of fear, the splendor of his degra-\\ndation, and the magnificence of his woe.\\nIt is this latter view of the picture to which, at the\\npresent time, I propose to call your attention, exhibiting,\\nTlie dignity of man, as revealed by the ruin he makes in his\\nfall and apostacy from God.\\nIt has been the way of many, in our time, to magnify\\nhumariity, or the dignity of human nature, by tracing its\\ncapabilities and the tokens it reveals of a natural affinity\\nwith God and truth. They distinguish lovely instincts\\npowers and properties allied to God, aspirations reaching", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 51\\nafter God; many virtues, according to tie common use of\\nthat term many beautiful and graceful charities and, by\\nsuch kind of evidences, or proofs, they repel, sometimes\\nwith scorn, what they call the libelous, or even the insult-\\ning doctrine of total depravity. And this they do, as I\\nwill add, not without some show of reason, when the fact\\nof our depravity is asserted in a manner that excludes the\\nadmission of any such high aspirations and amiable pro-\\nperties, or virtues, as we certainly discover in human con\\nduct, apart from any gifts and graces of religion. And it\\nmust be admitted that some teachers have given occasion\\nfor this kind of offense not observing the compatibility\\nof great aspirations and majestic affinities with a state of\\ndeep spiritual thraldom; assuming, also, with as little\\nright, the want of all appropriate sensibilities and recep-\\ntivities for the truth, as a necessary inference from the\\ncomplete destitution of holiness. They make out, in this\\nmanner, a doctrine of human depravity, in which there is\\nno proper humanity left.\\nI am not required by my subject to settle the litigation\\nbetween these two extremes one of which makes the gos-\\npel unnecessary, because there is no depravation to restore;\\nand the other of which makes it impossible, because there\\nis nothing left to which any holy appeal can be made but\\nI undertake, in partial disregard of both, to show the es-\\nsential greatness and dignity of man from the ruin itself\\nwhich he becomes; confident of this, that in no other\\npoint of view, will he prove the spiritual sublimity of hifl\\nnature so convincingly.\\nNor is it any thing new, or a turn more ingenious than\\njust, that we undertake to raise our conceptions of human", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "52 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE.\\nnature in this manner; for it is in just tins way that, we\\nare accustomed to get our measures and form our concep-\\ntions of many things; of the power, for example, of\\nancient djmasties and the magnificence of ancient works\\nand cities. Falling thus, it may be, on patches of paved\\nroad here and there, on lines leading out divergently from\\nancient Eome, uncovering and decyphering the mile-stones\\nby their sides, marked with postal distances, here for\\nBritain, here for Germany, here for Ephesus and Babylon,\\nhere for Brundusium, the port of the Appian Way, and\\nso for Egypt, JSTumidia and the provinces of the sun im-\\nagining the couriers flying back and forth, bearing the\\nmandates of the central authority to so many distant na-\\ntions, followed by the military legions trailing on to exe-\\ncute them we receive an impression of the empire, from\\nthese scattered vestiges, which almost no words of historic\\ndescription could give us. So, if we desire to form some\\nopinion of the dynasty of the Pharaohs, of whom history\\ngives us but the faintest remembrances and obscurest tra-\\nditions, we have only to look on the monumental mount-\\nains, piled up to molder on the silent plain of Egypt, and\\nthese dumb historians in stone will show us more of that\\nvast and populous empire, measuring by the amount of real-\\nized impression, more of the imperial haughtiness of the\\nmonarchs, more of the servitude of their people and of the\\ncaptive n^riads of the tributary nations, than even Hero-\\ndotus and Strabo, history and geograph y, together.\\nThe same is true, even more strikingly, of ancient\\ncities. Though described by historians, in terms of defi-\\nnite measurement, with their great structures and defenses\\nand the royal splendor of their courts, we form no suffi-\\ncient conception of their grandeur, till we look upon their", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "SHOWN FROM ITS RUINS. 53\\nruins. Even the eloquence of Homer describing the glory\\nand magnificence of Thebes, the vast circuit of its walls,\\nits hundred gates, and the chariots of war pouring out of\\nall, to vanquish and hold in subjection the peoples of as\\nmany nations, yields only a faint, unimpressive conception\\nof the city but, to pass through the ruins of Karnac and\\nLuxor, a vast desolation of temples and pillared avenues\\nthat dwarf all the present structures of the world, solemn,\\nsilent and hoary, covered with historic sculptures that re-\\nlate the conquest of kingdoms a journey to pass through,\\na maze in which even comprehension is lost this reveals\\na fit conception of the grandest city of the world as no\\nwords could describe it. Beheld and judged by the majesty\\nof its ruins, there is a poetry in the stones surpassing all\\nmajesty of song. So, when the prophet Jonah, endeavor-\\ning, as he best can, to raise some adequate opinion of the\\ngreatness of Nineveh, declares that it is an exceeding\\ngreat city, of three daj s journey; and, when Nahum\\nfollows, magnifying its splendor in terms of high descrip-\\ntion that correspond still, so ambiguous and faint is the\\nimpression made, that many were doubting whether, after\\nall, the exceeding great city was any thing more than\\na vast inclosure of gardens and pasture grounds for sheep,\\nwhere a moderate population subsisted under the protec-\\ntion of a wall. No one had any proper conception of the\\ncity till just now, when a traveler and antiquary digs into\\nthe tomb where it lies, opens to view, at points many miles\\nasunder, its temples and palaces, drags out the heavy\\nsculptures, shows the inscriptions, collects the tokens of\\nart and splendor, and says, this is Nineveh, the exceeding\\ngreat city, and then, judging of its extent from the vast\\nand glorious ruin, we begin to have some fit impression\\n5*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "54 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nof its magnitude and splendor. And so it is with\\nBabylon, Ephesus, Tadmor of the desert, Baalbee and the\\nnameless cities and pyramids of the extinct American\\nrace. All great ruins are but a name for greatness in\\nrains, and we see the magnitude of the structure in that\\nof the ruin made by it, in its fall.\\nSo it is with man. Our most veritable, though saddest\\nimpressions of his greatness, as a creature, we shall derive\\nfrom the magnificent rum he displays. In that ruin we\\nshall distinguish fallen powers, that lie as broken pillars\\non the ground temples of beauty, whose scarred and shat-\\ntered w^alls still indicate their ancient, original glory; sum-\\nmits covered with broken stones, infested by asps, where\\nthe palaces of high thought and great aspiration stood,\\nand righteous courage went up to maintain the citadel of\\nthe mind, all a ruin now, archangel ruined.\\nAnd exactly this, I conceive, is the legitimate impres-\\nsion of the scripture representations of man, as apostate\\nfrom duty and God. Thoughtfully regarded, all exagger-\\nations and contending theories apart, it is as if they were\\nshowing us the original dignity of man, from the magnifi-\\ncence of the ruin in which he lies. How sublime a crea-\\nture must that be. call him either man or demon, who is\\nable to confront the Almighty and tear himself away from\\nhis throne. And, as if to forbid our taking his deep\\nmisery and shame as tokens of contempt, imagining that\\na creature so humiliated is inherently weak and low, the\\nfirst men are shown us living out a thousand years of\\nlustful energy, and braving the Almighty in strong\\ndefiance to the last. The earth also is corrupt before\\nGod, and the earth is filled with violence/ We look, as\\nit were, upon a race of Titans, broken loose from order", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "SHOTX FKOil ITS BUINS. 55\\nand making war upon God and each, other; beholding, in\\ntheir outward force, a type of that original majesty which\\npertains to the moral nature of a being, endowed with a\\nself- determining liberty, capable of choices against God,\\nand thus of a character in evil that shall be his own. They\\nfill the earth, even up to the sky, with wrath and the de-\\nmoniacal tumult of their wrongs, till God can suffer them\\nno longer, sending forth his flood to sweep them from the\\nearth. So of the remarkable picture given by Paul, in the\\nchapter of the epistle to the Eomans. In one view\\nwe are disgusted, in another shocked, doubting whether it\\npresents a creature most foolish and vile or most sublimely\\nimpious and wicked and coming out, finally, where the\\nchapter ends who knowing the judgment of God that\\nthey which commit such things are worthy of death, not\\nonly do the same but have pleasure in them that do\\nthem there to confess the certain greatness of a being\\nwhose audacity is so nearly infinite, whose adherence to\\nthe league with evil is maintained with a pertinacity so\\ndamnably desperate and relentless. And the picture of the\\ntext correspoi; n g n impression of a merely feeble\\nand vile creature, but of a creature rather most terrible\\nand swift; destructive, fierce and fearless; miserable in his\\ngreatness; great as in evil. Their throat is an open sepul-\\nchre with their tongues they have used deceit the poison\\nof asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing\\nand bitten: 38; their feet are swift to shed blood. Des-\\nand misery are in their way and the way of\\nthey not known there is no fear of God before\\nh eves.\\nBut we come to the nun as it is, and we look upon it", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "56 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nwith our own eyee, to receive the true, original impression\\nfor ourselves.\\nWe look, first of all, upon the false religions of the\\nworld; pompous and costly rites transacted before croco-\\ndiles and onions magnificent temples built over all mon-\\nkeyish and monstrous creatures carved by men s hands\\nchildren offered up, by their mothers, in fire, or in water;\\nkings offered on the altars, by their people, to propitiate a\\nwooden image; gorgeous palaces and trappings of bar-\\nbaric majesty, studded all over with beetles in gold, or\\nprecious stones, to serve as a protection against pestilences,\\npoisons and accidents. I can not fill out a picture that so\\nnearly fills the world. Doubtless it is a picture of ruin\\nyet of a ruin how visibly magnificent. For, how high a\\nnature must that be, how intensely allied to what is divine,\\nthat it must prepare such pomps, incur such sacrifices, and\\ncan elevate such trifles of imposture to a place of rever-\\nence. If we say that, in all this, it is feeling after\\nGod if haply it may find him, which in one view is the\\ntruth, then how inextinguishable and grand are those re-\\nligious instincts by which it is allied to the holy, the infi-\\nnite, the eternal, but invisible one.\\nThe wars of the world yield a similar impression. What\\nopinion should we have of the energy, ferocity and fear-\\nful passion of a race of animals, could any such be found,\\nwho marshal themselves by the hundred thousand, march-\\ning across kingdoms and deserts to fight, and strewing\\nleagues of ground with a covering of dead, before they\\nyield the victory. One race there is that figure in these\\nheroics of war, in a small way, viz., the tiny race of ants;\\nwhom God has made a spectacle to mock the glory and\\nmagnificence of human wars; lest, carried away bv so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "SHOWX FROM ITS RUINS. 57\\nman 7 brave shows and by tlie applauses of the drunken\\nages of the world, we pass, undiscovered, the meanness and\\nlittleness of that selfish ambition, or pride,. by which hu-\\nman wars are instigated. These are men such as history,\\nin all past ages, shows them to be swift to shed blood,\\nswifter than the tiger race, and more terrible. Cities and\\nempires are swept by their terrible marches, and become\\na desolation in their path. Destruction and misery are in\\ntheir ways what destruction, misery, how deep and\\nlong And what shall we think of any creature of God\\ndisplayed in signs like these. Plainly enough he is a crea-\\nture in ruins, but how magnificent a creature Mean as\\nthe ant in his passions, but erecting, on the desolations he\\nmakes, thrones of honor and renown, and raising himself\\ninto the attitude of a god, before the obsequious ages of\\nmankind for who of us can live content, as we are tem-\\npered, without some hero to admire and worship?\\nConsider again the persecutions of the good fires for the\\nsaints of all ages, dungeons for the friends of liberty and\\nbenefactors of their times, poison for Socrates, a cross for\\nJesus Christ. What does it mean? What face shall we\\nput on this outstanding demonstration of the world No\\nother but this, that cursing and bitterness, the poison even\\nof asps, and more, is entered into the heart of man. He\\nhates with a diabolical hatred. Feeling how awful good-\\nness is/ the sight of it rouses him to madness, and he will\\nnot stop till he has tasted blood. And what a being is\\nthis that can be stung with so great madness, by the spec-\\ntacle of a good and holy life. The fiercest of animals are\\ncapable of no such devilish instigation because they are\\ntoo low to be capable of goodness, or even of the thought\\nBut here is a creature who can not bear the reminder even", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "58 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nof good, or of any thing above the ruin where his deso-\\nlated glory lies. how great is the nature which is\\ncapable of this dire phrenzy.\\nThe great characters of the world furnish another strik-\\ning proof of the transcendent quality of human nature,\\nby the dignity they are able to connect even with their\\nlittleness and meanness. On a small island of the southern\\nAtlantic, is shut up a remarkable prisoner, wearing him-\\nself out there in a feeble mixture of peevishness and jeal-\\nousy, solaced b}^ no great thoughts and no heroic spirit\\na kind of dotard before the time, killing and consuming\\nhimself by the intense littleness into which he has shrunk.\\nAnd this is the great conqueror of the modern world, the\\nman whose name is the greatest of modern names, or, some\\nwill sa}^, of all names the human world has pronounced a\\nman, nevertheless, who carried his greatest victories and\\ntold his meanest lies in close proximity, a character as des-\\ntitute of private magnanimity, as he was remarkable for\\nthe stupendous powers of his understanding and the more\\nstupendous and imperial leadership of his will. How\\ngreat a being must it be, that makes a poiut of so great\\ndignity before the world, despite of so much that is really\\nlittle and contemptible.\\nBut he is not alone. The immortal Kepler, piloting\\nscience into the skies, and comprehending the vastncss of\\nheaven, for the first time, in the fixed embrace of definite\\nthought, only proves the magnificence of man as a ruin,\\nwhen you discover the strange ferment of irritability and\\nu superstition wild, in which his great thoughts are brewed\\nand his mighty life dissolved.\\niSo also Bacon proves the amazing wealth and grand*\\near of the human soul only the more sublimely that", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "SHOWX FROM ITS RUINS 59\\nliving in an element of cunning, servility and ingratitude,\\nand dying under the shame of a convict, he is yet able to\\ndignify disgrace by the stupendous majesty of his genius,\\nand commands the reverence even of the world, as to one of\\nits sublimest benefactors. And the poet s stinging line\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nThe greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind,\\npictures, only with a small excess of satire, the magnifi-\\ncence of ruin comprehended in the man.\\nProbably no one of mankind has raised himself to a\\nhigher pitch of renown by the superlative attributes of\\ngenius displayed in his writings, than the great English\\ndramatist flowering out, nevertheless, into such eminence\\nof glory, on a compost of fustian, buffoonery and other\\nvile stuff, which he so magnificently covers with splendor\\nand irradiates with beauty, that disgust itself is lost in the\\nvehemence of praise. And so Ave shall find, almost uni-\\nversally, that the greatness of the world s great men, is\\nproved by the inborn qualities that tower above the ruins\\nof weakness and shame, in which they appear, and out of\\nwhich, as solitary pillars and dismantled temples they rise.\\nBut we must look more directly into the contents of hu-\\nman nature, and the internal ruin by which they are dis-\\nplayed. And here you may notice, first of all, the sublime\\nvehemence of the passions. What a creature must that\\nbe, who, out of mere hatred, or revenge, will deliberately\\ntake the life of a fellow man, and then dispatch his own to\\navoid the ignominy of a public execution. Suppose there\\nmight be found some tiger that, for the mere bitterness of\\nLis grudge against some other whelp of bis mother, springs\\nupon him in his sleep and rends him in pieces, and then", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "60 DIGNITV OF HUMAN NATUftE\\ndeliberately tears open his own throat to escape the venge-\\nance of the family. No tiger of the desert is ever insti-\\ngated by any so intense and terrible passion, that, for the\\nsweetness of revenge, is willing afterward to rush on\\ndeath itself. This kind of phrenzy plainly belongs to\\nnone but a creature immortal, an archangel ruined, in\\n(vhose breast a fire of hell may burn high enough and\\ndeep enough to scorch down even reason and the innate\\nlove of life. Or take the passion of covetousness, gener-\\nally regarded as one essentially mean and degraded. After\\nall, how great a creature must that be, who is goaded by\\na zeal of acquisition so restless, so self-sacrificing, so insa-\\ntiable. The poor, gaunt miser, starving for want, that he\\nmay keep the count of his gold whom do we more natur-\\nally pity and despise. And yet he were even the great-\\nest of heroes, if he could deny himself with so great pa-\\ntience, in a good and holy cause. How grand a gift that\\nimmortality, how deep those gulfs of want in the soul,\\nthat instigate a madness so desolating to character, a self-\\nimmolation so relentless, a niggard suffering so sublime.\\nThe same is true even of the licentious and gluttonous\\nlusts and their loathsome results. No race of animals can\\nshow the parallel of such vices because they are none of\\nthem instigated by a nature so insatiable, so essentially\\ngreat, in the magnificence of wants that find no good to\\nsatisfy their cravings. The ruin we say is beastly, but the\\nbeasts are clear of the comparison it requires a mold vaster\\nthan theirs, to burst the limits of nature in excesses so\\ndisgusting.\\nConsider again the wild mixtures of thought, displayed\\nboth in the waking life and the dreams of mankind. How\\ngrand I how mean! how sudden the leap from one to the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "SHOWN FKOM ITS RUINS 61\\nother! how inscrutable the succession! how defiant of or-\\nderly control! It is as if the soul were a thinking ruin;\\nwhich it verily is. The angel and the demon life appeaT\\nto be contending in it. The imagination revels in beauty\\nexceeding all the beauty of things, wails in images dire\\nand monstrous, wallows in murderous and base sugges-\\ntions that shame our inward dignity; so that a great park\\nof the study and a principal art of life, is to keep out\\ndecency, by a wise selection from what we think and a careful\\nsuppression of the remainder. A diseased and crazy mix-\\nture, such as represents a ruin, is the form of our inward\\nexperience. And yet, a ruin how magnificent, one which\\na buried Xineveh, or a desolated Thebes can parallel only\\nin the faintest degree comprehending all that is purest,\\nbrightest, most divine, even that which is above the firma-\\nment itself; all that is worst, most sordid, meanest, most\\ndeformed.\\nXotice, also, the significance of remorse. How great a\\ncreature must that be that, looking down upon itself from\\nsome high, summit in itself, some throne of truth and\\njudgment which no devastation of order can reach, with-\\ners in relentless condemnation of itself, gnaws and chas-\\ntises itself in the sense of what it is Call it a ruin, as it\\nplainly is, there rises out of the desolated wreck of its\\nformer splendor, that which indicates and measures the\\nsublimity of the original temple. The conscience standa\\n^rect, resisting all the ravages of violence and decay, and\\nby this, we distinguish the temple of God that was; a soul\\ndivinely gifted, made to be the abode of his spirit, the\\nvehicle of his power, the mirror of his glory. A creature\\nof remorse is a divine creatine of necessity, only it is tii\\nWreck of a divinity that was.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "62 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nSo again, yon may conceive the greatness of man, by\\nthe ruin he makes, if you advert to the dissonance and\\nobstinacy of his evil will. It is dissonant as being out of\\nharmony with God and the world, and all beside in the\\nsoul itself; viz., the reason, the conscience, the wants, the\\nhopes, and even the remembrances of the soul. How great\\na creature is it that, knowing God, can set itself off from\\nGod and resist him, can make itself a unit, separate from\\nall beings beside, and maintain a persistent rebellion even\\nagainst its own convictions, fears and aspirations. Like a\\nPharaoh it sits on its Egyptian throne, quailing in dark-\\nness, under the successive fears and judgments of life, re-\\nlenting for the moment, then gathering itself up again to\\nre-assert the obstinacy of its pride, and die, it may be, in\\nits evil. What a power is this, capable of a dominion\\nhow sublime, a work and sphere how transcendent If\\nsin is weak, if it is mean, little, selfish and deformed, and\\nwe are ready to set humanity down as a low and paltry\\nthing of nothing worth, how terrible and tragic in its evil\\ngrandeur does it appear, when we turn to look upon its\\ndefiance of God, and the desperate obstinacy of its war-\\nfare. Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they\\nwhich commit such things are worth} of death, not only\\ndo the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Or\\nas we have it in the text, There is no fear of God before\\ntheir eyes. In one view there is fear enough, the soul is\\nall its life long haunted by this fear, but there is a despera-\\ntion of will that tramples fear and makes it as though it\\nwere not.\\nConsider once more the religious aspirations and capaci-\\nties of religious attraction that are garnered up, and still\\nlive in the ruins of humanity. Row plain it is, in all the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "SHOWX FROil ITS RUINS. 63\\nmost forward demonstrations of the race, that man is a\\ncreature for religion a creature secretly allied to God hin\\nself, as the needle is to the pole, attracted toward Gocl\\naspiring consciously, or unconsciously, to the friendship\\nand love of God. Neither is it true that, in his fallen\\nstate, he has no capacity left of religious affection, or at-\\ntraction., till it is first new created in him. All his capaci-\\nties of love and truth are in him still, cnly buried and\\nstifled by the smoldering ruin in which he lies. There\\ncapacity in him still to be moved and drawn, to be\\ncharmed and melted by the divine love and beauty. The\\nold affinity lives, though smothered in selfishness and lust,\\nand even proves itself in sorrowful evidence, when he bowa\\nhimself down to a reptile or an idol. He will do his most\\nexpensive works for religion. There is a deep panting\\nstall in his bosom, however suppressed, that cries inaudibly\\nand sobs with secret longing after God. Hence the sub-\\nlime unhappiness of the race. There is a vast, immortal\\nwant stirring on the world and forbidding it to rest. In\\nthe cursing and bitterness, in the deceit of tongues, in the\\npoison of asps, in the swiftness to blood, in all the destruc-\\ntion and misery of the world s ruin, there is yet a vast in-\\nsatiate hunger for the good, the true, the holy, the divine,\\nand a great part of the misery of the ruin is that it is so\\nr a ruin; a desolation of that which can not utterly\\nperish, and still lives, asserting its defrauded rights and re-\\nclaiming its lost glories. And therefore it is that life be-\\ncomes an experience to the race so tragic in its character,\\nso dark and wild, so bitter, so incapable of peace. The\\nway of peace we can not know, till we find our peace,\\nwhere our immortal aspirations place it, in the fullness and\\nfriendly eternity of God.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "64 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nRegarding man then, as immersed in evil, a being in\\ndisorder, a spiritual intelligence in a state of ruin, we dero\u00c2\u00ab\\ngate nothing from his dignity. Small conception has any\\none of the dignity of human nature, who conceives it only\\nuii the side of praise, or as set off by the figments of a\\nmerely natural virtue. As little could he apprehend the\\ntragic sublimity of Hamlet, considered only as an amiable\\nson ingenuously hurt by the insult done his father s name\\nand honor. The character is great, not here, but in its\\nwildness and its tragic mystery delicate and fierce, vin-\\ndictive and cool, shrewd and terrible, a reasonable and a\\nreasoning madness, more than we can solve, all that we\\ncan feel. And so it is that we discover the true majesty\\nof human nature itself, in the tragic grandeur of its dis-\\norders, nowhere else. Nothing do we know of its meas-\\nures, regarded in the smooth plausibilities and the respect-\\nable airs of good breeding, and worldly virtue. It is only\\nas a lost being that man appears to be truly great. Judge\\nhim by the ruin he makes, wander among the shattered\\npillars and fallen towers of his majesty, behold the immor-\\ntal and eternal vestiges, study his passions, thoughts, aspir-\\nations, woes behold the destruction and misery that are\\nin his ways, destruction how sublime, misery how deep,\\nclung to with how great pertinacity, and then say, this\\nis man, this is the dignity of human nature. It will kin-\\ndle no pride in you, stimulate no pompous conceit, but it\\nwill reveal a terror, discover a shame, speak a true con-\\nviction, and, it may be, draw forth a tear.\\nHaving reached this natural limit of our subject, ]et ug\\npause a moment, and look about us on some of the prao\\ntical issues to which it is related.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "SH0WX FROM US RUINS. 6\u00c2\u00a3\\nIt is getting to be a great hope of our time, that sccietj\\nis going to slide into sometliing better, by a course of natu-\\nral progress by the advance of education, by great public\\nreforms, by courses of self-culture and philanthropic prac-\\ntice We have a kind of new gospel that corresponds a\\ngospel which preaches not so much a faith in God s salva-\\ntion as a faith in human nature an attenuated moralizing\\ngospel that proposes development, not regeneration show-\\ning- men how to stow better, how to cultivate their amia-\\nble instincts, how to be rational in their own liokt and\\ngovern themselves by their own power. Sometimes it is\\ngiven as the true problem, how to reform the shape and\\nre-construct the style of their heads, and even this it is ex-\\npected they will certainly be able to do Alas that we are\\ntaken, or can be, with so great folly. How plain it is that\\nno such gospel meets our want. TThat can it do for\\nus but turn us away, more and more fatally, from that\\ngospel of the Son of God, which is our only hope. Man\\nas a ruin, going after development, and progress, and\\nphilanthropy, and social culture, and, by this fire-fly glim-\\nmer, to make a day of glory And this is the doctrine\\nthat proposes shortly to restore society, to settle the passion,\\nregenerate the affection, re-glorify the thought, fill the as-\\npiration of a desiring and disjointed world! As if any\\nbeing but God Lad power to grapple with these human\\ndisorders as if man, or society, crazed and maddened by\\nthe demoniacal frenzy of sin, were going to rebuild the\\nstate of order, and re-construct the shattered harmony of\\nnature, by such kind of desultory counsel and unsteady\\napplication as it can manage to enforce in its own cause.\\ngoing to do this miracle by its science, its compacts, and\\nself-executed reforms! As socn will the desolations of\\n6*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "66 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nKarnac gather up tlieir fragments and re-construct the pro*\\nportions out of which they have fallen. No, it is not\\nprogress, not reforms that are wanted as any principal thing.\\nNothing meets our case, but to come unto God and be\\nmedicated in him to be born of God, and so, by his re-\\ngenerative power, to be set in heaven s own order. He\\nalone can re-build the ruin, he alone set up the glorious\\ntemple of the mind; and those divine affinities in us that\\nraven with immortal hunger he alone can satisfy them\\nin the bestowment of himself.\\nAnd this brings me to speak of another point, where the\\nsubject unfolded carries an important application. The\\ngreat difficulty with Christianity in our time is, that, as a\\nfact, or salvation, it is too great for belief. After all our\\nsupposed discoveries of dignity in human nature, we have\\ncommonly none but the meanest opinion of man. How\\ncan we imagine or believe that any such history as that of\\nJesus Christ is a fact, or that the infinite God has trans-\\nacted any such wonder for man, a being so far below his\\nrational concern, or the range of his practical sympathy?\\nGod manifest in the flesh God in Christ reconciling the\\nworld unto himself! the birth of the manger! the life of\\nmiracle the incarnate dying and the world darkening in\\nfuneral grief around the mighty sufferer s cross! it is ex-\\ntravagant, out of proportion, who can believe it Any\\none, I answer, who has not lost the magnitude of man.\\nNo work of God holds a juster proportion than this great\\nmystery of godliness, and if we did but understand the\\ngreat mystery of ungodliness we should think so. No\\nman will ever have any difficulty in believing the work of\\nChrist who has not lost the measures of humanity. But", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "SHOWN FROM ITS RUINS. 67\\nfor this, no man will ever think it reason to deny his di-\\nvinity, explain away his incarnation, or reject the mystery\\nof his cross. To restore this tragic fall required a tragic\\nsalvation. Nor did ever any sinner who had come to\\nhimself, felt the bondage of his sin, trembled in the sense of\\nhis terrible disorders, groaned over the deep gulfs of want\\nopened by his sin, struggled with himself to compose the\\nbitter struggles of his nature, heaved in throes of anguish\\nto emancipate himself, no such person, however deep iD\\nphilosophy, or scepticism, ever thought, for one moment,\\nthat Christ was too great a Saviour. 0, it was a divine\\nSaviour, an almighty Saviour, coming out from God s eter-\\nnity, that he wanted none but such was sufficient! Him\\nhe could believe in, just because he was great, equal to\\nthe measures of his want, able to burst the bondage of his\\nsin. For God so loved the world that he gave his only\\nbegotten sod, that w r hosoever believeth in him should not\\nperish, but should have everlasting life. 0, it is the word\\nof reason to his soul. He believes, and on this rock, as a\\nrock of adequate salvation, he rests.\\nOnce more, it is another and important use of the sub-\\nject we have here presented, that the magnitude and real\\nimportance of the soul are discovered in it, as nowhere\\nelse. For it is not by any computations of reason, but in\\nyour wild disorders, your suppressed affinities for God, the\\ndistempers and storms of your passions, and the magnifi-\\ncent chaos of your immortality, that you will get the tru-\\nest opinion of your consequence to yourselves. Just that\\nwhich makes you most oblivious and blindest to your own\\nsignificance, ought to make jou most aware of it and press\\nyou most earnestly to God. T know not how it is, but the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "63 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE\\nsoul appears under sin, all selfish as it is, to shrink and\\ngrow small in its own sight. Perhaps it is clue, in part, to\\nthe consciousness we have, in sin, of moral littleness and\\nmeanness. We commonly speak of it in figures of this\\nkind, we call it low and weak and degraded, and fall into\\nthe impression that these words are real measures of our\\nnatural magnitude. Whereas, in another sense, the sin\\nwe speak of is mighty, terrible, God-defying and triumph*\\nant. Let this thought come to you, my friends, as well as\\nthe other, and if sin is morally little, let it be, in power,\\nmighty as it really is. The shadow by which most con-\\nvincingly your true height is measured, is that which is\\ncast athwart the abyss of your shame and spiritual igno-\\nminy. Just here it is that you will get your most verita-\\nble impressions of your immortality even as you get youi\\nbest impression of armies, not by the count of numbers,\\nbut by the thunder-shock of battle, and the carnage of the\\nfield when it is over. We try all other methods, but in\\nvain, to rouse in men s bosoms some barely initial sense of\\ntheir consequence to themselves, and get some hold, in\\nthat manner, of the stupendous immortality Christ recog-\\nnizes in them and throws off his glory to redeem. We\\ntake the guage of your power as a mincl, showing what\\nthis power of mind has been able, in the explorations of\\nmatter and light and air, of sea and land, and the distant\\nfields of heaven, to do. We display its inventions, recount\\nits victories over nature. We represent, as vividly as we\\ncan, and by computations as vast and far-reaching as we\\nare master of, in our finite arithmetic, the meaning of the\\nword, eternity, All in vain. What are you still but the\\ninsect of some present honr. in which you live and flutter\\nand die? But here we take another method, we call you", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "SHOWN FEOM ITS RUINS. 69\\nto the battle field of sin. We show you the vestigea\\nThis we say is man, the fallen principality. In these tragic\\ndesolations of intelligence and genius, of passion, pride\\nand sorrow, behold the import of his eternity. Be no\\nmere spectator, turn the glass we give you round upon\\nyourself, look into the ruin of your own conscious spirit,\\nand see how much it signifies, both that you are a sinner\\nand a man. Here, within the soul s gloomy chamber, the\\nloosened passions rage and chafe, impatient of their law\\nhere huddle on the wild and desultory thoughts; here the\\nimagination crowds in shapes of glory and disgust, tokens\\nboth and mockeries of its own creative power, no longer\\nin the keeping of reason here sits remorse scowling and\\nbiting her chain here creep out the fears, a meagre and\\npale multitude here drives on the will in his chariot of\\nwar here lie trampled the great aspirations, groaning in\\nimmortal thirst here the blasted affections weeping out\\ntheir life in silent injury; all that you see without, in the\\nwars, revenges and the crazed religions of the world, is\\nfaithfully represented in the appalling disorders of your\\nown spirit. And yet, despite all this, a fact which over-\\ntops and crowns all other evidence, you are trying and\\ncontriving still to be happy a happy ruin The eternal\\ndestiny is in you, and you can not break loose from it.\\nWith your farthing bribes you try to hush your stupen-\\ndous wants, with your single drops, (drops of gall and not\\nof water,) to fill the ocean of your immortal aspirations.\\nYou call on desti action to help you, and misery to give\\nyou comfort, and complain that destruction and misery are\\nstill in all your ways. 0, this great and mighty soul, were\\nit something less, you might find what to do with it charm\\nit with the jingle of a golden toy, house it in a safe with", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "70 DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE.\\nledgers and stocks, take it about on journeys to see and be\\nseen! Any thing would please it and bring it contend\\nBut it is the godlike soul, capable of rest in nothing but\\nGod able to be filled and satisfied with nothing but his\\nfullness and the confidence of his friendship. What man\\nthat lives in sin can know it, or conceive it who believe\\nwhat it is\\n0, thou Prince of Life come in thy great salvation to\\nthese blinded and lost men, and lay thy piercing question\\nto their ear, What shall it profit a man to gain the whole\\nworld and lose his own soul Breathe, breathe on these\\nmajestic ruins, and rouse to life again, though it be but for\\none hour, the forgotten sense of their eternity, their lost\\neternity.\\nEven so, your lost eternity. The great salvation\\ncoming, then, is not too great; nought else, or less could\\nsuffice. For if there be any truth that can fitly appall you,\\nrive you with conviction, drive you home to God, dissolve\\nyou in tears of repentance, it is here, when you discover\\nyourself and your terrible misdoings, in the ruins of your\\ndesolated majesty. In these awful and scarred vestiges,\\ntoo, what type is given you of that other and final ruin,\\nof which Christ so kindly and faithfully warned you,\\nwhen, describing the house you are building on these\\ntreacherous sands, he showed the fatal storm beating\\nvehemently against it, with only this one issue possible\\nAnd immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was\\ngreat.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "IV.\\nTHE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nLuke xv. 17. And when he came to himself] lie said,\\nHow many hired servants of my father s have tread enough\\nand to spare, and I perish with hunger J 1\\nThis gentleman s son that was, and is now a swine-herd,\\nbrings his meditation to a most natural and fit conclusion.\\nHis low occupation, and the husks on which he has been\\nfeeding to save his life, recall his father s house, and the\\nhired servants there that have bread enough and to spare,\\nand, no longer able to contain himself, he cries, in bitter\\ndesolation, I perish with hunger. And so, in this story\\nof the prodigal, Christ teaches all men their hunger, by\\nmeans of that on which they feed, and the necessar}^ base-\\nness of their sin, by the lowness of the objects to which\\nthey descend for their life.\\nThe swine, according to Jewish opinion, is an unclean\\nanimal, not to be eaten as food, and therefore is not raised,\\nexcept by those idolaters and men of no religion, who live\\nas outcasts in their country. Hence it is looked upon as\\nthe lowest and most abject of all occupations to be a swine-\\nherd. He is the disgust of all men, an unclean character,\\nwho is, among other men, what the swine is among other\\nanimals. He may not enter the temple, or even come\\nnear it.\\nBy the husks on which the prodigal is said, in his hun-\\nger, to have fed himself, we are not to understand exactly\\nwhat is meant by the English word husks, but a certain", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "72 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nfruit, the fruit of the carob tree, which grows in pods ar.d\\nhas a mealy and sweet taste. It is described by Galen a3\\na woody kind of food, creating bile, and hard of diges-\\ntion; useful, as acorns are with us, in the feeding of swiiie,\\nand sometimes eaten by the poorer sort of men, to escape\\nstarvation. Still it can work no injury, since this kind of\\nfruit is unknown to us, to retain the word husJzs a word\\nthat comes nearer producing the true impression of the\\nparable, which is the principal thing, than any other which\\norient be substituted.\\nThe important thing to be noted, as regards my present\\nobject, is the prodigal s hunger. About this central point,\\nor fact, all the other incidents of the parable are gathered.\\nAnd by this wretched figure of destitution, the Saviour of\\nthe world represents man under sin he is one who for-\\nsakes the life of duty and religion, to go after earthly\\nthings. He is, therefore, reduced to the lowest condition\\nof want, or spiritual hunger. His food is not the proper\\nfood of a man, but of a swine rather. A high-born crea-\\nture, as being in God s image, he descends to occupations\\nthat are unclean, and feeds his starving nature on that\\nwhich belongs only to a reprobate, or unclean class of ani-\\nmals. In this lot of deep debasement and bitter privation,\\nthere is no language in which he may so naturally vent his\\nmisery as when he cries, I perish with hunger.\\nWhat I propose, then, for our meditation, is tho truth\\nhere expressed, that a life separated from God is a life of\\nbitter hunger^ or even of spiritual starvation.\\nMy object will be, not so much to prove this truth as to\\nmake it apparent, or visible, as a real fact, by means of\\nappropriate illustrations. But, in order to this, it will be\\nnecessarv,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "THE HUXG-EK OF THE SOUL. 73\\nL To exhibit tlie true grounds of the fact stated for,\\nas w r how and for what reasons the life of sin\\nmust be a life of hunger, we shall see the more readily\\nand clearly the force of those illnstrationSj by which the\\nfact is exhibited.\\nThe great principle that underlies the whole subject -and\\nall the facts pertaining to it is, that the soul is a creature\\nthat order to its sa: i, as truly as the hi\\nNo principle is more certain, and yet there is none so\\ngenerally overlooked, or hidden from the sight of men.\\nOf course it is not meant, when the soul is said to be a\\ncreature wanting food, that it receives by a literal mastica-\\ntion, and has a palate to be gratified in what it receives.\\nI only mean to universalize the great truth that pertains\\nto all vital creatures and organs viz., that they differ from\\nall dead substances, stones for example, in the feet that\\nthey subsist in a healthy state of vital energy and develop-\\nment, by receiving, appropriating, or feeding upon some-\\nthing out of themselves. Every tree and plant is, in this\\nnew, a feeding creature, and grows by that which feeds it\\nthat, viz., which it derives from the air and clouds, from\\nthe soil and the changing influence of day and night. In\\nthis larger sense, every organ of the body is a receptive\\nand feeding organ. Sometimes it is fed by other org\\nwhich prepare and furnish to it the food that is needful for\\ngrowth and subsistence. In this manner even the\\nbones are feeding creatures. So the senses are fed by\\nelements appropriate, the ear by sounds, the eye by the\\nlight. And so true is this, that an eye shut up in total\\ndarkness, and probably an ear cut off from all sound,\\nfinally die, or become an exterminated sense even as that\\nwhole tribe of fishes, di\u00c2\u00a3 d in the cave, are fonn\\n7", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "74 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nhave no eyes. Now what I mean to say is, that all the.se\\nvital creatures, vegetable and animal, are only so many\\ntypes of the soul, which is the highest, purest form of\\nvital being we know; and that, as they all subsist by\\nfeeding on something not in themselves, and die for hun-\\nger without that food, just so the soul is a creature wanting\\nfood, and fevering itself in bitter hunger when that food\\nis denied.\\nHence it is that, in that most unnatural of all modes of\\npunishment, regarded unaccountably with so great favor\\nby many, the punishment I mean of absolute solitary con-\\nfinement, a very large proportion of the prisoners become\\nidiotic. Cut off from all the living sights and sounds, the\\nfaces of friends, the voices of social interchange, and the\\nworks and interests of life shut away thus from all that\\nenters into feeling, or quickens intelligence, or exercises\\njudgment, or nerves the will to action, the soul has no\\nlonger any thing to feed upon, and, for want of food, it\\ndies, dies into blank idiocy.\\nNeither let this want of food in souls be regarded as a\\nmerely philosophic truth, or discovery. It is a truth so\\nnatural to the feeling of mankind, that it breaks into lan-\\nguage every hour, and appears and re-appears in the scrip-\\nture, in so many forms, that I can not stay to enumerate\\nhalf of them. Job brings it forward, by a direct and\\nsimple comparison, when he says, For the ear trieth\\nwords, as the mouth tasteth meat, where he means by\\nthe ear, you perceive, not the outward but the inward ear\\nof the understanding. So the Psalmist says, My soul shall\\nbe satisfied, as with marrow and fatness. And so also the\\nprophet, beholding his apostate countrymen dying for\\nhunger and thirst in their sins, calls to tnem saying. Ho,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL. \u00c2\u00ab5\\nevery one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he\\nthat hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Wherefore do\\nyou spend money for that which is not bread, and your\\nlabor for that which satisfieth not Hearken diligently un-\\nto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your sou]\\ndelight itself in fatness. In the same way, an apostle\\nspeaks of them that have tasted the good word of God,\\nand the powers of the world to come and another, of\\nthem that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and there-\\nfore desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may\\ngrow thereby.\\nTrue, these are all figures of speech, transferred from\\nthe feeding of the body to that of the soul. But they are\\ntransferred because they have a fitness to be transferred.\\nThe analogy of the soul is so close to that of the body,\\nthat it speaks of its hunger, its food, its fullness, and\\ngrowth, and fatness, under the images it derives from the\\nbody.\\nHence you will observe that our blessed Lord appears\\nto have always the feeling, that he has come down into a\\nrealm of hungry, famishing souls. You see this in the\\nparable of the prodigal son, and that of the feast or sup-\\nper. Hence also that very remarkable discourse in the\\n6th chapter of John, where he declares himself as the liv-\\ning bread that came down from heaven that a man may\\neat thereof and not die. AVhoso eateth my flesh and\\ndrinketh my blood hath eternal life. My flesh is meat\\nindeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my\\nflesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him.\\nAs the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father,\\nso he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.\\nMany, I believe, are not able to read this language", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "76 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nwithout a kind of revolted feeling. What can it mean\\nthat they are to live by eating Christ? There is no diffi-\\nculty, I answer, in the language, save in getting at the\\nrational and true sense of the figure en: ployed, and, when\\nthis is done, it becomes language strikingly significant.\\nSuppose it were said that a tree can live, only as it eats the\\nair and the light the meaning, of course, would not be\\nthat it takes these elements by mastication, but that it has\\nsuch a nature that it takes them into itself and gets a nu-\\ntriment of growth out of them, and that without them, so\\nappropriated, it would die. So, when Christ says, I will\\nmanifest myself unto him, we will come and make our\\nabode with him, he means that he will be so received\\nand appropriated by the soul as to be its light, the breath-\\ning of its life, that which feeds it internally. He assumes,\\nin all that he says, that as the tree has a nature requiring\\nto be fed by air and light, so the soul has a nature inhe-\\nrently related to God, the Infinite Spirit. Hence the deep\\nhunger of the world in sin because the sin is its attempt\\nto live without God and apart from God.\\nAccordingly, it is the grand endeavor of the gospel to\\ncommunicate God to men. They have undertaken to live\\nwithout him, and do not see that they are starving in the\\nbitterness of their experiment. It is not, as with bodily\\nhunger, where they have a sure instinct compelling them\\nto seek their food, but they go after the husks, and would\\nfain be filled with these, not even so much as conceiving\\nwhat is their real want, or how it comes. For it is a re-\\nmarkable fact that so few men, living in the flesh, have\\nany conception that God is the necessary supply and nutri-\\nment of their spiritual nature, without which they famish\\nand die. It has an extravagant sound, when they hear it", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL. 77\\nThey do not believe it. How can it be that they have any\\nsuch high relation to the Eternal God, or he to them It\\nis as if the tree were to say, what can I, a mere trunk of\\nwood, all dark and solid within, standing fast in my rod of\\nground, what can I have to do with the free moving air.\\nand the boundless sea of light that fills the world? And\\nyet it is a nature made to feed on these, taking them into\\nits body to supply, and vitalize, and color every fibre of its\\nsubstance. Just so it is that every finite spirit is inherently\\nrelated to the infinite, in him to live, and move, and have\\nits being. It wants the knowledge of God, the society of\\nGod, the approbation of God, the internal manifestation\\nof God, a consciousness lighted up by his presence, to re-\\nceive of his fullness, to be strong in his might, to rest in\\nhis love, and be centered everlastingly in his glory. Apart\\nfrom Him, it is an incomplete creature, a poor blank frag-\\nment of existence, hungry, dry and cold. And still, alas\\nit can not think so. Therefore Christ comes into the\\nworld to incarnate the divine nature, otherwise unrecog-\\nnized, before it so to reveal God to its knowledge, enter\\nhim into its faith and feeling, make him its living bread,\\nthe food of its eternity. Therefore of his fullness we are\\ncalled to feed, receiving of him freely grace for grace.\\nWhen he is received, he restores the consciousness of God,\\nfills the soul with the divine light, and sets it in that con-\\nnection with God which is life, eternal life.\\nHolding this view of the inherent relation between cre-\\nated souls and God as their nourishing principle, we pass\\nII. To a consideration of the necessary hunger of a state\\nof sin, and the tokens by which it is indicated. A hungry\\nherd of animals, waiting for the time of their feeding, dc", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "78 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nnot show their hunger more convincingly, by their impa-\\ntient cries and eager looks and motions, than the human\\nrace do theirs, in the works, and ways, and tempers of\\ntheir selfish life.\\nI can only point you to a few of these demonstrations\\nA nd a very impressive and remarkable one you have in\\n/ais viz., the common endeavor to make the body receive\\nrouble, so as to satisfy both itself and the soul too with its\\nleasures. The effort is, how continually, to stimulate the\\nI ody by delicacies, and condiments, and sparkling bowls,\\nand licentious pleasures of all kinds, and so to make the\\nbody do double service. Hence too, the drunkenness, and\\nhigh feasting, and other vices of excess. The animals\\nhave no such vices because they have no hunger save\\nsimply that of the body but man has a hunger also of\\nthe mind or soul, when separated from God by his sin,\\nand therefore he must somehow try to pacify that. And\\nhe does it by a work of double feeding put upon the body.\\nWe call it sensuality. But the body asks not for it. The\\nbody is satisfied by simply that which allows it to grow\\nand maintain its vigor. It is the unsatisfied, hungry mind\\nthat flies to the body for some stimulus of sensation, com-\\npelling it to devour so many more of the husks, or carobs,\\nas will feed the hungry prodigal within. Thus it is that\\n\u00c2\u00a3o many dissipated j^outh are seen plunging into pleasures\\nof excess, midnight feastings and surfeitings, debauche-\\nries of lust and impiety; it is because they are hungry,\\nbecause their sou], separated from God and the true bread\\nof life in Him, aches for the hunger it suffers. AbcI so it\\nis the world over; men are hungry everywhere, and they\\ncompel the body to make a swine s heaven for the comfort\\nof the godlike soul.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL. 79\\nAgain we see the hunger of sin, by the immense number\\nof drudges there are in the world. It makes little differ-\\nence, general!} whether men are poor or rich. Some ter-\\nrible hunger is upon them, and it drives them madly for-\\nward, through burdens, and sacrifices, and toils, that would\\nbe rank oppression put upon a slave. It is not simply\\nthat they are industrious industry is a virtue but they\\nare drudges, instigated by such a passion of want that they\\nare wholly unable to moderate their plans by any terms\\nof reason.\\nYou see too what indicates the uneasiness of this hunger,\\nin the constant shifting of their plans and arrangements.\\nEven the more constant, stable characters, such as hold\\nmost firmly to their pursuits, are yet seen to be uneasy in\\nthem comforting their uneasiness by one change or an-\\nother a new kind of crop, a new partner, a new stand, a\\nwheeling about of counters, or a change of shelves, or a\\ndifferent way of transportation, or another place of bank-\\ning, nothing is ever quite right, because they are too un-\\neasy in their hunger to be quiet long in any thing.\\nOthers show their hunger by their closeness the very\\nlook of their face is hungry, the gripe of their hand is\\nhungry, the answer of their charity is the answer of hun-\\nger, the prices they pay for service are the grudged allow-\\nance of a heart that is pinched by its own stringent\\ndestitution.\\nObserve again the quarrels of debt and credit, the false\\nweights, the fraudulent charges, the habitual lies of false\\nrecommendation, the arts, stratagems, oppressions, of\\ntrade, how hungry do they look.\\nNotice again how men contrive, in one way or another,\\nto get, if possible, some food of content for the soul that", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "80 THE HUjSGEE OF THE SOUL.\\nhas a finer and more fit quality than the swine s food with\\nwhich they so often overtask the body honor, powei,\\nadmiration, flattery, society, literary accomplishments.\\nWorks of genius are stimulated, how often, by a kind of\\nsuperlative hunger. And the same is true even of the vir-\\ntues that connect a repute of moderation such as temper-\\nance, frugality, plainness, stoical superiority to suffering a\\nkind of subtle hunger for some consciousness of good is\\nthe secret root on which they grow.\\nThere is no end to the diverse arts men practice, to get\\nsome food for their soul, and to whatever course they turn\\nthemselves, you will see, as clearly as possible, that they\\nare hungry. Nay, they say it themselves. What sad be-\\nwailings do you hear from them, calling the world ashes,\\nwondering at the poverty of existence, fretting at the\\ncourses of Providence and blaming their harshness, raging\\nprofanely against God s appointments, and venting their\\nimpatience with life, in curses on its emptiness. All this,\\nyou understand, is the hunger they are in. Feeding on\\ncarobs only, as they do, what shall we expect but to see\\nthem feed impatiently\\nThis also, you will notice as a striking evidence that,\\nhowever well they succeed in the providing of earthly\\nthings, they are never satisfied. They say they are not,\\nhave it for a proverb that no man is, or can be. How\\ncan they be satisfied with lands, or money, or honor, or\\na ay finite good, when their hunger is infinite, reaching\\nafter God and the fullness of his infinite life, God, who ia\\nthe object of their intelligence, their love, their hope,\\nthr.ir worship the complement of their weakness, the crown\\nof their glory, the sublimity of their rest forever. Such\\nkind of huuge? manifestly could not be satisfied with any", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "THE HUXGEK OF THE SOUL. 81\\nSaite good, and therefore it never is. Look also at some\\nof the more internal and experimental evidences supplier]\\nbv consciousness.\\nConsider, for example, the vice of envy, and the genera]\\npropenseness of men to be in it. There are very few per-\\nsons, however generous in their dispositions, who are not\\nsometimes bitten by this very subtle and bitter sin. And\\nthe root of this misery is hunger of soul. Envy is only a\\nmalignant, selfish hunger, casting its evil eye on the eleva^\\ntion or supposed happiness of others. The bitterness of i1\\nis not simply that it really wants what others have, but\\nthat the soul, gnawed by a deep spiritual hunger which it\\nthinks not of, is so profoundly embittered that every kind\\nof good it looks upon rasps it with a feeling of torment,\\nand rouses a degree of impatience and ill nature, out of all\\nterms of reason. It is the feeling of a prodigal, or spend-\\nthrift who, after he has spent all, vents his ill nature on\\nevery body but himself, and hates the good possessed by\\nothers, because it is not his own. 0, how many human\\n30uls are gnawed through and through, all their lives long,\\nby this devilish hunger, envy.\\nEemorse differs from envy only in the fact that the soul\\nhere turns upon itself, just as they say it is the principal\\ndistress of extreme bodily hunger, that the organs of di-\\ngestion begin themselves to be gnawed and digested, in\\nplace of the food on which the digestive power is accus\\ntomed to spend its energy. Eemorse, in the same way.,\\nis a moral hunger of the soul. It is the bitter wail of\\na famished immortality. It is your conscience lashing\\nyour perverse will; your defrauded, hungry love weeping\\nits dry, pitchy tears on the desert your evil life has made\\nfor it. It is your whole spiritual nature famished by sin,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "52 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL\\nmuttering wrathfully, and growling like a caged lion at\\nthe bars which shut him up to himself. And as bodily\\nhunger sometimes causes the starving man to see devils in\\nhis ravings, so this hunger of remorse fills the soul with\\nangry demons and ministers of vengeance, waiting to exe-\\ncute judgment. Sleep vanishes not seldom, or corned only\\nin dreams that scare the sleeper. The day lags heavily.\\nThe look is on the ground. The walk is apart and silent,\\nand the man carries a load under which he stoops, a load\\nof selfish regret and worldly sorrow, that worketh death.\\nOr, if we speak of care, the corroding, weary, ever mul-\\ntiplying care, of which you are every day complaining,\\nwhat again is this but your hunger. We like to speak,\\nhowever, not of care, but, in the plural, of cares for these,\\nwe imagine, are outside of us, in things, not in ourselves.\\nBut these cares are all in ourselves, and of ourselves, and\\nnot in things at all, things are not cares cares are only\\ncravings of that immortal hunger which the swine s food\\nof earthly things can not satisfy. You say in them all.\\nwhat shall I do, for I perish with hunger You look up\\nfrom the bitter husks or carobs, and say, I must have more\\nand better and these more and better things are your\\ncares. The very word care meant, originally, want; and\\nthese cares are nothing but the wants of a hungry soul\\nmisnamed.\\nSometimes, again, your feeling takes the turn of disgust.\\nYou are disgusted with yourself and life, and all the em-\\nployments and objects of your pursuit, disgusted even with\\nyour pleasures. How insipid, and dry, and foolish they\\nappear. An air of distaste settles on all objects. They\\nare all husks, acorns, food for swine and not for men. Just\\nso it is in the starvation of the body. It creates a fevei", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL. 83\\nand, in that fever, appetite dies. And this, accordingly,\\nis the rankest proof of hunger in the soul, that it has run\\nitself down to the starvation point of universal disgust.\\nLife is cheap. It seems a very dull and mean thing to\\nlive, as to live a prodigal and swine-herd s life it certainly\\nis. Sometimes, too, your disgust turns upon your own\\ncharacter and feeling; your ambition, your pride, your\\nvery thoughts, and you ache for the mortification, that\\ncomes upon you. My ambition how low it creeps. My\\npride what have I, or am I to be proud of. My very\\nthoughts are all trailing in the dust, and the dust is dry\\nGod, is it this to be a man\\nI might speak also of your perpetual irritations, your\\nfits of anger, your animosities, your jealousies, your gloomy\\nhypochondriac fears. These ail, at bottom, are the disturb-\\nances of hunger in the soul. How certainly is the child\\nirritable when it is hungry. Even the placidity of infancy\\nvanishes, when the body is ravening for food. So it is with\\nman. He is irritable, flies to fits of passion, loses self-gov-\\nernment, simply because the placid state of satisfaction is\\nwanting in his higher nature. He is out of rest, because\\nof his immortal hunger. Three-quarters of the ill nature\\nof the world is caused by the fact, that the soul, without\\nGod, is empty, and so out of rest. We charge it, more\\noften than justice requires, to some fault of temperament;\\nbut there is no temperament that would not be quieted\\nand evened by the fullness of God.\\nNow the Spirit of God will sometimes show you, in an\\nunwonted manner, the secret of these troubles for he is\\nthe interpreter of the soul s hunger. He comes to it whis-\\npering inwardly the awful secret of its pains, without\\nGod and without hope in the world. He reminds the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "Si THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nprodigal of his bad history. He bids the swine-herd look\\nup from his sensual objects, and works, and remember\\nhis home and his Father; tells him of a great supper pre-\\npared, and that all things are now ready, and bids him\\ncome. Conscious of the deep poverty he is in, conscious\\nof that immortal being whose deep wants have been so\\nlong denied, wants that can be satisfied only by the essen-\\ntial, eternal participation of the fullness of God, he hears\\na gentle voice of love saying, I am the bread of life, I\\nam the living bread that came down from heaven. If any\\nman eat of this bread he shall live. Are there none of\\nyou to whom this voice is calling now\\nI will not pursue these illustrations further. Would\\nthat all my hearers could but open their minds to the les-\\nson they teach. I know almost no subject, or truth, that\\nwill explain so many things in the uneasy demonstrations\\nof mankind; or that, to any thoughtful person, living\\nwithout God, will resolve so many mysteries concerning\\nhimself. Granting simply the fact that God is the want of\\nthe soul, or created intelligence, what can it be, separated\\nfrom God, but an element of uneasiness and bitter disturb-\\nance If the soul, as a vital and organic nature, requires\\nthis divine food, or nutriment, to sustain it, and in this\\nhighest, vastest want gets no supply what else can you\\nneed to account for the unrest and the otherwise inexplica-\\nble frustration of your experience And yet how many\\nof you, goaded by this torment all your lives, do not un-\\nderstand it? You go after this or that objective, circum-\\nstantial good, thrust on, as in some kind of madness, b}\\nthe terrible impulsion of your hungry immortality con-\\nfessing, all the time, that you fail, even when, in form, you", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL. 85\\nsucceed, and showing by your demonstrations that youi\\nobjects, whether gained or lost, have no relation to youi\\nwant but your understandings are holden from any true\\ndiscovery of your sin. It is as if you were under some\\ndispossession, even as the Saviour intimates in his parable.\\nHe looks upon the prodigal described, as one that has lost\\nhis reckoning, or his reason and when he discovers the\\nsecret of his misery, speaks of him as just then having\\ncome to himself. Could you come thus to yourselves, how\\nquickly would you cease from your husks and return to\\nyour Father How absurd the folly, then, of any attempt\\nto satisfy, or quiet your hunger, by any inferior, merely\\nexternal good\\nO, ye prodigals, young and old, prodigals of all namea\\nand degrees ye that have tasted the good word of God,\\nand the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away\\nye that have always lived in the minding of earthly things\\nhow clear is it here that no swine s food, no husks of money,\\npleasure, show, ambition, can feed you that you have a\\ndivine part which none, or all of these dry carobs of sin can\\nfeed, which nothing can supply and satisfy but God\\nhimself?\\nAnd what should be a discovery more welcome than\\nthis. In what are you more ennobled, than in the fact\\nthat you are related thus, inherently, to God having a\\nnature so high, wants so deep and vast, that only he can\\nfeed them, and not even he by any bestowment which does\\nnot include the bestowment of himself. Would you wil-\\nlingly exterminate this want of your being, and so be rid\\neternally of this hunger? That would be to cease from\\nbeing a man and to become a worm; and even that worm\\nremembering what it was, would be a worm gnawing itself", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "86 THE HUNGER OF THE SOUL.\\nwith eternal regrets. No, this torment that you feel is\\nthe torment of your greatness. It compliments you more,\\njven by its cravings and its shameful humiliations, than\\nall most subtle flatteries and highest applauses. Nay, there\\nis nothing in which God himself exalts you more than by\\nhis own expostulation when he says wherefore do you\\nspend your money for that which is not bread, and your\\nlabor for that which satisfieth not hearken diligently unto\\nme and eat ye that which is good. Incline your ear and\\ncome unto me, hear and your soul shall live. Why should\\nwe humble ourselves to so many things that are ashes and\\ncall them bread doubling our bodily pleasures in vices\\nthat take hold on hell chasing after gains with cancerous\\nappetite torturing our invention to find some opiate of\\nsociety, applause, or show, that will quiet and content our\\nunrest. All in vain. 0, ye starving minds, hearken, for\\none hour, to this, and turn yourselves to it as your misery\\npoints you, God, God, God alone, is the true food. Ask\\nit thus of God to give you the food that is convenient for\\nyou, and he gives you Himself. And that is bread, bread\\nof life, bread of eternity. Take it for your true supply,\\nand you hunger no more.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "V.\\nTH REASON OF FAITH.\\n~:zr vi r 77;/.: c\\nis:i_; _ z iis:: n::y, that by which\\nit is separated from all philosophies and schemes of mere\\nethics, that it mal: its appeal ith and upon that,\\n:\\\\::::1 :.::_-::;-\u00e2\u0096\u00a0:.\u00e2\u0096\u00a0. res:s :he :::z-. salvation. Il\\nhe word of faith, the lisdples are :_\\nas rliivrrs. an:l Ci_:is: is p\\\\;clis _r;l as :he Savic.:r :L:i-i\\n_::.: rLi:-ve.\\nBut precisely :~_is. which is :~_r st Lb the\\nvandal and offense of men. Weore the -i n g\\nbut a word of \u00c2\u00a3uth; a word of rhe i :r of reason, or of\\nabsolute philosophy, or of ethics, or of grammar and lexi-\\ncography, they could more\\nit instead a word of it A\\nthere were some meri ould be some digni: ith!\\nWh but an ax condition, in.\\nour pect, or tram j proper intelligence\\nwhat is there to value or pi d the mer^\\nlief of any thing If we hold any truth by our\\nor by some act of p wing of e\\ncient evidence, what need of hold g it th If\\nundertake to hold it without such evidence, what is our\\nbelief in it but a surrender of our proper intelliger.\\nThis kind of L:_\\nof ourtim wn defec*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "88 THE REASON OF FAITH.\\ninsight, and nothing is wanting, in any case, to its com-\\nplete refutation, but simply a due understands g of what\\nfaith is, and what the office it fills. In this view, I pro-\\npose a discourse on the reason of faith; or to shcv? how it is\\nthai we* as intelligent beings, are called to believe; and hoio,\\nas sinners we can, in the nature cf things, be saved only as\\nwe believe.\\nI select the particular passage, just cited, for my text,\\nsimply because it sets us at the point where seeing and\\nbelieving are brought together expecting to get some ad-\\nvantage, as regards the illustration of my subject, from the\\nmutual reference of one to the other, as held in such prox-\\nimity. In this verse, (the 36th.) they are brought together\\nas not being united, ye have seen me and believe not.\\nShortly after, (in the 40th verse,) they are brought together\\nas being, or to be united, every one that seeth the Son\\nand believeth on him.\\nNow the first thing we observe, for it stands on the face\\nof the language, is that faith is not sight, but something\\ndifferent so different that we may see and not believe,\\nThe next thing is that sight does not, in the scripture view,\\nexclude faith, or supersede the necessity of it, as the com-\\nmon cavil supposes; for, after sight, faith is expected.\\nAnd still, a third point is. that sight is supposed even to\\nfurnish a ground for faith, making it obligatory and, where\\nit is not yielded, increasing the guilt of the subject; which\\nappears, both in the complaint of one verse and the re-\\nquirement of the other.\\nThus much in regard to the particular case of the per-\\nsons addressed for they were such as had themselves seen\\nChrist, witnessed his miracles, heard his teachings, and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 89\\nwatched the progress of his ministry. In that respect, out\\ncase is different. We get, by historic evidences, what they\\ngot by their senses. The attestations we have, are even\\nmore reliable evidences, I think, than those of sight but\\nthey bring us to exactly the same point, viz., a settled im-\\npression of fact. That such a being lived they saw with\\ntheir eyes, and we are satisfied that he lived by other evi-\\ndences addressing our judging faculty, as sight addressed\\ntheirs. We take their case, accordingly, as the case pro-\\nposed, and shape our argument to it.\\nSuppose then that you had lived as a contemporary in\\nthe days of Christ; that you had been privy to the dia-\\nlogue between the angel and Mary, and also, to all the\\nintercourse of Mary and Elizabeth that you had heard\\nthe song of the angels at the nativity, and seen their shin-\\ning forms in the sky that you were entirely familiar with\\nthe youth of Jesus, were present at his baptism, saw him\\nbegin his ministry, heard all his discourses, witnessed all\\nhis miracles, stood by his cross in the hour of his passion\\nthat you saw him, heard him, ate with him, touched him\\nafter his resurrection, and finally beheld his ascension from\\nOlivet. You have had, in other words, a complete sense-\\nview of him, from his first breath onward. What now\\ndoes all this si^nifv to you\\nPossibly much, possibly nothing. If received without\\nany kind of faith, absolutely nothing if with two kinds of\\nfaith which are universally practiced, it signifies the great-\\nest fact of history if with a third, equally rational and dis-\\ntinctively Christian, it signifies a new life in the soul, and\\neternal salvation.\\nLet us, in the first place, look at these two kinds of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "90 THE REASON OF FAITH.\\nfaith which arc universally practiced; for, if faith, is, in the\\nnature of things, absurd or unintelligent, we shall be as\\nlikely to discover the fact here as anywhere. And we\\nmay discover, possibly, that the very persons who discard\\nfaith, as an offense to intelligence, are not even able to do\\n(lie commonest acts of intelligence without it.\\nWe begin, then, with the case of sight, or perception\\nby sight. It has been, as some of you know, a great, or\\neven principal question with our philosophers, for the last\\nhundred years, and these are commonly the people most\\nready to complain of faith, how it is that we perceive\\nobjects? The question was raised by Berkeley s denial\\nthat we see them at all, which, though it convinced no-\\nbody, puzzled every body. He said, for example, that the\\npersons who saw Christ did not really see him, they had\\nonly certain pictures cast in the back of the eye which\\npictures, he maintained, were mere subjective impressions,\\nnothing more that, by the supposition, spectators are never\\nat the objects, but only at the images, which are all, intel-\\nlectually speaking, they know any thing about. If they\\ntake it as a fact, that they see real objects, they do it by a\\nnaked act of assumption, and, for aught that appears,\\nimpose upon themselves. The question, accordingly, has\\nbeen, not whether real objects are perceived, for that is not\\noften questioned now, but how we can imagine them to\\nbe how, in other words, it is that we bridge the gulf be-\\ntween sensations and their objects how it is that, having\\na tree -picture or a star-picture in the back of the eye, we\\nmake it to be a tree, really existing on some distant hill,\\nor a real star, filling its measurable space many hundred\\nmillions of miles distant? Some deny the possibility of\\nuny solution; reducing even sight itself and all that we call", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FA1TK. 91\\nevidence in it to a mystery forever transcending intelli-\\ngence. The best solutions agree virtually in this they\\nconceive the soul to be such a creature that, when it has\\nthese forms in the eye, it takes them, as it were, instinct-\\nively, to be more than forms, viz., objects perceived;\\nwhich is the same as to say that we complete sensation itself,\\nor issue it in perception, by assigning reality ourselves to the\\ndistant object. And what is this, but to say that we do it by\\na kind of sense-faith contributed from ourselves? In our\\nvery seeing we see by faith, and, without the faith, we should\\nonly take in impressions to remain as last things in the\\nbrain. Hence, perhaps, the word perception, a through-tak-\\ning, because we have taken hold of objects through dis-\\ntances, and so have bridged the gulf between us and real-\\nity. Is then sight itself unintelligent, because it includes\\nan act of faith? Or, if we believe in realities, and have\\nthem by believing, would it be wisQr and more rational to\\nlet alone realities and live in figures and phantasms, painted\\non the retina of our eyes\\nBut there is another kind of faith, less subtle than thi^\\nwhich also is universally practiced, and admitted univers-\\nally to be intelligent. It is that kind of faith which, af-\\nter sensation is passed, or perception is completed, assigns\\ntruth to the things seen, and takes them to be sound his-\\ntoric verities. Thus, after Christ had been seen in all the\\nfacts of his life, it became a distinct question what to make\\nof the facts whether possibly there could have been some\\nconspiracy in the miracles; some collusion, or acting in\\nthe parts of Mary and her son some self-imposition, oi\\nhallucination that will account for his opinions of himself\\nand the remarkable pretensions he put forth whether", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "92 THE KEASOST OF FAITH,\\npossibly, there was any mistake in the senses, or any slight\\nof hand by which they were imposed upon Before, the\\ndifficulty was natural, and related to the laws of sensation.\\nHere it is moral, and respects the verity, or integrity of\\nthe agents. For it is a remarkable fact that the mere seeing\\nof any wonder never concludes the mind of the spectator.\\nHow many, for example, are testifying, in our time, that they\\nhave seen, with their own eyes, the most fantastic and ex-\\ntravagant wonders wrought by the modern necromancy\\nand yet they very commonly conclude by saying, that they\\nknow not what to make of them; evidently doubtiag\\nwhether, after all, the slight of hand tricks of jugglery\\nventriloquism, and magic, and the sometimes wondrous\\ncunning of a lying character, will not account for all they\\nsaw. These doubts are not the ingenious doubts of phi-\\nlosophy, but the practical misgivings, questions and with-\\nholdings of good sense. And here, again, we perceive, as\\nbefore, that the mere seeing of Christ concludes nothing\\nin the spectator, as regards his verity. He does not stand\\nbefore the mind as a necessary truth of arithmetic or ge-\\nometry there the seeing ends debate, the mind is ipso facto\\nconcluded and there is no room for faith, either to be given\\nor withholden. As the philosopher doubted whether the\\nobjects seen had any real existence out of him, so the\\npractical spectator doubts, after all Christ s wonders,\\nwhether every thing was genuine, and the Christ who lived\\njust such a being as he seemed to be. Probably the evi-\\ndence, to one who saw, was as perfect as it could be; but\\nif we could imagine it to be increased in quantity and\\npower a thousand fold, remaining the same in kind, the\\nmere seeing would conclude nothing. All you could say\\nm such a case, would be that a given impression has been", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 93\\nmade but that impression is practically naught, till an\\nact of intellectual assent, or credence, is added on your\\npart, -which act of assent is also another kind- of faith. H\\nGod were to burn himself into souls by lenses bigger than\\nworlds, all you could say would be that so much imj\\nsion is made, which impression is no historic verity to the\\nmind, till the mind assents, on its part, and concludes t\\nupon the impression. Then the impression becomes, to it,\\na real and historic fact, a sentence of credit passed.\\nWe now come to the Christian, or third kind of faith,\\nwith some advantages already gained. Indeed, the argu-\\nment against faith, as an offense to reason, or as being insig-\\nnificant where there is evidence, and absurd where there is\\nnot, is already quite ended. We discover, in fact, two de-\\ngrees or kinds of faith, going before and typifying and com-\\nmending to our respect the higher faith that is to come after,\\nfaith of salvation. VTe discover, also, that we can not\\n-ido the commonest acts of intelligence without some\\nkind of faith. First, we complete an act of perception only\\nby a kind of sense-faith, moving from ourselves, and not\\nfrom the objects perceived. Next, we pass on the historic\\nverity, the moral genuineness of what we see, and our act of\\nlit, so pa is also a kind of faith moving from us, and\\nmething over and above all the impressions we have\\nreceived. A third faith remains that is just as intelligent\\nand, in fact, is only more intelligent than the others, be-\\ncause it carries their results forward into the true uses.\\nThis, distinctively, is the scripture faith, the faith of sal-\\nvation, the believing unto life eternal. It begins just\\nwhere the other and last named faith ended. That decided\\nthe greatest fact of history, viz., that Christ actually was.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "94 THE REASON OF FAITH,\\naccording to all his demonstrations. It passed on the genu-\\nine truth of those demonstrations, and set them as accred-\\nited to the account of history. Let every thing stop at that\\npoint, and we only have a Christ, just as we have a Ghia-\\ntimozin, or a Sardanapalus. The christian facts are stored\\nin history, and are scarcely more significant to us, than if\\nthey were stored in the moon. What is wanted, just here,\\nin the case of Christ, and what also is justified and even\\nrequired by the facts of his life, is a faith that goes beyond\\nthe mere evidence of propositions, or propositional verities\\nabout Christ, viz., the faith of a transaction and this faith\\nis Christian, faith. It is the act of trust by which one being,\\na sinner, commits himself to another being, a Saviour. It is\\nnot mind dealing with notions, or notional truths. It is\\nwhat can not be a proposition at all. But it is being trust-\\ning itself to being, and so becoming other and different,\\nby a relation wholty transactional.\\nIf a man comes to a banker with a letter of credit from\\nsome other banker, that letter may be read and seen to be\\na real letter. The signature also may be approved, and\\nthe credit of the drawing party honored by the other, as\\nbeing wholly reliable. So far what is done is merely opin-\\nionative or notional, and there is no transactional faith.\\nAnd yet there is a good preparation for this just that ifl\\ndone which makes it intelligent. When the receiving party,\\ntherefore, accepts the letter and intrusts himself actually\\nto the drawing party in so much money, there is the real\\nact of faith, an act which answers to the operative, or\\ntransactional faith of a disciple.\\nAnother and perhaps better illustration may be taken\\nfrom the patient or sick person, as related to his physician.\\nHe sends for a physician, just because he has been led to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 95\\nhave a certain favorable opinion of his faithfulness and\\ncapacity. But the suffering him to feel his pulse, investi-\\ngate his symptoms, and tell the diagnosis of his disease,\\nimports nothing. It is only the committing of his being\\nand life to this ether being, consenting to receive and take\\nhis medicines, that imports a real faith, the faith of a\\ntransaction.\\nIn the same manner Christian faith is the faith of a\\ntransaction. It is not the committing of one s thought,\\nin assent to any proposition, but the trusting of one s be-\\ning to a being, there to be rested, kept, guided, molded,\\ngoverned and possessed forever.\\nIn this faith many things are pre-supposed, many in-\\ncluded and, after it, many will follow.\\nEvery thing is pre-supposed that makes the act intelli-\\ngent and rational. That Christ actually lived and waa\\nwhat he declared himself to be. That he was no other\\nthan the incarnate Word of the Father. That he came\\ninto the world to recover and redeem it. That he is able\\nto do it able to forgive, regenerate, justify and set in\\nnal peace with God, and that all we see, in his passion, is\\na true revelation of God s feeling to the world.\\nThere was also a certain antecedent improbability of any\\nsuch holy visitation, or regenerative grace, which has to\\nbe liquidated or cleared, before the supposed faith can be\\ntransacted. We live in a state under sin, where causes are\\nrunning against us, or running destructively in us. r e\\nhave also a certain scientific respect to causes, and expect\\nthem to continue. But Christ comes into the world, as one\\nnot under the scheme of causes. lie declares that he is not\\njf the world, but is from above. He undertakes to verify", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "9tf THE REASON OF FAITH.\\nhis claim by his miracles, and his miracles by his transcend-\\nent character. Assuming all the attributes of a power\\nsupernatural, he declares that he can take us out of nature\\nand deliver us of the bad causes loosened by our sm,\\nNow that he really is such a being, having such a power\\nsupernatural, able thus to save unto the uttermost, we\\nare to have accredited, before we can trust ourselves to him.\\nBut this will be less difficult, because we are urged by\\nsuch a sense of bondage under sin, and have such loads of\\nconscious want, brokenness and helplessness upon us.\\nBesides, if we look again into our disorders, we find that\\nthey are themselves abnormal, disturbances only, by our\\nsin, of the pure and orderly harmony of causes so that\\nChrist, in restoring us, does not break up, but only recom-\\nposes the true order of nature. Inasmuch, therefore, as\\nour salvation, or deliverance from evil, implies a restora-\\ntion, and not any breach of nature, the incredible thing\\nappears to be already done by sin itself, and the credible,\\nthe restoration only, remains.\\nHaving now all this previous matter cleared, we come\\nto the transactional faith itself. We commit ourselves to\\nthe Lord Jesus, by an act of total and eternal trust, which\\nis our faith. The act is intelligent, because it is intelli-\\ngently prepared. It is not absurd, as being something\\nmore than evidence. It is not superseded by evidence.\\nIt is like the banker s acceptance, and the patient s taking\\nof medicine, a transactional faith that follows evidence.\\nThe matters included in this act, for of these we will now\\nspeak, are the surrender of our mere self-care, the ceasing\\nto live from our own point of separated will, a complete\\nadmission of the mind of Christ, a consenting practically", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 97\\nto be modulated by his motives and aims, and to live, as\\nit-were, infolded in his spirit. It is committing one s char-\\nacter wholly to the living character of Jesus, so that every\\nwilling and working and sentiment shall be pliant to his\\nsuperior mind and spirit; just as a man, trusting himself\\nto some superior man, in a total and complete confidence,\\nallows that other to flow down upon him, assimilate him,\\nand, as far as he may, with a superiority so slight, conform\\nhim to the subject of his trust. Only there is, in the faith\\nof salvation, a trusting in Christ vastly more interior and\\nsearching, a presence internal to parts internal, a complete\\nbathing of the trusting soul in Christ s own love and\\nbeauty.\\nThose things, which were just now named as pre-sup-\\nposed matters, are all opinionative and prior to this which\\nis the real faith, and this faith must go beyond all mere\\nhistoric credences of opinion it must include the actual\\nsurrender of the man to the Saviour. It must even in-\\nclude the eternity or finality of that surrender for if it\\nis made only as an experiment, and the design is only to\\ntry what the Saviour will do, then it is experiment, not\\nfaith. Any thing and every thing which is necessary to\\nmake the soul a total, final deposit of trust in the Lord\\nJesus, must be included in the faith, else it is not faith, and\\ncan not have the power of faith. It must be as if, hence-\\nforth, the subject saw his every thing in Christ, his right-\\neousness, his whole character, his life-work and death-\\nstruggle, and the hope of his eternity.\\nHow great is the transaction and great results will follow,\\nsuch as these\\nHe will be as one possessed by Christ, created anew in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "98 THE REASON OF FAITH\\nChrist Jesus. There will be a Christ-powei resting upon\\nhim and operative in him- an immediate knowledge of\\nChrist, as a being revealed in the consciousness. A Christly\\ncharacter will come over him, and work itself into him.\\nAH his views of life will be changed. The old disturb-\\nance will be settled into loving order, and a conscious and\\nsweet peace will flow down, like a divine river, through\\nthe soul, watering all its dryness. It will be in liberty,\\nfree to good wanting only opportunities to do God s will.\\nFear will be cast out, confidence established, hope anchored,\\nand all the great eternity to come taken possession of,\\nChrist will constrain every motion, in such a way thai\\nno constraint shall be felt, and the new man will be so\\nexhilarated in obedience, and raised so high in the sense\\nof God upon him, that sacrifice itself will be joy, and the\\nfires of martyrdom a chariot to the victor soul.\\nBut the most remarkable, because to some the most\\nunaccountable and extravagant result of faith, is the crea-\\ntion of new evidence. The exercise of faith is itself a\\nproving of the matter, or the being trusted. It requires,\\nin order to make it intelligent, some evidence going before:\\nand then more evidence will follow, of still another kind.\\nAs in trying a physician, or trusting one s life to him, new\\nevidence is obtained from the successful management of\\nthe disease, so the soul that trusts itself to Christ knows\\nhim with a new kind of knowledge, that is more immedi-\\nate and clear, knows him as a friend revealed within, knows\\nhim as the real power of God, even God in sacrifice. He\\nthat believeth hath the witness in himself, the proof of\\nJesus, in him, is made out and verified by trust. Every\\nthing in that text of scripture, that stumbles so many of\\nour wise reasoners, is verified to the letter: Now faith \\\\s", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 99\\nthe substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things\\nnot seen. It is not said that faith goes before all evidence,\\nbut that, coming after some evidence, it discovers more\\nand greater. It makes substance of what before stood in\\nhope it proves things unseen and knows them by the im-\\nmediate evidence of their power in the soul. Hence it is\\nthat faith is described, everywhere, as a state so intensely\\nluminous. Trust in God will even prove him to be, more\\ninevitably and gloriously than all scientific arguments.\\nThe taking immortality by trust and acting one s mighty\\nnature into it proves it, as it were, by the contact of it.\\nThe faith itself evidences the unseen life, when ail previ-\\nous evidences wore a questionable look. And so the whole\\nChristian life becomes an element of light, because the\\ntrust itself is an experience of Christ and of God.\\nAnd so truly intelligent is the process, that it answers\\nexactly, in a higher plane, to the process of perception\\nitself, already referred to. For when objects, that cast\\ntheir picture in the eye, are accepted and trusted to as\\nbeing more than pictures, solid realities, then, by that faith,\\nis begun a kind of experiment. Taking, now, all these\\nobjects to be realities, we go into all the practical uses of\\nlife, handling them as if realities, and so, finding how they\\nsupport all our uses and show themselves to be what we\\ntook them for, we say that we know them to be real, hav-\\ning found them by our trust. Exactly so, only in a much\\nhigher and nobler sense, it is that faith is the substance\\nof things hoped for, and the evidence of things not sceru\\nIs there any thing in this which scandalizes intelligence?\\nI think not.\\nIf now you have follower! me, in these illustration^", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "100 THE REASON OF FAITH.\\nwhich* I know are somewhat abstruse, yon will not com-\\nplain of their abstruseness, but will be glad, by any means,\\nto escape from those difficulties which have been gathered\\nround the subject of faith, by the unilluminated and super-\\nficial speculations of our times. Handling the subject\\nmore superficially, I might have seemed to some to do\\nmore, but should, in fact, have done nothing. Let us\\ngather up now, in closing, some of the lessons it yields.\\nAnd\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\n1. The mistake is here corrected of those, who are con-\\ntinually assuming that the gospel is a theorem, a some-\\nthing to be thought out, and not a new premise of fact\\ncommunicated by God, by men to be received in all\\nthe three-fold gradations of faith. To mill out a scheme\\nof free will and responsibility, to settle metaphysically\\nquestions of ability and inability, to show the scheme of\\nregeneration as related to a theory of sin and not to the\\nconscious fact, may all be very ingenious and we may call\\nit gospel but it is scarcely more than a form of rational-\\nism. Feeding on such kind of notional and abstract wis-\\ndom, and not on Christ, the bread that came down from\\nheaven, we grow, at once, more ingenious in the head, and\\nmore shallow in the heart, and, in just the compound ratio\\nof both, more naturalistic and sceptical. Loosing out our\\nrobustness, in this manner, and the earnestness of our\\nspiritual convictions, our ministry becomes, in just the\\nsame degree, more ambitious and mere untransforming to\\nthe people, and the danger is that, finally, even the sense\\nof religion, as a gift of God, a divine light in the soul,\\nrevealed from faith to faith, will quite die out and be lost.\\nOur gospel will be nature, and our faith will be reason,\\nand the true Christ will be nothing, all the grand,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 101\\nlife-giving truths of the incarnate appearing and cross are\\nresolved into myths and legends.\\n2. We discover that the requirement of faith, as a con-\\ndition of salvation, is not arbitrary, as many appear to\\nsuppose, but is only a declaration of the fact, before exist-\\ning, that without faith there can be no deliverance from\\nsin. The precise difficulty with us in our sin is, that we\\ncan not make ourselves good and happy by acting on our-\\nselves. Faith, accordingly, is not required of us, because\\nChrist wants to humble us a little, as a kind of satisfaction\\nfar letting go the penalty of our sins, but because w^e can\\nnot otherwise be cleared of them at all. What we want\\nis God, God whom we have lost; to be united, being to\\nbeing, sinner to Saviour; thus to be quickened, raised up,\\nand made again to partake, as before sin, the divine nature.\\nAnd, for just this reason, faith is required; for w^e come\\ninto the power of God only as we trust ourselves to him\\nAnd here it is, at this precise point, that our gospel excels\\nall philosophies, proving most evidently its divine origin.\\nIt sees the problem as it is, and shows, in the requirement\\nof faith as the condition of salvation, that it comprehends\\nthe wmole reason of our state. It has the sagacity to see\\nthat, plainly, there is no such thing as a raising of man,\\nwithout God also that there is no God save as we find\\nhim by our trust, and have him revealed within, by rest-\\ning our eternity on him. And hence it is that all those\\nscripture forms of imputation spring up, as a necessary\\nlanguage of faith, under the gospel. We come, in our\\ntrust, unto God, and the moment w T e so embrace him, by\\ncommitting our total being and eternity to him, we fine]\\nevery thing in us transformed. There is life in us from\\nGod; a kind of Christ-consciousness is opened in us,\\n9*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "102 THE REASON OF FAITH.\\ntestifying, with the apostle, Christ liveth in me. We se^\\ntherefore, in him, the store of all gifts and graces. Every\\nthing flows down upon us from him, and so we begin to\\nspeak of being washed, sanctified, justified, in him. He is\\nour peace, our light, our bread the way, the truth, and the\\nlife. And, in just the same manner, he is our righteous-\\nness for he is, so to speak, a soul of everlasting integrity\\nfor us, and when we come in to be with him, he becomes\\nin us what he is to himself. We are new created and\\nclothed in righteousness, from his glorious investiture.