Corrected Estimates
“Honour all men.” — 1 Peter ii, 17.
Here are three distinct ideas closely interwoven and reciprocally affecting each other, yet capable in some measure of being separated, and so subjected to a more minute analysis. I shall employ the term ‘’value” instead of “honour,” as equivalent to” esteem,’’ which the translators have placed in the margin, and, on the whole, expressing more exactly the apostle’s mind. As to the method of conducting the inquiry, I find that arrangement to be practically most convenient, if not logically most correct, which simply lays the emphasis successively on each of the three English words; thus: —
I. Value.
II. Value men.
III. Value all men.
I. Value. On this point some light may be obtained by looking to the word itself, and more by observing the relation which it bears to others associated with it here.
]. The root on which this expression grows signifies a price or value. This original meaning adheres to it with more or less of strictness through all its forms, and all its applications. It is the word which in Matt, xxvii. 9 has been translated “value:” “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value ’ and” honour’’ in Matt. XV. 4: “Honour thy father and thy mother.” Honour, as it is usually understood, is only the external expression of the value which you may have set upon the object. You weigh the worth of the man, and honour him accordingly. The estimate fixed by the judgment is the foundation of the honour expressed by the hps.
2. We may more fully ascertain and more accurately fix the import of the term, by examining its relations to others which are associated with it in the context. The three first precepts stand by themselves: ‘’ Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.” The series is complete. It begins on earth, and ends in heaven. The first is a horizontal line lying along the surface of the world in contact with all humanity; the second stretches through a higher region where the spirits of the just not made perfect yet, are striving to crucify the flesh and serve the Lord; the third is a vertical line, running right up to God. The Holy Spirit in this word prescribes to believers the aflections with which they should regard respectively three separate objects. The first and lowest of these objects is humanity as it now is, — all mankind; the next above it is the regenerated, the redeemed from among men who are still in the body; the highest is God. One kind of regard is due to human beings, however low their state or bad their character; another kind of regard is due to those who are born again, and have become members of the family of God; and yet another kind of regard is due to the Creator of all, the Recreator of his own.
We shall better understand the honour due to all men when we compare it with the love which is due to the brotherhood, and the fear which is due to God. The object, in each case so precisely defined, goes far to determine /the specific affection with which it should be regarded. In the light of Scripture we may learn the reverential, yet confiding worship which is implied in fearing God. There, too, with equal distinctness, we may learn with what kind of love brother should regard brother in the household of faith. The position of these two being fixed enables us to determine more precisely the bearings of the third.
They who fear God and love the brotherhood need not be much at a loss as to the kind of affection with which they should look upon humanity at large. The two higher afford the observer a commanding position, and wellrelieved land-marks, for surveying the last and lowest. Where the fear of God and the love of the brotherhood are wanting or weak, great errors will necessarily occur in the estimate of men. What is it that distracts and torments the world, but error in the estimate which man forms of his fellow? Some get too much honour, and others too little. These extremes have thrown the machinery of society out of gear. Hence the adulation of the great; hence the oppression of the poor.
The man who is godly and brotherly is also humane. He who sets a proper value on the higher things, sets also a proper value on the lower. Look on men — the human race in general — in the light of the fear which you owe to God, and the love which you cherish toward the brethren; thus you will neither meanly flatter, nor coldly neglect; you will count the meanest a man, and the mightiest no more.
II. Value men.* The general Scriptural rule, “Be imitators of God as dear children” (Eph. v. 1), readily admits of application to this particular case. God’s estimate of man is marked distinctly in creation, and more fully manifested in redemption.
Every step of progress in science is a new discovery of the high value which the Maker set upon his creature, man. All the nicer relations and uses of plants and animals have been arranged with a view to man, for he only is capable of observing or turning them to account. For him the minerals have all obviously been made, for he only can use them. All the rich furniture of this world bears obvious marks of having been constructed for the convenience of its chief inhabitant. The house was arranged, and all its furnishings completed, and living creatures destined for servants provided, before men, the children of the family, were brought home. All that the Father did in constructing this earth and these heavens, he did for our sakes.
