Septuagesima Sunday
January 31, 1858
“But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”—Ephesians V. 13, 14.
In the Gospels for the Sundays between the Epiphany and this Septuagesima, the Church sets forth before us different acts of our Lord by which He manifested His glory to the minds of His own countrymen.
They saw nothing but a poor Man, not distinguished by any outward token from those who surrounded Him. The halo of glory with which painters are wont to encircle His head has indeed a true meaning. It imports that perfect inward beauty must in some way make itself felt through all obstructions. But no one supposes that this is more than a symbol, of which the imperfection of human art is obliged to avail itself. We cannot help believing that the countenance was perfectly beautiful and harmonious, which was distorted by no restless appetite or discontent. We may cheerfully admit that the sorrow deepened, instead of impairing, its submission and its trustfulness. Still the expression of the face, as much as any other manifestation of character and power, demands a mind and not an eye to recognize it. The principle therefore is universal. Every revelation of Christ, even when He was present to the sight, was addressed to something else than to that.
If so, the thought naturally arises within us, how few there must have been who received any effect from all the acts of grace and power which they witnessed! If we believe the acts of power to have been real, we acknowledge of course that lepers were actually cleansed, that lame men actually walked. But when one considers these as discoveries of a Divine power and goodness, not merely as producing certain sensible effects, we are tempted to ask, “To whom, then, were the discoveries made? Were not ninety-nine out of a hundred of those who profited by them, as well as of the bystanders, just what they would have been had nothing of the kind passed before them? A light was there. Was there any illumination in them which corresponded to it, and proved that it was there?”
The words of St. Paul in the text, taken in their simplest, broadest signification, would seem to affirm that there must have been. He declares generally, that all things, being reproved, are made manifest by the light. He must surely mean, that wherever there is light it will make its power felt; there will be a discovery and manifestation of it; it will discover things previously hidden. In the next clause he as distinctly asserts the converse of this proposition. Wherever there is manifestation, wherever anything previously hidden is brought out, there must be light. In the third clause he assumes a fact which may seem at variance with these statements, but which really, I think, explains and confirms them; that it is possible for a man to be asleep, even to be dead, while the light is shining in upon him, though the light is in One and comes from One Who bids him, and can enable him, to awake from sleep, to arise from the dead.
The words were of course addressed to persons not in the condition of those Jews who were witnesses of our Lord’s signs and wonders. They came from one who was preaching, in a city far away from Jerusalem, the news of His resurrection. Yet they must be true respecting the former, if they are true respecting the latter. We shall not understand their application to the Gentiles of Ephesus, if we do not understand them with reference to the Jews of Palestine. I venture to affirm, respecting each one of those who witnessed the works of Christ at Nazareth or Capernaum, respecting those who sat with Him in the ship on the Lake of Gennesareth, respecting those who met Him and discoursed with Him at the Feasts in Jerusalem, respecting Scribes and Pharisees, respecting publicans and sinners, respecting the eleven Disciples and the one who betrayed Him, that the light did make itself manifest, not to their eyes only, but to the mind within them; that the things which were there were discovered and reproved by it, that they felt and knew assuredly that a light had come into the world, and had come to them.
