WHAT I PREACHED.
During the suffering which accompanied the disappointment at which I
have already hinted, I did not think it inconsistent with the manly
spirit in which I was resolved to endure it, to seek consolation from
such a source as the New Testament—if mayhap consolation for such a
trouble was to be found there. Whereupon, a little to my surprise, I
discovered that I could not read the Epistles at all. For I did not
then care an atom for the theological discussions in which I had been
interested before, and for the sake of which I had read those epistles.
Now that I was in trouble, what to me was that philosophical theology
staring me in the face from out the sacred page? Ah! reader, do not
misunderstand me. All reading of the Book is not reading of the Word.
And many that are first shall be last and the last first. I know NOW
that it was Jesus Christ and not theology that filled the hearts of the
men that wrote those epistles—Jesus Christ, the living, loving God-Man,
whom I found—not in the Epistles, but in the Gospels. The Gospels
contain what the apostles preached—the Epistles what they wrote after
the preaching. And until we understand the Gospel, the good news of
Jesus Christ our brother-king—until we understand Him, until we have
His Spirit, promised so freely to them that ask it—all the Epistles,
the words of men who were full of Him, and wrote out of that fulness,
who loved Him so utterly that by that very love they were lifted into
the air of pure reason and right, and would die for Him, and did die
for Him, without two thoughts about it, in the very simplicity of NO
CHOICE—the Letters, I say, of such men are to us a sealed book. Until
we love the Lord so as to do what He tells us, we have no right to have
an opinion about what one of those men meant; for all they wrote is
about things beyond us. The simplest woman who tries not to judge her
neighbour, or not to be anxious for the morrow, will better know what
is best to know, than the best-read bishop without that one simple
outgoing of his highest nature in the effort to do the will of Him who
thus spoke.
But I have, as is too common with me, been led away by my feelings from
the path to the object before me. What I wanted to say was this: that,
although I could make nothing of the epistles, could see no possibility
of consolation for my distress springing from them, I found it
altogether different when I tried the Gospel once more. Indeed, it then
took such a hold of me as it had never taken before. Only that is
simply saying nothing. I found out that I had known nothing at all
about it; that I had only a certain surface-knowledge, which tended
rather to ignorance, because it fostered the delusion that I did know.
Know that man, Christ Jesus! Ah! Lord, I would go through fire and
water to sit the last at Thy table in Thy kingdom; but dare I say now I
KNOW Thee!—But Thou art the Gospel, for Thou art the Way, the Truth,
and the Life; and I have found Thee the Gospel. For I found, as I read,
that Thy very presence in my thoughts, not as the theologians show
Thee, but as Thou showedst Thyself to them who report Thee to us,
smoothed the troubled waters of my spirit, so that, even while the
storm lasted, I was able to walk upon them to go to Thee. And when
those waters became clear, I most rejoiced in their clearness because
they mirrored Thy form—because Thou wert there to my vision—the one
Ideal, the perfect man, the God perfected as king of men by working out
His Godhood in the work of man; revealing that God and man are one;
that to serve God, a man must be partaker of the Divine nature; that
for a man’s work to be done thoroughly, God must come and do it first
Himself; that to help men, He must be what He is—man in God, God in
man—visibly before their eyes, or to the hearing of their ears. So much
I saw.
And therefore, when I was once more in a position to help my fellows,
what could I want to give them but that which was the very bread and
water of life to me—the Saviour himself? And how was I to do this?—By
trying to represent the man in all the simplicity of His life, of His
sayings and doings, of His refusals to say or do.—I took the story from
the beginning, and told them about the Baby; trying to make the fathers
and mothers, and all whose love for children supplied the lack of
fatherhood and motherhood, feel that it was a real baby-boy. And I
followed the life on and on, trying to show them how He felt, as far as
one might dare to touch such sacred things, when He did so and so, or
said so and so; and what His relation to His father and mother and
brothers and sisters was, and to the different kinds of people who came
about Him. And I tried to show them what His sayings meant, as far as I
understood them myself, and where I could not understand them I just
told them so, and said I hoped for more light by and by to enable me to
understand them; telling them that that hope was a sharp goad to my
resolution, driving me on to do my duty, because I knew that only as I
did my duty would light go up in my heart, making me wise to understand
the precious words of my Lord. And I told them that if they would try
to do their duty, they would find more understanding from that than
from any explanation I could give them.