\\nThe righteousness of God, which is, by faith of Jesus\\nChrist, unto all and upon all them that believe, is upon us,\\nand the very instinct of our faith, looking unto God in\\nthis conscious translation of his nature to us, is to call him\\nThe Lord our Eighteousness, the justifier of him that\\nbelieveth in Jesus.\\nSuch now, my friends is faith. It gives you God, fills\\nyou with God in immediate experimental knowledge, puts\\nyou in possession of all there is in him, and allows you\\nto be invested with his character itself. Is such faith a\\nburden, a hard and arbitrary requirement? Why, it is\\nyour only hope, your only possibility. Shall this most\\ngrand and blessed possibility be rejected? So far it has\\nbeen, and you have even been able, it may be, in your\\nlightness, to invent ingenious reasons against any such\\nplan of salvation. God forbid that you do not some time\\ntake the penalty of having just that salvation without\\nfaith to work out which you so blindly approve!\\n3. We perceive, in our subject, that mere impressions\\ncan never amount to faith. At this point, the unbelievers\\nand all such as are waiting to have convictions and spiritual\\nimpressions wrought in them that amount to faith, perfectly", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 103\\nagree, The unbelievers and cavillers say that impressions,\\ntaken as evidences, are every thing, and that, over and\\nabove these, faith is nonsense. Yon that are waiting to be\\nin faith, by merely having your convictions and feelings\\nintensified, say the same thing; for you expect your im-\\npressions to coalesce in faith, and so to be faith. That, as\\nwe have seen already, is forever impossible. Faith is more\\nthan impression it moves from you, it is the trusting of\\nyour being, in a total, final act of commitment, to the\\nbeing of Christ, your Saviour. Impressions shot into you,\\never by thunder-bolts, would not be faith in you. Ye\\nalso have seen me, savs Jesus, and believe not. Xo im-\\npression can be stronger and more positive than sight, and\\nyet not even this was equivalent to faith. It was a good\\nground of faith, nothing more. Whatever drawings, then,\\nimpressions, convictions, evidences, God in his mercy may\\ngive you, they will only ask your faith and wait for it.\\nWill you, can you, then, believe On that question hangs\\nevery thing decisive as regards your salvation. This crisis\\nof faith, can you ever pass it, or will you always be\\nwaiting for a faith to begin in 3 ou which is not faith, and\\nnever can be Let the faith be yours, as it must your\\nown coming to Christ, your own act of self-surrender, your\\ncoming over to him and eternal trust in him for peace, life,\\ntruth and bread knowing assuredly that he will be made\\nunto you all these, and more, wisdom, righteousness,\\nsanctiiieation and redemption.\\nFinally, it is very plain that what is now most wanted,\\nin the Christian worl 1, is more faith. We too little respect\\nfaith, we dabble too much in reason; fabricating gospels,\\nwhere we ought to be receiving Christ; limiting all faith,\\nif we chance to allow of faith, by the measures of previous", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "104 THE REASON OF FAITH.\\nevidence, and cutting the wings of faith when, laying\\nhold of God, and bathing in the secret mind of God, it\\nconquers more and higher evidence. Here is the secret of\\nour sects and schisms, that we are so much in the head\\nfor, when we should be one in faith, by receiving our one\\nLord, as soon as we go off into schemes and contrived sum*\\nmaries of notions, reasoned into gospels, what can follow\\nbut that we have as many gospels as we have heads and\\ntheories? It never can be otherwise, till we are united by\\nfaith. The word of reason is a word of interminable\\nschism and subdivision, and the propagation of it, as in\\nthose animals that multiply by dividing their own bodies,\\nwill be a fissiparous process to the end of the world. 0,\\nthat the bleeding and lacerated body of Christ could once\\nmore be gathered unto the Head, and fastened there by a\\nsimple, vital trust that his counsel and feeling and all his\\ndivine graces might flow down upon it, as a sacred healing\\nand a vivifying impulse of love and sacrifice and that so,\\nfighting each other no more, we might all together fight\\nthe good fight of faith.\\nWe shall never recover the true apostolic energy and be\\nindued with power from on high, as the first disciples\\nwere and this exactly is the prayer in which the holiest,\\nmost expectant and most longing souls on earth are wait-\\ning now before God till we recover the lost faith. As re-\\ngards a higher sanctification, which is, I trust, the cherished\\nhope of us all, nothing is plainer than the impossibility of\\nit, except as we can yield to faith a higher honor and abide\\nin it with a holier confidence. Every man is sanctified\\naccording to his faith for. it is by this trusting of himself\\nto Christ that he becomes invested, exalted, irradiated, and\\nfinally glorified in Christ. Be it unto you according to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "THE REASON OF FAITH. 105\\nyour faith, is the true principle, and by that the whole life-\\nstate of the church on earth always has been, always will\\nbe graduated. Increase our faith, then, Lord be this our\\nprayer.\\nThat prayer, I believe, is yet to be heard. After we\\nhave gone through all the rounds of science, speculation\\ndialectic cavil, and wise unbelief, we shall do what they\\ndid not even in the apostolic times, we shall begin to\\nsettle conceptions of faith that will allow us, and all the\\nages to come, to stand fast in it and do it honor. And then\\nGod will pour himself into the church again, I know not\\nin what gifts. Faith will then be no horseman out upon\\nthe plain, but will have a citadel manned and defended,\\nwhence no power of man can ever dislodge it again. Faith\\nwill be as much stronger now than science, as it is higher\\nand more diffusive. And now the reign of God is estab-\\nlished. Christ is now the creed, and the whole church of\\nGod is in it. fulfilling the work of faith with power.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "VI.\\nREGENERATION.\\nJohn iii 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily\\nverily I say unto thee, except a man be bom again, he can not\\nsee the kingdom of God\\nThis very peculiar expression, born again, is a phrase\\nthat was generated historically in the political state, then\\ntaken up by Christ, and appropriated figuratively to the\\nspiritual use in which we find it. Thus foreigners, or\\nGentiles, were regarded by the Jewish people as unclean.\\nTherefore, if any Gentile man wanted to become a Jewish\\ncitizen, he was baptized with water, in connection with\\nother appropriate ceremonies, and so, being cleansed, was\\nadmitted to be a true son of Abraham. It was as if he\\nhad been born, a second time, of the stock of Abraham\\nand becoming, in this manner, a native Jew, as related to\\nthe Jewish state, he was said, in form of law, to be born\\nagain. Our term naturalization signifies essentially the\\nsame thing; viz., that the subject is made to be a natural\\nborn American, or, in the eye of the law, a native citizen.\\nFinding this Jewish ceremony on foot, and familiarly\\nknown, Christ takes advantage of it, (and the more natur-\\nally that a person so regenerated was, by the supposition,\\nentered, religiously, into the covenant of Abraham,) as\\naffording a good analogy, and a good form of expression,\\nto represent the naturalization of a soul in the kingdom\\nof heaven. Regarding us, in our common state under sin,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "EEGEKEKATION. 107\\nas aliens, or foreigners, and not citizens in the kingdom,\\nunclean in a deeper than ceremonial and political sense,\\nhe says, in a manner most emphatic, Verily, verily I say\\nunto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the\\nkingdom of God. And ao-ain, Marvel not that I said ante\\nvon, ve must be born again. In this lano-uao-e, so emploved,\\nhe gives us to understand that no man can ever be accepted\\nbefore God, or entered into the kingdom of the glorified,\\nwho is not cleansed by a spiritual transformation, in that\\nmanner born of God, and so made native in the kingdom.\\nHe does not leave us to suppose that he is speaking merely\\nof a ceremonial cleansing. lie only takes the ivater by\\nthe way, as a symbol, and adds the Spirit as the real cleans-\\ning power Except a man be born of water and the Spirit,\\nhe can not enter into the kingdom of God. That which\\nis born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the\\nSpirit is spirit.\\nI propose, now, a deliberate examination of this great\\nsubject, hoping to present such a view of it as will com-\\nmand the respect of any thoughtful person, whatever may\\nhave been his previous difficulties and objections. My\\nobject will be to unfold the scripture doctrine, in a way to\\nmake it clear, not doubting that, when it is intelligibly\\nshown, it will also prove itself to be soundly intelligent,\\nand will so command our assent, as a proper truth of sal-\\nvation. I believe, also, that many minds are confused, to\\nBuch a degree, m their notions of this subject, as must\\nfatally hinder them, in their efforts to enter the gate which\\nit opens.\\nI call your attention specially to three points\\nI. That Christ requires of all mankind, without distinction,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "108 REGENEKATION.\\nsome great and important change, as the necessary con-\\ndition of their salvation.\\nII. The nature and definition of this change.\\nIII. The manner in which it is, and is to be, effected.\\nI. That Christ requires of all some great and important\\nchange.\\nHe does not, of course, require it of such as are already\\nsubjects of the change, and many are so even from their\\nearliest years having grown up into Christ by the pre-\\nventing or anticipating grace of their nurture in the Lord;\\nso that they can recollect no time, when Christ wa not\\ntheir love, and the currents of their inclination did not run\\ntoward his word and his cause. The case, however, of\\nsuch is no real exception and, besides this, there is even\\nno semblance of exception. Intelligence, in fact, is not more\\nnecessary to our proper humanity, than the second birth\\nof this humanity, as Christ speaks, to its salvation. Many\\ncan not believe, or admit any such doctrine. It savors of\\nhardness, they imagine, or undue severity, and does not\\ncorrespond with what they think they see, in the examples\\nof natural character among men. There is too much ami-\\nability and integrity, too much of exactness and even of\\nscrupulousness in duty, to allow any such sweeping require-\\nment, or the supposition of any such universal necessity.\\nHow can it be said or imagined that so many moral,\\nhonorable, lovely, beneficent and habitually reverent per-\\nsons need to be radically and fundamentally changed in\\ncharacter, before they can be saved?\\nThat, according to Christ, depends on the question\\nwhether. the one thing 7 is really lacking in them or not.\\nIf it be, not even the fact that he can look upon them", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "KEGENEKATION. 109\\nwith love will, at all, modify his requirement. This is the\\nword of Christ, this his new testament still, regeneration\\nuniversal regeneration, thus salvation.\\nWe can see too, for ourselves, that Christianity is based\\non the fact of this necessity. It is not any doctrine of\\ndevelopment, or self-culture no scheme of ethical practice,\\nor social re-organization but it is a salvation a power\\nmoving on fallen humanity from above its level, to re-\\ngenerate and so to save. The whole fabric is absurd there-\\nfore, unless there was something to be done in man and\\nfor him that required a supernatural intervention. TTe\\ncan see too, at a glance, that the style of the transaction is\\nsupernatural, from the incarnate appearing onward. Were\\nit otherwise, were Christianity a merely natural and earthly\\nproduct, then it were only a fungus growing out of the\\nworld, and, with all its high pretensions, could have noth-\\ning more to do for the world, than any other fungus for the\\nheap on which it grows. The very name, Jesus, is a false\\npretense, unless he has something to do for the race,\\nwhich the race can not do for itself; something re-\\ngenerative and new-creative; something fitly called a\\nsalvation. V\\nBut how can we imagine, some of you will ask, that\\nGod is going to stand upon any such definite and rigid\\nterms with us Is he not a more liberal being and capable\\nof doing better things Since he is very good and very\\ngreat, and we are very weak and very much under the\\nlaw of circumstances, is it not more rational to suppose\\nthat he will find some way to save us, and that, if we do\\nnot come into any such particular terms of life, it will be\\nabout as well May we not safely risk the consequences\\nIt ought to be a sufficient answer to all such suggestions,\\n10", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "110 REGE^EEATION\\nthat Christ evidently understood what is necessary for us*\\nbetter than we do, and that we discover no disposition to\\nuncharitableness or harshness in him. He comes directly\\nout from God and knows the mind of God. He takes om\\ncase upon him, and is so pressed by the necessities of our\\nstate, that he is even willing to die for us.\\nIt ought also to be observed that all such kinds of argu-\\nment are a plea for looseness, which is not the manner of\\nGod. Contrary to this, we discover, in ail we know of\\nhim, that he is the exactest of beings doing nothing with-\\nout fixed principles, and allowing nothing out of its true\\nplace and order. He weighs every world of the sky, even\\nto its last atom, and rolls it into an orbit exactly suited to\\nits uses and quantities. Nothing is smuggled out of place,\\nor into place, because it is well enough anywhere. If a\\nretreating army wants to cross a frozen river, the ice will\\nnot put off dissolving, but will run into the liquid state, at\\na certain exact point of temperature. If a man wants to\\nlive, there is yet some diseased speck of matter, it may be,\\nin his brain, or heart, which no microscope even could de-\\ntect, and by that speck, or because of it, he will die at a\\ncertain exact time which time will not be delayed, for a\\nday, simply because it is only a speck. Is then character\\na matter that God will treat more loosely will he decide\\nthe great questions of order and place, dependent on it,\\nby no exact terms or conditions? If he undertakes\\nto save, will he save as by accommodation, or by some\\nfixed law If he undertakes to construct a beatific state,\\nwill he gather in a jumble of good and bad, and call it\\nLeaven? How certainly will any expectation of heaven,\\nbased on the looseness of God, and the confidence that he\\nwill stand for no very exact terms, issue in dreadful disap-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0114.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "KEGEjN-ERATION. Ill\\npoLument. And the more certainly, in this case, that the\\nexactness supposed refers, not to any mere atoms of quantity,\\nbut to eternal distinctions of kind. His law of gravity\\nwill as soon put the sea on the backs of the mountains, as\\nhis terms of salvation will gather into life them that are\\nnot quickened in his Son.\\nDo we not also see as clearly, as possible, for ourselves,\\nwhat signifies much that some men, a very large class of\\nmen, are certainly not in a condition to enter the kingdom\\nof God, or any happy and good state. They have no\\npurity or sympathy with it. They are slaves of passion.\\nThey are cruel, tyrannical, brutal, and even disgusting to\\ndecency; fearful, unbelieving, abominable. Who can\\nthink that these are ready to melt into a perfectly blessed\\nand celestial society? But, if not these, then there must\\nbe a division, and where shall it fall If a line must be\\ndrawn, it must be drawn somewhere, and what is on one\\nside of that line will not be on the other which is the\\nsame as to say that there must be exact terms of salvation\\nif there are any.\\nAgain, we know, we feel in our own consciousness,\\nwhile living in the mere life of nature, that we are not in\\na state to enjoy the felicities of a purely religious and\\nspotlessly sinless world. We turn from it with inward\\npain. Our heart is not there. We want the joys of that\\nstate we feel a certain hunger, at times, after God him-\\nself; and that hunger is to us an assured evidence that we\\nhave him not. I do not undertake to press this argument\\nfurther than it will bear. I only say that we feel conscious\\nof something uncongenial, in our state, toward God and\\nheaven. We seem to ourselves not to be in the kingdom\\nof God, but without, and can hardly imagine how we", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0115.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "112 REGENERATION.\\nsliall ever find any so great felicity in the employments of\\nliolv minds.\\nIt is also a very significant proof that some great change\\nis needed in us that, when we give ourselves to some new\\npurpose of amendment, or undertake to act up more ex-\\nactly to the ideals of our mind, we are consciously legal\\nin it, and do all by a kind of constraint. Something tells\\nus that we are not spontaneous in what we do that our\\ncurrents do not run this way, but the contrary. A sad\\nkind of heaven will be made by this sort of virtue How\\ndry it is, and if we call it service, how hard a service\\nWhat we want is liberty, to be in a kind of inspiration, to\\nhave our inclinations run the way of our duty, to be so\\ndeep in the spirit of it as to love it for its own sake. And\\nthis exactly is what is meant by the being born of Grod.\\nIt is having Grod revealed in the soul, moving in it as the\\ngrand impulse of life, so that duty is easy and, as it were,\\nnatural. Then we are in the kingdom, as being natural-\\nized in it, or native born. Our regeneration makes us free\\nin good. How manifest is it that, without this freedom,\\nthis newly generated inclination to good, all our supposed\\nservice is mockery, our seeming excellence destitute of\\nsound reality.\\nThere is then a change, a great spiritual change, required\\nby Christianity as necessary to salvation, and we find\\nabundant reason, in all that we know of ourselves and the\\nworld, to admit the necessity of some transformation quite\\nus radical. In presence of a truth so momentous and\\nserious, we now raise the question\\nII. What is the nature of this change, how shall it be\\nconceived", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0116.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 113\\nTo make the answer as clear as possible, let some things\\nwhich only confuse the mind, and which often enter largely\\ninto the discussion, be excluded.\\nThus a great deal of debate is had over the supposed\\ninstantaneousness of the change. But that is a matter of\\ntheory and not of necessary experience. If we call the\\nchange a change from bad in kind to good in kind, from\\na wrong principle of life to a right, the change will imply\\na berinning; of what is good and right, and a gradual be-\\nginning of any thing would seem to be speculatively im-\\npossible. Still the change is, in that view, only an instan-\\ntaneous beginning. But, however this may be in specula-\\ntion, there is often, or even commonly, no consciousness of\\nany such sudden transition. The subject often can not tell\\nthe hour, or the day he only knows, it may be, look-\\nins: back over hours or days, or even months, that he ia\\na different man.\\nSome persons hold impressions of the change which\\nsuppose, or even require it to be gradual. This is an error\\nquite as likely to confuse the mind for then they set out,\\nalmost of course, to make it a change only of degrees, in\\nthe old plane of the natural character. The true practical\\nmethod is to drop out all considerations and questions of\\ntime, and look at nothing but the simple fact of the change\\nitself, whenever and however accomplished.\\nMuch, again, is said in this matter of previous states\\nand exercises conviction, distress, tumult then of light,\\npeace, hope, bursting suddenly into the gouI. Let no one\\nattempt to realize any such description. Something of\\nthe kind may be common among the inductive causes, or\\nthe consequences of the change, but has nothing to do\\nwith its radical id\\nxO*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0117.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "114 REGENERATION.\\nExcluding now all these points, which are practically\\nimmaterial and irrelevant, as regards a definite conception\\nof the change, let us carefully observe, first of all, how the\\nscriptures speak of it, or what figure it makes in their\\nrepresentations; and more especially the fact that they\\nnever speak of it as being a change of degrees, an amend-\\nment of the life, an improvement or growing better in the\\nplane of the old character. Contrary to this, they use bold,\\nsweeping contrasts, and deal, as it were, in totalities. It\\nis the being born again, or born over as if it were a spirit-\\nual reproduction of the man. They describe him as\\none new created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Old\\nthings they declare to be passed away, behold all things\\nare become new. It is passing from death to its opposite\\nlife. It is dying with Christ, to walk with him in newness\\nof life. That which is born of the flesh is declared to be\\nflesh and, in the same sense, that which is born of the\\nSpirit to be spirit; as if a second nature, free to good,\\nwere inbreathed by the Divine Spirit, partaking his own\\nquality.\\nIt is called putting off the old man and putting on the\\nnew man, which after God is created in righteousness and\\ntrue holiness as if there was even a substitution of one\\nman for another in the change, a new divine man in the\\nplace of the old.\\nAgain, it is called being transformed, and that by a re\\nnewing even of the mind, or intelligent principle.\\nAgain, as if forever to exclude the idea of a mere grow-\\ning better by care, and duty, and self improvement, an\\napostle says\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Not by works of righteousness which we\\nhave done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the\\nwashing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0118.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 11\\nNow you understand that a change of this kind can be\\nspoken of, or described, only in figures. Therefore none\\nof these expressions are to be taken as literal truths. But\\nthe great question under them is this is the change spoken\\nof a change merely of degree, or is it a change of kind\\nis it simply the improving of principles already planted in\\nthe soul, or is it the passing into a new state under new\\nprinciples, to be started into a life radically different from\\nthe former I have not one doubt which of the two alter-\\nnatives to accept as the true answer. Had it been the\\nmatter in hand, in redeeming the world, simply to make\\nus better in degree, it would have been the easiest thing\\nin the world to say it. The gospel does not say it. On\\nthe contrary, it labors after terms in which to set forth a\\nchange of kind, of principle, a grand anakainosis,\\nrenovation, new creation, spiritually speaking, of the man.\\nNor is there vmj thing contrary to this, in those expres-\\nsions which require a process of growth and gradual\\nadvancement. For it is only potentially that the new life\\nis regarded as a complete or total renovation. As the\\nchild is potentially a man, as the seed planted is potentially\\nthe fall grown plant, so it is with the regenerated life in\\nChrist. It is a beginning, the implanting of a new\\nseed, and then we are to see, first the blade, then the ear,\\nand after that the full corn in the car. All such concep-\\ntions of growth fall into place under the fact that the new\\ncharacter begun is only begun, and that, while it is the\\nroot and spring of a complete renovation, it must needs\\nunfold itself and fill itself out into completeness, by a pro-\\ncess of holy living On the other hand, there cculd be no\\ngrowth if there were not something planted, and ii is\\neverywhere assumed and taught that until the new man", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0119.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "116 REGENERATION.\\nis born, or begotten, there is not so much, as a seed of true\\nholiness, no principle that can be unfolded that, without\\nfaith, the soul abideth even in death, and therefore can\\nnot grow.\\nAdvancing -now from this point, let us see if we can\\naccurately conceive the interior nature of the change.\\nEvery man is conscious of this that when he acts in any\\nparticular manner of wrong doing, or sin, or neglect of\\nGod, there is something in the matter besides the mere act,\\nor acts. There is a something back of the action which is\\nthe reason why it is done. In the mere act itself, there is,\\nin fact, no character at all. In striking another, for ex-\\nample, the mere thrust of the arm, by the will, is the act\\nand, taken in that narrow mechanical sense, there is no\\nwrong in it, more than there is in the motion that dispenses\\na charity. The wrong is back of the act, in some habit\\nof soul, some disposition, some status of character, whence\\nthe action comes. ISTow this something, whatever it be, is\\nthe wrong of all wrong, the sin of all sin, and this must\\nbe changed which change is the condition of salvation.\\nSometimes this change is conceived to be a really organ-\\nic change in the subject. The strong expressions just\\nreferred to, in the scripture, are taken literally, as if there\\nwas and must needs be, a literal re-creation of the man.\\nThe difficulty back of the wrong action is conceived to be\\nthe man himself, as a mal-constructed and constitutionally\\nevil being, who can never be less evil, till something is\\ntaken out of him and replaced by a new insertion, which\\nis, in fact, a new creation, by the fiat of omnipotence\\nBut this, it is plain, would be no proper regeneration of\\nthe man, but the generation rather of another man in his\\nplace. Personal identity would be overthrown. The", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0120.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 117\\nman would not, or should not, be consciously the same\\nthai be was. Besides, i 1 to put off the\\nman ours slv s and put on the new, and even to make our-\\nlew heart and a new spirit, which shows.\\nrly as possible, that we are to act concurrently in the\\nchange ourselves, whatever it be. But how can we act\\nly in a literal re-creation of our nature?\\nSometimes, again, the change is conceived to be only a\\npurpose, a change of what is called the govern-\\ning purpose. Yon del oined this morning, for example,\\ntend worship in this lace. This determination, or\\npurpose, being ms le, it in one vie 1 assed out of mind;\\nyou did not continue to say and repeat, ;i I will do it, till\\n1 the place and took your seat; and yet it\\nvirtually in you, governing all your thousand subordinate\\nvolitiops, in rising, preparing, walking, choosing your way,\\nand the like, down to that moment. Just so there is, it is\\na I ad governing purpc -jlf-devotion, back\\nof the whole life, making it what it is and what chris-\\ntian: or requ: the change of that purp\\nwhich being changed, a change is wrought in the whole\\nlife and character. And thi conceived, is to be born\\nin. The change of the governing purpose is the re-\\ngeneration of the man.\\nThe illustration, somewhat popularly taken, has truth\\nin it, and it may be used in many cases with advan: a\\nStill it _overning purpose that we find,\\nwhen we look for the seat of our disorder, but a something\\nrather which we call a bad mind, state, or disposition.\\nHaving a certain y of freedom, this bad mind, state,\\nor disposition, may be represented analogically by a\\ngoverning purpose, though it can net be identified with", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0121.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "L18 REGENERATION\\nthat. It is to the character what the will is dynamically\\nto the actions, a bad affinity that distempers and carnalize?\\nthe whole man. I know not how to describe it better than\\nto call it a false love, a wrong love, a downward, selfish love,\\nHow this love gets dominion, or becomes established in us,\\nis not now the question. Enough to know that this wrong\\nlove is in us, and, being in us, is the source of a wrong\\nlife, much as the bad governing purpose is said to be.\\nOnly it is a more real and fatal condition of bondage and\\na less superficial evil. When we speak of a purpose that\\nneeds to be changed, we have only to will it and the change\\nis wrought. But when we speak of changing one s reign-\\ning love, so that his life shall be under another love, a\\nright love, a heavenly, a divine love, that is quite another\\nand deeper and more difficult matter.\\nEvery man s life, practically speaking, is shaped by his\\nlove. If it is a downward, earthly love, then his actions\\nwill be tinged by it, all his life will be as his reigning love.\\nThis love, you perceive, is not a mere sentiment, or casual\\nemotion, but is the man s settled affinity it is thai\\nwhich is, to his character, what the magnetic force is to\\nthe needle, the power that adjusts all his aims and works,\\nand practically determines the man. It only must be\\neither a downward love, or an upward love; for, being the\\nlast love and deepest of the man, there can not be two last\\nand deepest, it mast be one or the other. And then, as\\nthis love changes, it works a general revolution of the\\nman.\\nHence it is that so much is said of the heart in the\\ngospel, and of a change of the heart; for it is what pro-\\nceeds out of the heart that defileth the man. The meaning\\nis, not that Christianity proposes to give us a new organ uf", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0122.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 119\\npool, or lI r of the soul and insert an-\\nother, _ the love of the heart A\\nman i thi 2 n s heart\\nThus it is ledared that God will write his laws in\\n:f men, which is saying that he will brine his 1:\\ninto their love. I this, it is\\nthat lov Gk and every one th 1 reth is rn E\\nth th rev that h a the right love, the\\nheav established in him, h\\non whi ;n hangs.\\n_\\nI have brought yon oni\\nof th- ht t maybe\\ntvi And her and\\nhigher which i s scriptural, and which n\\nin vi 3W, in r lei fcc a right d iu next\\npoint, the manner in which the ch; age\\na will bserve.1 have Ic ke 1 li tl\\nsubject of the change, r _ only wh t trai res in\\nhim man. He is no1 he is not si\\niged in his _ _ 1 in his\\ning love. Still he could not mau in\\nhis own spirit, from another eh;\\nwhich this is only an incident. all, the prin\\n_ is not in him him-\\nit in his personal i rnal\\nto himself. In his prior, unn s\\nhew- in himself, living\\nin himself and to himself. And I not m: live\\nin this manner. He was ma ie to live in God, to be con-\\nscious of God, to know him 1 immediate knov I _\\nto act 1 rd, to be i I by\\nhim. By this I mean nc he is to be inspired in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0123.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "120 REGENERATION,\\nthe same sense and manner as a prophet is, or a writer ol\\nscripture, which, is the sense commonly attached to the\\nword I only mean that he is made to be occupied, filled,\\ngoverned, moved, exalted, by His all-containing Spirit so\\nthat all his tempers, actions, ends, enjoyments, will be from\\nGcd. A tree can as well live out of the light, or out of\\nthe air, as a finite soul out of God and separate from (rod.\\nIlere then is the grand overtowering summit of the change\\nthat the man is born of God. He is born into God, re-\\nstored to the living connection with God that was lost by\\nhis sin, made to be a partaker of the divine nature, and\\nlive a life hid with Christ in God. He acts no more by\\nhis mere human will, as before he says, yet not I, but\\nChrist, liveth in me. God is now revealed in him; he is\\nnot a sole, simple, human nature but he is a human na-\\nture occupied by the divine, living and acting in an inspired\\nmovement; all which is signified by the declaration, that\\nwhich is born of the Spirit is spirit. He is more than a\\nhuman person, he is spirit; a human person, that is, per-\\nvaded, illuminated, swayed, exalted, empowered, and\\nfinally to be glorified by the life and Spirit of God devel-\\noped freely in him. This emphatically is regeneration.\\nIt can not be fully defined by looking simply at the man\\nhimself. He must be regarded as in relation to another\\nbeing. He is really parted from sin and quickened in a\\nspirit of life, only as he is restored to God and received\\ninto the glorious occupancy of the divine nature.\\nBut whether we regard the change as a change in the\\nsoul s ruling love, or in the higher form of it here recog-\\nnized, makes little difference for, in fact, neither of these\\ntwo will be found separated from the other. If a man s\\nruling love is changed, he will, of course, be altered in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0124.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 121\\nhis relation to God, and restored to oneness with him\\nAnd if he is restored to that oneness, his ruling love will\\nbe changed. There will be no precedence of time in one\\nto the other. They will be rigidly coincident. They will\\neven be mutual conditions one of the other. No man will\\never be united to God, except in and by a love that em-\\nbraces or ?ntemples God. No man ever w-ill be changed\\nin his ruling love, except in the embrace of God, and His\\nrevelation in the soul. The consequences therefore of the\\nchange will be such as belong to both. The soul is now\\nentered into rest rest in love, rest in God. It is flooded\\nalso with a wondrously luminous joy; its wdiole horizon\\nis filled with light; the light of a new love, the light\\nof God revealed within. It has the beginning of true bless-\\nedness because God himself and the principle of God s\\nown blessedness are in ifc. It settles into peace; for\\nnow it is at one with God and all the creatures of God. It\\nis filled with the confidence of hope because God, who is\\nwholly given himself to a right love, will never forsake it,\\nin life or death. It is free to good, inclined to good; for\\nthe good love reigns in it, and it would even have to deny\\nitself not to do the works of love. It consciously knows\\nGod, within for God is there now in a new relation, love\\npresent to love, love answering to love. There is no aliena-\\ntion, or separation, but oneness. If a man love me, says\\nthe Saviour, he will keep my w^ords, and my Father will\\nlove him, and we w T ill come unto him and make our abode\\nwith him. That abode in the soul is a new condition of\\ndivine movement for it is in the movement of God. All\\nthings, of course, are new. Life proceeds from a new cen-\\nter, of which God is the rest and prop. The bible is a\\nnew book, because there is a light in the soul by which to\\n11", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0125.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "122 KEGENERATION.\\nread it. Duties are new, because the divine love the soul\\nis in has changed all the relations of time and the aims of\\nlife- The saints of God on earth are no longer shunned,\\nbut greeted in new terms of celestial brotherhood. The\\nvery world itself is revealed in new beauty and joy to the\\nmin i, because it is looked upon with another and different\\nlove, and beheld as the symbol of God.\\nBut let this one caution be observed. You are likely\\nto be more attracted by the consequences of the change\\nthan by the change itself. But with the consequences you\\nhave nothing to do. God will take care of these. It\\nmay be that your mind will be so artificial, or so confused,\\nas to miss the consequences for a time, after the reality is\\npassed. But God will bring them out in his own good\\ntime, perhaps gradually, certainly in the way that is best\\nfor you. Let him do his own work, and be it yours to\\nlook after nothing but the new love. This brings me to\\nspeak, as I shall do in the briefest manner possible,\\nIII. Of the manner in which the change, already de-\\nscribed, is to be effected.\\nTo maintain that such a change can be manipulated, or\\nofficially passed, by a priest, in the rite of baptism, is no\\nbetter than a solemn trifling with the subject. Indeed, so\\nplain is this, that a sober argument, instituted to prove the\\ncontrary, is itself a half surrender of the truth. Born\\nof water and of the Spirit, says our Lord, and the lan-\\nguage is a Hebraism, which presents the water as the sym-\\nbol and the Spirit as the power of the change.\\nEqually plain is it that the change is not to be effected,\\nby waiting for some new creating act of God, to be literally\\npassed on the soul. Whoever thinks to compliment the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0126.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 123\\nsovereignty of God in that manner, mocks both himself\\nand God. The change, as we have seen, passes only bj;\\nconsent and a free concurrence with God. God -will nevei\\ndemolish a sinner s personality.\\nAs little is it to be accomplished by any mere willing,\\nor change of purpose, apart from God. There must be a\\nchange of purpose, a final, total, sweeping change of all\\npurpose, but that of itself will not change the soul s love,\\nleast of all will it be a birth of God into the soul. A man\\ncan as little drag himself up into a new reigning love, as\\nhe can drag a Judas into paradise. Or, if we say nothing\\nof this, how can he execute a change, that consists in the\\nrevelation of God, bv acting on himself? Born of God/ 7\\nremember, is the christian idea, not born of self-exercise\\ncreated anew in Christ Jesus, not self-created. You must\\nget beyond your own mere will, else you will find, even\\nthough you strain your will to the utmost for a hundred\\nyears, that, while to will is present, you perform not.\\nYou can not lift this bondage, or break this chain, or burst\\nopen a way into freedom through this barrier, till you can\\nsay; I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord; for the\\nlaw of the spirit of life hath made me free from the law\\nof sin and death.\\nThe question then recurs, how shall this change be\\neffected? The whole endeavor, I answer, on your part\\nmust be God-ward. In the first place, you must give up\\nevery purpose, end, employment, hope, that conflicts with\\nGod and takes jjou away frcm him. Ilence what is said\\nin so many forms of self-renunciation. Hence the require-\\nment to forsake all. It is on the ground that, in your life\\nof sin, you are altogether in self-love, centered in yourself,\\nliving for yourself, making a god of your own objects and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0127.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "124 HE GENE RATION.\\nworks. These occupy the soul, fill it, bear rale in it, and\\nGod can not enter. You must make room for God, create a\\nvoid for him to fill, die to yourself that Christ may live\\nwithin.\\nBut this negative work of self-clearing is not enough.\\nThere must be a positive reaching after God, an offering\\nup of the soul to him, that he may come and dwell in it\\nand consecrate it as his temple. For, as certainly as the\\nlight will pour into an open window, just so certainly will\\nGod reveal himself in a mind that is opened to his approach.\\nNow this opening of the mind, this reaching after God, is\\nfaith; and hence it is that so much is made of faith. For\\nGod is revealed outwardly, in the incarnate life and death\\nof Jesus, in order that he may present himself in a man-\\nner level to our feeling, and quickening to our love, and\\nso encourage that faith by which he may come in, to re-es-\\ntablish his presence in us. For God, who commanded the\\nlight to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,\\nto give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in\\nthe face of Jesus Christ. 0, it is there that the true God\\nshines let him shine into our hearts Jesus, if we under-\\nstand him, is the true manifestation of Gocl, and he is mani-\\nfested to be the regenerating power of a new divine life,\\nBy his beautiful childhood, by his loving acts and words,\\nby his sorrowful death, God undertakes to impregnate our\\ndead hearts with his love, and so to establish himself eter-\\nnally in us. What is said of the Spirit is said of him, as\\nbeing also the Spirit of Jesus. For, in highest virtuality,\\nthey are one, even as Christ himself declares, when dis-\\ncoursing of the promised Spirit, I will come to you,\\nbut ye see me. Beceive him, therefore, as receiving\\nChrist, and him as the accepted image of God, arid this", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0128.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "REGENERATION. 125\\nwill e your faith, this the regeneration of your love, and\\nthis the token of your new connection with God.\\nAllow no artificial questions of before and after to detain\\nyou here, as debating whether Christ, or the Spirit, or\\nthe faith, or the new born love, must be first. Enough to\\nknow that, if your faith is conditioned by the Spirit, so is\\nthe victory of the spirit conditioned by your faith that\\nhere you have all these mercies streaming upon you, and\\nthat nothing effectual can be done, till your faith meets\\nthem and they are revealed in your faith. Enough to\\nknow that, if the faith is to be God s work, it is also to be\\nyour act, and it can not be worked before it is acted. Let\\nChrist also be your help in this acting of faith and this re-\\nceiving of God, even as he set himself to give it in his\\nconversation with jSTicodemus; going directly on to speak\\nof himself and the grace brought down to sinners in his\\nperson, declaring that, as Moses lifted up the brazen ser-\\npent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted\\nup, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but\\nhave everlasting life. He brings the divine love down to\\nthis most wondrous attitude, the cross, that we may there\\ndrop out our sin, and receive into our faith the love, the\\nGod of love expressed. And therefore it is represented\\nthat Christ ever stands before the door and knocks for ad-\\nmission, with a promise that, if any man open the door\\n(which is faith,) he will come in and sup with him. Chris-\\ntianity is God descending to the door to get admission- this\\nis the grand philosophy of the incarnation. God is just\\nwhat you see him here, and lie comes to be revealed in you\\nas he is presented before you. Thus received, you are born\\nagain, born of God. A new love enters, God enters, and\\neternal life begins.\\n11*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0129.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "128 REGENERATION\\nShall le enter thus with you? How many of you\\nare there that ought to hear this call. And no one of you\\nis excluded. You may have come hither to-day with no\\nsuch high intention. Still the call is to you. If you ask\\nwho? how many? when? all, I answer, all, and that to-day.\\nDo you not see a glorious simplicity in this truth of re-\\ngeneration! How beautiful is God in the light of it, how\\ndeep in love Christ Jesus and his cross, how close, in all\\nthis, comes the tenderness and winning grace of your God\\nNo matter if you did not think of receiving him, are you\\ngoing to reject him? Is it nothing to be so exalted, so\\ndivinely ennobled? Have you fallen so low that no such\\ngreatness can attract you\\nThen be it so. Have it as confessed that, when you saw\\nthe true gate open, you would not enter. Go back to your\\nsins. Plunge into your little cares, fall down to your base\\nidols, creep along through the low affinities of your sin,\\nmake a covenant with hunger and thirst, and hide it from\\nyou, if you can, that you were made for God, made to live\\nin the consciousness of Him, as a mind irradiated by His\\nspirit, quickened by his life, cleared by His purity. But\\nif you can not be attracted by this, let it be no won-\\nder, call it no severity, that Christ has not opened heaven\\nto you. No wonder is it to him, even if it be to you, and\\ntherefore he says, whispers it to you kindly, but faithfully,\\nas you turn yourself away, Marvel not that I said unto\\nyou ye must be born again.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0130.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "VII.\\nTHE PERSONAL LOVE AND LEAD OF CHRIST.\\nJorx x. 3. And he calleth his own sheep by name and\\nleadeth therm out. 1\\nIn this parable, Christ is a shepherd, and his people are\\nhis flock. And two points, on which the beauty and sig-\\nnificance of the parable principally turn, are referred to in\\nthe text, which might not be distinctly observed by one\\nwho is not acquainted with the peculiar manner of the\\neastern shepherds. They have, in the first place, a name\\nfor every sheep, and every sheep knows its name when it\\nis called. And then the shepherd does not drive the flock,\\nas we commonly speak, but he leads them, going before.\\nTo these two points, or to the instruction contained under\\nthese two analogies, I now propose to call your attention.\\nI. He calleth his own sheep by name. As we have\\nnames for dogs and other animals, which they themselves\\nknow, so it was with the eastern shepherds and their flocks.\\nThis fact is shown historically, by many references. It is\\nto this, for example, that Isaiah refers when he represents\\nthe Almighty Creator as leading out the starry heavens,\\nlike a shepherd leading his flock; Lift up your eyes and\\nbehold who hath created these things, that brin^eth out\\ntheir h number; he calleth them all by names.\\nThe shepherd in this view is not as one who keeps a hive\\nof bees, knowing well the hive, but never any particular", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0131.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "128 THE PEKSOUAL LOVE\\nbee in it, but he has a particular recognition of everj\\nsheep, has a name for every one, teaches every one to know\\nthat name and follow at the call. This also is sigmifled in\\nthe words that immediately follow, The sheep follow\\nLinij for they know his voice, words that refer, not so\\nmuch to the mere tones of his voice, as to the feet thai\\nne is able, as a stranger is not, to call the names ihey are\\nwont to answer as their own.\\nUnder this analogy stands the tender and beautiful truth,\\nthat Christ holds a particular relation to individual persons\\nknows them, loves them, watches for them, leads them individu*\\nally, even as if calling them by name.\\nIn this respect, the parable is designed to counteract and\\ncorrect, what has in all ages been the common infirmity of\\nChristian believers; they believe that God has a real care\\nof the church and of all great bodies of sainis, but how diffi-\\ncult is it to imagine that he ever particularly notes, or per-\\nsonally recognizes them. They know that God has a vast\\nempire, and that the cares and counsels of his love include\\nimmense numbers of minds, and they fall into the impres-\\nsion that he must needs deal with them in the gross, or a/\u00c2\u00bb\\nnoting only generals, just as they would do themselves.\\nThey even take an air of philosophy in this opinion, ask-\\ning how we can imagine that so great a being takes a par-\\nticular notice of, and holds a particular and personal rela-\\ntion to, individual men. There could not be a greater\\nmistake, even as regards the matter of philosophy for the\\nrelation God holds to objects of knowledge is different, io\\nall respects, from that which is held by as. Our genera]\\nterms, man. tree, insect, flower, are the names of particular,\\nor single specimens, extended, on the ground of a per-\\nceived similarity, to kinds or species. They come, in this", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0132.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "AND LEAD OF CHKIST. 12^\\nmanner, to stand for millions of particular men, treea^\\ninsects, flowers, that we do not and never can know.\\nThey are, to just this extent, words of ignorance only\\nwe are able, in the use, to hold right judgments of innu-\\nmerable particulars we do not know, and have the words,\\n93 far, as words of wisdom. But Grod does not generalize\\ni?i this manner, getting up general terms under which to\\nhandle particulars, which, as particulars, he does not know.\\nHe is not obliged to accommodate his ignorance, or shoi t-\\nness of perception, by any such splicing process in words,\\nHis knowledge of wholes is a real and complete knowledge\\nIt is a knowledge of wholes, as being a distinct knowledge\\nof particulars. Indeed, whatever particulars exist, or by\\nhim are created, he must first have thought and there-\\nfore they were known by him, as being thought, even be-\\nfore they became subjects of knowledge in the world of\\nfact. Holding in his thought the eternal archetypes of\\nkinds and species, he also thought each individual in its\\nparticular type, as dominated by the common archetype.\\nSo that all things, even things most particular, are known\\nor thought by him eternally, before they take existence in\\ntime. When he thinks of wholes or kinds therefore of\\nsociety, the church, the nation, the race, he knows nothing\\nof them in our faint, partial way of generalization, but ho\\nknows them intuitively, through and through; the wholes\\nin the particulars, the particulars in the wholes; knows\\nthem in their types, knows them in their archetypes, knows\\nthem in their genesis out of both so with a knowledge\\nthat is more than verbal, a solid, s} stcmatic, specific knowl-\\nedge. Nay, it is more, a necessary, inevitable knowledge*,\\nfor the sun can no more shine on the world, as in the gross,\\nwithout touching every particular straw and atom with his", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0133.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "130 THE PEESOKAL LOVE\\nlight, than God can know, or love whole bodies of saiut^\\nwithout knowing and loving every individual saint. In\\none view, it requires no particular act of tenderness, or\\ncondescension in him it is the sublime necessity of his\\nPerfect Mind. Being a perfect mind, and not a mere spark\\nof intelligence like us, he can not fall into the imperfec-\\ntions and shorten himself to the half-seeing of our contriv-\\nance, when we strain ourselves to set up generals, in a\\nway to piece out and hide our ignorance.\\nAnd yet we could not wean ourselves of this folly,\\ncould not believe that our God has a particular notice of\\nus and a particular interest in our personal history. And\\nthis was one of the great uses of the incarnation it was\\nto humanize God, reducing him to a human personality,\\nthat we might believe in that particular and personal love,\\nin which he reigns from eternity. For Christ was visibly\\none of us, and we see, in all his demonstrations, that he\\nis attentive to every personal want, woe, cry of the world.\\nWhen a lone woman came up in a crowd to steal, as it\\nwere, some healing power out of his person, or out of the\\nhem of his garment, he would not let her off in that im-\\npersonal, unrecognizing way he compelled her to show\\nherself and to confess her name, and sent her away with\\nhis personal blessing. He pours out, everywhere, a par-\\nticular sympathy on every particular child of sorrow; he\\neven hunts up the youth he has before healed of his blind-\\nness, and opens to him, persecuted as he is for being healed,\\nthe secrets of his glorious Messiahship. The result, accord-\\ningly, of this incarnate history is that we are drawn to a\\ndifferent opinion of God we have seen that he can love\\nas a man loves another, and that such is the way of his\\nlove. He has tasted deatli we say, not for all men only,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0134.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "AND LEAD OF CHUIST. 131\\nbat for every man. TTe even dare to say. for me,\\nwho loved me and gave himself for me. Nay, he goes\\nd further than this himself, calling: its friends, and\\nclaiming that dear relationship with us; friends, because\\nhe is on the private footing of friendship and personal\\nconfidence The servant knowetk not what his Lord doeth,\\nbut I have called you friends. He even goes beyond this,\\npromising a friendship so particular and personal that it\\nshall be a kind of or cypher of mutual understand-\\nopen to no other; a new white stone given by his\\nking, and in the stone a new name written, which no man\\nweth saving: he that I .-iveth it.\\nIndeed, I might go on to show, from every particular\\nwork and turn of th: _ j] el, how intensely personal it is.\\nWhat is communion th: nunion with partieu-\\nuls Is it the communion or fellowship of God that\\nhe reaches only great bodies of men? If he promises com-\\nfort or support, whom does he comfort or support, when\\nhe touches no individual n The promises to\\nprayer whom he hear, when he hears the prayer of\\nnobody in particular, and for nothing in particular? The\\nwork of th Spirit in \u00e2\u0080\u0094what is it, in all its\\ngrees and modes in their calling, their guidance, their\\nEanctification what can it 1 _ined that he does which\\nis not personal, the bestowment of a convincing, illumin-\\nating, d] to, and\\nthe in igent\\n-on, at just the point of his particular want, sin, sor-\\nrow, prejr s to exactly meet his personality at\\nthat particular time We speak, indeed, of the Iloly Spirit\\nas falling on communit blies, 1 t we D\\nsuppose that he touches the _ ral body and no", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0135.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "132 THE PERSONAL LOYE\\nparticular person. On the contrary, if we understand\\nourselves, lie reaches the general body only by and\\nthrough individuals save that there is an effect of mutual\\nexcitement, which is secondary and comes from their sense\\nof what is revealed in each other, under the power of the\\nSpirit in each. How then can it be imagined that God\\neffectually calls any person by his Spirit, without dispens-\\ning a grace most distinctly and even adaptively personal?\\nSo it is, in short, with every thing included in the gospel\\nas a grace of salvation; every thing in the renewing,\\nfashioning, guidance, discipline, sanctification, and final\\ncrowning of an heir of glory. His Saviour and Lord is\\nover him and with him, as the good shepherd, calling him\\nby name so that he is finally saved, not as a man, or some\\none of mankind, led forth, by his Lord, in the general\\nflock, but as the Master s dear Simon, or James, or\\nAlpheus, or Martha, whose name is so recorded in the\\nLamb s book of life.\\nAnd, in this view, it is, I suppose, that the church, in\\nbaptizing her children, takes there, at the font, with a most\\nbeautiful and touching propriety, what she calls the\\nChristian name; as if it were Christ s own gift; a name\\nbestowed by him, in which he recognizes the child s dis-\\ncipleship, and which, as often as it is spoken, he is himself\\nto recognize as the calling of his Master s voice; And he\\ncalleth his own sheep by name.\\nConsider now the\\nII. Point of the text he leadeth them out. It is not\\nsaid, you observe, that the shepherd driveth them out for\\nthat was not the manner of shepherds, but that he leadeth\\nthem, going before to call them after him. This, indeed,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0136.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "ANE LEAD OF CHRIST. 133\\nis expressly and formally said in the next verse and when\\nhe putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and\\nthe sheep follow him. Hence those poetic figures of the\\nOld Testament The Lord is my shepherd, he leadeth me\\nbeside the still waters. Thou leddest thy people, like a\\nflack, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Give ear,\\nshepherd, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. The same\\ncustom of going before the flock pertains, even now, it is\\nsaid, in the sheep-walks of Spain.\\nWhat a beautiful image, or picture, to represent the\\nattitude and personal relationship of Jesus among his fol-\\nlowers; That he not drive them on heft w as a her\\n.but gc e himself, leading them into\\npaths that he hi d dangers he has met. and sacr\\nhe has borne ding them after him and to be only\\n:s. He leadeth them out.\\nIf driving could do any good, he might well enough\\ndrive his flock as a bodv, caring: nothing for anv one of\\nthem in particular but, if he is going to draw them after\\nhim, he must work upon their inclinations, draw them !y\\ntheir personal favor to him, and must therefore know them\\npersonally, and call them to follow, as it were, by name.\\nJust the difference will be observed in this matter that per-\\ntains between the eastern shepherds and those of the v\\nand north. Xo sooner do we come upon this la* -liion\\nof driving flocks a-field, than we see the noting, knowing\\nand calling of particular sheep disappear. When the\\ndriving and thrusting fore becomes the manner, there\\nis no need of getting any one of them under a power of\\nconfidence and attraction, no need of noting them i\\nvidually at all. So, if driv re in place, Christ mi\\nwell enough let fall the fir Lird his flock.\\n12", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0137.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "134 THE PERSONAL LOVE\\nand drive then out, as he drove Lot s family, or his vain-\\nhearted wife, out of the city. But the best use that could\\nbe made of such a flock, after all, would be to turn them\\ninto pillars of salt and let them stand. No disciple is a\\nieal disciple till he becomes a follower, going after the\\nshepherd, as one that follows by name, and is drawn by\\nlove.\\nHere then is the beauty and glory of Christ, as a Re-\\ndeemer and Saviour of lost man, that he goes before,\\nalways before, and never behind his flock. He begins\\nwith infancy, that he may show a grace for childhood. He\\nis made under the law, and carefully fulfills all righteous-\\nness there, that he may sanctify the law to us, and make\\nit honorable. He goes before us in the bearing of tempta-\\ntions, that we may bear them after him, being tempted ic\\nall points like as we are, yet without sin. He taught us\\nforgiveness by forgiving himself his enemies. f He went\\nbefore us in the loss of all things, that we might be able\\nto follow, in the renouncing; of the world and its dominion.\\nThe works of love that he requires of us, in words, are\\npreceded and illustrated by real deeds of love, to which\\nhe gave up all his mighty powers from day to day. Hr-\\nbore the cross himself that he commanded us to take up\\nand bear after him. Requiring us to hate even life for the\\ngospel s sake, he went before us in dying for the gospel\\nBuffering a death most bitter at the hand of enemies exas-\\nperated only by his goodness, and that when, at a word\\nhe might have called to his aid whole legions of angels, and\\ndriven them out of the world. And then he went before\\nus in the bursting of the grave and the resurrection from\\nit; becoming, in his own person, the first fruits of them\\nthat slept. And, finally, he ascended and passed withiu", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0138.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "iND LEAD OF CHRIST. 135\\nthe veil before us, as our forerunner, whom we are to fol-\\nlow even there. In all which, he is our shepherd, going\\nbefore us, and never behind calling, but never driving\\nbearing all the losses he calls us to bear meeting all the\\ndangers, suffering all the cruelties and pains which it ia\\ngiven us to suffer, and drawing us to follow wheie he\\nleads,\\nAnd then we see what kindred spirit entered into the\\nteachers that he gave to lead his flock. They were\\nsuch as followed him in the regeneration; going up at\\nlast, according to his promise, to sit on thrones of glory\\nwith him. And it is remarkable that the apostles took it\\nas incumbent on them always, in their Master s law, to re-\\nquire nothing of others in which they were not forward\\nthemselves. Thus, when Paul says, once and again I\\nbeseech you be ye followers of me brethren, be followers\\ntogether of me it has a sound, taken as it may be taken,\\nof conceit, or vanity but, when we look upon him as a\\nman who goes after Christ, in the ways of scorn and suf-\\nfering patience; in labors more abundant, in stripes above\\nmeasure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft, receiving\\nmore than once his forty stripes save one, beaten with\\nrods and stoned out of cities, running the gauntlet through\\nall sorts of perils, in weariness and painfulness, in watch-\\n3 often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold\\nand nakedness, accounted as the filth of the world and the\\noffscouring of all things when we see him tramping on\\nheavily thus, bearing his Master s dark flag of patience\\nand loss, and calling others to follow, we only see that lie\\nhas taken Christ s own spirit and despises even to send the\\nflock before him, where he does not lead himself.\\nAh! we have seen things different from this; teacher?", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0139.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "136 THE PERSONAL LOVE\\nthat bind heavy burdens and lay them on men s shoulders,\\nwhich they themselves will not so much as lighten with\\nthe touch of their fingers priests and confessors that feed\\ntheir lusts out of the charities extorted from the poor, im-\\nposing on them loads of penance in turn, to humble them\\nand keep them in subjection; philanthropists publishing\\ntheories and great swelling words of equality, and tapering\\noff in the commendation of virtues they themselves do not\\npractice, and even inwardly distaste. All such are men\\nthat drive a flock. But Christ, the true shepherd, the\\neternal Son of God, wants nothing in his flock that he does\\nnot show in himself. He goes before them, bearing all the\\nbitterest loads of sacrifice and facing all the fiercest terrors\\nhimself, only calling them gently to come and follow.\\nCome unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,\\nand I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and\\nlearn of me. My yoke is easy and my burden light.\\nThe uses and applications of this subject are many. The\\ntime allows me to name only a few that are most practical.\\n1. A great mistake, or false impression, held by most\\nworldly minds, and even by some who profess to be dis-\\nciples, is here corrected viz., the mistake of regarding the\\nchristian life as a legal and constrained service. It is as\\nif the flock were driven by the shepherd, and not as if it\\nwere led by the shepherd s call going before. In this\\nimage, or figure, is beautifully represented the freedom oi\\nthe disciple. He is one who is led by a personal influence,\\none who hears the voice and answers to the name by which\\nhe is called. He could not be thrust on, as in a crowd,\\nby mere force, or fear. Christ wants to lead men by their\\nlove, their personal love to him, and the confidence of his", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0140.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "AND LEAD OF CHRIST. 137\\npersonal love to them. And therefore the representation\\nis, not that he is a shepherd going behind, with dogs, to\\ngather in the flock, and keep them before him, but that he\\ndraws them after him, and gets them into such a training\\nof confidence, that they will hear his call and follow. Tho\\nwhole relation, therefore, of discipleship is a relation of\\nliberty. Xo one goes to his duty because he must, but only\\nbecause his heart is in it. His inclinations are that way.\\nfor his heart is in the Master s love, and he follows him\\ngladly. It no doubt seems to you, my friends, when you\\nlook on only as strangers to Christ, that this must be a hard\\nand dry service for you see no attraction in it. But the\\nreason is that your heart is not in it. With a new heart,\\nquickened by the grace of Christ, all this would be changed.\\nIt will then seem wholly attractive. All the currents of\\ntout love will run that wav, and the freest freedom of\\nyour nature will be to go after Christ. No sacrifice will\\nbe hard, no service a burden. The wonder now will be\\nthat all men do not rush in after Christ, to be his eager\\nfollowers. God grant that even to-day you may have\\nthis truth, as an experience, in the choice of Christ, and\\nthe renewing of his promised Spirit.\\nBrethren, are there some of you that hold this same im-\\npression of the life of duty If so, if you have no knowl-\\nedge of this freedom in Christ, the sign is a dark one for\\nyou. Perhaps it is not exactly the same impression that\\nyou hold. It may be that you have it only in a degree,\\naccordingly as you are over-legal in your conceptions of\\nduty, and rob yourself, in that manner, of its comforts,\\nLet your mistake be now corrected. See, in particular.\\nthat Christ is not behind yon but before, calling and draw-\\ning you on. He wants your faith, wants your love, not a\\n12*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0141.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "138 THE PERSONAL LOVE\\nminute, and scrupulous, and careful piling up of legalities.\\nYou are not to stand off, doing something for him that he\\nis to examine and report upon as accepted, by statute con-\\nditions but you are to go after him, and be with him, and\\nkeep along in his train, feeding in his pasture, and follow-\\ning where he leads. This is the liberty, the beautiful lib-\\nerty of Christ. Claim your glorious privilege, in the name\\nof a disciple be no more a servant, when Christ will own\\nyou as a friend.\\n2. AYe discover, in this subject, what to think of that\\nlarge class of disciples who aspire to be specially faithful,\\nand hold a specially high-toned manner of life, but are,\\nafter all, principally strenuous in putting others forward,\\nand laying burdens upon others. Christ, we have seen,\\ngoes before when he leads, and so did his apostles, calling\\non the saints to follow. But there is a cheaper way some\\nhave, in which they beguile even themselves. It is a kind\\nof righteousness with them that they have such stern prin-\\nciples of duty and sacrifice. How greatly are they scan-\\ndalized too by the self-indulgence, the parsimony, the show,\\nthe pleasures, the vanities of others, who profess the chris-\\ntian name. And in all this they may be sincere and not\\nhypocritical. They only find it so much easier to be stiff\\nin their judgments, and self-renouncing in their words and\\nexhortations, that they slide over, only the more unwit-\\ntingly, their own looseness and deficiency, in the very\\nthings th?y insist on. How many preachers of Christ foil\\ninto just this snare: pray for us, brethren, for our tempt-\\nation is great. Christians of this class commonly have it\\nas a kind of merit, and how many christian ministers repeat\\nthe same thing, that they never ask it of others to follow\\nthem. God forbid that they should indulge in any such", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0142.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "A5P LEAP OF CZ?.IS7. I:/\\nwmnrifl h thai I Yes^ God forbid, indeed, the conceit, for\\n:i.f i ~A A A riArs\\n:t t t: :Ah is Ati: :AA~ rs m:: Lt:::^:\\ntA,: A-t :_;: :AA~ ?lr 11 1 i A\\ni: i A AA As\u00e2\u0080\u0094 _:: _.\\nA i:- r Ai __ i: is A A\\nand his first messengers, that they go before, to lead in all\\n5..v:r.z:f 11... ruArnr: _ zrsi _:_-:\u00e2\u0080\u0094_ ^_i:i rver\\n:_\u00e2\u0080\u00a2:\u00e2\u0096\u00a0- i ::1:: I :_i A .-.*_: Ai: :lrre\\nJmost none of us who do not slide into this infirmity,\\ncomplimenting ourselves on the high principles we hold,\\nand the severe standards we set up, in our words and\\njudgments, when, in our practice, we fill low enough to\\ni i: 11 Ame\\nAi A A -.i r.\\n_.:: A -.::;.:_:.- As A rs\\nHow much more and more genuinely modest should we\\nbe, if we judged only as we practiced and set forward\\nothers in words, only as we fortify words by example.\\nL;: is \\\\:i A:s:;.:A :r= A A Aii A ~-r i:: \u00e2\u0080\u0094A-:\\nwe talk, or stand for with our words, but what we do and\\nbecome.\\n3. Consider, in this subject, what is true of any real\\ndisciple, who ing from Christ viz^ that his Holy\\nShepherd, folding the flock and caring for it as a shep-\\nherd should, does not let him go, or take it only as a fact\\nthat the flock is diminished by one, not caring by what\\none. He knows what one it is, and, if the wanderer will\\nA:::i A? :i;- A;-;..: A: A A..: ..Aii As nil-:-. Tie\\nlove of Chi personal and particular!\\nand he watches for his flock with a directly personal care.\\nDo nnt imagine then, if you consciously begin to fell CfB,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0143.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "140 THE PEKSONAL LOYE\\nor stray, that you are no longer cared for by the Shepherd.\\nChrist follows you with his personal and particular love,\\nand will not let you go. That same tenderness which\\nmelted the heart of an apostle, when he said who loved\\nme and gave himself for me/ pursues you still. It is faith-\\nful, patient, forgiving, and true it waits and lingers, it\\nwhispers and calls, saying, will ye also go away w holding\\non upon you by a personal and persistent love, that will not\\nbe content till you are gathered back into the fold, to be,\\nas before, a follower. And the same is true where the\\nlove of many waxes cold, and whole bodies of disciples\\nare chilled by worldliness, or carried away by common\\ntemptations it is not the mass only, or the general flock,\\nthat Christ regards. Each one he follows and calls, as\\ntruly as if he were the only one. The wrong they do\\nhim, and the grief he feels, is personal. By name and\\nprivately he deals with each, gathering him back, if pos-\\nsible, to prayer and holy living, to faith, and sacrifice, and\\nworks of love. By these private reproofs, and these ten-\\nder and personal remonstrances, brethren, he is calling\\nafter all you that stray from him to-day. And, if you\\nthink you have personal apologies, or have been stolen\\naway by temptations you could not detect, he knows\\nexactly what is true, and will every true allowance make,\\nand, as being faithful to you, he will make no other.\\nWhatever grace you want to bind you up and establish\\nyou, he waits to bestow. He will not only forgive you.\\nreadily and completely, but he will embrace you heartily,\\nand take you again to his confidence; the same sweet\\npersonal confidence in which you stood before. O, thou\\nwavering, faltering, failing disciple come thou, at his call,\\nand see", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0144.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "AND LEAD OF CHRIST. 141\\nFinally, consider the close understanding with Christ,\\nthe ennobled confidence and dignity of a true discipleship.\\nTo be a disciple, is to have the revelation of- Christ, and\\nthe secret witness of his love in the soul. It implies a most\\nintimate and closely reciprocal state. According to the\\nrepresentation of the parable, the Holy Shepherd knows\\nhis own sheep with a particular knowledge, and calleth\\nthem by name while they, on their part, know his voice\\nand follow. A stranger will they not follow, but flee from\\nhim for they know not the voice of strangers. And he\\nalso says himself, I am the good shepherd and know\\nmy sheep, and am known of mine. 0, this deep and\\nblessed knowledge the knowledge of Christ to be in the\\nsecret witness of his love, to be in his guidance, to be\\nstrong in his support, to be led into the mind of God by\\nhim, and have our prayers shaped by his inward teaching\\nbo to be set in Grod s everlasting counsel, and be filled with\\nthe testimony that we please him, this, all this it is to know\\nChrist s voice. Happy are we, brethren, if the sense of\\nthis knowledge be in us.\\nAnd what can fill us with a loftier inspiration, or lift ua\\ninto a more sublime and blessed confidence, than this,\\nthe fact that Christ, the Eternal Shepherd, has a personal\\nrecognition of us, leading us on, by name, and calling us\\nto follow. No matter whether he call us into ways of gain\\nor of suffering, of honor or of scorn it is all one, with\\nsuch a leader before us. Nay, if we go down to sound\\nthe depths of sorrow, and ennoble the pains of sacrifice,\\nand perfume the grave of ignominy, what are these but a\\nmore inspiring and more godlike call, since he is now our\\nleader even here. 0, my brethren, here is our misery, that\\nwe think to go above Christ, and find some cheaper way", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0145.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "342 LOVE OF CHRIST.\\nwhen, if we could truly descend to his level of sacrifice,\\nand take his cross to follow, we should be raised in feeling\\nand power, ennobled in impulse, glorified with him in his\\njoy. After all, the secret of all our dryness, the root of\\nall cur weakness, our want of fruit and progress, our dearth\\nand desolation, is, that we can not follow Christ. First, we\\ncan not believe that he has any particular care of us, ot\\npersonal interest in our life, and then, falling away, at that\\npoint, from his lead, we drop into ourselves, to do a few\\ncasual works of duty, in which neither w r e nor others are\\ngreatly blessed. God forbid that w r e sacrifice our peace so\\ncheaply. Let us hear, O, let us hear, to-day, the Shep-\\nherd s voice, and, as he knows us in our sin, so let us go\\nafter him in his sacrifice. Let us claim that inspiration,\\nthat ennobled confidence, that comes of being truly with\\nhim. Folded thus in his personal care, and led by the\\ncalling of his voice, for which we always listen, let us take\\nbis promise and follow, going in and out and finding\\npasture.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0146.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "VIII.\\nLIGHT OX THE CLOUD.\\nJob xxxvii. 21. And now men see not the bright lighi\\nwhich is in the clouds: but the wind passeth, and cleanseth\\ntiiem.\\nThe argument is, let man be silent when God is dealing\\nwith him for he can not fathom God s inscrutable wisdom.\\nBehold, God is great, and we know him not. God thun-\\ndereth marvelously with his voice: great things cloeth he\\nwhich we can not comprehend. Dost thou know the won-\\ndrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge Teach\\nus what we shall say unto him for we can not order our\\nspeech by reason of darknesn. If a man speak, surely he\\nshall be swallowed up.\\nThen follows the text, representing man s life under tho\\nfigure of a cloudy day. The sun is in the heavens, and\\nthere is always a bright light on the other side of the\\nclouds but only a dull, pale beam pierces through. Still,\\nas the wind comes at length to the natural day of clouds,\\nclearing them all away, and pouring in, from the whole\\nfirmament, a glorious and joyftil light, so will a grand\\nclearing come to the cloudy and dark day of life, and a\\nfull effulgence of light, from the throne of God, will irra-\\ndiate all the objects of knowledge and experience.\\nOur reading of the text, you will observe, substitutes\\nfor cleansing, clearing away, which is more intelligible.\\nPerhaps, also, it is better to read on the clouds, and not", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0147.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "144 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD\\nin. Still, the meaning is virtually the same. The\\nwords, thus explained, offer three points which invite our\\nattention.\\nI. We live under a cloud, and see Ocd s way only by a\\ndim light.\\nII. God shines, at all times, with a bright light, above the\\ncloud, and on the other side of it.\\nIII. This cloud of obscuration is finally to be cleared away.\\nI. We live under a cloud, and see God s way only by a\\ndim light.\\nAs beings of intelligence, we find ourselves hedged in\\nby mystery on every side. All our seeming knowledge\\nis skirted, close at hand, by dark confines of ignorance.\\nHowever drunk with conceit we may be, however ready\\nto judge every thing, we still comprehend almost nothing.\\nWhat then does it mean Is God jealous of intelligence\\nin us? Has he purposely drawn a cloud over his ways^\\nto baffle the search of our understanding Exactly con-\\ntrary to this he is a being who dwelleth in light, and calls\\nus to walk in the lighi with him. He has set his works\\nabout us, to be a revelation to us always of his power and\\nglory. His word he gives us, to be the expression of his\\nwill and character, and bring us into acquaintance with\\nhimself. His Spirit he gives us, to be a teacher and illu-\\nminator within. By all his providential works, he is train-\\ning intelligence in us and making us capable of knowledge.\\nNo view of the subject, therefore, can be true that accuses\\nhim. The true account appears to be that the cloud, under\\nwhich we are shut down, is not heavier than it must be.\\nHow can a being infinite be understood, or comprehended,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0148.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "LIGHT ON THE CLOUD, 145\\nby a being finite And, when this being infinite has plana\\nthat include infinite quantities, times and relations, in which\\nevery present event is the last link of a train of causes\\nreaching downward from a past eternity, and is to be con-\\nnected also with every future event of a future eternity,\\nhow can a mortal, placed between these two eternities, with-\\nout knowing either, understand the present fact, whatever\\nit be, whose reasons are in both\\nBesides, we have only just began to be; and a began\\nexistence is, by the supposition, one that has just begun to\\nknow, and has every thing to learn. How then can we\\nexpect, in a few short years, to master the knowledge of\\nGod and his universal kingdom? What can he be\\nto such but a mystery? If we could think him out,\\nwithout any experience, as we do the truths of arithmetic\\nand geometry, we might get on faster and more easily.\\nBut God is not a mere thought of our own brain, as these\\ntruths are, but a being in the w T orld of substance, fact and\\nevent, and all such knowledge has to be gotten slowly,\\nthrough the rub of experience. We open, after a few\\ndays, our infantile eyes and begin to look about, perceive,\\nhandle, suffer, act and be acted on, and, proceeding in this\\nmanner, we gather in, by degrees, our data and material\\nof knowledge; and so, by trial, comparison, distinction, the\\nstudy of effects and wants, of rights and wrongs, of uses\\nand abuses, we frame judgments of things, and begin to\\npass our verdict on the matters we know. But how long\\nwill it take us to penetrate, in this manner, the real signifi-\\ncance of God s dealings with us and the world, and pass a\\nreally illuminated judgment on them? And yet, if we\\nbut love the right, as the first father did before his sin,\\nGod will be revealed in us internally, as the object of our\\nla", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0149.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "146 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nlove and trust, even from the first hour. He will not ap-\\npear to be distant, or difficult. AYe shall know him as a\\nfriend] j presence in our heart s love, and we shall have\\nsuch a blessed confidence in him that if, in the outer world\\nof fact and event, clouds and darkness appear to be round\\nabout him, we shall have the certainty within that justice\\nand judgment are the habitation of his throne. Meanwhile,\\nhe will be teaching us graciously, and drawing us insen-\\nsibly, through our holy sympathies, into the sense of his\\nways, and widening, as fast as possible, the circle of our\\nhuman limitation, that we may expatiate in discoveries\\nmore free. And thus it comes to pass that, as the eyelids\\nof the infant are shut down, at first, over his unpracticed\\neyes, which are finally strengthened for the open day, by\\nthe little, faint light that shines through them, so our finite,\\nchildish mind, saved from being dazzled, or struck blind,\\nby God s powerful effulgence, and quickened by the gentle\\nlight that streams through his cloud, is prepared to gaze\\non the fullness of his glory, and receive his piercing bright-\\nness undimmed.\\nBut there is another fact less welcome that must not be\\nforgot, when we speak of the darkness that obscures out\\nknowledge of God. There is not only a necessary, but a\\nguilty limitation upon us. And therefore we are not only\\nobliged to learn, but, as being under sin, are also in a\\ntemper that forbids learning, having our mind disordered\\nand clouded by evil. Hence, come our perplexities; for,\\nas the sun can nol show distinctly what it is in the bottom\\nof a muddy pool, so God can never be distinctly revealed in\\nthe depths of a foul and earthly mind. To understand a\\nphilosopher requires, they tell us, a philosopher to under-\\nstand patriotism, requires a patriot; to understand purity", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0150.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OX THE CLOUD. 147\\none that is pure so, to understand God, requires a godlike\\nspint. Having this, God will as certainly be revealed in\\nthe soul, as light through a transparent window. He that\\nloveth knoweth God, for God is love. What darkness\\nihen must be upon a mind that is not congenially tempered,\\na mind unlike to Gocl, opposite to God, selfish, lustful, re-\\nmorseful, and malignant Even as an apostle says\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Hav-\\ning the understanding darkened, being alienated from the\\nlife of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because\\nof the blindness of their heart.\\nThe very activity of reason, which ou^ht tobesret knowl-\\nedsre, begets only darkness now, artificial darkness. We\\nbegin a quarrel with limitation itself, and so with God.\\nHe is not only hid behind thick walls of mystery, but he\\nis dreaded as a power unfriendly, suspected, doubted, re-\\npugnantly conceived. Whatever can not be comprehend-\\ned, and how very little can be, is construed as one con-\\nstrues an enemy, or as an ill-natured child construes the\\nauthority of a faithful father. An evil judgement taken\\nup yesterday prepares another to-day, and this another to-\\nmorrow, and so a vast complicated web of false judgments,\\nin the name of reason, iff spread over all the subjects of\\nknowledge. We fall into a state thus of general confusion,\\nin which even the distinctions of knowledge are lost.\\nPresenting our little mirror to the clear light of God, wo\\nit have received true images of things, and gotten by\\ndegrees a glorious wealth of knowledge, but we break the\\nmirror, in the perversity of our .sin, and offer only the\\nshivered fragments to the light: when, of course, we see\\ndistinctly nothing. Then, probably enough, we begin to\\nsympathize with ourselves and justify the ignorance we\\nare in. wondering, if there be a God, that he should be so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0151.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "148 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD\\ndark to us, or that lie should fall behind these walls of\\nsilence, and suffer himself to be only doubtfully guessed^\\nthrough fogs of ignorance and obscurity. Eeminded that\\nhe is and must be a mystery, we take it as a great hard-\\nship, or, it may be, an absurdity, that we are required to\\nbelieve what we can not comprehend. We are perplexed\\nby the mode of his existence and action how can he fill\\nall things, and yet have no dimensions How is it that\\nhe knows all things, before the things known exist Fore-\\nknowing what we will do, how can we be blamed for what\\nwe were thus certain beforehand to do How is it that\\nhe creates, governs, redeems, and yet never forms a new\\npurpose, or originates a new act, which is not from eternity?\\nHow is he infinitely happy, when a great many things\\nought to be, and are declared to be, repugnant or abhor-\\nrent to his feeling How does he produce worlds out of\\nnothing, or out of himself, when nothing else exists?\\nHow did he invent forms and colors, never having seen\\nthem\\nEntering the field of supposed revelation, the difficulties\\nare increased in number, and the mysteries are piled higher\\nthan before. God is here declared to be incarnate, in the\\nperson of Jesus Christ, and the whole history of this\\nwonderful person is made up of things logically incom-\\npatible. He is the eternal son of God, and the son of\\nMary he is Lord of all, and is born in a manger stills\\nthe sea by his word, and traveling on foot is weary asks,\\nwho convinceth me of sin? and pra} r s like one wading\\nthrough all the deepest evils of sin; dies like a man\\nand rises like a god, bursting the bars of death by his\\npower. Even God himself is no more simply God, but a\\nthreefold mystery that mocks all understanding, Father,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0152.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OX THE CLOUD. 149\\nSon, and Holy Ghost. Is it revelation, then, that onl^\\nburdens faith with mysteries more nearly impossible?\\nExactly so nothing is more clear to any really thoughtful\\nperson than that, until some high point is passed, God\\nought to be enveloped in greater mystery, and will be, the\\ncloser he is brought to the mind. Knowing nothing of\\nhim, he is no mystery at all; knowing a little, he is mys-\\ntery begun; knowing more, he is a great and manifold\\ndeep, not to be fathomed. AVe are, and ought to be, over-\\nwhelmed by his magnitudes, till we are able to mount\\nhigher summits of intelligence than now. Or, if it be\\nanswered that, in some of these things, we have contra-\\ndictions, and not mere difficulties, it is enough to reply\\nthat the highest truths are wont to be expressed in forms\\nof thought and language that, as forms, are repugnant.\\nNor is it any fault of these mere instrumental contradic-\\ntions that we can not reconcile them, if only they roll upon\\nus senses of God s deep majesty and love, otherwise im-\\npossible. Our amazement itself is but the vehicle of his\\ntruth.\\nTurning next to the creative works of God, we find the\\ncloud also upon these. The Lord by wisdom hath founded\\nthe earth, by understanding hath he established the\\nheavens, there is no searching of his understanding; why\\nho created the worlds when he did, and not before; what\\nhe could have been doing, or what enjoyment having,\\nprevious to their creation and, if all things are governed\\nby inherent laws, what more, as the universal governor f\\nhe can find any place to do since: these are questions,\\nagain, before which speculative reason reels in amazement\\nIf the baffled inquirer then drops out the search after God.\\nas many do, and says, I will go down to nature, and it\\n13*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0153.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "150 LIGHT ON IHE CLOUD.\\nshall, at least, be my comfort that nature is intelligiblcj\\nand even a subject of definite science, he shortly discovers\\nthat science only changes the place of mystery and leaves\\nit unresolved. Hearing, with a kind of scientific pity.\\nJob s question about the thunder, who can understand\\nthe noise of his tabernacle? he at first thinks it something\\nof consequence to say that thunder is the noise of electricity,\\nand not of God s tabernacle at all. But he shortly finds\\nhimself asking, who can understand electricity? and then,\\nat last, he is with Job again. So, when he hears Job ask,\\nKnowest thou the ordinances of heaven, he recollects\\nthe great Newtonian discovery of gravity, and how, by\\naid of that principle, even the weights of the stars have\\nbeen exactly measured, and their times predicted, and im-\\nagines that, now the secrets of astronomy are out, the ordi-\\nnances of heaven are understood. But here, again, it\\nfinally occurs to him to ask, what is gravity and forth-\\nwith he is lost in a depth of mystery as profound as that\\nof Job himself. And so, asking what is matter, what is\\nlife, animal and vegetable, what is heat, light, attraction,\\naffinity, he discovers that, as yet, we really comprehend\\nnothing, and that nature is a realm as truly mysterious\\neven as God. Not a living thing grows out of the earth,\\nor walks upon it, or flies above it not an inanimate object\\nexists, in heaven, earth, or sea, which is not filled and cir-\\ncled about with mystery as truly as in the days of Adam\\nor Job, and which is not really as much above the under-\\nstanding of science, as the deepest things of God s eternity\\nor of his secret life.\\nBut there is, at least, one subject that he must under-\\nstand and know even to its center; viz., himself. Is he\\nnot a self-conscious being, and how can there be a cloud", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0154.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OX THE CLOUD. 151\\nover that which is comprehended even by consciousness\\nitself? Precisely contrary to this, there are more myste-\\nries and dark questions grouped in his own person, than he\\nhas ever met in the whole universe beside. He can not\\neven trace, with any exactness, the process by which he has\\nbeen trained to be what he is, or the subtle forces by which\\nhis character haa been shaped. Only the smallest fraction\\nof his past history can he distinctly remember, all the rest\\nis gone. Even the sins for which he must answer before\\nGod are gone out of his reach, and can no more be reck-\\noned up in order, till the forgotten past gives up its dead\\nthings, to be again remembered. As little can he discover\\nthe manner of his own spirit, how he remembers, perceives\\nobjects, compares them, and, above all, how he wills and\\nwhat it is that drives him to a sentence against himself\\nwhen he wills the wrong. He knows too that, in wrong,\\nhe is after self-advantage and every wrong, he also knew\\nat the time, must be to his disadvantage why then did\\nhe do it He can not tell. The sin of his sin will be,\\nwhen he is judged before God, that he can not tell. Even\\nthe familiar fact of his connection with a body is altogether\\ninexplicable and why any act of his will should produce\\na motion of his body, he can no more discover than why\\nit should produce a motion among the stars. The beating\\nof his heart and the heaving of his lungs are equally mys-\\nterious In his whole nature and experience, he is, in fact,\\na deep and inscrutable mystery to himself. God breathes\\nunseen in his heart, and yet he wonders that God is so\\nfar off. Death comes in stealthily, and distills the fetal\\npoison that will end his life, unseen and unsuspected. He\\ngoes down to his grave, not knowing, by any judgment\\nof his own, apart from God s promise, (which he does not", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0155.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "152 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nbelieve,) that he shall live again. What shall be the man nei\\nof his resurrection and with what body he shall come, he\\ncan as little comprehend, as he can the mystery of the in-\\ncarnation.\\nFinding, therefore, God, nature, himself, overhung with\\nthis same cloud, it is not wonderful that he suffers bitter\\nafflictions and galls himself against every corner of God s\\npurposes. Why is society a weight so oppressive on the\\nweak and the poor? If sin is such an evil, as it certainly\\nis, why did the Creator, being Almighty, suffer it In-\\ndeed, there is almost nothing that meets us, between our\\nfirst breathing and our graves, that does not, to an evil\\nmind, connect, in one way or another, some perplexity,\\nsome accusing or questioning thought, some inference that\\nis painful, or perhaps atheistical. Can it be Why should\\nit be How can a good God let it be If he means to\\nhave it otherwise, is he not defeated? if defeated, is he\\nGod If he has no plan, how can I trust him if his\\nplan will suffer such things, how then can I trust him\\nthese are the questions that are continually crowding upon\\nus. The cloud is all the while over us. He hath made\\ndarkness his pavilion and thick clouds of the skies. This\\nman s prosperity is dark that man s adversity is dark.\\nThe persecutions of the good, the afflictions of the right-\\neous, the desolations of conquest, the fall of nations and\\ntheir liberties, the extinction of churches, the sufferings of\\ninnocence, the pains of animals, the removal by death of\\ngenius and character just ripened to bless the world there\\nis no end to our dark questions. There are times, too,\\nwhen our own personal experience becomes enveloped in\\ndarkness. We not only can not guess what it means, 01\\nwhat God will do with us in it, but it wears a look contrary", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0156.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OS THE CLOCD. 15S\\nto what appear to be our just expectations. AY e are gi ie ved\\nperplexed, confounded. Other men are blessed in things\\nmuch worse. TTe ourselves have been successful in things\\nfor more questionable, and when our deserts were less.\\nWliat does it mean that God is covering his way, under\\nthese thick clouds of mystery and seeming caprice In\\nshort, we may sum it up, as a general truth, that nothing\\nin the world is really luminous, to a mind unilluminated\\nby religion and, if we say that the Christian walks in the\\nlight, it is not so much that he can always understand\\nGod as it is that he has confidence in him, and has him\\nalways near.\\nThus we live. Practically, much is known about God\\nand his ways, all that we need to know but, speculatively,\\nor bv the mere understanding, almost nothing, save thai\\nwe can not know. The believing 1 mind dwells in continual\\nlight for, when God is revealed within, curious and per*\\nplexing questions are silent. But the mind that judges\\nGod, or demands a right to comprehend him before it be-\\nlieves, stumbles, complains, wrangles, and finds no issue\\nto its labor. Still there is light, and we pass on now to\\nshow,\\nII. That there is abundance of light on the other side\\nof the cloud, and above it.\\nThis we might readily infer, from the fact that so much\\nof light shines through. When the clouds overhead- are\\nutterly black, too black to be visible, we understand that\\nit is night, or that the sun is absent but. when there is a\\npractical and sufficient light for our works, we know that\\nthe sun is behind them, and we call it day. So it is when\\nGod spreadeth a cloud upon his throne. We could not", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0157.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "154 LIGHT ON THE CLOUS.\\nsee even the mystery, if there were no light behind it,\\njust as we could not see the clouds if no light shone\\nthrough.