BIBLE TALK.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9030, 16 February 1895, Page 2

BI BLE TALK.

SERMON.

SERMON.

SERIES No. 83.

Subject—'• Severance."

•' They will reverence My Son.*' (Mark xiL, 6.)

Ste"o_raphio Report of Bible Talk sr Mb Wobthingtoi* at the Temple ov Truth, September 2nd, J. 894.

Goethe aaid that well-formed children brought " much into the world with them." That there ia " one thing all important to make a man." That one thing he said was reverence, which he said was a sort of Trinity, a threefold grace, made up of that which is above us, around us, and beneath us, all uniting in reverence for oneself, which is the best and highest of God's products. Goethe insists that fear is not reverence, and adds that nature ia indeed adequate to fear, but not capable of reverence. *• To fear is ca'sy hut grievous ! " "To reverence is difficult but satisfactory."

Every new-born soul comes into flash written all over and crosswise, like a woman's letter, with passions, aptitudes, emotions, tendencies, humanities, false. hoods, truths, holiness and sin. With how

much of reverence, will depend on its growth before in former incarnations.

Almbst every human thought and feoling has a higher and a lower form. Iv considering reverence let us look for the hig'ner reverence. There is a higher reverence for that which ia beneath, around, or above us. I am trying this morning to seek the higher reverence, and find some of the cool, dear streams that feed it.

They say there is less reverence in the world to-day than formerly. This is a current belief among those who hold to old dogma, and is accepted like a bad coin, not because it has been tested ever so superficially, but rather because it has been soiled with frequent handling. If reverence were simply fear its decay mic;ht be deplored as a calamity, if not rejoiced at as good fortune. There is still much fear in the world among civilised communities as well as the savage races.

The same things are not feared that used to be, but the fear is quite as acute. The merchant fears inability to meet obligations. The young man fears his suit will be declined. The parent fears the child will S;o wrong. The defaulter fears he will be ound out. This is not reverence.

There is less fear in the world now than ever for that which is below men, the forco3 of nature, noxious plants and wild animals, or that which is around them—their fellow* men, although that horrible device, called the balance of power among European nations, keeps this fear alive somewhat. Nor do men fear so much that which is above them, that God who used to be of all things the most fearful. A monster to be fed with sacrificial blood, and placated with all manner of obscene and horrid rites.

There is also less self fear than formerly. Ido not mean less fear for self. That is included in the things I have named. But less tear of oneself as a dark, gloomy, strange cavern, in which dreadful things reside, and poison us with base imaginations] and iniquitous desires, and hurry us into the commission of some deadly sin. Fear is the lower reverence, and there is less of it in the world to-day than there has ever been. Thanks be to God and man, to the God in man, which by widening the skirts of love and knowledge, have enabled more to touch their shining hems, and thus be healed of their infirmity. But, oh, bow beautiful chat higher reverence, which is not fear, bat admiration mingled with awe and with the sense of mystery, which is the foe of arrogance, the friend of modesty and tenderness, the source of love and .adoration, of mutual honour and self-respect among men, compelling us to manful industry and generosity and self -denial.

Coleridge says "Reverence is the synthesis of love and fear." If he meant fear of anything—No. if he meant fear lest we should prove unworthy trustees of so much beneficence and beauty, fear lest we prove mere parasites upon the tree of life, consuming an energy whioh we do naught to reinforce. Then we say Yes. Is this reverence a glorions ideal? or, in •ome measure a reality growing more so as the days and years go by ? ( Dbes this higher reverence point an accusing finger at us, or has it given us a helping hand, like a stoat guide noon some Alpine height, to bring ns to some loftier crag, where we enjoy a vaster outlook and inhale a purer and more bracing air. first, as to reverencing those below us. Time was when every natural force expressed the will, or was the lodgment of some Deity. The earth and air were peopled with innumerable Divinities, that were thought to regard men with malignant hatred and evil designs, our fear of them was great, and manifold the arts with whioh we tried to enlist them on our side.

As civilisation has advanced those Deities have been lost to us. Yet even Kepler fancied the planets controlled by individual beings, but the man in the moon and all his relations far. and near, have been remanded to the nursery. Men have feared matter and have feared the earth. They have regarded it as a sort of provisional arrangement, a funeral pyre by which to climb up to Heaven before the torch was. set to it, and the universe was but an aggregation of funeral pyres for the same, purpose, so men have feared the universe with its wandering comets and unexplained relations. But science haa oast out the god aud demon resident in tree, and stone, and star, and flower, apd cloud. The lightning is robbed of its terror and then sent speeding over land and sea almost as quick as thought with messages of business, of love, of thoughtful tenderness. - An eclipse in the heavens is an occasion of some higher knowledge, instead of an occasion for the panic of contending armies. The dreaded comet is changed into a harmless piece of pyrotechnics; our planet goo* through the tail of one with no other consequence than a.display of shooting stars. As fear has languished, reverence has Strengthened more and more. Reverence is expressed toward the univorse, toward man, and toward God.

We- are now considering the first—reverence toward the universe. This is an ever deepening , admiration, an ever tenderer awe, an ever holier and sweeter joy, in all the visible array of nature's orderly development. We see this reverence in an increasing love for natural scenery and the books and pictures in whioh this love finds expression; in the development of landscape art; our increasing love for flower-, a love almost unknown in both the Old and New Testaments.