I. I take these cases in the order in which I have spoken of them. We may be inclined to think that, whoever else were conscious of a Divine power manifesting itself to them in the person of the Son of Man, the Pharisees at all events were entirely without that consciousness, or that it was suffocated by their pride and self-glorification. On them, we are wont to say, that the signs and wonders were utterly lost. Did we follow the Evangelists more strictly, we should rather be disposed to say, that there were no men who gave more unequivocal proofs that every act and word had gone home to them, that it had come with the penetrating force of light, that it had detected secrets in them of which previously they had been utterly ignorant. All their anger and bitterness was a demonstration of this fact. There was nothing in His outward acts that was specially offensive to them. They saw very little which, even upon their maxims, they could find fault with. He had not told the multitude that they were unworthy of their respect. It was only in the latter days of His ministry that He began directly to denounce them as hypocrites. It was that which was in Himself, that which came forth through His acts, that which the eye and ear could take no account of, that tormented them and drove them to madness. He discovered them to themselves before He exposed them to any of those who had been used to account them models of righteousness. They felt that an actual Righteousness was before them, embodied in a Person, exhibited in deeds, which was not merely higher than theirs, but was the very reverse of theirs, springing from an altogether different root. Therefore the objections which they took against Him were only now and then directed against the accidents of His position; generally they struck at the very essence of His life. There was no doubt the staple objection, “He is a Galilean, and no prophet cometh out of Galilee.” But the more deep and radical objections were also the more common: “This man blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins but God only? He saith that God is His Father; making Himself equal with God. He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.” These were not complaints against the genuineness of the powers which He was exercising. They were complaints of Him. They indicated dislike to His character. They were not, as He Himself declared, words spoken against the Son of Man, but words against the Holy Spirit which was in Him. “They have seen and hated,” He said, “both Me and My Father.” They had that actual dislike of goodness as goodness, which is scarcely perhaps found in any men, except those who have been hardened by a religious profession, and which only comes forth in them when the light has broken into their hearts, and all the habitual falsehoods which have been cherished there, and which have been mistaken for qualities sacred and acceptable to God, have been laid bare as only One Who reads the heart and rules it can lay them bare. The sense of there being such an One near them, with them, Who desired to set them right, and by Whom they would not be set right, with a voice which they could not deny to be one of authority, One entitled to their homage, and Whose voice they therefore wished to stifle,—this was the provocation to all their enmity and all their crimes.
II. The same truth applies with equal force, though under a different aspect, to those Publicans to whom our Lord preached His Kingdom, and with whom He ate and drank. To some of them, no doubt, His garb of poverty may have been a recommendation. They may have preferred Him on that account to the Pharisees, who were rich, and to those who lived on the smiles of Herod. But many of them also were rich, and may have been courtiers as well as extortioners. Those who were so, would regard the Carpenter’s Son with more suspicion and contempt even than those who had inherited their wealth. Ordinarily they would have counted it no condescension for such a person to mix with them; they might have thought they were honouring Him by receiving Him. But they did feel that He was stooping to them, because the dignity and glory of a King was manifested through His acts; because the same power which had drawn Levi from the receipt of custom, was acting upon them; because there was an awfulness in His goodness, which familiarity could not in the least diminish. And yet it seemed altogether natural and fitting that He should come amongst them. By doing so, He made them understand His kingly authority and grace as they could never have understood it otherwise. They perceived that the Highest of all is—and by the eternal law which He obeys and fulfils, must be the servant of all. They perceived that the Most Righteous must sympathize most with the unrighteous, because it is His desire to make them like Himself, because He hates evil and therefore wishes to deliver them from it. These were manifestations to the inmost heart and conscience. Into some the light might have penetrated deeply. It may have only played upon the surface of the minds of others. But in all it will have produced some effect. It will have brought out desires, aspirations, hopes that had been crushed. It will have shown them how these had been crushed, how they had been holding down the truth in unrighteousness. It will have shown them that the light which reproved them was not merely in dead letters and a law which condemned, but in a Person, Who could raise them out of death and give them life.
III. So again, in reference to the Apostles. St. John says, speaking of the Miracle at the Marriage feast in Cana, “He manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him.” He is evidently recording an impression which was made upon his own mind, and upon that of those who were with him at that time, an impression which had nothing to do with their senses, since there were few of our Lord’s miracles which appealed less to the senses than this. As he tells us elsewhere, that when our Lord said, “I do always such things as please My Father,” many believed on Him (though there was nothing in those special words which would affect His hearers more than thousands of words which came every day from His lips), so here also he makes us understand how a sudden conviction flashed into their hearts, that they were in the presence of Creative Power. Both expressions teach us, by their very simplicity, more the nature of belief than all the definitions of the schools ever did. It is just in this way that we do come to believe anything. The preparatory processes may be rapid or slow. We may pass from a state of vehement denial, or of indifference, or of anxious hesitation. But whenever faith comes, faith on whatsoever or on whomsoever it may be exercised, it comes in this way. There is an evidence, a manifestation to which we bow. We do not adopt an opinion, but yield to a demonstration. In the Gospel narratives, we see how exceedingly difficult it was for the Disciples to confess the power which was acting around them and upon them, how puzzled they continually were, how oppressed by old notions, how ready to resolve everything which they felt into some outward or sensible influence. They had the greatest alternations of doubt and persuasion. But whenever the persuasion of their Master’s divine nature did lay mighty hold upon any one of them, so that he could say, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” it was clear that flesh and blood had not revealed it unto him, but the truth had been manifested to his spirit; that he had not arrived at it through any mere external authority, or any logical inferences. The very same light which had reproved the Pharisee for his falsehood, which had awakened the sense of truth and the hope of deliverance in the woman that was a sinner, had enabled the Apostle to preach the Kingdom of God to other men, by showing him that it was within him.