\\nThe experience of every soul that turns to God is a con-\\nvincing proof that there is light somewhere, and that which\\nis brighu and clear. Was it a man struggling with great\\nafflictions, an injured man crushed by heavy wrongs, was\\nit a man desolated and broken down by domestic sorrows\\nwas it a rich man stripped by sore losses and calamities,\\nwas it a proud man blasted by slander; was it an atheist\\ngroping after curious knowledge and starving on the chaff\\nof questions unresolved be it one or another of these,\\nfor all alike were tormented in the same perplexities of the\\ndarkened anderstanding, every thing was dark and dry\\nand empt) but when they come to Christ and believe in\\nhim, it is their common surprise to find how suddenly\\nevery thing becomes luminous. Speculatively, they un-\\nderstand nothing which before was hidden, and yet there\\n13 a wondrous glory shining on their path. God is revealed\\nwithin, and God is light. The flaming circle of eternal\\nday skirts the horizon of the mind. Their dark questions\\nare forgot, or left behind. They are even become insig-\\nnificant. Their dignitv is gone, and the soul, basking in\\nthe blessed sunshine of God s love, thinks it nothing, any\\nmore, if it could understand all mysteries. In all which it\\nis made plain that, if we are under the cloud, there is yet\\na bright light above.\\nIt will also be found, as another indication, that things\\nwhich, at some time, appeared to be dark, afflictions, losses,\\ntrials, wrongs, defeated prayers, and deeds of suffering pa-\\ntience yielding no fruit, are very opt, afterward, to change\\ncolor and become visitations of mercy. And so where", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0158.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OH THE CLOUD. 155\\nGod was specially dark, lie commonly brings out, m the\\nend, some good, or blessing in which the subject discovers\\nthat his Heavenly Father only understood his wants bettel\\nthan he did himself. God was dark in his way, only be-\\ncause his goodness was too deep in counsel, for him to fol-\\nlow it to its mark. It is with him as with Joseph, gold\\ninto slavery, and so into the ride of a kingdom; or as it\\nwith Job, whose latter end, after he had been stripped\\nof every thing, was more blessed than his beginning or\\nas with Xehemiah, whose sorrowing and disconsolate look\\nitself brought him the opportunity to restore the desola-\\ntions over which he sorrowed. Even the salvation of the\\nworld is accomplished through treachery, false witness,\\nand a cross. All our experience in life goes to show that\\nthe better understanding we have of God s dealings, the\\nmore satisfactory they appear. Things which seemed dark\\nor inexplicable, or even impossible for God to suffer with-\\nout wrong in himself, are really bright with goodness in\\nthe end. What then shall we conclude, but that, on the\\nother side of the cloud, there is always a bright and glori-\\nous light, however dark it is underneath.\\nHence it is that the scriptures make so much of God s\\ncharacter as a light -giving power, and turn the figure about\\ninto so many forms. In God, they say, is light and no\\ndarkness at all. According to John s vision of the Lord\\nHis countenance was as the sun that shineth in his strength.\\nThe image of him given by another apostle is even more\\nsublime, Who only hath immortality dwelling in light\\nthat no man can approach onto, language, possibly, in\\nwhich he had some reference to his own conversion, when\\na light, above the brightness of the sun, bursting upon\\nhim and shining round about him, seared his eye-halls so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0159.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "156 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nthat afterward there fell off from them, as it had been,\\nscales of cinder. God, therefore, he conceives to be light\\ninapproachable, as figured in that experience. And proba-\\nbly enough he would say that, as the astronomers in look-\\ning at the sun arm their sight with a smoky or colored\\nmedium, so the very clouds we complain of are mercifully\\ninterposed, in part, and rather assist than hinder our vision.\\nIt is little therefore to say, and should never be a fact in-\\ncredible, that however dark our lot may be, there is light\\nenough on the other side of the cloud, in that pure empy-\\nrean where God dwells, to irradiate every darkness of the\\nworld light enough to clear every difficult question, re-\\nmove every ground of obscurity, conquer every atheistic sus-\\npicion, silence every hard judgment light enough to satisfy,\\nnay to ravish the mind forever. Even the darkest things\\nGod has explanations for, and it is only necessary to be let\\ninto his views and designs, as when we are made capable\\nof being we certainly shall, to see a transcendent wisdom\\nand beauty in them all. At present, we have no capacity\\nbroad enough to comprehend such a revelation. We see\\nthrough a glass darkly, but we see what we can. When\\nwe can see more, there is more to be seen. On the other\\nside of the cloud there is abundance of light. This brings\\nme to say,\\nIII. That the cloud we arc under will finally break way\\nand be cleared.\\nOn this point we have many distinct indications. Thus\\nit coincides with the general analogy of God s works, to\\nlook for obscurity first, and light afterward. According\\nto the scripture account of the creation, there was, first, a\\nperiod of complete darkness; then a period of mist and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0160.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OX THE CLOC D, 1\\nOi\\ncloud, where the clay light is visible, bat not the sua;\\ni _t sun beams out in a clear open sky, which is\\ncalled, in a way of external description, the creation of the\\nsun. How many of the animals begin their life at birth\\nwith their v- dosed, which are afterward opened to be-\\nhold the world into which they have come. How many\\nmyriads of insects begin their existence underground,\\nemerging afterward from their dark abode, to take winga\\nand glitter in the srolden lisrht of day. If we observe the\\nmanner too of our own intellectual discoveries, we shall\\ngeneral the inquirer groping long and painfully un-\\nder a cloud, trying and experimenting hi a thousand guess-\\nno purpose, till finally a thought takes him and be-\\nhold the difficulty is solved At a single flash, so to speak,\\nthe ligh: breaks in, and what before was dark is clear\\nand simple as the day. Darkness first and light after-\\nward, this is the law of science universally. By so\\nmany and various analogies, we are led to expect that\\nthe cloud, under which we live in things spiritual,\\nwill finally be lifted, and the splendor of eternal glory\\npoured around us.\\nOur desire of knowledge, and the manner in which God\\nman aeesl inflame that desire, indicate the same thincf. This\\ndesire he has planted naturally in us, as hunger is natural\\nin our bodies, or the want of light in our b. And the\\na more certain indication that light is to be giv-\\nen, than our d i know divine things is that we shall\\nbe permitted to k *hem. And the evidence is yet\\nfurther inc: in the fact that the good have a stroi\\nre of this knowledge than mere nature b\\nif w with the scripture, that the fear of the 1\\nthe beginning of kn_ j of it\\n14", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0161.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "158 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\ncome after. It is the glory of God, indeed, to conceal a\\nthing, but not absolutely, or for the sake of concealment.\\nHe does it only till a mind and appetite for the truth is\\nprepared, to make his revelation to. He gives us a dim\\nlight and sets us prying at the walls of myster} r that he\\nmay create an appetite and relish in us for true knowledge.\\nThen it shall be a joyful and glorious gift drink to the\\nthirsty, food to the hungry, light to the prisoner s cell.\\nAnd he will pour it in from the whole firmament of lu\\nglor} r He will open his secret things, open the bounda-\\nries of universal order, open his own glorious mind and\\nhis eternal purposes.\\nThe scriptures also notify us of a grand assize, or judg-\\nment, when the merit of all his doings with, us, as of our\\ndoings toward him, will be revised, and it appears to be a\\ndemand of natural reason that some grand exposition of\\nthe kind should be made, that we may be let into the man-\\nner of his government far enough to clo it honor. This\\nwill require him to take away the cloud, in regard to all\\nthat is darkest in our earthly state. Every perplexity\\nmust now be cleared, and the whole moral administration\\nof God, as related to the soul, must be sufficiently ex-\\nplained. Sin, the fall, the pains and penalties and disabili-\\nties consequent, redemption, grace, the discipline of the\\nrighteous, the abandonment of the incorrigibly wicked all\\nthese must now be understood. God has light enough to\\nshed on all these things, and he will not conceal it. He\\nrs ill shine forth in glorious and transcendent brightness, un-\\nmasked by cloud, and all created minds, but the incorrigi-\\nble outcasts and enemies of his government, will respond;\\nAlleluia, salvation, and glory, and honor, and power be\\nunto the Lord our God for just and true are his judgments.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0162.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "li-jh: ihz :loud. 159\\nPr haf istc the manner and measure of oiu\\nii:-^: :lis :.;llr: :ei:l :_::ir r _:ri:-;j= re-el:..:::::\\nthe fbtare^ is not deal k :b r that is one of the dark\\n:_:___- nys: present -tate But the lan-\\nguage of seriptur i 3 i ble. It even declares that\\nf hall see God as he is and the in: o aty of the expres-\\naon is au poss ibl the effects attributed to\\n_.- him sh him as he\\n:all be d brated, in other\\nhis glory si transformed into a spirit\\n_ ity reflecting his beauty,\\nennobled I It is even that our\\nrh tl be complete. 2 ;Tweknowin\\n:_t:l _: _ _ 1:_;- r r s: i:::~~. 7:-\\nall knowG as be knows as is ::rtainly\\nthe stn _ si ration ssible, and it is probably hy-\\nperboEo, L; i Ld s tji to be incredible that a finite\\nmind should a :,ny time in its eter::\\nit is c :mprehended by the in-\\n3 :hat there will\\nIge, and that th\\nlepths oi\\nattaining\\n~:ght of his\\nI beautv in\\nC-ezi \\\\y ::;\u00e2\u0096\u00a0_;..- ::-\u00e2\u0096\u00a0.__ :-/_. *;.e:L :L_e:\\npow 3 great\\nii:;i f \u00e2\u0096\u00a0:..:.:::._ jrod sw: :e w v l:;: :L__:.: w\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0nd 9 real lis] _: .ill \u00e2\u0096\u00a0_\u00e2\u0080\u00a2 _;\u00e2\u0096\u00a0:; Is :L:,: I,..: L .-rv,\\nis i .:l-;ss ~ed; for when our sin is xxmpletelj\\nwill b\\n-.-S\u00c2\u00a3 -If w/U ire a.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0163.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "160 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nglorious unveiling of God and a vision of his beauty as\\nit is.\\nIn what manner we shall become acquaini ed with God s\\nmind, or the secrets of his interior life, whether through\\nsume manifestation by the Eternal Word, like the incarnate\\nappearing of Jesus, or partly in some way more direct,\\nwe can not tell. But the divine nature and plan will be\\nopen, doubtless, in some way most appropriate, for our\\neverlasting study and our everlasting progress in discovery.\\nThe whole system of his moral purposes and providential\\ndecrees, his penal distributions and redeeming works, will\\nbe accessible to us, and all the creatures and creations of\\nhis power offered to our acquaintance and free inspection.\\nOur present difficulties and hard questions will soon be\\nsolved and passed bj. Even the world itself, so difficult\\nto penetrate, so clouded with mystery, will become a\\ntransparency to us, through which God s light will pour as\\nthe sun through the open sky. John knew no better way\\nof describing the perfectly luminous state of the blessed\\nminds than to say, and there shall be no night there, and\\nthey have no candle, neither light of the sun for the\\nLord God giveth them light. They dwell thus in the\\neternal daylight of love and reason for they are so let\\ninto the mind of God, and the glorious mysteries of hie\\nnature, that every thing is lighted up as they come to it\\neven as the earth and its objects by the sun- -The Lord\\nGod giveth them light.\\nIn closing the review of such a subject as this, let us\\nfirst of all receive a lesson of modesty, and particularly such\\nas are most wont to complain of God, and boldest in theii\\njudgments against him. Which way soever we turn, in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0164.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OS THE CLOUD 16)\\noar search after knowledge, we run against mystery at the\\nsecond or third step. And a great part of our misery, a\\nstill greater of our unbelief, and all the lunatic rage of out\\nskepticism, arises in the fact that we either do not, or will not\\nsee it to be so. Ignorance trying to comprehend what is in-\\nscrutable, and out of patience, that it can not make the high\\ntilings of God come down to its own petty measures, is the\\ndefinition of all atheism. There is no true comfort in life, no\\ndignity in reason, apart from modesty. ~We wrangle with\\nprovidence and call it reason, we rush upon God s mysteries,\\nand tear ourselves against the appointments of his throne,\\nand then, because we bleed, complain that he cruelly mocks\\nour understanding. All our disputings and hard speeches\\nare the frothing of our ignorance, maddened by our pride,\\n0, if we could see our own limitations, and how little it is\\npossible for us to know of matters infinite, how much loss,\\nclouded by the necessary blindness of a mind disordered by\\nevil, we should then be in a way to learn, and the lessons\\nGod will teach would put us in a way to know what now\\nis hidden from us. Knowledge pufTeth up, charity build-\\neth up. One makes a balloon of us, the other a temple.\\nAnd as one, lighter than the wind, is driven loose in its\\naerial voyage, to be frozen in the airy heights of specula-\\ntion, or drifted into the sea to be drowned in the waters\\nof ignorance, which it risked without ability to swim, so\\nthe other, grounded on a rock, rises into solid majesty,\\nproportionate, enduring, and strong. After all his labored\\nutings and lofty reasons with his friends, Job turns\\nhimself to God and Bays I know that thou canst do every\\nthing, and that nothing can be withholden from thee. Who\\nis he that hideth counsel without knowledge. Therefore\\nhave I uttered that I understood not things too wonderful\\n14*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0165.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "162 LIGHT OX THE CLOUD.\\nfor me, that I knew not. There is the true point of\\nmodesty he has found it at last! Whoever finds it hat?\\nmade a great attainment.\\nHow clear is it also, in this subject, that there is no place\\nfor complaint or repining under the sorrows and trials of\\nlife. There is nothing in what has befallen, or befalls you,\\nmy friends, which justifies impatience or peevishness.\\nGod is inscrutable, but not wrong. Eemember, if the\\ncloud is over you, that there is a bright light always on\\nthe other side also, that the time is coming, either in this\\nworld or the next, when that cloud will be swept away\\nand the fullness of God s light and wisdom poured around\\nyou. Every thing which has befallen you, whatever sor-\\nrow your heart bleeds with, whatever pain you suffer, even\\nthough it be the pains of a passion like that which Jesus\\nendured at the hands of his enemies\u00e2\u0080\u0094 nothing is wanting,\\nbut to see the light that actually exists, waiting to be re-\\nvealed, and you will be satisfied. If your life is dark, then\\nwalk by faith, and God is pledged to keep you as safe as\\nif you could understand every thing. He that dwelleth\\nin the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the\\nshadow of the Almighty.\\nThese things, however, I can say, with no propriety, to\\nmany. No such comforts, or hopes belong to you that are\\nliving without God. You have nothing to expect from\\nthe revelations of the future. The cloud that you complain\\nof will indeed be cleared away, and you will see that, in\\na 1 }^our afflictions, severities, and losses, God was dealing\\nwith you righteously and kindly. You will be satisfied\\nwith God and with all that he has done for you, but alas\\nyou will not be satisfied with yourself. That is more dif-\\nficult, forever impossible! And I can conceive no pang", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0166.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "LIGHT OX THE CLOUD. 163\\ninure dreadful than to see, as you will, the cloud lifted from\\nevery dealing of God that you thought to be harsh, 01\\nunrighteous, and to feel that, as he is justified, you your-\\nself are forever condemned. You can no more accuse\\nyour birth, your capacity, your education, your health,\\nyour friends, your enemies, your temptations. You still\\nhad opportunities, convictions, calls of grace, and calls of\\nblessing. You are judged according to that you had, and\\nnot according to that you had not. Your mouth is eter-\\nnally shut, and God is eternally clear.\\nFinally it accords with our subject to observe that, while\\nthe inscrutability of God should keep us in modestv and\\nour complaints against him, it should never suppress,\\nbut rather sharpen our desire of knowledge. For the more\\nthere is that is hidden, the more is to be discovered and\\nknown, if not to-day then to-morrow, if not to-morrow,\\nwhen the time God sets for it is come. To know, is not\\nto surmount God, as some would appear to imagine.\\nRightly viewed, all real knowledge is but the knowledge\\nof God. Knowledge is the fire of adoration, adoration is\\nthe gate of knowledge. And when this gate of the soul\\nis fully opened, as it will be when the adoring grace is\\nplete in our deliverance from all impurity, what a\\nslation of knowledge must follow. Having now a de-\\nsire of knowledge perfected in us that is clear of all con-\\nambition, haste, impatience, the clouds under which\\nwe lived in our sin are I away, and our ador-\\ning nature, transparent to I j a window to the sun, is\\nfilled with his eternal light. Xo mvsteries remain but\\nsuch as comfort us in the ise of a glorious empl\\nment. The light of the moon the light of the sun,\\nand the light of the sun sevenfold, and every object oi", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0167.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "164 LIGHT ON THE CLOUD.\\nknowledge, irradiated by the brightness of God, shines\\nwith a new celestial clearness and an inconceivable beauty\\nThe resurrection morning is a true sun-rising, the inburst-\\ning of a cloudless day on all the righteous dead. They\\nwake transfigured, at their Master s call, with the fashion\\nof their countenance altered and shining like his own.\\nCreature all grandeur, son of truth and light,\\nUp from the dust, the last great day is bright,\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nBright on the Holy Mountain round the throne,\\nBright where in borrowed light the far stars shone\\nRegions on regions far away they shine,\\nTis light ineffable tis light divine\\nImmortal light and life forevermore\\nThere was a cloud, and there was a time when man saw\\nnot the brightness that shined upon it from above. That\\ncloud is lifted, and God is clear in his own essential beauty\\nand glory forever.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0168.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "IX.\\nTHE CAPACITY OF RELIGION EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE.\\nMatthew xxv. 28. i; Take, therefore, the talent from him?\\nMany persons read this parable of the talents, I believe,\\nvery much as if it related only to gifts external to the\\n3on; or, if to gifts that are personal, to such only as\\nare called talents, in the lower and merely man-ward rela-\\ntions and uses of life; such as the understanding, reason,\\nmemory, imagination, feeling, and whatever powers are\\n$t concerned in discovery, management, address, and\\ninfluence over others. But the Great Teachers meaning\\nreaches higher than this, and comprehends more; viz.,\\nthose talents, more especially, which go to exalt the sub-\\nject in his God-ward relations. The main stress of his\\ndoctrine hinges, I conceive, on our responsibility, as re-\\nIfl the capacity of religion itself; for this, in highest\\nminer :he talent, the royal gift of man. The\\ncity of religion, taken as the highest trust God gives ns,\\nhe is teaching his disciples may be livefolded, tenfol\\nindefinitely increased, as all other gifts are, by a proper\\nuse; or it may be neglected, hid, suppressed, and, being\\n3 kept back, may finally be so reduced as to be even\\nextirpated. This Litter, the extirpation, or taking away\\nof the holy talent, is the fearful and admonitory close to\\nwhich the para I rought in my text. In pursuing\\nthe subject pn two points will naturally engage our\\nattention.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0169.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "166 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nI. That the capacity for religion is a talent, the highest talent\\nwe have. And,\\nII. That this capacity is one that, by total disuse and the\\novergrowth of others, is finally extirpated.\\nI. The capacity for religion is a talent, the highest talent\\nwe have.\\nWe mean by a talent, the capacity for doing, or becoim\\ning something as for learning, speaking, trade, command.\\nOur talents are as numerous, therefore, and various as the\\neffects we may operate.\\nWe have talents of the body too, and talents of the\\nmind, or soul. Our talents of body are strength, endur-\\nance, grace, swiftness, beauty, and the like. Our mental\\nor spiritual talents are more various, and, for the purpose\\nwe have now in hand, may be subdivided into such as be-\\nlong, in part, to the natural life, and such as belong wholly\\nto the religious and spiritual.\\nAll those which can be used, or which come into play,\\nin earthly subjects, and apart from Grod and religion, are\\nnatural, and those which relate immediately to Grod, and\\nthings unseen, as connected with God, are religious. In\\nthe former class, we may name intellect, judgment, reason,\\nobservation, abstraction, imagination, memory, feeling, af-\\nfection, w T ill, conscience, and all the moral sentiments.\\nThese all come into the uses and act a part in the activities\\nof religion, but they have uses and activities in things\\nearthly, where religion is wholly apart, or may be. and\\ntherefore we do not class them as religious talents. An\\natheist can remember, reason, hate, and even talk of duty\\nand therefore these several kinds of talent are not distinct\\nively religious.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0170.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 167\\nThe religious talents compose the whole God-waid side\\nof faculty in us. They are such especially as come\\ninto exercise in the matter of religious faith and experience,\\nand nowhere else. They include, first, the want of God,\\nwhich is, in fact, a receptivity for God. All wants are\\ncapacities of reception, and in this view are talents ac-\\ncording to their measure. Low grades of being want low\\nobjects, but the want of man is God. And, as all great\\nwants, in things inferior, such as knowledge, honor, power,\\nbelong only to great men, what shall we consider this\\nwant of Gfod to be, but the highest possible endowment.\\nNearly related to this talent of want is the talent of in-\\nspiration. By this we mean a capacity to be permeated,\\nilluminated, guided, exalted, by God or the Spirit of Go* I\\nwithin, and yet so as not to be any the less completely\\nourselves. This is a high distinction, a glorious talent.\\nXo other kind of being known to us, in the works of God\\nwhether animate or inanimate, has the capacity to admit\\nin this manner, and be visited by, the inspirations of God.\\nIt requires a nature gloriously akin to God in its mold,\\nthus to let in his action, falling freely into chime with his\\nfreedom, and, in consciously self-acting power, receiving\\nthe impulsion of his eternal thought and character.\\nWe have also another religious talent, or God-ward ca-\\npacity, which may be called the spiritual sense, or the\\npower of divine apprehension. Some kind of apprehen-\\nsive, or perceptive power, belongs to every creature of life\\nas we may see in the distinguishing touch of the sensitive\\nplant, in the keen auditory and scenting powers of many\\nquadrupeds, in our own five senses, or, rising still higher,\\n\u00c2\u00bbn that piereing insight of mind which distinguishes the\\nintellectual and scientific verities of things.- So also there", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0171.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "168 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nis given to our spiritual nature, a still higher talent, the\\nspiritual sense, the power of distinguishing G d and re-\\nceiving the manifestation or immediate witness of God. I\\nspeak not here of a speculating up to God, or an inference\\nthat conducts to God, but of a window that opens directly\\non him from within, lets in the immediate light or revela-\\ntion of God, and makes the soul even conscious of his\\nreality as of its own.\\nThe capacity of religious love is another and distinct\\nkind of talent. Other kinds of love are merely emotional,\\nor humanly social, involving no principle of life, either\\ngood or bad, and no particular spiritual condition. Where-\\nas this love of God, and of men as related to God, is a de-\\ntermining force, in respect to ail character and all springs of\\naction. We have it only as we have a certain talent, ot\\ncapacity of religious love the capacity, that is, to let in\\nor appropriate the love of God to us. Which if we do, it\\ncomes, not as some rill or ripple of our human love, chang-\\ning nothing in us, but it pours in, as a tide, with mighty\\nfloods of joy and power, and sets the whole nature beating\\nwith it, as the shores give answer to the ocean roll and\\nroar. Now the man acts out of love and from it. He\\nchimes with all good freely for his love is the spirit of all\\ngood. His activity is rest, and a lubricating power of joy\\ngladdens all the works of duty and sacrifice.\\nThe power of faith, also, is a religious talent, which is\\nto religion what the inductive or experimental power is to\\nscience. It is a power of knowing God, or finding God\\nby experiment. It is the power in human souls of falling\\non God, and being recumbent on him in trust, so as to\\nprove him out and find the answer of his personality.\\nReason can not do it, but faith can. It knows God, or may", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0172.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 169\\nreciprocally and finds a way into his secret will and mind\\nso as to be of him, a conscious partaker of his divine\\nnature and life.\\nThese now are the talents of religion, the highest, no-\\nblest, closest to divinity, of all the powers we have. And\\nyet how many never once think of them as having any\\nspecial consequence, or even as being talents at all, just\\nbecause, living in separation from God, they are never once\\nallowed to come into use.\\nIf then you will see, in the plainest manner, what is\\ntheir true place and order in the soul, you shall find them,\\nfirst of all, at the head of all its other powers, holding\\nthem subordinate. They are like the capital city of an\\nempire, flowing down upon all the other cities, to regulate,\\nanimate, and, at the same time, appropriate them all. What\\nwe sometimes call the intellectual powers, observation,\\nabstraction, reason, memory, imagination, submit them-\\nselves at once, when religion comes into the field, to be\\nthe servitors of religion. None of these faculties make\\nuse of the religious, but the religious use and appro-\\npriate them in which we see, at a glance, their natural\\ninferiority.\\nNext, you will see that all these other talents fall into a\\nstunted and partially disabled state, when they are not\\nshone upon, kept in warmth, and raised in grade, by the\\ntalents of religion. They sometimes grow intense in their\\ndownward activity on mere things: witness the scientific\\nactivity of the French people; but this scientific intensity\\nonly makes the tenuity, the affectations, the sentimental-\\nities substituted for love, the mock heroics of fame substi-\\ntuted for the heroics of faith, the barrenness of great\\nthought, the pruriency of conceit, the more painfully evident.\\n15", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0173.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "170 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nNo people, emptied of religion, was ever genuinely great\\nin any thing.\\nHow manifestly too are the subjects of the religious tal-\\nents superior to those of the natural even as the heaven is\\nhigh above the earth. History, science, political judg-\\nments, poetry as a mere growth of nature, philosophy as\\na development of reason, belong to these. The others\\nlook on God, embrace the infinite in God, receive the love\\nof God, experience God, let in the inspirations of God,\\ndiscover worlds beyond the world, seize the fact of im-\\nmortality, deal in salvation, aspire to ideal and divine\\nperfection.\\nAgain/it will be seen that all the greatest things, ever done\\nin the world, have been done by the instigations and holy ele-\\nvations of the religious capacity. We shall never have done\\nhearing, I suppose, of Eegulus and Curtius, and such like\\nspecimens of the Eoman virtue, great in death but the whole\\narmy of the martyrs, comprising thousands of women and\\neven many small children, dying firmly in the refusal to deny\\nthe Lord Jesus, are a full match and more, by the legion,\\nfor the bravest of the Eomans. What but the mighty\\nmastership of religion has ever led a people up through\\ncivil wars and revolutions, into a regenerated order and\\nliberty What has planted colonies for a great history\\nbut religion The most august and most beautiful struc-\\ntures of the world have been temples of religion crystal-\\nizations, we may say, of worship. The noblest charities,\\nthe best fruits of learning, the richest discoveries, the best\\ninstitutions of law and justice, every greatest thing the\\nworld has seen, represents, more or less directly the fruit-\\nfulness and creativeness of the religious talents.\\nThe real summit, therefore, of our humanity is here, as", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0174.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 171\\nour blessed Lord plainly understands in his parable of the\\ntalents. He does not overlook other and inferior gifts, for\\nGod will certainly hold us responsible for all gifts but it\\nis this, more especially, that he holds in view, when he\\nsays, take therefore the talent from him. In the clause\\nthat follows, we are not to understand, of course, that God\\nwill literally pass the talent over to one who has been\\nmore faithful. The terms are sufficiently met, b}- under-\\nstanding that God will so dispense the talents, as to regu-\\nlarly increase the gifts of the faithful, and regularly di-\\nminish, or gradually extirpate, the gifts of those who will\\nnot use them. We proceed then,\\nII. To show that the religious talent, or capacity, is one\\nthat, by total disuse and the overgrowth of others, is\\nfinally extirpated.\\nFew men, living without God, are aware of any such\\npossibility, and, still less, of the tremendous fact itself.\\nThat they are really reducing themselves in this manner\\nto lower dimensions, shortening in their souls, making\\nblank spaces of all the highest and divinest talents of their\\nnature, alas, they dream not of it on the contrary, they\\nimagine that they are getting above religion, growing too\\ncompetent and wise to be longer subjected to its authority,\\nor incommoded by its requirements. They do not see, or\\nsuspect that this very fact is evidence itself of a process\\nmore radical and fearful, even that which Christ himself is\\nteaching in the parable. Are you willing, my friends, to\\nallow the discovery of this process, this dying process,\\nthis extirpating process, which, in your neglect of God, is\\nremoving, by degrees, the very talent for religion, your\\nhighest and most sacred endowment.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0175.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "172 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nHear then, first of all, what is the teaching of the scrip-\\ncure. That this is the precise point of the parable of the\\ntalents we have seen already. In close connection, also,\\nChrist reiterates his favorite maxim,- To him that hath shall\\nbe given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away\\neven that which he hath. And here, also, the very point\\nof meaning is, that neglected or abused talents will be\\nshortened more and more by continued neglect and abuse,\\nand, at last, will be virtually taken away or exterminated.\\nWhat is said, in the scripture, of spiritual blindness, or\\nthe loss of spiritual perception, will also occur to you,\\nFor this people s heart is waxed gross, says the Saviour,\\nand their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have\\nthey closed. What is this closing of the eye, this loss of\\nsight, but the judicial extirpation of sight? Even as he\\nsays in another place, He hath blinded their eyes and\\nhardened their heart, that they should not see with theii\\neyes, nor understand with their heart. Hence, also, what\\nis said, derogatively, of the wisdom of the wise and the\\nunderstanding of the prudent, that conceit of opinion,\\nfalsely called philosophy, which grows up in the neglect\\nof G d. The word of God looks on it with pity, calls it\\nfolly and strong delusion, as if it were a kind of disability\\nthat comes on the soul in the gradual loss, or extirpation\\nof its highest powers. What is it but the uplifting little-\\nness of opinion, when these highest powers are taken away?\\nThese babblings of opinion, speculation, reason, are also\\npresented in a more pathologic way, as a kind of cancer-\\nous activity in the lower functions, that will finally devour\\nall the higher powers of godliness and love: Shun pro-\\nfane and vain babblings, for thev will increase unto more\\nungodliness, and their word will eat as dotb a canker.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0176.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "EXTIEPATED BY DISUSE 173\\nHow sadly verified is the picture, in the ever increasing\\nungodliness of the over-curious and merely speculative\\nspirit; in the swelling bulk of its conceit and the re-\\nduction correspondent] y, of all highest function of insight.\\nXow this general view of a necessary taking away, of\\nspiritual extirpation, of which we are admonished by the\\nscriptures under these various forms, is referrible, 1 con-\\nceive, to two great laws, or causes. It is due partly to the\\nneglect of the higher talents of our religious nature, and\\npartly to the overactivity or overgrowth of the other and\\nsubordinate talents.\\n1. To the neglect of the talents, or capacities of religion.\\nAll living members, whether of body or mind, require\\nuse, or exercise. It is necessary to their development, and,\\nwithout it, they even die. Thus, if one of the arms be\\nkept in free use, from childhood onward, while the other\\nis drawn up over the head and made rigid there, by long\\nand violent detention, a feat of religious austerity which\\nthe idolaters of the East often practice, the free arm and\\nshoulder will grow to full size, and the other will gradu-\\nally shrink and perish. So if one of the eyes were per-\\nmanently covered, so as never to see the light, the other\\nwould be likely to grow more sharp and precise in its\\npower, while this is losing its capacity and becoming a\\ndiscontinued organ, or inlet of perception. It is on the\\nsame principle that the fishes which inhabit the under-\\nground river of a great western cave, while, in form and\\nspecies, they appear to correspond with others that swim\\nin the surface waters of the region adjacent, have yet the\\nremarkable distinction of possessing no eyes. Since there\\nis no light in their underground element, the physical\\norganism instinctively changes type. It will not even\\n15*", "height": "4359", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0177.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "174 THE CAPACITY CF RELIGION\\ngo or to make eyes, when they can not be used. It there*\\nfore drops them out, presenting us the strange, exceptional\\nproduct of an eyeless race.\\nSo it is with all mental and spiritual organs. Not used,\\nthey gradually wither and die. The child, for example,\\nthat grows up in utter neglect and without education, or\\nany thing to develop its powers, grows dull, at last,\\nand brutish; and, by the time it is twenty or thirty years\\nold, the powers it had appear to be very much taken away.\\nThe man, thus abridged in faculty, can not learn to read\\nwithout the greatest difficulty. The hand can not be\\ntrained to grace, or the eye to exactness. The very con-\\nscience, disused, as having any relation to God, is blunted\\nand stupefied. But, while we note this visible decay of\\nthe functions specified, let it be observed that, here,\\nin the case of the child, there is no such thing as a\\ncomplete disuse. The most uneducated man has a certain\\nnecessary use of his common faculties of intelligence, and\\nin some low sense, keeps them in exercise. He can not\\ntake care of his body, can not provide for life, can not\\nact his part among men, without contrivance, thought,\\nplan, memory, reason, all the powers that distinguish him\\nas an intelligent being. Hence these faculties never can\\nbe wholly exterminated by disuse, however much reduced\\nin scope and quality they may be. But it is not so with\\nthe religious talents. In a worldly life they are almost\\nabsolutely disused. They are kept under, suppressed, al-\\nlowed no range, or play. According to the parable, they\\nare wrapped up in a napkin and hid. Eefusing to know\\nGod, to let your deep want receive him, to admit the holy\\npermeations of his Spirit, to be flooded with his all-\\ntransforming love, to come into the secret discerning and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0178.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 175\\nacquaintance of liis mind, and live in the mutuality of his\\npersonal fellowship, you command all these higher talents\\nof your soul to exist in disuse. This is the tearful, horrible\\nthing in your life of sin, that you sentence all your God-\\nward powers to a state of utter nothingness, to be ears that\\nmust not hear, eyes that must not see. And then, what must\\nfinally follow, but that they can not How is it possible\\nfor any talent or gift to survive that can not be exercised?\\nAnd this process of extirpation will be hastened, again,\\n2. By the operation of that immense overgrowth or\\noveractivity which is kept up in the other powers. Thus\\nit is that gardeners, when a tree is making wood too fast,\\nunderstand that it will make no fruit all the juices and\\nnutritive fluids being carried off in the other direction, to\\nmake wood. And therefore, to hasten the growth of fruit,\\nthey head in the branches. So when trees are growing\\nrapidly upward, as in a forest, that growth calls away the\\njuices from the lower and lateral branches and leaves them\\nto die. A healthy limb of our body, being checked by\\nsome disease, the other limbs or members call off the nu-\\ntriment in their direction when it begins to wither, and,\\nat last, is virtually extirpated.\\nJust so it is, when a child becomes preternaturally active\\nin some particular faculty, under the stimulus of success\\nor much applause it turns out finally that the wonderful\\nactivity that made him a prodigy in figures, or in memory,\\nunless early arrested, has sunk him to a rank as much be-\\nlow mediocrity in every thing else. His overgrowth in\\narithmetic, or in the memorizing powers, takes away the\\nnutriment of all his other functions, and leaves him to a\\nPiiserable inferiority.\\nJust so it is, again, when the pursuit of money grows", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0179.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "176 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nto a monster passion of the soul the mind dwindles, the\\naffections wither, and sometimes even the nerve of hun-\\nger itself ceases to act leaving the wretched miser to per-\\nish by starvation, fast by his heap of gold. So if a man\\nlives for the table, the organs of the mouth and chin change\\ntheir expression, the eye grows dull, the gait heavy, the\\nvoice takes a coarse animalized sound, and the higher\\nqualities of intelligence, he may once have manifested, will\\nbe manifested nowhere, save as purveyors to the organs of\\ntaste and the gastric energy.\\nIn the same way, a man who is brought up in mere\\nconventionalities and taught to regard appearances as the\\nonly realities, loses out the sense of truth. He blushes\\nat the least defect in his toilette, and lies to get away from\\nan honest debt, without any trace of compunction, or\\nshame for his baseness.\\nAnd so also the child, brought up as a thief, gets an in-\\nfinite power of cunning and adroitness, and loses out just\\nas much in the power of true perception.\\nIn the same way, a race of men long occupied in fero-\\ncious wars grow sharp in the hearing, keen as the beasts\\nof prey in pursuit, sensitively shy of death, when it can\\nbe avoided, and when it can not, equally stoical in regard\\nto it but, while these talents of blood are unfolding so\\nremarkably, they lose out utterly the sense of order, the\\ninstinct of prudence and providence, all the sweet charities,\\nall the finer powers of thought, and become a savage race.\\nHaving lost a full half of their nature and sunk below\\nthe possibility of progress, we, for that reason, call them\\nsavages.\\nBy a little different process, the Christian monks were\\nturned to fiends of blood, without being savages* Exer-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0180.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 177\\ncised, day and night, in a devotion that was aired by no\\noutward, social duties, waiting only on the dreams and\\nvisions of a cloistered religion, all the gentle humanities\\nand social charities were absorbed or taken away. And\\nthen their very prayers would draw blood, and they would\\ngo out from the real presence itself, to bless the knife, oi\\nkindle the fire.\\nXow just this extirpating process, which you have seen\\noperating here on so large a scale, is going on continually\\nin the overactive worldliness of all men that are living\\nwithout God. An extravagant activity of some kind is\\nalways stimulating their inferior and merely natural facul-\\nties, and extirpating the higher talents of religion. Occu-\\npied with schemes that are only world-ward and selfish,\\nthere is an egregiously intense activity in that direction,\\ncoupled with entire inaction in all the highest perceptions\\nand noblest affinities of their godlike nature. To say thai\\nthese latter will be finally taken away, or extirpated in\\nthis manner is to say nothing which permits a doubt. It\\ncan not be otherwise. All the laws of vital being, whether\\nin body or mind, must be overturned to allow it to be\\notherwise. Xo man can live out a life of sin without\\nalso living out all the God- ward talent of his soul.\\nLet me come a degree nearer to you now, and lay the\\nquestion side by side with your experience. Is it wrong\\nto assume that your religious sense was proportionately\\nmuch stronger and more active in childhood than it is now?\\nThus onward, daring your minority, you felt the reality\\nof God and things unseen, as 3-011 can not now, by youi\\nutmost effort It is as if these worlds beyond the world\\nhad faded away, or quite gone out. You have a great\\ndeal more knowledge than you then had, knowledge of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0181.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "178 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nbooks, men, business, scenes, subjects, a more practiced\\njudgment, a greater force of argument; but it troubles\\nyou to find that these higher things are just as much fur-\\nther off and less real. It even surprises you to find that\\nyou are growing skeptical, without anj^, the least, effort to\\nbe so. Perhaps you begin, at times, to imagine that it\\nmust be only because of some fatal weakness in the evi-\\ndences of religion. Why else should it lose its power\\nover your mind, as you grow more intelligent? There is\\none very simple answer, my friends, to this inquiry, viz.,\\nthat eyes disused gradually lose the power to see. If God\\ngave you a religious talent, whereby to ally you to him-\\nself, an eye to see him and catch the light of unseen worlds,\\na w r ant to long after him, and you have never used this\\nhigher nature at all, what wonder is it that it begins to\\nwither and do its functions feebly, as a perishing member?\\nIf your bodily eyes had, for so long a time, been covered\\nand forbidden once to see, what less could have befallen\\nthem Your very hand, held fast to your side for only\\nhalf the time, would be a perished member. And what\\ndoes it signify that your other faculties, or talents, have\\nbeen growing in strength so plausibly What could be\\nthe result of this selfish and world- ward activity, but a pro-\\ndigious drawing off of personal life and energy in that di-\\nrection Hence it is that you grow blind to God. Hence\\nthat, when you undertake to live a different life, you get on\\nso poorly and your very prayers fly away into nothingness,\\nfinding only emptiness to embrace, and darkness to see.\\nAll this, my friends, which I gather out of your own\\nexperience, is but a version practical of Christ s own words\\ntake therefore the talent from him. It is being taken\\naway rapidly, and the shreds of it will very soon be all", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0182.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 179\\nthat is left. Your religions nature will finally become a\\nvirtually exterminated organ. Neither let it be imagined\\nthat, meaning no such thing, but really intending, at some\\nfuture time, to turn yourself to God, no such thing will\\nbe allowed to befall you. It is befalling you and that is\\nenough to spoil you of any such confidence. Besides, it\\nwas not shown in the parable that the servant who disused\\nhis talent threw it away. He carefully wrapped it up, and\\nmeant to keep it safe. But it was not safe to him. Hi?\\nlord took it away, and the same thing is now befalling you.\\nThe purpose you have, at some future time, to use your\\ntalent avails nothing. It is going from you and, before\\nyou know it, will be utterly, irrecoverably gone.\\nThe thoughts that crowd upon us, standing before a\\nsubject like this, are practical and serious. And,\\n1. How manifestly hideous the process going on in\\nhuman souls, under the power of sin. It is a process of\\nreal and fixed deformity. Who of us has not seen it even\\nwith his eyes The most beautiful natural character, in\\nman or woman, changes, how certainly, its type, when\\ngrowing old in worldlmess and the neglect of religion.\\nThe grace perishes, the beautiful feeling dries away, the\\nangles grow hard, the sociality grows cold and formal, the\\ntemper irritable and peevish, and the look wears a kind\\nof half expression, as if something once in it were gone\\nout forever. It should be so, and so, in awful deed, it is;\\nfor a whole side of the nature, most noble and closest in\\naffinity with God, has been taken away. On the other\\nhand, it will be seen that a thoroughly religious old person\\nholds the proportions of life 1 and even grows more mellow\\nand attractive as life advances. Indeed, the most beautiful", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0183.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "180 the capacity of keligion\\nsight on earth, is an aged saint of God, growing cheerful\\nin his faith as life advances, becoming mellowed in his love\\nand more and more visibly pervaded and brightened by\\nthe clear light of religion.\\nThis deforming process too is a halving process, with all\\nthat are in it. It exterminates the noblest side of faculty\\nin them and all the most affluent springs of their greatness\\nit forever dries away. It murders the angel in us, and\\nsaves the drudge or the worm. The man that is left is but\\na partial being, a worker, a schemer, a creature of passion,\\nthought, will, hunger, remorse, but no divine principle, no\\nkinsman of Christ, or of God. And this is the fearful\\ntaking away of which our blessed Lord admonishes; a\\ntaking away of the gems and leaving the casket, a taking\\naway of the great and leaving the little, a taking away\\nof the godlike and celestial and a leaving of the sinner m\\nhis sin.\\n2. It follows, in the same manner, that there is no genu-\\nine culture, no proper education, which does not include\\nreligion. Much, indeed, of what is called education is\\nonly a power of deformity, a stimulus of overgrowth in\\nthe lower functions of the spirit, as a creature of intelli-\\ngence, which overlooks and leaves to wither, causes to\\nwither, all the metropolitan powers of a great mind and\\ncharacter. The first light of mind is God, the only genu-\\nine heat is religion, imaginative insight is kindled only by\\nthe fervors of holy truth, all noblest breadth and volume\\nare unfolded in the regal amplitude of God s eternity and\\nkingdom, all grandest energy and force in the impulsions\\nof duty and the inspirations of faith. All training, sepa-\\nrated from these, operates even a shortening of faculty, as\\ntruly a3 an increase. It is a kind of gymnastic for the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0184.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE 181\\narm that paralyzes the spine. It diminishes the quantity\\nof the subject, -where all sovereign quantity begins, and\\nincreases it only in some lower point, where it ends as if\\nbuilding the trunk of a lighthouse staunch and tall were\\nenough, without preparing any light and revolving clock-\\nwork for the top. Hence it is that so many scholars, most\\nbent dowm upon their tasks, and digging most intently into\\nthe supposed excellence, turn out, after all, to be so miser-\\nably diminished in all that constitutes power. Hence also\\nthat men of taste are so often attenuated by their refine-\\nments, and dwarfed by the overgrown accuracy and polish\\nof their attainments. ISTo man is ever educated, in due\\nform, save as being a man that is, a creature related to God,\\nand having all his highest summits of capacity unfolded\\nby the great thoughts, and greater sentiments, and nobler\\ninspirations of religion.\\n3. Let no one comfort himself in the intense activity oi\\nhis mind on the subject of religion. That is one of the\\nthings to be dreaded. To be always thinking, debating,\\nscheming, in reference to the great questions of religion,\\nwithout using any of the talents that belong more appro-\\npriately to God and the receiving of God, is just the way\\nto extirpate the talents most rapidly, and so to close up\\nthe mind in spiritual darkness. And no man is more\\ncertainly dark to God than one who is alwaj-s at work upon\\nhis mystery, by the mere understanding. To be curious,\\nto speculate much, to be dinning always in argument,\\nbattle-dooring always in opinions and dogmas, whether on\\nthe free side of rationalistic audacity, or the stiff side of\\ncatechetic orthodoxy, makes little difference; all such\\nactivitv is cancerous and destructive to the real talents of\\nreligion. What you do with the understanding nevej\\n1(5", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0185.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "182 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nreaches God. He is known only by them that receive\\nhim into their love, their faith, their deep want; known\\nonly as he is enshrined within, felt as a divine force,\\nbreathed in the inspirations of his secret life. The geome-\\nter might as well expect to solve his problems by the\\nfunction of smell, as a responsible soul to find God by the\\nunderstanding. How little does it signify then that you\\nare always thoughtful on religious subjects? That, by\\nitself, will only be your ruin.\\n4. Make as little of the hope that the Holy Spirit will\\nsometime open your closed or consciously closing faculties.\\nIt requires a talent, so to speak, for the Holy Spirit, to\\nentertain or receive him. A rock can not receive the\\nHoly Spirit. No more can a mind that has lost, or extin-\\nguished, the talent for inspiration. The Holy Spirit, glori-\\nous and joyful truth, does find a way into souls that are\\nsteeped in spiritual lethargy, does beget anew the sense of\\nholy things that appeared to be faded almost away. But,\\nwhen the very faculty that makes his working possible is\\nquite closed up, or so nearlv closed that no living recep-\\ntivity is left for him to work in, when the soul has no fit\\nroom, or function, to receive his inspiring motions, more\\nthan a tree, half dead, to receive the quickening sap of the\\nspring, or an ossified heart to let the life-power play its\\naction, then, manifestly, nothing is to be hoped for longer\\nfrom his quickening visitations. The soul was originally\\nmade to be dwelt in, actuated, filled with God, but finally\\nthis high talent is virtually extirpated when, of course,\\nthere is nothing to hope for longer. It may not be so with\\nyou, and it also may.\\n5. The truth we are here bringing into view wears no\\nlook of promise, in regard to the future condition of bad", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0186.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 183\\nmen. If we talk of their final restoration, what is going\\nto restore them, when the very thing we see in them, here,\\nis the gradual extinction of their capabilities of religion\\nTheir want of God itself dies out, and they have no God-\\nward aspirations left. The talent of inspiration, of spirit-\\nual perception, of love, of faith, every inlet of their nature\\nthat was open to God, is closed and virtually extirpated.\\nThis is no figure of speech, that merely signifies their\\nhabitual obscuration, it is fact. By what then are they\\ngoing to be restored Will God take them up, as they\\nenter into the future life, and re-create their extirpated facul-\\nties of religion Will the pains of hell burn a religion\\ninto their lower faculties, and so restore them?\\nBut there is another hope, viz., that bad men will finally\\nbe themselves extirpated and cease that the life of sin\\nwill finally burn them quite out, or cause them literally\\nand totally to perish. But the difficulty here is that no\\nsuch tendency is visible. It is only seen that the talent\\nfor religion, which is the higher and diviner side of the\\nbouI, is extirpated. The other parts are kept in some kind\\nof activity, and are sometimes even overgrown, by the\\nstimulations of worldly, or vicious impulse. If we some-\\ntimes look on a poor, imbruted mortal, one who walks,\\nlooks, speaks, not as a proper man but as the vestiges\\nonly of a man, asking in ourselves what is there left\\nthat is worth salvation? as if there were nothing;\\nBtill he lives and, what is more, some of his quanti-\\nties, viz., his passions and appetites and all his lowest affini-\\nties are even increased. His thoughts too run as rapid-\\nly as they ever did, only they run low his imaginations\\nlive, only they live in the stye of his passions. It is not,\\nthen, annihilation that we see in him. Nothing is really", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0187.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "184 THE CAPACITY OF RELIGION\\nannihilated but the celestial possibilities. And so it is with\\nevery soul that refuses God and religion. A living crea-\\nture remains, a mind, a memory, a heart of passion, fears,\\nirritability, will, all these remain nothing is gone but\\nthe angel life that stood with them, and bound them all to\\nGod. What remains, remains and, for aught that we can\\nsee, must remain and there is the fatal, inevitable fact.\\nHow hopeless! God forbid that any of us may ever\\nknow what it means\\nFinally, how clear it is that the earliest time in religion\\nis the best time. If there be any of my hearers that have\\nlived many years, and have consciously not begun to live\\nunto God, they have much to think of in a subject like\\nthis. How well do they know that God is further off than\\nhe was, and their spiritual apprehensions less distinct.\\nThey have felt the sentence take therefore the talent from\\nhim passing upon them in its power, for many years.\\nAnd how much further will you go in this neglect of God,\\nbefore the extirpation begun is fatally complete. My\\nfriends, there is not an hour to lose. Only with the great-\\nest difficulty will you be able, now, to gather up yourself\\nand open youi closing gates to the entrance of God and his\\nsalvation.\\nHere too is the peculiar blessing and the hopeful advant-\\nage of youth. The talents which older men lose out, by\\ntheir worldly practice and neglect of God, are fresh in them\\nand free. Hence their common readiness to apprehend\\nGod and the things of religion. It is not because they are\\ngreen, or unripe, as many think, but because they have a\\nside of talent not yet eaten out by sinful practice because\\nGod is mirrored so clearly in the depths of their nature,\\nand breathed so freely into the recesses of their open life.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0188.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "EXTIRPATED BY DISUSE. 185\\nHence their ready sensibility, their quiet perception, theii\\nability to feel out, in experiment, what reason can no*\\nmaster, God, Christ, the inspiring grace, the heavenly\\npeace, eternal life. Hence, also, the fact that so great a\\nshare of those who believe, embrace Christ in their youth.\\nAnd this, my young friends, is the day therefore of privi\\nlege to you. that you could see the bright eminence of\\nyour condition. The holy talent now is yours. In a few\\nselfish years it will be shortening, and, before you know\\nit, will be quite taken away. This best, highest, most\\nglorious talent of your nature God is now calling you to\\nsave. Make, then, no delay in this first matter of life, the\\nchoice of God. Give him up thy talent, whole and fresh,\\nto be increased by early devotion and a life-long fidelity\\nin his service. Call it the dew of thy youth, understand-\\ning well that, when thy sun is fairly up, it will, like dew,\\nbe gone.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0189.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "X,\\nUNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nJohn xx. 8, Then went in also that other disciple\\nIn this slight touch or turn of history, is opened to m\\nif we scan it closely, one of the most serious and fruitful\\nchapters of Christian doctrine. Thus it is that men are\\never touching unconsciously the springs of motion in each\\nether thus it is that one man, without thought or inten-\\ntion, or even a consciousness of the fact, is ever leading\\nsome other after him. Little does Peter think, as he comes\\ndp where his doubting brother is looking into the sepulchre,\\nand goes straight in, after his peculiar manner, that he is\\ndrawing in his brother apostle after him. As little does\\nJohn think, when he loses his misgivings, and goes into\\nthe sepulchre after Peter, that he is following his brother.\\nAnd just so, unawares to himself, is every man, the whole\\nrace through, laying hold of his fellow-man, to lead him\\nwhere otherwise he would not go. We overrun the bound-\\naries of our personality we flow together. A Peter leads\\na John, a John goes after a Peter, both of them uncon-\\nscious of any influence exerted or received. And thus\\nour life and conduct are ever propagating themselves, by\\n\\\\x law of social contagion, throughout the circles and times\\nin which we live.\\nThere are, then, you will perceive, two sorts of influence\\nbelonging to man that which is active or voluntary, and\\nthat which is unconscious that which we exert puxposely", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0190.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "UK CO^SCIOUS INFLUENCE. 187\\nor in the endeavor to sway another, as by teacning, by\\nargument, by persuasion, by threatenings, by offers and\\npromises, and that which flows out from us, unawares to\\nourselves, the same which Peter had over John when he\\nled him into the sepulchre. The importance of our efforts\\nto do good, that is of our voluntary influence, and the\\nsacred obligation we are under to exert ourselves in this\\nway, are often and seriously insisted on. It is thus that\\nChristianity has become, in the present age, a principle of\\nso much greater activity than it has been for many centu-\\nries before and we fervently hope that it will yet become\\nfar more active than it now is, nor cease to multiply its\\nindustry, till it is seen by all mankind to embody the\\nbeneficence and the living energy of Christ himself.\\nBut there needs to be produced, at the same time, and\\npartly for this object, a more thorough appreciation of the\\nrelative importance of that kind of influence, or beneficence\\nwhich is insensibly exerted. The tremendous weight and\\nefficacy of this, compared with the other, and the sacred\\nresponsibility laid apon us in regard to this, are felt in no\\nsuch degree or proportion as they should be and the con-\\nsequent loss we suffer in character, as well as that which\\nthe Church suffers in beauty and strength, is incalculable.\\nThe more stress, too, needs to be laid on this subject of\\ninsensible influence, because it is insensible because it is\\nout of mind, and, when we seek to trace it, beyond a full\\ndiscovery.\\nIf the doubt occur to any of you, in the announcement\\nof this subject, whether we are properly responsible for an\\ninfluence which we exert insensibly we are not, I reply,\\nexcept so far as this influence flows direcxly from out y\\ncharacter and conduct. And this it does, even much", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0191.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "183 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\n^more uniformly than our active influence. In the lattei\\nwe may fail of our end by a want of wisdom or skill\\nin which case we are still as meritorious, in God s sight,\\nas if we succeeded. So, again, we may really succeed,\\nand do great good by our active endeavors, from mo-\\ntives altogether base and hypocritical, in which case we\\nare as evil, in God s sight, as if we had failed. But; the\\ninfluences we exert unconsciously will almost never disa-\\ngree with our real character. They are honest influences,\\nfollowing our character, as the shadow follows the sun.\\nAnd, therefore, we are much more certainly responsible\\nfor them, and their effects on the world. They go stream-\\ning from us in all directions, though in channels that we\\ndo not see, poisoning or healing around the roots of society,\\nand among the hidden wells of character. If good our-\\nselves, they are good if bad, they are bad. And, since\\nthey reflect so exactly our character, it is impossible to\\ndoubt our responsibility for their effects on the w^orld. We\\nmust answer not only for what we do with a purpose, but\\nfor the influence we exert insensibly. To give you any\\njust impressions of the breadth and seriousness of such a\\nreckoning I know to be impossible. No mind can trace\\nit. But it will be something gained if I am able to awaken\\nonly a suspicion of the vast extent and power of those\\ninfluences, which are ever flowing out unbidden upon\\nsociety, from your life and character.\\nIn the prosecution of my design, let me ask of you.\\nfirst of all, to expel the common prejudice that there can\\nbe nothing of consequence in unconscious influences,\\nbecause they make no report, and fall on the world unob\\nserved. Histoiies and biographies make little account of\\nthe power men exert insensibly over each other. Thej", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0192.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 189\\ntell how men have led armies, established empires, enacted\\nlaws, gained causes, sung, reasoned, and taught always\\noccupied in setting forth what they do with a purpose.\\nBut what they do without a purpose, the streams of influ-\\nence that flow out from their persons unbidden on the\\nworld, they can not trace or compute, and seldom even\\nmention. So also the public laws make men responsible\\nonly for what they do with a positive purpose, and take\\nno account of the mischiefs or benefits that are communi-\\ncated, by their noxious or healthful example. The same\\nis true in the discipline of families, churches, and schools;\\nthey make no account of the things we do, except we will\\nthem. What we do insensibly passes for nothing, because\\nno human government can trace such influences with suf-\\nficient certainty to make their authors responsible.\\nBut you must not conclude that influences of this kind\\nare insignificant, because they are unnoticed and noiseless.\\nHow is it in the natural world Behind the mere show,\\nthe outward noise and stir of the world, nature always con-\\nceals her hand of control, and the laws by which she rules.\\nWho ever saw with the eye, for example, or heard with\\nthe ear, the exertions of that tremendous astronomic force,\\nwhich every moment holds the compact of the physical\\nuniverse together The lightning is, in fact, but a mere\\nfire-fly spark in comparison but, because it glares on the\\nclouds, and thunders so terribly in the ear, and rives the\\ntree or the lock where it falls, many will be ready to think\\nthat it is a vastly more potent agent than gravity.\\nThe Bible calls the good man s life a light, and it is the\\nnature of light to flow out spontaneously in all directions,\\nand fill the world unconsciously with its beams. So the\\nChristian shines, it would say, not so much because he", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0193.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "190 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nwill, as because he is a luminous object./ Not that the\\nactive influence of Christians is made of no account in the\\nfigure, but only that this symbol of light has its propriety\\nin the fact that their unconscious influence is the chief in-\\nfluence, and has the precedence in its power oyer the world.\\nAnd yet, there are many who will be ready to think that\\nlight is a very tame and feeble instrument, because it is\\nnoiseless. An earthquake, for example, is to them a much\\nmore vigorous and effective agency. Hear how it comes\\nthundering through the solid foundations of nature. It\\nrocks a whole continent. The noblest works of man,\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\ncities, monuments, and temples, are in a moment leveled\\nto the ground, or swallowed down the opening gulfs of fire.\\nLittle do they think that the light of every morning, the\\nsoft, and genial, and silent light, is an agent many times\\nmore powerful. But let the light of the morning cease\\nand return no more, let the hour of morning come, and\\nbring with it no dawn the outcries of a horror-stricken\\nworld fill the air, and make, as it were, the darkness audi-\\nble. The beasts go wild and frantic at the loss of the sun.\\nThe vegetable growths turn pale and die. A chill creeps\\non, and frosty winds begin to howl across the freezing\\nearth. Colder, and yet colder, is the night. The vital\\nblood, at length, of all creatures, stops congealed. Down\\no-oes the frost toward the earth s center. The heart of the\\nsea is frozen nay, the earthquakes are themselves frozen\\nin, under their fiery caverns. The very globe itself, too,\\nand all the fellow planets that have lost their sun, are be\\ncome mere balls of ice, swinging silent in the darkness\\nSuch is the light, which revisits us in the silence of the\\nmorning. It makes no shock or scar. It would not wake\\nan infant in his cradle. And yet it perpetually new creates", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0194.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE 19i\\nthe world, rescuing it, each, morning as a prey, from night\\nand chaos. So the Christian is a light, even the light of\\nthe world, and we must not think that, because he shines\\ninsensibly or silently, as a mere luminous object, he is\\ntherefore powerless. The greatest powers are ever those\\nwhich lie back of the little stirs and commotions of nature;\\nand I verily believe that the insensible influences of good\\nmen are as much more potent than what I have called their\\nvoluntary or active, as the great silent powers of nature\\nare of greater consequence than her little disturbances and\\ntumults. The law of human influence is deeper than many\\nsuspect, and they lose sight of it altogether. The outward\\nendeavors made by good men or bad to sway others, they\\ncall their influence; whereas it is, in fact, but a fraction,\\nand, in most cases, but a very small fraction, of the good\\nor evil that flows out of their lives. Nay, I will even go\\nfurther. How many persons do you meet, the insensible\\ninfluence of whose manners and character is so decided as\\noften to thwart their voluntary influence so that, whatever\\nthey attempt to do, in the way of controlling others, they\\nare sure to carry the exact opposite of what they intend!\\nAnd it will generally be found that, where men undertake\\nby argument or persuasion to exert a power, in the face ot\\nqualities that make them odious or detestable, or only not\\nentitled to respect, their insensible influence will be too\\nstrong for them. The total effect of the life is then of a\\nkind directly opposite to the voluntary endeavor; which,\\nof course, does not add so much as a fraction to it.\\nI call your attention, next, to the twofold powers of ot-\\nfeet and expression by which man connects with bis lellow\\nman. If we distinguish man as a creature of language,\\nand thus qualified to communicate himself to others, there", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0195.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "i.92 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\n4\\nare in him two sets or kinds of language, one which is\\nvoluntary in the use, and one that is involuntary; that of\\nspeech in the literal sense, and that expression of the eye.\\nthe face, the look, the gait, the motion, the tone or cadence,\\nwhich is sometimes called the natural language of the\\nsentiments. This natural language, too, is greatly enlarged\\nby the conduct of life, that which, in business and society,\\nreveals the principles and spirit of men. Speech, or vol-\\nuntary language, is a door to the soul, that we may open\\nor shut at will the other is a door that stands open ever-\\nmore, and reveals to others constantly and often very\\nclearly, the tempers, tastes, and motives of their hearts.\\nWithin, as we may represent, is character, charging the\\ncommon reservoir of influence, and through these twofold\\ngates of the soul, pouring itself out on the world. Out of\\none it flows at choice, and whensoever we purpose to do\\ngood or evil to men. Out of the other it flows each mo-\\nment, as light from the sun, and propagates itself in all\\nbeholders.\\nThen if we go over to others, that is, to the subjects of\\ninfluence, we find every man endowed with two inlets of\\nimpression the ear and the understanding for the recep-\\ntion of speech, and the sympathetic powers, the sensibili-\\nties or affections, for tinder to those sparks of emotion re\\nvealed by looks, tones, manners, and general conduct.\\nAnd these sympathetic powers, though not immediately\\nrational, are r et inlets, open on all sides, to the understand-\\ning and character. They have a certain wonderful capac-\\nity to receive impressions, and catch the meaning of signs,\\nand propagate in us whatsoever falls into their passive\\nmolds, from others. The impressions they receive do not\\ncome through verbal propositions, and are never received", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0196.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 193\\ninto verbal proposition, it may be, in the mind, and there-\\nfore many think nothing of them. But precisely on this\\naccount are they the more powerful, because it is as if one\\nheart were thus going directly into another, and carrying\\nin its feelings with it. Beholding, as in a glass, the feel-\\nings of our neighbor, we are changed into the same image,\\nby the assimilating power of sensibility and fellow-feeling.\\nMany have gone so far, and not without show, at least, of\\nreason, as to maintain that the look or expression, and\\neven the very features of children, are often changed, by\\nexclusive intercourse with nurses and attendants. Fur-\\nthermore, if we carefully consider, we shall find it scarcely\\npossible to doubt, that simply to look on bad and malignant\\nfaces, or those whose expressions have become infected by\\nvice, to be with them and become familiarized to them, is\\nenough permanently to affect the character of persons of\\nmature age. I do not say that it must of necessity sub-\\nvert their character, for the evil looked upon may never\\nbe loved or welcomed in practice but it is something to\\nhave these bad images in the soul, giving out their expres-\\nsions there, and diffusing their odor among the thoughts,\\nas long as we live. How dangerous a thing is it, for exam-\\nple, for a man to become accustomed to sights of cruelty\\nWhat man, valuing the honor of his soul, would not shrink\\nfrom yielding himself to such an influence? No more is\\nit a thing of indifference tc become accustomed to look on\\nthe manners, and receive the bad expression of any kind\\nof sin.\\nThe door of involuntary communication, I have said, ia\\nalways open. Of course we are communicating ourselves\\nin this way to others, at every moment of our intercourse\\nor presence with them. But how very seldom, in com-\\n17", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0197.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "194 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nparison, do we undertake by means of speech to influence\\nothers 1 Even the best Christian, one who most improves\\nhis opportunities to do good, attempts but seldom to sway\\nanother by voluntary influence, whereas he is all the while\\nshining as a luminous object unawares, and communicat-\\ning of his heart to the world.\\nBut there is yet another view of this double line of\\ncommunication which man has with his fellow-men, which\\nis more general, and displays the import of the truth yet\\nmore convincingly. It is by one of these modes of com-\\nmunication that we are constituted members of voluntary\\nsociety, and by the other, parts of a general mass, or mem-\\nbers of involuntary society. You are all, in a certain\\nview, individuals, and separate as persons from each other:\\nyou are also, in a certain other view, parts of a common\\nbody, as truly as the parts of a stone. Thus if you ask\\nhow it is that you and all men came, without your consent\\nto exist in society, to be within its power, to be under its\\nlaws, the answer is, that while you are a man, ou are also\\na fractional element of a larger and more comprehensive\\nbeing, called society be it the family, the church, the\\nstate. In a certain department of your nature, it is open\\nits sympathies and feelings are open. On this open side\\nyou all adhere together, as parts of a larger nature, in\\nwhich there is a common circulation of want, impulse, and\\nlaw. Being thus made common to each other unwittingly,\\nyou become one mass, one consolidated social body, ani-\\nmated by one life. And observe how far this involuntary\\ncommunication and sympathy between the members of a\\nstate or family is sovereign over their character. It always\\nresults in what we call the national or family spirit/ for\\nthere is a spirit peculiar to every state and family m the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0198.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 195\\nworld. Sometimes, too, this national or family spirit takes\\na religious or an irreligious character, and appears almost\\nto absorb the religious self-government of individuals.\\nWhat was the national spirit of France, for example, at a\\ncertain time, but a spirit of infidelity What is the relig-\\nious spirit of Spain at this moment, but a spirit of bigot-\\nry, quite as wide of Christianity and destructive to char-\\nacter as the spirit of falsehood TThat is the family spirit\\nin many a house, but the spirit of gain, or pleasure, or ap-\\npetite, in which every thing that is warm, dignified, genial,\\nand good in religion, is visibly absent Sometimes you\\nwill almost fancy that you see the shapes of money in the\\neyes of the children. So it is that we are led on by na-\\ntions, as it were, to a good or bad immortality. Far down\\nin the secret foundations of life and society, there lie con-\\ncealed great laws and channels of influence, which make\\nthe race common to each other in all the main departments\\nor divisions of the social mass laws which often escape\\nour notice altogether, but which are to society as gravity\\nto the general system of God s works.\\nBut these arc general considerations, and more fit, pel-\\nhaps, to give you a rational conception of the modes of\\ninfluence and their relative power, than to verify that con-\\nception, or establish its truth. I now proceed to add,\\ntherefore, some miscellaneous proofs of a more particular\\nnature.\\nAnd 1 mention, first of all, the instinct of imitation in\\nchildren. We begin our mortal experience, not with acts\\ngrounded in judgment or reason, or with ideas received\\nthrough language, but by simple imitation, and, under the\\nguidance of this, we lay our foundations. The child looks\\nand listens, and whatsoever tcne of feeling or manner of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0199.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "L96 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nconduct is displayed around him, sinks into his plastic,\\npassive soul, and becomes a mold of his being ever after.\\nThe very handling of the nursery is significant, and the\\npetulance, the passion, the gentleness, the tranquillity in-\\ndicated by it, are all reproduced in the child. His soul is\\na purely receptive nature, and that, for a considerable pe-\\nriod, without choice or selection. A little further on, lie\\nbegins voluntarily to copy every thing he sees. Voice,\\nmanner, gait, every thing which the eye sees, the mimic\\ninstinct delights to act over. And thus we have a whole\\ngeneration of future men, receiving from us their very\\nbeginnings, and the deepest impulses of their life and im-\\nmortality. They watch us every moment, in the family,\\nbefore the hearth, and at the table and when we are\\nmeaning them no good or evil, when we are conscious of\\nexerting no influence over them, they are drawing from\\nus impressions and molds of habit, which, if wrong, no\\nheavenly discipline can wholly remove or, if right, no\\nbad associations utterly dissipate. Now it may be doubted,\\nI think, whether, in all the active influence of our lives,\\nwe do as much to shape the destiny of our fellow-men, as\\nwe do in this single article of unconscious influence over\\nchildren.\\nStill further on, respect for others takes the place of\\nimitation. We naturally desire the approbation or good\\nopinion of others. You see the strength of this feeling in\\nthe article of fashion. How few persons have the nerve\\nto resist a fashion We have fashions, too, in literature,\\nand in worship, and in moral and religious doctrine, almost\\nequally powerful. How many will violate the best rule?\\nof society, because it is the practice of their circle How\\nmany reject Christ because of friends or acquaintance,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0200.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 197\\nwho have no suspicion of the influence they exert, and\\nwill not have, till the last day shows them what they\\nhave done! Every good man has thus a power in Kb\\nperson, more mighty than his words and arguments, and\\nwhich others feel when he little suspects it Every bad\\nman, too, has a fund of poison in his character, liicb\\nis tainting those around him, when it is not in his\\nthoughts to do them an injury. He is read and under-\\nstood. His sensual tastes and habits, his unbelieving\\nspirit, his suppressed leer at religion, have all a power,\\nand take hold of the hearts of others, whether he will\\nhave it so or not.\\nAgain, how well understood is it, that the most active\\nfeelings and impulses of mankind are contagious. How\\nquick enthusiasm of any sort is to kindle, and how rapidly\\nit catches from one to another, till a nation blazes in the\\nflame In the case of the crusades, you have an example\\nwhere the personal enthusiasm of one man put all the\\nstates of Europe in motion. Fanaticism is almost equally\\ncontagious. Fear and superstition always infect the mind\\nof the circle in which they are manifested. The spirit of\\nwar generally becomes an epidemic of madness, when once\\nit has got possession of a few minds. The spirit of party\\nis propagated in a similar manner. How any slight ope-\\nration in the market may spread, like a fire, if successful,\\ntill trade runs wild in a general infatuation, is well known.\\nNow, in all these examples, the effect is produced, not by\\nactive endeavor to carry influence, but mostly by that in-\\nsensible propagation which follows, when a flame of any\\nkind is once kindled.\\nIs it also true, you may ask, that the religious spirit\\npropagates itself or tends to propagate itself in the same\\n17*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0201.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "19b UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nway I see no reason to question that it does. Nor does\\nany thing in the doctrine of spiritual influences, wher.\\nrightly understood, forbid the supposition. For spiritual\\ninfluences are never separated from the laws of thought in\\nthe individual, and the laws of feeling and influence in so-\\nciety. If, too, every disciple is to be an epistle known\\nand read of all men, what shall we expect, but that all\\nmen will be somehow affected by the reading? Or, if he\\nis to be a light in the world, what shall we look for, but\\nthat others, seeing his good works, shall glorify God on his\\naccount? How often is it seen too as a fact of observation,\\nthat one, or a few good men. kindle at length a holy fire\\nin the community in which they live, and become the\\nleaven of a general reformation Such men give a more\\nvivid proof in their persons of the reality of religious\\nfaith, than any words or arguments could yield. They are\\nactive; they endeavor, of coarse, to exert a good volun-\\ntary influence but still their chief power lies in their holi-\\nness, and the sense they produce in others of their close\\nrelation to God.\\nIt now remains to exhibit the very important fact, that\\nwhere the direct or active influence of men is supposed to\\nbe great, even this is due, in a principal degree, to that in-\\nsensible influence by which their arguments, reproofs, and\\npersuasions are secretly invigorated. It is not mere words\\nwhich turn men it is the heart mounting, uncalled, into\\nthe expression of the features it is the eye illuminated by\\nreason, the look beaming with goodness; it is the tone of\\nthe voice, that instrument of the soul, which charges qual\\nity with such amazing facility, and gives out in the soft,\\nthe tender, the tremulous, the firm, every shade of emo-\\ntion and character. And so much is there in this, that the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0202.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 199\\nmoral stature and character of the man that speaks arc\\nlikely to be well represented in his manner. If he is a\\nbtranger, his way will inspire confidence and attract good\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2will. His virtues will be seen, as it were, gathering round\\nhim to minister words and forms of thought, and their\\nvoices will be heard in the fall of his cadences. And the\\nsame is true of bad men, or men who have nothing in their\\ncharacter corresponding to what they attempt to do. f\\nwithout heart or interest you attempt to move another, the\\ninvoluntary man tells what you are doing, in a hundred\\nways at once. A hypocrite, endeavoring to exert a good\\ninfluence, only tries to convey by words what the lying\\nlook, and the faithless affectation, or dry exaggeration of\\nhis manner, perpetually resists. We have it for a fashion\\nto attribute great or even prodigious results to the volun-\\ntary efforts and labors of men. Whatever they effect is\\ncommonly referred to nothing but the immediate power of\\nwhat they do. Let us take an example, like that of Paul,\\nand analyze it. Paul was a man of great fervor and en-\\nthusiasm. He combined, withal, more of what is lofty and\\nmorally commanding in his character, than most of the\\nvery distinguished men of the world. Having this for his\\nnatural character, and his natural character exalted and\\nmade luminous bv christian faith, and the manifest in-\\ndwelling of God, he had of course an almost superhuman\\nsway over others. Doubtless he was intelligent, strong in\\nargument, eloquent, active, to the utmost of his powers,\\nbut still he moved the world more by what he was than\\nby what he did. The grandeur and spiritual splendor of\\nhis character were ever adding to his active efforts an ele-\\nment of silent power, which was the real and chief cause 1\\nof their efficacy. lie convinced, subdued, inspired, and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0203.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "200 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nled, because of the half divine authority which appeared\\nin his conduct, and his glowing spirit. He fought the\\ngood fight, because he kept the faitl, and tilled his pow-\\nerful nature with influences drawn from higher worlds.\\nAnd here I must conduct you to a yet higher example,\\noven that of the Son of God, the light of the world.\\nMen dislike to be swayed by direct, voluntary influence.\\nThey are jealous of such control, and are therefore best\\napproached by conduct and feeling, and the authority of\\nsimple worth, which seem to make no purposed onset. If\\ngoodness appears, they welcome its celestial smile if heav-\\nen descends to encircle them, they yield to its sweetness\\nif truth appears in the life, they honor it with a secret\\nhomage; if personal majesty and glory appear, they bow\\nwith reverence, and acknowledge with shame, their own\\nvileness. Now it is on this side of human nature that\\nChrist visits us, preparing just that kind of influence which\\nthe spirit of truth may wield with the most persuasive and\\nsubduing effect. It is the grandeur of his character which\\nconstitutes the chief power of his ministry, not his mir-\\nacles or teachings apart from his character. Miracles were\\nuseful, at the time, to arrest attention, and his doctrine is\\nuseful at all times as~the highest revelation of truth possi-\\nble in speech but the greatest truth of the gospel, not\\nwithstanding, is Christ himself a human body become\\nthe organ of the divine nature, and revealing, under the\\nconditions of an earthly life, the glory of Cod! The\\nScripture writers have much to say, in this connection, of\\nthe image of God and an image, you know, is that which\\nBimply represents, not that which acts, or reasons^ or per-\\nsuades. Now it is this image of God which makes the\\ncenter, the sun itself, of the gospel. The journcyings,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0204.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 201\\nteachings, miracles, and sufferings of Christ, all had theii\\nuse in bringing out this image, or what is the same, in\\nmaking conspicuous the character and feelings of God,\\nboth toward sinners and toward sin. And here is the\\npower of Christ it is what of God s beauty, love, truth,\\nand justice shines through him. It is the influence which\\nrlows unconsciously and spontaneously out of Christ, as\\nthe friend of man, the light of the world, the glory of\\nthe Father, made visible. And some have gone so far as\\nto conjecture that God made the human person, originally,\\nwith a view to its becoming the organ or vehicle, by which\\nhe might reveal his communicable attributes to other worlds.\\nChrist, they believe, came to inhabit this organ, that he\\nmight execute a purpose so sublime. The human person\\nis constituted, they say, to be a mirror of God; and God,\\nbeing imaged in that mirror, as in Christ, is held up to the\\nview of this and other worlds. It certainly is to the view\\nof this and if the Divine nature can use this organ so\\neffectively to express itself unto us, if it can bring itself,\\nthrough the looks, tones, motions, and conduct of a\\nhuman person, more close to our sympathies than\\nby any other means, how can we think that an organ\\nso communicative, inhabited by us, is not always breath-\\ning our spirit and transferring our image insensibly to\\nothers\\nI ha^ e protracted the argument on this subject beyond\\nwhat I could have wished, but I oan not dismiss it without\\nsuggesting a few thoughts necessary to its complete prac-\\ntical effect.\\nOne very obvious and serious inference from it, and the\\n6rst which I will name, is, that it is impossible to live in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0205.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "202 UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.\\nthis world, and escape responsibility. It is not they alone,\\nas yon have seen, who are trying purposely to convert 01\\ncorrnpt others, who exert an influence you can not live\\nwithout exerting influence. The doors of your soul are\\nopen on others, and theirs on you. You inhabit a house\\nwhich is well nigh transparent; and what you are within,\\nyou are ever showing yourself to be without, by signs that\\nhave no ambiguous expression. If you had the seeds of a\\npestilence in your body, 3 ou would not have a more active\\ncontagion, than you have in your tempers, tastes, and prin-\\nciples. Simply to be in this world, whatever you are, is\\nto exert an influence an influence, too, compared with\\nwhich mere language and persuasion are feeble. You say\\nthat you mean well at least, you think you mean to in-\\njure no one. Do you injure no one? Is your example\\nharmless Is it ever on the side of God and duty You\\ncan not reasonably doubt that others are continually re-\\nceiving impressions from your character. As little can\\nyou doubt that you must answer for these impressions. If\\nthe influence you exert is unconsciously exerted, then it is\\nonly the most sincere, the truest expression of your char-\\nacter. And for what can you be held responsible, if not\\nfor this Do not deceive yourselves in the thought that\\nyou are, at least, doing no injury, and are, therefore, living\\nwithout responsibility; first make it sure that you are not\\nevery hour infusing moral death insensibly into your child-\\nren, wives, husbands, friends, and acquaintances. By a\\nmere look or glance, not unlikely, you are conveying the\\ninfluence that shall turn the scale of some one s immortal-\\nity. Dismiss, therefore, the thought that you are living\\nwithout responsibility; that is impossible. Better is it\\nfranklj r to admit the truth; and if you will risk the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0206.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 203\\ninfluence of a character unsanctified by duty and religion,\\nprepare to meet your reckoning manfully, and receive\\ntke just recompense of reward.\\nThe true philosophy or method of doing good is also\\nhere explained. It is, first of all and principally, to be\\ngood to have a character that will of itself communi-\\ncate good. There must and will be active effort where\\nthere is goodness of principle but the latter we should\\nhold to be the principal thing, the root and life of all.\\nWhether it is a mistake more sad or more ridiculous, to\\nmake mere stir synonymous with doing good, we need not\\ninquire enough, to be sure that one who has taken up such\\na notion of doing good, is for that reason a nuisance to\\nthe church. The Christian is called a light, not light-\\nning. /(In order to act with effect on others, he must walk\\nin the Spirit, and thus become the image of goodness he\\nmust be so akin to God, and so filled with His dispositions,\\nthat he shall seem to surround himself with a hallowed at-\\nmosphere. It is folly to endeavor to make ourselves shine\\nbefore we are luminous, j If the sun without his beams\\nshould talk to the planets, and argue with them till the\\nfinal day, it would not make them shine there must be\\nlight in the sun itself, and then they will shine, of course.\\nAnd this, my brethren, is what God intends for you all.\\nIt is the great idea of his gospel, and the work of his\\nspirit, to make you lights in the world. His greatest joy\\nis to give you character, to beautify your example, to\\nexalt your principles, and make you each the depository\\nof his own almighty grace. But in order to this, some-\\nthing is necessary on your part a full surrender of your\\nmind to duty and to God, and a perpetual desire of this\\nspiritual intimacy; having this, having a participation\\nn/", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0207.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": "204 unconscious influence.\\nthus of the goodness of God, you will as naturally com-\\nmunicate good as the sun communicates his beams.\\nOur doctrine of unconscious and undesigning influence\\nshows how it is, also, that the preaching of Christ is often\\nso unfruitful, and especially in times of spiritual coldness.\\nIt is not because truth ceases to be truth, nor, of necessity,\\nbecause it is preached in a less vivid manner, but because\\nthere are so many influences, preaching against the preacher,\\nlie is one, the people are many his attempt to convince\\nand persuade is a voluntary influence; their lives, on the\\nother hand, and especially the lives of those who profess\\nwhat is better, are so many unconscious influences, ever\\nstreaming forth upon the people, and back and forth be-\\ntween each other. He preaches the truth, and they, with\\none consent, are preaching the truth down and how can\\nhe prevail against so many, and by a kind of influence so\\nunequal? When the people of God are glowing with\\nspiritual devotion to Him, and love to men, the case is dif-\\nferent then they are all preaching with the preacher, and\\nmaking an atmosphere of warmth for his words to fall in\\ngreat is the company of them that publish the truth, and\\nproportionally great its power. Shall I say more Have\\nyou not already felt, my brethren, the application to which\\nI would bring you? We do not exonerate ourselves; we\\ndo not claim to be nearer to God or holier than you but\\nah you know not how easy it is to make a winter about\\nus, or how cold it feels Our endeavor is to preach the\\ntruth of Christ and his cross as clearly and as forcibly as\\nwe can. Sometimes it has a visible effect, and we are filled\\nwith joy sometimes it has no effect, and then we struggle\\non, as we must, but under great oppression. Have we\\nnone among you that preach against us in your lives If", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0208.