And so I went on from Sunday to Sunday. And the number of people that
slept grew less and less, until, at last, it was reduced to the
churchwarden, Mr Brownrigg, and an old washerwoman, who, poor thing,
stood so much all the week, that sitting down with her was like going
to bed, and she never could do it, as she told me, without going to
sleep. I, therefore, called upon her every Monday morning, and had five
minutes’ chat with her as she stood at her wash-tub, wishing to make up
to her for her drowsiness; and thinking that if I could once get her
interested in anything, she might be able to keep awake a little while
at the beginning of the sermon; for she gave me no chance of
interesting her on Sundays—going fast asleep the moment I stood up to
preach. I never got so far as that, however; and the only fact that
showed me I had made any impression upon her, beyond the pleasure she
always manifested when I appeared on the Monday, was, that, whereas all
my linen had been very badly washed at first, a decided improvement
took place after a while, beginning with my surplice and bands, and
gradually extending itself to my shirts and handkerchiefs; till at last
even Mrs Pearson was unable to find any fault with the poor old sleepy
woman’s work. For Mr Brownrigg, I am not sure that the sense of any one
sentence I ever uttered, down to the day of his death, entered into his
brain—I dare not say his mind or heart. With regard to him, and
millions besides, I am more than happy to obey my Lord’s command, and
not judge.
But it was not long either before my congregations began to improve,
whatever might be the cause. I could not help hoping that it was really
because they liked to hear the Gospel, that is, the good news about
Christ himself. And I always made use of the knowledge I had of my
individual hearers, to say what I thought would do them good. Not that
I ever preached AT anybody; I only sought to explain the principles of
things in which I knew action of some sort was demanded from them. For
I remembered how our Lord’s sermon against covetousness, with the
parable of the rich man with the little barn, had for its occasion the
request of a man that our Lord would interfere to make his brother
share with him; which He declining to do, yet gave both brothers a
lesson such as, if they wished to do what was right, would help them to
see clearly what was the right thing to do in this and every such
matter. Clear the mind’s eye, by washing away the covetousness, and the
whole nature would be full of light, and the right walk would speedily
follow.
Before long, likewise, I was as sure of seeing the pale face of Thomas
Weir perched, like that of a man beheaded for treason, upon the apex of
the gablet of the old tomb, as I was of hearing the wonderful playing
of that husky old organ, of which I have spoken once before. I
continued to pay him a visit every now and then; and I assure you,
never was the attempt to be thoroughly honest towards a man better
understood or more appreciated than my attempt was by the ATHEISTICAL
carpenter. The man was no more an atheist than David was when he saw
the wicked spreading like a green bay-tree, and was troubled at the
sight. He only wanted to see a God in whom he could trust. And if I
succeeded at all in making him hope that there might be such a God, it
is to me one of the most precious seals of my ministry.
But it was now getting very near Christmas, and there was one person
whom I had never yet seen at church: that was Catherine Weir. I
thought, at first, it could hardly be that she shrunk from being seen;
for how then could she have taken to keeping a shop, where she must be
at the beck of every one? I had several times gone and bought tobacco
of her since that first occasion; and I had told my housekeeper to buy
whatever she could from her, instead of going to the larger shop in the
place; at which Mrs Pearson had grumbled a good deal, saying how could
the things be so good out of a poky shop like that? But I told her I
did not care if the things were not quite as good; for it would be of
more consequence to Catherine to have the custom, than it would be to
me to have the one lump of sugar I put in my tea of a morning one shade
or even two shades whiter. So I had contrived to keep up a kind of
connexion with her, although I saw that any attempt at conversation was
so distasteful to her, that it must do harm until something should have
brought about a change in her feelings; though what feeling wanted
changing, I could not at first tell. I came to the conclusion that she
had been wronged grievously, and that this wrong operating on a nature
similar to her father’s, had drawn all her mind to brood over it. The
world itself, the whole order of her life, everything about her, would
seem then to have wronged her; and to speak to her of religion would
only rouse her scorn, and make her feel as if God himself, if there
were a God, had wronged her too. Evidently, likewise, she had that
peculiarity of strong, undeveloped natures, of being unable, once
possessed by one set of thoughts, to get rid of it again, or to see
anything except in the shadow of those thoughts. I had no doubt,
however, at last, that she was ashamed of her position in the eyes of
society, although a hitherto indomitable pride had upheld her to face
it so far as was necessary to secure her independence; both of
which—pride and shame—prevented her from appearing where it was
unnecessary, and especially in church. I could do nothing more than
wait for a favourable opportunity. I could invent no way of reaching
her yet; for I had soon found that kindness to her boy was regarded
rather in the light of an insult to her. I should have been greatly
puzzled to account for his being such a sweet little fellow, had I not
known that he was a great deal with his aunt and grandfather. A more
attentive and devout worshipper was not in the congregation than that
little boy.
Before going on to speak of another of the most remarkable of my
parishioners, whom I have just once mentioned I believe already, I
should like to say that on three several occasions before Christmas I
had seen Judy look grave. She was always quite well-behaved in church,
though restless, as one might expect. But on these occasions she was
not only attentive, but grave, as if she felt something or other. I
will not mention what subjects I was upon at those times, because the
mention of them would not, in the minds of my readers, at all harmonise
with the only notion of Judy they can yet by possibility have.
For Mrs Oldcastle, I never saw her change countenance or even
expression at anything—I mean in church.