Strong Measures.
What an objection some people have to strong measures! They see around
them, amongst those under their influence, a great deal going on which
is downright evil. You call upon them to put a stop to it, and to do all
in their power to prevent it.
But what do they say? They tell you they will go gently and quietly to
work; but they do not like to hurt other people's feelings, or to tread
upon their prejudices. They have no objection to try gradually, quietly,
and gently, to turn the tide of evil into a good and holy channel, but
they hate and abominate anything in the shape of strong measures.
And yet there are cases where nothing short of strong measures will be
of any avail. Here is a man who has a diseased hand. For some time the
doctor has been trying gentle remedies: the poultice, the plaster, the
fomentation, have all been tried. But now the doctor sees a change in
the appearance of the hand. He sees very clearly that mortification is
setting in. No poultice, no plaster, no fomentation will be of any avail
now, nothing but the knife, nothing but cutting off the limb will save
the man's life. What a foolish doctor he would be, who should refuse in
such a case to take strong measures!
The great reformer, Martin Luther, looked around him, and what did he
see? The whole civilized world a slave at the feet of one man, the Pope
of Rome, obeying that man as if he were God; believing every word that
came from his mouth, following carefully in his footsteps as he led them
astray.
Luther feels nothing will do but strong measures. He will not go gently
and quietly to work in his reform, for he feels that would be of no use;
the case is so serious that nothing but a strong and decided step will
answer the purpose. His strong step consisted in the making of a
bonfire. On December 10, 1520, as the students of the great University
at Wittenburg came to the college, they found fastened to the walls a
notice inviting them and the professors, and all who liked to come, to
meet Martin Luther at the east gate of the college at nine o'clock the
following morning.
Full of curiosity, they assembled in great numbers to find a bonfire,
and Luther standing by it with a paper in his hand. That paper was a
letter from the Pope to Luther, telling him that if he did not recant
from all he was teaching in less than sixty days, the Pope would give
him over to Satan. After reading the letter to the assembled crowd,
Luther solemnly threw it into the flames and watched it burn to ashes,
that all might see how little he cared for the Pope or his threats. From
that time there could be no more peace between Luther and Rome.
It was certainly a strong measure, and Luther owns that he had to make a
great effort to force himself to take it. He says: 'When I burnt the
bull, it was with inward fear and trembling, but I look upon that act
with more pleasure than upon any passage of my life.' For Luther felt,
and felt rightly, that the glorious Reformation would never have been
brought about unless he had used strong measures.
Nehemiah was the Martin Luther of his age, the great reformer of his
nation, and never did he feel the need of strong measure to be so great,
as when he came back to Jerusalem after his absence in Persia.
Four glaring evils were staring him in the face.
(1) In the temple itself a grand reception room had been prepared for
Tobiah the Ammonite.
(2) The people had refused to pay tithes or contributions to the temple
service, and the Levites had consequently all left the sanctuary.
(3) The Sabbath day was desecrated and profaned; trade went on as usual
both within and without the city.
(4) So common had marriage with heathen people become, that even the
very children in the street were chattering in foreign languages.
Four evils, all of them very serious and deep-rooted, all calling for
instant reformation at his hand.
How does Nehemiah go to work? Does he shrink from giving offence, or
hurting people's feelings, or calling things by their right names? No,
he feels his nation have sinned; the disease of sin is spreading,
mortification is setting in, nothing will do but strong measures. The
offending members must be cut off, that the whole body may be saved.
He begins first with the temple. Going into the inner court, and taking
with him a band of his faithful servants, he throws open the door of the
great store-chamber and begins his work. Indignantly he bids his
servants to clear out all Tobiah's goods, nay, he himself gives a
helping hand, and leads them in the work. The grand divans, the elegant
cushions, the elaborate mats, the bright-coloured curtains are all
dragged out and cast forth outside. And then, when the great chamber is
empty he has it thoroughly cleaned and purified and put in order, to
receive again the temple vessels and stores.
A strong measure certainly, but a very necessary one. If Nehemiah had
stopped to think what Tobiah might happen to say the next time he came
to Jerusalem, or if he had held back because he was afraid of hurting
the feelings of Eliashib the high priest, the sin would never have been
stopped, the temple would never have been cleansed.