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE. 205\\nwe show you the light of God s truth, does it never fall\\non banks of ice which if the light shines through, the\\ncrystal masses are yet as cold as before We do not ac-\\ncuse you; that we leave to God, and to those who may\\nrise up in the last day to testify against you. If they shall\\ncome out of your own families if they are the children\\nthat wear your names, the husband or wife of your affee\\ntions if they declare that you, by your example, kept\\nthem away from Christ s truth and menyy, we may have\\naccusations to meet of our own and we leave you to ac-\\nquit yourselves as best you may. I only warn you, here,\\nof the guilt which our Lord Jesus Christ will impute to\\nthem that hinder his gospel.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0209.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "XL\\nOBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\nPsalms cxix. 54. Thy statutes have been my songs m\\nthe house of my pilgrimaged\\nWhen the eastern traveler takes shelter from the scorch*\\ning heat of noon, or halts for the night, in some inn or\\ncaravansary, which is, for the time, the house of his pil-\\ngrimage, he takes the sackbut or the lyre and sooths his\\nrest with a song a song it may be of war, romance, or\\nlove. But the poet of Israel finds his theme, we perceive,\\nin the statutes of Jehovah\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Thy statutes have been my\\nsongs in the house of my pilgrimage. These have been\\nmy pastime, with these I have refreshed my resting hours\\nby the way, and cheered myself onward through the wea-\\nrisome journey and across the scorching deserts of life.\\nNot songs of old tradition, not ballads of war, or wine,\\nor love, have supported me, but I have sung of God s\\ncommandments, and these have been the solace of mv\\nweary hours, the comfort of my rest. This 119th Psalm,\\nwhich is, in every verse, an ode or hymn in praise of\\nGod s law, sufficiently illustrates his meaning.\\nMultitudes of men, it is evident as it need be, have a\\nvery different conception of this matter. Divine law, di-\\nvine obligation, responsibility in any form, authority un-\\nder any conditions, they feel to be a real annoyance to\\nlife. They want their own will and way. Why must\\nthey be hampered by these constant restrictions? Why", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0210.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 207\\nmust they be shortened in their pleasures, crippled in theii\\nambition, held back from all their strongest impulses\\nj list those by which they might otherwise show their vigor\\nand make a brave and manly figure of their life. But in-\\nstead of being allowed any such generous freedom, they\\nare tethered they fancy, tamed, subjected to continual\\nscruples of fear and twinges of conviction, confused, weak-\\nened, let down in their confidence, and all the best com-\\nfort of their life is taken away. Could they only be rid\\nof this annoyance, life would be a comparatively easy and\\nfair experience.\\nIn this controversy you have taken up with the Psalmist,\\nhe is very plainly right, and you as plainly wrong as I\\nshall now undertake to show, and as you, considering that\\nGod s law is upon you and can by no means be escaped,\\nought most gladly to hear and discover. His doctrine,\\nremoving the poetry of the form, is this,\\nThat obligation to God is our privilege.\\nSome of you will fancy, it may be, at the outset, that tho\\npilgrimage he speaks of is made by the statutes that the\\nrestrictions of obligations are so hard and close, as to cut\\noff, in fact, all the true pleasures of life, and reduce it to a\\npilgrimage in its dryness. But this pilgrimage is made\\nby no sense of restriction. Every man, even the most li-\\ncentious and reckless is a pilgrim; the atheist is a pilgrim;\\nsuch are only a more unhappy class of pilgrims, a reluct-\\nant class who arc driven across the deserts, cheerfully trav-\\nersed by others, and by the fountains where others quench\\ntheir thirst. There is a perfect harmony between obliga-\\ntion to God and all the sources of pleasure and happiness", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0211.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "208 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE\\nGod has provided so that there is no real collision between\\nthe statutes over us and the conditions round us. It is\\nonly false pleasures that are denied us, those that would\\nbrutalize the mind, or mar the health of the body, 01\\nsomehow violate the happiness of fellow beings round us.\\nConsider the long run of life and take in all the interests\\nof it, and you will find that what we call obligation to\\nGod, not only does not infringe upon your pleasures, but\\nactually commands you on, to the greatest and highest\\nenjoyments of which you are capable.\\nThere is another objection or false impression that needs\\nto be noticed viz., that the very enforcements of penalty\\nand terror added to God s law, to compel an acceptance of\\nit or obedience to it, are a kind of concession that it is not\\na privilege, but a restriction or severity rather, which can\\nnot otherwise be carried. Is it then a fair inference, that\\nhuman laws are severe and hard restrictions, and no true\\nprivilege, or blessing, because they are duly enforced by\\nadditions of penalty? It is only to malefactors and felons\\nthat they are so and for these only, considered as being\\nenforced by terrors, they are made. They are restrictions\\nto the lawless and disobedient, never to the good. On the\\ncontrary, a right minded, loyal people, will value their\\nlaws and cherish them as the safeguard even of their lib-\\nerty. Just so also, the righteous man will have God s\\nstatutes for his songs, in all the course of his pilgrimage.\\nDismissing now these common impressions, let us go on\\nto inquire a little more definitely, how it would be with us,\\nif we existed under no terms of obligation for if we are\\nto settle it fairly, whether obligation is a privilege or not,\\nthis manifestly is the mode in which the question should\\nbe stated. The true alternative between obligation and no", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0212.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A FEIV1LEGE 209\\nobligation supposes, on the negative side, that we are not\\neven to have the sense of obligation, or of moral distinc-\\ntions for the sense of obligation is the same thing as be-\\ning obliged, or put in responsibility.\\nIn such a case, our external condition must obviously\\nbe as different as possible from what it is now.\\nIn the first place, there could, of course, be no such\\nthing as criminal law for the defense of property, reputa-\\ntion and life; because the moral distinctions, in which\\ncriminal law is grounded, are all wanting. The laws\\nagainst theft and murder, for example, suppose the fact\\nthat these are understood already and blamed as being\\nwrongs violations, that is, of moral obligation. And\\nthere is no conceivable way of defining these crimes, and\\nbringing them to judgment, except by reference to notions,\\nor distinctions already admitted. Murder, for example,\\ncan not be defined as a mere killing, or in any external\\nway for no external sign will hold without exception,\\nHence the law is obliged to define it as a killing with mal-\\nice aforethought to go into the heart, that is, and distin-\\nguish it there, as being done with a consciously criminal\\nintent. The defenses of civil society, therefore, must all\\nbe wanting, where there is no recognized obligation to\\nGod. We are so far reduced to the condition of the quad-\\nruped races. Having, as they, no moral and religious\\nideas, we can not legislate. Civil society is, in fact, im-\\npossible, and all that is genial and peaceful, under the be-\\nnign protection of the state, is a good no longer attainable.\\nIf a man r s property is plundered, he knows it only as a\\nloss, not as a crime. If his children are murdered or sold\\ninto slavery, he may be angry as a bear robbed of ber\\n18*", "height": "4359", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0213.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "210 OBLIGATION A PKIVILEGE.\\nwhelps, but lie lias no conception of a wrong in what he\\nsuffers. There is nothing left us in these low possibilities,\\nbat to herd, as animals do, and take from each other what\\nwe must; to gore and tear and devour; to fly, to hide, to\\nquiver with terror, the weak before the strong, and so live\\non as we best can for to invent a criminal law without\\neven the notion of a crime, and to phrase it in language\\nthat any tribunal could interpret, when the idea of crime\\nhas not yet arrived, is manifestly impossible.\\nAgain, what we call society, as far as there is any element\\nof dignity or blessing in it, depends on these moral obli*\\ngallons. Without these it would be intercourse without\\nfriendship, truth, charity, or mercy. All that is warm and\\ntrustful and dear in society, rests in the keeping of these\\nmoral bonds. Extinguish moral ideas and laws and these\\nlovely virtues also die for their life is upheld by the sense\\nof duty and right. Where there is no law there is no sin,\\nor guilt as little is there any virtue. Of course there is\\nnothing to praise, or confide in. Truth is not conceived.\\nFriendship and love are things of convenience, determin-\\nable also by convenience. Chastity, without the moral\\nidea, is a name as honorable as hunger, and as worthy to\\nbe kept. Purity and truth are accidents. Domestic faith\\nand the tender affections that ennoble and bless the homes,\\nare as reliable as the other caprices of unregulated impulse\\nand passion. Without moral obligations, therefore, bind-\\ning us to God, society is discontinued. Nothing that de-\\nserves the name is possible. Life, in fact, is wrong with-\\nout a sense of wrong; society a proximity of distrust and\\nfear, and the passions, unrestrained by duty, a hell of gen-\\neral torment, without any sense of blame to explain it.\\nBut these are matters external to which I refer, just to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0214.jp2"}, "215": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 211\\ncall up some faint conception- of the immense revolution\\nit makes in our human existence, only to remove this one\\nelement of obligation. Let us enter now the spiritual na-\\nture itself, and see how much is there depending on this\\ngreat privilege of obligation to God.\\nThis claim of God s authority, this bond of duty laid\\nupon us, is virtually the throne of God erected in the\\nbouL It is sovereign, of course, unaccommodating there-\\nfore, and may be felt as a sore annoyance. When violated,\\nit will scorch the bosom even, with pangs of remorse that\\nare the most fiery and implacable of all mental suffer-\\nings. But of this, there is no need all such pains are\\navoidable by due obedience. And then obligation to God\\nbecomes the spring instead, of the most dignified, fullest,\\nhealthiest joys any where attainable. The self-approving\\nconsciousness, the consciousness of good what can raise\\none to a loftier pitch of confidence and blessing. It is\\nwith these obligations to God, just as it is with the physical\\nlaws. These latter, violated by neglect, excess, or obsti-\\nnacy, are our most relentless enemies and persecutors re-\\nspected and deferred to, they become our most faithful\\nfriends and helpers. Did any one ever judge, on this ac-\\ncount, that they are only hindrances and restraints on out\\nhappiness which were better to be discontinued Loosen\\nthen the grand attractions, and let the huge bulks of heav-\\nen fly as they will. Make the stones soluble, at times, and\\nthe waters combustible, without any change of conditions\\nlet congelation be sometimes b} fire, and liquefaction by\\nfrost let the water -fall sometimes mount upward into the\\nair, and the smoke plunge downward on the ground. Abol-\\nish all the stable restrictions of law, and let nature loose.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0215.jp2"}, "216": {"fulltext": "212 OBLIGATION A PKIYILKGE.\\nto go such, way, or after such gait, as she pleases and, by\\nthat time, we shall find that her uses are gone, and that all\\noar magnificent liberty in them is taken away. The pow-\\ners, which before consented to serve us, have become our\\nenemies, and we are lost in a hell of physical anarchy that\\nsuffers none of the uses of life. Just so it would be, if we\\ncould exterminate and strip out of our way these con-\\nstraints of obligation to Grod. We should find that even\\nthe release we covet is, in fact, the bitterest and sorest frus-\\ntration of our desired liberty.\\nThus how much, for example, does it signify, as regards\\nyour comfort, that this one matter, a matter so profoundly\\ncentral too, in your experiences and views of life, is fixed.\\nOpinions, sentiments, hopes, fears, popularities, and to\\nthese also you may add all the honors and gifts of fortune,\\nare in a fluxile, shifting state. There is no fixed element\\nin any one of them. You live in them as you do in the\\nweather. Even the courses of your mind, and the shifting\\nphases you pass are a kind of internal weather that never\\nsettles, or becomes fixed. But in the sacred fact of obli-\\ngation you touch the immutable and lay hold, as it were,\\nof the eternities. At the very center of your being, there\\nis a fixed element, and that of a kind or degree essentially\\nsovereign. And in that fact every thing pertaining to\\nyour existence is changed. You are no more afloat or\\na-sea, in the endless phases and variabilities just referred to,\\nbut a very large class of your judgments and views of life\\nand acknowledged principles are immovably settled. A\\nstandard is set up in your thought, by which a great part\\nof your questions are determined, and about which your\\notherwise random thoughts may settle into order and law.\\nFew men ever conceive what they owe to obligation here,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0216.jp2"}, "217": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE, 213\\nas the mere bond of order and mental conservation\\nDoubtless obligation violated, is the minister of pain, but\\nto be without obligation, is a pain more bitter and distract-\\ning; for it is much to know that you have a compass in\\nthe ship, even if you do not use it. Sent forth into life to\\nchoose every thing by mere interest and will, to be played\\nwith alwavs bv vour passions and vour fancies, and to\\nframe your judgments apart from any fixed point or stand-\\nard of judgment, l fe would soon become a distressful\\npuzzle to you, which you could not bear. You would\\nmake and unmake, till vou lost all stabilitv and all con-\\nfidence in your own thoughts. Your confusion itself\\nwould be insupportable. You would even go mad in the\\nstruggle; you would cry aloud and lift your dismal prayer\\nto accident, in fault of any other divinity, for something\\nfixed. Give me fate, give me something established,\\nthough it be a continent of fire I can not live in these\\nbottomless san\\nHow good and sublime a gift, in this view, is the gift of\\nIt comes down smiling from the skies and enters\\ninto souls, as the beginning and throne of wisdom. Or using:\\na different figure, we may say that man comes into being\\nbringing his law with him a law as definite and stable as\\nthat of the firmament one that shall go with him, when\\nconsentingly accepted, and mark out the path of his pil-\\ngrimage binding all his otherwise random exercises of\\nire, fancy and free will, to an orbit of goodness and\\ntruth. Everv tiling within him now is under a deter-\\nminating rule. His soul is held in a harmonious balance\\nof powers, like the heavenly worlds. Beason, feeling, pa-:-\\nfancy, all work in together under the great conserv-\\ning law of obligation to God, and the soul is kept in re-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0217.jp2"}, "218": {"fulltext": "214 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\ncollection, as a self -understanding nature. Who can think\\nof man, wedded in this manner to the stability and eter-\\nnity of God, without uniting a sense even of grandeur and\\nsublimity with the bond of obligation by which he is thus\\nset fast and centralized in the immutable.\\nConsider, again, the truly fraternal relation between our\\nobligations to God and what we call our liberty. Instead\\nof restraining our liberty, they only show us, in fact, how\\nto use our liberty, and how to air it, if I may so speak, in\\ngreat and heroic actions. How insipid and foolish a thing\\nwere life if there were nothing laid upon us to do. What\\nis it, on the other hand, but the zest and glory of life, that\\nsomething good and great, something really worthy to be\\ndone is laid upon us. It is not self-indulgence allowed,\\nbut victory achieved, that can make a fit happiness for\\nman. Therefore we are set down here amid changes, perils,\\nwrongs and miseries, where, to save ourselves and serve\\nour kind, all manner of great works are to be done. Be-\\nsides, we practically admit the arrangement much often er\\nthan we think. Tell any young man, for example, who\\nis just converted to Christ, of some great sacrifice he is\\ncalled to make as in preaching Christ to men, or going to\\npreach him to the heathen and that call, set forth as a\\nsacrifice of all things, will work upon him more power-\\nfully, by a hundred times, than it would if you undertook\\nto soften it by showing what respect he would gain, how\\ncomfortable he would be, and how much easier in this than\\nin any other calling of life. We do not want any such\\ncaresses in the name of duty. To let go self-indulgence\\nand try something stronger, is a call that draws us always,\\nwhen our heart is up for duty nay, even nature loves\\nheroic impulse and oftentimes prefers the difficult.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0218.jp2"}, "219": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 215\\nIt is well, therefore, all the better that we are put upon\\nthe doing of what is not always agreeable to the llesh.\\nAnd when God lavs upon us the duties of self-command\\nand self-sacrifice, when he calls us to act and to suffer he-\\nroically, how could he more effectually dignify or ennoble\\nour liberty? Xow we have our object and our errand, and\\nwe know that we can meet our losses, come as they will\\nBefore every man and in all his duties there is something\\nlike a victory to be gained and he can say, as the soldier of\\nduty Strike me, my enemy beat upon me, O thou hail\\nMine it is to fulfill God s statutes, and therein I make you\\nmy servants.\\nObligation to God also, imparts zest to life, by giving to\\nour actions a higher import and, when they are right, a\\nmore consciously elevated spirit. The most serene, the\\nmost truly godlike enjoyment open to man, is that which\\nhe receives in the testimony that he pleases God and the\\nmoral self-approbation of his own mind. When he re-\\ngards his life as having a moral quality, over and above\\nwhat may be called its secular and economic import as\\nhaving to do with the holy and true and good, and as be-\\ning, in tbat highest view, a worthy and upright life; then\\nhe feels a joy which, if it be human, partakes also of the\\ndivine. It is a kind of joy too that connects in his mind\\nwith thoughts of his own personal perfection, and this\\nmakes it even a sublime thing to live. In the mere pru-\\ndential life of man as an earthly creature, in his cares, do-\\nings, plans and pleasures, there is no respect to any results\\nof quality in the person, but only to what he may get, or\\nBuffer, or be, in this life. The idea of personal perfection\\nenters only with that of obligation to God. There dawns\\nthe thought of a divine quality the moral, the good, the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0219.jp2"}, "220": {"fulltext": "216 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\nholy and his soul rises out of a life in the dust, to look\\nabout for those angelic prospects, which are suited to the\\nperfect glory of a perfect mind. Now, too, enters the great\\nthought of eternity. Obligation is a word that opens\\neternity; for the idea itself is immutable, and therefore, it\\nmust needs suggest and prove an immutable state. Now\\nyou become to yourself quite another and different crea-\\nture, a denizen of eternity. Breathing, digestion, growth,\\na fine show and a titled name, none of these have much\\nto do with the real import of life. You are living on the\\nverge of great perils, meditating perfection after the style\\nof God, and in your every thought of dutj^ coupling the\\nthought also of immutable good and glory. If you are a\\npolitician, a tradesman, a man of toil, or of letters, you are\\nyet in none of these a mere life-time creature, but, in all,\\nyou are doing battle for eternity, and receiving the disci-\\npline of an angel. Ennobled by such a thought, how is\\nthe soul armed against evil, made superior to passion and\\nassisted to act a worthy part in life s scenes. Now you\\nfind a power in the very sublimity of your trial. You\\nsurmount your narrow infirmities, you exercise yourself\\neasily in great virtues, you rise into a lofty and glorious\\nserenity of spirit, all because the inspiring presence of\\neternity fills your life.\\nIn this article of obligation to God, you are set also in\\nimmediate relation to God himself; and, in a relation so\\nhigh, every thing in you and about you changes its im-\\nport. The world is no more a mere physical frame it\\nexists rather as a theatre of religion. God is in it, every\\nwhere, training his creature unto himself. He is clearly\\nseen by the things that are made. The objects of science\\ntake a moral import. Human history becomes Divine his-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0220.jp2"}, "221": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 217\\ntcry, the history of Providence. The soul s King is here\\non every side looking in upon it, encouraging to duty,\\nand smiling upon what is rightly done. The intellect\\npierces through the shell of the senses, and discerns\\neverywhere God. The reason is encircled by mysteries\\nvast and holy. Imagination soars into her own appro-\\npriate realm of spirit and divinity, and all the faculties\\nwe have, are bathed in joy, and transfigured in the\\nCreator s light. Set thus in a personal relation to God,\\nevery thing changes its aspect and its meaning,\\nHow different thus, one from the other, is the world of\\nVoltaire, and the world of Milton. They look, if you\\nplease, upon the same sun and consider the light together.\\nThey walk the same shore of the same ocean, they medi-\\ntate of its vastness and listen to the chorus of its waters.\\nThey feel the gentleness of the dew, and the majesty of\\nthe storm. They ask what is the meaning of man s his-\\ntory, what is birth, life, death but how different all, are\\nthe things they look upon and the thoughts they cherish.\\nOne discovers only the clay world and its material beauties,\\nflashes into shallow brilliancy and, weaving a song of sur-\\nfaces, empties himself of all that he has felt or seen. But\\nthe other, back of all and through all visible things, has\\nseen spirit and divinity. God is there, giving out himself\\nto his children, and all the furniture of life, its objects,\\nscenes and relations, take a religious meaning. A radiant\\nglow and warmth pervade the world. The meanings are\\ninexhaustible. Nothing is wearisome or dull, or mean\\nfor nothing can be that is dignified by God s presence and\\nordered by his care to serve a religious use.\\nIt is also a great fact, as regards a due impression of\\nobligation to God, and of what is conferred in it that it\\n19", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0221.jp2"}, "222": {"fulltext": "218 OBLIGATION A PKHILEGE.\\nraises and tones the spiritual emotions of obedient souls\\ninto a key of sublimity, which is the completeness of their\\njoy. For ye are complete in him, says our apostle, well\\nknowing that it is not what we are in ourselves that makes\\nour completeness, but that our measure of being is full^\\nonly when we come unto God as an object and unite our\u00c2\u00ab\\nselves to the good and great emotions of God. This brings\\nall high affinities and affections into play; for, without\\nGod, as an object for the soul to admire, love, and worship,\\nit were only an incomplete nature, an instrument of music\\nwithout a medium of so and. True, the cowardly spirit of\\nguilt finds no such happiness in being related to God, and\\nwould even shun the thought of any such relation. There-\\nfore some will even argue against religious obligation, be-\\ncause it introduces fear, and fear, they say, is a base and\\nuncomfortable passion. Eather say that the guilt is base,\\nby which God is offended, and confidence changed to fear.\\nNeither forget that one thing is baser for the guilty even\\nthan fear, and that is not to fear. Besides, it is a part of\\nthe blessing and greatness of obligation that life is thus\\nmade critical, and that obedience is thus intensified in its\\njoy, by great and fearful emotions. The more critical,\\ntherefore, life is, without shaking our courage, the closer\\nare we to sublimity of feeling for in all sublimity there\\nis an element of fear. And so the greatness of God, the\\ninfinitude of his nature, the majesty of his word and will\\nthe purity, justice, and severe perfection of his character,\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nall these bring a sense of fear to the mind, and, precisely\\non this account, God, as an object, will raise every good\\nmind to a perpetual sublimity of feeling, and in that man-\\nner fill out the measure of its possible joy for joy is neveT\\nfull, save when the soul quivers with awe, and the beati-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0222.jp2"}, "223": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 219\\ntnde itself rises to a pitch of fearfulness. And thus it is\\nthat obligation to God is precisely that which is needed to\\nmake our good complete for this only sets our mind be-\\nfore an object that can sufficiently move it. Before Him,\\nall the deep and powerful emotions that lie in the vicinity\\nof fear are waked into life; every ccrd of feeling is pitched\\nto its highest key or capacity, and the soul quivers eternally\\nin the sacred awe of God and his commandments thrilled\\nas by the sound of many waters, or the roll of some anthem\\nthat stirs the framework of the worlds.\\nOn this subject, too, experimental proofs may be cited,\\nsuch as ought to leave no doubt and even no defect of im-\\npression. Would that I could refer you each to his own\\nexperience which I can not, because, by the supposition,\\nI am speaking to those that have had no such experience.\\nAnd yet there have been many who, without any specially\\nreligious habit, have discovered still this truth, in its regu-\\nlative and otherwise beneficent influence on their life. A\\nfew years before his death, the great statesman of New\\nEngland, having a large party of friends dining with him\\nat Marshfield, was called on by one of the party, as they\\nbecame seated at the table, to specify what one thing he\\nhad met with in his life which had done most for him, or\\ncontributed most effectually to the success of his personal\\nhistory. After a moment, he replied, The most fruitful\\nand elevating influence I have ever seemed to meet has\\nbeen my impression of obligation, to God. Precisely in\\nwhat manner the benefit was supposed to accrue I am not\\ninformed; probably, however, as an influence that raised\\nthe pitch of his mind, gave balance and clearness to his\\njudgments, and set him on a moral footing in his ideas\\nand principles, such as certified his consciousness as a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0223.jp2"}, "224": {"fulltext": "220 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\nspeaker, and added insight and energy to bis words.\\nWhatever may have been the particular benefits of which\\nhe spoke, the scene, as described by one present, was one\\nmost impressive in its dignity. He dropped the knife, as\\nif turned to some better hospitality, and went on for many\\nminutes in a discourse on his theme, unfolding it with\\nwonderful beauty and freshness. The guests were taken\\nby surprise, and sat listening with intense wonder at the\\nexposition he was making, and still more at the subdued,\\nyet lifted, manner, by which his feeling was attested,\\nagreeing generally, as they fell into little groups afterward,\\nthat he probably never spoke with a finer eloquence.\\nBut there are higher and holier witnesses and a great\\ncloud of them, whose testimony ought to be more convinc-\\ning. Thus, if you will but open the word of God s truth\\nand listen to the son^s that break out there, under God s\\nstatutes if you will behold the good of past ages bending\\nover God s law, as the spring of their sweetest enjoy-\\nments, crying each, 0, how love I thy law; if you will\\nobserve, too, what enlargement and freedom of soul they\\nfind in their obedience, and how they look upon the mere\\nnatural life of the flesh as bondage in comparison if\\nyou t^ ill see how they disarm all their trials and dangers\\nby this same obedience how they come away to God from\\nthe scorching sands of their pilgrimage, as to the shadow\\nof a great rock, and refresh their fainting spirits by sing-\\ning the statutes of the Lord if you will see what a char-\\nacter of courage, and patience, and self-sacrifice they\\nreceive how all great sentiments, such as carry their own\\ndignity and blessing with them, spring up in the rugged,\\ntrials of duty and obedience to God then, last of all, if you\\nwill dare to break ovei the confines of mortality ascendiDg", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0224.jp2"}, "225": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE. 221\\nto look on, as spectator, in that world of the glorified,\\nwhere the law cf God makes full illustration of its import\\nin the high experiences it nourishes and the benign society\\nit organizes, you will by that time get, I am sure, aw\\nimpression of the bliss, and greatness, and glory of obli-\\ngation to God, such as will profoundly instruct you. What\\nseems to you now to be a most unwelcome constraint, oi\\neven an annoyance to your peace, you will thus find\\nreason, after all, to believe is only the best and dearest\\nprivilege vouchsafed you.\\nArresting mv argument here, to what, in conclusion.\\nCD CD 1 I\\nshall I more fitly draw you than to that which is, in truth,\\nthe point established, viz., the fact that it is only religion,\\nthe srreat bond of love and dutv to God, that makes out\\nexistence valuable or even tolerable. Without this, to live\\nwere onlv to graze. TTe could not guess why we exist, or\\ncare to exist longer. If responsibility to God is felt as a\\nconstraint, if it makes you uneasy and restive, better this\\nthan to find no real import in any thing. If you chafe, it\\nis still against the throne of order, and there is some sense\\nof meaning in that. If God s will is heavy on you, the\\nprotection it extends is not. If the circle of your motion\\nis restricted, it is only that the goodness of Jehovah is\\ndrawing itself more closely round you. If you tremble,\\nit is not because of the cold. If still you sigh over the\\nemptiness of your experience, it might be even more\\nempty for you do, at least, know that every thing in life\\nis now become great and momentous. Ycu can not make\\nit seem either futile or insignificant. If vou are only a\\ntransgressor, still the liveliest thoughts and the most thrill-\\ning truths that ei er visit your mind are such as come from\\n19*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0225.jp2"}, "226": {"fulltext": "222 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE.\\nthe throne of duty. Eeligion religion it is the light\\nof the world, the sun of its warmth, the zest of all its\\nworks. Without this the beauties of the world are but\\nsplendid gewgaws, the stars of heaven glittering orbs of ice,\\nand, what is yet far worse and colder, the trials of exist-\\nence profitless and unadulterated miseries.\\nHow convincing, how appalling a proof then is it, of some\\ndire disorder and depravation in mankind, that when obli-\\ngation to God is the spring of all that is dearest, noblest\\nin thought, and most exhalted in experience, we are yet\\ncompelled to urge it on them by so many entreaties, and\\neven to force it on their fears by God s threatened penal-\\nties. What does it mean, this strange, suicidal aversion to\\nGod s statutes; that which ought to be our song, endurable\\nonly as we are held to it by terrors and penalties of fire\\nISTay, worse, if possible, you shall even hear, not seldom,\\nthe men that say they love God s statutes, and who there-\\nfore ought to be singing on their way, complaining of their\\ndearth and dryness, and the necessary vanity of their ex-\\nperience. Let these latter see that the vanity they com-\\nplain of is the cheat of their own self-devotion, and the\\nlittleness of their own empty heart. Let them pray God\\nto enlarge their heart, and then they will run the waj T of\\nGod s commandments with true lightness and freedom.\\nAll this moping ends when the fire of duty kindles. As\\nto the other and larger class, who are living, confessedly,\\nin no terms of obligation to God, let them see, first of all,\\nwhat they gain b v it how the load of life s burden chafe* 5\\nthem; how they are crushed, crippled,* wearied, confound-\\ned, when they try to get their songs out of this world and the\\ndust itself of their pilgrimage then go to God, and set\\ntheir life on the footing of religion, or duty to God", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0226.jp2"}, "227": {"fulltext": "OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE 223\\nwhich if they do, it shall be all gladness and peace for\\nthe rhythm of all God s works and worlds chimes with\\nhis eternal law of duty.\\nNothing is more certain or clear, than that human souls\\nare made for law, and so for the abode of God. Without\\nlaw therefore, without God, they must even freeze and die.\\nHence, even Christ himself, must needs establish and\\nsanctify the law for the deliverance and liberty he comes\\nto bring are still to be sought only in obedience. Hence-\\nforth duty is the brother of liberty, and both rejoice in the\\ncommon motherhood of law. And just here, my friends,\\nis the secret of a great part of your misery and of the\\ndarkness that envelops your life. Without obligation\\nyou have no light, save what little may prick through\\nyour eyelids. Only he that keeps God s commandments\\nwalks in the light. The moment you can make a very\\nsimple discovery, viz., that obligation to God is your privi-\\nlege and is not imposed as a burden, your experience will\\nteach you many things, that duty is liberty, that repent-\\nance is a release from sorrow, that sacrifice is gain, that\\nhumility is dignity, that the truth from which you hide is\\na healing element that bathes your disordered life, and that\\neven the penalties and terrors of God are the artillery only\\nof protection to his realm.\\nSuch and no other is the glad ministry of religion. Say\\nnot, when we come to jou tendering its gifts, as we do to-\\nday, that jou are not ready, that you are not sufficiently\\nracked by T remorse and guilty conviction, that you have\\nspent, as yet, no sorrowing days or sleepless nights, what\\ncan these do for you God wants none of these he only\\nwants j ou to accept him as your privilege. When he calk\\nyou to repentance and new obedience, this is what be", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0227.jp2"}, "228": {"fulltext": "224 OBLIGATION A PRIVILEGE\\nmeans that you quit jour madness, cease to gore your-\\nself by your sins, come to your right mind, and accept, as\\na privilege, his good, eternal law. Giving Ihus your life\\nto duty, let it, from this time forth, suffuse alike your trials\\nand enjoyments with its own pure gladness, and let the\\nself-approving dignity and greatness of a right mind be\\ngilded visibly and consciously gilded by the smile\\nof God. And, as the good and great society of the\\nblessed is to be settled in this glorious harmony of law.\\nand the statutes of the Lord are to be the song of their\\nconsolidated joy and rest, sing them also here; and, in all\\nlife s changes, in the dark days and the bright, in sorrow\\nand patience and wrong, in successes and hopes and con-\\nsummated labors, everywhere adhere to this, and have it\\nas the strength of your days, that your obligations to God\\nare the best and highest privilege he gives you.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0228.jp2"}, "229": {"fulltext": "XII.\\nHAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nJohn xv, 11. Tliese things have I spoken unto you, that\\nmy joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.\\nCheist enters the world, bringing joy; Grood tidings\\nof great joy, cry the angels, which shall be to all people.\\nSo now he leaves it, bestowing his gospel as a gift of joy,\\nThese things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might\\nremain in you and that your joy might be full. This test-\\nament of his joy he also renews in his parting prayer.\\nAnd now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the\\nworld, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.\\nMan of sorrows though we call him, still he counts\\nhimself the man of joy.\\nWould that I could bring you into his meaning, when\\nhe thus speaks, and assist you to realize the unspeakable\\nimport which it has to him. It is an impression deeply\\nrooted in the minds of men that the christian life is a life\\nof constraint, hardship, loss, penance, and comparative\\nsuffering Christ, you perceive, has no such conception of\\nit, and no such conception is true. Contrary, to this, I\\nshall undertake to show tliat it is a life of true joy, the pro\\nfoundest and only real joy attainable, not a merely future joy,\\nto be received hereafter, as the reward of a painful and sad life\\nhere, but a present, living, and completely full joy, unfolded in\\nthe soul of every man whose fidelity and constancy permit him\\nto receive it.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0229.jp2"}, "230": {"fulltext": "226 HAPPINESS AND JOY\\nTo clear this truth and show it forth, in the proper light\\nof evidence, it is necessary, first of all, to exhibit a mis-\\ntake which clouds the judgments, almost or quite univers-\\nally, of those who are not in the secret of the christian joy,\\nas revealed to a religious experienco. It is the mistake of\\nnot distinguishing between happiness and joy, or of sup-\\nposing them to be really one and the same thing. It i?\\nthe mistake, indeed, not merely of their judgment, but of\\ntheir practice for they all go after happiness without so\\nmuch as a thought, more commonly, of any thing higher\\nor better. Happiness, they assume, and in their practice\\nsay, is the real joy of existence, beyond which and differ-\\nent from which there is, in kind, no other.\\nNow there is even a distinction of kind between the two,\\na distinction beautifully represented in the words them-\\nselves. Thus happiness, according to the original use of\\nthe term, is that which happens, or comes to one by a hap,\\nthat is, by an outward befalling, or favorable condition.\\nSome good is conceived, out of the soul, which comes to it\\nas a happy visitation, stirring in the receiver a pleasant\\nexcitement. It is what money yields, or will buy dress,\\nequipage, fashion, luxuries of the table or it is settlement\\nin life, independence, love, applause, admiration, honor,\\nglory, or the more conventional and public benefits of\\nrank, political standing, victory, power. All these sin a\\ndelight in the soul, which is not of the soul, or its quality,\\nbut from without. Hence they are looked upon as hap-\\npening to the soul and, in that sense, create happiness.\\nWe have another word from the Latins, which very nearly\\ncorresponds with this from the Saxons; viz., fortune. For,\\nwhatever befell the soul, or came to it bringing it pleasure,\\nwas considered to be its good chance, and was called for-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0230.jp2"}, "231": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 227\\ntunate. I suppose, indeed, that there is no language in the\\nworld that does not contain this idea, just because all man-\\nkind are after benefits that will stir pleasure in the soul\\nwithout regard to its quality; after happiness, after\\nfortune.\\nBut joy differs from this, as being of the soul itself,\\noriginating in its quality. And this appears in the original\\nform of the word; which, instead of suggesting a hap,\\nliterally denotes a leap, or spring. Here again also the Latins\\nhad exult, which literally means a leaping forth. The radi-\\ncal idea then of joy is this; that the soul is in such ordei\\nand beautiful harmony, has such springs of life opened in\\nits own blessed virtues, that it pours forth a sovereign joy\\nfrom within. The motion is outward and not toward, as we\\nconceive it to be in happiness. It is not the bliss of con-\\ndition, but of character. There is, in this, a well-spring\\nof triumphant, sovereign good, and the soul is able thus to\\npour out rivers of jo} 7 into the deserts of outward experi-\\nence. It has a light in its own luminous center, where\\nGod is, that gilds the darkest nights of external adversity,\\na music charming all the stormy discords of outward injury\\nand pain into beats of rhythm, and melodies of peace.\\nI ought, perhaps, to say that the original distinction be-\\ntween these two words, thus sharply defined, is not always\\nregarded I have traced the distinction only for the con-\\nvenience of my present subject, and not because the words\\nare always used, or must be, in this manner. In their\\nsecondary uses, words are often applied more loose ly, and\\nso it has fallen out with these, which are used, by the\\ncommon class of writers indiscriminately, one for the other\\nStill it will be seen that one of our English poets, Mr. Cole-\\nridge, distinguished always for the exactness of his Ian-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0231.jp2"}, "232": {"fulltext": "228 HAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nguage, uses them both, in immediate connection, so as to\\npreserve their exact distinction, without any apparent de-\\nsign to do so, or consciousness of the fact. Addressing a\\nnoble Christian lady, he gives his conception of joy, as an\\nall -transforming, all -victorious power, in virtuous souls,\\nin terms like these\\nO, pure of heart, thou needst not ask of me,\\nWhat this strong music in the soul may be,\\nWhat and wherein it doth exist,\\nThis light, this glory, this fair luminous mist,\\nThis beautiful and beauty-making power.\\nJoy, virtuous lady, joy that ne er was given,\\nSave to the pure and in their purest hour,\\nLife and life s effluence, cloud at once and shower,\\nJoy, lady, is the spirit and the power\\nThat wedding nature to us gives in dower\\nA new earth and new heaven,\\nWe in ourselves rejoice.\\nImmediately after, without any thought of drawing the\\ncontrast, he speaks of his own folly, with regret, because\\nhe was caught by the temptations of fortune and now en-\\ndures the bitter penalty.\\nFancy made me dreams of happiness;\\nFor hope grew round me like the twining vine,\\nAnd fruits and foliage, not my own, seemed mine. 1\\nThe picture he draws for himself is the picture, alas of\\nthe general folly of mankind. Their fancy makes them\\ndreams of happiness promising to bless them in what\\nmay be gathered round them in fruits and foliage not\\ntheir own that is, not of themselves but external. All\\ngood, they fancy, is in condition, not in character. They\\nthink of happiness, go after happiness, and have, alas,\\nhow generally, no thought of joy.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0232.jp2"}, "233": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY 229\\nAnd yet we have many and various symbols of joy\\nabout us, from which we might well enough take the hint,\\na3 it would seem, of some possible felicity that is freer and\\nhigher in quality than the mere pleasures of fortune, ot\\ncondition. The sportive children, too full of physical life\\nto be able even to restrain their activity the birds of the\\nmorning pouring out their music simply because it is in\\nthem, ought to suggest the possibility of some free, manly\\njoy that is nobler than happiness. Precisely this too we\\nhave been permitted, thank God, to look upon, in the\\nexamples of goodness, and to hear in the report of history\\nfor history is holding up her holy examples ever before us,\\nshowing us the saints of Grod singing out their joy together\\nin caves and dens of the earth at dead of night, showing\\ntoo the souls of her martyrs issuing, with a shout, from the\\nfires that crisp their bodies.\\nAgain, it is necessary, in order to a right conception of\\nthe meaning of christian joy, as now defined, that we dis-\\ncover how to dispose of certain facts, or incidents, which\\ncommonly produce a contrary impression.\\nThus, when the Saviour bequeaths his joy to us, and\\nprays to have it fulfilled in us, it will naturally be remem-\\nbered that he lives a persecuted and abused life, that he\\npasses through an agony to his death, and dies in a man-\\nner most of all ignominious and afflictive. Where then is\\nthe joy of which he speaks, or which he prays to have be-\\nstowed upon us? Are burdens, toi]s, sorrows, persecu-\\ntions, crucifixions joys?\\nTo this I answer that they may, in one view, be such,\\nand in his case actually were. He was a truly afflicted\\nbeing, a man of sorrows in the matter of happiness; that\\nis, in the outward condition, or befalling of his earthly\\n20", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0233.jp2"}, "234": {"fulltext": "230 HAPPINESS AID JOY.\\nstate,* still he had ever within a joy, a center of rest, a\\nconsciousness of purity and harmony, a spring of good, aa\\ninternal fullness which was perfectly sufficient. And, in-\\ndeed, we may call it one of the highest points of sublimity\\nin his life, that he reveals the essentially victorious powei\\nof joy in the divine nature itself; for God, in the contra-\\ndiction of sinners, in the wrongs, disorders, ungrateful re-\\nturns, and disgusting miseries of his sinful subjects, suffers\\na degree of abhorrence and pain that may properly be\\ncalled so much of unhappiness and he would even be an\\nunhappy being were it not that the love, and patience, and\\nredeeming tenderness he pours into their bosom, are to\\nhim a welling up eternally of conscious joy joy the more\\nsublime, because of its inherent and victorious excellence.\\nAnd exactly so he represents himself, in the incarnate per-\\nson of Christ. In his parable of the shepherd, calling in\\nhis neighbors to rejoice with him over the sheep he has\\nfound, he opens the secret consciousness of joy he feels\\nhimself, as being that shepherd. His manner too was\\nsometimes that of exultation even, as when the evangelist,\\nnoticing his deep inward joy of heart, says, In that hour\\nJesus rejoiced in spirit. And then, how much does it sig-\\nnify, when coming to the close of his career, and just about\\nto finish it by a suffering death, he says, glancing back-\\nward in thought over all he has experienced, My joy\\nbequeathing it to his disciples, as the dearest legacy he can\\ngive, the best, last wish he is able to express! What then\\ndoes it signify of real privation, or loss, to become his\\nfollower\\nBut it requires, you will say, the admission of serious\\nand indeed of painful thought in us to begin such a life,\\nthe solemn review of our character, the discovery oi our", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0234.jp2"}, "235": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 233\\nsin, the sense of our shame and bondage, and our miserably\\nlost condition under it sorrow, repentance, self-renuncia-\\ntion, the loss of all things. The whole prospect, in short,\\nwhich is opened, in coming to Christ, is painfully forbid-\\nding. The gospel even requires of us, in so many words\\ntc cm off right hands, and pluck out right eyes, and deny\\nand crucify ourselres, and be poor in spirit, and pass\\nthrough life under a cross. Where then is the place\\nfor joy? how can the christian life be called a life o/\\njoy?\\nIt is not, I answer, in these things, taken simply by\\nthemselves. But receive an illustration consider, a mo-\\nment, what labors, cares, self-denials, restrictions of free-\\ndom, limitations of present pleasure, all men have to suffer\\nin the way of what is called success what application the\\nscholar must undergo to win the distinctions of genius,\\nwhat dangers and privations the hero must encounter to\\ncommand the honors of victory. Are all these made un-\\nhappy because of the losses they are obliged to make?\\nAre they not rather raised in feeling on this very account i\\nIf they all gained their precise point, or standing of suc-\\ncess, by mere fortune, as by a ticket in some lottery, would\\nthe sacrifices and labors, thus avoided, be a clear saving,\\nor addition to their happiness? Contrary to this, it\\nwould render their successes almost or quite barren of\\nsatisfaction.\\nBut how is this There are so many hard burdens and\\npainful losses, or sacrifices, and yet they subtract nothing,\\nwe say, but rather add to the real amount of enjoyment,\\nin the successes gained by endurance and industry There\\nappears to be something bordering on contradiction here,\\nhow shall we solve it?", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0235.jp2"}, "236": {"fulltext": "282 HAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nThe solution is easy, viz., that the. sacrifice made is a\\nsacrifice of happiness, a sacrifice of ease, pleasure, comfort\\nof condition and the gain made is a gain of something\\nmore ennobling and more consciously akin to greatness, a\\ngain that partakes, as far as any outward success can the\\nnature of joy. The man of industry and enterprise, the\\nscholar, the statesman, the hero, says within himself these\\nare not gifts of fortune to me, they are my conquests\\ntokens of my patience, economy, application, fortitude^ in-\\ntegrity. In them his soul is elevated from within. He\\nhas a higher consciousness, and a felicity, of course, that\\npartakes, in some remote degree, of the sublime nature of\\njoy. Ifc is not condition, or things about him, making him\\nhappy, but it is the fire kindling within, the soul awaking\\nto joy as a creative and victorious energy and, in this\\nview, it is a faint realization, on the footing of a mere\\nworldly life, of the immense superiority of joy to happi\\nness. And it will be found, accordingly, as a matter of fact,\\nthat men, even worldly men, despise and nauseate mere\\nhappiness, if we hold the word to its strictest and most\\nproper meaning. Using it more loosely, they fancy, and\\nwill say, that they are after happiness. Still the instinct\\nof a higher life is in them and they really despise what\\nthey do not conquer. None but the tamest and most\\nabject will sit down to be nursed by fortune. All that\\nhave any real manhood we see cutting their way through\\nseverities and toils, that promise achievement, or a sense\\nof victory. In such a truth, meeting your eyes on every\\nhand, you may see how it is possible for the repentances,\\nsacrifices, self-denials, and labors of the christian life, to\\nissue in joy. If Christ requires you literally to renounce\\nall happiness, all good of condition, nothing is more clear", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0236.jp2"}, "237": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 23S\\nthan the possibility that e\\\\en this may issue in a most,\\ncomplete and sovereign joy.\\nOr take an illustration, somewhat different, of the nature\\nof these christian struggles and sacrifices. A great and\\nnoble spirit, some archangel or prince of the sky, who is\\nhighest in his mold of all the forms of created being, has\\nsomehow come under a conscious respect, we will suppose,\\nto condition fallen out of joy and become a lover of for-\\ntune or happiness. He finds that he is looking for good\\nonly in objects round him, and in things that imply no\\ndignity of soul, or merit of quality in him shows and\\nequipages, liveries, social rank, things that please his ap\\npetite, or his lusts. He finds that he is living for these,\\na?id really makes nothing of any higher good living as\\nif there were no fountains of good to be opened within\\nor as if, being only a vegetable, there could be nothing for\\nhim better than just to feel what the rain, and sun, and soil\\nof outward condition give him to feel. He blushes at the\\ndiscovery, and drops his head. And, as he begins to weep,\\na thought of fire strikes out from his immortality, and he\\nsays, No, it shall not be. God made me, not to be under\\nand subject to things about me, or to ask my happiness at\\ntheir hands. Eather was it for me to be above all crea-\\ntures, as I was before them in order; having my joy in\\nthe greatness of my spirit, and the victorious freedom and\\nfullness of my life. 0, I hear the call of my God! I\\nwill arise and be what he commands me to be. These\\nfelicities of fortune shall tempt me and humble me no\\nmore. I cast them off, I renounce them forever!\\nIn the execution, then, of such a purpose, you see him\\ngo to his work. That he may clear himself of the domin-\\nion of things, he gives up all his outward splendors of\\n20-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0237.jp2"}, "238": {"fulltext": "234 HAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nstate and show, makes a loss of all his resources and even\\ncomforts, and, finding his soul still looking covertly aftei\\nthe goods she has lost, he goes to frequent voluntary fast-\\ning, that he may clear himself yet more effectually from\\nhis bondage. He is not yet free. He finds the pampered\\nspirit of self-indulgence still asking for ease, and indispos-\\ning him to victory. Then he asks for labor, seeks out\\nsomething to be done, asks it of his God to give him some\\nhard service, nay a warfare, if he will, that his soul may\\nfiurht herself clear.\\no\\nNow, the question I have to ask is this, when you look\\nupon the sacrifices and struggles of this great being, his\\nlosses, repentances, self-mortifications, works and warfares,\\ndoes it seem to you that he is growing miserable under\\nthem? Do you not see how his consciousness rises in ele-\\nvation, as he clears himself of his humiliating bondage;\\nhow his soul finds springs of joy opening in herself, as the\\ngood of condition falls off and perishes how every loss\\ndisencumbers him how every toil, and fasting, and fight,\\nas it clears him more of the notion or thought of happi-\\nness, lifts him into a joy as much more ennobled as it is\\nmore sovereign Nay, you can hardly look on, as you see\\nhim fight his holy purpose through, without being kindled\\nand exalted in feeling yourself by the sublimity of his\\nwarfare.\\nBut, exactly this is the true conception of the sacrifices\\nrequired in the christian life. They are all required to\\nemancipate the soul and raise it above its servile depend-\\nence on condition. They are losses of mere happiness,\\nand for just that reason they are preparations of joy.\\nHaving disposed, in this manner, of what may seem tc\\nbe facts opposed, or adverse to the supposition that chris-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0238.jp2"}, "239": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY, 236\\ntian sacrifice and piety support a victorious joj I will now\\nundertake to show trie positive reality itself.\\nAnd here we notice, first of all, the fact that, in a life\\nof selfishness and sin, there is a well-spring of misery,\\nwhich, is now taken away. No matter what, or however\\nfortunate, the external condition of an unbelieving, evi]\\nmind, there is yet a disturbance, a bitterness, a sorrow\\nwithin, too strong to be mastered by any outward felicity,\\nThe whole internal nature is in a state of discord. The\\nunderstanding, conscience, will, affections, appetites, im-\\naginations, make a battle-field of the breast, and the un-\\nhappy subject is rasped, irritated, bittered, filled with\\nfear, shamed by self-reproaches, stung by guilty convic-\\ntions, gnawed by remorse, jealous, envious, hateful, lust-\\nful, discontented, fretful, living always under a sky in\\nwhich some kind of storm is raging. And this discord ia\\nthe misery, the hell of sin. 0, if men had only some con-\\ntrary experience of the heavenly peace, how great this\\nmisery would seem. And yet they know it not, they even\\ndare to imagine, sometimes, that they are happy just be-\\ncause their experience has brought no contrasts, to reveal\\nthe torment they suffer. Still they break out notwith-\\nstanding, now and then, with impatience, and vent their\\nuneasiness in complaints that show how poorly they get\\non. They even testify, in words, that life is a burden. It\\nis a burden, a much heavier and more galling burden than\\nthey know, and will be, even though they have all gifts of\\nfortune, all honors and applauses crowded upon them, to\\nmake them happy. How much then does it signify, that\\nChrist takes away this burden, restores this discord. Foi\\nChrist is the embodied harmony of God, and he that re\\neeives him settles into harmony with him, My peace I", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0239.jp2"}, "240": {"fulltext": "236 HAPPIXESS A.ND JOY.\\ngive unto you, is tlie Saviour s word, and this peace of\\nChrist is the equanimity, dignity, firmness, serenity, which\\nmade his outwardly afflicted life appear to flow in a calmness\\nso nearly sublime. Bring any most fortunate of worldly\\nminds into this peace, and the mere negative power of it.\\nin quelling the soul s discords, would even seem to be a\\nkind of translation. Just to exterminate the evil of the\\nmind, and clear the sovereign hell which sin creates in it,\\nwould suffice to make a seeming paradise.\\nBesides there is a fact more positive, the soul is such a\\nnature that, no sooner is it set in peace with itself than\\nit becomes an instrument in tune, a living instrument, dis-\\ncoursing heavenly music in its thoughts, and chanting\\nmelodies of bliss, even in its dreams. We may even say,\\napart from all declamation, for such is its nature, that when\\na soul is in this harmony, no fires of calamity, no pains\\nof outward torment can, for one moment, break the sove-\\nreign spell of its joy. It will turn the fires to freshening\\ngales, and the pains to sweet instigations of love and\\nblessing.\\nThus much we say, looking only at the soul s nature, it?\\nnecessary distraction under the power of evil, its necessary\\nblessedness in the harmony of rectitude. But we must\\nascend to a plane that is higher, and consider, more directly,\\nwhat pertains to its religious nature. Little conception\\nhave we of its joy, or capacities of joy, till we see it estab-\\nlished in God. The christian soul is one that has come\\nunto God, and rested in the peace of God. It dares to call\\nhim Father, without any sense of daring. It is in such\\nconfidence toward him, that it even partakes His confidence\\nin Himself. It is strong with his strength, having all its\\nfaculties in a glorious play of energy. It endures hard-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0240.jp2"}, "241": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 237\\nness with facility. It turns adversity into peace, for it sees\\na friendly hand ministering only good in what it suffers.\\nIn dark times it is never anxious for God is its trust and\\nGod will suffer no harm to befall it. Having the testimony\\nwithin that it pleases God, it approves itself in the holy\\nsmile of God, that consciously rests upon it. Divinely\\nguided, walking in the Spirit, it is raised by a kind of inspir-\\nation. It sees God and knows him by an immediate and\\never-present knowledge according even to the promise,\\nBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It\\nis consciously ennobled, in this manner, by the proximity\\nof God, expanded in volume, raised in greatness, thrilled\\nby the eternal sublimities of God s deep nature and\\ncounsel. To a mind thus tempered, fortune can add little,\\nand as little take away. Nothing can reach or, at least,\\nbreak down a soul established in this lofty consciousness.\\nIt partakes a divine nature, it is become a kind of divine\\ncreature, and the clouds that overcast the sky of other\\nmen, sail under it. The hail that beats other men to the\\nground, the reproaches, execrations, conspiracies, and lies,\\nunder which other men are cowed, can not hail upward,\\nand therefore can not reach the night of this divine confi-\\ndence. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and per-\\nsecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely\\nfor irry sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Such is the\\njoy Christ bequeathed to his followers such the good\\ntidings of great joy that he brought into the world.\\nThere is also, in the christian t}^pe of character, as re-\\nlated to God, a peculiarity which needs, in this connection,\\nto be mentioned by itself. It is a character, rooted in the\\ndivine love, and in that view is a sovereign bliss welling\\nup from w~thin; able thus to triumph and sing, independ-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0241.jp2"}, "242": {"fulltext": "233 HAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nent of all circumstance and condition. A human soul can\\nlove every body, in despite of every hindrance, and by\\nthat love, can bring every body into its enjoyment. No\\npower is strong enough to forbid this act of love, none\\ntherefore strong enough to conquer the joy of love for\\nwhoever is loved, even though it be an enemy, is and must\\nbe enjoyed. Besides it is a peculiarity of love that it takes\\npossession of its neighbor s riches and successes, and makes\\nthem its own. Loving him, it loves all that he has for\\nhis sake, whether he be friend or enemy enjoys his com-\\nforts, looks on his prospects and all the beauties of his\\ngardens and fields, with a pleasure as real as if they were\\nlegally its own. Love, in fact, overleaps all titles of law,\\nand becomes a kind of universal owner appropriates all\\nwealth, and beauty, and blessing to itself, and enters into\\nthe full enjoyment. It understands the declaration well,\\nfor all things are yours. Having such resources of joy in\\nits own nature, the word that signifies love, in the original\\nof the New Testament, is radically one with that which\\nsignifies joy. According to the family registers of that\\nlanguage, they are twins of the same birth. Love is joy,\\nand all true joy is love, they can not be separated. And\\nChrist is an exhibition to us of this fact in his own person,\\na revelation of God s eternal joy as being a revelation of\\nGod s eternal love coming down thus to utter in our ears\\nthis glorious call, as a voice sounding out from God s eter-\\nnity, Enter ye into the joy of your Lord. He finds us\\nhunting after condition the low and questionable felicity\\nof happiness. He says, behold my poverty, look on my\\nburden of contempt, take the guage of my labors, note the\\ninsults and wrongs of my enemies, watch with me in my\\nagony, follow me to my cross. This, 0, mortal! this,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0242.jp2"}, "243": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 239\\nworshipper of happiness is my jot. I -give it to remain\\nin you, that your joy, as mine, might be full. Enter into\\n.^his love as God made vou to love, love with me vour\\nenemies, labor and pray with me for their recovery to\\n(rod, make my cause your cause, take up my cross and\\nfollow me, and then, in the loss of all things, you shall\\nknow that love is the sovereientv of erood, the highest\\nthrone of sufficiencv to which any beino\\\\ created or uncre-\\nated, can ascend. Coming up into love, you clear all de-\\npendence of condition, you ascend into the very joy of\\nGod, and this is my joy. This I have taught you, this I\\nnow bequeath to your race.\\nNow it is precisely in this love, and nowhere else, that\\nthe followers of Christ have actually found so great joy.\\nThis is their light, the day-star dawning in their he;\\nthe renewing of their inward man, their joy of faith, the\\nbelieving that makes them rejoice with joy unspeakable\\nand full of glory. By this they become exceeding joyful\\nin all their tribulations. They are raised above the world\\nand conquer it, in the loss they make of it dying, anil\\nstill able to live chastened, but not killed sorrowful, yet\\nalways rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having\\nnothing, yet possessing all things. Their heart is enlarged\\nin the divine love, and is become, in that manner, a fount-\\nain of essential, eternal, indestructible, and sovereign joy.\\nThey realize, in a word, the very testament of Christ, His\\njoy is in them, and their joy is full.\\nMark now some of the inspiring and quickening\\nthoughts that crowd upon us in the subject reviewed.\\nAnd\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\n1. ooj is for ail men. It does not depend on circv", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0243.jp2"}, "244": {"fulltext": "240 HAPPINESS AND JOY.\\nstance, or condition if it did, it could only be for the few.\\nIt is not the fruit of good luck, or of fortune, or even of\\noutward success, which all men can not have. It is of the\\nsoul, or the soul s character it is the wealth of the soul s\\nown being, when it is filled with the spirit of Jesus, which\\nis the spirit of eternal love. If you want, therefore, to\\nknow who of mankind can have the gift of joy, you have\\nonly to ask who of them have souls for every soul is\\nmade to be a well-spring of eternal blessedness, and will\\nbe, if only it permits the waters of the eternal love to rise\\nwithin. It can have right thoughts and true, and be set\\nin everlasting harmony with itself. It can love, and so\\nwithout going about to find what shall bless it, it has all\\nthe material of blessing in itself; resources in its own im-\\nmortal nature, as a creature dwelling in the light of God,\\nwhich can not fail, or be exhausted all men are for joy,\\nand joy for all.\\n2. It is equally evident that the reason why they do not\\nhave it, is that they do not seek it where it is, in the re-\\nceiving of Christ and the spirit of his life. They go after\\nit m things without, not in character within they have\\na]l faith in fortune, none in character. So they build\\npalaces, and accumulate splendors about them, and keep a\\ndesert within. And then, since the desert within can not\\nbe made to rejoice in the gewgaws and vanities, without,\\nthey sigh, they are very melancholy, the world is a hard\\nworld, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Let them cease\\nthis whimpering about the vanities and come to Christ let\\nthem receive his joy, and there is an end to the hunger.\\nTake my yoke upon you and learn of me, and ye shall\\nfind rest to your souls. There is nothing hard in what I\\nrequire. When I call you to renounce all and take up", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0244.jp2"}, "245": {"fulltext": "HAPPINESS AND JOY. 241\\nyour cross and follow me, I only seek to withdraw you\\nfrom the chase after happiness, that I may fill you with\\njoy. My yoke is easy, therefore, and my burden is light.\\nAh how many have found it to be exactly so What\\nsm prise have they felt in the dawning of this Christian\\njo;y. They seemed about to lose every thing, and found\\nthemselves, instead, possessing all things.\\n8. It is here seen to be important that we hold some\\nrational and worthy conception of the heavenly felicity.\\nHow easy it is for the christian, who has tasted the true\\njoy of Christ, to let go the idea of joy and slide into the\\npursuit only of happiness, or the good of condition.\\nWorldly minds are in this vein always they more gener-\\nallv do not even conceive any thin^ different, and the\\nwhole gravitation therefore of the world, both in its pur-\\nsuits and opinions, is in this direction. Heaven itself is\\nthought of as a place, a condition, a kind of paradise ex-\\nternal, which has power to make every body happy. The\\nquestion of universal salvation turns on just this point, in-\\nquiring whether all souls will be got into the happy place,\\nnot whether they will all break into eternity as carrying\\nthe eternal joy with them. Stated in that manner, the\\nquestion is even too absurd for debate. I very much fear\\ntoo that those teachers who propose religion to us as a\\nproblem only of happiness, calling us to Christ that we\\nmay get the rewards of happiness, the highest happiness,\\ndegrade our conceptions, and let us down below the truth.\\nWhen we speak of joy, we do not speak of something we\\nare after, but of something that will come to us, when we\\nare after God and duty. It is a prize unbought, and is\\nfreest, purest in its flow, when it comes unsought. No get-\\nting into heaven, as a place, will compass it. You must\\n21", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0245.jp2"}, "246": {"fulltext": "242 HAPPINESS AND JOY\\ncarry it with you, else it 4 s not there. You must have it\\nin you, as the music of a well-ordered soul, the fire of a\\nholy purpose, the welling up, out of the central depths, of\\neternal springs that hide their waters there. It is the rest\\nof confidence, the blessedness of internal light and outflow-\\ning benevolence, the highest form of life and spiritual\\nmajesty. Being the birth of character, it has eternity in\\nit. Eising from within, it is sovereign over all circum-\\nstance and hindrance. It is the joy of the Lord in the\\nsoul of man, because it is joy like his, and because it is\\nfrom Him, participated by the secret life of goodness.\\nAnd this, my friends, is the glory of the heavenly state.\\nIf you have been thinking of heaven only as a happy\\nplace, looking for it as the reward of some dull, lifeless\\nservice, arguing it for all men, as the place where God will\\nshow his goodness, by making blessed loathsome and base\\nsouls, cheat yourselves no more by this folly. Consider\\nonly whether heaven be in you now. For heaven, as we\\nhave seen, is nothing but the joy of a perfectly harmonized\\nbeing, filled with God and his love. The charter of it\\nis, He that overcometh shall inherit. It is the victorious\\nenergy of righteousness forever established in the soul.\\nAnd this in us, pure and supreme, fulfills the glorious be-\\nquest of Christ our Lord, that my joy might remain in\\nyou, and that your joy may be full. It remains, it is\\nfull.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0246.jp2"}, "247": {"fulltext": "XIII,\\nTHE TRUE PROBLEM OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.\\nRevelations ii. 4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat\\nagainst thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 11\\nThere are some texts of scripture that suffer a much\\nharder lot than any of the martyrs, because their martyr-\\ndom is perpetual and this I think is one of the number.\\nTwo classes appear to concur in destroying its dignity;\\nviz., the class who deem it a matter of cant to make any\\nthing of conversion, and the class who make religion itself\\na matter of cant, by seeing nothing in it but conversion.\\nMy object, however, is not so much to balance these\\nopposites, or even to recover the passage of scripture that\\nis lost between them; but it is to clear the way of all\\nchristian experience, by showing what it does and how it\\nproceeds. There are many disciples of our time who, like\\nthe Ephesian disciples, are to be warmly commended for\\ntheir intended fidelity, and are yet greatly troubled and\\ndepressed by what appears to be a real loss of ground in\\ntheir piety. Christ knows their works, approves their\\npatience, commends their withdrawing always from them\\nthat are evil testifies for them that they have withstood\\nfalse teachers, with a wary and circumspect fidelity, made\\nsacrifices, labored and not fainted; and yet they are com-\\npelled to sigh over a certain subsidence of that pure sensi-\\nbility and that high inspiration, in which their disciplc-\\nship began. The clearness of that hour is blurred, the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0247.jp2"}, "248": {"fulltext": "244 THE TKUE PEOBLEM OF\\nfresh joy interspaced with dryness. Omissions of duty\\nare discovered which they did not mean they do not en-\\njoy the sacrifices they make as they once did, and make\\nthem often in a legal, self-constrained manner. Rallying\\nthemselves to new struggles, as they frequently do, to re-\\ntrieve their losses, they simply hurry on their own will,\\nand therefore thrust themselves out of faith only the more\\nrapidly. The danger is, at this Ephesian point of depres-\\nsion, that not knowing what their change of phase really\\nsignifies, or under what conditions a real progress in holy\\ncharacter is to be made, they will finally surrender, as to a\\ndoom of retrogradation too strong to be resisted. I de-\\nsign, if possible, to bring them help, calling their attention\\ndirectly to these two points\\nI. The relation of the first love, or the beginning of the\\nchristian discipleship, to the subsequent life.\\nII. The relation of the subsequent life, including its appa-\\nrent losses, to the beginning.\\nWhat we call conversion is not a change distinctly trace-\\nable in the experience of all disciples, though it is and\\nmust be a realized fact in all. There are many that grew\\nup out of their infancy, or childhood, in the grace of Christ,\\nand remember no time when they began to love him.\\nEven such, however, will commonly remember a time,\\nwhen their love to God and divine things became a fact so\\nfresh, so newly conscious, as to raise a doubt, whether it\\nwas not then for the first time kindled. In other cases\\nthere is no doubt of a beginning, a real, conscious, defi-\\nnitely remembered beginning; a new turning to God, a\\nfresh-born christian love. The conversion to Christ is", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0248.jp2"}, "249": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 245\\nmarked as distinctly as that of the Ephesian church, when\\ncoming over to Christ, from their previous idolatry. The\\nlove is consciously first love, a new revelation of God in the\\nsoul; a restored consciousness of God, a birth of joy and\\nglorified song in the horizon of the soul s life, like that\\nwhich burst into our sky when Jesus was born into the\\nworld. All things were new, Christ was new, the word\\na new light, worship a new gift, the world a new realm of\\nbeauty shining in the brightness of its author even the man\\nhimself was new to himself. Sin was gone, and fear also\\nwas gone with it. To love was his all, and he loved every\\nthing. The day dawned in joy, and the thoughts of the\\nnight were songs in his heart. Then how tender, how\\nteachable in his conscience how true, in his works how\\ndutiful. It was the divine childhood, as it were, of hia\\nfaith, and the beauty of childhood was in it. This was\\nhis first love, and if all do not remember any precise ex-\\nperience of the kind, they do, at least, remember what\\nwas so far resembled to this as to leave no important\\ndistinction.\\nI. What now is the import of such a state, what its re-\\nlation to the subsequent life and character\\nIt is not, I answer, what they assume, who conceive it\\nto be only a new thought taken up by the subject himself,\\nwhich he may as naturally drop the next moment, or may\\ngo on to cultivate till it is perfected in a character. It is\\nmore, a character begun, a divine fact accomplished, in\\nwhich the subject is started on a new career of regenerated\\nliberty in good. I answer again that it is not any such\\nthing as they assume it to be, who take it as a completed\\ngift, which only needs tc be held fast. It is less, for less\\n21*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0249.jp2"}, "250": {"fulltext": "246 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nthan this. To God it is one of his beginnings, which he\\nwill carry on to perfection to the subject himself it is the\\nJawn of his paradise, an experience that will stand behind\\nhim as an image of the glory to be revealed before, an ideal\\nset up, in his beatitude, of that state in which his soul is\\nto be perfected and to find its rest. In one view, indeed,\\nit is a kind of perfect state, a state resembled 10 inno-\\ncence. It is free, it is full of God, it is for the time with-\\nout care. New born, as it were, the spirit of a babe is in\\nit. The consciousness of sin is, for a time, almost or quite\\nsuspended, sin is washed away, the heart is clean. The\\neye is single, as a child s eye. The spirit is tender, as a\\nchild s spirit, so ingenuous, so pure in its intentions, so\\nsimple in its love, that it even wears the grace of a\\nheavenly childhood.\\nIn this flowering state of beauty the soul discovers, and\\neven has in its feeling the sense of perfection, and is thus\\nawakened from within to the great ideal, in which its bliss\\nis to be consummated. The perfection conceived too and\\nset up as the mark of attainment, is something more than\\na form of grace to be hereafter realized. It is now realized,\\nas far as it can be the very citizenship of the soul is\\nchanged it has gone over into a new world, and is entered\\nthere into new relations. But it has not made acquaint-\\nance there it scarcely knows how it came in, or how to\\nstay, and the whole problem of the life-struggle is, to be-\\ncome established in what has before been initiated.\\nThere is a certain analogy between this state, paradisaie-\\ndlly beautiful, pure, and clean, and that external paradise\\nin which our human history began. What could be more\\nlovely and blessed, what in a certain formal sense more\\nperfect than the upright, innocent, all-harmonious child-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0250.jp2"}, "251": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 247\\nhood of the first human pair. But it was beauty without\\nstrength, the ingenuous goodness of beings unacquainted\\nwith evil. A single breath of temptation is enough to\\nsweep it all away. The only way to establish it is to lose\\nit and regain it. Paradise lost and regained is not a con-\\nception only of the poet, but it is the grand world-prob-\\nlem of probation itself. No state of virtue is complete,\\nhowever total the virtue, save as it is won by a conflict\\nwith evil, and fortified by the struggles of a resolute and\\neven bitter experience. Somewhat in the same way, it is\\nnecessary that a christian should fight out the conquest of\\nhis paradise, in order to be really established in it. There\\nis no absolute necessity that he should lose it, nor any\\nsuch qualified necessity as there was that the first man\\nshould fall from his integrity for he is, by the supposition,\\none who has learned already the bitterness of evil, by a\\nlife thus far steeped in the gall of it. He has been outside\\nof his paradise, to look on it from thence, as Adam had\\nnot. He has only not been inside long enough to thorough-\\nly understand the place. He will commonly never be es-\\ntablished in it, therefore, till he knows it more experiment-\\nally, and gets wonted in it. And yet there are a few, as\\nI verily believe, who never go outside again, from the\\nmoment of their first entering, but stay within, unfold\\ning all their life long, as flowers, in their paradise, trust-\\nful, ductile, faithful, and therefore unfaltering in then\\nsteadfastness.\\nStill the probability that any one will continue in the\\nclearness and freshness of his first love to God, suffering\\nno apparent loss, felling into no disturbance or state of self-\\naccusing doubt, is not great. And where the love is really\\nnot lost, it will commonly need to be conquered again,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0251.jp2"}, "252": {"fulltext": "24:8 THE TRUE TROBLEM OF\\nover and over, and wrought into the soul by a protracted\\nand resolute warfare. The germ that was planted as im-\\npulse must be nourished by discipline. What was initiated\\nas feeling must be matured by holy application, till it be-\\ncomes one of the soul s own habits.\\nA. mere glance at the new-born state of love discovers\\nhow incomplete and unreliable it is. Eegarded in the\\nmere form of feeling, it is all beauty and life. A halo of\\ninnocence rests upon it, and it seems a fresh made creature,\\nreeking in the dews of its first morning. But how strange\\na creature is it to itself, waking to the discovery of its\\nexistence, bewildered by the mystery of existence. An\\nangel as it were in feeling, it is yet a child in self-under-\\nstanding. The sacred and pure feeling you may plainly\\nsee is environed by all manner of defects, weaknesses, and\\nhalf-conquered mischiefs, just ready to roll back upon it\\nand stifle its life. The really sublime feeling of rest and\\nconfidence into which it has come, you will see is backed,\\na little way off, by causes of unrest, insufficiency, anxious-\\nness and fear. Questions numberless, scruples, fluctuating\\n.moods, bad thoughts, unmanageable doubts, emotions\\nspent that can not be restored by the will, novelty passing\\nby and the excitements of novelty vanishing with it,\\nthere is a whole army of secret invaders close at hand, and\\nyou may figure them all as peering in upon the soul, from\\ntheir places of ambush, ready to make their assault. And\\nwhat is worst of all, the confidence it has in the Spirit of\\nGod, and which, evenly held, would Dear it triumphantly\\nthrough, is itself unpracticed, and is probably underlaid\\nby a suppressed feeling of panic, lest he should sometime\\ntake his leave capriciously. It certainly would not be\\nstrange, ii the disciple, beset by so many defects and so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0252.jp2"}, "253": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 2-j9\\nlittle ripe in his experience, should seem lor a while\\nto lose ground, even while strenuously careful to mamtair\\nhis fidelity. And then Christ will have somewhat against\\nhim. He will not judge him harshly and charge it against\\nhim as a crime that has no mitigations it will only be a\\nfatal impeachment of his diseipleship, when he finally sur-\\nrenders the struggle, and relapses into a prayerless and\\nworldly life.\\nThe significance then of the first love as related to the\\nsubsequent life, is twofold. In the first place, it is the\\nbirth of a new, supernatural, and divine consciousness in\\nthe soul, in which it is raised to another plane, and begins\\nto live as from a new point. And secondly, it is so much\\nof a reality, or fact realized, that it initiates, in the subject,\\nexperimentally, a conception of that rest, that fullness, and\\npeace, and joyous purity, in which it will be the bliss and\\ngreatness of his eternity to be established. In both\\nrespects, it is the beginning of the end and yet, to carry\\nthe be2*innino- over to the end, and rive it there its due\\nfulfillment, requires a large and varied trial of experience.\\nThe office and operation of this trial it now remains to\\nexhibit as proposed.\\nII. In a consideration of the subsequent life, as related\\nto the beginning, or first love. The real object of the sub-\\nsequent life, as a struggle of experience, is to produce in\\nwisdom what is there begotten as a feeling, or a new love:\\nand thus to make a fixed state of that which was initiated\\nonly as a love. It is to convert a heavenly impulse into a\\nheavenlv habit. It is to raise the christian childhood into\\na christian manhood, to make the first love a second or\\ncompleted love; or, what is the same, to fulfill the first", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0253.jp2"}, "254": {"fulltext": "250 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nlove, and give it a pervading fullness in the soul such that\\nthe whole man, as a thinking, self-knowing, acting, choos-\\ning, tempted and temptable creature, shall coalesce with it\\nand be forever Tested, immovably grounded in it.\\nThe paradise of first love is a germ, we may conceive,\\nin the soul s feeling of the paradise to be fulfilled in its\\nwisdom, And when the heavenly in feeling becomes the\\nheavenly in choice, thought, judgment, and habit, so that\\nthe whole nature consents and rests in it as a known state,\\nthen is it fulfilled or completed. Then is the ideal awak-\\nened by the first love become a fact or attainment. See\\nnow, briefly, in what manner the experimental life works\\nthis fulfillment.\\nAt first the disciple knows, we shall see, very little of\\nhimself, and still less how to carry himself so as to meet\\nthe new state of divine consciousness, into which he is\\nborn. You may look upon him as literally a new, super-\\nnatural man, and just as a child has to learn the use of his\\nown body, in handling, tasting, heaving, climbing, falling,\\nrunning, so the new man learns, in the struggles of prac-\\ntical life, his own new nature, how to work his thoughts,\\nrule his passions, feed his wants, settle his choices, and\\nclear his affections. Thus, at last, his whole nature be-\\ncomes limber and quick to his love so that the life he\\nhad in feeling, he can operate, express, fortify, and feed\\nAt first, nothing co-operates in settled harmony with his\\nnew life but, if he is faithful, he will learn how to make\\nevery thing in him work with it, and assist the edifying of\\nhis soul in love.\\nA great point with him is the learning how to maintain\\nhis new supernatural relation of sonship and vital access\\nto God. Conscious of any loss, or apparent separation, he", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0254.jp2"}, "255": {"fulltext": "CHKISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 251\\nis likely, at first, to throw himself out of God s peace only\\nthe more completely, by the panic he indulges, and the\\nviolent throes he makes to re-establish himself. The feel-\\ning in which he is raised to a participation of God can not\\ninstruct him how to maintain that participation, or to keep\\nan open state of access. How to work his will, his inward\\nsuggestions and outward duties; how to shape his life and\\norder his- prayers, so as to set himself always before God,\\nand command a ready approach, he knows, as yet, only by\\nthe guidance of his feeling. But the struggle of experi-\\nence brings him into a growing acquaintance both with\\nGod and himself as related to God, removing in this man-\\nner his awkwardness, so that he is able to reject all false\\nmethods and all raw experiments, and address himself to\\nGod skillfull v, as a friend will address a friend. He knows\\nexactlv how he must stand before God, to be one with him\\nand abide in him. He comes into the secret of God easily\\nand, as it were, naturally, and receives the manifestation\\nof God as one who lives in the adoption of a son.\\nIn the same way, or by the same course of experience,\\nhe conceives, more and more perfectly what is the true idea\\nof character. At first, character is to him a mere feeling\\nor impulse, a frame. Xext, perhaps, it becomes a life of\\nwork and self-denial. Xext a principle, nothing but a\\nmatter of principle. Xext he conceives that it is some-\\nthing outwardly beautiful, a beautiful life. After a while,\\nhe discovers that he has been trying to. mold what is spirit-\\nual by his mere natural taste, and forgotten the first love,\\nas the animating life and divine principle of beauty. And\\npo he draws himself on, by degrees, through all the variant\\nphases of loss and self-criticism, to a more full and rounded\\nconception of character, returning at last to that which", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0255.jp2"}, "256": {"fulltext": "252 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nlay in his first love. So that character is, at last, conceived\\nas a life whose action choice, thought, and expression are\\nall animated and shaped by the spirit of holiness and divine\\nbeauty which was first breathed into his feeling. Nothing\\nis so difficult to settle as the conception of a perfect char-\\nacter nothing, at the same time, so necessary. And every\\nfaithful christian will be conscious of a constantly progress-\\nive change, in his conception of what he is to be.\\nA very great point to be gained, by the struggle of ex-\\nperience, is to learn when one has a right to the state of\\nconfidence and rest. At first the disciple measures him-\\nself wholly by his feeling. If feeling changes, as it will\\nand must at times, then he condemns himself, and condemn-\\ning himself perhaps without reason, he breaks his confi-\\ndence toward God and stifles his peace. Then he is ready\\nto die to get back his confidence, but not knowing how he\\nlost it, he knows not where to find it. He had been at his\\nbusiness, and as that occupied his attention, it took off\\nalso somewhat of his feeling: charging this to the account\\nof sin, and not to any want of experience in turning the\\nmind so as to keep or recover its emotions, he put his con-\\nscience against him where it ought to have been his helper,\\nand fell into the greater difficulty because he fell into\\nmental confusion. Or perhaps he had played with his\\nchildren, or he had talked in society about things not relig-\\nious, in order to accommodate the circle he was in this\\ntouched the delicate feeling of his soul and, as feeling\\ndoes not reason or judge, the wound was taken fcr admit-\\nted sin. On one occasion he did not give heed to some\\ninsignificant, or really absurd scruple. On another he\\ndeclined some duty which really was no duty, and was\\nbetter not to be done. In short, he was continually cor.-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0256.jp2"}, "257": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 253\\ndemning and tormenting himself, and gratuitously forbid-\\nding himself all confidence toward God. But finally, after\\nbattering down his own confidence and stifling his love in\\nthis manner by self-discouragement for many years, he\\nis corrected by God s Spirit and led into a discovery of\\nhimself and the world that is more just, ceases to condemn\\nhimself in that which he alloweth, so to allow himself\\nin anything which he condemneth and now behold\\nwhat a morning it is for his love His perturbed\\nanxious state is gone. God s smile is always upon him.\\nHis peace flows down upon him as a river from the\\nthrone. His first love returns, henceforth to abide and\\nnever depart. Everywhere it goes with him, into all the\\ncallings of industry and business, into social pleasures and\\nrecreations, bathing his soul as a divine element.\\nBy a similar process he learns how to modulate and\\noperate his will. On one side his soul w r as in the divine\\nlove. On the other he had his will. But, how to work his\\nwill so as perfectly to suit his love, he at first did not know.\\nHe accordingly took his love into the care of his will; foi\\nassuredly he must do all that is possible to keep it alive.\\nHe tiros deranged all right order and health within by his\\nviolent superintendence, battered down the joy he wished\\nto keep, and could not understand what he should do\\nmore; for, as yet, all he had done seemed to be killing his\\nlove. He had not learned that love flows down only from\\nGod, who is its object, and cannot be manufactured within\\nourselves. But he discovers finally that it was first\\nkindled by losing, for the time, his will. Understanding\\nnow that he is to lose his will in God s will, and abandon\\nhimself wholly to God, to rest in him and receive of his\\nfullness; finding too that will is only a form of self -seeking,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0257.jp2"}, "258": {"fulltext": "254 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nhe makes a total loss of will, self, and all his sufficiency\\nwhereupon the first love floods his nature again, and bathes\\nhim liks a sea without a shore. And yet it will not be\\nstrange if he finds, within a year, that, as he once over-\\nacted his will in self-conduct, so now he is underacting it\\nin quietism that his love grows thin for want of energy,\\nand, returning to his will again, he takes it up in God\\ndares to have plans and ends, and to be a person wrestles\\nwith God and prevails with him and so becomes, at last,\\na prince, acknowledged and crowned before him.\\nHis thinking power undergoes a similar discipline. At\\nfirst, he doubted much, doubted whether he had a right to\\ndoubt, and whether he did doubt, and yet more how to get\\nrid of his doubts. The clatter of his old, disordered,\\nthinking nature began, ere long, to drown his love by the\\nperpetual noise it made old associations led in trains of\\nevil suggestion, which, like armies of wrath, overran and\\ndesolated his soul. He attacked every one of them in turn\\nand that kept him thinking of the base things he wanted\\nto forget. He discovers, at length, that all he can do is to\\nfill his capacity with something better, his mind with\\ntruth, his heart with God and faith, his hands with duty,\\nand all with the holy enthusiasm of christian hope; and\\nthen, since there is no room left for idle fancies and vain\\nv imaginations to enter, he is free, the torments of evil sug-\\ngestion are shut away. The courses and currents of the\\nsoul are now cleared, and his thoughts, like couriers sent\\nup through the empyrean, will return bringing visions of\\nGod and divine beauty to waken the pure first love and\\nkindle its joyful flames.\\nAt first he had a very perplexing war with his motives.\\nHe feared that his motive was selfish, and then he feared", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0258.jp2"}, "259": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 255\\nthat his fear was selfish. He dug at himself so intently, to\\ndetect his selfishness, as to create the selfishness he feared.\\nThe complications of his heart were infinite, and he became\\nconfused in his attempt to untwist them. He blamed his\\nlove to God because he loved him for his goodness, and\\nthen tried to love him more without any thought of his\\ngoodness. He was so curious, in fact, to know his motives\\nthat he knew nothing of them, and finally stifled his love\\nin the effort to understand it, and act the critic over it.\\nAt length, after months or years it may be of desolation,\\nhe discovers, as he had never done before, that he was a\\nchild in his first love, and had a child s simplicity. And\\nnow he has learned simplicity by his trial Falling now\\ninto that first simplicity, there to abide, because he knows\\nit, the first love blooms again, blooms as a flower, let us\\nhope, that is never to wither. His motive is pure, because\\nit is simple and his eye, being single toward God, his\\nwhole body is full of light.