But the grandest evidence of the value which God sets on man is seen in the mission, and ministry, and sacrifice of Christ. The marks which creation contains of a high
* Although the word corresponding to “men” does not appear in the original, the masculine adjective is, in the circumstances, equivalent.
174j corrected estimates.
value set upon its intended occupant, have respect to man as he was conceived in the eternal council, and as he came from the omnipotent hand. But how fallen from that high estate and holy character ere Christ came to dwell among us! This immortal being was damaged more than we can comprehend when the Son of God took our nature, and undertook our cause. The object whom he came to seek and save was worthless and wicked. But man in his lost estate was still precious in the eye of God. So high in heaven was the estimate of even ruined man, that, when no other price could buy the captive, the Son of God gave himself, the just for the unjust.
A jewel has dropped from the wearer’s neck into a deep and filthy sewer. The owner looking from aloft loathes the fetid object, and loves it too, — so loves it, in spite of its loathsomeness, that, rather than lose it, he plunges into the pool, wades among its filth, and feels for the lost treasure. If he find it, he goes home rejoicing; and when the jewel has been burnished again, he rejoices more than ever to see it on his own bosom receiving bright glances from the sun, and throwing them back as bright.
In some such way, making allowance for the difference between the finite and the infinite, did Christ set a high value on fallen, polluted men. In some such way does he now rejoice over those whom he has rescued from perdition, and carried into rest.
The law of the Lord, “Love one another as I have loved you,” applies to the estimate of human kind in their fallen state, as well as to the love of the brotherhood who have been begotten again. Christians should be like Christ, both in valuing those who are still without, and in loving those who are already within. He counts much on getting the fallen raised, and he rejoices over the raised with more than a mother’s love. The only right path for us is in his footsteps.
Value man more than meaner things.
Your House, for example, is not so precious as its human inmates. It is right to keep the house in order, and right that children and servants should work for that end; but you ought jealously to watch the comparative estimate which you insensibly and habitually entertain of a well-kept house, and of those who keep it. If you tenderly care for walls and ornaments, careless of immortal creatures made in the image of God who dwell under your roof, you are contending wdth the Almighty, and will be crushed in the conflict. In many families of this community which are maintained at an enormous expense, the comforts of home diminish in proportion as the outlay for procuring them is increased. The God of the families of the whole earth is dishonoured and displeased when things are set over the head of persons. This fundamental error in the estimate vitiates all your calculations, and disappoints all your prospects of happiness. Devote your chief care to the household, and the house will be better cared for.
Your Farm is, in God’s sight, and should be in yours, of less value than your farmers. Scotland, as an agricultural country, owns no superior, perhaps no equal, in the world. But a blight lies on this department of our prosperity, because we have overvalued our stock and undervalued our hands. In many parts of the country a system prevails which gives brutes and implements a monopoly of care, and abandons men and women to moral and physical degradation. Houses for cattle are ostentatiously raised to the highest pitch of refinement, while the men who tend them feed by day and sleep by night in dreary, damp, dirty hovels, where cleanliness and modesty are not only unknown, but impossible. I bear witness of what I have seen; and I warn my countrymen that they cannot steal a march upon the Omniscient so as to prosper permanently in their sin. Already retribution has begun in the deteriorated moral habits of the community. We have got a set of false weights and measui’es with which we are cheating ourselves and our neighbours. Our measures for men and things must be brought into accordance with the royal law: “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do ye even so unto them.” The willing are already making exertions in this department; but we shall continue exposed to providential retribution until we contrive, on a national scale, to compel the unwilling to go and do likewise.
