Sermons Preached in Manchester

Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

YOU find that three times within the compass of a very few verses this injunction is repeated. “As God hath distributed to every man,” says the Apostle in the i yth verse, “as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.” Then again, in the aoth verse, “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called.” And then finally in our text

The reason for this emphatic reiteration is not difficult to ascertain. There were strong temptations to restlessness besetting the early Christians. The great change from heathenism to Christianity would seem to loosen the joints of all life, and having been swept from their anchorage in religion, all external tilings would appear to be adrift It was most natural that a man should seek to alter even the circumstances of his outward life, when such a revolution bad separated him from his ancient sel£ f THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. [SERM.

Hence would tend to come the rupture of family ties, the separation of husband and wife, the Jewish convert seeking to become like a Gentile, the Gentile seeking to become like a Jew; the slave faying to be free, the freeman, in some paroxysm of disgust at his former condition, trying to become a slave. These three cases are all referred to in the context — marriage, circumcision, slavery. And for all three the Apostle has the same advice to give — stop where you are. In whatever condition you were when God’s invitation drew you to Him self — for that, and not being set to a “vocation” in life, is the meaning of the word “called” here — remain in it.

And then, on the other hand, there was every reason why the Apostle and his co-workers should set themselves, by all means in their power, to oppose this restlessness. For, if Christianity in those early days had once de generated into the mere instrument of social revolution, its development would have been thrown back for centuries, and the whole worth and power of it, for those who first apprehended it, would have been lost. So you know Paul never said a word to encourage any precipitate attempts to change externals. He let slavery — he let war alone; he let the tyranny of the Roman empire alone — not because he was a coward, not because he thought these things were not worth meddling with, but because he, like all wise men, believed in making the tree good and then its fruit good. He believed in the diffusion of the principles which he proclaimed, and the mighty name which he served, as able to girdle the poison-tree, and to take the bark off it, and the rest — the slow dying — might be left to the work of time. And the same general idea underlies the words of my text Do not try, he says, do not trouble yourselves about external circumstances; keep to your Christian profession; let those alone, they will right themselves. Art thou a slave? Seek not to be freed. Art thou circumcised? Seek not to be uncircumcised. Get hold of the central, vivifying, transmuting influence, and all the rest is a question of time. But, besides this more especial application of the words of my text to the primitive times, it carries with it, dear brethren, a large general principle that applies to all — a principle, I may say, dead in the teeth of the maxims upon which life is being ordered by the most of us. Our maxim is, “Get on!” Paul’s is, “Never mind about getting on, get up!” Our notion is — “try to make the circumstances what I would like to have them.” Paul’s is — “leave circumstances to take care of themselves, or rather leave God to take care of the circumstances. You get close to Him, and hold His hand, and everything else will right itself.” Only he is not preaching stolid acquiescence. His previous injunctions were — “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.” He sees that that may be misconceived and abused, and so, in his third reiteration of the precept, he puts in a word which throws a flood of light upon the whole thing: — “Let every man wherein he is called therein abide.” Yes, but that is not all — “therein abide with God!” Aye, that is it! not an impossible stoicism; not hypo critical, fanatical contempt of the external But whilst

4 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, [SERM.

that gets its due force and weight, whilst a man yields himself in a measure to the natural tastes and inclinations which God has given him, and with the intention that he should find there subordinate guidance and impulse for his life, still let him abide where he is called with God, and seek to increase his fellowship with Him, as the main thing that he has to do.

I. Thus we are led from the words before us first to the thought that our chief effort in life ought to be union with God.

“Abide with God,” which, being put into other words, means, I think, mainly two things — constant communion, the occupation of all our nature with Him, and, consequently, the recognition of His will in all circumstances.

As to the former, we have the mind and heart and will of God revealed to us for the light, the love, the obedience of our will and heart and mind; and our Apostle’s precept is, first, that we should try, moment by moment, in all the bustle and stir of our daily life, to have our whole being consciously directed to and engaged with, fertilized, and calmed by contact with the perfect and infinite nature of our Father in heaven.

As we go to our work to-morrow morning again, what difference would obedience to this precept make upon my life and yours? Before all else, and in the midst of all else, we should think of that Divine Mind that in the heavens is waiting to illumine our darkness; we should feel the glow of that uncreated and perfect Ixpve, which, in the midst of change and treachery, of coldness and of “greetings where no kindness is,” in the midst of masterful authority and unloving command, is ready to fill our hearts with tenderness and tranquillity: we should bow before that Will which is absolute and supreme indeed, but neither arbitrary nor harsh, which is “the eternal purpose that He hath purposed in Himself” indeed, but is also “the good pleasure of His goodness and the counsel of His grace.”

And with such a God near to us ever in our faithful thoughts, in our thankful love, in our lowly obedience, with such a mind revealing itself to us, and such a heart opening its hidden storehouses for us as we approach, like some star that, as one gets nearer to it, expands its disc and glows into rich colour, where at a distance was but pallid silver, and such a will sovereign above all, energizing, even through opposition, and making obedience a delight, what room, brethren, would there be in our lives for agitations, and distractions, and regrets, and cares, and fears — what room for earthly hopes or for sad remembrances? They die in the fruition of a present God all-sufficient for mind, and heart, and will — even as the sun when it is risen with a burning heat may scorch and wither the weeds that grow about the base of the fruitful tree whose deeper roots are but warmed by the rays that ripen the rich clusters which it bears. “Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God”

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