\\nThus far it is supposed, in all the illustrations given,\\nthat the new love kindled bj r the Spirit has to maintain\\nitself, in compamy with great personal defects in the sub-\\nject. These defects are a constant tendency in him to de-\\nfections that correspond. Whenever he yields to them, he\\nsuifers a loss which is, in that case, a guilty or blameable\\nloss. But he will sometimes be reduced or let down, sim-\\nply because, or principally because, he has too little skill\\nor insight to avoid it. And this reduction will sometimes\\ngo so far as to be a kind of subsidence out of the super-\\nnatural into the natural state. He is confused and lost,\\nand h s very love appears to be quite dead. God is hid-\\nden, as it were, behind a veil, and can not be found. Duties\\nkept up, as by the Ephesians, without liberty, yield no", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0259.jp2"}, "260": {"fulltext": "256 THE TKUE PK0BLEM OF\\nfruit of peace or blessing. And now, since it is not in the\\nnature of a soul to stand empty and fight off evil, with no\\npower left but a* vacuum, it will not be strange if he lets\\nin the world, grows light, covetous, ambitious, and has\\nonly a name to live. All this, in one view, is but the\\nworking of his defects. Doubtless he is blameable, in a\\ndegree, though not as he would be if he had no such de-\\nfects to contend with, Christ has somewhat against him,\\nlooks on him as one made subject to vanity not willingly,\\nor willingly in part, and waits to restore him. His very\\nlosses too will be a lesson of experience really invaluable.\\nHe has learned his defects by his failures, and the day is\\nnot far distant when the dryness of his present experience\\nwill create, in his heart, an irrepressible longing for the\\nrecovery of the ground he has lost. Por there is yet,\\nslumbering in his memory, the dim ideal of a first love to\\nChrist. Around that ideal are gathered many distasteful\\nrecollections and associations but there is a faint, sweet\\nlight of beauty in the center. And now as, in turn, the\\nworld itself palls, that faint spot of light remembered as\\nthe dawn of love to Christ, will grow radiant and beam as\\na sun upon him. As a prodigal he will return as a prodi-\\ngal returning, be met a great way off, and welcomed by\\nhis forgiving and rejoicing father. Now he is in his love\\nas one instructed. His defects are corrected by his failures,\\nand, by a common paradox of experience, supplemented\\nby his losses; and so he is prepared to stand fast in his love.\\nSometimes a very dull and carnal, or capricious nature will\\ngo through this kind of bad experience more than once,\\nand then will appear to be saved only so as by fire. But,\\nmore commonly, the time past of one such misery will\\nsuifioe.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0260.jp2"}, "261": {"fulltext": "CHKISTIAX EXPERIENCE. 25~\\nTon perceive, in this review, how every thing in the\\nsubsequent life of the disciple is designed of God to fulfil]\\nthe first love. A great part of the struggle which we call\\nexperience, appears to operate exactly the ether way to\\nconfuse and stifle the first fire of the spirit. Still the pro-\\ncess of God is contrived to bring us round, at last, to the\\nsimple state which we embraced, in feeling, and help us to\\nembrace it in wisdom. Then, the first love fills the whole\\nnature, and the divine beauty of the child is perfected in\\nthe divine beauty of a vigorous and victorious manhood.\\nThe beginning is the beginning of the end, the end the\\nchild and fruit of the beginning.\\nI am well aware that some will be dissatisfied with a view\\nof the christian life that appears to anticipate so many\\nturns and phases, and so much of losing experience. They\\nwill think it better to take a key-note that is lower, and\\nstart upon a level that can be maintained. Thus, if we say\\nnothing of a conversion, or the high experience involved\\nin that term, and commence a course of devout observ-\\nances and church formalities; or if, taking a different\\nmethod, we set ourselves to a careful and diligent self-cul-\\nture, praying and worshipping as a part of the process,\\nand for the sake of the effect, noting our defects, chasten-\\ning our passions, cherishing our religious tastes and senti-\\nments; then, in one or the other of these methods, we may\\ngo steadily on, it will be imagined, clear of all fluctuations,\\nmaintaining an even, respectable, and dignified piety. Yes,\\nundoubtedly we may, and that for the very reason that we\\nhave no first love to lose, no fervors to be abated, and, in\\nfact, no divine birth or experience at all. The piety com-\\nmended is, in either case, a kind of stalagmite piety, built\\n-2 -J*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0261.jp2"}, "262": {"fulltext": "258 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nup from below, with the disadvantage of no drippings\\nfrom above a really cavernous formation, upon which the\\ntrue light of day never shone. In some cases, the soul\\nmay pass over in this manner imperceptibly, into some\\nfaint experience of God that is genuine but the dignity\\nit boasts is the dignity of a consistent poverty and ignor-\\nance of God, and nothing is more easy to be maintained.\\nOn the other hand, the very reason why there are so many\\nphases, or seeming lapses, in christian experience, is not\\nbecause it is false, but oftener because it is genuine be-\\ncause God has really dawned upon the soul s faith, and\\nkindled a fire supernatural in its love. Hence, to settle it\\ninto this high relation, as a properly known relation, is\\noften a work of much time and difficulty. The problem\\nis neither more nor less than to learn the way of God, and\\ncome into practical acquaintance with him. And how can\\nthis be done without a large experience of defeat and dis-\\nasters endlessly varied. How can a being so weak and\\nignorant, knowing, at first, almost nothing of the high re-\\nlations into which he has come, learn to walk evenly with\\nGod, save as he is instructed by many waverings, reac-\\ntions, irregularities, and throes of losing experience.\\nGrazing in the pasture ground of a mere human culture,\\nwe might show more plausibly but now we move irregu-\\nlarly, just because we are in a level where the experience\\nof nature does not instruct us. We lose ground, fall out\\nof place, subside and waver, just because we are after\\nsomething transcendent, something above us climbing up\\nunto God, to rest our eternity in him, a being whom, as\\nyet, we do not sufficiently know, and whom to know is life\\neternal. Therefore we best like that kind of life which\\nappears least plausible in present show, well understand-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0262.jp2"}, "263": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 259\\niiig that, if nothing more were in hand than simply tc\\nmaintain a level march, on the footing of mere nature,\\nthere is no feeblest christian, or even no-christian, who\\ncould not do it triumphantly.\\nThe fact then of a truly first love, the grand christian\\nfact of a spiritual conversion or regeneration, is no way\\nobscured by the losing experiences that so often follow.\\nOn the contrary, its evidence is rather augmented by these\\nirregularities and seeming defections. And, if it be more\\nthan nothing, then it is, of all mortal experiences, the chief;\\na change mysterious, tremendous, luminous, joyful, fearful,\\nevery thing which a first contact of acquaintance with God\\ncan make it.\\nWhere the transition to this state of divine conscious-\\nness, from a merely self-conscious life under sin, is inartifi-\\ncially made, and distorted by no mixtures of tumult from\\nthe subject s own eagerness, it is, in the birth, a kind of\\ncelestial state, like that of the glorified clear, clean, peace-\\nful, and full, wanting nothing but what, for the time, it\\ndoes not know it wants; the settled confidence, the prac-\\ntically instructed wisdom, the established and tried charac-\\nter, of the glorified. And yet all the better is it, impara-\\ndised in this glory, this first love, this regenerative life,\\nthis inward lifting of the soul s order, that a prize so trans-\\ncendent is still, in a sense, to be won or fought out and\\ngained as a victory. For life has now a meaning, and its\\nwork is great as great, in fact, in the humblest walks and\\naffairs as in the highest. And the more difficulties one has\\nto encounter, within and without, the more significant and\\nthe higher in inspiration his life will be. The very\\ntroubles that others look on with pity, as if he had takeD", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0263.jp2"}, "264": {"fulltext": "260 THE TRUE PROBLEM OF\\nup a kind of piety more perilous and burdensome than\\nwas necessary, will be bis fields of victory, and bis course\\nof life will be just as much happier as it is more consciously\\nheroic. He has something great to live for, nay, something\\nworthy even to die for, if he must, that which makes it\\nglorious to live and not less glorious to die.\\nThis war too is one, my brethren, as I verily believe\\nthat, in all that is bitterest and most painful, may be\\neffectually carried and ended without waiting for the end of\\nyour life. The bitterness and painfulness are, in fact, no-\\nwhere, except in the losing or apparently losing experiences\\nof which I have been speaking, and these may assuredly\\nbe surmounted. There is a standing above all sense of loss,\\na peace of God that can not be shaken, a first love made\\nsecond and final, into which you may come soon, if you\\nare faithful, and in which you may abide. The doctrine\\nof Wesley and his followers may be exaggerated, or par-\\ntially misconceived I think it is. They appear to hold\\nthat there is a kind of second conversion, higher than the\\nfirst, which they imagine is complete sanctification. But\\nit is, if I am right, neither more nor less than the point of\\nthe first love reached again, with the advantage of much\\nwisdom or self-understanding brought back with it. The\\ndisciple is, for that reason, stronger, wider in volume, more\\nable to abide or stand fast. But, if he is not strong enough,\\nhe will very certainly take another circuit, and perhaps an-\\nother. Enough that there is hope, that there is a state of\\nprofound liberty, assurance, and peace, which you may at-\\ntain to, and in which you may abide. Indeed, the original\\nlove itself was but a foretaste in feeling, of that which\\nyou mav achieve in wisdom and you are to set that mark", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0264.jp2"}, "265": {"fulltext": "CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 261\\nIn your eye, expecting to emerge again, or to climb patiently\\nup into a state of purity and fellowship closely resembled tc\\nthat.\\nIf, then, you have now become entangled, discouraged,\\ndarkened, if you seem to have quite given over, blame\\nyourself, not in your infirmity, but only in your sin. See,\\nif possible, exactly what and where your blame is, and let\\nyour repentances and confessions exactly cover it. Prob-\\nably you did not fall consentingly, but you seem to have\\nbeen thrown by your own distracted, half illuminated\\nmind. You struggled hard, and with so great self-exer-\\ntion, not unlikely, that you fell out of faith, and were even\\nfloored by your struggles themselves. You fanned the\\nlove so violently that you rather blew out than kindled\\nthe flame. The harder you lifted, the deeper in mire you\\nsunk. At last, you gave over with a sigh, and fell back\\nas one quite spent. And now, it may be that you even\\nlook upon the whole subject of spiritual religion with a\\nkind of dread. It wears a painful and distasteful look.\\nAnd yet there is one bright spot in the retrospect viz.,\\nthe gentle, ingenuous, heavenly feeling, the peace, the\\ncleanness, the fullness of heart, the liberty in God and his\\nlove, the luminous, inward glory and, if you could see\\nnothing else but this, how attractive the remembered bless-\\nedness would be; the more attractive for the emptiness\\nyou have since experienced, and the general distaste of the\\nworld, which so often afflicts you. Nay, with all the dis-\\nrespect you may possibly put on this former experience, it\\nis precisely this and the opening of your higher nature in\\nit, that makes a great part of the distaste you now suffer\\ntoward the world. What a call then have you in this joy", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0265.jp2"}, "266": {"fulltext": "26*2 PROBLEM OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE.\\nremembered! And God indorses it, offering to seal all this\\nupon yon, and more. He blames you not for any thing\\nunavoidable, he only blames you for your letting go of\\nHim, and your final surrender of the struggle. This he\\nwaits to forgive. He will do more, he will even make\\nwhat is blameable in your sad loss and defection turn to\\nyour account. Can you ask encouragement to a new effort\\nbetter than this? Come back then, 0, thou prodigal, to\\nthy father! Quit thy sad folly and emptiness, thy re-\\nproaches of soul, thy diseased longings, and thy restless\\nsighs. Eeturn again to thy God, and give thyself to him,\\nin a final and last sacrifice. Ask the restored revelation.\\nConquer again, as Christ will help you, the original love,\\nin that to abide and rest.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0266.jp2"}, "267": {"fulltext": "XIV.\\nTHE LOST PUEITY EESTCEED.\\n1 John iii. 3. And every man that hath this hope in\\nhim purifieth himself, even as he is pure\\nThis hope, as the apostle is speaking, is a hope to be\\nwith Christ; and as Christ is, in highest verity, the mani-\\nfestation of God who is infinite purity, it is a hope to be\\nconcomitant with purity, the purity of Christ and of God\\nwhich again is but a hope of being entered into, and per*\\nfectly answerable to, the purity of God. And then it\\nfollows, yet again, that every man that hath this hope in\\nhim will be purifying himself here on earth, even accord-\\ning to the purity of Chiist with whom he hopes to be.\\nAccordingly the subject raised for our consideration is\\npurity of soul, as the aim of spiritual redemption, and the\\nlegitimate issue of Christian experience. Let us see\\nI. If we can form a fit conception of what purity is. If\\nwe refer to examples, it is the character of angels and of\\nGod the simplicity, the unstained excellence, the un-\\ndimmed radiance, the spotless beauty. Or it is God as\\nrepresented here on earth, in the sinless and perfect life of\\nChrist his superiority to sense and passion and the opin-\\nions of the world, his simple devotion to truth, his unam-\\nbitious goodness, his holy, harmless, undefiled life, as being\\nwith, yet separate from sinners.\\nIf we go to analogy, purity is, in character, what trans-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0267.jp2"}, "268": {"fulltext": "264 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\npareuey is in the crystal. It is water flowing, unmixed\\nand clear, from the mountain spring. Or it is the white of\\nsnow. Or it is the clear open heaven, through which the\\nsparkling stars appear, hidden by no mist of obstruction.\\nOr it is the pure light itself in which they shine. A pure\\ncharacter is that, in mind and feeling and spirit of life,\\nwhich all these clear, untarnished symbols of nature, im-\\nage, in their lower and merely sensible sphere, to our out-\\nward eye.\\nOr if we describe purity by reference to contrasts, then\\nit is a character opposite to all sin, and so to most of what\\nwe see in the corrupted character of mankind. It is inno-\\ncent, just as man is not. It is incorrupt as opposed to pas-\\nsion, self-seeking, foul imaginations, base desires, enslaved\\naffections, a bad conscience and turbid currents of thought.\\nLt is the innocence of infancy without the stain that inno-\\ncence matured into the spotless, positive and eternally es-\\ntablished holiness of a responsible manhood It is man\\nlifted up out of the mires of sin, washed as a spirit into\\nthe clean white love and righteousness of his redeemer,\\nand so purged of himself as to be man, without any thing\\nof the sordid and denied character of a sinner.\\nOr we may set forth the idea of purity, under a refer-\\nence to the modes of causes. In the natural world, as for\\nexample in the heavens, causes act in a manner that i3\\nunconfused and regular. All things proceed according to\\ntheir law. Hence the purity of the firmament. In the\\nworld of causes, it is the scientific ideal of purity that\\nevents transpire normally, according to the constitutive\\norder and original law of the creation. But as soon as a\\nsoul transgresses, it breaks out of order, and its whole in-\\nternal working becomes mixed, confused, tumultuous,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0268.jp2"}, "269": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 265\\ncorrupt. Abiding in God, all its internal motions would\\nproceed in the simple, harmonious, orderly progress of the\\nfirmament, and it would be a pure soul. Plunging into\\nsin, it breaks order and falls into mixtures of causes in all\\nits actions. The passions are loose upon the reason, the\\nwill overturns the conscience, the desires become unruly,\\nthe thoughts are some of them suggested by the natural\\nlaw of the mind, and some are thrust in by the disorders of\\nvitiated feeling, corrupt imagination, disordered memory,\\nand morbid impulse. In short, the soul is in a mixture\\nof causes, and so out of all purity. The man is corrupted,\\nas we say, and the word corrupt means broken together, dis-\\nsolved into mixture and confusion which is the opposite\\nof purity.\\nOr finally, we may describe purity absolutely as it is\\nwhen viewed in its own positive quality. And here it is\\nchastity of soul, that state of the spiritual nature in which\\nit is seen to have no contacts, or affinities, but such as fall\\nwithin the circle of unforbidden joy and uncorrupted\\npleasure. It is unsensual, superior to the dominion of pas-\\nsion, living in the pleasures of the mind and of goodness,\\ndevoted in its virgin love, to the converse of truth only,\\nand inaccessible to evil. Absolute purity is untemptable,\\nas in God. Adam therefore was never m absolute purity.\\nHis purity was more negative than positive. He was in-\\nnocent, he had not sinned; but for want of an established\\npositive purity, he was ready to be tempted and open to\\ntemptation. But if he is now among the glorified, he is\\nin absolute purity because he is untemptable. Real chas-\\ntity is that which can not know temptation, and this is\\nwhat we mean by absolute purity. It puts the soul an\\ntruly asunder and apart from the reach of evil sugges-\\n23", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0269.jp2"}, "270": {"fulltext": "266 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\ntion as God himself is, in the glorious chastity of his\\nholiness.\\nIn all these methods we make so many distinct approaches\\nto the true idea of spiritual purity. Distant as the charac-\\nter is from any thing we know in this sad world of defile-\\nment and corrupted life, still it is the aim and purpose oi\\nChristian redemption, as I now proceed\\nII. To show, to raise us up into the state of complete\\npurity before God. The call of the word is, Come now\\nand let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your\\nsins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though\\nthey be red like crimson they shall be as wool. And it is\\ncurious, to observe, when we read the scripture, what an\\napparatus of cleansing God appears to have set in array\\nfor the purification of souls; sprinklings, washings, bap-\\ntisms of water and, what are more searching and more\\nterribly energetic purifiers, baptisms of fire; fierce meltings\\nalso as of silver in the refiner s crucible; purifyings of the\\nflesh and purgings of the conscience; lustrations of blood,\\neven of Christ s own blood washings of the word, and\\nwashings of regeneration by the Holy Ghost. It would\\nseem, on looking at the manifold array of cleansing ele-\\nments, applications, gifts and sacraments, as if God had\\nundertaken it as the great object and crowning mercy of\\nhis reign, to effect a solemn purgation of the world. We\\nseem, as we read, to see him summoning up all angels and\\nministers of his will and instruments of his power, and\\nsending them out in commission to cleanse the sin of the\\nworld, or even to wash the defiled planet itself into purity.\\nOr, if we observe more directly what is said concerning\\nthe particular object of Christ s mission as a work of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0270.jp2"}, "271": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 267\\nredemption, it is plainly declared that he gave himself for\\nthe church, That he might sanctify and cleanse it with\\nthe washing of water by the word, that he might present\\nit unto himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrin-\\nkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and with-\\nout blemish. And then again the disciple himself who\\nhas embraced the Lord, in that which is the chief mercy\\nand last end of his mission, will purify himself, it is de-\\nclared, even as Christ is pure that is, if I rightly under-\\nstand the language of the text, he will be engaged to pu-\\nrify himself, endeavoring after purity, such as Christ him-\\nself reveals. It is not intended, I suppose, to affirm that\\nevery disciple, in the Christian hope, has actually become\\nas pure as Christ, but only that this is his end or mark.\\nBut a question rises here of great practical significance,\\nviz., whether, by a due improvement of the means offered\\nin Christ, or by any possible faith in him, it is given us to\\nattain to a state which can fitly be called purify, or which\\nis to itself a state consciously pure?\\nTo this, I answer both yes and no. There may be a\\nChristian purity that is related to the soul as investiture,\\nor as a condition superinduced, which is not of it, or in it,\\nas pertaining to its own quality, or to the cast of its own\\nhabit. Christ, in other words, may be so completely put\\non that the whole consciousness may be of him, and all\\nthe motions of sins give way to the dominating efficacy of\\nhis harmonious and perfect mind when, at the same time,\\nthe subject viewed in himself, or in the contents and modes\\nof causes in his own personality, is disordered, broken,\\nmixed, chaotic, and widely distant still from real purity.\\nThe point may be illustrated by a supposition. Let a man\\nhabitually narrow and mean in his dispositions, fall into", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0271.jp2"}, "272": {"fulltext": "268 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\nthe society of a great and powerful nature in some one\\ndistinguished for the magnanimity of his impulses. Let\\nthis nobler being be accepted as his friend, trusted in, loved\\nadmired, so as to virtually infold and subordinate the mean\\nperson, as long as he is with him, to his own spirit. This,\\nat least we can imagine, whether any such example ever\\noccurred or not. Now it will be seen that, as long as this\\nnobler natire is side by side with the other, it becomes a\\nkind of investiture, clothes it, as it were, with its own im-\\npulses and even puts it in the sense of magnanimity.\\nConsciously now the mean man is all magnanimous for\\nhis mean thoughts are, by the supposition, drunk up uud\\nlost in the abysses of the nobler nature he clings to. He\\nis magnanimous by investiture that is, by the occupancy\\nof another, who clothes him with his own characters. But\\nif you ask what he is in his own personal habit, cast, or\\nquality, he is little different, possibly, from what he was\\nbefore. He has had the consciousness waked up in him\\nof a generous life and feeling, which is indeed a great boon\\nto his meagre nature, and if he could be kept, for long\\nyears, in the mold of this superinduced character, he would\\nbe gradually assimilated to it. But if the better nature\\nwere to be soon withdrawn by a separation, he would fall\\nback into the native meanness of his own proper person,\\nand be what he was with only slight modifications.\\nNow Christ, in his glorious and divine purity, is that\\nbetter nature which has power, if we believe in him with\\na total all-subjecting faith, to invest us with a complete\\nconsciousness of purity, to bring every thought into cap-\\ntivity to his own incorruptible order and chastity. He is\\nsuch a cause upon us, when so received, that all our mixed\\nmodes of causes, will be subjected to the interior chime of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0272.jp2"}, "273": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 269\\nhis own all perfect harmony. Our consciousness even k\u00c2\u00bb\\ncast in the molds of his for he is so effectually put on,\\nthat he dominates in the whole movement of our experi-\\nence. This, at least, is conceivable as being the permitted\\nor possible triumph of faith while, at the same time, re-\\ngarding what we are in ourselves and apart from this di-\\nvine investiture, we are very far from any suoh purity.\\nStill the case is varied here from that which we just now\\nsupposed, in the fact that the assimilation of the subject\\nparty will be more rapid and certain, because of the agency\\nof the Spirit concurring with the power of Christ and\\nalso in the fact that the union established by faith is more\\ninterior and more indissoluble. He may, therefore, have the\\nSpirit to work in him and the power of Christ to rest upon\\nhim in such measure as to be kept in the conscious chastity\\nof Christ s own love, year by year, and be wrought into a\\ncontinually approaching assimilation to it.\\nThe answer thus given to the question raised agrees at\\nall points, it will be seen, with the scripture, and particu-\\nlarly with what is taught by our apostle in close connec-\\ntion with my text. On one side of it he writes, If we say\\nthat we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is\\nnot in us for, however deep we are in our union to Christ,\\nor however completely we are invested in his purity, we\\nare not in ourselves restored, in the same degree, to the\\ncharacter of it. We are in a kind of anticipative purity,\\nwhich is becoming personal to us and a fixed habit; we\\nare living to be pure, as Christ is but, regarded as apart\\nfrom him, the work is only initiated, we still have sin,\\nwe are broken, disordered, and corrupt. For, as long as\\nwe abide m Christ, our action is from him, not from our\\nown corrupt and broken nature; exactly as the apostle", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0273.jp2"}, "274": {"fulltext": "270 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\nwrites, on the other side of the text, or immediately after\\nWhosoever abideth in him sinneth not. He lives in a con-\\nsciousness, that is, which is not sustained by his own mere\\nhumanly personal character, but by the sense of another,\\nand the righteousness that is of God by faith upon him,\\nThe result, consequently, is that, being thus held up by\\nthe attachment to him of Christ s affinities, he is growing\\nlike him, pure as he is pure. The diseased qualities\\ngendered in him, heretofore, are being gradually purged\\naway. His passions are being tamed to order and refined\\nto God s pure dominion. His imaginations settle into the\\ntruth, and grow healthy and clear. The fashion of this\\nworld is not only broken, as it was in the first moment of\\nGod s discovery to his heart, but the memories of it fade,\\nthe diseased longings are healed, so that all his old affini-\\nties, in this direction, will at last be extirpated. Ail the\\nmixed causes involved in sin or spiritual impurity will fall\\ninto chime, and all the foul currents of evil suggestion be\\ncleared to a transparent flow. The mind will grow regu-\\nlar and simple in its action, ceasing to be vexed, as it was,\\nby noxious mixtures of fear, selfishness, doubt, and tempt-\\nation. And so all the inbred corruptions of its bad state\\nthat is, those which remain over as effects of sin, after sin as\\na voluntary life is forsaken will be gradually purged away.\\nTo illustrate how far it is possible for this purifying\\nwork to go on in the present life, I will simply say that\\nthe very currents of thought, as it is propagated in the\\nmind, may become so purified that, when the will does not\\ninterfere, and the mind is allowed, for an hour, to run in its\\nown way, without hindrance, one thing suggesting another\\nas in reven T there may yet be no evil, wicked, or foul sug\\ngestion thrust into it. Or in the state of sleep, where the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0274.jp2"}, "275": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 271\\nwill never interferes, but the thoughts rush on by a law\\nof their own, the mixed causes of corruption may be so\\nfar cleared away, and the soul restored to such simplicity\\nand pureness, that the dreams will be only dreams of love\\nand beauty peaceful, and clear, and happy somewhat as\\nwe may imagine the waking thoughts of angels to be,\\nThere have been Christians, who have testified to this\\nheavenly sereneness of thought, out of their own experi-\\nence. And precisely this is w T hat Paul refers to, when he\\nspeaks of bringing into captivity every thought to the\\nobedience of Christ. When the mixed causes are taken\\ncaptive in the soul, and Christ is the law of the whole action,\\nthen, in the same degree, simplicity returns and purity.\\nStill the body is dead because of sin. Disease, corrup-\\ntion, so far, at least, remain, and therefore it doth not yet\\nappear what we shall be. Perfect, absolute purity it is\\nhardly supposable may be realized here. Enough to know\\nthat there need be no limit to the process, while life re-\\nmains, and that, when life ends, it may be gloriously ap-\\nproximated to the state of completeness.\\nOr perhaps some one of my audience may just here\\nraise a doubt from the other side, whether absolute\\npurity can ever be restored. Can the soul s chastity, once\\nlost, ever be recovered Having once sinned, can it ever\\nbecome pure in the absolute and perfect sense, as if it had\\nnot? Let no such doubt be harbored. We must not be\\ntoo much under the power of social impressions. If so-\\nciety pronounces on the irredeemable loss of fallen chasti-\\nty, society has no mercy and pride, as well as truth, enters\\ninto its relentless judgments. Be this as it may, God has\\nundertaken to redeem the fall of sin, and restore the soul\\nto purity as a condition of absolute holiness. Browned by", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0275.jp2"}, "276": {"fulltext": "272 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\nsin, mottled by the stains of a corrupted life, he has under-\\ntaken still to give it the whiteness of snow. True he can\\nnot undo what has been done. The sin is committed, the\\ncorruption has followed. Therefore, if there were any\\nprudishness in angelic minds, they might well enough re-\\nfuse forever to own us as beings intact by sin. And yet\\nGod can raise us to a purity that is higher even than the\\npurity of an intact virtue. He can make us untemptably\\npure, pure even as Christ is pure, which Adam certainly\\nwas not. What we call purity in him, prior to his sin, is\\nbeautiful and lovely a pure white lily blooming in the\\ncreation s morning but it is frail also and temptable, and,\\nbefore the noon is up, it hangs upon a broken stem, dis-\\nhonored and torn. God can raise us up, if not to the same,\\nyet to a much higher, and stronger, and more absolute chasti-\\nty, the participation, viz., of his own unchangeable holiness\\nHaving this view of Christ and his gospel, as the plan\\nof God for restoring men to a complete spiritual purity;\\nseeing that he invites us to this, gives us means and aids\\nto realize this, and yields to them that truJy desire it a hope\\nso high as this, I proceed\\nIII. To inquire in what manner we may promote our\\nadvancement toward the state of purity, and finally have\\nit in complete realization.\\nAnd, first of all, we must set our heart upon it. We\\nmust learn to conceive the beauty, and glory, and the es-\\nsential beatitude of a pure state. We must see the degra-\\ndation, realize the bitterness, confusion, disorder, instabili-\\nty, and conflict of a mixed state, where all the causes of\\ninternal action are thrown out of God s original law. We\\nmust learn to conceive, on the other hand t and what can", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0276.jp2"}, "277": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 27S\\nbe more difficult the dignity, the beauty, the infinitely\\npeaceful and truly divine elevation of a pure soul. Noth-\\ning is more distant from us, in our unreflective, headlong\\nstate of carnality and self-devotion, than to conceive purity.\\nIt is high like God, and we can not attain unto it. And\\ntherefore our desire after it can not be duly inflamed, or\\nkindled as it must be, if we are ever to obtain it.\\nLabor then, with all closest, most persistent application, to\\nconceive purity what it would be to you, if your soul\\nwere in it the consciousness of it the essential peace\\nthe elevation above all passion and unregulated impulse\\nthe singleness and simplicity of it the glowing shapes\\nand glorified visions of a pure imagination the oneness\\nof your soul with God; the conscious participation of\\nwhat is highest in God, his untemptable chastity in good-\\nness and truth. Work at this idea of purity, turn it round\\nand round in your contemplations, reach after it, pray\\nyourself into it, and have it thus as the highest conceiv-\\nable good, the real good you seek, to be pure. Let it be\\nyour life to envy God s purity, if I may so speak for, if\\nthere be any holy, and blessed, and fruitful kind of envy,\\nit is this. Have it as the accepted aim and effort of youi\\nlife, to be assimilated thus in purity to God for when such\\na desire becomes practically fixed in you, the way will\\ncertainly be found. The way to purity is difficult oi\\ndiscovery only to those who practically do not care to\\nfind it.\\nOne of your early discoveries will be, that the way to\\nattain to parity of soul is, not to forsake the world and re-\\ntire from it. This wan the error that originally carried\\nmen and women into remote deserts and caves, and finally\\nbuilt up monasteries and instituted vows of single life, or", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0277.jp2"}, "278": {"fulltext": "274 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED\\ncelibacy. It was to get away from the world, and have\\nnothing to think of but Grod, and so to present the soul as\\na chaste virgin to Christ. It was called the state of spirit-\\nual chastity, and the souls thus taken out of the world\\nwere supposed to be specially pur e and incorrupt, or in a\\ncertain way to be. It was as if the church had prayed,\\ndirectly against Christ s word, to be taken out of the world.\\nAnd then, what a horrible imposture did this unchristian\\ngospel of purity prove itself, ere long, to be! No, the\\nonly real and truly christian way of purity is to live in the\\nopen world and not be of it, and keep the soul unspotted\\nfrom it. There are no fires that will melt out our drossy\\nand corrupt particles like God s refining fires of duty and\\ntrial, living, as he sends us to live, in the open field of the\\nworld s sins and sorrows, its plausibilities and lies, its per-\\nsecutions, animosities, and fears, its eager delights and bit-\\nter wants.\\nSt. Francis de Sales had been able, in his knowledge of\\nthe cloistered men and the cloistered life, to see how neces-\\nsary it is for the soul to be aired in the outward exposures\\nof the world, and, if we do net stop to question the facts\\nof his illustrations, no one has spoken of this necessity\\nwith greater force and beauty of conception. Many per-\\nsons believe, he says, that, as no beast dares taste the\\nseed of the herb Palma Christi, so no man ought to aspire\\nto the palm of christian piety, as long as he lives in the\\nbustle of temporal affairs. Now, to such I shall prove\\nthat, as the mother-pearl fish lives in the sea without re-\\nceiving a drop of salt water and as, toward the Chelido-\\nirian islands, springs of fresh water may be found in the\\nmidst of the sea; and as the fire-fly passes through the\\nflames, without burning its wings; so a vigorous and reso-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0278.jp2"}, "279": {"fulltext": "TEE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 275\\nlute soul may live in the world, without being infected\\nwith any of its humors, may discover sweet springs of pietj\\namidst its salt waters, and fly among the flames of earthh\\nconcupiscence, without burning the wings of the holy de-\\nsires of a devout life. It was only forbidden him to say,\\nwhat is not forbidden me, that here alone, in these common\\nexposures of work and contacts of duty, is true christian\\npurity itself successfully cultivated. Alas for the man\\nwho is obliged, to be shut up to himself, as in the convent\\nlife, to face his own lusts, disorders, and passions, and\\nstrangle them in direct conflict, with nothing else to do or\\nto occupy the soul.\\nHaving this determined, that he who will purify himself\\nas Christ is pure must live in the world, then one thing\\nmore is needed, viz., that we live in Christ, and seek to be\\nas closely and intimately one with him as possible. And\\nthis includes more things than the time will suffer me to\\nname.\\nFirst, a willingness wholly to cease from the old man, as\\ncorrupt, in order that a completely new man from Christ\\nmay be formed in you for, if you will halve the sacri-\\nfice and retain what portion is safe or convenient of the\\nold life of nature, it is no such thing as purity that you\\npropose, nothing but a baptizing of mixture and defile-\\nment. I call it a new man that you want, after the scrip-\\nture method, because the character is the man more truly\\nthan any thing else, and there is no purity but to be com-\\npletely new. Therefore the old must as completely\\ndie, which it will not, if wc secretly nourish and cling\\nto it.\\nSecondly, the life must be determined implicitly by the\\nfaith of Christ, Purifying their hearts by faith, sa3 r s an", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0279.jp2"}, "280": {"fulltext": "276 THE LOST PURITY RESTORED.\\napostle; well understanding that faitli in Christ as the true\\nsacrifice and grace, is the only power that can purge the\\nconscience from dead works to serve the living God in\\npurity. It is faith only that can truly appropriate Christ\\nas a Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, and faith-\\nful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Then again,\\nwhich is more, if possible, it is faith alone that enables one\\nto embrace Christ as a power, and live in the society of his\\nperson for it is thus, pre-eminently, that a soul may be-\\ncome purified. It is Christ beheld, with face unveiled, re-\\nflecting God s own beauty and love upon us, as in a glass,\\nthat changes us from glory to glory. If by faith we go\\nwith Christ if we bear his cross in duty after him if we\\nhang upon his words, wrestle with him in his agony, die\\nwith him in his passion, rise with him in his resurrection\\nin a word, if we are perfectly insphered in his society, so\\nas to be of it, then we shall grow pure. The assimilating\\npower of Christ, when faithfully adhered to as the soul s\\ndivine brother, and lived with and lived upon, will infalli-\\nbly renovate, transform, and purify us. The result is just\\nas certain as our oneness or society with him. We shall\\ngrow pure because he is. The glorious power of his char-\\nacter and life will so invest our nature, that we shall\\nbe in it and live it. It is only they that talk much of\\nfaith, meaning by it the faith of notions and opinions,\\nand not the faith of Jesus as a personal revelation,\\nthese only it is who can not be purified by their faith.\\nSometimes they even have it as their merit, judging from\\ntheir confessions, that they are growing more and more\\ncorrupt. Having that faith to which Jesus is personally\\nrevealed, you can be conscious of a growing purity of soul,\\nand I know not any other way. God forbid that you should", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0280.jp2"}, "281": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 277\\nthink of making purity for yourself, or by any operation\\non yourself. It must flow into you from above. It must\\nbe the new man that is created in Christ Jesus, created\\nby your faith, as receiving of him and of his fullness,\\ngrace for grace. And 0, the dignity, the conscious bless-\\nedness of a life of faith, when it knows in itself, or dis-\\ntinctly sees, the divine purity forming its own chaste image\\nof love and truth within beholds the fine linen, clean\\nand white, which is the righteousness of the saints invest-\\ning the soul, as a robe of life from God! In such a\\nlife there is consciously something going on, which an-\\nswers to the great errand of life and gives it the seal of\\nblessing.\\nAgain, passing over many other particulars, I will simply\\ndraw your minds a little closer to the text by observing,\\nas included in the general idea of living in Christ, a look-\\ning forward to him in his exalted state, and an habitual\\nconverse with him there, He that hath this hope in him/\\nsays the text understanding that the hope of being with\\nChrist, and seeing him as he is, does of itself draw the soul\\ntoward his purity. I say not that we are to be looking\\naway to heaven, as being disgusted with the world much\\nless to be praising heaven s adorable purity in high words\\nof contrast, as if to excuse or atone for the lack of all\\npurity here. I only say that we are to be much in the\\nmeditation of Christ as glorified, surrounded with the glori-\\nfied to let our mind be hallowed by its pure converse and\\nthe themes in which it dwells; to live in the anticipation\\nof what is most pure in the universe, as being what wo\\nmost love and long for in the universe and so we are\\nto be raised by our longings, and purified with Christ bj\\nthe hop?s we rest upon his person. This hope, this reaeh-\\n24", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0281.jp2"}, "282": {"fulltext": "278\\nTHE LOST PUKITY RESTORED\\nmg upward of soul to Christ, is exactly what Paul means,\\nwhen he speaks of living a life that is hid with Christ in\\nGod. When a soul is there infolded, hid with Christ in\\nthe recesses of God s pure majesty, 0, what airs of health\\nbreathe upon it and through it how vital does it become,\\nand how rapidly do the mixed causes of sin settle into the\\ntransparent flow of order and peace\\nIt only remains to just name\\nIV. Some of the signs by which our growth in purity\\nmay be known. This I will do in the briefest manner\\npossible, and conclude.\\nFastidiousness then, I will first of all caution you, is not\\nany evidence of purity, but the contrary. A fastidious\\ncharacter is one that shows, by excess of delicacy, a real\\ndefect and loss of it. It is too delicate to be practical,\\nsimply because it is practically indelicate and corrupt.\\nHence, in religion, it is a great principle that, to the pure\\nall things are pure. When any disciple, therefore, calls it\\npurity to be shocked or repelled by the scripture names of\\nsins, or the practical works of mercy needed in a world\\nof shame and defilement, he reveals therein a bad imagina-\\ntion and a mind that is itself defiled. No, the true signs\\nof purity are these\\nThat we abide in the conscious light of God, while liv-\\ning in a world of defilement, and know him as a presence\\nmanifested in the soul. Blessed are the pure in heart, for\\nthey shall see God. Purity sees God.\\nA good conscience signifies the same for the conscience,\\nlike the eye, is troubled by any speck of defilement and\\nwrong that falls into it.\\nA growing sensibility to sin signifies the same for, if", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0282.jp2"}, "283": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PUKITY RESTORED. 279\\nthe conscience giows peaceful and clear, it will also grow\\ntender and delicate.\\nIf you are more able to be singular and think less of the\\nopinions of men, not in a scornful way but in love, that\\nagain shows that the world s law is losing its power over\\nyou, and your devotion to God is growing more single and\\ntrue.\\nDo you find that passion is submitting itself to the gentle\\nreis;n of God within vou, losing its heat and fierceness,\\nand becoming tamed under the sweet dominion of chris-\\ntian love That again is the growth of purity.\\nThe discovery that your imagination ceases to revel in\\nimages of wrong, revenge, and lust, becoming at once\\nmore quiet and more clear, conceiving God and Christ and\\nunseen worlds of purity, with greater distinctness and sub-\\nlimity, and roving, as by a divine instinct, among the eter-\\nnal verities and transcendent glories of a perfect state, ask-\\ning there to be employed and nowhere else with so great\\nzest, this also shows that a high and sacred affinity for what\\nis pure is growing stronger and more clear within you.\\nSo, again, if jovoc feeling reaches after heaven, and your\\nlongings are thitherward, if you love and long for it because\\nchiefly of its purity loosened from this world not by your\\nwearinesses and disgusts, which all men suffer, but by the\\npositive affinities of your heart for what is best and purest\\nabove, this also is a powerful token of growing purification.\\nDo you also find that your thoughts, when freest and\\nmost unrestrained, are yet growing simple, orderly, right,\\nand true, interrupted less and less frequently by bad 01\\nwicked suggestion? then you have in this a most convinc-\\ning and conclusive proof, that you are being delivered of\\nthe mixtures and defilements of a corrupted nature.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0283.jp2"}, "284": {"fulltext": "280 THE LOST PUKITY RESTOKED.\\nOr, again, it is a yet more simple sign, and one that in-\\ncludes, in a manner, all others, if you find that you are\\ndeeper and deeper in the love of Christ. For, if Christ\\nspreads himself over your being, and you begin to know\\nnothing else and want nothing else if you love him foi\\nhis character, as the only perfect, and cleave to his sinless\\nlife, as the holiest, and loveliest, and grandest miracle of\\nthe earth if words begin to faint when you speak of him,\\nand all that can be said or thought looks cheap and low,\\ncompared with what he is then it is most certain that you\\nare growing in purity for the growing enlargement of your\\napprehensions of Christ is the result of a growing purity,\\nand will be also the cause of a purity more perfect still.\\nAnd now, my brethren, I have many things to say, bu t\\nI only ask whether you perceive, by signs like these, that\\nyou are growing pure? That you believe yourselves to bo\\ndisciples we know, that is easy but I ask you here seri-\\nously, before God, whether you find that your religion haa\\nany purifying power Is it a baptism Is it a finer s\\nfire? Does it move you to cry, Create in me a clean\\nheart, 0, God? True piety, brethren, is a power, and\\npurity is the result; a result, as I have shown you, that\\nmay be indefinitely realized, even here on earth. Is it\\nrealized in you by the signs I have named? You hope\\nin Christ that you shall be with him, and see him as he is.\\n0, it is well, the most elevating hope, the most inspiring\\nand celestial thought, which ever fell into the soul of a\\nmortal I only ask if you see in your life, in the practi-\\ncal bent of your works, that this hope has verity enough\\nin you to take hold of your springs of action, and bring\\nyou into a true endeavor after Christ s purity What an\\nopinion then will you be seen to have of the soul when", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0284.jp2"}, "285": {"fulltext": "THE LOST PURITY RESTORED. 281\\nyon are living for its purity And then, wliat sublimity\\nis there to your eye in that state of glory, in which your\\nsoul practically dwelleth among its kindred spirits, pure\\nas they, and all as Christ is pure. These are they that\\nhave washed their robes and made them white in the blood\\nof the Lamb.\\nBut how little signifies this discourse of purity to very\\nmany of my hearers! I well understand the vacant,\\ndreamy sound of such discourses before the concep-\\ntion of purity, and the sense of it gotten out of the want,\\nand out of Christ the supply, is opened to the soul. What\\nis there so great in purity? who, that is untouched by\\nGod s gracious quickening, cares enough for purity to give\\nthe word an earnest significance It has, of course, no\\ngreatness to us, because the fact itself is a lost fact. We\\ncan not think it, because it is really gone out of the\\nmind s reach and knowledge. But, 0, when once the\\nheart feels a touch of its divinity, then a yearning is\\nwakened, then the greatest and sublimest thing for a\\nmortal is the unmixed life a soul established in the\\neternal chastity of truth and goodness 0, God who of\\nthis people shall ever know what it is I can not tell\\nthem thou alone canst breathe into them, and set in their\\nliving apprehension a truth so impossible for any mere\\nwords to express\\nThis only I can testify, as God has given me words,\\n(and I pray God to show you their meaning.) that the\\nheaven we are sent here to prepare, is a most pure\\nworld, open only to the pure; And there shall, in no-\\nwise, enter into it any tiling that defileth, neither whatso-\\never worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they that\\nare written in the Lamb s book of life.\\n24*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0285.jp2"}, "286": {"fulltext": "XV.\\nLIVING TO GOD IK SMALL THINGS.\\nLuke xvi. 10. He that is faithful in that which is least,\\nis faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is\\nunjust also in much.\\nA readiness to do some great thing is not peculiar to\\nNaaman the Syrian. There are many Christians who can\\nnever find a place large enough to do their duty. They\\nmust needs strain after great changes, and their works\\nmust utter themselves by a loud report. Any reform in\\nsociety, short of a revolution, any improvement in charac-\\nter, less radical than that of conversion, is too faint a work,\\nin their view, to be much valued. Xor is. it merely am-\\nbition, but often it is a truly christian zeal, guarded by\\nno sufficient views of the less imposing matters of life,\\nwhich betrays men into such impressions. If there be\\nany thing, in fact, wherein the views of Grod and the im-\\npressions of men are apt to be at total variance, it is in\\nrespect to the solemnity and importance of ordinary duties.\\nThe hurtfulness of mistake here, is of course very great.\\nTrying always to do great things, to have extraordinary\\noccasions every day, or to produce extraordinary changes,\\nwhen small ones are quite as much needed, ends, of course,\\nin defeat and dissipation. It produces a sort of religicn in\\nthe gross, which is no religion in particular. My text\\nleads me to speak", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0286.jp2"}, "287": {"fulltext": "LIVING TO GOD. 283\\nOf the importance of living to God on common occasions\\nomd in small things.\\nHe that is faithful in that which is least, saj^s the Saviour\\nis faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least,\\nis imj ust also in much. This was a favorite sentiment with\\nhim. In his sermon on the mount, it was thus expressed\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nWhosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least\\ncommandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called\\nthe least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall\\ndo and teach them, the same shall be called great in the\\nkingdom of heaven. And when he rebuked the Pharisees,\\nin their tything of mint, anise, and cummin, he was care-\\nful to speak very guardedly These things ought ye to\\nhave done, and not to leave the other undone. It will\\ninstruct us in prosecuting this subject\\n1. To notice how little we know concerning the relative\\nimportance of events and duties. We use the terms great\\nand small in speaking of actions, occasions, plans, and du-\\nties, only in reference to the mere outward look and first\\nimpression. Some of the most latent agents and mean\\nlooking substances in nature, are yet the most operative;\\nbut yet, when we speak of natural objects, we call them\\ngreat or small, not according to their operativeness, but-\\naccording to size, count, report, or show. So it comes to\\npass, when we are classing actions, duties, or occasions,\\nthat we call a certain class great and another small, when\\nreally the latter are many fold more important and influ-\\nential than the former. We may suppose, for illustration,\\ntwo transactions in business, as different in their nominal\\namount as a million of dollars and a single dollar. The\\nformer we call a large transaction, the latter a small one,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0287.jp2"}, "288": {"fulltext": "284. LIVING TO GOD\\nBut God might reverse these terms. He would have no\\nsuch thought as the counting of dollars. He would look,\\nfirst of all, at the principle involved in the two cases. And\\nhere he would discover, not unlikely, that the nominally\\nsmall one, owing to the nature of the transaction, or to the\\nhumble condition of the parties, or to their peculiar tem-\\nper and disposition, took a deeper hold of their being, and\\ndid more to settle or unsettle great and everlasting princi-\\nple, than the other. Next, perhaps, he would look at the\\nconsequences of the two transactions, as developed in the\\ngreat future; and here he would perhaps discover that\\nthe one which seems to us the smaller, is the hinge ol\\nvastly greater consequences than the other. If the dollars\\nhad been sands of dust, they would not have had less\\nweight in the divine judgment.\\nWe are generally ignorant of the real significance of\\nevents, which we think we understand. Almost every\\nperson can recollect one or more instances, where the whole\\nafter-current of his life was turned by some single word,\\nor some incident so trivial as scarcely to fix his notice at\\nthe time. On the other hand, many great crises of danger,\\nmany high and stirring occasions, in which, at the time,\\nhis total being was absorbed, have passed by, leaving no\\ntrace of effect on his permanent interests, and are well\\nnigh vanished from, his memory. The conversation of the\\nstage-coach is often preparing results, which the solemn\\nassembly and the most imposing and eloquent rites will\\nfail to produce. What countryman, knowing the dairy-\\nman s daughter, could have suspected that she was living\\nto a mightier purpose and result, than almost any person\\nm the church of God, however eminent? The outward\\nof occasions and duties is, in fact, almost no index of their", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0288.jp2"}, "289": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 285\\nimportance; and our judgments concerning what is great\\nand small, are without any certain validity. These terms\\nas we use them, are, in fact, only words of outward de-\\nscription, not words of definite measurement.\\n2. It is to be observed, that even as the world judges\\nsmall things constitute almost the whole of life. The\\ngreat days of the year, for example, are few, and when\\nthey come, they seldom bring any thing great to us. And\\nthe matter of all common days is made up of little things,\\nor ordinary and stale transactions. Scarcely once in a year\\ndoes any thing really remarkable befall us. If I were to\\nbegin and give an inventory of the things you do in any\\nsingle day, your muscular motions, each of which is accom-\\nplished by a separate act of will, the objects you see, the\\nwords you utter, the contrivances you frame, your thoughts,\\npassions, gratifications, and trials, many of you would not\\nbe able to hear it recited with sobriety. But three hun-\\ndred and sixty-five such days make up a year, and a year\\nis a twentieth, fiftieth, or seventieth part of your life.\\nAnd thus, with the exception of some few striking pass-\\nages, or great and critical occasions, perhaps not more than\\nfive or six in all, your life is made up of common, and as\\nmen are wont to judge, unimportant things. But yet, at\\nthe end, you have done up an amazing work, and fixed\\nan amazing result. You stand at the bar of God, and\\nlook back on a life made up of small things but yet a\\nlife, how momentous, for good or evil\\n3. It very much exalts, as well as sanctions, the view I\\nam advancing, that God is so observant ol small things.\\nHe upholds the sparrow s wing, clothes the lily with his\\nown beautifying hand, and numbers the hairs of his child-\\nren He holds the balancings of the clouds. He maketh", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0289.jp2"}, "290": {"fulltext": "286 LIVING TO GOD\\nsmall the drops of rain. It astonishes all thought to ob\u00c2\u00ab\\nserve the minuteness of God s government, and of the\\nnatural and common processes which he carries on from\\nday to day. His dominions are spread out, system beyond\\nsystem, system above system, filling all hight and lati-\\ntude, but he is never lost in the vast or magnificent. lie\\ndescends to an infinite detail, and builds a little universe\\nin the smallest things. He carries on a process of growth\\nin every tree, and flower, and living thing accomplishes\\nin each an N internal organization and works the functiona\\nof an internal laboratory, too delicate all for eye or in-\\nstrument to trace. He articulates the members and im-\\npels the instincts of every living mote that shines in the\\nsunbeam. As when we ascend toward the distant and the\\nvast so when we descend toward the minute, we see his\\nattention acuminated, and his skill concentrated on his ob-\\nject; and the last discernible particle dies out of our sight\\nwith the same divine glory on it, as on the last orb that\\nglimmers in the skirt of the universe. God is as careful\\nto finish the mote as the planet, both because it consists\\nonly with his perfection to finish every thing, and because\\nthe perfection of his greatest structures is the result of per-\\nfection in their smallest parts or particles. On this patience\\nof detail rests all the glory and order of the created uni-\\nverse, spiritual and material. God could thunder the yeai\\nround he could shake the ribs of the world with perpet-\\nual earthquakes he could blaze on the air, and brush the\\naffrighted mountains, each day with his comets. But if\\nhe could not feed the grass with his dew, and breath into\\nthe little lungs of his insect family; if he could not ex*\\npend his care on small things, and descend to an interest\\nin their perfection, his works would be only crude and dis-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0290.jp2"}, "291": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 287\\njointed machines, compounded of mistakes and malforma-\\ntions, without beauty and order, and fitted to no perfect\\nend.\\nThe works of Christ are, if possible, a still brighter\\nillustration of the same truth. Notwithstanding the vast\\nstretch and compass of the work of redemption, it i3 a\\nwork of the most humble detail in its style of execution.\\nThe Saviour could have preached a sermon on the mount\\nevery morning. Each night he could have stilled the sea,\\nbefore his astonished disciples, and shown the conscious\\nwaves lulling into peace under his feet. He could ha\\\\e\\ntransfigured himself before Pilate and the astonished mul-\\ntitudes of the temple. He could have made visible ascen-\\nsions in the noon of every day, and revealed his form\\nstanding in the sun, like the angel of the apocalypse. But\\nthis was not his mind. The incidents of which his work\\nis principally made up, are, humanly speaking, very hum-\\nble and unpretending. The most faithful pastor in the\\nworld was never able, in any degree, to approach the Sa-\\nviour, in the lowliness of his manner and his attention to\\nhumble things. His teachings were in retired places, and\\nhis illustrations drawn from ordinary affairs. If the finger\\nof faith touched him in the crowd, he knew the touch and\\ndistinguished also the faith. He reproved the ambitious\\nhousewifery of an humble woman. After he had healed\\na poor being, blind from his birth a work transcending\\nall but divine power he returned and sought him out, aa\\nthe most humble Sabbath-school teacher might have done;\\nand when he had found him, cast out and persecuted by\\nmen, he taught him privately the highest secrets of his\\nMessiahship. When the world around hung darkened in\\nsympathy with his cross, and the earth was shaking with", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0291.jp2"}, "292": {"fulltext": "r\\n88 LIVING TO GOD\\ninward amazement, lie himself was remembering his\\nmother, and discharging the filial cares of a good son.\\nAnd when he burst the bars of death, its first and final\\nconquercr, he folded the linen clothes and the napkin, and\\nlaid them in order apart, showing that in the greatest\\nthings, he had a set purpose also concerning the smallest.\\nAnd thus, when perfectly scanned, the work of Christ s\\nredemption, like the created universe, is seen to be a\\nvast orb of glory, wrought up out of finished particles,\\nNow a life of great and prodigious exploits would have\\nbeen comparatively an easy thing for him, but to cover\\nhimself with beauty and glory in small things, to fill and\\nadorn every little human occasion, so as to make it divine,\\nthis was a work of skill, which no mind or hand was\\nequal to, but that which shaped the atoms of the world.\\nSuch everywhere is God. He nowhere overlooks or de-\\nspises small things.\\n4. It is a fact of history and of observation, that all\\nefficient men, while they have been men of comprehension,\\nhave also been men of detail. I wish it were possible to\\nproduce as high an example of this two-fold character\\namong the servants of God and benevolence in these times,\\nas we have in that evj prodigy of war and conquest, who,\\nin the beginning of the present century, desolated Europe\\nNapoleon was the most effective man in modern times\\nsome will say of all times. The secret of his character\\nwas, that while his plans were more vast, more various,\\nand. of course, more difficult than those of other men, he\\nhad the talent, at the same time, to fill them up with per-\\nfect promptness and precision, in every particular of ex-\\necution. His vast and daring plans would have been vis-\\nionary in any other man but with him every vision flew", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0292.jp2"}, "293": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 289\\nout of his brain, a chariot of iron because it was filled\\nrip, in all the particulars of execution, to be a solid and\\ncompact framework in every part. His armies were to-\\ngether only one great engine of desolation, of which he\\nwas the head or brain. Numbers, spaces, times, were all\\ndistinct in his eye. The wheeling of every legion, how-\\never remote, was mentally present to him. The tramp of\\nevery foot sounded in his ear. The numbers were always\\nsupplied, the spaces passed over, the times met, and so the\\nwork was done. The nearest moral approximation I think\\nof, was Paul the apostle. Paul had great principles, great\\nplans, and a great enthusiasm. He had the art, at the\\nsame time, to bring his great principles into a powerful\\napplication to his own conduct, and to all the common\\naffairs of all the disciples in his churches. He detected\\nevery want, understood every character set his guards\\nagainst those whom he distrusted kept all his work turn-\\ning in a motion of discipline prompted to every duty.\\nYou will find his epistles distinguished by great princi-\\nples; and, at the same time, by a various and circumstan-\\ntial attention to all the common affairs of life and, in\\nthat, you have the secret of his efficiency. There must be\\ndetail in every great work. It is an element of effective-\\nness, which no reach of plan, no enthusiasm of purpose,\\ncan dispense with. Thus, if a man conceives the idea of\\nbecoming eminent in learning, but cannot toil through the\\nmillion of little drudgeries necessary to carry him on, hia\\nlearning will be soon told. Or, if a man undertakes to be-\\ncome rich, but despises the small and gradual advances by\\nwhich wealth is ordinarily accumulated, his expectations\\nwill, of course, be the sum of his riches. Accurate and\\ncareful detail, the minding of common occasions and small\\n2S", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0293.jp2"}, "294": {"fulltext": "290 LIVING TO GOB\\ntilings, combined with general scope and vigor, is tLe se-\\ncret of all the efficiency and success in the world. God\\nhas so ordered things, that great and sudden leaps are sel-\\ndom observable. Every advance in the general must be\\nmade by advances in particular. The trees and the corn\\ndo not leap out suddenly into maturity, but they climb\\nupward, by little and little, and after the minutest possible\\nincrement. The orbs of heaven, too, accomplish their cir-\\ncles not by one or two extraordinary starts or springs, but\\nby traveling on through paces and roods of the sky. It\\nis thus, and only thus, that any disciple will become effi-\\ncient in the service of his Master. He can not do up his\\nworks of usefulness by the prodigious stir and commotion\\nof a few extraordinary occasions. Laying down great\\nplans, he must accomplish them by great industry, by\\nminute attentions, by saving small advances, by working\\nout his way as God shall assist him.\\n5. It is to be observed, that there is more of real piety\\nin adorning one small than one great occasion. This may\\nseem paradoxical, but what I intend will be seen by one\\nor two illustrations. I have spoken of the minuteness of\\nGod s works. When I regard the eternal God as engaged\\nin polishing an atom, or elaborating the functions of a\\nmote invisible to the eye, what evidence do I there receive\\nof his desire to perfect his works! No gross and mighty\\nworld, however plausibly shaped, would yield a hundredth\\npart the intensity of evidence. An illustration from hu-\\nman things will present a closer parallel. It is perfectly\\nwell understood, or if not, it should be, that almost any\\nhusband would leap into the sea, or rush into a burning\\nedifice to rescue a perishing wife. But to anticipate the\\nconvenience or happiness of a wife in some small matter,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0294.jp2"}, "295": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 293\\nthe neglect of which would be unobserved, is a more elo-\\nquent proof of tenderness. This shows a mindful fond-\\nness, which wants occasions in which to express itself,\\nAnd the smaller the occasion seized upon, the more in-\\ntensely affectionate is the attention paid. Piety to\\\\* ard\\nGod may be well tested or measured, in the same way.\\nPeter found no difficulty in drawing his sword and fight-\\ning for his Master, even at the hazard of his life, though\\nbut an hour or less afterward he forsook him and denied\\nhim. His valor on that great and exciting occasion was\\nno proof of his piety. But when the gentle Mary came,\\nwith her box of ointment, and poured it on the Saviour s\\nhead an act which satisfied no want, met no exigency,\\nand was of no use, except as a gratuitous and studied proof\\nof her attachment to Jesus, he marks it as an eminent ex-\\nample of piety; saying Verily I say unto you where-\\nsoever this gospel shall be preached in the world, there\\nalso shall this, that this woman hath clone, be told for a\\nmemorial of her.\\nMy brethren, this piety which is faithful in that which\\nis least, is really a more difficult piety than that which\\ntriumphs and glares on high occasions. Our judgments\\nare apt to be dazzled by a vain admiration of the more\\npublic attempts and the more imposing manifestations of\\noccasional zeal. It requires less piety, I verily believe, to\\nbe a martyr for Christ, than it does to love a powerless\\nenemy; or to look upon the success of a rival withoui\\nenvy or even to maintain a perfect and guileless integrity\\nin the common transactions of life. Precisely this, in fact,\\nis the lesson which history teaches. How many, alas! of\\nthose who have died in the manner of martyrdom, mani-\\nfestly sought that distinction, and brought it on themselves", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0295.jp2"}, "296": {"fulltext": "292 LIVING TO GOD\\nby instigation of a mere fanatical ambition 1 Such facts\\nseem designed to show us that the common spheres of life\\nand business, the small matters of the street, the shop, the\\nhearth, and the table, are more genial to true piety, than\\nany artificial extraordinary scenes of a more imposing de-\\nscription. Excitement, ambition, a thousand questionable\\ncauses, may elevate us occasionally to great attempts but\\nthey will never lead us into the more humble duties of\\nconstancy and godly industry or teach us to adorn the\\nunpretending spheres of life with a heavenly spirit. We\\nlove to do great things our natural pride would be greatly\\npleased, if God had made the sky taller, the world larger,\\nand given us a more royal style of life and duty. But he\\nunderstands us well. His purpose is to heal our infirmity;\\nand with this very intent, I am persuaded, he has ordained\\nthese humble spheres of action, so that no ostentation, no\\ngreat and striking explosions of godliness shall tempt our\\nheart. And in the same way, his word declares, that be-\\nstowing all one s goods to feed the poor, or giving one s body\\nto be burned, and, of consequence, that great speeches and\\ndonations, that a mighty zeal for reform, that a prodigious\\njealousy for sound doctrine, without something better\\nwithout charity, profiteth nothing. And the picture of\\ncharity is humble enough It suffereth long and is kind,\\nenvieth not, v r aunteth not itself; is not puffed up. doth not\\nbehave itself unseemly seeketh not her own, is not easily\\nprovoked, thinketh no evil, beareth all things, believeth\\nall things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.\\n6, The importance of living to God, in ordinary and\\nemail things, is seen, in the fact that character, which is\\nthe end of religion, is in its very nature a growth. Con-\\nversion is a great change old tilings are passed away", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0296.jp2"}, "297": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 293\\nbehold all things are become new. This however is the\\nlanguage of a hope or confidence, somewhat prophetic, ex-\\nulting, at the beginning, in the realization df future victory.\\nThe young disciple, certainly, is far enough from a con-\\nsciousness of complete deliverance from sin. In that re*\\nspect, his work is but just begun. He is now in the blade;\\nwe shall see him next in the ear and after that, he will\\nripen to the full corn in the ear. His character, as a man\\nand a Christian, is to accomplish its stature by growing.\\nAnd all the offices of life, domestic, social, civil, useful,\\nare contrived of God to be the soil, as Christ is the sun,\\nof such a growth. All the cares, wants, labors, dangers,\\naccidents, intercourses of life, are adjusted for the very\\npurpose of exercising and ripening character. They are\\nprecisely adapted for this end, by Gccl s all-perfect wisdom.\\nThis, in fact, is the grand philosophy of the structure of\\nall things. And, accordingly,, there never has been a\\ngreat and beautiful character, which has not become so by\\nfilling well the ordinary and smaller offices appointed of\\nGod.\\nThe wonderful fortunes of Joseph seem, at first, to have\\nfallen suddenly upon him, and altogether by a miracle.\\nBut a closer attention to his history will show ycu that he\\nrose only by a gradual progress, and by the natural power\\nof his virtues. The astonishing art he had of winning the\\nconfidence of others had, after all, no magic in it save the\\nmagic of goodness and God assisted him, only as he as-\\nsists other good men. The growth of his fortunes was\\nthe shadow only of his growth in character. By his assi-\\nduity, he made every tiling prosper and by his good faith,\\nhe won the confidence, first of Potiphar, then of the keeper\\nof the prison, then of Pharaoh himself. And so he grew\\n25*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0297.jp2"}, "298": {"fulltext": "294 LIVING TO GOD\\nup gently and silently till the helm of the Egyptian king-\\ndom was found in his hand.\\nPeter, too, after he had flourished so vaunting! v with\\nhis sword, entered on a growing and faithful life. From\\nan ignorant fisherman, he became a skillful writer, a fin-\\nished Christian, and a teacher of faithful living, in the\\ncommon offices of life. He occupied his great apostleship\\nin exhorting subjects to obey the ordinances of governors\\nfor the Lord s sake; servants to be subject to their mas-\\nters wives to study such a carriage as would win their\\nunbelieving husbands and husbands to give honor to the\\nwife, as being heirs together of the grace of life. But in a\\nmanner to comprehend every thing good, he said Giving\\nall diligence (this is the true notion of Christian excel-\\nlence) giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to vir-\\ntue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, to temperance\\npatience, to patience godliness, to godliness brotherly kind-\\nness, and to brotherly kindness charity. The impression\\nis unavoidable, that he now regarded religion, not as a\\nsword fight, but as a growth of holy character, kept up\\nby all diligence in the walks of life.\\nEvery good example in the word of God, is an illustra-\\ntion of the same truth. To finish a character on a sudden,\\nor by any but ordinary duties, carefully and piously done,\\nby a mere religion of Sundays and birth-days, and revi-\\nvals and contributions, and orthodoxies, and public re*\\nforms, is nowhere undertaken. They watered the plant\\nin secret, trained it up at family altars, strengthened it in\\nthe exposures of business, till it became a beautiful and\\nheavenly growth, and ready, with all its blooming fruit,\\nto adorn the paradise of God.\\nIt ought also to be noticed, under this head, that all the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0298.jp2"}, "299": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 295\\nmischiefs which, befall Christian character and destroy its\\ngrowth, are such as lie in the ordinary humble duties of\\nlife. Christians do not fall back into declension or dis-\\ngraceful apostacy on a sudden, or by the overcoming pow-\\ner of great and strange temptations. They are stolen away\\nrather by little and little, and almost insensibly to them-\\nselves, They commonly fall into some lightness of car-\\nriage ;--some irritation of temper in their family or business\\nsome neglect of duty to children, apprentices, or friends\\nsome artfulness; some fault of integrity in business.\\nThese are the beginnings of evil. At length they grow a\\nlittle more remiss. They begin to slight their secret duties.\\nThe world and its fashions become more powerful, and\\nthey yield a little farther till at length they are utterly\\nfallen from the spirit and standing of Christians. And\\nthus, you perceive that all the dangers which beset our\\npiety, lie in the humble and ordinary matters of life.\\nHere then is the place where religion must make her con-\\nquests. Here she must build her barriers and take her\\nstand. And if it be a matter of consequence that the peo-\\nple of God should live constant and godly lives that they\\nshould grow in the strength of their principles, and the\\nbeauty of their example; that the church should clear\\nherself of all reproach, and stand invested with honor in\\nthe sight of all mankind, if this be important, so im-\\nportant is it that we live well in small tilings, and adorn\\nthe common incidents of life with a heavenly temper and\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2practice. Religion must forever be unstable, the peo-\\nple of Christ must foil into declension and disgrace, if it\\nbe not understood that here is the true field of the Chris*\\ntian life.\\nThese illustrations of the importance of living to God", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0299.jp2"}, "300": {"fulltext": "296 LIVING TO GOD\\nin ordinary and common things might be carried to almost\\nany extent; but I will arrest the subject here, and pro-\\nceed to suggest some applications which may be useful.\\n1, Private Christians are here instructed in the true\\nmethod of Christian progress and usefulness. It is a first\\ntruth with you all, I doubt not, Irethren, that divine aid\\nand intercourse are your only strength and reliance. You\\nknow, too well, the infirmity of your best purposes and\\nendeavors, to hope for any thing but defeat, without the\\nSpirit of God dwelling in you and superintending youi\\nwarfare. In what manner you may secure this divine in-\\ndwelling permanently is here made plain. It is not by\\nattempts above your capacity, or by the invention of great\\nand extraordinary occasions but it is by living unto God\\ndaily. If 3 r ou feel the necessity of making spiritual at-\\ntainments, or growing in holiness if you think as little\\nof mere starts and explosions in religious zeal as they de-\\nserve, and as much of growths, habits, and purified affec-\\ntions as God does, you will have a delightful work to\\nprosecute in the midst of all your ordinary cares and em-\\nployments, and you will have the inward witness of divine\\ncommunion ever vouchsafed jou. The sins, by which\\nGod s Spirit is ordinarily grieved, are the sins of small\\nthings laxities in keeping the temper, slight neglects of\\nduty, lightness, sharpness of dealing. If it is your habit\\nto walk with God in the humblest occupations of you*\\ndays, it is very nearly certain that you will be filled with\\nthe Spirit always.\\nIf it be a question with you, how to overcome bad and\\npernicious habits, the mode is here before you. The rea-\\nson why those who are converted to Christ, often make so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0300.jp2"}, "301": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 297\\npoor a work of rectifying their old habits, is that they lay\\ndown their work in the very places where it needs to be\\nprosecuted most carefully, that is, in their common em-\\nployments. They do not live to God in that which is\\nleast. They reserve their piety for those exercises, public\\nand private, which are immediately religious, and so a\\nwide door is left open in all the common duties of life for\\ntheir old habits to break in and take them captive. As if\\nit were enough, in shutting out a flood, to dike the higher\\npoints of the ground and leave the lower\\nIf the question be, in what manner you may grow in\\nknowledge and intellectual strength, the answer is readily\\ngiven. You can do it by no means save that of pertina-\\ncious, untiring application. ISTo one becomes a Christian\\nwho can not by the cultivation of thought, and by acquir-\\ning a well-discriminated knowledge of the scriptures, make\\nhimself a gift of four fold, and perhaps even an hundred\\nfold value to the church. This he can do by industry, by\\nimproving small opportunities, and, not least, by endeav-\\noring to realize the principles and the beauty of Christ in\\nall his daily conduct. In this point of view, religion ia\\ncultivation itself, and that of the noblest kind. And\\nnever does it truly justify its nature, except when it is\\nseen elevating the mind, the manners, the whole moral\\ndignity of the subject.\\nAVhy is it that a certain class of men, who never thrust\\nthemselves on public observation, by any very signal acts,\\ndo yet attain to a very commanding influence, and leave a\\ndeep and lasting impression on the world They are the\\nmen who thrive by constancy and by means of small ad-\\nvances, just as others do who thrive in wealth. They live\\nto God in the common doings of their daily life, as well", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0301.jp2"}, "302": {"fulltext": "298 LIVING TO GOD\\nas in the more extraordinary transactions, in which they\\nmingle. In this way, they show themselves to be actua-\\nted by good principle, not from respect to the occasions\\nwhere it may be manifested, but from respect to principle\\nitself. And their carefulness to honor God in humble\\ntilings, is stronger proof to men of their uprightness, than\\nthe most distinguished acts or sacrifices. Such persons\\noperate principally by the weight of confidence and moral\\nrespect they acquire, which is the most legitimate and\\npowerful action in the world. At first, it is not felt, be-\\ncause it is noiseless, and is not thoroughly appreciated.\\nIt is action without pretense, without attack, and therefore,\\nperhaps, without notice for a time. But by degrees the\\npersonal motives begin to be understood, and the beauty\\nand moral dignity of the life are felt. No proclamation\\nof an aim or purpose has, in the mean time, gone before\\nthe disciple to awaken suspicion or start opposition. The\\nsimple power of his goodness and uprightness flows out\\nas an emanation on all around him. He shines like the\\nsun, not because he purposes to shine, but because he is\\nfull of light. The bad man is rebuked, the good man\\nstrengthened by his example every thing evil and un-\\ngraceful is ashamed before him, every thing right and\\nlovely is made stronger and lovelier. And now, if he has\\nthe talent to undertake some great enterprise of reform or\\nof benevolence, in the name of his Master, he has some-\\nthing already prepared in the good opinions of mankind,\\nto soften or neutralize the pretense of such attempts, and\\ngive him favor in them. Or, if a Christian of this stamp\\nhas not the talents or standing necessary to lead in the\\nmore active forms of enterprise, he will yet accom-\\nplish a high and noble purpose in his life. The silent", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0302.jp2"}, "303": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 299\\nsavor of his name may, perhaps, do more good after he\\nis laid in his grave, than abler men do by the most active\\nefforts.\\nI often hear mentioned, by the Christians of our city,\\nthe name of a certain godly man, who has been dead\\nmany years and he is always spoken of with so much\\nrespectfulness and affection, that I, a stranger of another\\ngeneration, feel his power, and the sound of his name re-\\nfreshes me. That man was one who lived to God in small\\nthings. I know this, not by any description which has\\nthus set forth his character, but from the very respect and\\nhomage with which he is named. Virtually, he still lives\\namong us, and the face of his goodness shines upon all our\\nChristian labors. And is it not a delightful aspect of the\\nChristian faith, that it opens so sure a prospect of doing\\ngood, on all who are in humble condition, or whose talents\\nare too feeble to act in the more public spheres of enter-\\nprise and duty Such are called to act by their simple\\ngoodness more than others are and who has not felt the\\npossibility that such, when faithful, do actually discharge\\na calling, the more exalted, because of its unmixed nature\\nIf there were none of these unpretending but beautiful\\nexamples, blooming in depression, sweetening affliction by\\ntheir Christian patience, adorning poverty by their high\\nintegrity, and dying in the Christian heroism of faith, if,\\nI say, there were no such examples making their latent\\nimpressions in the public mind, of the dignity and truth\\nof the gospel, who shall prove that our great men, who\\nare supposed to accomplish so much by their eloquence,\\niheir notable sacrifices and far-reaching plans, would not\\nutterly fail in them However this may be, we have rea-\\nson enough, all of us, for living to God in every sphere of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0303.jp2"}, "304": {"fulltext": "800 LIVING TO GOD\\nlife. Blessed are tliey that keep judgment, and he that\\ndoeth righteousness at all times.\\n2. Our subject enables us to offer some useful sugges-\\ntions, concerning the manner in which churches may be\\nmade to prosper.\\nFirst of all, brethren, you will have a care to maintain\\nyour purity and your honor, by the exercise of a sound\\ndiscipline. And here you will be faithful in that which is\\nleast. You will not wait until a crisis comes, or a flagrant\\ncase arises, where the hand of extermination is needed.\\nThat is often a very cruel discipline, rather than one of\\nbrotherly love. Nothing, of course, should be done in a\\nmeddlesome spirit; for this would be more mischievous\\nthan neglect. But small things will yet be watched, the\\nfirst gentle declinings noted and faithfully but kindly re-\\nproved. Your church should be like a family, not waiting\\ntill the ruin of a member is complete and irremediable^\\nbut acting preventively. This would be a healthy disci-\\npline, and it is the only sort, I am persuaded, on which\\nGod will ever smile.\\nThe same spirit of watchfulness and attention is neces-\\nary to all the solid interests of your church. It is not\\nenough that you attempt to bless it occasionally by some\\nact of generosity or some fit of exertion. Your brethren,\\nsuffering from injustice or evil report, must have your\\nfaithful sympathy such as are struggling with adversity\\nmust have your aid when it is possible, the more humble\\nand private exercises of your church must be attended.\\nThe impression can not be too deeply fixed, that a\\nchurch must grow chiefly by its industry and the personal\\ngrowth of its members. Some churches seem to feel that,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0304.jp2"}, "305": {"fulltext": "IJST SMALL THINGS. 301\\nif any tiling is to be done, some great operation must be\\nstarted. They can not even repent without concert and a\\ngeneral ado. Have yon not the preaching of God s word,\\nfifty -two sabbaths in the year? Have you not also\\nfamilies, friendships, interchanges of business, meetings\\nfor prayer, brotherly vows, opportunities of private and\\npublic charity? Do not despise these common occa-\\nsions God has not planned the world badly. Christ did\\nnot want higher occasions than the Father gave him. The\\ngrand maxim of his mission was, that the humblest spheres\\ngive the greatest weight and dignity to principles He was\\nthe good carpenter, saving the world! Eightly viewed,\\nmy brethren, there are no small occasions in this world,\\nas in our haste we too often think. Great principles, prin-\\nciples sacred even to God, are at stake in every moment\\nof life. What we want, therefore, is not invention, but\\nindustry not the advantages of new and extraordinary\\ntimes, but the realizing of our principles by adorning\\nthe doctrine of God our Saviour in all times.\\nOne of the best securities for the growth a nd prosperity\\nof a church, is to be sought in a faithful exhibition of re-\\nligion in families. Here is a law of increase, which God\\nhas incorporated in his church, and by which he designs\\nto give it strength and encouragement. But why is it I\\nask the question with grief and pain why is it that so\\nmany children, so many apprentices and servants are seen\\nto grow up, or to live many years in Christian families,\\nwithout any regard, or even respect for religion? It is\\nbecause their parents, guardians, or masters have that sort\\nof piety which can flourish only like Peter s sword, on\\ngreat occasions. Then, perhaps, they are exceedingly full\\nof piety, and put forth many awkward efforts to do good\\n26", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0305.jp2"}, "306": {"fulltext": "302 LIVING TO GOD\\nin their families enough, it may be, to give them a per-\\nmanent disgust for religious things. But when the great\\noccasion is past, their work is done up. A spirit of world-\\n!lness now rolls in again, a want of conscience begins to\\nappear, a light and carnal conversation to show itsel\u00c2\u00a3\\nChe preaching of the gospel is very critically, and some-\\nwhat wittily canvassed on the Sabbath. The day itself\\nm the mean time, fares scarcely better than the preacher.\\nIt is shortened by degrees at both ends, and again by a\\nnewspaper or some trifling conversation, in the middle.\\nThere is no instructive remark at the family prayers, and\\nperhaps no family instruction anywhere. There is no\\neffort to point the rising family toward a better world, and\\napparently no living for such a world. Bad tempers are\\nmanifested in government and in business. Arts are prac-\\nticed below dignity and wide of integrity. How is it\\npossible that the children and youth of a family should\\nnot learn to despise such a religion? How different would\\nbe the result, if there were a simple unostentatious piety\\nkept up with constancy, and the fear of Grod were seen to\\nbe a controlling principle, in all the daily conduct and\\nplans of life I have heard of many striking cases of\\nconversion, which were produced, under God, by simply\\nseeing the godly life of a Christian in his family without\\na word of direct address, and in a time of general inatten-\\ntion to religious things. In such a family every child and\\ninmate will certainly respect religion. And the church, in\\nfact, may count on receiving a constant and certain flow\\nof increase from the bosom of such families.\\nI will not pursue this head farther. But feel assured of\\nthis, brethren, that an every-day religion one that loves\\nthe duties of our common walk one that makes an hon-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0306.jp2"}, "307": {"fulltext": "IN SMALL THINGS. 303\\nest man one that accomplishes an intellectual and moral\\ngrowth in the subject one that works in all weather, and\\nimproves all opportunities, will best, and most healthily\\npromote the growth of a church, and the power of the\\ngospel. God prescribes our duty and it were wrong not\\nto believe that if we undertake God s real work, he will\\nfurnish us to it, and give us pleasure in it. He will trans-\\nfuse into us some portion of his own versatility he will\\nattract us into a nicer observation of his wisdom in our\\nhumble duties and concerns. We shall more admire the\\nhealthiness of that which grows up in God s natural spring-\\ntime^ and ripens in the air of his common days. The\\nordinary will thus grow dignified and sacred in our sight\\nand without discarding all invention in respect to means\\nand opportunities, we shall yet especially love the daily\\nbread of a common grace, in our common works and cares.\\nAnd all the more that it was the taste of our blessed Mas-\\nter, to make the ordinary glow with mercy and goodness.\\nHim we are to follow. We are to work after no set fashioE\\nof high endeavor, but to walk with him, performing as it\\nwere, a ministry on foot, that we may stop at the humblest\\nmatters and prove our fidelity there.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0307.jp2"}, "308": {"fulltext": "I\\nXVI.\\nTHE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\nHeb. vii. 16. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal\\ncommandment, but after the power of an endless life.\\nThis word after is a word of correspondence, and im-\\nplies two subjects brought in comparison. That Christ\\nhas the power of an endless life in his own person is cer-\\ntainly true but to say that he is made a priest after this\\npower subjective in himself, is awkward even to a degree\\nthat violates the natural grammar of speech. The sugges-\\ntion is different viz., that the priesthood of Christ is grad-\\nuated by the wants and measures of the human soul as\\nthe priesthood of the law was not that the endless life in\\nwhich he comes, matches and measures the endless life in\\nmankind whose fall he is to restore providing a salvation\\nas strong as their sin, and as long or lasting as the run of\\ntheir immortality. He is able thus to save unto the utter-\\nmost. Powers of endless life though we be, falling prin-\\ncipalities, wandering stars shooting downward in the pre-\\ncipitation of evil, he is able to bring us off, re-establish our\\ndismantled eternities, and set us in the peace and confidence\\nof an eternal righteousness.\\nI propose to exhibit the work of Christ in this high\\nrelation, which will lead me to consider\\nI. The power of an endless life in man, what it is, and, as\\nbeing under sin, requires.\\nII. What Christy in his eternal priesthood, does to restore it", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0308.jp2"}, "309": {"fulltext": "THE POWER OF A^ ENDLESS LIFE. 805\\n1. The power of an endless life, what it is and requires.\\nThe greatness of our immortality, as commonly handled,\\nis one of the dullest subjects, partly because it finds appre-\\nhension asleep in us, and partly because the strained com-\\nputations entered into, and the words piled up as magni-\\nfiers, in a way of impressing the sense of its eternal dura-\\ntion, carry no impression, start no sense of magnitude in\\nus. Even if we raise no doubt or objection, they do little\\nmore than drum us to sleep in our own nothingness. We\\nexist here only in the germ, and it is much as if the life\\npower in some seed, that, for example, of the great cedars\\nof the west, were to begin a magnifying of its own import-\\nance to itself in the fact that it has so long a time to live\\nand finally, because of the tiny figure it makes, and be-\\ncause the forces it contains are as yet unrealized, to settle\\ninertly down upon the feeling that, after all, it is only a\\nseed, a dull, insignificant speck of matter, wanting to be a\\nlittle greater than it can. Instead, then, of attempting to\\nmagnify the soul by any formal computation on the score\\nof time or duration, let us simply take up and follow the\\nhint that is given us in this brief expression, the powei\\nof an endless life.\\nIt is a power, a power of life, a power of endless life.\\nThe word translated power in the text, is the original of\\nour word dynamic, denoting a certain impetus, momentum,\\nor causative force, which is cumulative, growing stronger\\nand more impelling as it goes. And this is the nature of\\nlife or vital force universally, it is a force cumulative aa\\nlong as it continues. It enters into matter as a building,\\norganizing, lifting power, and knows not how to stop till\\ndeath stops it. We use the word grow to describe its\\naction, and it does not even know how to subsist without\\n26*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0309.jp2"}, "310": {"fulltext": "806 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\ngrowth. In which, growth it lays hold continual] y of new\\nmaterial, expands in volume, and fills a larger sphere of\\nbody with its power.