Our Manufactures are grievously out of joint from the same cause. We have practically set a high price on the work, and a low price on the workers. The Papists exhibit a napkin which was used, they say, to wipe the sweat from the brow of Jesus, and retains his image still. There is at least a fine idea in the fable. If the pale hands and haggard countenances of the workers were photographed upon the web, the spectre forms, glancing from the luscious folds, would startle both the sellers and the wearers. But pictures of the neglected and lost, — lost, perhaps, because neglected, — are printed somewhere. God’s image does not go out of God’s sight. He recognises it through rags and squalor which some dainty eyes would disdain to look upon. We cannot save every one; perhaps some of us are in a position so humble in itself, or so distant from the scene, that we could not save any one. We are not responsible for the talents which the Lord has not entrusted to our charge; but we are all responsible for obeying this command: ‘’ Honour men.’’ Value highly immortal beings made in their Creator’s likeness, and capable yet of living to his praise. We act according to our estimates. Estimate humanity aright in the habit of your hearts, and your conduct will fashion itself naturally accordant, as a river finds its way to the sea. Value the whole man, and not merely a part. In particular, and for obvious practical purposes, value his soul as well as his body, and his body as well as his soul. So did Christ; and therefore so should we. The body’s sufferings did not occupy his attention to the neglect of the soul’s sins; the soul’s sins did not occupy his attention to the neglect of the body’s sufferings.
As the legs of the lame are not equal, a one-sided philanthropy is abortive, whichever side it may be. You cannot do good to the poor by merely supplying his material wants. Unless you lift his spirit from despair into hope, and lead his spirit from darkness to light, your gifts go all into a bag with holes. You must be always giving, and yet he is never full. On the other side, the ordinary path to the soul lies through the body’s senses, and all your efforts for spiritual good may prove abortive, if you do not clear material obstructions out of your way. Do good to the whole man as you have opportunity. Neglect not to entertain these strangers that step about in human form upon the earth, for in so doing you entertain angels unawares, — fallen, indeed, but capable yet of a glorious immortality.
III. Value all men.
There is no respect of persons with God, and there should be none with men. When you fail to value aright any man or class of men, you are fighting against God, and will certainly be hurt. He that falls upon this stone shall be broken. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. Suppose you and your neighbour are walking abreast on a pavement of pure ice; and suppose you put forth your strength to push your neighbour off the way on one side, you may perhaps succeed, but the same effort at the same time has pushed yourself as far from the path on the other side.
The operation of this principle may be seen in all ranks and in all places. Wherever and whenever a man fails to give a neighbour his due, he thereby to the same extent injures himself. The machine of Providence brings vengeance on the transgressor as its awful wheels move round.
Take an example from the treatment of negro slaves. Value all men, says God’s word: No, said we till lately, and say many of our race in America still, — we shall value some men, and others we shall despise. The white we shall honour, but not the black. I do not detail the facts which prove the delinquency; I assume these, and direct your attention to the retribution which lies hid in Providence, and smites the, transgressor with an unseen hand. White men cannot push black men aside from the right position without pushing themselves as far from the right character. The loss which they suffer is greater than the loss which they inflict. As it is more blessed to give than to receive, so it is more cursed to deprive another of his rights than to be deprived of your own. I would rather have my condition deteriorated by another’s violence, than my character deteriorated by my own sin.
Man’s foundation is not like the everlasting hills. It is not in his power to push another, and yet not move himself The oppressor and the oppressed are by the same operation equally, although in opposite directions, depraved. As far as the slave is pressed down beneath the level into brutish indifference, so far is the master thrust up above the level into supercilious pride. As deeply as the vice of meanness is scored into the black by the lash, so deeply is the vice of arrogance scored into the white by lashing. Those are injured by suffering oppression, and these by inflicting it. Nothing is gained by a false estimate of the value of any man. The circles of Providence, like the celestial bodies, correct aberrations, and right themselves as they go round. The same sleepless eye, and the same avenging arm, are over masters and servants in the economical relations of our own land.
Yalue the Young. How precious these germs are!