Consider, too, how different our attitude towards the humbler creatures; how;the knowledge of the most offensive inaecta's organism and ways of life, idealises and Slo.ifies it in our eyes. As we reverence be earth's belongings so we reverence the earth itself. Though, instead of believing it the centre of. the solar system and the universe, we know it as one of the tiniest orbs that "gem the evening sky." Yet with each step that advances us in the knowledge of those laws which govern its movements, and have controlled its evolution a deeper awe falls on onr minds and serener gladness fills our hearts. The old myth that the earth's revolution was caused by damned souls endeavouring to climb up its inner wall, as a squirrel whirls around its cylindrical cage, fades Into, Ignorant degradation beside onr emotion aa we contemplate the laws of gravitation and the principle of celestial mechanics.

This awe deepens as we turn our eyes from -this planet to all the others that bestud "the.brave o'erhanging firmament," and again deepens as with uhemical and tnioro3copio tests we pursue the mystery. In this presence we stand aba.hed and tender unto tears.

Through their agencies the highest reverence is surely dawning upon men's hearts burning through their lives with its celestial warmth and bea_ty. But reverence; goes on to map's surroundings-—to his fellow-beings.

Man's absolute importance and glory, his sanctity and power, have increased and been most wonderfully represented in the perfection of bis physical nature and his intellectual powers, and their existing relations. The reverence, which is awe, appreciation, admiration, and a sense of mystery combined, is inoreMsd by each wider

view of the great scope of human history ; our race struggles with tyranny and super* stition ; our struggles with nature ere she would consent to assist in supplying oar wants.

No matter where physical man begins, his ascent cannot abate our reverence for him one bit. The fail of man is a degradation ; the rise of man is an honour. I*ol lowers of Calvin affect to resent Darwin's theory, but it is a thousand times more dignified than Calvin's "total depravity." "No matter what I was once, what am I now? demanded one who was taxed with inglorious antecedents. "The more the sinner, the better tho saint," is a favourite doctrine airoae the evangelical. Surely, then, it is no discredit to humanity that it puts a base and ignorant life behind it, and. attains the mountain heights of power and knowledge. The fear of men is waning, the reverence for men is waxing. Men fear each other less than formerly, aud admire and love each other more. Fear was arbitrary, ...reverence was not so. ' ; We revere institutions less, and their essential purpo.es more. We revere churches less, personal righteousness more. We revere constitutions less, the justice they are intended to protect more. We revere the Bible less for itself than for every true, tender and inspiring word it contains, Which is greatest, the institution or the purposes it embodies, the past as such, or the truth, heroism and beauty it has won for ua ? Which ia greatest, the Ohurch or righteousness, ministers or manliness? Doubtless between man and man there is much less show of reverence than formerly, and much more of real reverence. True j reverence forbids servility toward men or | kings aud priests and clergymen I

A century ago, when services were over on Sunday, the minister and his family went out of church first, the congregation all rising and bowing their heads. I think our way is better. ..

Reverence for man makes men reverent of men. The old reverence is dying. Let it die ! The sooner the better.

I went to see " Richelieu " played once ; saw him draw the magic circle of the church around his ward and dare his enemios to cross it, and they fell back in fear. Could he have held them back by the force of his own personal character, what an object for reveience ; but he skulked behind a superstition.

And now for reverence for the above or the good or God. For all that is below us, the material universe, and all that it sustains— and all that is around U3—the infinite human brotherhood all comes from God, thus we reverence God as we re vere these. To assume to honour the Creator while we dishonour His whole creation is a feat no one could accomplish. The fear of God is going out. The true reverence for God is here. There can be no fellowship between the two. It is impossible to love and adore a God capable of the meanness ascribed to Him in the prayers and sermons of orthodoxy. My language does not refer to the God that made man and .the universe, but about a man-made God, a figment of the human brain, you cannot be reverent to the God that made all, without being irreverent to these belie His wisdom, and His goodness, and His power and majesty. Consider the prayers offered to God by orthodoxy, what terrible reflections they are upon the general conduct of the universe. What good advice is given God. How much valuable information, what bribes are offered Him. A berated God. " Oh Lord, will yon come down into these Waiting hearts—or won't you." " I have been praying twenty years for one man's conversion, and he is not saved yet." What monstrous irreverence, God wait* ing to be coaxed, badgered, wheedled into doing right. Thus the. moral character of God is impeaeffed.

Thus the intelligence of God is impeached. Tbe three forms of reverence—reverence for that below, around, and above us—con* verge in true reverence for ourselves.

A reverence which is not fear, but trust;

Not egotism, but self-respect; Not proud, but humble. ' To be a man among men the inheritor of so glorious an estate—of such a home as this World, all mountain-braced and roofed with constellations —to feel through all these things the touch and thrill of a great heart that beats the rhythm oftheuniverSs—to bo, and think and will. How can the man but reverence himself who realises that he is, and has all these ineffable supports and consolations. And then how great is the demand on him to bring his thought and speech and conduct into hue with these great relations, so that one shall not put the other to an open or a secret shame