\\nNow these innumerable lives, animal and vegetable, at\\nwork upon the world, creating and new-creating, and pro-\\nducing their immense transformations of matter, are all\\nimmaterial forces or powers; related, in that manner, to\\nsouls, which are only a highest class of powers. The\\nhuman soul can not be more efficiently described than by\\ncalling it the power of an endless life and to it all these\\nlower immaterialities, at work in matter, look up as mute\\nprophets, testifying, by the magical sovereignty they wield\\nin the processes and material transformations of growth,\\nto the possible forces embodied in that highest, noblest\\nform of life. And sometimes, since our spiritual nature,\\ntaken as a power of life, organizes nothing material and\\nexternal by which its action is made visible, God allows\\nthe inferior lives in given examples, especially of the tree\\nspecies, to have a small eternity of growth, and lift their\\ngiant forms to the clouds, that we may stand lost in amaze-\\nment before the majesty of that silent power that works\\nin life, when many centuries only are given to be the lease\\nof its activity. The work is slow, the cumulative process\\nsilent, viewed externally, nothing appears that we\\nname force, and yet this living creature called a tree,\\nthrobs internally in fullness of life, circulates its juices,\\nswells in volume, towers in majesty; till finally it gires\\nto the very word life a historic presence and sublimity.\\nIt begins with a mere seed or germ, a tiny speck so inert\\nand frail that we might even laugh at the bare suggestion\\nof power in such a look of nothingness just as at our pres-\\nent point of dullness and weakness, we can give no sound of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0310.jp2"}, "311": {"fulltext": "THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 307\\nmeaning to any thing said of our own spiritual greatness,\\nand yet that seed, long centuries ago, when the tremendous\\nbabyhood of Mahomet was nursing at his mother s breast,\\nsprouted apace, gathered to itself new circles of matter,\\nyear by year and age after age, kept its pumps in play\\nsent up new supplies of food, piling length on length in\\nthe sky, conserving still and vitalizing all and now it\\nstands entire in pillared majesty, mounting upward still, and\\ntossing back the storms that break on its green pinnacles,\\na bulk immense, such as being felled and hollowed would\\neven make a modern ship of war.\\nAnd yet these cumulative powers of vegetable life are\\nonly feeble types of that higher, fearfully vaster power,\\nthat pertains to the endless life of a soul that power that\\nknown or unknown dwells in you and in me. What Abel\\nnow is, or Enoch, as an angel of God, in the volume of\\nhis endless life and the vast energies unfolded in his growth\\nby the river of God, they may set you trying to guess,\\nbut can by no means help you adequately to conceive.\\nThe possible majestj^ to which any free intelligence of God\\nmay grow, in the endless increment of ages, is after all\\nrather hinted than imaged in their merely vegetable\\ngrandeur.\\nQuickened by these analogies, let us pass directly to the\\nBoul or spiritual nature itself, as a power of endless growth\\nor increment; for it is only in this way that we begin to\\nconceive the real magnitude and majesty of the soul, and\\nnot by any mere computations based on its eternity or\\nimmortality.\\nWhat it means, in this higher and nobler sense, to be a\\npower of life, we are very commonly restrained from ob*\\nserving by two or three considerations that require to be", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0311.jp2"}, "312": {"fulltext": "308\\nTHE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE\\nnamed. First, when looking after the measures of the\\nsoul, we very naturally lay hold of what first occurs to\\nus, and begin to busy ourselves in the contemplation of\\nits eternal duration. Whereas the eternal duration of the\\nsoul, at any given measure, if we look no farther, is noth-\\ning but the eternal continuance of its mediocrity or com-\\nparative littleness. Its eternal growth in volume and\\npower is in that manner quite lost sight of, and the com-\\nputation misses every thing most impressive, in its future\\nsignificance and history. Secondly, the growth of the\\nsoul is a merely spiritual growth, indicated by no visible\\nand material form that is expanded by it and with it as in\\nthe growth of a tree, and therefore passes comparatively\\nunnoticed by many, just because they can not see it with\\ntheir eyes. And then again, thirdly, as the human body\\nattains to its maturity, and, finally, in the decays of age, be-\\ncomes an apparent limit to the spiritual powers and facul-\\nties, we drop into the impression that these have now\\npassed their climacteric, and that we have actually seen\\nthe utmost volume it is in their nature ever to attain.\\nWe do not catch the significance of the fact that the soul\\noutgrows the growth and outlives the vigor of the body,\\nwhich is not true in trees; revealing its majestic properties\\nas a force independent and qualifiedly sovereign. Ob-\\nserving how long the soul-force goes on to expand after\\nthe body-force has reached its maximum, and when dis-\\nease and age have begun to shatter the frail house iJ\\ninhabits, how long it braves these bodily decrepitudes,\\ndriving on, still on, like a strong engine in a poorly tim-\\nbered vessel, through seas not too heavy for it, but only\\nfor the crazy hulk it impels, observing this, and making\\ndue account of it, we should only be the more impressed", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0312.jp2"}, "313": {"fulltext": "THE POTVER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 309\\nwith a sense of some inherent everlasting power of growth\\nand progress in its endless life.\\nStripping aside now all these impediments, let ns pass\\ndirectly into the soul s history, and catch from what trans-\\npires in its first indications the sign or promise of what it\\nis to become. In its beginning it is a mere seed cf possi-\\nbility. All the infant faculties are folded up, at first, and\\nscarceh a sign of power is visible in it. But a doom of\\ngrowth is in it, and the hidden momentum of an endless\\npower is driving it on. And a falling body will not gather\\nmomentum in its fall more naturally and certainly, than it\\nwill gather force, in the necessary struggle of its endless\\nlife now begun. TTe may think little of the increase it\\nis a matter of course, and why should we take note of it?\\nBut if no increase or development appears, if the faculties\\nall sleep as at the first, we take sad note of that, and draw\\nhow reluctantly, the conclusion that our child is an idiot\\nand not a proper man! And what a chasm is there be\\ntween the idiot and the man one a being unprogressive\\na being who is not a power the other a careering force\\nstarted on its way to eternity, a principle of might and\\nmajesty begun to be unfolded, and to be progressively\\nunfolded forever. Intelligence, reason, conscience, ob-\\nservation, choice, memory, enthusiasm, all the fires of his\\ninborn eternity are kindling to a glow, and, looking on\\nhim as a force immortal, just beginning to reveal the\\nsymptoms of what he shall be, we call him man. Only a\\nfew years ago he lay in his cradle, a barely breathing prin-\\nciple of life, but in that life were gathered up, as in a germ\\nor seed, all these godlike powers that are now so conspic*\\nuous in the volume of his personal growth. In a sense,\\nall that is in him now was in him then, as the power of an", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0313.jp2"}, "314": {"fulltext": "810 THE POWEK OF AK ENDLESS LIEE.\\nendless life, and still the sublime progression of his power\\nis only begun. He conquers now the sea and its storms\\nHe climbs the heavens, and searches out the mysteries oi\\nthe stars. He harnesses the lightning. He bids the rocks\\ndissolve, and summons the secret atoms to give up theii\\nnames and laws. He subdues the face or the world, and\\ncompels the forces of the waters and the fires to be his\\nservants. He makes laws, hurls empires down upon em-\\npires in the fields of war, speaks words that can not die,\\nsings to distant realms and peoples across vast ages of\\ntime in a word, he executes all that is included in history,\\nshowing his tremendous energy in almost every thing that\\nstirs the silence and changes the conditions of the world.\\nEvery thing is transformed by him even up to the stars.\\nNot all the winds, and storms, and earthquakes, and seas,\\nand seasons of the world, have done as much to revolu-\\ntionize the world as he, the power of an endless life, has\\ndone since the clay he came forth upon it, and received, as\\nhe is most truly declared to have done, dominion over it.\\nAnd yet we have, in the power thus developed, nothing\\nmore than a mere hint or initial sign of what is to be the\\nreal stature of his personality in the process of his ever-\\nlasting development. We exist here only in the small,\\nthat God may have us in a state of flexibility, and bend\\nor fashion us, at the best advantage, to the model of his\\nown great life and character. And most of us, therefore,\\nhave scarcely a conception of the exceeding weight of\\nglory to be comprehended in our existence. If we take, for\\nexample, the faculty of memory, how very obvious is it\\nthat as we pass eternally on, we shall have more and more\\nto remember, and finally shall Lave gathered in more into\\nthis great storehouse of the soul, than is now contained in", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0314.jp2"}, "315": {"fulltext": "THE FOSTER C f A2s ENDLESS LIFE. 311\\nall the libraries of the world. And there is not one of\\nour faculties that has not, in its volume, a similar powei\\nof expansion. Indeed, if it were not so, the memory\\nwould finally overflow and drown all our other faculties,\\nand the spirits, instead of being powers, would virtually\\ncease to be any thing more than registers of the past.\\nBut we are not obliged to take our conclusion bv infer-\\nence. We can see for ourselves that the associations of\\nthe mind, which are a great part of its riches, must be\\nincreasing in number and variety forever, stimulating\\nthought by multiplying its suggestives, and beautifying\\nthought by weaving into it the colors of sentiment, end-\\nlessly varied.\\nThe imagination is gathering in its images and kindling\\nits eternal fires in the same manner. Having passed\\nthrough many trains of worlds, mixing with scenes, socie-\\nties, orders of intelligence and powers of beatitude just\\nthat which made the apostle in Patmos into a poet, by the\\nvisions of a single day it is impossible that exeiy soul\\nshould not finally become filled with a glorious and pow-\\nerful imagery, and be waked to a wonderfully creative\\nenenrr.\\nBy the supposition it is another incident of this power\\nof endless life, that passing down the eternal galleries of\\nfact and event, it must be forever having new cognitions\\nand accumulating: new premises. Bv its own contacts it\\nwill, at some future time, have touched even whole worlds\\nand felt them through and made premises of all there is\\nin them. It will know God by experiences correspond-\\nently enlarged, and itself by a consciousness correspond-\\nentiy illuminated. Having gathered in, at last, such\\nworlds of premise, it is difficult for us now to conceive", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0315.jp2"}, "316": {"fulltext": "312 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\nthe vigor into which a soul may come, or the volume it\\nmay exhibit, the wonderful depth and scope of its judg-\\nments, its rapidity and certainty, and the vastness of its\\ngeneralizations. It passes over more and more, and that\\nnecessarily, from the condition of a creature gathering up\\npremises, into the condition of God, creating out of prem-\\nises for if it is not actually set to the creation of worlds,\\nits very thoughts will be a discoursing in world-problems\\nand theories equally vast in their complications.\\nIn the same manner, the executive energy of the will,\\nthe volume of the benevolent affections, and all the active\\npowers, will be showing, more and more impressively,\\nwhat it is to be a power of endless life. They that have\\nbeen swift in doing God s will and fulfilling his mighty\\nerrands, will acquire a marvelous address and energy in\\nthe use of their powers. They that have taken worlds\\ninto their love will have a love correspondent^ capacious,\\nwhereupon also it will be seen that their will is settled in\\nfirmness, and raised in majesty according to the vastness\\nof impulse there is in the love behind it. They that have\\ngreat thoughts, too, will be able to manage great causes,\\nand they that are lubricated eternally in the joys that feed\\ntheir activity, will never tire. What force, then, must be\\nfinally developed in what now appears to be the tenuous\\nand fickle impulse, and the merely frictional activity of a\\nbum an soul.\\nOn this subject the scriptures indulge in no declamation,\\nbut only speak in hints and start us off by questions, well\\nunderstanding that the utmost they can do is to waken in\\nus the sense of a future scale of being unimaginable, and\\nbeyond the compass of our definite thought. Here they\\ndrive us out in the almost cold mathematical question", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0316.jp2"}, "317": {"fulltext": "THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 313\\nwhat shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and\\nlose his own soul? Here they show us in John s vision,\\nMoses and Elijah, as angels, suggesting our future classifi-\\ncation among angels, which are sometimes called chariots\\nof God, to indicate their excelling strength and swiftness\\nill careering through his empire, to do his will. Here they\\nspeak of powers unimaginable as regards the volume\\nof their personality, calling them dominions, thrones,\\nprincipalities, powers, and appear to set us on a foot-\\ning with these dim majesties. Here they notify us that it\\ndoth not yet appear what we shall be. Here they call us\\nsons of God. Here they bolt upon us But I said ye are\\ngods as if meaning to waken us by a shock In these\\nand all ways possible, they contrive to start some better\\nconception in us of ourselves, and of the immense signifi-\\ncance of the soul forbidding us always to be the dull\\nmediocrities into which, under the stupor of our unbe-\\nlief, we are commonly so ready to subside. 0, if we\\ncould tear aside the veil, and see for but one hour what it\\nsignifies to be a soul in the power of an endless life,\\nwhat a revelation would it be\\nBut there is yet another side or element of meaning sug-\\ngested by this expression, which requires to be noted. It\\nlooks on the soul as a falling power, a bad force, rushing\\ndownward into ruinous and final disorder. If we call it a\\nprincipality in its possible volume, it is a falling princi-\\npality. It was this which made the mighty priesthood of\\nthe Lord necessary. For the moment we look in upon the\\nsoul s great movement as a power, and find sin entered\\nthere, we perceive that every thing is in disorder. It is like\\na mighty engine in which some pivot or lever is broken,\\nwhirling and crashing and driving itself into a wreck,\\n21", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0317.jp2"}, "318": {"fulltext": "314 THE POWER OF AN EN DLESS LIFE.\\nThe disastrous effects of sin in a soul will be just accord-\\ning to the powers it contains, or embodies; for every force\\nbecomes a bad force, a misdirected and self-destructive force,\\na force which can never be restored, save by some other\\nwhich is mightier and superior. What, in this view, can\\nbe more frightful than the disorders loosened in it by a\\nstate of sin.\\nAnd what shall we say of the result or end Must the\\nimmortal nature still increase in volume without limit,\\nand so in the volume of its miseries or only in its mis-\\neries by the conscious depths of shame and weakness into\\nwhich it is falling On this subject I know not what to\\nsay. We do see that bad minds, in their evil life, gather\\nforce and expand in many, at least, of their capabilities,\\non to a certain point or limit. As far as to that point or\\nlimit, they appear to grow intense, powerful, and, as the\\nworld says, great. But they seem, at last, and apart from\\nthe mere decay of years, to begin a diminishing process\\nthey grow jealous, imperious, cruel, and so far weak\\nThey become little, in the girding of their own stringent\\nselfishness. They burn to a cinder in the heat of theii\\nown devilish passion. And so, beginning as heroes and\\ndemigods, they many of them taper off into awfully in-\\ntense but still little men intense at a mere point; which\\nappears to be the conception of a fiend. Is it so that the\\nbitterness of hell is finally created? Is it toward tin*\\npungent, acrid, awfully intensified, and talented littleness,\\nthat all souls under sin are gravitating? However this\\nmay be, we can see for ourselves that the disorders of sin,\\nrunning loose in human souls, must be driving them down-\\nward into everlasting and complete ruin, the wreck cf all\\nthat is mightiest and loftiest in their immortality. One", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0318.jp2"}, "319": {"fulltext": "THE PO^VER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE 315\\nof the sublimes! and most fearful pictures ever given of\\nthis you will find in the first chapter to the Eomans. It\\nreads like some battle among the gods, where all that is\\ngreat and terrible and wild in the confusion, answers to the\\nmajesty of the powers engaged. And this is man, the\\npower of an endless life, under sin. By what adequate\\npower, in earth or in heaven, shall that sin be taken away?\\nThis brings me to consider\\nII. What Christ, in his eternal priesthood, has done\\nor the fitness and practical necessity of it, as related to the\\nstupendous exigency of our redemption.\\nThe great impediment which the gospel of Christ en-\\ncounters, in our world, that which most fatally hinders its\\n1 7 J\\nreception, or embrace, is that it is too great a work. It\\ntranscends our belief, it wears a look of extravagance.\\nWe are beings too insignificant and low to eim a^e an^\\nsuch interest on the part of God, or justify any such ex-\\npenditure. The preparations made, and the parts acted,\\nare not in the proportions of reason, and the very terms\\nof the great salvation have, to our dull ears, a declamatory\\nsound. How can we really think that the eternal God\\nhas set these more than epic machineries at work for such\\na creature as man\\nMy principal object, therefore, in the contemplations\\nraised by this topic, has been to start some conception of\\nourselves, in the power of an endless life, that is more\\nadequate. Mere immortality, or everlasting continuance,\\nwhen it is the continuance only of littleness or mediocrity,\\ndoes not make a platform or occasion high enough for this\\ngreat mystery of the gospel. It is only when we see in\\nhuman souls, taken as germs of power, a future magnitude", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0319.jp2"}, "320": {"fulltext": "316 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\nand majesty transcending all present measures, that we\\ncome into any fit conception at all of Christ s mission to\\nthe world. Entering the gospel at this point, and regard-\\ning it as a work undertaken for the redemption of beings\\nscarcely imagined as yet, of dominions, principalities,\\npowders, spiritual intelligences so transcendent that we\\nhave, as yet, no words to name them, every thing done\\ntakes a look of proportion it appears even to be needed,\\nand we readily admit that nothing less could suffice to\\nrestore the falling powers, or stop the tragic disorders\\nloosened in them by their sin. How much more if, instead\\nof drawing thus upon our imagination, we could definitely\\ngrasp the real import of our being, that which hitherto is\\nonly indicated, never displayed, and have it as a matter\\nof positive and distinct apprehension. This power of\\nendless life could we lay hold of it could we truly feel\\nits movement in us, and follow the internal presage to its\\nmark or could we only grasp the bad force there is in it,\\nand know it rushing downward, in the terrible lava-flood\\nof its disorders, how true and rational, how magnificently\\ndivine would the great salvation of Christ appear, and in\\nhow great dread of ourselves should we hasten to it for\\nrefuge\\nThen it would shock us no more that visibly it is no\\nmere man that has arrived. Were he only a human\\nteacher, reformer, philosopher, coming in our human\\nplane to lecture on our self-improvement as men, in this\\nmeasures of men, he would even be less credible than now.\\nNothing meets our want, in fact, but to see the boundaries\\nof nature and time break way to let in a being and a\\npower visibly not of this world. Let him be the Eternal\\nRon of God and Word of the Father, descending out of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0320.jp2"}, "321": {"fulltext": "THE POWER OF AX ENDLESS LIFE. 317\\nhigher worlds to be incarnate in this. As we have lost\\nour measures, let us recover them, if possible, in the sense\\nrestored of our everlasting brotherhood with him. Let\\nhim so be made a priest for us, not after the law of a car-\\nnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life\\nthe brightness of the Father s glory and the express image\\nof his person God manifest in the flesh God in Christ,\\nreconciling the world unto himself. All the better and\\nmore proportionate and probable is it, if he comes heralded\\nbv innumerable angels, burstino; into the skv, to conojatu-\\nlate their fallen peers with songs of deliverance Glory to\\nGod in the Highest, peace on earth, good will toward men.\\nHumbled to the flesh and its external conditions, he will\\nonly the more certainly even himself with our want, if he\\ndares to say Before Abraham was, I am all power is\\ngiven unto me in heaven and in earth. Is he faultless, so\\nthat no man convinceth him of sin, revealing in the humble\\nguise of humanity the absolute beauty of God how could\\nanv thino* less or inferior meet our want? If he dares to\\nmake the most astounding pretensions, all the better, if\\nonly his pretensions are borne out by his life and actions.\\nLet him heal the sick, feed the hungry, still the sea by his\\nword. Let his doctrine not be human, let it bear the stamp\\nof a higher mind and be verified and sealed by the perfec-\\ntion of his character. Let him be transfigured, if he may,\\nin the sight of two worlds of angels from the upper, and\\nof men from this that, beholding his excellent glory, no\\ndoubt may be left of his transcendent quality.\\nXd matter if the men that follow him and love him arc 1\\njust for the time, too slow to apprehend him. 1 uld\\nthey see, with eyes holden, the divinity that is hid under\\nsuch a garb of poverty and patience? How could thej\\n27*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0321.jp2"}, "322": {"fulltext": "318 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\nseize on the possibility that this man of sorrows is reveal-\\ning even the depths of (rod s eternal love, by these more\\nthan mortal burd( s If the factitious distinctions of so-\\nciety pass for nothing with him, if he takes his lot among\\nthe outcast poor, how else could he show that it is not any\\ntier of quality, but our great fallen humanity, the power\\nof an endless life, that engages him. And when, with a\\ndegree of unconcern that is itself sublime, he says The\\nprince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me; how\\nelse could he convey so fitly the impression that the high-\\nest royalty and stateliest throne to him is simple man\\nhimself?\\nBut the tragedy gathers to its last act, and fearful is to\\nbe the close. Never did the powers of eternity, or endless\\nlife in souls, reveal themselves so terribly before. But he\\ncame to break their force, and how so certainly as to let it\\nbreak itself across his patience? By his miracles and\\nreproofs, and quite as much by the unknown mystery of\\ngreatness in his character, the deepest depths of malice in\\nimmortal evil are now finally stirred; the world s wild\\nwrath is concentered on his person, and his soul is, for the\\nhour, under an eclipse of sorrow; exceeding sorrowful even\\nUnto death. But the agony is shortly passed he says, I\\nam ready and they take him, Son of God though he be,\\nand Word of the Father, and Lord of glory, to a cross 1\\nThey nail him fast, and what a sign do they give, in that\\ndire phrenzy, of the immortal depth of their passion I The\\nsun refuses to look on the sight, and the frame of nature\\nshudders He dies it is finished The body that was\\ntaken for endurance and patience, has drunk up all the\\ngall of the world s malice, and now rests in the tomb.\\nNo! there is more. Lo! he is not here, but is risen.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0322.jp2"}, "323": {"fulltext": "THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE 319\\nhe has burst tlie bars of death and become the first fruits\\nof them that slept. In that sign behold his victory. Just\\nthat is done which signifies eternal redemption the con-\\nquest and recovery of free minds, taken as powers disman-\\ntled by eternal evil. By this offering, once for all the work\\nis finished. What can evil do, or passion, after this, when\\nits bitterest arrows, shot into the divine patience, are by\\nthat patience so tenderly and sovereignly broken There-\\nfore now to make the triumph evident, he ascends, a visi-\\nble conqueror, to the Father, there to stand as priest for-\\never, sending forth his Spirit to seal, and testifying that\\nhe is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto\\nGod by him.\\nThis, in brief historic outline, is the great sal-\\nvation. And it is not too great. It stands in glorious\\nproportion with the work to be done. Nothing else or less\\nwould suffice. It is a work supernatural transacted in the\\nplane of nature and what but such a work could restore\\nthe broken order of the soul under evil It incarnates\\nGod in the world, and what but some such opening of the\\nsenses to God or of God to the senses, could reinstate him\\nin minds that have lost the consciousness of him, and fallen\\noff to live apart What but this could enter him again,\\nas a power, into the world s life and history? We are\\nastonished by the revelation of divine feeling the expense\\nof the sacrifice wears a look of extravagance. If we are\\njonly the dull mediocrities we commonly take ourselves to\\nbe, it is quite incredible. But if God, seeing through our\\npossibilities into our real eternities, comprehends, in the\\nview, all we are to be or become, as powers of endless life,\\nis there not some probability that he discovers a good deal\\nmore in us than we do in ourselves; enough to justify all", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0323.jp2"}, "324": {"fulltext": "320 THE POUTER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE,\\nthe concern lie testifies, all the sacrifice he makes in H13\\npassion of his Son And as God has accurately weighed\\nthe worlds and even the atoms, accurately set them in.\\ntheir distances and altitudes, has he not also in this incarn-\\nate grace and passion, which offend so many by their ex-\\ncess, measured accurately the unknown depths and mag-\\nnitudes of our eternity, the momentum of our fall, the\\ntragic mystery of our disorder And if we can not com-\\nprehend ourselves, if we are even a mystery to ourselves,\\nwhat should his salvation be but a mystery of godliness\\nequally transcendent? If Christ were a philosopher, a\\nhuman teacher, a human example, we might doubtless\\nreason him and set him in our present scales of proportion,\\nbut he would as certainly do nothing for us equal to our\\nwant.\\nInasmuch as our understanding has not yet reached oui\\nmeasures, we plainly want a grace which only faith can\\nreceive for it is the distinction of faith that it can receive\\na medication it can not definitely trace, and admit into the\\nconsciousness what it can not master in thought. Christ\\ntherefore comes not as a problem given to our reason, but\\nas a salvation offered to our faith. His passion reaches a\\ndeeper point in us than we can definitely think, and his\\nEternal Spirit is a healing priesthood for us, in the lowest\\nand profoundest roots of our great immortality, those\\nwhi3h we have never seen ourselves. By our faith in him\\ntoo as a mystery, he comes into our guiltiness, at a point\\nback of all speculative comprehension, restoring that\\npeace of innocence which is speculatively impossible for\\nhow in mere speculation can any thing done for our sin,\\nannihilate the fact; and without that, how take our guilt\\naway? Still it goes! We know, as we embrace him,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0324.jp2"}, "325": {"fulltext": "THE POWEE OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 32]\\nthat it goes! He has reached a point in us. by his myste-\\nrious priesthood, deep enough even to take our. guiltiness\\naway, and establish us in a peace that is even as the peace\\nof innocence!\\nSo, if we speak of our passions, our internal disorders,\\nthe wild, confused and even downward rush of our in-\\nthralled powers, he performs, in a mystery of love and\\nthe Spirit, what no teaching or example could. The man-\\nner we can trace bv no effort of the understanding we\\ncan only see that he is somehow able to come into the\\nvery germ principle of our life, and be a central, regulating,\\nnew-creating force in our disordered growth itself. And\\nif we speak of righteousness, it is ours, when it is not\\nours how can a being unrighteous be established in the\\nsense of righteousness? Logically, or according to the\\nsentence of our speculative reason, it is impossible. And\\nyet, in Christ, we have it We are consciously in it, as we\\nare in him, and all we can say is, that it is the righteousness\\nof God, by faith, unto all and upon all them that believe.\\nBut I must draw my subject to a close. It is a common\\nimpression with persons who hear, but do not accept, the\\ncalls of Christ and his salvation, that they are required to\\nbe somewhat less in order to be Christian. They must be\\ndiminished in quantity, taken down, shortened, made\\nfeeble and little, and then, by the time they have let go\\ntheir manhood, they will possibly come into the way of\\nsalvation. They hear it declared that, in becoming little\\nchildren, humble, meek, poor in spirit; in ceasing from\\nour will and reason and in giving up ourselves, our\\neagerness, revenge, and passion, thus, and thus only, can\\nwe be accepted; but, instead of taking all these as so many", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0325.jp2"}, "326": {"fulltext": "B22 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.\\nfigures antagonistic to our pride, our ambition, and the\\ndetermined self-pleasing of our sin, they take them abso-\\nlutely, as requiring a real surrender and loss of our proper\\nmanhood itself. Exactly contrary to this, the gospel re-\\nquires them to be more than they are, greater, higher,\\nnobler, stronger, all which they were made to be m the\\npower of their endless life. These expressions, just referred\\nto have no other aim than simply to cut off weaknesses,\\nbreak down infirmities, tear away boundaries, and let the\\nsoul out into liberty, and power, and greatness. What is\\nweaker than pride, self-will, revenge, the puffing of con-\\nceit and rationality, the constringing littleness of all selfish\\npassion. And, in just these things it is that human souls\\nare so fatally shrunk in all their conceptions of themselves;\\nso that Christ encounters, in all men, this first and most\\ninsurmountable difficulty; to make them apprised of their\\nreal value to themselves. For, no sooner do they wake to\\nthe sense of their great immortality than they are even\\noppressed by it. Every thing else shrinks to nothingness,\\nand they go to him for life. And then, when they receive\\nhim, it is even a bursting forth into magnitude. A new\\ninspiration is upon them, all their powers are exalted y a\\nwondrous inconceivable energy is felt, and, having come\\ninto the sense of God, which is the element of all real\\ngreatness, they discover, as it were in amazement, what it\\nis to be in the true capacity.\\nA similar mistake is connected with their impressions of\\nfaith. They are jealous of faith, as being only weakness.\\nThey blame the gospel, because it requires faith, as a con-\\ndition of salvation. And yet, as I have here abundantly\\nshown, it requires faith just because it is a salvation large\\nenough to meet the measures of the soul, as a power of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0326.jp2"}, "327": {"fulltext": "THE POWEE OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 328\\nendless life. And, 0, if you could once get away, my\\nfriends, from that sense of mediocrity and nothingness to\\nwhich you are shut up, under the stupor of your self-seek-\\ning and your sin, how easy would it be for you to believe\\nNaj if but some faintest suspicion could steal into you of\\nwhat your soul is. and the tremendous evils working in it,\\nnothing but the mystery of Christ s death and passion\\nwould be sufficient for vou. Now vou are nothing; to\\nyourselves, and therefore Christ is too great, the mystery\\nof his cross an offense. 0, thou spirit of grace, visit these\\ndarkened minds, to whom thy gospel is hid, and let the\\nlight of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of\\nJesus Christ, shine into them Eaise in them the piercing\\nquestion, that tears the world away and displays the grim-\\nace of its follies, What shall it profit a man to gain the\\nwhole world and lose his own soul\\nI should do you a wrong to close this subject without\\nconducting your minds forward to those anticipations of\\nthe future which it so naturally suggests. You have all\\nobserved the remarkable interest which beings of other\\nworlds are shown, here and there in the scripture, to feel\\nin the transactions of this. These, like us, are powers of\\nendless life, intelligences that have had a history parallel\\nto our own. Some of them, doubtless, have existed myri-\\nads of ages, and consequently now are far on in the course\\nof their development, far enough on to have discerned\\nwhat existence is, and the amount of power and dignity\\nthere is in it. Hence their interest in us, who as yet are\\nonly candidates, in their view, for a greatness yet to be\\nrevealed. And the interest they show seems extravagant\\nto us, just as the gospel itself is, and for the same reasons.\\nThey break into the sky, when Christ is born, chanting", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0327.jp2"}, "328": {"fulltext": "324 THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS 1IFE.\\ntheir AU-IIaiK They visit the world on heavenly erranda\\nand perform their unseen ministries to the heirs of salva\u00c2\u00ab\\ntion, They watch for our repentances, and there is joj\\namong them before God, when but one is gathered to theif\\ncompany, in the faith of salvation. And the reason is that\\n(hey have learned so much about the proportions and\\nmeasures of things, which as yet are hidden from us.\\nThese angels that excel in strength, these ancient princes\\nand hierarchs that have grown up in God s eternity and\\nunfolded their mighty powers in whole ages of good, rec-\\nognize in us compeers that are finally to be advanced, ag\\nthey are.\\nAnd here is the point where our true future dawns upon\\nus. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. We lie here\\nin our nest, unfledged and weak, guessing dimly at our\\nfuture, and scarce believing what even now appears. But\\nthe power is in us, and that power is to be finally revealed.\\nAnd what a revelation will that be Is it possible, you\\nwill ask in amazement, that you, a creature that was sunk\\nin such dullness, and sold to such trivialities in your bond-\\nage to the world, were, all this time, related to God and the\\nancient orders of his kingdom, in a being so majestic!\\nHow great a terror to some of you may that discovery\\nbe I can not say exactly how it will be with the bad\\nminds, now given up finally to their disorders. Powers\\nof endless life they still must be but how far shrank by\\nthat stringent selfishness, how far burned away, as magni-\\ntudes, by that fierce combustion of passion, I do not know.\\nBut, if they diminish in volume and shrink to a more in-\\ntensified power of littleness and fiendishness, eaten out, as\\nregards all highest volume, by the malice of evil and the\\nundying worm of its regrets, it will not be so with the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0328.jp2"}, "329": {"fulltext": "THE POWEE OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. 325\\nrighteous. Tliey will develop greater force of mind,\\ngreater volume of feeling, greater majesty of will and\\ncharacter, even forever. In the grand mystery of Christ\\nand his eternal priesthood, Christ, who ever liveth to\\nmake intercession, they will be set in personal and ex-\\nperimental connection with all the great problems of grace\\nand counsels of love, comprised in the plan by which they\\nhave been trained, and the glories to which they are ex-\\nalted. Attaining thus to greater force and stature of spirit\\nthan we are able now to conceive, they have exactly that\\nsupplied to their discovery which will carry them still\\nfurther on, with the greatest expedition. Their subjects\\nand conferences will be those of principalities and powers,\\nand the conceptions of their great society will be corres-\\npondent for they are now coming to the stature necessary\\nto a fit contemplation of such themes. The Lamb of re-\\ndemption and the throne of law, and a government compris-\\ning both will be the field of their studj 7 and they will find\\ntheir own once petty experience related to all that is vast-\\nest and most transcendent in the works and appointments\\nof God s empire. 0, what thoughts will spring up in such\\nminds, surrounded by such fellow intelligences, entered on\\nsuch themes, and present to such discoveries How grand\\ntheir action! How majestic their communion! Their\\npraise how august Their joys how full and clear Shall\\nwe ever figure, my friends, in scenes like these 0, this\\np: wer of endless life! great King of Life, and Priest of\\nKternity, reveal thyself to us, and us to ourselves, and\\nquicken us to this unknown future before us.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0329.jp2"}, "330": {"fulltext": "XVII.\\nm\\nRESPECTABLE SIN.\\nJohn yiii. 9. u And they which heard it, being convicted\\nby their own conscience, went out, one by one, beginning at the\\neldest, even unto the last, and Jesus ivas left alone, and the\\nviornan standing in the midst. 1 1\\nEt is with, sins as with, men or families, some have pedi-\\ngree and some have not for there are kinds and modes of\\nsin that have, in all ages, been held in respect and em-\\nbalmed with all the honors of history; and there are\\nothers that never were and never can be raised above the\\nlevel even of disgust. The noble sins will, of course, be\\njudged in a very different manner from the humble, base-\\nborn sins. The sins of fame, honor, place, power, bravery,\\ngenius, always in good repute, will not seldom be admired\\nand applauded. But the low-blooded sins of felony, and\\nvice, and base depravity are associated with brutality, and\\nare universally held in contempt. Whether the real de-\\nmerit of the two classes of sin is measured by such dis-\\ntinctions is more questionable. Such distinctions certainly\\nhad little weight with Christ. He was even more severe\\nupon the sins of learning, wealth, station, and religious\\nsanctimony, than upon the more plebeian, or more despised\\nclass of sins. Indeed, he seems to look directly through\\nall the fair conventionalities, and to bring his judgment\\ndown upon some point more interior and deeper. He ap-\\npears, in general, to be thoroughly disgusted with all the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0330.jp2"}, "331": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN. 327\\nmere respectabilities, whether men or sins. The hypocri-\\nsies of religion, the impostures of learning, .the gilded\\nshows of wealth gotten by extortion, the proud airs of\\nauthority and power employed in acts of oppression, pro-\\nvoke his indignation, and he deals with them in such\\nterms of emphasis as indicate the profoundest possible\\nabhoiTense.\\nHence the jealous}- with which he was watched by the\\nriders, and priests, and rulers; for every few days some\\nRabbi, Scribe, lawyer, or committee of such, was sent out\\nto observe him, or question him, or draw him, if possible,\\ninto some kind of treason in his doctrine because they\\nfeared his influence with the people, lest he might put\\nhimself at their bead and raise a great revolution that\\nwould even subvert the present social order.\\nThe cunning plot his enemies are working, in my text,\\nis instigated by this kind of fear. He is teaching, it ap-\\npears, a great multitude of people in the temple, when\\nsuddenly a company of Scribes and Pharisees are seen\\nhustling in through the crowd, leading up a woman, to set\\nher before him. She has been guilty, they say, of a base\\ncrime which the law of Moses punishes with public ston-\\ning and death, and they demand of him what shall be done\\nwith her hoping that, out of the same perverse favor he\\nis wont to show to low people, he will take the woman s\\npart, and so give them the desired opportunity to throw\\ncontempt on his character, and exasperate the popular\\nsuperstition against him.\\nChrist, perceiving apparently their design, determines to\\nput them to confusion. He remains a long time silent,\\nmaking no answer, and of course none that can be taken\\nhold of. They press him for a reply still no reply ifl", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0331.jp2"}, "332": {"fulltext": "328 RESPECTABLE SIN.\\ngiven. They wait, and still it is not given. There they\\nstand in the center of the great concourse, all looking ax\\nthem, and, as they soon begin to fancy, looking directly\\ninto them. It is a most uncomfortable position for them.\\nTo give still greater pungency to their thoughts, Christ\\nwithdraws his eyes from them, and, as if waiting for their\\ncomplete confusion, writes abstractedly on the pavement\\nAt length they grow perplexed, and begin to ask them-\\nselves how they shall get out of their -very awkward pre-\\ndicament. They press him still more vehemently, but he\\nrefuses to speak, save simply to say, Let the man of you\\nthat is without sin throw the first stone at the woman, if\\nshe is guilty and immediately falls to writing abstractedly\\non the ground again. The arrow sticks, and the suspense\\nof silence makes them more and more conscious of the\\npain till finally they can bear it no longer. Convicted\\nthus by their own conscience, they went out, as the text\\nhas it, one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the\\nlast, and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in\\nthe midst.\\nLook upon them now, as they withdraw, and follow\\nthem with your eye, as probably Christ and the whole as-\\nsembly did. Observe the mannerly order of their shame,\\nbeginning at the eldest, even unto the last! See how care-\\nfully they keep the sacred rules of good breeding and\\ndeference to age, even in their sniveling defeat, and the\\nchagrin of their baffled conspiracy, and you will begin to\\nfind how base a thing may take on airs of dignity, and\\nhow oontemptible, in fact, these airs of dignity may be.\\nThe subject thus presented is respectalle sin, sin that takes\\non the semblance of goodness and judges itself by the dignity", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0332.jp2"}, "333": {"fulltext": "BESPECTABLE SIN 329\\nof its manner and appearance. Almost all the really great\\nor sublime sins of the world are of this class, and I shall\\nundertake to show that this more respectable type of sin\\nis often, if not generally, deepest in the spirit of sin, and,\\nin the sight of God, most guilty.\\nJust this, I think, has been the impression of you al^\\nin the remarkable scene referred to in my text. These\\nplausible accusers, pressing in with their victim in such\\nairs of dignity, and retiring in such careful deference to\\nage as not to allow even a year s difference to be disre-\\ngarded, have yet been virtually detected and foiled in a\\nthoroughly wicked conspiracy. Had they been a gang of\\nthieves, their transaction would have been more base only\\nin the name; for it was, in fact, a kind of dramatic lie,\\ndeliberately planned, to snare an artless, worthy, and visi-\\nbly holy man. Accordingly, now that they are gone,\\ndriven out by the recoil of their own base trick, the Sav-\\niour, without using any word of reproach, quietly proceeds\\nto bring out the scene just where their real character will\\nbe most impressively displayed. He says to the woman,\\nu Where are thine accusers? Hath no man condemned\\nthee? No man, Lord. Neither do I; go, sin no\\nmore. Sinner that she was, not even these sanctimonious\\nconspirators could stand the challenge of their own sina\\nlong enough to accuse her. And the result is, that we are\\nleft by Christ in the impression, and that designedly, that\\non the whole, the woman, in her most shameful sin, wag\\nreally less of a sinner than they. Her, therefore, we pity.\\nThem we denounce and despise. How many things are\\nWC ready to imagine, that might soften our judgment of\\nher fall, if we only knew the secret of her sad history. )iu\\n28*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0333.jp2"}, "334": {"fulltext": "830 EESPECTABLE SIN.\\njudgment of tlieir stratagem, on the other hand, permits\\nno softening, but we approve ourselves only the more con-\\nfidently, the more heartily we despise and the more unre-\\nstrainedly we detest their hypocrisy in it. In pursuing\\nnow this very serious subject, we need,\\nFirst of all, to clear the influence of a false or defective\\nImpression, growing out of the fact, that we oursel ves are\\npersons that live so entirely in the atmosphere of character\\nand decency. Our range of life is so walled in by the re-\\nspectability of our associations, that what is on the other\\nside of the wall is very much a world unknown. Hence\\nwe have no such opinion or impression of sin, anywhere,\\nas we ought to have. It is with us all our life long and\\nin all our associations much as it is with us here in our\\nassembly for worship. The offensive and repulsive forms\\nof sin are almost never here, by so much as any one sign,\\nor symptom. The sin is here, and sin that wants salvation\\nbut it is sin so thoroughly respectable as to make it very\\nnearly impossible to produce any just impression of its\\ndeformity. Sitting here in this atmosphere of decency\\nand order, how can you suffer any just impression of the\\ndreadful nature of that evil which, after all, wears a look\\nso plausible. If there came in with you, to mingle in your\\naudience, a fair representation only of the town if you\\nheard, in the porch, the profane oaths of the cellars and\\nhells of gambling; if you looked about with a cautious\\nfeeling, right and left, in the seat, lest some one might rifle\\nyour dress, or pick your pocket if the victims of drink\\nwere seen reeling into the seats, here and there, and their\\nhungry, shivering children were crying at the door, for\\nbread if the diseased and loathsome relics of vice, recog-\\nnized sometimes as the sons and daughters of families once", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0334.jp2"}, "335": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN 831\\nliving in respect and affluence, were sprinkled about you,\\ntainting the air yon breathe in a word, if actual life were\\nhere, in correct representation, how different a matter\\nwould it be for me to speak of sin, how different for yon\\nto hear And the same holds true of the associations of\\nyour life generally. Sin, in its really revolting, shocking\\nforms, seldom gets near enough to you to meet your eye.\\nWhat you know of it is mostly gotten from the newspa-\\npers, and is scarcely more of a reality to you, many times,\\nthan the volcanoes you hear of in the moon.\\nSecondly, we need also to clear another false or defect-\\nive impression, growing out of the general tendency in\\nmankind to identify sin with vice and, of course, to judge\\nthat whatever is clear of vice is clear also of sin which,\\nin fact, is the same as to judge that whatever sin is respect-\\nable is no sin at all. Or, sometimes, we identify sin with\\nacts of wrong, or personal injury, such as deeds of rob-\\nbery, fraud, seduction, slander, and the like. In this view,\\nagain, whatever sin is respectable enough to be clear of all\\nsuch deeds of wrong is, of course, no sin. Whereas, there\\nmay be great sin where there is no vice, bitter and deep\\nguiltiness before God where there is never one act of per-\\nsonal wrong or injury committed. All vice, all wrong,\\npresupposes sin, but sin may be the reigning principle of\\nthe life, from childhood to the grave, and never produce\\none scar of vice, or blamable injury to a fellow-being. In-\\ndeed we must go further, we must definitely say that even\\nvirtue itself, as the term is commonly used, classes under\\nBin, or has its root in sin. Virtue, as men speak, is conduct\\napproved irrespectively of any good principle of conduct;\\nand it is, for the most part, a goodness wholly negative,\\nconsisting in the not doing, the abstaining, and keeping off", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0335.jp2"}, "336": {"fulltext": "332 EESPECTABLE SIN.\\nfrom whatever is confessedly base and vicious. Sin, on the\\nother hand, is the negation of good as respects the principle\\nof good. Any thing is sin, as God judges, which is not in the\\npositive, all-dominating power of universal love. Any thing\\ncalled virtue, therefore, which consists in barely not doin\u00c2\u00b0;, is\\nsin of course because it is not in any positive principle cf\\nlove, or duty to God. Half the sin of mankind, therefore,\\nconsists, or is made up of virtue that is, of what is generally\\ncalled virtue, and passes for a virtuous character in the com-\\nmon speech of men. It is, in fact, respectable sin, nothing\\nmore and has exactly the same root with all sin, even the\\nworst viz., the not being in God s love and a state of\\npositive allegiance to God.\\nConsider now, thirdly, and make due account of the\\nfact, that respectable sin is not less guilty because it has a\\nless revolting aspect. A feeling is very generally indulged,\\neven by such as are confessedly blamable for not being in\\nthe christian life, that their blame or guilt is a thing of\\nhigher and finer quality than it would be under the ex-\\ncesses and degrading vices many practice. They measure\\ntheir sin by their outward standing and conduct, whereas\\nall sin is of the same principle. The sin of one class is, in\\nfact, the sin of the other, as respects every thing but man-\\nner and degree. There are different kinds of vice, but\\nonly one kind of sin viz., the state of being without God,\\nor out of allegiance to God. All evil and sin, as we jus\\\\\\nnow saw, are of this same negative root the want of any\\nholy principle; the state set off from God, and disem-\\npowered and degraded by the separation. The respectable\\nsin, therefore, shades into the unrespectable, not as being\\ndifferent in kind, but only as twilight shades into the night\\nThe evil spirit, called sin, may be trained up to politeness,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0336.jp2"}, "337": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN. 333\\nand made to be genteel sin it may be elegant, cultivated\\nBin it may be very exclusive and fashionable sin it may\\nbe industrious, thrifty sin; it may be a great political\\nmanager, a great commercial operator, a great inventor it\\nmay be learned, scientific, eloquent, highly poetic sin still\\nit is sin, and, being that, has in fact the same radical or\\nfundamental quality that, in its ranker and less restrained\\nconditions, produce all the most hideous and revolting\\ncrimes of the world.\\nThere is a very great difference, I admit, between a cour-\\nteous man and one who is ill-natured and insulting, between\\na generous man and a niggard, a pure and a lewd, a man\\nwho lives in thought and a man who lives in appetite, a\\ngreat and wise operator in the market and a thief; and\\nyet, taken as apart from all accidental modifications, or\\ndegrees, the sin-quality or principle is exactly the same in\\nall. As in water face answereth to face, so one class of\\nhearts to the other. The respectable and the disgusting\\nare twin brothers only you see in one how well he can\\nbe made to look, and in the other how both would look,\\nif that which is in both were allowed to have its bent and\\nwork its own results unrestrained.\\nAgain, fourthly, it is often true that what is looked upon\\nas respectable sin is really more base in spirit, or internal\\nquality, than that which is more, and more universally,\\ndespised. And yet this is not the judgment of those who\\nare most apt to rule the judgments of the world. The lies\\nof high life, for example, are the liberties asserted by poweT\\nand respectable audacity. The lies of commoners and\\nhumble persons are a fatal, irredeemable dishonor. The\\nfashionable, who spurns the obligation of an honest debt,\\nis only asserting the right and title of fashion; but the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0337.jp2"}, "338": {"fulltext": "331 RESPECTABLE SIN.\\nmerchant, or the tradesman, who avoids the payment of\\nhis bond, loses his honor and becomes a knave. The con-\\nqueror, who overruns and desolates a kingdom, will be\\nnamed with respect or admiration by history, when, prob-\\nably enough, Grod will look upon him with as much greater\\nabhorrence, than if he had robbed a hen-roost, as his crime\\nis bloodier and more afflictive to the good of the world.\\nHow very respectable those learned impostors the Scribes,\\nand those sanctimonious extortioners the Pharisees How\\nbase those knavish tax-gatherers and sinners in low life\\nBut Christ, who respected not the appearance, but judged\\nrighteous judgment, had a different opinion. It is not the\\nshow of a sin, my friends, which makes it base, but it is its\\ninterior quality, what it is in motive, feeling, thought.\\nIt is the gloat of inward passion, the stringent pinch of\\nmeanness, the foulness of inward desire and conception,\\nthe fire of inward malignity, the rot of lust and hypoc-\\nrisy. It is not for me, as public inspector of sins, to pass\\non their relative quality, or fix the brand of their degree.\\n1 will only say that the outwardly respectable look of them\\nis no good test of their quality leaving it, as a question\\nbetween you and your God, whether, if all the inward\\nshapes of your thought, motive, feeling, desire, and passion\\nwere brought out into the open sight of this community;\\nand all the false and factitious rules of judgment accepted\\nby us were swept away, it might not possibly appear that\\nthere are characters here, in this very respectable assembly,\\nas base in real demerit as many that are classed among the\\noutcasts of ths town.\\nIt is obvious, fifthly, that what I am calling respectable\\nBin is commonly more inexcusable, not always, but com-\\nmonly. Sometimes the most depraved and abandoned", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0338.jp2"}, "339": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIX. 335\\ncharacters are those who have east themselves down, by\\ntheir perversity, from the highest standing of privilege.\\nBut, however this may be, it can not be denied that the\\ndepraved and abject classes of society have, to a great ex-\\ntent, been trained up to the very life they lead to be idle\\nand beg, to be cunning, sharp, predatory, in one way or\\nanother, thieves to look upon the base pleasures of self-\\nindulgence and appetite as the highest rewards of exist-\\nence, They are ignorant by right of their origin, brutal\\nin manners and feeling, accustomed only to what is lowest\\nin the possible range of human character. Sometimes,\\nalas the real want of bread has made them desperate. I\\nwill not become the sponsor of their crime enough that\\nthey are criminal, and consciously so. But who is there\\nof you that does not pity their hard lot who of you that,\\nconsidering their most sad history, is not often more ready\\nto weep over than to judge them. Is it incredible to you\\nthat, in your own respectable and decent life of sin, taken\\nas related to your high advantages, there may even be a\\ndegree of criminality, which, as God estimates crime, is far\\nmore inexcusable than that for which many are doomed to\\nsuffer the severest and most ignominious penalties of pub-\\nlic law\\nI add a single consideration further; viz., that respect\\nable sin is more injurious, or a greater mischief, than the\\nr and more disgusting forms of vicious abandonment\\nThe latter create for us greater public burdens, in the way\\nof charity and taxation for the poor, and of judicial pro-\\nceedings and punishments for public malefactors. They\\nannoy us more too by their miseries and the crimes by\\nwhich they disturb the security and peace of society. And\\nyet it is really a fair subject of doubt, whether, m moral", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0339.jp2"}, "340": {"fulltext": "336 RESPECTABLE SIN.\\njoint of view, they have not a wholesome influence ant\\nare not a social benefit. They tempt no one. Contrary to\\nthis, they repel and warn away from vice every one that\\nlooks upon them. They hang out a flag of distress upon\\nevery shoal of temptation. They show us the last results\\nof all sin, and the colors in which they exhibit sin are al-\\nways disgusting, never attractive. In this view they are\\nreally one of the moral wants of the world. We should\\nnever conceive the inherent baseness of sin, if it were not\\nshown by their experiment; revealed in their delirium,\\ntheir rags, their bloated faces, and bleared eyes, and totter-\\ning bodies, and, more than all, in the extinction of their\\nhuman feeling, and the substitution of a habit or type of\\nbeing so essentially brutal. We look down into this hell\\nthat vice opens, and with a shudder turn awaj Mean-\\ntime, respectable sin, how attractive, how fascinating its\\npleasures. Its gay hours, its shows and equipages, its\\ncourteous society, its entertainments, its surroundings of\\ncourtly form and incident, how delicious to the inspec-\\ntion of fancy. Even its excesses seem to be only a name\\nfor spirit. The places of temptation too are not the hells\\nand brothels, but the saloons of pleasure and elegant dissi-\\npation. Vice is the daughter of pleasure; all unrespect-\\nable sin the daughter of respectable. Nay, if we go to the\\nbottom, church-going sin is the most plausible form of sin\\nthat was ever invented, and, in that view, the most danger-\\nous For, if a man never goes to the place of worship, we\\ntake his sin with a warning, or at least with some little\\nsense of caution; but, if he is regular at church, a respect-\\nful hearer of the word, a sober, correct, thoughtful man.\\nstill, (though never a Christian,) a safe, successful, always\\nrespected never-faltering character, then how many will", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0340.jp2"}, "341": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN 337\\nbe ready to imagine that there is one form of sin that is\\nabout as good as piety itself, and possibly even better thaji\\npiety. And so this church-going sin gives countenance\\nand courage to all other, all the better and more effective\\ncountenance because no such thing is intended. There is,\\nin short, no such thing as taking away the evil of sin by\\nmaking it respectable. Make it even virtuous, as men\\nBpeak, and it will only be the worse in its power, as regards\\nthe enticements it offers to evil. It will not shock any one\\nby deeds of robbery and murder, it will not revolt any one\\nby its disgusting spectacles of shame and misery, but how\\nmany will it encourage and shield, in just that rejection of\\nGod, which is to be their bitter fall and their eternal over-\\nthrow.\\nIt is scarcely possible, in closing this very serious sub-\\nject, to name and duly set forth all the applications of\\nwhich it is capable, or which it even presses on our\\nattention.\\nWith how little reason, for example, are Christian peo-\\nple, and indeed all others, cowed by the mere name and\\nstanding of men, who are living still under the power of\\ngin, and resisting or neglecting still the grace of their sal-\\nvation. Doubtless it is well enough to look on them with\\nrespect, and treat them with a just deference but however\\nhigh they may seem, allow them never to overtop your\\npity. For what is the fair show they make, but a mosl\\n6orrowful appeal to your compassions and your prayers?\\nHow can a true Christian, one who is consciously ennobled\\nby the glorious heirship in which he is sec, ever be intim-\\nidated, or awed, or kept back in his approaches or his\\nprayers, by respect to that which is only respectable sin\\n29", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0341.jp2"}, "342": {"fulltext": "338 BESPECT^BLE BIN.\\nIf he goes to God, entering even into the holiest with\\nholiness, how much more will he be able to stand before\\nthese princes of name and title and power, and speak to\\ntnem of Christ and his great salvation. To falter in this\\nboldness, brethren, is even a great wrong to our Master s\\ngospel, which puts us, even the humblest of us, in a higher\\nplane of dignity far far above any most honored sinneT\\nof mankind.\\nAgain, it is impossible in such a subject as this, not to\\nraise the question of morality, what it is, and is worth,\\nand where it will land us in the great allotments of eter-\\nnity. Morality, taken as apart from religion, is but\\nanother name for decency in sin. It is just that negative\\nspecies of virtue, which consists in not doing what is\\nscandalously depraved or wicked. But there is no heart\\nof holy principle in it, any more than there is in the worst\\nof felonies. It is the very same thing, as respects the\\ndenial of God, or the state of personal separation from\\nGod, that distinguishes all the most reprobate forms of\\ncharacter. A correct, outwardly virtuous man is the prin-\\nciple of sin well-dressed and respectably kept nothing\\nmore. And will that save you? You can, I am sure, be\\nin no great danger of believing that. A far greater dan-\\nger is that the decent, outwardly respectable manner of\\nyour sin will keep you from the discovery of its real\\nnature, as a root of character in you. If we undertake\\nto set forth the inherent weakness and baseness of sin, to\\nopen up the vile and disgustful qualities which make it, as\\nthe scriptures declare, abominable and hateful to God, if\\nwe speak of its poisonous and bitter effects within, and\\nthe inevitable and awful bondage it works in all the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0342.jp2"}, "343": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN. 383\\npowers of choice and character, who of you can believe\\nwhat we say? Such representations, you will think if\\nyou do not openly say, partake of extravagance. What\\ncan you know of sin, what can you feel of your deep\\nspiritual need, when you are living so respectably ard\\nmaintain, in the outward life, a show of so great integrity,\\nand even so much of refinement often in what is called\\nvirtue. True conviction of sin how difficult is it, when\\nIts appearances and modes of life are so fair, when it\\ntwines itself so cunningly about, or creeps so insidiously\\ninto, our amiable qualities, and sets off its internal disor-\\nders by so many outward charms and attractions\\nIf then we are right in this estimate of morality and\\nthe very great dangers involved in it, how necessary is it,\\nfor a similar reason, that every man out of Christ, not\\nliving in any vicious practice, should set himself to the\\ndeliberate canvassing of his own moral state. Make a\\nstudy of this subtle, cunningly veiled character, the state\\nof reputable sin, and study it long enough to fathom its\\nreal import. Look into the secret motives and springs of\\nyour character inspect and study long enough to really\\nperceive the strange, wild current of your thoughts de-\\ntect the subtle canker in }~our feeling comprehend the\\ndeep ferment of your lusts, enmities, and passions hunt\\ndown the selfish principle which instigates and misdirects\\nand turns off your whole life from God, setting all your\\naims on issues that reject Him ask, in a word, how this\\nrespectable sin appears, when viewed inwardly; how, if\\nunrestrained by pride, and the conventional rules of de-\\ncency and character, it would appear outwardly. Fathom\\nthe deep hunger of your soul, and listen to its invalid", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0343.jp2"}, "344": {"fulltext": "340 RESPECTABLE SIN\\nwail of bondage, its mournful, unuttered cry of wam\\\\\\nafter God. Ask it of the enlightening Spirit of God,\\nthat he will open to your view yourself, and make you to\\nknow all that is inmost, deepest, most hidden in the habit-\\nually veiled deformity of your sin. Make it your prayel\\neven to God\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Search me, God, and try me\\nYou have a motive also in making this inquest, that i\\neven more pressing than many of you will suspect. Fo\\nno matter how respectable your sin is, you never can tel\\nwhere it will carry you how long it will be respectable,\\nor where it will end. Enough, to know that it is sin, and\\nthat the principle of all sin is one and the same. In ita\\nvery germ you have, potentially, whatever is abhorrent,\\nabominable, disgusting; and when the fruit is ripe, no\\nman can guess into what shape of debasement and moral\\ninfamy, or public crime, it may finally bring him. If he\\nhears of a murder, like that of Webster, for example, he\\nmay be very confident that, in his particular and particu-\\nlarly virtuous case of unreligious living, there is no liabil-\\nity to any such result. And perhaps there is not. Per-\\nhaps the danger is different. Avoiding what is bloody,\\nhe may fall into what is false or low some damning dis-\\nhonesty or fraud, some violation of trust, some falsification\\nof accounts, some debauchery of lust or appetite, some\\nbrutality which makes his very name and person a dis-\\ngust. Sin works by no set methods. It has a way of\\nruin for every man, that is original and proper only to\\nhimself. Suffice it to say that, as long as you are in it\\nand under its power, you can never tell what you are\\ndanger of. This one thing you may have as a truth ete\\nTiaHy fixed, that respectable sin is, in principle, the mot 1", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0344.jp2"}, "345": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN. 341\\nof all basest crime. Follow it on to the bitter end, and\\nthere is ignominy eternal. There is a law of retribution\\nthat keeps it company, and is never parted from it bj\\nwhich law the end is being shaped and the hideous result\\nprepared. If the delicate, pretentious, always correct\\nsinner keeps to his decency here, the proper end will\\nshow itself hereafter, and then it will be seen how dark,\\nafter all, how deep in criminality, how bronzed in guilty\\nthought, is every soul becoming under even the fairest\\nshows of virtue, coupled with neglect of God, and separa-\\nted from his personal love.\\nAdvancing now a stage, observe again that it is on just\\nthis view of the world and of human character under sin,\\nthat the whole superstructure of Christianity is based.\\nChrist comes forth to the world as a lost world. He\\nmakes no distinction of respectable and unrespectable as\\nregards the common want of salvation. Nay, it is plain\\nfrom his searching rebukes laid on the heads of the priests,\\nthe rulers, and others in high life, that he is sometimes\\nmoved with greatest abhorrence by the sin of those who\\nare most respectable and even sanctimonious. Hence the\\nsolemn universality of his terms of salvation. Hence the\\ndeclared impossibility of eternal life to any, save by the\\nsame great radical change of character a fact which he\\ntestifies directly to Nicodemus, the conscientious inquirer\\nafter truth, the sober and just senator, one of the very\\nhighest, noblest men in the nation, Except a man be\\nborn again, he can not see the kingdom of God. He aska\\nnot how you appear, but whether you are human. Nay,\\nif you come to him, like the young ruler, clothed in all\\nBuch comely virtues that he is constrained to look on youi\\n29*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0345.jp2"}, "346": {"fulltext": "842 RESPECTABLE SIN\\ningenuous, conscientious character with love, he will tel]\\nyou, when you ask him what you are to do to have eternal\\nlife, that you must forsake all and come and follow him.\\nDecency, correctness, praise all these are but the guise\\nof your sin, which guise he will tell you must be forever\\nabandoned as a ground of confidence before God, and the\\nsin, which now it only adorns and covers, must be itself\\nremoved and forever taken away by the blood of tha\\nLamb.\\nHave I now in my audience any forlorn one, like the\\nwoman of my text, any youth, or older person, who is\\nconsciously sinking into the toils of vice and beginning\\nto taste its bitter humiliations any that has consciously\\nlost or begun to lose the condition of respect and reputa-\\nble living any that begins to scorn himself, or seems to\\nbe sinking under the pitiless scorn of the world s judg-\\nments? To such an one I rejoice to say, in the name of\\nJesus Christ, that there is no scorn with him. He does\\nnot measure sin by our conventional and often false rules\\nof judgment. The basest sin he was even wont to find,\\nin many cases, under the finest covering of respect. He\\nwill judge you rightly, not harshly. If you have fallen,\\nor begun to fall, he wants to raise you. He offers you his\\nfree sympathy and support, and, if others lay their look\\nof contempt upon your soul, he invites you kindly, whis\\npers love and courage, and if you are ready to receive\\nhim, waits also to say Thou art mine, go, son; go,\\ndaughter sin no more\\nBrethren professed in the name and gospel of our Lord\\nJesus Christ, it is him I follow, and not any want of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0346.jp2"}, "347": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN. 343\\ncharity I indulge, when I remind you that a still more\\nmournful application of this subject is possibly required.\\nWhat, alas! and apart from all severity of judgment, is\\nthe profession of many disciples but a state of serious and\\nreputable sin They are virtuous persons, as that term\\nis commonly used, good always on the negative side of\\nprudence and caution. They have no vices. They bring\\nno scandal on the cause of Christ by their walk. But to\\nwhat does all this amount, if there be nothing farther and\\nmore positive to go with it Does the mere keeping out\\nof vice and scandalous misdoing, does the exactest possible\\nlife, in fact, if we speak only of its correctness, constitute\\na living and true piety What is it, even at the best, but\\na reputable, or possibly a somewhat christian-looking state\\nof sin The Pharisees and other religious persons of the\\nSaviour s time were abundantly and even sanctimoniously\\nexact persons. And jet the Saviour discovered in them,\\nif we can judge from the tone of his rebukes, the worst\\nand most incurable type of moral abandonment. They\\nhad so little sense of holiness, and so little sympathy with\\nit, that they were his bitterest enemies, and even became\\nhis betrayers and murderers. He saw all this beforehand,\\nwrapped up in their character; their washings, sacrifices,\\nlong prayers, and scrupulous ti things did not conceal it\\nYou certainly have no such ceremonies you do not be-\\nlieve in them, but you have covenants, communions, bap-\\ntisms, family altars. ILive you, in company with these,\\nand answering to these, the new man of love, created\\nanew in Christ Jesus unto good works? If you have not,\\nif you live a dumb, unpositive life, under the power of the\\nworld, selfish still as before, and self-pursuing; if the old\\nman is not crucified, and the new man, Christ, is certainly", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0347.jp2"}, "348": {"fulltext": "311 RESPECTABLE SIN.\\nnot being formed within you. then your profession signi-\\nfies nothing but the mere respectability of your sin.\\nWhat is your supposed piety but this, if it have no spirit-\\nual and inwardly transforming power? Christ is redemp-\\ntion only as he actually redeems and delivers our nature\\nfrom sin. If he is not the law and spring of a new spirit\\nof life, he is nothing. Beware, let me say to you in\\nChrist s name, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees\\nand Sadducees. The true principle, my brethren, is this,\\nand if this will yield us no just title to the Christian\\nname, w r hat we call our piety is in honest truth nothing\\nmore, or better than a decent shape of sin For as many\\nas are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God\\nas many, no more. Are we so led, do we so live?\\nTo dismiss this subject without some prospective refer-\\nence, or glance of forecast on the future, is impossible,\\nhowever painful and appalling the contemplations it will\\nraise. When you go to stand before Gocl, my friends, it\\nwill not be your dress, or your house, or your titles, or\\nyour wealth, no, nor even your virtues, however much\\ncommended here, that will give you a title of entrance\\namong the glorified. Respectable sin will not pass then\\nand there as here. The honor, the nobility of it is now\\ngone by. The degrees, indeed, of sin are many, but the\\nkind is one, and that a poor, dejected, emptied form of\\nshame and sorrow. How appalling such a thought to any\\none who is capable of thought, and not absolutely brutal-\\nized by his guilt. Furthermore, as sin is sin, everywhere\\nand in all forms, the respectable and the unrespectabie,\\nthe same in principle, and when the appearances are dif-\\nferent, the same often in criminality, the world of future", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0348.jp2"}, "349": {"fulltext": "RESPECTABLE SIN, 845\\nretiibuiion must, of course, be a world of strange com-\\npanionships. AVe are expressly told, and it seems a\\nmatter of reason also to suppose, that the spirits of guilty\\nmen will not be assorted there by their tastes, but by their\\ncharacter and demerits. Death is the limit and end of all\\nmere conventionalities. The fictitious assortments of the\\nearthly state never pass that limit. Bank, caste, fashion,\\ndisgust, fastidiousness, delicacy of sin these are able to\\ndraw their social lines no longer. Proximity now is held\\nto the stern, impartial principle of inward demerit; That\\nall may receive according to the deeds done in the body.\\nThis is the level of adjustment, and there appears to bo\\nno other. The standing of the high priests, the Scribes.\\nand Pharisees, and the forlorn woman of my text, may be\\ninverted now, or they may all take rank together. And\\nso also many of you, that are now pleasing yourselves in\\nthe dignity of your virtues, and the honors of your social\\nstanding, may fall there into group and gradation, with\\nsuch as now you even look away from with profoundest\\ndistaste or revulsion. The subject is painful; I will not\\npursue it. I will only remind you that where the lines\\nof justice lead, there you must j-ourselves follow; and if\\nthat just award of respectable sin yields you only the\\npromise of a scale of companionships from which your\\nsoul recoils with disgust, there is no wisdom for you but\\nto be as disgustful of the sin as of the companionships,\\nand draw yourself, at once, to Him who is Purity, and\\nPeace, and Glory, and, in all, Eternal Life.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0349.jp2"}, "350": {"fulltext": "IV1I1.\\nTHE POWER OF GOD US SELF-SACRIFICE,\\n1 Cor. i. 24. Christ the power of God\\nThe cross and Christ crucified are the subject here in\\nhand. Accordingly, when Christ is called the power of\\nGod, we are to understand Christ crucified; and then the\\nproblem is to conceive how Christ, dying in the weakness\\nof mortality and exhibiting, just there, if we take him as\\nthe incarnate manifestation of God, the humblest tokens\\nof passibility and frailty, is yet and there, as being the\\ncrucified, the power of God.\\nAt our present point and without some preparation of\\nthought, we can hardly state intelligibly, or with due force\\nof assertion, the answer to such a question. The two ele-\\nments appear to be incompatible, and we can only say that\\nthe power spoken of is, not the efficient, or physical, but\\nthe moral power of God that namely of his feeling and\\ncharacter. But as this will be no statement sufficiently\\nclear to stand as the ruling proposition of a discourse, I\\nwill risk a departure from our custom and, instead of draw-\\ning my subject formally from my text, I will begin at a\\npoint external and draw, by stages, toward it; paying it,\\nas I conceive, the greater honor, that I suppose it to be so\\nrich and deep in its meaning, as to require and to reward\\nthe labor of a discourse, if simply we may apprehend the\\nlesson it teaches.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0350.jp2"}, "351": {"fulltext": "THE POWEB OF GOD. 347\\nChrist, then, the crucified, and so the power of God thu\\nis our goal, let us see if ice can reach it.\\nWe take our point of departure at the question of possi-\\nbility in God is He a being passible, or impassible?\\nIt would seem to follow from tlie infinitude of his cre-\\natively efficient power, and the immensity of his nature,\\nthat he is and must be impassible. There is, in fact, no\\npower that is not in his hands. There are cases, it is true,\\nwhere superiority in volume and physical farce rather\\nincreases than diminishes passibility. Thus it is that man\\nis subject to so great annoyance from the mere gnat, and\\nthe creature is able to inflict this inevitable suffering upon\\nhim, just because of his own atomic littleness. But there\\nis no parallel in this for the relation of God to his crea-\\ntures, or of theirs to Him because they continue to exist\\nonly by His permission. Besides, He is spirit only, not a\\nbeing that can be struck, or thrust upon, or any way vio-\\nlated by physical assault. What we call force, or physical\\npower can not touch him. And even if it could, he is\\nprobably incapable of suffering from it, as truly as even\\nspace itself. Like space, like eternity, he is, in his own\\nnature, as spirit, essentially impassible impassible, that\\nis, as related to force.\\nBut the inquiry is not ended when we reach this point,\\nit is only begun. After all there must be some kind of\\npassibleness in God, else there could be no genuine char-\\nacter in him. If he could not be pained by any thing,\\ncould not suffer any kind of wound, had no violable sym-\\npathy, he would be any thing but a perfect character. A\\ncast iron Deity could not command our love and reverence.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0351.jp2"}, "352": {"fulltext": "348 THE POWER OF GOD\\nThe beauty of God is that he has feeling and feels appio-\\npriatel y toward everything done; that he feels badness as\\nbadness, and goodness as goodness, pained by one, pleased\\nby the other. There must be so much/ or such kind of\\npassibility in him that he will feel toward every thing aa\\nit is, and will be diversely affected by diverse things, ac-\\ncording to their quality. If wickedness and wrong stirred\\nnothing in him different from what is stirred by a praj^er,\\nif He felt no disaffection toward a thief which He does not\\nfeel toward a martyr, no pleasure in a martyr faithful unto\\ndeath, which He does not in his persecutors, He would be a\\nkind of no-character; we can hardly conceive such a being.\\nA very large share of all the virtues have, in fact, an\\nelement of passivity, or passibility in them, and without\\nthat element they could, not exist. Indeed the greatness\\nand power of character, culminates in the right proportion\\naad co-ordination of these passive elements. And just\\nhere it is, we shall see, that even God s perfection culmin-\\nates. He is great as being great in feeling.\\nWe raise a distinction, as among ourselves, between\\nwhat we call the active and the passive virtues. Not thai\\nall virtues are not equally active, in the sense of being\\nvoluntary, or free, but that in some of them we communi-\\ncate, and in some of them receive action. If I impart a\\ncharity, that is my active virtue if I receive an insult\\nwithout revenging, or wishing to revenge it, that is my\\npassive virtue. All the wrong acts done us and also all\\nthe good are occasions of some appropriate, proportionate\\nand really great feeling, which is our passive virtue. And\\nwithout this passive virtue in its varieties, we should be\\nonly no-characters, dry logs of wood instead of Christian\\nmen. Or, if we kept on acting still, we should be only", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0352.jp2"}, "353": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE 849\\nactive machines, equally dry as wood, and only making\\nmore of noise for what better is the active giving of a\\ncharity, if there be no fellow-feeling, or pitying passion\\nwith it, to make it a charity?\\nNow God must have these passive virtues as truly aa\\nmen. They are the necessary soul of all greatness in him.\\nflow then shall we conceive him to have them and to have\\nhis sublime perfection culminate in them, when he is, in\\nfact, impassible?\\nThis brings us to the true point of our question. We\\ndiscover, first, that God is and must be physically impas-\\nsible. We discover, next, that he ought to feel appropri-\\nately to all kinds of action, and must have, in order to his\\nreal greatness in character, all the passive virtues. He\\nmust in one view be impassible and in some other, pas-\\nsible, infinitely passible. And how is this, where is the\\nsolution\\nIt is here that God, being physically impassible, im-\\npassible as relates to violating force, is yet morally passi-\\nble. That is, he is a being whose very perfection it is,\\nthat he feels the moral significance of things, receives all\\nactions according to their moral import, whether as done\\nto himself, or by one created being to another. In this\\nlatter sense, he feels actions intensely according to the\\nmoral delicacy of his nature, deeply according to the\\ndepth of his nature. In this point of view, he is, just be^\\ncause he is perfect ana infinite, infinitely passible. He lias\\njust that sense of things which infinite holiness must have,\\nloves the tears of repentance in his child just as infinite\\nmercy must, turns away from all wrong, as profoundly\\nrevolted by it, as his infinite, eternal chastity must be.\\n30", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0353.jp2"}, "354": {"fulltext": "850 THE POWER OF GOB\\nIt will be seen, at once, that God can receive the sense\\nof actions morally, in this manner, when they can not\\ntouch him as force or physically. He can feel ingratitude\\nwhen he can not feel a blow. He can loathe impurity\\nwhen he can not be injured by any assault. He can be\\nsore displeased by the cruelty of man to his fellow, when\\nhe could not. suffer the cruelty himself. He is pleased and\\ngratified by acts of sacrifice when he could not be com-\\nforted, or enriched by the ministries of benevolence. All\\nacts affect him just according to their quality. A ther-\\nmometer is not more exactly and delicately passive to\\nheat, than he is to the merit and demerit of all actions.\\nSo, as regards what lies in character and pertains in that\\nway to spirit, he is the most intensely passible of all be-\\nings, and has it for his merit that he is.\\nThis, accordingly, is the representation given of him in\\nthe scriptures, or, as it will more assist my subject to say,\\nin the Old Testament scriptures. Thus he is blessed, or\\nsaid to be, in all the varieties of agreeable affection, ac-\\ncording to the merit and beauty of whatever is done that\\nis right. He smelled a sweet savor, we are told, in Noah s\\nsacrifice. He has pleasure in them that hope in his mercy.\\nHe is affected with joy over his people, as a prophet repre-\\nsents, even to singing, in the day of their restored peace.\\nHe is tender in his feeling to the obedient, pitying them\\nthat fear him as a father pitieth his children. His very\\nlove is partly passive that is, it is a being affected with\\ncomplacency by those who are in the truth, and a being\\naffected with compassion by the bitter and hard lot of\\nthose under sin. On the other hand, by how many un-\\npleasant varieties, or pains of feeling does he profess to\\nsuffer, in his relation to scenes of human wrong, ingrati-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0354.jp2"}, "355": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE. 351\\nfcude and disgusting baseness. The sighing of the prisoner\\ncomes before him, to command his sympathy. He calls\\nafter his people, as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit.\\nHe testifiespl am pressed under you as a cart is pressed\\nthat is full of sheaves. His reper tings are kindled together\\n111 view of the sins of his people. In all the afflictions of\\nhis people he is afflicted himself. And, in the same man-\\nner, he is said to be exercised by all manner of disagree-\\nable and unpleasant sentiments in relation to all manner\\nof evil doings; displeased, sore displeased, wroth, angry,\\nloathing, abhorring, despising, hating, weary, filled with\\nabomination, wounded, hurt, grieved, and even protests,\\nlike one sorrowing, that he could do nothing more for his\\nvineyard that he has not done in it. There is, in short, no\\nend to the variety of unhappy, or disagreeable sentiments\\nthat must be excited in God s breast of infinite purity, by\\nthe various complexities of guilt, wrong, shame and loath-\\nsomeness that are blended in the societies and scenes of\\nour fallen world. If God could look on these things with-\\nout disgust and abhorrence, he would not be God. He\\nwould want all that is most amiable, freshest, most deli-\\ncate, purest in love, every thing that most commends him\\nto our reverence.\\nBut these movings of disgust and abhorrence, all these\\nsentiments that put him in a just relation with evil, are\\npainful. Simpty to say that one is displeased is to say\\nthat he is disagreeably affected or merely to say that one\\ndislikes a character is to allege that he is unpleasantly\\naffected by it. What then shall we think of God, when\\nall these varieties of displeasure and dislike must as cer-\\ntainly oe living experiences in him, as he is a holy and a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0355.jp2"}, "356": {"fulltext": "852 THE POWER OF GOD\\nliving God? So far he is a being subject to pain, bv\\nreason of bis very perfections. Nay, bis pains do tbem\\nselves enter into and make up a consubstantial part ol\\nbis perfections.\\nAnd what is this, some will ask, but to assume the un-\\nhappiness, or, at least, the diminished happiness, of (rod\\nIs then God unhappy? Js he less than infinitely blessed?\\nPressed by this difficulty, it has been the manner of many\\nteachers to fall back on the physical impassibility of God,\\nimagining that there, at that fixed point, the true solution\\nmust begin. God, they say, is impassible. We are there-\\nfore to understand that, in all these scripture expressions,\\nthese abhorrings, loathings, hatings, displeasures, angers,\\nwearinesses, indignations, and the like, the bible is only\\nspeaking of God after the manner of men. Yes, but,\\nsupposing it to thus speak, what does it mean Does it\\nmean nothing? When it declares that God abominates\\nsin, does it mean that he has no feeling at all in respect to\\nit Does it mean that he has a pleasant or pleased feeling?\\nNeither we mock the dignity of scripture, nay we mock\\nthe beauty itself of God, when we turn away, in this man-\\nner, all credit of right feeling and true rationality in Him\\nNo, this is what we mean we mean, if we understand\\nourselves, that the figures in question, are transferred\\nfrom human uses and applied over to God; and that\\nwhen so applied, they express something true concern-\\ning God; viz., the great fact that God has the same\\nkind of displeased, disaffected, abhorrent and revolted\\nfeeling toward sin, as the purest and holiest man has, only\\nit is God s feeling, in God s measures, and according to\\nGod s purity; that his disgust is deep as the sea, that his", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0356.jp2"}, "357": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE. 353\\nindignation is a storm vast as the world, that his whole\\ninfinitude is moved with dislike, distaste, disgust, offended\\npurity, abhorrence and revolted love. It would even be\\na discredit to God to suppose any thing less.\\nAnd so we come back on the difficulty, a hundred fold\\nincreased, and we ask again, how shall we save the infi-\\nnite blessedness of God? By just dropping out our cal-\\nculations of arithmetic, I answer, and looking at facts. It\\nseems to be good arithmetic and logically inevitable that,\\nif any subtraction is made from God s infinite happiness,\\nhe can not be infinitely happy. No, it is not inevitable.\\nOn the contrary, he may even be the more blessed be-\\ncause of the subtraction, for to see that he feels rightly to-\\nward evil, despite of the pain suffered from it, to be con-\\nscious of long suffering and patience toward it, to know\\nthat he is pouring and ever has been the fullness of his\\nlove upon it, to be studying now, in conscious sacrifice,\\na saving mercy out of this springs up a joy deeper and\\nmore sovereign than the pain, and by a fixed law of holy\\ncompensation, the sea of his blessedness is kept continually\\nfull. All moral natures exist under this law of compen-\\nsation so that every being is made more blessed in all the\\npassive virtues. To receive evil rightly is to master it, to\\nbe rightly pained by it is to be kept in sovereign joy. To\\nsuffer well is bliss and victory.\\nProbably no one ever thought of compassion as bemg\\nanj thing less than a joy, a holy bliss of feeling. And\\nyet it is co-passion. It suffers with its objects, takes their\\nburdens, struggles with their sorrows all which is pain,\\na loss of happiness. Still it is no loss, because there id\\nanother element in the 3onscious greatness of the loss, and\\n30*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0357.jp2"}, "358": {"fulltext": "354 THE POWER OF GOD\\nthe man is even raised in order bv trie inward exaltation\\nhe feels. So in respect to pity, long suffering, patience\\nwith evil, and meekness under wrong. They have all a\\neid 3 of loss, and yet they are the noblest augmentations\\nof blessedness. There is a law of moral compensation in\\nthem all, by which their suffering is married to inevitable\\nIS or is this fact of compensation wholly confined to ac-\\ntions moral a similar return keeps company with loss and\\nis expected to do so in other matters. The hearer of a\\ntragedy, for example, goes to be afflicted, to have his soul\\nharrowed and torn, that in so deep excitement he may feel\\nthe depth of his nature, and be exalted in the powerful\\nsurging of its waves He suffers a great subtraction, but\\nno diminution.\\nTTe need not therefore be troubled or concerned for\\nGod s happiness, because he feels toward evil, and with all\\nhis feeling, exactly as he should. That, if only we can\\ndrop the stupid computations of arithmetic and look into\\nthe living order of mind, or spirit, is the sublimity even of\\nhis blessedness, as it is the necessary grace of his perfection.\\nThus far I have spoken of God s passive virtue, princi-\\npally as concerned in feeling toward what is moral just\\naccording to its quality; in being affected pleasantly, or\\ndisagreeably according to the good or evil of what he\\nlooks upon. But there is a moral passivity in all perfect\\ncharacter that is vastly higher than this and reaches far-\\nther; viz., a passivity of mercy, or sacrifice. In this, a\\ngood, or perfect being not only feels toward good, or evil,\\naccording to what it is, but willingly endures evil, or submita\\nto its bad quality and action to make it what it is not; to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0358.jp2"}, "359": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE. 355\\nrecover and heal it. ISTo extraordinary purity is necessary\\nto make any one sensible of disaffection, or disgust, 01\\npain, in the contemplation of what is vile and wicked but\\nto submit one s ease and even one s personal comfort and\\npleasure to the endurance of wickedness, in order to re-\\ncover and subdue it, requires what is far more difficult. I\\ncan be disgusted easily enough, by the ingratitude, offended\\nby the treachery, wounded by the wrongs of an enemy,\\nbut to bear that enemy and put myself in the way of re-\\nceiving more injury, in order to regain his friendship and\\nrestore him to a right feeling, is quite another matter. I\\nam never perfect in my relation to him till I can. All\\nperfect virtue will do this, and none is perfect but this,\\nwhether in man, or in angel, or in God.\\nJust here then, we begin to open upon the true mean-\\ning of my text Christ the power of God. There is no\\nso great power even among men, as this of which I now\\nspeak. It conquers evil by enduring evil. It takes the\\nrage of its enemy and lets him break his malignity across\\nthe enduring meekness of its violated love. Just here it\\nis that evil becomes insupportable to itself. It can argue\\nagainst every thing but suffering patience; this disarms it.\\nLooking in the face of suffering patience it sinks exhausted.\\nAll its fire is spent.\\nIn this view it is that Christ crucified is the power of\\nGod. It is because he shows God in self-sacrifice, because he\\nbrings out and makes historical in the world God s passive\\nvirtue, which is, in fact, the culminating head of power in\\nhis character. By this it is that he opens our human feel-\\ning, bad and blind as it is, pouring himself into its deep-\\nest recesses and bathing it with his cleansing, new-creating\\ninfluence. There is even a kind of efficiency in it and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0359.jp2"}, "360": {"fulltext": "856 THE POWER OF GOD\\nthat the highest, viz., moral efficiencj^; for it is moral\\npower, not physical, not force. It is that kind of power\\nwhich feeling has to impregnate feeling that which one\\nperson has in good, to melt himself into and assimilate\\nanother in evil. Hence it is that so much is said of Christ\\nas a new-discovered power the power of God unto salva-\\ntion the Son of God with power the power of Christ\\nChrist the power of God and the wisdom of God. The\\npower spoken of here is conceived to be such that Christ\\nis really our new creator. We are his workmanship cre-\\nated unto good works; new creatures therefore in him,\\ntransformed radically by our faith in him, passed from\\ndeath unto life, born of God, renewed in the spirit of our\\nmind, created after God in righteousness and true holiness.\\nAll the figures of cleansing, sprinkling, washing, healing,\\npurging, terminate in the same thing, the new creating\\nefficacy of Christ, the power of God. It is the power of\\ncharacter, feeling, a right passivity, a culminating grace\\nof sacrifice in God.