IV. But there was an Apostle who preached the Kingdom of God to others, and yet is called the son of perdition. Was there any such revelation or manifestation in him? Did not the light merely play around him, without ever being felt or confessed by his conscience and his heart? I believe we have a very poor and shallow conception of his guilt and our danger if we think so. All through his history and his preaching, the light must have been reproving him, manifesting the true righteousness to him, manifesting his own sin to him. At that hour when he received the sop, there must have been such a manifestation of Love, of divine Love to his conscience, as it had never known before. But the opposing spirit of self-seeking, of malice, and of treachery, had been invited into his heart, and he had surrendered himself to it; and having received that sop, he went out, and it was night in him, as well as in the world.
V. If these things are so, my brethren, we can appreciate better the force of St. Paul’s words, as addressed to those who had never known Christ after the flesh, but who had heard His Gospel. To them he could say boldly: “All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. There is no person walking about in your streets who claims to be the Lord of nature and of man, who speaks to the winds and sea and they obey him, of whom the evil spirits say, ‘Thou art the Son of God.’ There is no such person speaking to you with bodily lips, sitting in a ship in the harbour of your city, preaching to those who are about to worship in the temple of your goddess. But there are thoughts within you all, Jews, Heathens, baptized men, that are accusing or else excusing one another. You are, one and all of you, reproved,—not by the civil magistrate, not by the ruler of the Synagogue, not by the presbyter or overseer of the Church, of secret things whereof they can take no cognizance,—of acts, words, thoughts, feelings, states of mind, of which they have no guess, which they could understand very imperfectly, if you were able stammeringly and incoherently to confess them. Another eye than theirs is looking into these, another light than theirs is manifesting them to your own selves. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Whenever you are thus reproved and called into judgment, be sure there is a Light with you and near you, and that it is the very same Light which stirred up the fury and wrath of the Pharisee; which led the Samaritan to say, ‘He told me all things that ever I did’; which scattered the confusion and unbelief which dwelt in His chosen followers; which led Judas, when he could bear it no longer, and despaired of quenching it or of dwelling in it, to go and kill himself. It is not some other Light than that. It is the very same. It is the Light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.”
VI. And therefore he could say with confidence, “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Such words he could address,—he did address continually,—to the unbelievers of the Synagogue, and to the worshippers of Diana. He could have preached no Gospel to either, if he had not been permitted to tell them that the divine Light had been manifested; that the Word in Whom it dwelt had been made flesh; that He was claiming all men, of all nations, as children of the Light; that He had power to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan, the Prince of Darkness, to the God in Whom is light and no darkness at all. But now St. Paul is not delivering his message to these. He is speaking to those who had been baptized into the name of Christ; who had claimed to be illuminated men, children of the Light; who were admitted into the Church of the firstborn, the Family which was named in the only-begotten Son. The language which was true for all men was true in the highest sense for them; they were witnesses to all men how true it was. Their profession solemnly declared that there is no light in any human being but what comes to him from Christ, the Head and Lord of Man; that He has brought His Light near to the hearts and consciences of all, that those hearts and consciences may entertain it and be penetrated by it, or may shut it out. If they supposed that their profession excused them from the necessity of coming to the Light and walking in it; if they supposed that there was not a darkness as well as a light in them, and that they were not in danger of losing themselves in it, they would soon be reproved by the Light; it would manifest to them evils which they had never supposed were in them, or which they supposed had been killed long before; it would show them how those evils were affecting their whole lives, their daily words and acts. And oh, how good it was for them that these painful, tormenting discoveries should be made to them! It was the proof and sign that they had not been able to put out the light, though they had forgotten it; that Christ was indeed with them and manifesting Himself to them, however little they might heed His presence, or wish for it. And it was possible—all too probable—that their lazy, stupid trust in the mere name that they bore, in the fact of belonging to the Church, might at least draw them into a deep sleep, in which every faculty of their spirits would be benumbed, a sleep which would indeed be the sister of death, and might be the beginning of it. But there was a voice which those who were dead and in the graves would hear, a voice saying continually, “Awake, arise!” The moment that voice had awakened the least hearing, the least response, it would be felt to come from One to Whom they could confess their dulness, their incapacity for good, their inclination to evil, and Who could bring them back into the fellowship of that Light from which they had fled.
