Whatever a man may think about himself, however he may estimate
himself and conceit himself, there stand out two salient facts, the
fact of universal dependence, and the fact of universal sinfulness,
which ought to bear into every heart the consciousness of this
poverty. A word or two about each of these two facts.
First, the fact of universal dependence. Now, wise men and deep
thinkers have found a very hard problem in the question of how it is
possible that there should be an infinite God and a finite universe
standing, as it were, over against Him. I am not going to trouble you
with the all-but-just-succeeding answers to that great problem which
the various systems of thinking have given. These lie apart from my
present purpose. But what I would point out is that, whatever else may
be dark and difficult about the co-existence of these two, the
infinite God and the finite universe, this at least is sun-clear, that
the creature depends absolutely for everything on that infinite
Creator. People talk sometimes, and we are all too apt to think, as if
God had made the world and left it. And we are all too apt to think
that, however we may owe the origination of our own personal existence
to a divine act, the act was done when we began to be, and the life
was given as a gift that could be separated from the Bestower. But
that is not the state of the case at all. The real fact is that life
is only continued because of the continued operation on every living
thing, just as being is only continued by reason of the continued
operation on every existing thing, of the Divine Power. 'In Him we
live,' and the life is the result of the perpetual impartation from
Himself 'in whom all things consist,' according to the profound word
of the Apostle. Their being depends on their union with Him. If it
were possible to cut a sunbeam in two, so that the further half of it
should be separated from its vital union with the great central fire
from which it rushed long, long ago, that further half would pale into
darkness. And if you cut the connection between God and the creature,
the creature shrivels into nothing. By Him the spring buds around us
unfold themselves; by Him all things are. So, at the very foundation
of our being there lies absolute dependence.
In like manner, all that we call faculties, capacities, and the like,
are, in a far deeper sense than the conventional use of the word
'gift' implies, bestowments from Him. The Old Testament goes to the
root of the matter when, speaking of the artistic and aesthetic skill
of the workers in the fine arts in the Tabernacle, it says, 'the
Spirit of the Lord' taught Bezaleel; and when, even in regard to the
brute strength of Samson--surely the strangest hero of faith that ever
existed--it says that when 'the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,'
into his giant hands there was infused the strength by which he tore
the lion's jaws asunder. In like manner, all the faculties that men
possess they have simply because He has given them. 'What hast thou
that thou hast not received? If thou hast received, why dost thou
boast thyself?' So there is a great psalm that gathers everything that
makes up human life, and traces it all to God, when it says, 'They
shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house,' for from
God comes all that sustains us; 'Thou shalt make them drink of the
river of Thy pleasures,' for from God comes all that gladdens us;
'with Thee is the fountain of life,' for from Him flow all the tiny
streams that make the life of all that live; 'in Thy light shall we
see light,' for every power of perceiving, and all grace and lustre of
purity, owe their source to Him. As well, then, might the pitcher
boast itself of the sparkling water that it only holds, as well might
the earthen jar plume itself on the treasure that has been deposited
in it, as we make ourselves rich because of the riches that we have
received. 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in his
riches; but he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.'
Then, turn for a moment to the second of the facts on which this
universal poverty depends, and that is the fact of universal
sinfulness. Ah! there is one thing that is our own--
'If any power we have, it is to will.'
We have that strange faculty, which nobody has ever thoroughly
explained yet, but which we all know to exist, of wrenching ourselves
so far away from God, 'in whom we live and move and have our being,'
that we can make our thoughts and ways, not merely lower than, but
contradictory of, and antagonistic to, His thoughts, and His ways.
Conscience tells us, and we all know it, that we are the causes of our
own actions, though from Him come the powers by which we do them. The
electricity comes from the central powerstation, but it depends on us
what sort of wheels we make it drive, and what kind of work we set it
to do. Make all allowances you like for circumstances--what they call
nowadays 'environment,' by which formidable word some people seem to
think that they have explained away a great many difficulties--make
all allowances you like for inheritance--what they now call
'heredity,' by which other magic word people seem to think that they
may largely obliterate the sense of responsibility and sin--allow as
much as you like, in reason, for these, and there remains the
indestructible consciousness in every man, 'I did it, and it was my
fault that I did it; and the moral guilt remains.'
So, then, there are these two things, universal dependence and
universal sinfulness, and on them is built the declaration of
universal poverty. Duty is debt. Everybody knows that the two words
come from the same root. What we ought is what we owe. We all owe an
obedience which none of us has rendered. Ten thousand talents is the
debt and--'they had nothing to pay.' We are like bankrupts that begin
business with a borrowed capital, by reason of our absolute
dependence; and so manage their concerns as to find themselves
inextricably entangled in a labyrinth of obligations which they cannot
discharge. We are all paupers. And so I come to the second point, and
that is--