St. Paul tells all those who are Christ's, that they themselves are
God's temple.
'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.'
Ye are the temple of God, you yourself God's dwelling-place. Examine
then the secret chambers of your heart. Are any of Tobiah's goods there?
Is there any secret sin hidden away in your heart?
If so, be your own Nehemiah; cleanse the chamber of your heart, or
rather cry unto God to do it for you.
'Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.'
This is an all-important matter, for, unless the hidden sin is removed,
you will receive no answer to your prayers, and therefore to attempt to
pray is useless.
'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.'
Then, too, the Holy Spirit will be grieved and will cease to move you,
and without His help you can do nothing; He cannot inhabit that temple
in the secret chambers of which is to be found cherished sin.
In such a case nothing but strong measures will avail. That sin must be
given up, or your soul will be darkened; that chamber must be cleansed,
or the holy presence of the Lord cannot remain.
Do you say, It is hard to give it up, to clear it out; it has become a
second nature to me, and I know not how to rid myself of it?
Surely it is worth making the effort, however much pain and suffering it
may cause. Amputation, however much agony it may entail, is necessary if
mortification has set in.
'If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for
it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not
that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand
offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body
should be cast into hell.'
The first evil has been dealt with and cleared away, Tobiah and his
goods have been cast out of the temple. Nehemiah now passes on to the
next thing which had so greatly shocked him on his arrival in Jerusalem,
namely, the neglect on the part of the people with regard to the payment
of what was due from them for the temple service.
Again Nehemiah takes strong measures. He calls together the rulers, as
the leaders and representatives of the rest, and he gives them very
strongly his mind on the subject. No smooth words or gentle hints will
do. He tells us, 'I contended some time with them' (that is, I reproved
them and argued with them), 'and I said, Why is the house of our God
forsaken?'
Then, without waiting for a response to his appeal, he sends round to
all the Levites and singers, bidding them with all haste to come up to
the temple and to take up their work again. And the people, seeing he
was determined, and that there was no possibility of his allowing the
matter to drop, came also, bringing with them the corn, and the wine,
and the oil, with which once more to fill the empty chamber.
'Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the
oil unto the treasuries.'
And, in order to prevent such a thing ever happening again, Nehemiah
appointed treasurers to look after the temple stores. Eliashib the high
priest had been the store-keeper before, xiii. 4, but he had shown
himself unworthy of his office. Four men are accordingly chosen to
collect the stores, and afterwards to deal them out to the priests and
Levites. One is a priest, one a Levite, one a layman of rank, and the
fourth a scribe, ver. 13. Nehemiah tells us why he selected these four
men. 'They were counted faithful,' and as faithful men they could be
thoroughly depended upon.
Now, having set the temple in order, Nehemiah proceeds to fight the
battle with regard to the observance of the Sabbath.
Again he uses strong measures. He once more speaks strongly and hotly
to the nobles, for they had led the van in Sabbath desecration. They
liked the freshest fruit and the daintiest dishes for their Sabbath
feast, and they had, therefore, encouraged the market-people to go on
with their Sabbath trade. Then, as now, there were plenty of people who,
for their own self-pleasing, were ready to argue in favour of the loose
observance of the fourth commandment.
Nehemiah reminds the nobles that the destruction of Jerusalem, the
overthrow of that very city which they were taking so much trouble to
rebuild, had all been brought about through desecration of the Sabbath
day.
For what message had Jeremiah brought their fathers?
'If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to
bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath
day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour
the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.'
God's word had come true. Their fathers, despising the warning, had
continued to break the Sabbath, and Nebuchadnezzar had burnt and
destroyed the very gates through which the Sabbath burdens had been
carried. What safety, then, could they hope for now, how could they
expect to keep their new gates from destruction, if they followed in the
footsteps of their fathers, and did the very thing that God, by the
mouth of Jeremiah, condemned?
'Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What
evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your
fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon
this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the
Sabbath.'
But though Nehemiah began by rebuking the nobles, he did not stop here.
He took up the matter with a high hand. He commanded the gate-keepers to
shut the gates on Friday evening, about half-an-hour earlier than usual.