\\nBut how does it appear that any so great efficacy is ad-\\nded to the known character of God, by the life and death\\nof Christ Was not every thing shown us in his death\\nexplicitly revealed, or, in language, formally ascribed to\\nGod, by the writers of the Old Testament God, I have\\nalready shown, was certainly represented there as being\\nduly affected by all evil that is, he was shown to be af-\\nfected according to its true nature displeased, abhorrent,\\nhurt, afflicted, offended in purity, burdened with grief and\\ncompassion. But to have these things said, or ascribed\\nformally to God, is one thing, and a very different to have\\nthem lived and acted historically in the world. Perfec-\\ntions that are set before us in mere epithets have little", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0360.jp2"}, "361": {"fulltext": "IX SELF-SACRIFICE. 357\\nsignificance, no significance but that which we give thena\\nby thinking them out. But perfections lived, embodied\\nphysically, and acted before the senses, under social condi-\\ntions, have quite another grade of meaning. How much\\nthen does it signify when God comes out from nature, out\\nof all abstractions and abstractive epithets, to be acted\\npersonally in just those glorious and divine passivities thai\\nwe have least discerned in him and scarcely dare impute\\nto him. Bv what other method can he meet us then, so\\nentirely new and superior to all past revelations, as to come\\ninto our world-history in the human form; that organ most\\neloquent in its passivity, because it is, at once, most ex-\\npressive and closest to our feeling.\\nAnd if this be true respecting God s mere passivities of\\nsensibility to right and wrong, how much truer is it, when\\nwe speak of him in sacrifice. Xo such impression, or con-\\nception of God was ever drawn out, as a truth positive,\\nfrom any of the epithets we have cited. And what we\\ncall nature gives it no complexion of evidence. Nature\\nrepresents inexorable force, a God omnipotent, self-cen-\\ntered, majestic, infinite and, as almost any one will judge,\\nimpassible. Such are the impressions it gives and it en-\\ncourages no other. We could almost as soon look for\\nsacrifice in a steam-engine as in nature. The only hint of\\naible relaxation we get from it is that which we bor-\\nrow from the delay of punishment for this one thing is\\nclear, that justice here is not done, and therefore we\\nmay guess that other ideas enter into God s plan?. So\\nstrongly opposite, therefore, is nature to any con\\ntion of flexibility in God, that we are continually put\\naway from Christianity by i1 _ stiona So closely\\nliolden are we by its power, that God, as in sacrifice, appears", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0361.jp2"}, "362": {"fulltext": "358 THE POWER OF GOD\\nto be quite inconceivable to many of us, even though we\\nlook on the passion of the Lord Jesus itself.\\nTo know him thus, we therefore need the more. If ilt-e\\nOld Testament gives us only verbal epithets concerning\\nGod, and nature sets us off from the conception of any\\nreal passivity in these, how necessary, original, powerful,\\nis the God of sacrifice, he that endures evil and takes it as\\na burden to bear, when we see him struggling under tho\\nload. And if still we can not believe, if we reduce our\\nGod in speculation still to a dry, unmoving, negative per-\\nfection, which escapes suffering by feeling nothing as it is,\\nonly the more wonderful is the power that can be a power\\nso great upon us, when obstructed by such unbelief. Still\\nthe fact is fact the Christ has lived, his great and\\nmighty passion has entered into the world, and we do get\\nimpressions from it, even when we are shutting its most\\ncentral truth away. Somewhere still there is, (how often\\ndo we say it) a wondrous power hid in the cross I It pene-\\ntrates our deepest nature; and when our notional wisdoms\\nare, at some time, left behind, when we are merely holding\\nthe historic fact in practical trust unexplained, nothing\\nmeets our feeling so well as to call it the great mystery of\\ngodliness. We do it because we feel a somewhat in it\\nmore than we can reason out of it because it penetrates\\nand works in our deepest nature, with a wondrous incom-\\nprehensible efficacy.\\nBut in all this we are supposing that Christ suffered and\\nthat he is indeed the incarnate Word of God s eternity\\nGod manifest in the flesh. And the suffering is, by the\\nsupposition, physical a suffering under force. If then\\nGod is in his very nature physically impassible, as we have", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0362.jp2"}, "363": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE. 359\\nsaid, how does it appear that he is any way expressed in\\nthe passion of Christ, how does the passion present him aa\\nin sacrifice? Ah, that is a difficulty! I confess, in all\\nhumility, that I can not reason it. I can only so far an-\\nswer as to make out a case for faith, unobstructed by the\\nveto of reason.\\nAnd, first of all, it is not asserted, when we assert the\\nphysical impassibility of God, that he can not suffer by\\nconsent, or self-subjection, but only that he can not be sub-\\njected involuntarily. We know nothing of the liberty pos-\\nsessed by the divine nature, to exist under assumed con-\\nditions, whenever there are any sufficient reasons for so\\ndoing. To deny that God has such kind of liberty in\\nthe Word, might even be a greater infringement of his\\npower, than to maintain his natural passibility.\\nIn the next place, we can clearly enough see that there\\nis no difficulty in the passion of Christ which does not\\nalso exist in the incarnation itself. It is indeed the incar-\\nnation, or one of the included incidents. And the incarna-\\ntion is, by the supposition, a fact abnormal, inconceivable,\\nspeculatively impossible. How can the infinite being,\\nGod, exist under finite conditions how can the All-Pres-\\nent be localized how (for that is only another form of\\nthe same question) can the impassible suffer? And yet it\\nwould be a most severe assumption to say that God can\\nnot, to express himself and forward his negotiation with\\nsin, subject himself, in some way mysteriously qualified,\\nto just these impossible conditions.\\nBs this all as it may, there are ways of knowing and per-\\nceiving that are shorter, and, in many things, wiser than\\nthe processes of the head. In this passion of Jesus, it must\\nbe enough that I look on the travail of a divine feeling,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0363.jp2"}, "364": {"fulltext": "360 THE POWER OF GOD\\nand behold the spectacle of God in sacrifice. This I see\\nand nothing less. He is visibly not a man. His character\\nis not of this world. I feel a divinity in him. He floods\\nme with a sense of God, such as I receive not from all\\nGod s works and worlds beside. And when I stand by\\nhis cross, when I look on that strong passion and shudder\\nwith the shuddering earth, and darken with the darken-\\ning sun, enough that I can say My Lord and my God!\\nI ask no sanction of the head. I want no logical\\nendorsement. Enough that I can see the heart of God,\\nand, in all this wondrous passion, know him as enduring\\nthe contradiction of sinners. No matter if I can not\\nreason the mystery no matter if the whole transaction is\\na doing of the impossible, when so plainly the impossible\\nis done! when I have the irresistible verdict in me, self-\\npronounced! Why should I debate the matter in my\\nhead, when I have the God of sacrifice in my heart I\\nwill give up my sins. He that endures me so, subdues\\nme, and I yield. thou Lamb of God that takest away\\nthe sin of the world, what thou bearest in thy blessed\\nhands and feet, I can not bear take it all away. Hide\\nme in the depths of thy suffering love, mold me to the\\nimage of thy divine passion\\nHere now, my friends, and at this point I close here\\nlet us learn to conceive more fitly the greatness of God.\\nHis greatness culminates in sacrifice. He is great, because\\nthere is a moral passivity so great in his perfections. All\\nwhich the cross of Jesus signifies was central, eternally, in\\nhis majestic character. Nothing superlative is here dis-\\nplayed, nothing is done which adds so much as a trace to\\nGod s personal glories. All that is done is simply to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0364.jp2"}, "365": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACRIFICE. 361\\nexpress, or produce in real evidence, what his glories were\\nfrom eternity. All that is discovered to us in the passion\\nwas in him from eternitj^. The cross was the crown\\nof his perfection before the worlds were made. He was\\nsuch a being as could feel toward evil and good accord-\\ning to what they are such a being, too, as could suffer an\\nenemy, endure his wrong in royal magnanimity, and sub-\\ndue him by his patience. 0, if he were only wise, om-\\nnipotent, a great architect piling immensity full of his\\nworks, fixed in his eternity, strong in his justice, firm in\\nhis decrees, that were doubtless something; even that\\nwould piesent him as an object worthy of profoundest\\nreverence but in the passion of Jesus he is more. There\\nhis power is force here it is sacrifice. There he creates\\nby his fiat here he new-creates by the revelation of sacri-\\nfice. There he astonishes the eye here he touches and\\ntransforms the heart. Is it wrong to say that here is the\\nsummit of his greatness? Were he, then, the mere ideal\\nthat figures in our new literature, some great no-person,\\nsome vast To Pan sleeping back of the stars some clear\\nfluid of impersonal reason, in which both we and the stars\\nare floating, having neither will nor feeling; a form of\\nstolidity made infinite would he be a greater being, more\\nadmirable, warmer to our love, and worthier to be had in\\nreverence? 0, these great passibilities this sorrowing\\nlove this enduring patience that bears the sins of the\\nworld He that groans in the agony, he that thirsts on\\nthe cross, this is the real and true, the Lord he is the\\nGodl the Lord he is the God! The God of mere ampli-\\ntude will do to amuse the fancy of the ingenious; the\\nGod of sacrifice only can approve himself to a sinner.\\nAnd here it is that our gospel comes to be 30 great a\\n31", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0365.jp2"}, "366": {"fulltext": "362 THE POWER OF GOD\\npower. It is not, on one hand, the power of omnipotence^\\nor of a naked, ictic force, falling in secretly regenerative\\nblows, like a slung shot in the night. Neither is it, on the\\nother hand, any mere appeal of gratitude, or newly im-\\npressed obligation, drawing the soul to God by the consid\\neration of what he has done, in the cross, to purchase a\\nfree remission. Bonds of gratitude, alas have never\\nbeen so great a power on human souls. And how does it\\nappear that any such bond has been even admitted, when\\nas yet the remission itself is rejected and the want of it\\nunfelt? No! this power, this wonderful power I is God\\nin sacrifice. It is measured and expressed and incor-\\nporated in the historic life of the world as a power new-\\ncreative in the passion of Jesus, the incarnate Word of\\nGod for it is here that God pours out into the world s\\nbosom his otherwise transcendent perfections, and opens,\\neven to sight, the otherwise inaccessible glories of his love,\\nIt is even the official work, therefore, and mission of the\\nHoly Spirit to be Christ in men, taking the things of\\nChrist s passion and showing them unto men s hearts;\\nfor Christ, himself is, in his sacrifice, the mighty power of\\nGod. This is the power that has new-created and sent\\nhome, as trophies, in all the past ages, its uncounted\\nmyriads of believing, new-created, glorified souls; the\\npower that established, propagates, perpetuates, a king-\\ndom the power that has tamed how much of enmity,\\ndissolved how many times the rock of obstinacy, cleansed,\\npurified, restored to heaven s order, comforted in heaven s\\npeace how many guilty, otherwise despairing souls. It\\ncan do for you, O sinner of mankind all that you want\\ndone. It can regenerate your habits, settle your disor-\\nders, glorify your baseness, and assimilate you perfectly", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0366.jp2"}, "367": {"fulltext": "IN SELF-SACKIF1CE. 363\\nto God. This it will do for yon. Go to the cross, and\\nmeet there God in sacrifice. Behold him, as Jesus, bear-\\ning your sin, receiving the shafts of your enmity Em-\\nbrace Him, believe in Him, take Him to your inmost\\nheart. Do this, and you shall feel sin die within you, and\\na glorious quickening, Christ the power of God, Christ in\\nyou the hope of glory, shall be consciously risen upon\\nyou, as the morn of your new creation.\\nAnd you, my brethren that have known this dawning of\\nthe Lord what a certification have you, in this sacrifice,\\nof God s sympathy. How intensely personal is he to you.\\nGo to him in your every trouble. Go to him most confi-\\ndently in all the troubles of your inward shame, and the\\nstruggles even of your defeated hope. When the loads\\nof conscious sin are heaviest on you, and you seem even\\nto be sinking in its mires, address him as the God of sacri-\\nfice. Have it also as your lesson, that you yourself will\\nbe most in power, when readiest in the enduring of evil\\nthat you will bear fruit and be strong, not by your force,\\nnot by your address, not by your words, but only when\\nyou are with Christ in sacrifice. Strange that any one\\nwho has ever once felt the power of God in Christ, should,\\nfor so much as a moment, miss or fall out of this glorious\\ntruth. It comes of that delusion of our selfishness, which\\nis, in fact, a second nature in us, the seeing only weak\\nness in patience, and loss in sacrifice. But if God s\\nown might and blessing are in it, so also are yours.\\nLook for power, look for the fullness of joy where Christ\\nhimself reveals it. Take his cross, that same which ho\\nbrought forth out of the bosom of God s eternal perfec-\\ntions, and go back with him in it, to be glorified with\\nbim, in the hight of his beatitude.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0367.jp2"}, "368": {"fulltext": "XIX,\\nDUTY N OT MEASURED BY OUR OWN ABILITY.\\nLuke ix. 13. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat: 3\\nWhen Christ lays it thus upon his disciples, in that\\nsolitary and desert place, to feed five thousand men, he\\ncan not be ignorant of the utter impossibility that they\\nshould do it. And when they reply that they have only\\nfive loaves and two fishes, though the answer is plainly\\nsufficient he is nowise diverted from his course by it, but\\npresses directly on in the new order, that they make the\\npeople sit down by fifties in a company, and be ready for\\nthe proposed repast. Debating in themselves, probably,\\nwhat can be the use of such a proceeding, when really\\nthere is no supply of food to be distributed, they still\\nexecute his order. And then when all is made ready, he\\ncalls for the five loaves and two fishes, and, having blessed\\nthem, begins to break, and says to them Distribute.\\nMarvelous loaves broken, they are not diminished dis-\\ntributed, they still remain And so returning, again and\\nagain, to replenish their baskets, they continue the distri-\\nbution, till the hungry multitude are all satisfied as in a\\nfull supply. In this manner the original command Give\\nye them to eat is executed to the letter. They have\\nmade the people sit down, they have brought the loaves,\\nthey have distributed, and he at every step has justified\\nhis order, by making their scanty stock as good as a full\\nsupply.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0368.jp2"}, "369": {"fulltext": "DUTY NOT MEASURED, ETC. 365\\nThis narrative suggests and illustrates the following\\nimportant principle\\nThat men are often, and properly, put under obligation to\\ndo that for which they have, in themselves, no present ability.\\nThis principle I advance, not as questioning the truth\\nthat ability, being necessary to an act, is necessary to com-\\nplete obligation toward the same, but as believing and\\ndesigning to show that God has made provision, in very\\nmany things, for the coming in upon the subject of ability,\\nas he goes forward to execute the duties incumbent on\\nhim. God requires no man to do, without ability to do\\nbut he does not limit his requirement by the measures of\\nprevious or inherently contained ability. In many, 01\\neven in a majority of cases, the endowment of power is\\nto come after the obligation, occurring step by step, as the\\nexigences demand. Of what benefit is it that the subject\\nhave a complete ability in himself, provided he only has\\nit where and when it is wanted? When, therefore, I\\nmaintain that men are often required to do that for which\\nthey have no present ability in themselves, I do it in the\\nconviction that God has made provision, in many ways,\\nfor the enlargement of our means and powers so as to\\nmeet our emergencies. And he does this, we shall see, on\\na large scale, and by system, does it in the natural life,\\nand also in the works and experiences of the life of faith.\\nThus, to begin at the very lowest point of the subject,\\nit is the nature of human strength and fortitude bodily to\\nhave an elastic measure, and to be so let forth or extended\\nas to meet the exigences that arise. Within certain\\nlimits, for man is limited in every thing, the body gets thg\\n31*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0369.jp2"}, "370": {"fulltext": "866 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nstrength it wants, in the exercise for which it is wanted\\nThe body is not like mechanical tools and engines, which\\nnever acquire any degree of strength by use and the strain\\nto which they are put, but rather begin to fail as they\\nbegin to be used but it gains power for exertion by exer-\\ntion, and sustains its competency in the same way. It is\\nable to endure and conquer, because it has endured and\\nconquered. God, therefore, may fitly call a given man to\\na course of life that requires much robustness and a high\\npower of physical endurance, on the ground that when he\\nis fully embarked in his calling, the robustness will come,\\nor will be developed in it and by means of it, though pre-\\nviously it seemed not to exist. Indeed the physical imbe-\\ncility of some men will be the great crime of their life,\\nand they will be held answerable for it, on the simple\\nground that they had too little courage and were too self-\\nindulgent to throw themselves on any such undertaking,\\nas a true christian manliness required.\\nThere is yet another law pertaining to bodily capacity,\\nwhich is more remarkable, viz., that muscular strength\\nand endurance are often suddenly created or supplied by\\nsome great emergency for which they are wanted. What\\nfeats of giant strength have been performed under the\\nstimulus of danger, or some impulse of humanity or affec-\\ntion. What sufferings have men supported in prisons, in\\ndeserts, on the ocean, sustained by hope, or nerved by\\ndespair. When the occasion is passed, and the man looks\\nback upon the scene, how impossible does it seem that he\\nBhouid ever have done or suffered such things! It is\\nindeed impossible to do it now. But then it was possible,\\nin virtue of a great appointment of nature and provi-\\ndence, by which the very occasions to be met shall so", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0370.jp2"}, "371": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. S67\\nexcite the nerves of action as to give us power to meet\\nthem. They do it suddenly and just for the time. In an\\ninstant, they endue us with what appears to ourselves to\\nbe preternatural strength and when the great exigency\\nis over, vanquished by the very powers it has itself sup-\\nplied we sit down to rejoice in a tremor of weakness.\\nSo also it is the nature of courage to increase in the\\nmidst of perils and because of them, and courage is the\\nBtrength of the heart. Often does the coward even become\\na hero by the accident of condition. How a man is able\\nnot seldom to proceed with firmness and heroic self-posses-\\nsion, when thrown amid difficult and perilous exposures or\\nconflicts, who by no effort of courage could bring himself\\nto engage in them, is well understood. Nor is it any\\nthing strange for a woman, in some terrible and sudden\\ncrisis, to be nerved with firmness and dauntless self-pos-\\nsession, then even to faint with terror when the crisis is\\npast\\nIntellectual force too has the same elastic quality, and\\nmeasures itself in the same way, by the exigences we are\\ncalled to meet. Task it, and, for that very reason, it\\ngrows efficient. Plunge it into darkness, and it makes a\\nsphere of light. It discovers its own force, by the exer-\\ntion of force, measures its capacity by the difficulties it\\nhas overcome, its appetite for labor by the labor it has\\nendured. So that here again, as in respect to the body, a\\nman may have it laid upon him to be forward in some\\ngreatest call of duty, when as yet he seems to have no\\ncapacity for it; on the ground that his capacity will so be\\nunfolded as to meet the measures of his undertaking.\\nHow many persons who thought they had no ability to\\nteach a class of youth in the scriptures, have gotten their", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0371.jp2"}, "372": {"fulltext": "888 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nability by doing it. And just so all great commander^\\nstatesmen, lawgivers, scholars, preachers, have found the\\npowers unfolded in their calling and by it, which were\\nnecessary for it.\\nHere too great occasions beget great powers, and pre-\\npare the man to astonishing, almost preternatural acts of\\nmental energy. In great occasions, when a principle, or\\na kingdom, or some holy cause of heaven is at stake, an\\ninspiration seizes him, that fires the imagination, swells\\nthe high emotions, exalts and glorifies the will, and sends\\nthe spirit of the living creatures into every wheel of the\\nmind before inert and lifeless. Thus electrified and pene\\ntrated by the great necessity, it becomes ethereal, rapid\\nclear, a fire of energy, a resistless power. What reason\\nings, Vvliat bursts of eloquence, what living words of flame\\ndoes it send forth to kindle and glow in the world s his\\ntory, for generations and ages to come.\\nThe same also is true, quite as remarkably, of what wo\\nsometimes call moral power. By this we mean the power\\nof a life and a character, the power of good and great\\npurposes, that power which comes at length to reside in a\\nman distinguished in some course of estimable or great\\nconduct. It is often this which dignifies the great senator,\\nso as to make even his common words, words of grave\\nwisdom, or perchance of high eloquence. It is this which\\ngives a power so mysterious often to the preacher of\\nChrist, such a power that even his presence in any place\\nwill begin to disturb the conscience of many, even before\\nthey have heard him. No other power of man compares\\nwith this, and there is no individual who may not be\\nmeasurably invested with it. Integrity, purity, goodness.\\nsuccess of any kind in the humblest persons, or the lowest", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0372.jp2"}, "373": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. 369\\nvraiks of duty, begin to invest them finally with a char-\\nacter, and create a certain sense of momentum in them.\\nOther men expect them to get on, because they are getting\\non, and bring them a repute that sets them forward, give\\nthem a salute that means success This kind of powe*\\nis neither a natural gift, nor properly an acquisition, but\\ni; comes in upon one and settles on him, like a crown of\\nglory, while discharging with fidelity his duties to God\\nand man. It is a power contributed silently by others, a\\nthrone built for the victor, an eminence appointed him by\\nthe world. When contemplated in this light, how marked\\nis the provision of God for letting down power upon a\\nman, who will act his part well. The world comes to him,\\nof its own accord, to exalt him with its tributary breath.\\nAnd here again, also, it is to be noted that the power in\\nquestion, this moral power, is often suddenly enlarged by\\nthe very occasions that call for it. Not seldom is it a fact\\nthat the very difficulty and grandeur of a design, which\\nsome heroic soul has undertaken to execute, exalts him,\\nat once, to such a pre-eminence of moral power, that man-\\nkind are exalted with him, and inspired with energy and\\nconfidence by the contemplation of his magnificent spirit.\\nHow often indeed is a man able to carry a project, simply\\nbecause he has made it so grand a project lie strikes, in-\\nspires, calls to his aid, by virtue of his great idea, his faith,\\nhis sublime confidence in truth, or justice, or duty.\\nIt is only a part, or rather a generalization of the truths\\nalready illustrated, that the great and successful men of\\nhistory are commonly made by the great occasions they\\nfill. They are the men who had faith to meet such occa-\\nsions, and therefore the occasions marked them, called\\nthem to come and be what the successes of their faith", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0373.jp2"}, "374": {"fulltext": "370 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nwould make them. The boy is but a shepherd, but lie\\nhears from his panic-stricken countrymen of the giant\\nchampion of their enemies. A fire siezes him, and he\\ngoes down, with nothing but his sling and his heart of\\nfaith, to lay that champion in the dust. Next he is a great\\nmilitary leader next the king of his country. As with\\nDavid, so with Nehemiah, as with him, so with Paul, as\\nwith him, so with Luther. A Socrates, a Tully, a Crom-\\nwell, a Washington, all the great master spirits, the\\nfounders and law-givers of empires, and defenders of the\\nrights of man, are made by the same law. These did not\\nshrink despairingly within the compass of their poor abil-\\nities, but in their heart of faith, they embraced each one\\nhis cause, and went forth, under the inspiring force of\\ntheir call, to apprehend that for which they were appre-\\nhended. They had all their enemies and their obstacles,\\nsuch enemies and obstacles as they had in themselves no\\nforce to conquer. But their confidence in their cause gave\\nthem a force. For, as it is said that ferocious animals are\\ndisarmed by the eye of man, and will dare no violence\\nif he but steadily look at them, so it is when right looks\\nupon wrong. Eesist the devil, and he will flee from you\\noffer him a bold front, and he runs away. He goes, it\\nmay be, uttering threats of rage, but yet he goes So it\\nis that all the great, efficient men of the world are made.\\nThey are not strong, but out of weakness they are made\\nStrong.\\n1 have dwelt thus at length on these illustrations that\\nare offered us in the natural life, simply because they will,\\nfor that reason, be most convincing to many. You see, as\\na fact, that the ability we have to suffer and do and con-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0374.jp2"}, "375": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY, 371\\nquer, is never an ability previously existing in ourselves.\\nIt is an ability that accrues, or comes upon us, in the exi-\\ngences and occasions of life. How childish then is it in\\nreligion, to imagine that we are called to do nothing, save\\nwhat we have ability to do beforehand ability in ourselves\\nto do. We have in fact no such ability at all no ability\\nthat is inherent, as respects any thing laid upon us to do\\nour ability is what we can have, and then our duty is\\ngraduated by what we can have. Indeed we may affirm\\nit as a truth universal, respecting vital natures of every\\nkind, whether vegetable, animal, intellectual, or spiritual,\\nthat they have no rigidly inherent ability to do any thing\\nwhatever. No plant or tree can grow by any inherent\\nability, apart from sun, soil, moisture, heat, and the like.\\nNo animal can do as simple a thing as breathing by inhe-\\nrent ability, he must have air; he can walk, or run, or\\nclimb, or fly, only by conditions external that must be\\nsupplied. So also the mind or intelligence can remember\\nonly as fit associations are supplied to assist the recall of\\nthings gone by or discover laws, only when stimulated\\nby the suggestions of appropriate facts or maintain a\\npower of high command, only when there are great occa-\\nsions and perils to be mastered. In just the same way,\\npassing to what is spiritual, God can not be loved, save as\\nhe is offered to love, in qualities that will awaken and sup-\\nport love. Ana, for the same reason, no sinner of man-\\nkind can regenerate himself by any inherent ability, apart\\nfrom conditions powerfully presenting God, and pouring\\nhis radiance into the soul for the regenerate state is only\\nthe new revelation of God within, whence before he was\\nexcluded; so that now the life proceeds from, Him, aa its\\nactuating impulse and law.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0375.jp2"}, "376": {"fulltext": "372 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nTins whole question of ability in man of natural abil-\\nity as opposed to moral inability, or qualified by it of\\ngracious ability, as a substitute for natural, or the equiva-\\nlent of its restoration is the discussion of a false issue,\\nwhich consequently never can be settled. For tnere is\\nreally no such thing and never was, as an ability to holi-\\nness, or moral perfection, that is inherent. If we speak\\nof natural ability to good, a soul has no more natural\\nability to maintain the state of perfect goodness, than a\\ntree to grow without light, or heat, or moisture. Depend-\\nence is the condition of all true holiness, even in sinless\\nminds, if such there be. They feed on what their God\\nsupplies, they are radiant with his light, they are warm\\nby his heat, they are blessed and exalted by the participa-\\ntion of his beatitude nay, his all-moving Spirit is the\\nconserving and sustaining life of their perfections. So if\\nwe speak of a gracious ability given to souls under sin,\\nconceiving that it is some common bestowment given to\\nraise them up into a plane of freedom, or the possibility\\nof a new life, which gracious ability is a something inhe-\\nrent and precedent to the obligations of repentance, that\\nalso is a pure fiction no such ability is given, and none\\nis wanted. All such inventions are unnecessary as also\\nall the supposed difficulties involved in the reconciling of\\nresponsibility and dependence, they are all superseded\\nand forever passed by, the moment we discover and fully\\ncome into the truth that all our powers and responsibili-\\nties are completed in and by our conditions or, what is\\nthe same, by God s arrangements to bring in increments\\nof grace and impulse of all kinds, just when they are\\nwanted. There is no difficulty here which is not found\\nin all those examples which have been already cited frony", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0376.jp2"}, "377": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. 87b\\nthe natural life for God has arranged, in the spiritual or\\nBupernatural, to administer helps of grace, occasions, im-\\npulses, and secret ministries of love, so as to complete our\\npossibilities and keep us in bonds of obligation to do con-\\ntinually what we can as little do, without such conspiring\\nhelps, as we can breathe without air, or maintain life\\nwithout breathing.\\nThis, it will accordingly be found, is the Christian doc-\\ntrine everywhere. Christianity has no conception of any\\nsuch thing as a holy virtue wrought out and maintained\\nby a responsible agent, acting from his own center, as a\\nself-centered and merely self-operative force, holy virtue\\nit conceives, even apart from sin, to be the drinking out\\nof God s fullness, receiving and living in his deific im-\\npulse, and having even its finiteness complemented by\\nHis infinite wisdom and majesty. As little conception\\nhas it of something done to raise a fallen creature into\\nsome inherent capacity, or ability to choose freely, that so\\nhe may be made responsible for choice. It boldly, undis-\\nguisedly declares to every human being under sin, that he\\nhas no complete power beforehand, as in reference to any\\nthing really good. And then it calls him to good, on the\\nexpress condition always, that he is to have powers, stim-\\nulants, increments, accruing as he wants them; that on\\nthese, or the promise of them, he may rest his faith and\\nso go forward. It says to the struggling and misgiving\\npenitent;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Let him take hold of my strength, that he may\\nmake peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.\\nIt calls every man to earnest and hopeful endeavor, by\\nthe consideration of an all-supporting grace that can not\\nfail;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Work out salvation with fear and trembling; for it\\nis God that worketh in you. It shows the Christian testi-\\n32", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0377.jp2"}, "378": {"fulltext": "874 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nfying in sublimity of confidence;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 When I am weak, then\\nam T strong, I can do all things through. Christ which\\nstrengthened me. It promises the faithful man all the\\nsupport needed for his exigences, as they rise, They\\nthat wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they\\nshall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run and not\\nbe weary, they shall walk and not faint. It also estab-\\nlishes, in a manner to comprehend every thing, a doctrine\\nof Divine Concourse by the Holy Spirit, which carries in\\nit the pledge of all accruing grace and light and might\\nand holy impulsion;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Ask and ye shall receive, seek and\\nye shall find, knock and it shall be opened. Indeed the\\ndoctrine or fact of the Holy Spirit is only another way of\\ngeneralizing the truth that God will co-work invigora-\\ntively, correctively, and directively in all the good strug-\\ngles of believing souls and so will bring in, at all times\\nand junctures, those increments of power that are neces-\\nsary to success.\\nIt might also be added that Christianity itself is a\\ngrand empowering force in souls, and is designed to be,\\nthat when we were without strength, Christ died for us.\\nFor he came forth into the world groping in its darkness,\\nas the brightness of the Father s glory, that the light of\\nthe knowledge of the glory of God in the face of his\\ngreat life and passion, might shine into our hearts. As\\nwhen the returning sun of the spring warms out the\\ntorpid creatures, and sets them creeping forth, re-vitalized\\nand re-empowered with life, so this Sun of Eighteousness\\nquickens the benumbed perceptions and imparts new\\nwarmth to the dead affections, placing us in new condi-\\ntions of power; where, as we more fully believe, and\\nmore faithfully work, we are ever to find new increments", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0378.jp2"}, "379": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. 375\\nof light and help conspiring with us. It only remains in\\ngathering up this summary of the Christian doctrine con-\\ncerning ability, to say that, taken comprehensively, it is\\nall included in that favorite and more than once asserted\\nmaxim of Christ;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 For to him that hath shall be given,\\nand he shall have more abundantly. In this maxim he\\naffirms the truth that every man is to expect his incre-\\nments of power, just as they are wanted.\\nIn this very simple manner all the great speculative\\ndifficulties and supposed mysteries of freedom and de-\\npendence are dispatched in the New Testament. And it\\nis a remarkable fact that no Christian there is ever found to\\nbe in any speculative trouble on this subject. It is never\\neven so much as a question of curious debate. They see\\nnothing wanted there but just to go into their places and\\ntake their responsibilities, and let God bear them out by\\nhis conspiring help, as they certainly know that he will.\\nPaul came directly down upon the discovery that he had\\nability to will, as a matter of choice, and yet could not\\nfind how to perform but, instead of seeing any difficulty\\nin such a condition, he only glories that in Christ and the\\nSpirit he gets accruing helps that enable him both to will\\nand to do. And just there, where he might have sunk\\nhimself in one of the abysses of theology, he begins,\\ninstead, to sing;\u00e2\u0080\u0094 I thank God through Jesus Christ.\\nI will only add chat all the simplest, most living, and\\nmost genuine Christians of our own time are such as rest\\ntheir souls, day by day, on this confidence and promise of\\naccruing power, and make themselves responsible, not for\\nwhat they have in some inherent ability, but for what they\\ncan have, in their times of Bl ad peril, and in the con-\\ntinual raising of their own personal quantity and power.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0379.jp2"}, "380": {"fulltext": "376 DUTY NOT MEASURED\\nThey throw themselves on works wholly above their\\nability, and get accruing power in their works for others\\nstill higher and greater Instead of gathering in their\\nsouls timorously beforehand, upon the little sufficiency\\nthey iind in possession, they look upon the great world\\nGod has made, and all the greater world of the Saviour s\\nkingdom in it, as being friendly and tributary, ready to\\npour in help, minister light, and strengthen them to vic-\\ntory, just according to their faith. And so they grow in\\ncourage, confidence, personal volume, efficiency of every\\nkind, and, instead of slinking into their graves out of im-\\npotent lives, they lie down in the honors of heroes.\\nLet me express the hope, in closing this very important\\nsubject, that a class of persons who generally compose a\\nlarge body in every christian assembly, will find their un-\\nhappy mistake corrected in it. I speak of such as make\\nno beginning in the christian life, just because they want\\nability and assurance and all evidence given them before-\\nhand. They would be quite ready to embark, if the voyage\\nwere as good as over. They can not put themselves on\\nGod s word, or trust him for any thing. They must be\\nstrong before they get strength. They must have evidence\\nof discipleship before they dare to be disciples. They act\\nupon no such principle in any of their worldly adventures.\\nHere they get power by using it, throw themselves upon\\nthe water and learn to swim by swimming. Dismiss, I be-\\nseech you, one and all, and that forever, this unpractical,\\nthis really unmanly timidity. Commit the keeping of your\\nsoul to God, as to a faithful Creator. Believe that he ia\\nfaithful, and love to trust him for his faithfulness. The\\npnoment you can let go your misgiving, spiritless habit", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0380.jp2"}, "381": {"fulltext": "BY OLE OWN ABILITY. 877\\nand cast yourself on God, to go into your duty, you are\\nfree. If the wind is high, and the water looks deep, and\\nyou have no courage to venture on a holy life, behold\\nJesus coming to you, treading lightly on the crests of the\\nbillows, and he conies to say, It is I. What assurance\\nmore do you want after that\\nBut there is a more general use of this subject which\\ndemands our notice. There are two great errors which,\\nthough opposite to each other, are yet both corrected by\\nthe view I have been seeking to impress. The error, viz.,\\nof those who think the demands of the religious life so\\nlimited and trivial as to require but little care and small\\nsacrifices and the error of those who look upon them as\\nbeing so many and great that they are discouraged under\\nthem. The former class is the more numerous and gener-\\nally the more worthless. They are worldly disciples who\\nhave much christian delight, as they think, in magnifying\\nsalvation by grace. God, they suppose, will not be very\\nexact with them for he is a gracious and long-suffering\\nGod, and does not expect much of man in the way of\\ngoodness or effect. They take a certain pleasure, for\\nreasons more artful than they themselves suspect, in dwell-\\ning on the weakness of men and their deep dependence on\\nGod. This is their reverence they imagine, their humility\\nyes, it is even a very considerable part of their religion.\\nOf couise they undertake nothing, throw themselves upon\\nno great work of duty. They are so respectful to their\\nhumaa weakness that they measure their obligations by it,\\nand really undertake nothing that makes them feel theii\\nweakness, or demands any gift of grace and power trans-\\ncending it.\\n32*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0381.jp2"}, "382": {"fulltext": "378\\nDUTY NOT MEASUKED\\nHow different is the view of duty that God entertains\\nfor us, and everywhere asserts in the scriptures. In his\\nsight we are all under obligation continually to undertake\\nand do what is above our power, and to have this as the\\nacknowledged rule of our life. He requires of us to be\\ndoing what we shall feel, to be carrying loads of duty and\\nresponsibility and sacrifice, under which, as men, we must\\ntremble and faint and so to be proving always that, to\\nthem that have no might, he increaseth strength. We are\\nto undertake cheerfully and do with a- ready mind all\\nwhich, under his provisions of nature and grace, we may\\nbecome able to do.\\nFeeble are we Yes, without God we are nothing. But\\nwhat, by faith, every man may be, God requires him to be.\\nThis is the only christian idea of duty. Measure obliga-\\ntion bv inherent ability No, my brethren, christian obli-\\ngation has a very different measure. It is measured by the\\npower that God will give us, measured by the gifts and\\npossible increments of faith. And what a reckoning will\\nit be for many of us, when Christ summons us to answer\\nbefore him, under this law, not for what we were, but for\\nwhat we might have been. Then how many of us possi-\\nbly, that bore the name of Jesus, will find ourselves before\\nGod, as the mere residuary substances of a dry and fruit-\\nless life without volume, without strength, or any proper\\nchristian manhood. The souls whom it was given us to\\nlead to the Saviour are not there the religious societies\\nwe ought to have gathered, the temples of worship we\\nought to have erected and left as monuments of our fidelity,\\nthe charities we ouaht to have founded and consecrated to\\no\\nthe blessing of the coming ages all these good things\\nthat we might have- done, and which God was ready to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0382.jp2"}, "383": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. 379\\nempower us for doing, nowhere appear. And is that the\\nkind of reckoning in which we are to be accepted as good\\nand faithful servants My brethren, God has little part\\nwith you, or you with him, in such a kind of life. A very\\ndelicate and critical question it is. whether you have any\\npan with him at all. That only is christian faith that lives\\nin the power of faith in that does its works, makes its\\nsacrifices, sustains its hopes, and measures its holy obliga-\\ntions. Almost every thing a Christian is to do for his\\ntimes and the sphere in which he lives transcends his\\nability, and the very greatness and joy of his experience,\\nshall I not say the reality also, consists in the fact that he\\nis exalted above himself, and made a partaker, in his works,\\nof a divine power, as in his character of the divine nature.\\nHe is a man who lives in God and by God is girded to\\nhis duties and his triumphs, God in nature, God in the\\ngospel, God in the Spirit, God in the plenitude of his\\npromises.\\nI named another error, that viz., of those who really\\nthink that the way of duty is too hard for them, who feint\\nbecause the demands of God appear to be so high above\\ntheir power. They forget, or overlook the provision God\\nhas made to bring in increments of power, and support\\nthem, in what appears to be too high for them. They hear\\nthe call, give ye them to eat, and remember only their\\nfive loaves and two fishes, and what are these among so\\nmany? They seem not to nDticc, or, if they notice, not\\nto believe, those words of promise by which God encour-\\nages and supports the insufficiency of men. Thus, if any\\none, tiying to make higher attainments and achieve some\\nhigher standing in religion, is overwhelmed with the in*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0383.jp2"}, "384": {"fulltext": "380 DUTY NOT MLASUKED\\nfirmity and bitter evil of his own heart, and cries, My\\niniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able\\nto look up what is there in such a discovery to break\\ndown his confidence Just there is the place for him to\\nbelieve and begin to sing with Paul, I thank God, through\\nJesus Christ my Lord. The very first thing to be held by\\na true Christian, is that he has no inherent sufficiency foi\\nany thing; and then, upon the top of that, he should place,\\nas the universal antidote of discouragement, the great\\nprinciple of accruing grace, sealed by the promise, ]\\\\ly\\ngrace is sufficient for thee.\\nSo, again, there are many who faint when they look on\\nalmost any duty or good work, because they are so con-\\nsciously unequal to it. Why, if they were not unequal,\\nor felt themselves to be equal, they had better, for that\\nreason, decline it for there is nothing so utterly weak and\\nimpotent as this conceit of strength. Brethren, the day is\\nwearing away, this is a desert place, there are hungry, per-\\nishing multitudes round us, and Christ is saying to us all,\\nGive ye them to eat. Say not we can not, we have nothing\\nto give. Go to your duty, every man, and trust yourselves\\nto him for he will give you all supply, just as fast as you\\nneed it. You will have just as much power as you believe\\nyou can have. Suppose, for example, you are called to be\\na Sabbath-school teacher, and you say within yourself, I\\nhave no experience, no capacity, I must decline. That is\\nthe way to keep your incapacity forever. A truce to these\\ncowardly suggestions. Be a Christian, throw yourself upon\\nGod s work, and get the ability you want, in it. So, if you\\nare put in charge of any such effort or institution so, if\\nyou are called to any work or office in the church, cr to\\nany exercise for the edification of others; say not that you", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0384.jp2"}, "385": {"fulltext": "BY OUR OWN ABILITY. 381\\nare unable to edify undertake to edify others, and then\\nyou will edify yourself and become able. So only is it\\npossible for christian youth to ripen into a vigorous chris-\\ntian manhood. All the pillars of the church are made out\\nof what would only be weeds in it, if there were no duties\\nassumed, above their ability in the green state of weeds.\\nAnd it is net the weeds whom Christ will save, but the\\npillars. No Christian will ever be good for any thing\\nwithout christian courage, or, what is the same, christian\\nfaith. Take upon you readily, have it as a law to be al-\\nways doing it, great works that is, works that are great\\nto you; and this in the faith that God so clearly justifies,\\nthat your abilities will be as your works. Make largo\\nadventures. Trust in God for great things. With }^our\\nfive loaves and two fishes he will show you a way to feed\\nthousands.\\nThere is almost no limit to the power that may be ex-\\nerted by a single church in this or any other community.\\nFill your places, meet your opportunities, and despair of\\nnothing. Shine as lights, because you are luminous let\\nthe Spirit of Christ and of God be visible in you, because\\nyou are filled therewith and you will begin to see what\\npower is possible to weakness Have faith, 0, ye of little\\nfaith. Hear the good word of the Lord, when he bays,\\nI have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Fear\\nnot, O, thou worm, Jacob. Behold I will make thee a\\nnew sharp threshing instrument, having teeth thou shalt\\nthresh the mountains and beat them small, and shalt\\nmake the hills as chaff. Such arc God s promises. Let\\nus believe them; which if we can heartily do, nothing is\\nimpossible.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0385.jp2"}, "386": {"fulltext": "XX,\\nHE THAT KNOWS GOD WILL CONFESS HIM.\\nPsalm xl. 10 u I have not hid thy righteousness within\\nmy heart 1 have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation:\\nI have not concealed thy loving -kindness and thy truth from\\nthe great congregation?\\nWhat any true poet will say is commonly most natural\\nto be said and deepest in the truth for his art is to be\\nunrestrained by art, and to let the inspiration of his in-\\nmost, deepest life vent itself in song. And this exactly is\\nthe manner of our great Psalmist. We are not to under-\\nstand that, in using the indicative form, he is merely re-\\nciting a historic fact, and telling us that he has not hid\\nGod s righteousness in his heart. His meaning is deeper\\nviz., to say that he could not do it, but mast needs\\ntestify of the goodness, and sing of the sweetness, and\\nexult in the joy, he had found in the salvation of God and\\nthe secret witness of his Spirit. Nay, he must even send\\nhis song into the temple, and call on all the great congre-\\ngation of Israel to sing it with him, and raise it as a chorus\\nof praise to the great Jehovah. What I propose, accord-\\ningly, at the present time, is to speak of\\nThe necessary openness of a holy experience or, in other\\nwords, of the impossibility that the inward revelation cf God\\nin the soul should be shut up in it, and -emain hid, or unac-\\nknowledged.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0386.jp2"}, "387": {"fulltext": "HE THAT KX0W3 GOL WILL CONFESS HI3I. 3S8\\nI shall have in view especially two classes of hearera\\nthat are widely distinguished one from the other first,\\nthe class who hide the grace of God in their heart unde-\\nsignedly, or by reason of some undue modesty and sec-\\nondly, the class who, pretending to have it, or consciously\\nhaving it not, take a pleasure in throwing discredit on all\\nthe appropriate expressions of it, such as are made by\\nthe open testimony and formal profession of Christ before\\nmen.\\nThe former class are certainly blamable in no such\\nsense or degree as the others. They are naturally timor-\\nous and self-distrustful persons, it may be, and do nut see\\nthat they are distrusting God rather than themselves.\\nThey seem to themselves to have been truly renewed in\\nthe love of God, but they have some doubts, and they make\\nit appear to be wiser that they should not, just now, testify\\ntheir supposed new experience. It is better, they think,\\nto wait till they have had a long, secret trial of themselves,\\nand learned whether they can endure, better, that is, to\\nsee whether they can keep alive the grace under suppres-\\nsion; when it must be infallibly stifled and can not live,\\nexcept in the open field of duty and love and holy fellow-\\nship. They are not simple they are unnatural what is\\nin them, in their feeling, their secret hope, their joy begun,\\nthey regulate and suppress. If they were placed in heaveD\\nitself, they would not sing the first month, pretending that\\ny had not tried their voices, or perchance doubting t\\nwhether it is quite modest in them to thank God for his\\nmercy, till they are more sure whether it is really to be\\nsufficient in them. There is a great deal of unbelief in\\ntheir backwardness a great deal of self-consciousness in\\ntheir modesty; and sometimes a little will is cunningly", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0387.jp2"}, "388": {"fulltext": "384 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\nmixed with both. Sometimes they wait to be exhorted\\nand made much of by the sympathy of others. Some-\\ntimes the very wicked thought is cunningly let in, behind\\ntheir seeming delicacy, that God should do more for them,\\nand give them an experience with greater circumstance.\\nIn opposition now to both these classes, and without\\nassuming to measure and graduate the exact degree of\\ntheir blame before God, I undertake to show that, where\\nthere is a true grace of experience in the heart, it ought\\nto be, must, and will be manifest. And I bring to your\\nnotice\\n1. The evident fact that a true inward experience, or\\ndiscovery of God in the heart, is itself an impulse also of\\nself-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are wants to\\nspeak and declare itself, and will as naturally do it, when\\nit is born, as a child will utter its first cry. And exactly\\nthis, as I just now said, is what David means viz., that\\nhe had been obliged to speak, and was never able to shut\\nup the fire burning in his spirit, from the first moment\\nwhen it was kindled. He speaks as one who could not\\nfind how to suppress the joy that filled his heart, but must\\nneeds break loose in a testimony for God. And so it is\\nin all cases the instinct of a new heart, in its experience\\nof God, to acknowledge him. No one ever thinks it a\\nmatter of delicacy, or genuine modesty, to entirely sup-\\npress any reasonable joy; least of all, any fit testimony\\nof gratitude toward a deliverer and for a deliverance. In\\nsuch a case no one ever asks, what is the use where ifl\\nthe propriety for it is the simple instinct of his nature\\nto speak, and he speaks.\\nThus, if one of you had been rescued, in a shipwreck", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0388.jp2"}, "389": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 385\\non a foreign shore, by some common sailor who had\\nrisked his life to save vou, and you should discover him\\nacross the street in some great city, you would, rush to his\\nside, seize his hand, and begin at once, with a choking\\nutterance, to testify your gratitude to him for so great a\\ndeliverance. Or, if you should pass restrainedly on,\\nmaking no sign, pretending to yourself that you might be\\nwanting in delicacy or modesty to publish your private\\nfeelings, bv anv such eager acknowledgment of your de-\\nliverer, or that vou ought first to be more sure of the\\ngenuineness of your gratitude, what opinion must we\\nhave, in such a case, of your heartlessness and falseness\\nto nature. In the same simple way, all ambition apart,\\nall conceit of self forgot, all artificial and mock modesty\\nexcluded, it will be the instinct of every one that loves\\nGod to acknowledge him. He will say with our Psalmist,\\non another occasion, Come and hear, all ye that fear\\nGod, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.\\nVerily God hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice\\nof my prayer.\\n2. The change implied in a true Christian experience,\\nor the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature\\nthe soul and root of an outward change that is corres-\\npondent. The faith implanted is a faith that works in\\nappropriate demonstrations, and must as certainly work,\\nas a living heart must beat or pulsate. It is the right-\\neousness of God revealed within, to be henceforth the\\nactuating spring and power of a righteous and devoted\\nlife. It will inform the whole man. It will glow in the\\ncountenance. It will irradiate the eye. It will speak\\nfrom the tongue. It will modulate the very gait. It will\\nenter into all the transactions of business, the domestic\\n83", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0389.jp2"}, "390": {"fulltext": "388 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\ntempers, the social manifestations and offices. It will\\nmake the man a benefactor, and call him into self-sacri-\\nfice for God and the truth. It will send him forth to be\\nGod s advocate with men, and require him, in that man-\\nner, to make full testimony, either formally or by impli-\\ncation, of what God has done for him. Of this, new, a\\ntrue Christian experience is the root and beginning, else\\nit is nothing. The inward change is no reality, but a\\npure fiction, if it does not issue in this. In this it will\\nissue, when it is allowed to act unrestrainedly, even\\nthough it be, at first, the smallest seed of grace possible.\\nAnd 0, what multitudes are there, in whom God is just\\nbeginning to be revealed, who by some false modesty,\\nsome morbid thought of prudence, refusing to be natural\\nand simple, take the mode of silence, secresy, or suppres\\nsion, and so, in a very few days or months, fatally stifle\\nthe grace of their salvation. The result is worse, only in\\nthe fact that the abuse is more wicked, when the subject\\ndares, in the hour of his holy visitation, to deliberately\\nmake up his mind that he will have his new-born joy as a\\nsecret, and live in it for some years, at least, until he has\\nabsolutely proved the genuineness of his faith. It will\\nnot be long, in such a case, before he gets evidence enough\\nagainst it for the only and the absolutely necessary proof\\nof its genuineness is that it reveals itself comes out into\\naction, becomes a life and a confession. The good tree\\nwill show the good fruit. It can not go on to bear the\\nold, bad fruit out of modesty, or a pretended shrinking\\nfrom ostentation it must reveal the righteousness of God\\nwithin, by the fruits of righteousness without, else it is\\nonly a mockery.\\n3. If any one proposes beforehand, in Ills religious", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0390.jp2"}, "391": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 387\\nendeavors, or in seeking after God, to come into a secret\\nexperience and keep it a secret, his endeavor is plainly\\none that falsifies the very notion of christian piety, and if\\nhe succeeds or seems to succeed, he only practices a fraud\\nin which he imposes on himself. He proposes to find 3\\ngrace, or obtain a grace from God, that he will hide and\\nwill not acknowledge, a grace, too, that will neither grow\\nnor shine. Instead of taking up his cross to follow Christ,\\nsacrificing openly wealth, reputation, friends, home, every\\nthing dear for his Master s sake, he is going to find a\\ngrace that brings in fact no cross, requires no sacrifice.\\nHe is going to be saved in a more easy and more agreeable\\nway than to come out and take his Master s part and bear\\nthe rough work of his Master s calling. To meet the\\nscorn of the world, and endure the hardness that distin-\\nguishes a soldier, is not in his thoughts. Perhaps he docs\\nnot expect to be so much of a Christian, so high in his\\nattainments, and so eminently useful, but he hopes to be\\njust enough Christian, in this more delicate and secret\\nway, to save him beyond which he cares for nothing\\nmore. But you have only to look into his heart, in such\\na case, to see that his motive is bad, even beyond respect.\\nHe is only fawning about the cross, to get some private\\ntoken of grace, when he does not mean to make any ex-\\npense, or suffer any loss or self-denial for it. To come\\nout and be separate, to make the cause and truth of Jesus\\na care of his own, to live a life that witnesses for God, is\\nnot his plan. He means no such thing. He wants, in\\nfact, to be saved by a fraud that is, by a secret experi-\\nence hid in the heart, which makes no open testimony,\\ncosts no sacrifice for God. To say that such a state of\\nmind is untruth itself, and that any spiritual experience it", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0391.jp2"}, "392": {"fulltext": "888 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\nmay assme to have had is no better, -would be an insult\\neven to your understanding.\\n4. It is not less clear, as I have already said incidentally,\\nand now say only more directly, that the grace of God iu\\nthe heart, unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose\\nthat it shall be, even for their whole life, wi]l be certainly\\nstifled and extinguished. The thought itself is a mockery\\nof the Holy Spirit. The heart might as well be required\\nto live and not beat, as the new heart of love to hush\\nitself and keep still in the bosom. Nothing can live that\\nis not permitted to show the signs of life. Even a tree, a\\nsolid, massive oak, embracing the earth in roots equal to\\nhalf its volume, and drawing out of the rich soil its needed\\nnutriment, will be stifled and yield up its life, if it can not\\nput on leaves at the extremities and grow. So let any,\\nthe best and ripest Christian, if such a one could be\\ninduced to do it, (as most assuredly he could not,) retire\\nfrom all the acts and forbid himself all the duties, by\\nwhich he would manifest his love to God, and declare\\nGod s love to men, and that love would very soon be so\\nfar smothered in his bosom, as to leave no evidence there\\nof its existence. Accordingly you will find that all that\\nclass of persons, who take the turn described, give the\\nmost abundant proofs, ere long, that God is not with\\nthem. How can he be with them, when they propose\\neven to be disciples in such a way that, if all others w r ere\\nto follow and be like them, Christ would not have a\\nchurch, or even one acknowledged friend or follower on\\nearth Will he consent by his Spirit, do you think,, to\\nuphold a race of secret, unacknowledged followers, in this\\nmanner followers who turn their back to him, will not\\nconfess, will not even speak, or act the grace they receive?", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0392.jp2"}, "393": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 389\\nBe it rather a faithful, as it is a most evident saving, For\\nif we be dead with him we shall also live with him if\\nwe suffer, we shall also reign with him if we deny him,\\nhe also will deny us.\\n5. This is the express teaching of the gospel, which\\nevery where and in every possible way calls out the souls\\nrenewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and\\nduty, and so to witness a good confession. Come and\\nfollow me, is the word of Jesus. Deny thyself, take up\\nthy cross, and follow me. If it is a lowly calling, if we\\ncan not descend to it, then he says, Blessed is he who is\\nnot offended in me. If our pride, or the pride of our\\nposition, is too great, then he says, Whosoever shall be\\nashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son\\nof man be ashamed, when he shall come in his glory. To\\nexclude any possible thought of a secret discipleship, he\\nsays, I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye\\nshould bring forth fruit, I have chosen you out of the\\nworld, therefore the world hateth vou, and will persecute\\nyou as it has persecuted me. In the same way his apos-\\ntles call upon all that love him to come out and be sepa-\\nrate, to put on the whole armor of God and stand, to fight\\nopenly the good fight, to endure hardness, to make a loss\\nof all things for his sake, to be his witnesses before men;\\nleading always the way by their own bold, faithful testi-\\nmony. When you look, for example, on such a character\\nas Paul, it is even difficult to conceive how there can ever\\nbe any real communion of spirit, in any future world, be-\\ntween him and one so opposite as to think of living a\\nsecret, unavowed piety. Between that craven way of se-\\ncrecy and mere self-saving on one hand, and his .great heart\\nof love and labor on the other, can any bond of sympa-\\n33*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0393.jp2"}, "394": {"fulltext": "390 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\nthy ever exist? Scarcely does an open transgressor, acting\\nout, with strong audacity, the unbelief and wickedness of\\nwhich he dares to take the responsibility, appear to be as\\nfar removed, or as radically unlike. It never once occurs\\nto Paul that he can keep the grace hid in his heart. He\\ndoes not appear to come forth and speak because he has it\\nas a point of obligation, as perhaps Daniel opened his win-\\ndow to let his prayer be heard, but he has a testimony to\\ngive for Jesus that he must give, because of the fire it\\nkindles in his heart. So before the Areopagus, and Felix,\\nand Agrippa, and Csesar, and on every shore touched by\\nhis feet, he goes preaching the word and telling the story\\nof his wonderful experience on the way to Damascus.\\nWho that looks on this heroic figure, and sees how the\\nheavenly ardor raised in this man s breast by the revelation\\nof Jesus, impels him forth and sends him through the\\nworld, in a life-long testimony which no sacrifices or per-\\nils are able to arrest, can descend, for one moment, to so\\nmean a thought, as the possibility of being saved by n\\nsecret piety. Again\\n6. It deserves to be made a distinct point that there is\\nno shade of encouragement given to this notion of salva-\\ntion by a secret piety, in any of the scripture examples or\\nteachings. If there is to be a large body of the secret\\nheirs of salvation, such as will greatly surprise the more\\nopen, more pretentious friends of God, when they see the\\nnumber, there ought to be at least some examples in the\\nscripture to encourage such an expectation. The nearest\\napproach to such encouragement any where given, is that\\nwhich is afforded by the case of the two senators, Joseph\\nand Nicodemus. One of them we are told was a disciple\\nsecretly, for fear of the Jews. And the other came tc", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0394.jp2"}, "395": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 391\\nJesus by night, to inquire of him, that he might not be\\ncounted a disciple. Both of them appear to have kept\\nsilence on his trial before the council, letting the decision\\ngo against him there, and taking no responsibility on his\\naccount. But after he was crucified, they came to ask the\\nbody and brought sjoices to embalm it. They were good\\nas disciples to bury Jesus, but not to save his life, or serve\\nhim while living. Indeed if they had truly embalmed\\nhim in their hearts, so that we could hear of them after-\\nward, making common cause with the disciples, it would\\ngreatly comfort us concerning them. Shall we ever hear\\nany thing more of them, in that world where God s true\\nwitnesses are gathered and crowned The truth is that\\nthere is a ver} r heavy shade over these two delicate and court-\\nly friends of Jesus. They were men of society, and there-\\nfore saw the dignity of Jesus, but if you would like to be-\\nreasonably confident of jomt salvation, it certainly becomes\\nyou to do something a great deal more positive than to\\nJet your Master die, making no stand for him even in the\\ncouncil where his death is voted, and then come in with\\nspices to bury him. The most fragrant spices are those\\nthat honor one s life, and not the posthumous odors that\\nembalm his body. How singular is it too that not even\\nthe Pentecost calls out these disciples of the tomb. It is\\nas if the;y had been buried with their Master and had not\\nrisen. In that wondrous scene of fellowship where so\\nmany, from all parts of the world, are surprised to find\\nthemselves confessing and embracing, in open brother-\\nhood, strangers of all climes and orders, and selling even\\ntheir goods to relieve the common wants, it docs not ap-\\npear that any spices of the heavenly charity are brought\\nin by these two secret friends of Jesus. When all beside", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0395.jp2"}, "396": {"fulltext": "392 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\nare of one accord, rejoicing in acts of communion, such\\nas tlie world has never seen, they have no part in it.\\nAnanias and Sapphira had as much, or even more.\\nIs it such examples that give encouragement to a secret\\npiety These two had certainly some notion of such a dis-\\ncipleship, but who will care to receive it from them No,\\nthe real disciple is different he is thought of as a man who\\nstands for his Master, and is willing to die for his Master,\\nYe are the light of the world and the light of the world\\nis lighted up, of course, to shine. Men do not light a\\ncandle, he says, and put it under a bushel. Let youi\\nlight so shine, that others, seeing your good works, may\\nglorify your Father which is in heaven.\\nDrawing our subject now to a conclusion, we notice, first\\nof all, in a way of practical application, the very absurd\\npretense of those who congratulate themselves on having\\nso much of secret merit, which they even count the more\\nmeritorious because they keep it secret. Some persons of\\na generally correct life are put on this course by the flat-\\nteries of others, who love to let down the honors of relig-\\nion, and hold them up as a foil in doing it. Some do it\\nwillfully and scornfully, hinting that people who make\\nso great a noise about religion would do well to be more\\nmodest, and that, if they were willing to proclaim their\\nown merits, perhaps they might make as good a show\\nthemselves. And yet how many are there, if we may\\ntrust the world s report, of these secret saints! not the\\nleast, but the greatest of all saints Tt is very much as if\\na nation, fighting for its liberties, had vast armies of secret\\npatriots, who did not believe in making so great a noise in\\nthe dust and carnage of the field, but, since they are too", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0396.jp2"}, "397": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 393\\nmodest to put their superior bravery forward, and rash to\\nthe onset shouting for their country, are to be counted, for\\ntheir modesty s sake, the bravest and truest patriots of all.\\nThe real truth is, in respect to almost all these pretend-\\ners to a secret religion, that they are persons who know\\nnothing of it. They are moralists, it may be, practicing at\\nwhat they call a virtue by themselves, but they do noth-\\ning that brings them into any relationship with God. It\\nis not the righteousness of God which they have hidden\\nso carefully, but it is their own, which, after all, is not\\nhid. They never pray, they have no experience of God,\\nthey are as ignorant as the worst of men of any such thing\\nas a divine joy in the heart. They do not break out and\\nconfess the Lord, simply because he is not in them. Noth-\\ning 1 is in them but themselves, and they do confess them-\\nselves, they even boast themselves. Just as naturally\\nwould they boast and testify the love of God, if they felt\\nits power. They really publish all the merit they have\\nnow, and, when religion dawns in their heart, they will as\\ncertainly declare the grace of God in that.\\nAnd this again brings us to notice the significance of the\\nprofession of Christ, when, and why, and witli what views,\\nit should be made. It should be made, because where\\nthere is any thing to be professed, it can not but be made.\\nIf a man loves God he will take his part with God, just as\\na citizen who loves his country will take the part of his\\ncountry. He will draw himself to all God s friends and\\ncount them brothers, rejoicing with them in the fellowship\\nof the common love. He will set himself, in every man-\\nner, to strengthen, comfort, edify, stimulate them in their\\nfidelity and application to good works. All this he will", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0397.jp2"}, "398": {"fulltext": "394. HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\ndo by the simple instinct of his love to God. If there\\nwere no such thing enjoined upon the disciples of Christy\\nas a formal profession, or church organization, there would\\nyet be generated, within six months, exactly the same\\nthing, The disciples would come out of the world in a\\nbody, testifying what God has done for them in the quick-\\nening grace of Christ shed abroad in their hearts, and\\nclaiming their fellowship with each other. As our\\nfathers in the Mayflower bound themselves in a kind of\\ncivil covenant on their passage, they would band them-\\nselves together in holy covenant before God, to co-operate\\nin a form of spiritual order, a church. They would\\nhave their officers and leaders. They would watch for\\neach other. They would have terms adjusted by which\\nto separate themselves from hypocrites and impostors, all\\nthat we now have in our formal polities and church com-\\npacts. Co-operation is the strength of such as have a com-\\nmon cause, and organization is the certain requisite of this.\\nIn this way the followers of Jesus must and will be set in\\nsolid phalanx, to co-operate in the maintenance of their\\ncommon cause.\\nThis matter of professing Christ appears to be regarded\\nby many as a kind of optional duty. Just as optional as\\nit is for light to shine, or goodness to be good, or joy to\\nsing, or gratitude to give thanks, or love to labor and\\nsacrifice for its ends. No my friends, there is no option\\nhere, save as all duties are optional and eternity hangs on\\nthe option we make. Let no one of you receive or allow\\na different thought. Expect to be open, outstanding wit-\\nnesses for God, and rejoice to be. In ready and glorious\\noption, take your part with such, and stifle indignantly\\nanv lurking thought of being a secret follower.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0398.jp2"}, "399": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 395\\nFollowing in the same train, we notice, again, what value\\nthere may be in discoveries of christian experience, and\\nthe legitimate use they may have in christian society\\nSome of the best and holiest impulses ever given to the\\ncause of God in men s hearts are given by testimonies of\\nchristian experience, Like all other things, they are\\ncapable of abuse. They may run to a really pitiful con-\\nceit, being not only misconceived by the subjects them-\\nselves, but even made a gospel of and thrust forward, on\\noccasions where they are out of place and against all holy\\nproprieties. Still there will be times, more or less private,\\nwhen the humblest and weakest disciples can speak of\\nwhat God has done for them, with the very best effect.\\nNor is there any thing so unpractical and destitute of\\nchristian respect as the shyness of some fastidious people\\nin this matter. It never exists in a truly manly character,\\nor in connection with a full-toned, living godliness. That\\nwill be no such dainty affair. It will speak out. It will\\ndeclare what God has done, and show the method by which\\nhe works. The new joy felt will be a new song in the\\nmouth, and every new deliverance will be fitly, gratefully\\nconfessed. There will be no shallow affectation of delicacy\\nshutting the lips and sealing them in a forced dumbness, as\\nif the righteousness of God had been taken by a deed of\\nlarceny. How often will two disciples help and strengthen\\neach other by showing, each the other, in what way God\\nhas led him, what his struggles have been, and where his\\nvictories. And, if there should be three or four included,\\nor possibly, and in fit cases, more, a whole church, what is\\nthere to blame? They spake often, one to another, says\\nthe prophet, and God hearkened and heard it. God list-\\nens for nothing so tenderly as when his children help each", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0399.jp2"}, "400": {"fulltext": "S96 HE THAT KNOWS GOD\\nother by their testimonies to his goodness and the way hi\\nwhich he has brought them deliverance. Besides there is\\na higher view of these personal testimonies and confessions.\\nAll these experiences, or life-histories of the faithful, will\\nbe among the grandest studies and most glorious re vela*\\nlions of the future, a spiritual epic of wars, and defeats,\\nand falls, and victories, and wondrous turns of deliverance,\\nand unseen ministries of God and angels, that, when they\\nare opened to the saints, will furnish the sublimest of all\\ntheir discoveries of Christ and of God. Exactly as an\\napostle intimates in those most hopeful, inspiring words of\\nhis, When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and\\nto be admired in all them that believe. May he not be\\nglorified in them here, and, in some feebler measure, ad-\\nmired for the testimonies yielded by their experience, as\\ntheir warfare goes on.\\nAnd now, last of all, let this one thing be impressed 5\\nfor every thing I have been saying leads to this, that the\\ntrue wisdom, in all these matters of holy experience, is to\\nact naturally. If you seem to yourself to have really\\npassed from death unto life, and to have come into God s\\npeace, interpose no affectations of modesty, no restric-\\ntions of mock prudence, but in true natural modesty\\nand a sound natural discretion, testify the grace you\\nhave received. Take upon you promptly every duty,\\nenter the church, obey the command of Christ, in the con-\\nfession of his name and the public remembrance of his\\nlleath. 0, if we could get rid of so many affectations in\\nreligion, and so many unnatural, artificial wisdoms, how\\nmany more real Christians would there be, and these how\\nmuch better and heartier. How many are there in our", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0400.jp2"}, "401": {"fulltext": "WILL CONFESS HIM. 397\\nchristian communities that are :iving afar off and appa-\\nrently quite inaccessible, who, if, at a certain time in theii\\nlife, they had gone forward and taken the places to which\\nthey were called, would now be among the shining mem-\\nbers of the great body of saints. And how many in the\\nchurch cripple themselves and all but extinguish their life,\\nby allowing nothing good or right in them to be naturally\\nacted out. They stifle every beginning of grace by their\\nover-persistent handling, scrutinizing, and testing of it.\\nThey read Edwards on the Affections, it may be, till their\\naffections are all worn out and killed by so much jealousy\\nof them, when, if only they could give them breath in the\\nopen life of duty and sacrifice, they would flame up in the\\nsoul as heavenly fires, indubitable and irrepressible.\\nIf any of you, either out of the church or in, have lost\\nground in these artificial and restrictive ways, come back\\nat once to your losing point and consent to be natural, to\\nact out whatever grace God will give you, and, when you\\nare conscious of his love to you, or his new creating pre-\\nsence and peace in your heart, be as ready to trust your con-\\nsciousness as you are the consciousness that you think, or\\ndoubt, or do any thing else. In a word, do not hide the\\nrighteousness of God in your heart, lest you make a tomb\\nof your heart and bury it there. Go forward and act out\\nnaturally, testify freely, live openly, the grace that is in\\nyou.\\nThus it was, I have already said, with the sturdy war-\\nriors of the faith in the first ages of the church. They\\nwere men who took the grace in them as a call. The\\nlove that broke into their hearts burned up all their false\\nmodesty. Their humble position was exalted by the faith\\nof Jegus, and they stood forth in all the singularity of the\\n34", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0401.jp2"}, "402": {"fulltext": "398 HE THAT KNOWS GOB.\\ncross, cowed by no superiors, daunted by no perils. God\\nmade them heroes by simply making them natural and\\nthe time of Christly heroism will never be restored, till\\nmen can take their lives in their hands and go forth, in\\ndownright good faith, to follow their Master, acting out\\nthe spirit he has kindled in them, and testifying to man-\\nkind the riches of the grace they have found in his gospel\\nWhat we want, above all things, in this age, is heartiness\\nand holy simplicity men who justify the holy impulse\\nof grace in their hearts, and do not keep it back by artifi-\\ncial clogs of prudence and false fear, or the sham pretenses\\nof fastidiousness and artificial delicacy. These are they\\nwhom God will make his witnesses in all ages. They\\ndare to be holy, dare just as readily to be singular. What\\nGod puts in them that they accept, and when he puts a\\nsong, they sing it. They know Christ inwardly, and\\ntherefore stand for him outwardly. They endure hard-\\nness. They fight a fight. And these are the souls, my\\nbrethren, who shall stand before God accepted. And we\\nshall be accepted as we stand with them, otherwise never.\\nIt will be a gathering of the true soldiers, a gathering of\\nthem that have made sacrifices, conquered perils, and lived\\ntheir open testimony for God and his Son. They will\\ncome in covered with their dust and scars, and Christ will\\ncrown them, as heroes that have stood and kept their\\narmor. And then how deep and piercing are those words\\nof his,\u00e2\u0080\u0094 -will they slay us forever, or will they make us\\nalive Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before\\nmen, him will I also confess before my Father, which is in\\nheaven. But, whosoever shall deny me before men, him\\nwill I also deny before my Father, which is in heaven.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0402.jp2"}, "403": {"fulltext": "XXI.\\nTHE EFFICIENCY OF THE PASSIVE VIKTUE9.\\n.Revelations i. 9. The kingdom and patience of Jesus\\nChrist\\nKingdom and patience a very singular conjunction of\\nterms to say the least as if, in Jesus Christ were made\\ncompatible, authority and suffering, the impassive throne\\nof a monarch and the meek subjection of a cross, the\\nreigning power of a prince and the mild endurance of a\\nlamb. What more striking paradox. And yet in this\\nyou have exactly that which is the prime distinction of\\nChristianity. It is a kingdom erected by patience. It\\nreigns in virtue of submission. Its victory and dominion\\nare the fruits of a most peculiar and singular endurance.\\nI say the fruits of endurance, and by this I mean, not the\\nreward, but the proper results or effects of endurance.\\nChrist reigns over human souls and in them, erecting there\\nhis spiritual kingdom, not by force of will exerted in any\\nway, but through his most sublime passivity in yielding\\nhimself to the wrongs and the malice of his adversaries.\\nAnd with him, in this most remarkable peculiarity, all\\ndisciples are called to be partakers even as the apostle in\\nhis exile at Patmos writes, I Tohn, who also am your\\nbrother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom\\nand patience of Jesus. I offer it accordingly to your con-\\nsideration, as a kind of first principle in a good life, which\\nit will be the object of my discourse to illustrate--", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0403.jp2"}, "404": {"fulltext": "400 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\nThat the passive elements, or graces of the Christian life,\\nwell maintained, are quite as efficient and fruitful as the active.\\nIt is not my design, of course, to discourage, or restrain\\nwnat are called active works in religion. Christ himself\\nwas active beyond almost any human example. All great\\nand true servants of God have been men of industry, and\\nof earnest and strenuous application to works of duty. I\\nonly design to exhibit what many are so apt to overlook\\nor forget, the sublime efficacy of those virtues which be-\\nlong to the receiving, suffering, patient side of character.\\nThey are such as meekness, gentleness, forbearance, for-\\ngiveness, the endurance of wrong without anger and re-\\nsentment, contentment, quietness, peace, and unambitious\\nlove. These all belong to the more passive side of char-\\nacter and are included, or may be, in the general and com-\\nprehensive term patience. What I design is to show that\\nthese are never barren virtues, as some are apt to imagine,\\nbut are often the most efficient and most operative powers\\nthat a true Christian wields inasmuch as they carry just\\nthat kind of influence, which other men are least apt and\\nleast able to resist.\\nWe too commonly take up the impression that power is\\nmeasured by exertion that we are effective because sim-\\nply of what we do, or the noise we make consequently\\nthat, when we are not in exertion of some kind, we are\\nnot accomplishing any thing; and that if we are too\\nhumble, or poor, or infirm, to be engaged in great works\\nand projects, there is really nothing for us to do, and we\\nare living to no purpose. This very gross and wholly\\nmistaken impression I wish to remove, by showing that a\\nright passivity is sometimes the greatest and most effective", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0404.jp2"}, "405": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 401\\nChristian power, and that if we are brothers and compan-\\nions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus, we are likely\\nto fulfill the highest conception of the Christian life. Ob-\\nserve then\\nFirst of all, that the passive and submissive virtues aie\\nmost of all remote from the exercise, or attainment of\\nthose who are out of the Christian spirit and the life of\\nfaith. All men are able to be active. Most men do exert\\nthemselves in works that are really useful. A vast multi-\\ntude of the race have excelled in forms of active power\\nthat are commonly called virtuous, without any thought of\\nreligion. They have been great inventors, discoverers,\\nteachers, law-givers, risked their life, or willingly yielded\\nit up in the fields of war for the defense of their country,\\nor the conquest of liberty, worn out every energy of mind\\nand body, in the advancement of great human interests.\\nIndeed it is commonly not difficult for men to be active or\\neven bravely so but when you come to the passive or\\nreceiving side of life, here they fail. To bear evil and\\nwrong, to forgive, to suffer no resentment under injury, to\\nbe gentle when nature burns with a fierce heat, and pride\\nclamors for redress, to restrain envy, to bear defeat with a\\nfirm and peaceful mind, not to be vexed or fretted by cares,\\nlosses, or petty injuries, to abide in contentment and se-\\nrenity of spirit, when trouble and disappointment come\\nthese are conquests, alas how difficult to most of us Ac-\\ncordingly it will be seen that a true Christian man is dis-\\ntinguished from other men, not so much by his beneficent\\nworks, as by his patience. In this he most excels and\\nrises highest above the mere natural virtues of the world.\\nJust here it is that he is looked upon as a peculiar and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0405.jp2"}, "406": {"fulltext": "402 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\npartially divine character. The motives seem to be a\\nmystery. What can set a man to the suffering: of evil\\nand wrong with such a spirit? Thought lingers question-\\ning round him, asking for the secret of this mysterious\\npassivity. Even if it be derided there is yet felt to be a\\nsomething great in it; truly he is another kind of man\\nand not of us, is the feeling of all who are not in Christ\\nwith him. By this he will be seen and felt to belong to a\\ndistinct order of being and character. He is set off by his\\npatience, to be a brother and companion in the kingdom\\nand patience of Jesus.\\nConsider also more distinctly the immense power of\\nprinciple that is necessary to establish the soul in these\\nvirtues of endurance and patience. Here is no place for\\nambition, no stimulus of passion, such as makes even\\ncowards brave in the field. Here are no exploits to be\\ncarried, no applauses of the multitude to be won. The\\ndisciple knowing that God forgives and waits, wants to be\\nlike him knowing that he has nothing himself to boast\\nof but the shame of a sinner, wants to be nothing, and\\nprefers to suffer and crucify his resentments, and since\\nGod would not contend with him, will not contend with\\nthose who do him injury. He gets the power of his pa-\\ntience wholly from above. It is not human, it is divine.\\nHence the impossibility of it even to great men. Napo-\\nleon, for example, had the active powers in such vigor,\\nthat he made the whole civilized world shake with dread.\\nBut when he came to the place where true greatness con-\\nsisted only in patience, that was too great for him. Just\\nwhere any Christian woman would have shone forth in the\\ntrue radiance and sublimity of an all- victorious patience.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0406.jp2"}, "407": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 403\\nhe, the conqueror of empires, broke down into a peevish.,\\nfretful, irritable temper, and losing thus, at once, all dig-\\nnity and composure of soul, died before his time, because\\nhe had been resolved into a mere compost of faculty by\\nthe ferment of his ungoverned passions. On the other\\nhand, we have in Socrates an illustrious example of the\\ndignity and sacred grandeur of patience. The good spirit\\nor genius he spoke of as being ever with him, was, in fact,\\nthe teacher of this noble and truly divine submission to\\nwrong. It wears no merely human look, and the world\\nof all subsequent ages have been made to feel that here is\\na certain sublimity of virtue, which sets the man apart from\\nall the great men of profane history. No ancient charac-\\nter stands with him. He is felt to be a kind of sacred\\nman who, by means of his wonderful passivity to wrong,\\nand his gentleness toward his enemies, is set quite above\\nhis kind, revealing as it were, the gift of some higher na-\\nture. You perceive in his example that the passive virtues\\nboth involve and express a higher range of principles\\nhence they are necessary to all highest character in the\\nactive. We can act out of the human, but to suifer well,\\nrequires a participation of what is divine. Hence the\\nimpression of greatness and sublimity which all men feel\\nin the contemplation of that energy which is itself ener-\\ngized by a self-sacrificing and suffering patience. And\\naccordingly there is no power over the human soul and\\ncharacter so effective and so nearly irresistible as this.\\nNotice again, yet more distinctly, what will add a yet\\nmore conclusive evidence, how it is chiefly by this endur-\\nance of evil, that Christ, as a Redeemer, prevails against\\nthe sin of the human heart and subdues its enmity. Just", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0407.jp2"}, "408": {"fulltext": "404 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\nupon the eve of what we call his passion, he says, in vis-\\nible triumph, to his disciples, the prince of this w r orld\\nis judged as if the kingdom of evil were now to be\\ncrushed and his own new kingdom established, by some\\nterrible bolt of judgment falling on his adversaries. It\\nw r as even so and that bolt of judgment was the passion of\\nthe cross. We had never seen before the sublime passivi-\\nties of God s character, and his ability to endure the mad-\\nness of evil. We had seen him in the smoke and heard\\nhim in the thunders of Sinai. We had felt his judg-\\nments, we had trembled under his frown, we had seen the\\nactive management and sway of his Providence. But\\nnow in the cross, we see him bearing wrong, receiving\\nthe shafts of human enmity, submitting himself, in\\nhis sublime patience, to the fury of the disobedi-\\nent, and so, melting down by his gentleness what\\nno terrors could intimidate, and no frowns of judgment\\ncould subdue. Thus our blessed Eedeemer made himself\\na king and set up a kingdom. It is the kingdom of his\\npatience. When law was broken, and all the supports of\\nauthority set up by God s majesty were quite torn aw r ay,\\nGod brought forth a power, greater than law, greater than\\nmajesty, even the power of his patience and by this he\\nbroke forever the spirit of evil in the world. The sinner\\ncould laugh at God s thunders and stiffen himself against\\nall the activities of his omnipotent rule, when exerted tc\\nabase and humble him, but when he looks upon the cross\\nof Jesus, and beholds the patience of God s love and\\nmercy, then he relents and becomes a child. The new-\\ncreating grace of Christianity is scarcely more, in fact,\\nthan a divine application of the principle, that when noth-\\ning else can subdue an enemy, patience sometimes will.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0408.jp2"}, "409": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 405\\nAgain, it is important to notice that men, as being under\\nsin, are set against all active efforts to turn them, or per-\\nsuade them, but never against that which implies no effort;\\nviz., the gentle virtues of patience. We are naturally\\njealous of control by any method which involves a fixed\\ndesign to exert control over us therefore we are always\\non our guard in this direction. But we are none the less\\nopen, at all times, to the power of silent worth, and the\\nunpretending goodness of those virtues that are included\\nin patience. If a man is seen to live in content, and keep\\na mind unruffled by vexation, under great calamities and\\nirritating wrongs, we have no guard set against that, we\\nalmost like to be swayed by such a kind of power. In-\\ndeed we should not have a good opinion of ourselves, if\\nwe did not admire such an example and praise it. And\\nin just this way it happens, that many a proud and willful\\nsoul will resist the most eloquent sermon, and will then\\nbe completely subdued and melted by the heavenly seren-\\nity and patience of a sick woman. For a similar reason,\\nall the submissive forms of excellence have an immense\\nadvantage. They provoke no opposition, because they are\\nnot put forth for us, but for their own sake. They fix our\\nadmiration therefore, win our homage, and melt into our\\nfeeling. They move us the more, because they do not\\nattempt to move us. They are silent, empty of all power\\nbut that which lies in their goodness, and for just that rea-\\nson they are among the greatest powers that Christianity\\nwields.\\nOnce more it is important for every man, when he will\\ncast the balance between the powers of action and of pas-\\nsion or when he will discover the real effectiveness of pas-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0409.jp2"}, "410": {"fulltext": "406 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\nsive good, to refer to his own consciousness. See how\\nlittle impression is often made upon yon, by the most\\nstrenuous efforts to exert influence over you, and then\\nhow often you are swayed by feelings of respect, rever-\\nence, admiration, tenderness, from the simple observation\\nof one who suffers well receiving injury without resent-\\nment, gilding the lot of poverty and privation with a\\nspirit of contentment and of filial trust in God forgiving,\\ngentle, unresisting, peaceful, and strong under great storms\\nof affliction. How gently clo these lovely powers of pa-\\ntience insinuate themselves into your respect and love.\\nWhen some palpable assault of active endeavor, such as\\nargument, advice, or exhortation, besieges you, how in-\\nstinctively do you harden yourself against it, and oflfei\\nyourself to it as a wall to be battered down if it can be.\\nBut when you see a Christian suffer well, strong in adver-\\nsity, calm and happy in days of trouble, smiling on through\\nmonths of pain, in a spirit of unmurmuring patience, con-\\ntented with a hard lot of poverty and outward discour-\\nagement, how ready are you to feel the power of such\\nexamples, how welcome are they, as faces of blessing, to a\\nplace in your mind, and how often do they bend you, by\\ntheir sacred power, to better purposes of life, that could\\nnot be extorted by any more obtrusive means. Let every\\nChristian carefully observe his own consciousness here,\\nand he will be in the least possible danger of dis-esteeming\\npatience, as a barren or sterile virtue, or of looking upon\\neffort and action as the only operative and fruitful Christian\\npowers.