And, brethren, if these words were not as applicable to the nineteenth century as to the first, applicable to Englishmen as to Ephesians, applicable to all equally, applicable without the slightest modification of their sense, I do not see what a minister of Christ has to do, or how he can dare to speak to any congregation of persons, rich or poor, learned or unlearned. He may say to every human being: “That which reproves thee for any evil act thou hast ever committed, for any evil thought or habit thou art cherishing, is Light. It is not light which comes to thee from the opinion of thy fellow-creatures. How often does it reprove thee for following that opinion! It is not light which comes to thee from some notions or maxims of right which thou hast picked up in the schools or in the world; how often does it show the feebleness and even falsehood of such maxims! It is Light which comes to thee from God Himself, from Him Who knows the secrets of thy spirit, from Him Who can converse directly with thy own self. It is the Light of which the light of the sun is but the outward and natural counterpart, the imperfect image. It is that Light which dwelt in Him Who is the brightness of the Father’s glory, the express image of His Person. It is that Light which shone forth in Christ’s acts of power, which shone brightest in His humiliation and weakness and agony; which came forth in that hour in which the powers of Darkness seemed to be almighty; which proved itself victorious over the grave and hell. It is the Light which is gathered up in Him Who has ascended on high that He may fill all things, which He has been manifesting forth ever since, through men, to men, and in men; without which there would have been no Church, no nation, no family, no order among human beings; without which no evil would have been detected, no mischief redressed, which has been as much the source of all fertility and productiveness in the lives and societies of men, as the visible light has been the cause of fertility and productiveness in the earth which they till.” Yes! this Light and no other is that which causes the smart and sting of conscience, which recalls the bad deeds of days gone by, which makes us know what is degrading and defiling us now. This it is which makes every one ashamed of the fraud, the equivocation, the acted lie of which he has at first been proud, and which he thought had cozened his neighbour instead of destroying himself. This it is which makes us cry out loudly against the corruptions and abominations of the world, till one suspects that these corruptions and abominations are in oneself,—a suspicion which leads most to a shameful tolerance in others of that which they wish to be indulged in themselves; which leads a few to a greater indignation against the wrong, and a greater earnestness for its extirpation, because they know what it is, and what the cause of it is. And if this, dear brother, is the cause within thee, awake, arise! for that which doth make manifest is Light, and Christ shall give thee Light. Do not talk of the light in thy conscience. It is there, no doubt; but it is little help to believe in a conscience; for that will not reform thee, that will not bring thee out of thy miserable confusions. Believe that the light is Christ’s; believe that it has come from Him into thy heart. Believe that He can give thee power to follow it, and walk in it, and love it. Believe that the light which visits thee in thy most secret hours is the very Light which shall shine forth upon the whole universe one day. The Christ Who was manifested in Galilee and Jerusalem, to Pharisees, to Publicans, to Disciples—the Christ Who was manifested to Ephesians, Corinthians, Romans,—Whom Paul preached, in Whom Gauls and Britons believed and were baptized, Who has manifested Himself to every suppliant sinner, to every self-righteous man, to every hypocrite in all ages since,—is the Christ Who shall be revealed in the day of God’s final victory over all His enemies.