On other nights they were shut as soon as the sun had set, but now
Nehemiah orders them to close the gates on Friday evenings, so soon as
the shadows began to lengthen and the day was drawing to a close. They
were also, in future, to be kept shut the whole of the Sabbath, so that
no mules, or donkeys, or camels, or other beasts of burden, might be
able to enter the city on the holy day.
The little gate, inside the large gate, by means of which
foot-passengers might enter and leave the city, was left open, in order
that people living in the country villages round might be able to come
into the city to attend the temple services. But at this smaller gate
Nehemiah took care to place some of his own trusty servants, and gave
them strict instructions to admit no burdens, no parcel, no goods of any
kind into the city on the Sabbath day, xiii. 19.
Very naturally, the merchants and the salespeople did not like this.
They did a good stroke of business on the Sabbath day, and would not
lose their large profits without a struggle. Accordingly, what do we
find them doing? They were refused admittance into the city, so they set
up their stalls outside the walls. If the Jerusalem people could not buy
of them, because of that strait-laced, narrow-minded Nehemiah, still
the country people who came in to attend the temple services could
purchase at their stalls on their way home. They might thus maintain a
certain amount of their Sabbath business, and secure at least a portion
of their Sabbath gains. Not only so, but surely many Jews from the city
itself, as they strolled through the gates on the day of rest, might
pass by their stalls, and, in the conveniently loose folds of their
robes, many, even of these inhabitants of Jerusalem, might conceal a
pomegranate, or a melon, a piece of fish, or a bunch of grapes, a
handful of figs, or a freshly-cut cucumber, and might easily escape
detection by Nehemiah's servants, standing at the gate.
Nehemiah, seeing this state of things, feels that once again strong
measures are required. He must make a clean sweep of these traders at
once. So, going out to them, he gives them warning that they will be
arrested and imprisoned the very next time that they come within sight
of the city on the Sabbath day.
'So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without
Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified unto them: Why lodge ye about
the wall? If ye do so again I will lay hands on you.'
That put a stop to it.
'From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath.'
Then, from that day, Nehemiah held the Levites responsible for the
strict observance of this rule. His own servants had guarded the gates
in the first emergency, now he bids the Levites to take their place, and
to do all in their power to enforce and to maintain the sanctity of the
holy day.
Surely we need a Nehemiah now-a-days, we need some of his strong
measures to stop the growing disregard of the Sabbath, which is creeping
slowly but surely like a dark shadow over this country of ours. We need
a man who will not be afraid of being called strait-laced, or
narrow-minded, or peculiar, or Jewish, or Puritanical, but who will
speak his mind clearly and decidedly on such an all-important point,
and who will not hesitate to use strong measures to put down the
Sabbath-breaking and the utter disregard of God's law, which is
threatening the ruin of our beloved country.
Let each of us ask himself or herself, What am I doing in this matter?
How do I keep the Sabbath myself? God asks for the whole day; do I give
it to Him, or do I spend the best of its hours in bed? Am I careful not
to please myself on the Lord's Day, or do I think it no shame to amuse
myself on that day as I choose, by travelling, by light reading, or by
any other means that I have within my disposal? Am I anxious to dedicate
the day wholly and entirely to God, setting it apart entirely for His
service, and looking upon it as a foretaste of the great and eternal
Sabbath that is coming?
And, if I myself keep and reverence God's Sabbath, do I see that those
over whom I have influence are doing the same? Am I anxious that my
children, my servants, the visitors who come to see me, all who are in
my home on the Lord's Day should do the same? Do I help them by every
means in my power? Do I strive that in my home at least God shall have
His due?
And if in my home the Sabbath is observed, what am I doing with regard
to it outside, in my own town, or village, amongst my acquaintances,
companions, and friends? Am I doing all I can, using all the influence
God has given me, to lead others to reverence and observe the holy day?
And my country, dear old England; am I praying day by day that her glory
may not depart, that her sun may not go down because of desecration of
the Sabbath day? The old promise holds good still; it is true of
individuals, of families, and of nations.
'If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on
My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own word: then shalt thou delight
thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth.'
'FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT.'