\\nLet us notice now in conclusion, some of the instructive\\nand practical uses of the truth illustrated. And", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0410.jp2"}, "411": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES 407\\n1. It is here that Christianity makes issue with tho\\nwhole world on the question ox human greatness. That\\nis ever looked on by mankind and spoken of as greatness,\\nwhich displays some form of active power. The soldier,\\nthe statesman, the inventor, the orator, the reformer, the\\npoet all great thinkers and doers, by whom, as mighty\\nmen and men of renown, great masses of people or even\\nnations are swayed in their opinion?, or their history, or\\nprofoundly moved and prepared to their future are\\ntaken as examples of the most real and highest form of\\ngreatness. It has never entered into human thought, un-\\nsanctified by religion, that there is or can be any such\\nthing as greatness in the mere passive virtues, or in sim-\\nply suffering well; least of all in suffering wrong and evil\\nwith a forgiving, unresentful spirit. Christianity is here\\nalone, holding it forth as being, when required, the\\ndivinest, sublimest and most powerful of all virtues to\\nsuffer well. Even the summits of deific excellence and\\nglory it reveals, by the endurance of enemies, and the bit-\\nter pangs of a cross accepted for their good. It works out\\nthe recovery of transgressors by the transforming power of\\nsacrifice. And so it establishes a kingdom, which is itself\\nthe reign of the patience of Jesus. The w T hole plan cen-\\nters in this one principle, that the suffering side of char-\\nacter has a power of its own, superior, in some respects, to\\nthe most active endeavors. And in this it proves its ori-\\nginality by standing quite alone. The Stoics appear to\\nhave had a dim apprehension that something of this kind\\nmight be true, but the patience they inculcated was that\\nof the will and not the patience of love and trust. It was\\nin fact, obstinacy, without any consent to suffering at all\\na will hardening itself into flint; a sensibility deadened", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0411.jp2"}, "412": {"fulltext": "408 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\nby assumed apathy and all th. .s in the proud determina-\\ntion to be sufficient against all the evils of this life. It was\\nnot suffering well therefore, but refusing to suffer, and, in\\nthat view, was a most active and strenuous form of effort,\\nAnd there was a certain greatness in this we can not deny,\\nthough it was only a mock-moral greatness and not that\\ntrue heaven-descended greatness, which belongs to Chris-\\ntian charity. To say Let patience have her perfect work\\nthat ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing to un-\\nderstand that character is even consummated in these pas\u00c2\u00ab\\nsive virtues this could only be taught by the gospel of\\nthe cross. And yet how manifestly true it is, when once\\nit is seen in such an example as that of Jesus, that a suf-\\nfering love is the highest conceivable form of greatness.\\n2. The office of the Christian martyrs is here explained.\\nWe look back upon the long ages of woe, the martyr ages\\nof the church, and we behold a vast array of active gen-\\nius and power, that could not be permitted to spend itself\\nin works of benefaction to the race, but was consecrated\\nof God to the more sacred and more fruitful grace of suf-\\nfering. The design was, it would seem, to prepare a\\nChristly past, to show whole ages of faith populated with\\nmen who were able, coming after their Master and bearing\\nhis cross, to suffer with him and add their human testi-\\nmony to his. And they overcame by the blood of the\\nLamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved\\nnot their lives unto the death. And so it has been ordered\\nthat the church of God shall know itself to be the child\\nof suffering patience. The scholars, the preachers, all the\\ngreat and noted characters, who have served the church\\nby their labors, pass into shade we think little of them\\nbut the men of patience, the holy martyrs, these we feel", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0412.jp2"}, "413": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 409\\nas a sacred fatherhood, charging it, how seriously and\\nfilially upon our souls, to be followers of them, who through\\nfaith and patience inherit the promises. TTho that feels\\nthe power of these martyr ages descending on him, can\\never think, even for a moment, that the passive virtues of\\nthe Christian life are sterile virtues, and that action is the\\nonly fruitful thing.\\n3. We see in this subject, how it is that many persons\\nare so abundantly active in religion, with so little effect\\nwhile others who are not conspicuous in action accomplish\\nso much. The reason is, that one class trust mainly to the\\nvirtues of action, while the others unite also the virtues\\nof patience. One class is brother and companion in the\\nkinofdom and works of Jesus, the other in the kingdom\\nand patience of Jesus. Accordingly there is something\\nof the same distinction between them, that there is between\\nJohn the Baptist and the Saviour, as regards the extent\\nand the subduing, permanent quality of their effects.\\nThus a man may be very active in warnings, exhortations,\\npublic prajers, plans of beneficence, contributions of time\\nand money and it may seem, when you look upon him,\\nthat he is going to produce immense effects by his life.\\nBut suppose him to be very much of a stranger to the pa-\\ntient virtues of Christ railing at adversaries, blowing\\nblasts of scorn upon those whom he wishes to reform in\\ntheir practices, impetuous, willful, irritable, hot, how\\nmuch good is that man going to do by all his activity?\\nWhat can he do but to irritate and vex and, as far as he\\nis concerned, render the very name of religion or possibly\\nof Christ himself, odious. Or suppose him to be a petu-\\nlant neighbor, or a harsh and passionate man to persons in\\nhis employ, resentful and retaliatory against those who\\n35", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0413.jp2"}, "414": {"fulltext": "410 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\ncross him in his interests, fretful and storming always with\\nimpatience, when providences do not work rightly, or when\\nother men do not exactly fulfill their duties, or engage-\\nments. How manifest is it that such a man will do little,\\nor nothing, by his religious activity. The difference be-\\ntween him and a right-minded, healthy Christian, is the\\nsame as between Jehu and Jesus. So the woman who is\\nzealous in the street, busy ever in the works of active\\ncharity, but ill-natured and fretful in her house, impatient\\nwith her children, given to harsh words and bitter con-\\nstructions upon the character of others, implacable in her\\nresentment of supposed injuries, jealous, envious what\\ncan she accomplish by -any possible degree of activity?\\nAnd how many are there in the churches who are really\\nforward in all good works, but are continually thwarting\\nall effect and reducing the value of their efforts as nearly\\nto nothing as possible, by just such defects of passive\\ngoodness as some of these which I have named.\\nOn the other hand, have you never observed the im-\\nmense power exerted by many Christian men and women,\\nwhose lives are passed, in comparative silence? You know\\nnot how it is, they seem to be really doing little, and yet\\nthey are felt by thousands. And the secret of this won*\\nder is that they know how to suffer well they are in the\\npatience of Jesus. They will not resent evil, or think\\nevil. They are not easily provoked. They are content\\nwith their lot, though it be a lot of poverty and affliction.\\nThey will not be envious of others. When they are\\nwronged they remember Christ and forgive, when opposed\\nand thwarted, they endure and wait. They live in an\\nelement of composure and sweetness, and can not be irri-\\ntated and fretted by men, becau.se they are so much with", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0414.jp2"}, "415": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 411\\nGod, and so ready to bear the cross of his Son, that hu-\\nman wrongs and judgments Lave little power to unsettle\\nor disturb them. Now before these a continual flood of\\ninfluence will be continually rolling. Their gentleness is\\nstronger than the onsets and assaults of other men. They\\nare in the kingdom of Jesus reigning with him, becausp\\nthey are with him in his patience.\\n4. The reason why we have so many crosses, trials,\\nwrongs, and pains, is here made evident. AVe have not\\none too many for the successful culture of our faith. The\\ngreat thing, and that which it is most of all difficult to pro-\\nduce in us, is a participation of Christ s forgiving gentle-\\nness and patience. This, if we can learn it, is the most diffi-\\ncult and the most distinctively christian of all attainments.\\nTherefore we need a continual discholine of occasions;\\npoverty, sickness, bereavements, losses, treacheries, mis-\\nrepresentations, oppressions, persecutions we can hardly\\nhave too many for our own good, if only we receive them\\nas our Saviour did his cross. It is by just these refining\\nfires of trial and suffering, that we are to be most advanced\\nin that to which we aspire. The first thing that our Saviour\\nset himself to, when he began his ministry, was the incul-\\ncation of those traits that belong to the passive or patient\\nside for these he well understood were most remote from\\nus, highest above us, and most of all cross to the impatient\\nstormy spirit of sin within us. He opened his mouth and\\ntaught them for his first lesson, Blessed are the poor in\\nspirit; Blessed are the meek; Blessed are the peace-\\nmakers Blessed are they that are persecuted for right-\\neousness sake and afterward, in the same discourse, Re-\\nsist not evil, whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,\\nturn to him the other also Love vour enemies, bless them", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0415.jp2"}, "416": {"fulltext": "412 THE EFFICIENCY OF\\nthat curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray\\nfor ihem that despitefully use you and persecute you, that\\nye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven*\\nAna then, going on to unfold this latter idea, showing how\\nG3d reveals his impartial, unresentful patience, he cornea\\ntc this, at last, as the summit of all Be ye therefore per-\\nfect even as your father in heaven is perfect as if it were\\nthe crown of all perfection, whether in God or man, co\\nendure evil well. Or, in other words, as if it were his\\nopinion that all good character is consummated and\\ncrowned in the virtues included under patience.\\nTherefore, I said we have not too many occasions given\\nus for the exercise of patience which, is yet, more evi-\\ndent, when we consider the Christian power of patience.\\nHow many are there who by reason of poverty, obscurity,\\ninfirmity of mind, or body, can never hope to do much\\nby action, and who often sigh at the contemplation of their\\nwant of power to effect any thing. But it is given to them\\nas to all, to suffer let them only suffer well and they will\\ngive a testimony for God, which all who know them will\\ndeeply feel and profoundly respect. It is not necessary\\nfor all men to be great in action. The greatest and sub-\\nlimest power is often simple patience and for just thai\\nreason we need sometimes to see its greatness alone, that\\nwe may embrace the solitary, single idea of such great-\\nness, and bring it into our hearts unconfused with all other\\nkinds of power. Whoever gives to the church of God\\nsuch a contribution the invalid, the cripple, the neglected\\nand forlorn woman every such person yields a testimony\\nfor the cross, that is second in value to no other.\\nLet this be remembered and let it be your joy, in every\\ntrial and grief and pain and wrong you suffer, that to suf-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0416.jp2"}, "417": {"fulltext": "THE PASSIVE VIRTUES. 418\\nfer well is to be a true advocate, and apostle, and pillal\\nof the faith.\\nThey also serve, who only stand and wait.\\nAnd here let me add is pre-eminently the office and\\npower of woman. Her power is to be the power most\\nespecially of gentleness and patient endurance. An office\\nso divine, let her joyfully accept and faithfully bear --ad-\\nding sweetness to life in all its exasperating and bitter\\nexperiences, causing poverty to smile, cheering the hard\\nlot of adversity, teaching pain the way of peace, abating\\nhostilities and disarming injuries by the patience of her\\nlove. All the manifold conditions of human suffering and\\nsorrow are so many occasions given to woman, to prove the\\nsublimity of true submission, and reveal the celestial\\npower of passive goodness.\\nFinally, there is reason to suspect that men not religious,\\nare commonly averted from the Christian life, more by\\ntheir dislike of the submissive and gentle virtues, than by\\nany distaste of sacrifice and active duty. They could\\nenter as companions into his kingdom, if only the} could\\nbe excused from the patience. Their life of sin is a life\\nof will, or self-will therefore a life centered in themselves.\\nThey have undertaken to hew their own way therefore\\nto thrust and push and fret themselves against obstruc-\\ntions, and resent oppositions, to envy and hate, and revenge\\nthemselves on enemies, is the luxury, in great part, of their\\nsin. They can admire and praise benevolence, truth, dis-\\ninterestedness of conduct, but to bear evil and love ene-\\nmies and be patient that is wholly distant from the tem-\\nper they are in. They are not without admiration for these\\ngentle kinds of excellence, when displayed by God him-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0417.jp2"}, "418": {"fulltext": "414 THE EFFICIENCY OF, ETC.\\nself; they will even be affected by what they perceive to\\nbe the sublimity of His greatness in them but they can\\nnot think of such in themselves without distaste or a feel-\\ning of dis-esteem. There is a want of spirit, something\\ntame and weak in such ways, something too hard upon\\nhuman pride to be endurable.\\nAnd yet how plain it is, my friends, that for the want\\nof just these passive virtues, your character is all disordeT\\nand confusion. There can be nothing, as you have seen,\\nof the highest, truest greatness in you, without the virtues\\nof patience you are not called to descend to these, but, if\\npossible to ascend. Christ commands you to take up his\\ncross and follow him, not that he may humble you, or lay\\nsome penance upon you, but that you may surrender the\\nlow self-will and the feeble pride of your sin, and ascend\\ninto the sublime patience of heavenly charity. You be-\\ngin to reign, the moment you begin to suffer well. You\\nare only degraded when you suffer, and groan, writhing\\nunder pains God lays upon you, in the manner of a slave.\\nRenounce what is real degradation, and the pride that now\\ndetains you will not be left. Choose what will most exalt\\nyou, and these gentle virtues of the cross will be accepted\\nfirst. And then it will not be left us to exhort you foi\\nyou will even claim it as your joy, to be brother and com-\\npanion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0418.jp2"}, "419": {"fulltext": "XXII.\\nSPIRITUAL DISLODGEMEKTS.\\nJeremiah, xlviii.lL Modb hath been at ease from his\\nyouth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emp-\\ntied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity\\ntherefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not\\nchanged\\nThere is a reference here, it will be seen, to wine, or\\nto the process by which it is prepared and finished. It is\\nfirst expressed from the grape, when it is a thick, discol-\\nored fluid or juice. It is then fermented, passing through\\na process that separates the impurities, and settles them as\\nlees at the bottom. Standing thus upon its lees or dregs\\nm some large tun or vat, it is not further improved. A\\ngross and coarse flavor remains, and the scent of the fecu-\\nlent matter stays by and becomes fastened, as it were, in\\nthe body of the wine itself. To separate this, and so to\\nsoften or refine the quality, it is now decanted or drawn\\noff into separate jars or skins. After a while it is done\\nagain, and then again and so, being emptied from vessel\\nto vessel, the last remains of the lees or sediment are\\nfinally cleared, the crude flavors are reduced, the scent\\nitself is refined by ventilation, and the perfect character\\nis finished.\\nSo it has not been, the prophet says, with Moab. He\\nhath been at ease from the first, shaken by no great over-\\nturnings or defeats, humbled and broken by no captivi-\\nties, ventilated by no surprising changes or adversities.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0419.jp2"}, "420": {"fulltext": "4:16 SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS.\\nHe lias lived on, from age to age, in comparative security\\nsettled on his lees and therefore he has made no improve*\\nmenfc. What he was, he still is his taste remains in him,\\nand the scent of his old idolatries and barbarities of cus-\\ntom is not changed. Accordingly the prophet goes on to\\ndeclare, in the verses that follow, that God will now deal\\nwith him in a manner better adapted to his want that he\\nwill cause him to wander, empty his vessels, break his\\nbottles, give him all the agitation he needs, and so will\\nmake him to be ashamed of the idolatries of Chemosh, even\\nas Israel was made ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.\\nThere has all along been a kind of mental reference, it\\nwill be seen, in his language, to the singular contrast\\nbetween Moab and Israel, which here in these last words\\ncomes out. Israel, the covenanted people, have had no\\nsuch easy and quiet sort of history. They have been\\nwanderers, in a sense, all the while shaken loose or un-\\nsettled every few years by some great change or adver-\\nsity by a state of slavery in Egypt, by a fifty years\\nroving and fighting in the wilderness, by a time of dread-\\nful anarchy under the Judges, by overthrows and judg-\\nments under the Kings, by a revolt and separation of the\\nkingdom, then by a captivity, then by another and so,\\nwhile Moab, heaved and loosened by no such changes,\\nhas retained the scent of its old customs and abomina-\\ntions, Israel has become quite another people. The calves\\nof Bethel were long ago renounced the low superstitions,\\nthe coarse and sensual habit, all the idolatrous fashions\\nand affinities which corrupted their religion, have been\\ngradually fined away.\\nSimilar contrasts might be instanced among the states\\nand nations of our own time in China, for example, and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0420.jp2"}, "421": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS. 417\\nEngland: one standing motionless for long ages, and be-\\ncoming an eftcete civilization, absolutelv hopeless as re-\\ngards the promise of a regenerated future; the other\\nemptied from vessel to vessel, four times conquered, three\\ntimes deluged with civil war. converted, reformed and re-\\nreformed in religion, and finally emerging, after more\\nthan one change of dynasty, into a state of law, liberty,\\nintelligence, and genuinely Christian manhood, to be one\\nof the foremost and mightiest nations of the world.\\nBut my object is personal, not political or social, and\\nthe principle that underlies the text is one that may be\\nuniversalized in its applications. It is this\\n77 require to be unsettled in life by many changes and\\n.Iversity, in order to le most enectuaTly loos-\\nfrom our own evils, and prepared to the will and work\\nif Q\\nWe need, in other words, to be shaken out of our\\nplaces and plans, agitated, emptied from vessel to vessel,\\nelse the flavors of our grossness and impurity remain.\\nWe can not be refined on our lees, or in any course of\\nlife that is uniformly prosperous and secure. My object\\nwill be to exhibit this truth and bring it into a just appli-\\ncation to our own personal experience. Observe, then\\n1. How God manages, on a large scale, in the common\\nmatters of life, to keep us in a piocess of change and pre-\\nvent our lapsing into a state of security such as we desire.\\nXo sooner do we begin to settle, as we fancy, and become\\nfixed, than some new turn arrives by which we are shaken\\nloose and sorely tossed. When the prophet declares that\\nHe will overturn, overturn, overturn, he gives in that sin-\\ngle word a general account of God s polity in all human", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0421.jp2"}, "422": {"fulltext": "418\\nSP1RITLAL DISLODGEMENTS\\naffairs The world is scarcely turned on its axle more\\ncertainly than it is overturned by the revolutions of Prov-\\nidence. It seems even to be a law, in every sort of busi-\\nness or trade, that nothing shall stand on its lees. Credit\\nis a bubble bursting every hour at some gust of change..\\nWhat we call securities are as well called insecurities.\\nTitles themselves give way, and even real estate becomes\\nunreal under our feet. Nor is it only we ourselves that\\nunsettle the security of things. Nature herself conspires\\nto loosen all our calculations, meeting us with her frosts,\\nher blastings, her droughts, her storms, her fevers, and\\nforbidding us ever to be sure of that for which we labor.\\nMarkets and market prices faithfully represent the un-\\nsteadiness of our objects. We look upon them as v/e\\nmight upon the sea, and it even makes one s head swim,\\nonly to note the fluctuations of all human goods and\\nvalues represented there. Nothing in the world of business\\nis allowed to have a base of calculable certainty. Unfore-\\nseen disasters wait on our plans, in so many forms and com-\\nbinations, that we are sure of nothing, and commonly bring\\nout nothing exactly as we expected to do.\\nThe very scheme of life appears to be itself a grand\\ndecanting process, where change follows change, and all\\nare emptied from vessel to vessel. Here and there a man,\\nlike Moab, stands upon his lees, and commonly with the\\nsame effect. Fire, flood, famine, sickness in all forms and\\nguises, wait upon us, seen or unseen, and we run the\\ngauntlet through them, calling it life. And the design\\nappears to be to turn us hither and thither, allowing us\\nno chance to stagnate in any sort of benefit or security,\\nEven the most successful, who seem, in one view, to go\\nstraight on to their mark, get on after all, rather by a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0422.jp2"}, "423": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLOBGEMENTS. 41S\\ndexterous and continual shifting, so as to keep their bal\\nance and exactly meet the changing conditions that befal]\\nthem. ISTor is there any thing to sentimentalize over in\\nthis ever shifting, overturning process, which must be\\nencountered in all the works of lite no place for sighing\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nvanity of vanities. There is no vanity in it, more tfcuui\\nin the mill that winnows and separates the grain.\\nBut we must hasten to points more immediately relig-\\nious, carrying with us, as we may, a lesson derived from\\nthese analogies. Observe, then\\n2. That the radical evil of human character, as being\\nunder sin, consists in a determination to have our own\\nway, which determination must be somehow reduced and\\nextirpated. Hence the necessity that our experience be\\nso appointed as to shake us loose continually from our\\npurpose, or from all security and rest in it. Sin is but\\nanother name for self-direction. We cast off the will of\\nGod in it, and set up for a way and for objects of our own.\\nWe lay off plans to serve ourselves, and we mean to carry\\nthem straight through to their result. Whatever crosses\\nus, or turns us aside, or in any w r ay forbids us to do or\\nsucceed just as we like, becomes our annoyance. And\\nthese kinds of annoyance arc so many and subtle and va-\\nrious, that the very world seems to be contrived to baffle\\nus. In one view it is. It would not do for us, having\\ncast off the will of God, and set up our own will, to let\\nus get on smoothly and never feel any friction or collision\\nwith the will cast off*. Therefore God manages to turn us\\nabout, beat us back, empty us from vessel to vessel, and\\nmake us feel that our bad will is hedged about, after all,\\nby his Almighty purposes. Sometimes we seem to bend,\\nsometimes to break. Be it one or the other, we lose a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0423.jp2"}, "424": {"fulltext": "420 SPIRITUAL DISLODGEME.NTS.\\npart of our stiffness. By and by, to avoid bre^kingj we\\nconsent to bend, and so at last become more flexible to\\nGod, falling into a mood of letting go, then of consent,\\nthen of contrition. The coarse and bitter flavor of oui\\nself-will is reduced in this manner, and gradually fined\\naway. If we could stand on our lees, in continual peace\\nand serenity, if success were made secure, subject to no\\nchange or surprise, what, on the other hand, should we do\\nmore certainly than stay by our evil mind and take it as\\na matter of course that our will is to be done the very\\nthing above all others of which we most need to be cured.\\nIt would not answer even for the Christian, who has\\nmeant to surrender his will, and really wants to be per-\\nfected in the will of God, to be made safe in his plans\\nand kept in a continual train of successes. He wants a\\nreminder every hour; some defeat, surprise, adversity,\\nperil to be agitated, mortified, beaten out of his courses,\\nso that all remains of self-will in him may be sifted out\\nof him, and the very scent of his old perversity cleared.\\n0, if we could be excused from all these changes and\\nsomersets, and go on securely in our projects, it would\\nruin the best of us. Life needs to be an element of danger\\nand agitation, perilous, changeful, eventful we need to\\nhave our evil will met by the stronger will of God, in\\norder to be kept advised, by our experience, of the impos-\\nsibility of that which our sin has undertaken. It would\\nnot even do for us to be uniformly successful in our best\\nmeant and holiest works, our prayers, our acts of sacrifice,\\nour sacred enjoyments for we should very soon fall back\\ninto the subtle power of our self-will, and begin to imag-\\nine, in our vanity, that we are doing something ourselves.\\nEven here we need to be defeated and baffled, now and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0424.jp2"}, "425": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS. 421\\nthen, that we may be shaken out of our self-reliance and\\nsufficiency, else the taste of our evil habit remains in us\\nand our scent is not changed.\\n3. Consider the fact that our evils are generally hidden\\nfrom us till they are discovered to us by some kind of\\ntrial or adversity. This is less true of vicious and really\\niniquitous men they see every hour with their eyes what\\nis in them, or at least they may, by the acts they dc.\\nTheir profanities, frauds, and lies, their deeds of impurity\\nand violence, all that comes out of them shows them to be\\ndefiled. Not so with a generally correct man, still less\\nso with a genuine, faithful Christian, endeavoring after\\ngreater sanctification and a closer conformity to the will\\nof God. Every such man, living a life outwardly blame-\\nless, and desiring earnestly to grow in all true holiness, is,\\nby the supposition, correct outwardly, and therefore the\\nevils that remain in his spirit are to a great extent latent\\nfrom himself. Sometimes, in a frame of high communion\\nwith God, he imagines that he is much more nearly puri-\\nfied than he is. And when he knows, from his poverty\\nand spiritual dullness, that something is certainly wrong\\nin him, he will have great difficulty in detecting the pre-\\ncise point of his infirmity. It is in him like some scent\\nin the air, the source of which is hidden and can not be\\ntraced. Perhaps he will never definitely trace it so as to\\nhave it as a discovery, and yet God will manage, by the\\ngusts of adversity and change, to winnow it away, even\\nthough it be undiscovered. More commonly, however,\\nevery such turn of adversity will bring out some particu-\\nlar fault in him, which before was hid, and which lie\\ngreatly needed to have discovered, and he will be able to\\nset himself to the very work of purification by a direct\\n36", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0425.jp2"}, "426": {"fulltext": "422 SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS.\\nendeavor. What good man ever fell into a time of deep\\nchastening, who did not find some canning infatuation,\\nby which he was kolden, broken up, and some new dis-\\ncovery made of himself. The veils of pride are rent, the\\nrock of self-opinion is shattered, and he is reduced to a\\npoint of gentleness and tenderness that allows him to\\nsuffer a true conviction concerning what was hidden from\\nhis sight. Nor is any thing so effectual in this way as to\\nmeet some great overthrow that interrupts the whole\\ncourse of life; all the better if it dislodges him even in\\nhis Christian works and appointments. What was I\\ndoing, he now asks, that I must needs be thrown out of\\nmy holiest engagements; for what fault was I brought\\nunder this discipline? He has every motive now to be\\ningenuous, for the hand of Grod is upon him, and what\\nGrod declares to him he is ready to hear. And ah how\\nmany things that weie hidden from him start up now into\\nview How could he be allowed to go on prosperously,\\nwhen there was so much in him and his engagements that\\nrequired rectification, and ought, if it be not removed, to\\nforever exclude him from these engagements. Perhaps\\nhe will be thrown out of them entirely, and turned to\\nsomething else, that he may there discover, in a second\\noverthrow, other evils that are still hidden from his\\nknowledge. 0, it is a great thing with us that our God\\nLs faithful and will not spare to set us in order before our\\nown eyes. If he should let us be as Moab from our youth,\\nthen should we be as Moab in the loss of all valuable im-\\nprovement Better is it, far better that he empties uu\\nabout on this side and on that, and passes us through all\\nsorts of captivities for then we are, at least, learning\\nsomething which is valuable to be known.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0426.jp2"}, "427": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL D1SL0DG-EMENTS. 423\\n4. It is another point of advantage in the changes and\\nsurprises through which we are continually passing, that\\nwe are prepared, in this manner, to the gracious and refin-\\ning work of the spirit in us. When we are allowed to stand\\nstill and are agitated by no changes, we become incrusted,\\nas it were, under our remaining faults or evils and shut up\\nin them, as wine in the vat where it is kept. And the\\nSpirit of God is shut away, in this manner, by the imper-\\nviousness of our settled habit. But when great changes\\nor calamities come, our crust is broken up, and the fresh-\\nening breath of the Spirit fans the open chamber of the\\nsoul, to purify it. Now the prayer, cleanse thou me from\\nsecret faults, finds an answer which before was impossible.\\nProvidence, in this view, is an agitating power to break\\nthe incrustations of evil and let the gales of the Spirit\\nblow where they list in us. Under some great calamity or\\nsorrow, the loss of a child, the visitations of bodily pain,\\na failure in business, the slanders of an enemy, a persecu-\\ntion for the truth or for righteousness sake, how tender\\nand open to God does the soul become Search me,\\nGod, and try me, and see if there be any evil way in me,\\nis now the ingenuous prayer, and the Spirit of God comes\\nin to work the answer, finding every thing ready for an\\neffectual and thorough purgation. And so, by a double\\nprocess, Providence and the Spirit, both in unity, (for God\\nis always one with himself,) we are perfected in holiness\\nand finished in the complete beauty of Christ, We could\\nnever hope to have our secret evils cleared by any process\\nof particular discovery and sanctification, but God s own\\nSpirit can reach every most hidden fault, and all the in*\\nnumerable, undiscoverable vestiges of our depravity, do-\\ning all things for us. And so, at last, even the scent of", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0427.jp2"}, "428": {"fulltext": "424 SPIKITUAL DISLUDGEMENTS.\\nit tv ill be finally changed. These holy ventilations of\\ngrace, it is our comfort to know that nothing can finally\\nescape. A gain\\n5. Too great quiet and security, long continued, aro\\nlikely to allow the reaction or the recovered power of our\\nold sins and must not therefore be suffered. As the wine\\nstanding on its dregs or lees contracts a taste from the lees,\\nand must therefore be decanted or drawn off, so as to have\\nno contact longer with their vile sedimentary matter, so\\nwe, in like manner, need to be separated from every thing\\npertaining to the former life, to be broken up in our ex-\\npectations and loosened from the affinities of our former\\nhabit. In our conversion to God we pass a crisis that,\\nlike fermentation, clears our transparency and makes us\\napparently new we are called new men in Christ Jesus\\nstill the old man is not wholly removed. It settles like\\ndregs at the bottom, so to speak, of our character, where\\nit is, for the present, unseen. One might imagine, for the\\ntime, that it is wholly taken away, and yet it is there, and\\nis only the more likely to infect us that it is not sufficiently\\nmixed with our life to cloud our present transparency.\\nOur sanctification is not to be completed save by separa*\\ntion from it. And therefore God, who is faithful to us,\\ncontinues to sever us, as completely as possible, from all\\nassociation with the old life and condition breaks up our\\nplans, compels a readjustment of our objects, empties us\\nabout from vessel to vessel, that our taste may not remain.\\nOtherwise the hidden sediment of the old man will some-\\ntime flavor and corrupt the new even more than at first.\\nSuppose a man is converted as a politician there is noth\u00c2\u00ab\\ning wrong certainly in being a politician but how subtle\\nis the power of those old habits and affinities in which he", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0428.jp2"}, "429": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISL0DGEME3J TS. 425\\nlived, and how likely are they, if he goes straight on by a\\ncourse of prosperous ambition, to be finally corrupted by\\ntheir subtle reaction. When he is defeated, therefore, a\\nlittle further on, by untoward combinations, and thrown\\nout of all hope in this direction, let him not think it hard\\nthat he is less successful now in the way of Christ, than\\nhe was before in the way of his natural ambition. God\\nunderstands him and is leading him off not unlikely to\\nsome other engagement, that he may get him clear of the\\nsediment on which he stands. In the same way doubtless\\nit is that another is driven out of his business by a failure,\\nanother out of his family expectations by death and be-\\nreavement, another out of his very industry and his living\\nby a loss of health, another out of prayers and expecta-\\ntions that were rooted in presumption, another out of\\nworks of beneficence that associated pride and vanity,\\nanother out of the ministry of Christ where by self-indul-\\ngence, or in some other way, his natural infirmities were\\nrather increased than corrected. There is no engagement\\nhowever sacred from which God will not sometimes sepa-\\nrate us, that he may clear us of our sediment and the re-\\nactions of our hidden evils. Were it not for this, were\\nevery thing in our trade or engagement to go on perfectly\\nsecure and prosperous, how certainly would the old man\\nsteal up i7i it from the bottom where it lies, to corrupt and\\nfoul and fatally vitiate the new. This, our God will not\\nsuffer, and therefore he continues to unsettle us, tear us\\naway from our works, our gains, our plans, our pleasures,\\nour associations, and not seldom even from our recollec-\\ntions, that our change may go on to completion.\\nOnce more, we are most certainly finished, when we are\\nbrought closest to God, and we are never brought so near\\n36*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0429.jp2"}, "430": {"fulltext": "426 SPIRITUAL DISL0DGE1TENTS.\\nto God as when we are most completely separated from o\\\\ir\\npersonal schemes and objects, and from all the works of\\nthe flesh. How tender do we become, when we are loos-\\nened by some great and sore disappointment; even a?\\nIsrael was finally cured of its last vestiges of idolatry by\\nitb bitter captivities. Having nothing left of all our ex-\\npectations, driven out of our places and plans and works,\\nand all that our pride cherished, possibly out of our pray-\\ners themselves, because of the pride so cunningly veiled\\nin their guises of sanctity, what can we do but confess\\nthat God himself is our all, and take Him as the total\\nblessing of our life. How closely now are we drawn to\\nHim, receiving, as it were, a divine flavor from his purity.\\nAnd when he is thus brought nigh, how rapidly are\\nwe changed in all the secret scents and flavors of oui\\ndefilement.\\nAnd now let me suggest as in reference to all these\\nillustrations, how much more they would signify if it were\\na day with us of great public calamity, a day, for example,\\nof religious persecution, a day when fathers or sons are\\nhunted or dragged to prison, or when possibly we our-\\nselves are expecting every hour to be seized and arraigned\\nfor the faith of the gospel and so to be witnesses for it\\neven by the sacrifice on our lives. these times of perse-\\ncution, what Christians do they make How little hold\\nhas this world, or its sins, of men who have laid even their\\nlives upon the altar We complain how often, that in\\nthese days of security and liberty, Christian piety grows\\nthin and feeble, that it loses tone, and appears even to\\nwant a character of reality. The difficulty is that our\\nopinions, our faith, our Christian life, cost us nothing, and\\nthe church slides into the world because there is no broad", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0430.jp2"}, "431": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMEXTS. 427\\npalpable line of suffering and sacrifice to separate the two\\nAnd for just this reason, how many in our time that have\\npractically lost the distinction, are beginning to be chiefly\\noccupied with Christianity, as a gift to this world admir-\\ning it as a civilizer of society and a promoter of what is\\ncalled human progress. How many even seem to expect\\nthat the modern conditions of political liberty and secu-\\nrit y, coalescing with and patronizing the gospel, are going\\nto set it onward, and that henceforth the world must be\\ngrowing into a kind of perfect state, by its own vital\\nforces. Alas, I mistrust this millenium of Moab it will\\nnever be seen. It is not in man, or human society, to be\\npurified, exalted, and finally consummated by any such\\ncomfortable and even process. And there is nothing in\\nour present indications to favor such a hope. These times\\nof security and ease, when rightly viewed, are but the lull\\nof the ocean between storms. It were hard to say that\\ntimes of public fear and persecution are better. God\\nknows what is better and will temper the ages himself.\\nBut alas for poor human nature, what does it show more\\nevidently even now, in this short holiday of peace, than\\nthe inevitable tameness and feebleness of devotion when\\nthe fires of great public adversity are smothered. Or if\\nwe seek to dress up still our giants and heroes in the faith,\\nbow shadowy and meagre do they look. And what can\\nwe rationally promise, but that our condition of ease and\\nhumanitarianism must finally run itself into the ground,\\npreparing some terrible reaction, some war of Gog and\\nMagog that shall empty the church from vessel to vessel,\\nleaving her again, as of old, nothing to hope for and look\\nafter on earth, but that she may win a better world in the\\nsacrifice and loss of this.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0431.jp2"}, "432": {"fulltext": "428 SPIKITUAL DISLODGEMENTS.\\nThe applications of this subject are many and various.\\nFirst of all, it brings a lesson of admonition to the class\\nof worldly men who are continually prospered in the\\nthings of this life. One may be continually prospered in\\nsome things when he is not in all. He may be uniformly\\nsuccessful in his business engagements and enterprises, foi\\nexample, when, in fact, he is tossed by many and sore dis-\\nappointments, and shaken by intense agonies of heart.\\nAnd, by these, he may be kept in that airing of right con-\\nviction, which is needed to winnow his bad tempers, and\\nsober his confidence. Far otherwise will it be with you,\\nif you prosper in every thing and are agitated by no kind\\nof adversity. This is the blessing of Moab, and the dan-\\nger is that, standing thus upon the lees from your youth,\\ndisturbed by no crosses, unsettled by no changes, you will\\nfinally become so fast-rooted in pride and forgetfulness of\\nGod as to miss every thing most dear in existence. Noth-\\ning could be more perilous for you than just that which\\nyou deem your happiness. Nor is any word of God more\\npointedly serious than this Because they have no changes,\\ntherefore they fear not God. I commend it to your deep-\\nest and most thoughtful attention.\\nOthers, again, have been visited by many and great ad-\\nversities, emptied about from vessel to vessel all their lives\\nlong, still wondering what it means, while still they adhere\\nto their sins. There is, alas no harder kind of life than\\nthis, a life of continual discipline that really teaches noth-\\ning. Is it so with you, or is it not Scorched by all man-\\nner of adversities, are you still unpurifiecl by the fires you\\nhave passed through? Defeated, crossed, crushed, beateii\\nout of every plan, baffled in every project, shut away from\\nevery aspiration, blasted in every object your soul has em-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0432.jp2"}, "433": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMEKTS, 429\\nbraced, are you still unprofited? I have known such ex-\\namples, fig trees that God lias dug about every year, and\\nthat still remain as barren as if no hand of care had\\ntouched them Is there any thing more strange, in all\\nthe subjects of knowledge, than that a man, an intelligent\\nbeing, should be nowise instructed by the sufferings of a\\nlife? separated in no degree from the world and self and\\nfehe scent of his manifold evils, by that which God has sent\\nupon him to correct his understanding, and purify his love,\\nand fashion him even for the angelic glory? So he plods\\non still, contriving, and failing, and groping with his face\\ndownward, and hoping against hope, and wondering that\\nthe earth will not consent to bless him. 0, poor, weather-\\nworn, defeated, yet unprofited man, he can not see when\\ngood cometh There is no class of beings more to be\\npitied than defeated men who have gotten nothing out of\\ntheir defeat but that dry sorrow of the world which makes\\nit only more barren, and therefore more insupportable.\\nIs it necessary, in the review of this subject, to remind\\nany genuine Christian what benefits he ought to receive in\\nthe trials and changes through which he is called to pass?\\nHow many are there who are finally driven out of every\\nplan they have laid for their course of life. Their fami-\\nlies are dissolved and reconstructed. Their location is dis-\\nlodged. Their business ends in defeat. Xo kind of settle-\\nment is attempted which is not broken up by some kind of\\nchange or adversity. And even where there is a measure\\nof prosperity, how many are the changes, losses, trials, sur-\\nprises, and pains. Do you find, my brother, that, when\\nyou are thus emptied about, dislodged, agitated, loosen ec^\\nyou are purified Or, does the bad flavor of your worldly\\nhabits, the scent of your old ambition, or your earthly", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0433.jp2"}, "434": {"fulltext": "4:30 SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS.\\npride, remain. There could not be a worse sign for you\\nas regards the reality of your christian confidence. And\\nit will be a worse sign still, if you are habitually irritated\\nby your defeats, and even dare to murmur impatiently\\nagainst the strange severity of God, as if it were a strange\\nthing for you that your faithful God will try to bring you\\noff the lees on which you stand! A far more strange\\nthing is it that, having no great persecutions to suffer for\\nChrist, you can not find how, as a follower, to endure these\\ncommon trials, God forbid that you so little understand\\nyour privilege in them. Eeceive them meekly rather, and\\nbow down to them gladly. Bid them welcome when they\\ncome, and, if they come not, ask for them lift up youi\\ncry unto God, and beseech him that by any means he will\\ncorrect you, and purify you, and separate you to himself.\\nBut there is a use of this subject that has many times\\noccurred to you already, and to this, in conclusion, let us\\nnow come* By the visitation of God upon us, upon you,\\nthat is, and upon me, the tenure and security of oui rela-\\ntion as pastor and people has been interrupted now for two\\nwhole years. Whether it was God s design, by this inter-\\nruption, to refine us and purify us to a better use of this\\nrelation, or to bring it to a full end, remains now to be seen.\\nThe former is my earnest hope and my constant prayer-\\nWas there nothing in us, on one side or on both, that re-\\nquired this discipline and made it even necessary for us\\nIs there no reason to suspect that, in our state of confi-\\ndence and security, we were beginning to look for tho\\nblessing of Moab and not for the blessing of Israel? For\\n\u00e2\u0099\u00a6This discourse was so far colored, as a whole, by the peculiar interest\\nof the occasion referred to here in the close, that retaining the occasional\\nmatter appears to be required.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0434.jp2"}, "435": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS 431\\nmyself, I feel constrained to admit that I had come to re-\\ngard my continuance here too much as a matter of course^\\nan appointment subject to no repeal or change. I had\\nlearned to trust you implicitly as my friends, and knew\\nthat you could never be less. I had let my roots run out\\nand downward among you, in a growth of nearly a quarter\\nof a century. There was stealing on me thus, as I now\\ndiscover, a feeling of security and establishment, which is\\nnot good for any sinful man, and will not let him be the\\npilgrim on earth that he ought. Under the semblance of\\nduty and constancy, I had undertaken to die here and no-\\nwhere else, knowing no other people, place, or work. And\\nunder this fair cover crept a little foolish pride, it may be.\\nthat really needed chastisement. As if it were for me to\\nsay where I would stay or die Just here, unwittingly,\\nmy imagined constancy became presumption. Further-\\nmore, I had always been too much like Moab, as I now\\nsee, and bitterly needed some kind of captivity more real,\\nsome change more crippling, than the trivial adversities I\\nhad heretofore tossed aside so lightly.\\nMeantime, was there nothing on your part, or in you\\nthat required a similar discipline? Having seen your\\nchurch almost uniformly prosperous for a long course of\\nyears, and growing steadily up from a feeble and small one,\\nto a condition of strength, were there not many of you that\\nwere losing a righteous concern for it, and beginning to\\nleave it practically to me, as if I could take care of it?\\nceasing in that manner from their trust in God, by which\\nthey had before upheld me, and from those personal re-\\nsponsibilities for it, which are the necessary condition of\\nall earnestness in the christian life I should do wrong\\nnot to say that I have, many times, been so far oppressed", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0435.jp2"}, "436": {"fulltext": "1-32 SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMENTS.\\nby this conviction, as to doubt whether it might not even\\nbe better for you, if I were entirely taken out of the way.\\nYou have been subjected to some uncommon trials on my\\naccount. Have you never slid from the christian constancy\\nand patience in which you stood, into a temper of mere self-\\nreliance, as if by some human sufficiency you had been able\\nto stand unbroken Were you touched by no subtle pride,\\nwere you betrayed into no undue self-confidence, were you\\nslid unwittingly into no trust in a worm thai you mis-\\ntook for trust in God? Ah, if you had been cut down as a\\nchurch by adversity, crippled, weakened, emptied from\\nvessel to vessel, brought into captivity as regards all hope\\nfrom man, how much might it have done for you. It is\\nthe blessing of Moab, as I greatly fear, that has injured\\nyou, and, as God is faithful, he would not let you suffer\\nin this manner longer. And so, both for my sake and for\\nyours, he has brought this heavy trial or adversity upon\\nus. By this he takes us off our lees, and his design has\\nbeen to ventilate us by the separation we have suffered.\\nHe means to purify us, to take away all our self-confidence,\\nand our trust in each other, and bring us into implicit,\\nhumble trust in himself.\\nAnd the work he has begun, I firmly believe that he\\nwill prosecute till his object is gained. If two years of\\nReparation will not bring us to our places and correct our\\ncin, he will go further. He will finally command us apart\\nand tear us loose from all our common ties and expecta-\\ntions. For myself, I am anxious to learn the lesson he is\\nteaching, and I pray God that a similar purpose may enter\\ninto you. Let not this happy return, which God has vouch-\\nsafed me, and the congratulations of the occasion, drive\\naway all the sober and searching truths God was trying to", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0436.jp2"}, "437": {"fulltext": "SPIRITUAL DISLODGEMEXTS. 433\\nenter into our hearts. Be jealous of any such lightness.\\nAs you rejoice with me and give thanks unto God for his\\nundeserved goodness, consent with me to God s corrections\\nalso, and join me in the prayer that other and heavier cor-\\nrections may not be made necessary, by the want of all\\nfruit in these. For be assured that, as you are Israel and\\nnot Moab, God will deal with you as he deals with Israel,\\nand will not spare till your purification is accomplished.\\nLet us go to him as penitents, in our common sorrow, and\\nmake our common confession before him, determined, ever 7\\none, that he will turn himself to God s correcting hand,\\nand follow it. And as thou hast smitten us, 0, Lord, do\\nthou heal us; as thou hast broken, do thou bind us up;\\nthat we may be established in holiness before thee, and\\nwalk humbly and carefully in thy sight, as they whom the\\nLord hath chastened\\n37", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0437.jp2"}, "438": {"fulltext": "XXIII\\nCHRIST AS SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD.\\nHebrews vii. 26. Separate from sinners, and made\\nhigher than the heavens\\nWith us of to-day, it is the commendation of Jesus\\nthat lie is so profoundly humbled, identified so affectingly\\nwith our human state. But the power he had with the\\nmen of his time moved in exactly the opposite direction,\\nbeing the impression he made of his remoteness and sepa-\\nrateness from men, when he was, in fact, only a man, as\\nthey supposed, under all human conditions. With us, it\\nis the wonder that he is brought so low. With them, that\\nhe could seem to rise so high for they knew nothing, as\\nyet, of his person considered as the incarnate Word of the\\nFather. This contrast, however, between their position\\nand ours is not as complete as may, at first, seem to us\\nfor that which makes their impression, makes, after all, a\\ngood part of ours. For when we appeal thus to his hu-\\nmiliations under the flesh, and as a man of sorrows, we\\nreally do not count on the flesh and the sorrows, as being\\nthe Christly power, but only on what he brought into\\nthe world from above the world, by the flesh and the sor-\\nrows, the holiness, the deific love, the self-sacrificing\\ngreatness, the everlasting beauty in a word, all that most\\ndistinguishes him above mankind and shows him most\\ntranscendently separate from sinners. Here is the great\\npower of Christianity the immense importation it makes", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0438.jp2"}, "439": {"fulltext": "CHRIST AS SEPARATE, ETC. 435\\nfrom worlds of glory outside. Hence the intimation of\\nthe text, that it became our Lord, as the priest of our sal-\\nvation, to be not only holy, harmless, and undefiled, but\\nseparate also from sinners, and made higher than the\\nheavens that so he may be duly qualified for his trans-\\ncendent work and office.\\nWhat I propose, then, for my present subject, is, The\\nseparateness of Jesus from men; the immense power it had\\nand mast ever have on their feeling and character.\\nI do not mean by this that Christ was separated as\\nbeing at all withdrawn, but only that in drawing himself\\nmost closely to them, he was felt by them never as being\\non their level of life and character, but as being parted\\nfrom them by an immense chasm of distance. He was\\nborn of a woman, grew up in the trade of a mechanic,\\nwas known as a Xazarene, stood a man before the eye,\\nand yet he early began to raise impressions that separated\\nhim, and set him asunder inexplicably from the world he\\nw r as in.\\nThese impressions were not due, as I have said, to any\\ndistinct conceptions they had of him as being a higher\\nnature incarnate for not even his disciples took up any\\nsuch definite conceptions of his nature, till after his death\\nand ascension. It was guessed, indued, that he might be\\nElias, or some one of the old prophets, but we are only\\nto see, in such struggles of conjecture, how powerfully\\nhe has already impressed the sense of his distinction, or\\nseparateness of character; for such guesses or conjectures\\nwere even absurd, unless the^y were instigated by previous\\nimpressions of something very peculiar in his unearthly\\nmanner, requiring to be accounted for.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0439.jp2"}, "440": {"fulltext": "436 CHRIST AS SEPARATE.\\nHis miracles had undoubtedly something to do with the\\nimpression of his separateness from ordinary men, but a\\ngreat many others, who were strictly human, have\\nwrought miracles, without creating any such gulf be-\\ntween them and mankind as we discover here.\\nIt is probably true also that the rumor of his being the\\nMessiah, the great, long-expected prince and deliverer,\\nhad something to do in raising the impressions of men\\nconcerning him. But their views of the Messiah to come\\nhad prepared them to look only for some great hero and\\ndeliverer, and a kind of political millenium under his\\nkingdom. There was nothing in their expectation that\\nshould separate him specially from mankind, as being a\\nmore than humanly superlative character.\\nPursuing then our inquiry, let us notice, in the first\\nplace, how the persons most remote and opposite, even\\nthey that finally conspired his death, were impressed or\\naffected by him. They deny his Messiahship; they\\ncharge that only Beelzebub could help him do his mira-\\ncles they are scandalized by his familiarity with publi-\\ncans and sinners and other low people they arraign his\\ndoctrine as a heresy against many of the most sacred laws\\nof their religion they charge him with the crime of\\nbreaking their Sabbath, and even with excess in eating\\nand drinking; and yet we can easily see that there is\\ngrowing up, in their minds, a most peculiar awe of his\\nperson. And it appears to be excited more by his man-\\nners and doctrine and a certain indescribable originality\\nand sanctity in both, than by any thing else. His towns-\\nman the Nazarenes, for example, were taken with sur-\\nprise, by his discourses in the synagogue and elsewhere.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0440.jp2"}, "441": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 437\\nknowing well that lie had never received the aids of\\nlearning. Is not this the carpenter s son? they inquired.\\nDo we not all know his brothers and sisters, living here\\namong us Whence then these gracious words that we\\nhear him speak? When his wonderful sermon on the\\nmount was ended, what said the multitude? The very\\npoint of their astonishment was that he spoke with such\\nan original and strong authority, and not as the Scribes\\nwho were, in fact, the Sophists of Jewish learning, but\\nwere held in high respect as a learned order. The ex-\\npressions made use of by these hearers of Jesus indicate,\\nin fact, a raising of their own thoughts by what they had\\nheard, and the sense they had of some sacred and even\\ncelestial freshness in his manner and doctrine. Without\\nincluding the centurion at Capernaum among his enemies,\\nwe may gather something from him, in respect to the\\nprobable impression made by the bearing and discourse\\nof Jesus. He was a Roman, but appears withal to have\\nbeen a man of religious worth and culture. He had even\\nbuilt a synagogue for the people of Capernaum, at his\\nown expense. In that synagogue he had probably been re-\\nwarded in hearing Jesus speak for the Saviour had been\\nmaking Capernaum a kind of center for some time past.\\nBut we observe that when he sends to Jesus to obtain the\\nhealing of his servant, he has been so deeply impressed\\nwith the Saviour s manner, that he does not presume\\non his military position as keeping guard over a van-\\nquished country, takes on no high airs of negotiation,\\nbut even requests that Jesus will not think it neces-\\nsary to come under his roof, for he is really not wor-\\nthy of so great honor. He may have apprehended that\\nChrist might have some religious scruples in lespect", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0441.jp2"}, "442": {"fulltext": "438 CHEIST AS SEPAKATE\\nto the implied defilement of such intercourse with a nom-\\ninal pagan. If so, there was the greater icspect in his\\ndelicacy.\\nBeginning with impressions like these, we can easily see\\nthat the public mind is gradually becoming saturated with\\na kind of awe of his person as if he might be some higher,\\nfiner nature come into the world. This was the feeling\\nthat shook the courage of the traders and money-changers\\nin the temple and made them fly, in such feeble panic be-\\nfore him. For the same reason it was that a band of ofli-\\ncers sent out at an early period, to arrest him, returned\\nwithout having executed their commission for, they said,\\nNever man spake like this man. Such words of clearness\\nand repose and purity fell on them, as excited their imagin-\\nation, starting the conception apparently of one speaking\\nout of eternity and worlds unknown. He put them un-\\nder such constraints of fear, in short, by his words and man-\\nner, that they did not dare to arrest him. And just this\\nkind of feeling grew upon the people, as his ministry\\nadvanced, till it became a superstition general for it is the\\nway of minds infected by any such tendencies, to make\\nghosts of the fancy out of mere impressions of superior\\ndignity, and even goodness. Hence, so far from suppos-\\ning that he could be captured as safely as a lamb, and with\\nless of resistance, they appear to have had a kind of sus-\\npicion that he would strike blind, or annihilate the first\\nman that touched him. Indeed one reason why they\\nwanted to get him in their power, apparently was, that he\\nwas reported to have given out his determination to shake\\ndown the temple, and they were even much concerned\\nlest he might do it. Hence the problem with them was,\\nnot how to arrest any common man, or sinner of man-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0442.jp2"}, "443": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 439\\nkind, but a superior, mysterious, fearful one, and there\\nwanted, as they imagined, some kind of magic to do it.\\nThey took up thus an impression, that if they could sub-\\norn one of his followers, it would break the spell of his\\npower and they could proceed safely. They bought off\\nJudas accordingly, and he was to conduct them not that\\nthey could not otherwise find the Saviour, not that Judas\\ncould do any thing physically in the matter of the arrest,\\nwhich they could not do themselves but they seem to\\nhave imagined that if Judas would bring them directly\\nbefore him, and speak to him, it would assure them, and\\nbe a kind of token to him that his power was broken\\nfor they believed greatly in spells and other such conceits\\nof the fancy. And yet when they came upon him a\\nlarge band of marshals and assistants with torches and\\nlanterns and all strong arms of defense they w T ere smit-\\nten with such dread at the thought of being actually be-\\nfore him, that they even reeled backward and fell to the\\nground! He was such a being, in their apprehension, that\\ntheir chances of living another minute were doubtful\\nIt is easy also to see that Pilate, even after his arrest, is\\nprofoundly impressed with the sense of something supe-\\nrior, more wise, or holy, or sacred, than he had seen be-\\nfore. The dignity of Christ s answer, and also of his\\nmanner had awakened visibly a kind of awe in his mind.\\nIt was as if he had undertaken to question a king in-\\ndeed one superior in all majesty to himself. Unaccounta-\\nbly to himself he grows superstitious, as if dealing with\\nsome divinity, he knows not who, and he can not so much\\nas give his mere negative sentence of permission, pagan\\nthough he be, without washing his hands as religiously as\\nif he were some Pharisee, to be clear of the guilt of the", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0443.jp2"}, "444": {"fulltext": "440 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\ntransaction. The centurion too, that kept guard by the\\ncross, another Roman, is so affected, or impressed by the\\nmajestic manner of Jesus in his death, that he bears sponta-\\nneous witness, out of his own feeling, probably in words\\nwhich he had heard, but only dimly understood as having\\nsome very mysterious and high meaning, Truly this was\\nthe Son of God!\\nIf now it should be objected here that the enemies of\\nJesus would never have dared to insult his person so bru-\\ntally in his trial and crucifixion, if they had been really\\nimpressed, as we are supposing, with the wonderful sacred-\\nness and separateness of his character, it is enough to an-\\nswer that exactly this is the manner of cowardice. Only\\nyesterday these same men were in such awe of him that\\nthey trembled inwardly at the sound of his name and\\nnow that they find him strangely in their power, submit-\\nting to them in the meekness of a lamb, they grow brave,\\npleased to find that they can be and to make it sure, they\\nmultiply their blows and other indignities, in a manner of\\nlow and really ignominious triumph over him. But how\\nsoon does the true shame and bitterness of their sin return\\nupon them. For when they saw the funeral weeds of\\nnature s sorrow hung over the sun, and felt the shuddering\\nague of the world, their spirit fell again. And all the\\npeople, says Luke, that came together to that sight, be-\\nholding the things that were done, smote their breasts and\\nreturned.\\nTurn now, secondly, to the disciples, and observe how\\nthey were impressed or affected by the manner and spirit\\nof Jesus. And here the remarkable thing is, that the}\\nappear to be more and more impressed with the distance", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0444.jp2"}, "445": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 441\\nbetween him and themselves, the longer ihey know him\\nand the more intimate and familiar their acquaintance with\\nhim. He took possession of them strangely even at the\\nvery first, much as you will see in the case of Matthew the\\npublican. The man is sitting at the receipt of custom,\\nand Christ, who is passing by, says to him Come, follow\\nnie. That word has a mvsterv in it, which can not be\\nwithstood he forsakes all and follows at command. At\\nfirst, however, the impression had of Jesus is more shallow\\nin all the disciples. It fared with them much as with the\\nwoman at the well, who took him first, for a common\\ntraveler, then for a prophet, and finally as the great Mes-\\nsiah, having only the faintest conception of him probably\\neven then. But they grew more and more impressed with\\nhis greatness, and the strangeness of his quality for there\\nwas so much in his authority, purity, love, wisdom, that\\nthey could only spell him out by syllables.\\nThus we may take Peter as an example for all the oth-\\ners for, in the surname, Peter, that was early given him\\nby his Master, and also by the promipo that on him, as the\\nrock of its foundation, the church wa\u00c2\u00a3 to be built, every\\nthing w r as done to keep him assured and help him to\\nmaintain a footing of confidence. How then was it, as he\\ncame into closer acquaintance with his Master? At the\\nfirst, when his brother Andrew conducted him to Jesus,\\nhe felt much as his brother did the day before, when he\\nand his friend, having heard John s remarkable apostro-\\nphe Behold the Lamb of God accosted him freely, put\\nthemselves, as it were, upon him and spent, if we may\\njudge, whole hours in their priv?^ questioning. Peter s\\nexclamation, shortly after, at thf r.Iraculous draught of\\nfishes, Depart from me Lord t or I am a sinful man,", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0445.jp2"}, "446": {"fulltext": "44:2 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\nmight seem to indicate a very wide sense of distance al-\\nready felt between him and Christ but it rather signifies\\nafter all the violence of his wonder at the miracle, than\\nany deep moral sense of the dignity, purity, and superioi\\nmajesty of Christ. Accordingly it will be seen, sometime\\nafter this, that he is bold enough to take the Saviour to\\naccount and rebuke him, with a degree of emphasis not a\\nlittle offensive, for the conceit of it. At the washing of\\nthe disciples feet he breaks out again less boldly, but as\\nsoon as he finds that he is in a mistake, recalls his strong\\nasseveration, saying in the gentlest manner, not my feet\\nonly, but my hands and my head. Then again, at the\\nscene of the table, where the revelation is One of you\\nshall betray me, he has been so far removed, sunk so low,\\nby the wonderful discourses of Jesus to which he has\\nbeen listening, that he does not even dare to accost his\\nMaster with a question spoken aloud, but beckons to\\nJohn to whisper it for him, as he lies reclining on the\\nSaviour s breast. Then, once more, after having openly\\ndenied him and foresworn all connection with him,\\nseeing that he is now stripped of his power, and his\\nvery Messiahship is a virtually exploded hope, Peter is\\nnevertheless under such an habitual awe of his person,\\nthat the simply catching a look of his eye, as he goes out\\nof the hall of Caiaphas, and seeing it turned full upon\\nhim, breaks him quite down, and even overwhelms him\\nWith sorrow. He was in the most unlikely mood for it\\npossible fresh in the wrong, flushed by the very oaths\\nhe has taken, all in a tremor, unstrung for any considera-\\ntion of truth by the inward disturbance of his falsity, and\\nyet he is riven by that mere look of Jesus, as if it were\\na glance of the Almighty.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0446.jp2"}, "447": {"fulltext": "FKOM THE WORLD. 448\\nThe same thing could be shown by other examples,\\nbut it must suffice to say that, while the miracles of\\nChrist do not increase in grandeur with the advance of\\nhis ministry, his disciples are visibly growing all the while\\nmore and more impressed with the sense of distance be-\\ntween him and themselves, and of some unknown, trans-\\ncendent mystery, by which he is separated, as another kind\\nof being, from the world he is in. This, in part, is theii\\nblessing; for, as they are humbled in it, so they are raised\\nby it, feel the birth of new affinities, rise to higher thoughts,\\nand are wakened to a conscious struggle after God.\\nWhat now, thirdly, is the solution of this profound im-\\npression of separateness, made by Christ on the world?\\nThat his miracles and the repute of his Messiahship do not\\nwholly account for it we have already observed. It may\\nbe imagined by some that he produced this impression\\nartificially by means of certain scenes and observances\\ndesigned to widen out the distance between him and the\\nrace for, how could he otherwise obtain that power over\\nthem which he was properly entitled to have, by his own\\nreal eminence, unless he took some pains to set them in\\nattitudes in which his eminence might be felt. In other\\nwords, if he is to have more than a man s power, he must\\nsomehow be more than a man. Thus, when he says to his\\nmother, Woman, what have I to do with thee, my hour\\nis not yet come? or when, being notified that his mother\\nand brethren are standing without waiting to see him, he\\nasks, Who then is my mother and who are my brethren\\nit will be imagined that he is purposely suggesting his\\nhigher derivation and his more transcendent affinities.\\nBut, even if it were so, it must be understood only that he", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0447.jp2"}, "448": {"fulltext": "444 CHRIS! AS SEPARATE\\nis speaking out of his spiritual consciousness, claiming\\nthus affinity with God and with those who shall embrace\\nhim in the eternal brotherhood of faith; not as boasting\\nthe hight of his natural sonship.\\nSo, again, in the scene of the baptism and the vision\\nof the dove descending upon him, introduced by the very\\nstrange outburst of prophetic utterance in John, when he\\nsees the Saviour coming, Behold the Lamb of God, that\\ntaketh away the sins of the world! it may be imagined\\nthat the design is to usher him into his ministry as a su-\\nperior being. But what, in that view, shall we say of the\\ngreat soul-struggle previous, called the temptation? It is\\nnot to be denied that the scene of the baptism connects\\nimpressions of some very exalted quality in the subject,\\nand yet, if we bring in the temptation, and regard the\\ntransaction as a solemn inaugural of Christ s great minis-\\ntry, Grod s act of separation, his own act of assumption\\nhere passed, there is nothing in it to set him off distinctly\\nfrom men, save as he is set off by his character and his\\nconsecration to his work. Indeed, no one took up the im-\\npression from this inaugural scene that he was a being\\nabove the human order.\\nOn a certain occasion he is transfigured, and Moses and\\nEHas appear as only secondary figures in the scene by\\nwhich it may be designed, some will fancy, to widen out\\nthe chasm between himself and men, showing himself to\\nbe the compeer and more, even the Lord of angels and\\nglorified spirits. This may have been the design, or rather\\nit probably was at least, so far as to have that effect on\\nthe future ages for it was important, we may believe, to\\nright impressions of his person, in the coming time, that\\nhis excellent glory should some time have been discovered", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0448.jp2"}, "449": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WOELD 445\\nor uncovered to men, and the facts reported as historical\\nproofs of his divinity. But it does not appear that the\\nthree, by whom the transfiguration was seen and reported\\never disclosed the fact during the Saviour s life-time and\\nit is remarkable that one of these, even after the fact, had\\nsuch confidence and assurance toward his dear Lord, that\\nhe even dared to lay Ids head on that once transfigured\\nbreast In which it is made clear that, however much wo\\nmay imagine Christ to have been lifted in order by the\\nscene of the transfiguration, he still remained a properly\\nfellow nature, even to one who was present as a beholder;\\nwho felt, in his deepest center, the separateness of Christ, and\\nthe transcendent mystery of his character, but does not\\nappear to have been at all removed, or thrown out of con-\\nfidence by the sacred awe in which he saw him invested.\\nHe could never have laid his head on the bosom of a per-\\nson regarded as being really deific.\\nBut what shall we say of the really astounding assump-\\ntions put forth by Christ Were they not designed as\\ndeclarations, or assertions of a superhuman order in his\\nnatural person When he asks, Who convinceth me of\\nsin when he declares, Ye are from beneath, I am from\\nabove, I am the bread that cometh down from heaven\\nwhen he dares to use the pronoun we, as relating to him-\\nself and the Father, We will come unto him, and make\\nour abode with him when he speaks of the glory he had\\nwith the Father before the world was when he engages,\\nhimself, to send down the Holy Spirit after his ascension,\\nI will send you another comforter when he claims to be\\nthe judge of the world, and speaks of holding the world s\\nthrone nay, when, to give his most ordinary and familiar\\nmode of doctrine, he says, I am the way, the truth, and\\n38", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0449.jp2"}, "450": {"fulltext": "446 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\nthe life no man cometli unto the Father but by me it is\\nmost certainly true, that he is challenging, in all such\\nutterances, honors and prerogatives that are not human.\\nAt the same time, if he had not before separated himself\\nheaven-wide from men, by his character, and produced, in\\nthat manner, a sense of some wonderful mystery in him,\\nhe would have been utterly scouted and hooted out of the\\nworld for his preposterous assumptions. These very as-\\nsumptions, therefore, presuppose a separation already real-\\nized, even more remarkable than that which is claimed, or\\nasserted. Indeed, the minds of his disciples were so much\\noccupied with the impressions they felt, under the realities\\nof his character, that they scarcely attended to the strange\\nassumptions of his words, and did not even seem to have\\ntaken their meaning till after his death.\\nThe remarkable separation, therefore, of Christ from the\\nsinners of mankind, and the impression he awakened m\\nthem of that separation, was made, not by scenes, nor by\\nwords of assertion, nor by any thing designed for that\\npurpose, but it grew out of his life and character, his un-\\nworldliness, holiness, purity, truth, love the dignity of his\\nfeeling, the transcendent wisdom and grace of his conduct.\\nHe was manifestly one that stood apart from the world, in\\nhis profoundest human sympathy with it. He often spent\\nhis nights in solitary prayer, closeted with God in the re-\\ncesses of the mountains. He was plainly not under the\\nworld, or any fashions of human opinion. He was able\\nto be singular, without apparently desiring it, and by the\\ngimple force of his superiority. Conventionalities had no\\npower over him, learning no authority with him. He bor-\\nrowed nothing from men. His very thoughts appeared to\\nbe coined in the mint of some wisdom higher than human.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0450.jp2"}, "451": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 447\\nThere was also this distinction in all his virtues, that they\\ndid not open, like those of men at the larger end, growing\\nless and less, the further in they might be penetrated but\\nat the smaller, as if no strain, or ostentation were possible,\\ngrowing larger therefore, and wider, and fuller, the more\\nconversant and the more familiar with them any one might\\nbe. His whole ministry, therefore; was a kind of discovery\\nand so a process of separation. The purity of his life\\ngrew tall the truth of his doctrine more than mortal, or\\nthat of any mortal prophet his love itself deific and so\\nthis is the grandeur and glory of his life, he rose up out\\nof humanity or the human level into deity and the sepa-\\nrate order of uncreated life, by the mere force of his man-\\nner and character, and achieved, as man, the sense of a di-\\nvine excellence, before his personal order as the Son of\\nGod was conceived. And so it finally became established\\nin men s feeling, as it stood in his last prayer, that there\\nwas some inexplicable oneness, where his inmost life and\\nspirit merged in the divine and became identical. His\\nhuman fire had already mingled its blaze with the great\\ncentral sun of deity.\\nAccordingly what we see in his resurrection and ascen-\\nsion, and the scenes of intercourse between, is only a kind\\nof final consummation, or complete rendering of what was\\nalready in men s hearts. There it begins to come out thai\\nhe is the King, even the Lord of Glory. Death can not\\nhold him. The earth can not fasten him. The parting\\nclouds receive him and let him through to his throne, not\\nmore truly but only more visibly separate than before, in\\nthat he is made higher than the heavens.\\nHow great a thing now is it, my hearers, that such a", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0451.jp2"}, "452": {"fulltext": "448 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\nbeing lias come into our world and lived in it, a being\\nabove mortality while in it a being separate from sinners,\\nbringing unto sinners, by a fellow nature, what is trans-\\ncendent and even deific in the divine holiness and love.\\nYes, we have had a visitor among us, living out, in the\\nmolds of human conduct and feeling, the perfections of\\nGod What an importation of glory and truth! Who,\\nthat lives, a man, can ever after this think it a low and\\ncommon thing to fill these spheres, walk in these ranges\\nof life, and do these works of duty, which have been\\nraised so high, by the life of Jesus in the flesh! The\\nworld is no more the same that it was. All its main ideas\\nand ideals are raised. A kind of sacred glory invests\\neven our humblest spheres and most common concerns.\\nConsider, again, as one of the points deducible from the\\ntruth we have been considering, how little reason is given\\nus, in the mission of Christ, for the hope that God, who haa\\nsuch love to man, will not allow us to fail of salvation, by\\nreason of any mere defect, or neglect, of application to\\nChrist. What then does this peculiar separateness of\\nChrist signify? Coming into the world to save it, taking\\non him our nature that he may draw himself as close to\\nus as possible, what is growing all the while to be more\\nand more felt in men s bosoms, but a sense of ever- widen-\\ning, ever-deepening, and, in some sense, incommunicable\\nseparateness from him? And this, you will observe, is the\\nseparateness, not of condition, but of character. Nay, it\\ngrows out of his very love to us in part, and his profound\\noneness with us for it is a love so pure and gentle, so\\npatient, so disinterested, so self-sacrificing, that it parts\\nhim from us, in the very act of embrace, and makes \\\\\\\\s", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0452.jp2"}, "453": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 449\\nthink of him even with awe How then will it be, when\\nhe is met in the condition of his glory, and the guise of his\\nhumanity is laid off? There is nothing then to put him at\\none with us, or us at one with him, but just that incom-\\nmunicable and separate character which fills us even here\\nwith dread. If then your very Saviour grows more and\\nmore separated from you, in all your impressions, the more\\nyou see of him, how will it be, when you drop the flesh\\nand go to meet him, invested only in your proper character\\nof sin? If before you thought of him with awe, and even\\nwith a holy dread, how little confidence will be left you\\nthere, when you see him in the fullness of his glory, even\\nthat which he had with the Father before the world was.\\nIf he was separate before, how inevitably, insupportably\\nseparate now.\\nConsider also and accurately distinguish, as here we\\nmay easily do, what is meant by holiness, and what espe-\\ncially is its power, or the law of its power. Holiness is\\nnot what we may do or become, in mere self-activity 01\\nself-culture, but it is the sense of a separated quality, in\\none who lives on a footing of intimacy and oneness with\\nGod. The original word, represented by our word holi-\\nness means separation, or scparateness the character of\\nbeing drawn apart, or exalted, by being consecrated to God\\nand filled with inspiration from God. It supposes noth-\\ning unsocial, withdraws no one from those living s}mipa-\\nthies that gladden human life. On the contrary, it quick-\\nens all most gentle and loving affinities and brings the\\nsubject just as much closer in feeling to his fellow-man, as\\nhe is. closer to God, and less centralized in himself. But\\nit changes the look or expression, raising, in that man-\\n38*", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0453.jp2"}, "454": {"fulltext": "450 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\nner, the apparent grade of the subject and separating him\\nfrom whatever is of the world, or under the spirit of the\\nworld. He is not simply a man as before, but he is more,\\na man exalted, hallowed, glorified. The divine tempera\\nare in him, the power of the world is fallen off, his words\\nhave a different accent, his acts an air of repose, dignity,\\nsanctity, and the result is that mankind feel him as one\\nsomehow become superior. It stirs their conscience to\\nspeak with him, it puts them under impressions that are\\nconsciously not of man alone. This is holiness the con-\\ndition of a man, when he is separated visibly from the\\nworld and raised above it, by a divine participation. It\\nis, in fact, the greatest power ever exerted by man, being\\nnot the power of man, but only of God himself manifested\\nin him.\\nBut the great and principal lesson derivable from this\\nsubject is, that Christianity is a regenerative power upon the\\nworld, only as it comes into the world in a separated charac-\\nter, as a revelation, or sacred importation of holiness.\\nWc have in these times, a very considerable and quite\\npretentious class, who have made the discovery that Christ\\nactually eat with publicans and sinners This fact indeed\\nis their gospel. Christ they say was social, drew himself\\nto every human being, poured his heart into every human\\njoy and woe, lived in no ascetic manner as a being with-\\ndrawn from life. And so it becomes a principal matter of\\nduty with us, to meet all human conditions in a human\\nway and make ourselves acceptable to all. They do not\\nobserve that Jesus brought in something into every scene\\nof society and hospitality, which showed a mind set off\\nfrom all conformities. When he eat with publicans and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0454.jp2"}, "455": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD. 451\\nsinners, lie declared expressly that he did it as a physician\\ngoes to the sick, did it that he might so call sinners to re-\\npentance. So when he dined with Zaccheus, he there pro-\\nclaimed himself the Son of Man, who was come to save\\nthe lost. When he shared the assiduous hospitality of\\nMartha, what did he but remind her of the one thing\\nneedful, quite passed by in her over-doing carefulness?\\nAnd when he dined with one of the great rich men of the\\nPharisees, what did he but strike at the very usurpation\\nof all high fashion, by openly rebuking those who seized\\non the highest places of precedence? and what did he pro-\\npose to the host himself, but that true hospitality is that\\nwhich is given, with no hope of return? in which also, he\\ntouched the very quick of all heartlessness and all real\\nmockery in what is called society. Yes, it is true that Je-\\nsus eat with publicans and sinners. He never stood apart\\nfrom any advance of men. But how visibly separated was\\nhe there and everywhere, from the shallow convention-\\nalities of the world; how pure, majestic, free, and faithful\\nto his great ministry of salvation\\nWe have also a great many schemes of philanthropy\\nstarted in these days, that suppose a preparation of man,\\nor society to be moved directly forward, on its present\\nplane, into some advanced, or nearly paradisaic state.\\nThe manner is to address men at their present point, in\\ntheir present motive, under their present condition, with\\nsome hope of development, oome scheme, truth, organiza-\\ntion, and so to bring them into some compact, or way of\\nlife that will discontinue the present evils and make a\\nhappy state. As if there were any such feasibility to\\ngood in man, that he can be put in felicity by mere invita-\\ntion, or consent Christ and Christianity think otherwise.", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0455.jp2"}, "456": {"fulltext": "452 CHEIST AS SEPARATE\\nFor the blessed Kedeemer comes into the world, in tha\\nfull understanding that, in being identified with the worlc^\\nlie will become a great power, only as he is also separated\\nfrom it. And in this lies the efficacy of his mission, that\\nlie brings to men what is not in them, what is opposite to\\nthem, the separated glory, the holiness of God. Come\\nthen ye holiday saviours, ye reformers, and philanthropic\\nregenerators of the world, send forth your invitations to\\nsociety, summon the world to come near and make even a\\nfixed contract to be happy, and one that shall be indisso-\\nluble forever! Bring out your paper coaches and bid\\nthe sorrow stricken peoples ride forth, down the new\\nmillenium you promise without prophecy do your utmost\\nstimulate every most confident hope, and then see what\\nyour toy-shop apparatus signifies\\nNo, we want a salvation, which means a grace brought\\ninto the world, that is not of it. When the real Saviour\\ncomes, there will be great falling off, for the thoughts of\\nmany hearts will be revealed. He will not be a popular Sa-\\nviour. He that puts men in awe, as of some higher spirit\\nand more divine of which they know nothing; he that visits\\nthe world to be unworldly in it, and draw men apart from\\nit and break its terrible spell he, I say, will not be hailed\\nwith favor and applause. Indeed I very much fear that\\nmany who assume even now to be his disciples, would\\nnot like him, if he were to appear on earth. His un-\\nworldly manner, his profound singularity as a being supe-\\nrior to sin, and to all human conventionalities, would\\noffend them, and drive them quite away. Who of us, here\\nto-day, would really follow Jesus and cleave to him, if he\\nwere now living among us?\\nThis brings me to speak of what is now the great and", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0456.jp2"}, "457": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WORLD 453\\ndesolating erroi of our times. I mean the general con-\\nformity of the followers of Christ to the maimers and\\nways, and, consequently, in a great degree, to the spirit of\\nthe world. Christ had his power, as we have seen, in the\\nfact that he carried the impression of his separateness from\\nit, and his superiority to it. He was no ascetic, his sepa-\\nration no contrived and prescribed separation, but was\\nonly the more real and radical that it was the very instinct,\\nor freest impulse of his character. He could say; The\\nprince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me;\\ncounting the bad kingdom to be only a paste-board affair,\\nwhose laws and ways were but a vain show, that he could\\nnot even so much as feel. This now is what we want,\\nsuch a fullness of divine participation, that we shall not\\nrequire to be always shutting off the world by prescribed\\ndenials, but shall draw off from it naturally,because we are\\nnot of it. A true Christian, one who is deep enough in the\\ngodly life to have his affinities with God, will infallibly be*\\ncome a separated being. The instinct of holiness will draw\\nhim apart into a singular, superior, hidden life with God.\\nAnd this is the true Christian power, besides which there\\nis no other. And when this fails every thing goes with it.\\nNeither let us be deceived in this matter, by our merely\\nnotional wisdoms, or deliberative judgments, for it is not a\\nmatter to be decided by any consideration of results the\\nquestion never is, what is really harmful and so, wrong,\\nbut what will meet the living and free instinct of a life of\\nprayer and true godliness I confess that when the ques-\\ntion is raised, whether certain common forms of society\\nand amusement are to be indulged or disallowed, the argu-\\nment sometimes appears to preponderate on the side of in-\\ndulgence. What is more innocent -must we take the mo-", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0457.jp2"}, "458": {"fulltext": "454 CHRIST AS SEPARATE\\nrose and, as it were, repugnant attitude of disallowing and\\nrejecting every thing harmless that is approved by men?\\nin what other way could we more certainly offend their\\ngood judgment and alienate their personal confidence?\\nought we not even to yield a certain allowable freedom\\nfor their sake So stands the computation. Let it be\\ngranted that, as a matter of deliberation, the scale is turned\\nfor conformity. And yet the decision taken will not stand\\nfor there is no truly living Christian that wants, or at all\\nrelishes such conformities. On the other hand, you will\\nsee that such as argue for them and make interest in them,\\nhowever well disposed in matters philanthropic, have little\\nor nothing in them of that which is the distinctively Chris-\\ntian power, and do not add any thing to the living impres-\\nsion of the gospel. For the radical element of all great\\nimpression is wanting viz., the sense of a separated life.\\nTheir instinct does not run that way. What they want\\nis conformity, more conformity, to be always like the\\nworld, not different from it, and in that gulf they sink,\\nlost to all good effect, nay a hindrance to all.\\nThere is no greater mistake, as regards the true manner\\nof impression on the world, than that we impress it as\\nbeing homogeneous with it. If, in our dress we show the\\nsame extravagance, if our amusements are theirs without\\na distinction, if we follow after their shows, copy their man-\\nners, bury ourselves in their worldly objects, emulate their\\nfashions, what are we different from them It seems quite\\nplausible to fancy the great honor we shall put on religion^\\nwhen we are able to c et it on a footing with all most\\nworldly things, and show that we can be Christians in\\nthat plausible way. This we call a liberal piety. It ia\\nsuch as can excel in all high tastes, and make up a figure", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0458.jp2"}, "459": {"fulltext": "FROM THE WOULD. 455\\nof beauty that must needs be a great commendation, we\\nthink, to religion. It may be a little better than to be\\nopenly apostate but alas there is how little power in\\nsuch a kind of life! 2s o, it is not conformity that we\\nwant, it is not being able to beat the world in its own\\nway, but it is to stand apart from it, and produce the im-\\npression of a separated life this it is and this only, that\\nyields any proper sense of the true Christian power. It\\nis not the being popular that makes one a help to religion,\\nno holy man was ever a truly popular character. Ever\\nChrist himself, bringing the divine beauty into the world,\\nprofoundly disturbed the quiet of men by his very per-\\nfections. All really bad men adhering to their sin, hated\\nhim, and their animosity was finally raised to such a pitch,\\nthat they crucified him. And what does he say, turning\\nto his disciples, but this xery thing The servant is not\\ngreater than his lord if they have persecuted me they\\nwill persecute you. I have chosen you out of the world,\\ntherefore the world hateth you. ^Ve are certainly not to\\nmake a merit of being hated, for the worst and most\\nwicked can do that as little are we to make a merit of\\npopularity and being even with the world in its ways.\\nThere is no just mode of life, no true holiness, or fruit of\\nholy living, if we do not carry the conviction, by our self-\\ndenial, our sobriety in the matter of show, and our with-\\nholding from all that indicates being under the world, that\\nwe are in a life separated to God. Therefore his great call\\nis Come out from among them and be ye separate and\\ntouch not the unclean thing, and ye shall be my sons and\\ndaughters saith the Lord Almighty. And there is a\\nmost profound philosophy in this. If we are to impress\\nthe world we must be separate from sinners, even as Christ", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0459.jp2"}, "460": {"fulltext": "456 CHRIST AS SEPARATE, ETC.\\nour Master was or at least according to our human degree,\\nas being in his spirit. The great difficulty is that we think\\nto impress the world, standing on the world s own leve]\\nand asking its approbation. We conform too easily and\\nwith too much appetite. We are all the while touching\\nthe unclean thing, bowing down to it, accepting its law,\\neager to be found approved in it. God therefore calls us\\naway. that we could take our lesson here, and plan\\nour life, order our pursuits, choose our relaxations, prepare\\nour families, so as to be truly with Christ, and so in fact\\nthat we ourselves can say, each for himself, The prince\\nof this world cometh and hath nothing in me.\\nAnd this exactly is our communion with Jesus we pro-\\npose to be one with him in it. In it, we connect with a pow-\\ner transcendent, the Son of Man in glory, whose image we\\naspire to, and whose mission, as the Crucified on earth, was\\nthe revelation of the Father s love and holiness. We ask\\nto be separated with him and set apart to the same great\\nlife. Our communion is not on the level of our common\\nhumanitv, but we rise in it we scale the heavens where he\\nsitteth at the right hand of God we send our longings up\\nand ask to have attachments knit to him to be set in deep-\\nest, holiest, and most practical affinity with him and so to\\nlive a life that is hid with Christ in God. In such a life,\\nwe become partakers of his holiness, and, in the separating\\ngrace of that, partakers also of his power.\\n2 C 7", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0460.jp2"}, "461": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4301", "width": "2620", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0461.jp2"}, "462": {"fulltext": "*o7T\u00c2\u00ab g*\\n\u00c2\u00abA a q Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procei,\\nJ %*^5\u00c2\u00a7\u00c2\u00a7Xh^* ((ffiiZ*? Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide\\no C^ \u00c2\u00b0^^^^S* ^U* C^ K f^nrff r Treatment Date: April 2006\\nfi\u00c2\u00b0* m *X^^i PreservatlonTechnologie\\n^V ^C6ir~ r O *^sy^ s a world leader in paper preservatk\\n^p. av O. o 111 Thomson Park Drive\\nf A C Cranberry Township. PA 16066", "height": "4446", "width": "2657", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0462.jp2"}, "463": {"fulltext": "J^\\nV e o\\nw\\n*_ c\\nv\\niP ^-i\\nof\\nV. A*\\n1", "height": "4490", "width": "2613", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0463.jp2"}, "464": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4612", "width": "2656", "jp2-path": "sermonsfornewlif00bush_0_0464.jp2"}}