These spring-buds are lovely to look upon, but their worth is greater than their beauty. An immortal life is opening there; heed it well. Proprietors rear strong fences round young trees, while they leave aged forests to take their chance. Permit not the immortal to be twisted at the very starting of its growth, for the want of such protection as it is in your power to afford. By failing practically to value little ones at their real worth, we both suffer and inflict an incalculable injury. They will be the men and women of the generation, when we become children again. If they grow crooked for want of our care to-day, we shall lack support when we are too feeble to bear our own weight.
Don’t spoil these tender, precious things. Tell them no lie. Speak no vile or profane word in their hearing. Let no drop fall on that polished surface, which may eat like rust into the heart, and become the death of a soul.
Value the Poor and Ignorant. In that state Christ valued you, believer. He did not pass you because you were worthless. He came to make you rich in grace, and to rejoice over you then.
Value the Rich. We speak here not of the Christian brotherhood, but of human kind. Many of those whom the world call rich are selling themselves for vile stuff. They give themselves for money and show. The rich man’s soul is more precious than all his riches. If he cannot estimate the things at their proper worth, you can, and should. He is as precious as the poor, and will be as worthy, if he is redeemed, when he walks with his Redeemer in white.
Value the Vicious. Although they wallow in a deep mire to-day, they have fallen from a high estate, and may yet regain it. If one who had been a king’s son should, in the frequent revolutions of these days, be cast a naked and penniless wanderer on our shores, we would not think of him as of a common beggar. If he should come in want to your door, you would look with a kind of awe on him who is the heir of a sovereign house, and may yet sit upon a throne. Under his piteous condition you would recognise what he has been, and may yet be.
When an abandoned woman passes you on the street do not despise her. Perhaps beneath that bold look shame begins to swell, and would burst into repentance if it could get an outlet. She is human; Christ is human; and therefore she may yet be partaker of the divine nature. A jewel most precious lies under these loathsome incrustations. That is a precious soul. If she were snatched from the burning, she might be on earth yet a sister beloved, and in heaven a daughter of the Lord Almighty. Despise her not as you pass. Let your heart glue itself to hers; and if you must pass, unable to draw her from the pit, let it be such a passing as will leave your own heart torn and bleeding for the outcast whom you cannot save. Let not the frequency of such a contact rub your heart hard and smooth, so that other victims passing to perdition shall slip easily over, getting no grip, and leaving no pain within you. Never learn to pass the lost without a sigh, for she is human, immortal. If she is lost, the loss is eternal; if she were won, the gain would be unspeakable, to your Lord and you.
It is time that the brotherhood in Christ were aroused to estimate aright the value of a drunkard, and the peculiar danger of his state. They who spurn him away in disgust, and they who make merry with his weakness, are alike out of their reckoning. We should not lightly laugh at him on the one hand; we should not hopelessly give him up on the other. The saddest feature of the drunkard’s sad case is the tendency that may be observed, even among earnest Christians, to give him up as beyond the reach of human help. I see that some, even of those who are girding themselves for saving work upon the world, without saying that the inveterate inebriate is absolutely irreclaimable, are deliberately passing by the class, in order that they may quarry in other veins where experience holds out greater hope of success. The peculiar hopelessness of the advanced stage in this form of sin gives peculiar force to the maxim, Prevention is better than cure.
That poor staggering drunkard is worth more than worlds, if he were won. If you could win him, he would be a crown of joy to you in the great day. “Of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire” (Jude 22, 23). They who hope in Christ should not count any case hopeless.
Value Yourself. Do not hold yourselves cheap, ye who may have Christ for your brother, and heaven for your home. This body the Lord has cleansed, that he may make it his own dwelling-place, and why should these loathsome lusts be permitted to possess and defile it? These lips are needed to support a part in the new song of the redeemed out of all nations, and why should they be lent out as instruments of sin? I shall not lightly accord my company to every comer, for the King is courting it: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the woi-ld,”
In estimating the value of yourself, for all the practical purposes of life, adopt the standard of the King Eternal; and the value which he attached to the subject may be seen in the price which he paid, — “Who loved me, and gave himself for me.”