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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmis A des taux de reduction diff«rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour 6tre reproduit en un seul clich«, il est fiim« d partir de I angle sup«rieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 SitttltQtt FREACHGI) AT THE NATIONAL SCOTCH CHURCH, MATTHEW'S, HALIFAX On the morning of Ist January, 1865, BV THE REV. GEORGE M. GRANT, A. M. HALIFAX, N. S. PRINTED BY JAMES BOWES & SONS. 1865. Till St. M philoso] ycstt'i'di G. M. himdiT( oxpunst the you Halii Tfik undfi-siijiu'd. a few of the oldest parishioners of St. Mvi'iiiKu's, highly appreeiating the sound relij>:ious philosophy, and literary beauty, of the Sermon delivered yesterday morning, by their esteemed minister, the Kc \{'rend G. M. (iRANr, respectfully recpiest that he will allow fiv^ hundred copies of it to be printed, and distributed at thei. expense, as an acceptable and timely New Year's gift, to the youth of our own and kindred congregations, Halifax, 2il Jaii'y. lHi)o. William Yoi no, A. Kkitii, John Drins, Jamks McNah, Jamks F. Avf.uy. Wm. B. Faihhanks. Geo. p. Mik hkll. /?i (lie the s{( will }y M work his r( life t( ture i the o be in actioi impu tificai and hung that j and 1 heav( him capa( tive < oblig and < It that of on SERMON. " Rejoice, i/ouh(f man, in thy youth, etnel ht thy henrt chew thrv in the (lays of thy youth, and valk in the iruys of thine heart, und in the siijht of thine eyes: hut know thou, that for all these thiuys (lod nill briny thee info judgjnent." — EcCLES. xi. 9. Man, as matoiial and spiritual, is linked to two distinct worlds or systems of things. Duties devolve upon him from his relation to each, and it is the great practical difficulty of life to adjust the respective claims of the two. Human na- ture is one, but it is compound ; and so different in kind is the one part of it from the other, that there often seems to be in man two natures, as there arc in him two springs of action. On the one hand, man is flesh and blood, with impulses, appetites, passions, desires, craving for instant gra- tification ; and he is in a beautiful world filled with objects and arrangements adapted and designed to meet all the hunger and thirst his sentient nature, and thus to give him that gratification whi' h, with all the imperiousness of instinct and necessity, he demands. But in this eaithly there is a heavenly citizen. Man is also a spiritual being, having in him " a connexion exquisite of distant worlds," spiritual capacities which no created thing can compass or fill, impera- tive convictions of duty which are felt to be everlasting in obligation, and which must be obeyed, though feeble sense and quivering nerve and fibre shrink back from the work. It is from the fact that there is in us this double nature that the practical difficulties of life arise. One-sided views of our nature cause us to attach too much importance to par- ticular .lutit's. and thus w,. have a .)iu-M(lrd and uuhralrhy life. 'Die cnor in siuli cases is that tnith is cxa^'t^i-ratod*; an(l thciv is vitah'ty in th(> errors just Inrause of the truth on' \vhieh tliey are hased. 'l'|„.,v are two extremes. One ex- treme is to consider man as rehit(-(l only to the material. Then he is an animal, and only an animal, the ape his near- est pro-enitor. I.ike the inferior creatures, he eats, drinks, and is merry,— irand)ols like a kitten when his hlood is youn- and his spirits buoyant,— ra-es like a ti-er when his appetitt>s are full -rown, and irritated, or provok(>d l)y oi)position. Like them he husks in the sunshine, and rests inthe shade,— enjoys the -enial influences of the heavens, and the fruits' of kind mother earth. Like them he cowers in the dark or the cold, in sickness^ or loneliness.— sometimes lanuuitino- loudly his hapless lot,— sometimes sufferinsr in sullen stoicism, suh*- mittino- to necessity because nec(>ssity makes him submit. If this be all that man is, he is the prat eni-ma of creation ; his fine spirit is attun'd to coarse issues; all his hopes, prayers, sacrifices, mock him. " Dra!,'ons in their prime That tear eacli other in their slime, Are mellow music matched with him." Yet such a creed has a fascination for some minds. The\ will have nothini,^ metaphysical ; they must have " a positive philosophy." To them all life is only organized matter ; nature is only what they see it to be— a dead lo-, and no veil of the spiritual. And if their own souls speak to them of the infinite, of moral order, of the Great Father God, they ignore the teaching. Spirit is not ; thought and conscience are subtle forms of matter. But while such philosophic and professed materialists are few we meet every day practical materialists who scout the creed, yet act up to 'it consistently. There are millions who live exactly as they would live did 7 d unlu'althy xii,i,'<;('ratt'(l : the truth on One ex- it' inat(>nal. e his lu'ar- afs, (hinks. o(l is yoiinij^ lis apjx'titcs opijositioii. 10 shade, — le fruits of dark or the finf>- h)udly lieism, suh- iuhmit. If f creation ; his hopes, ds. They ' a positive d matter ; g, and no k to them God, they eonscicnce iophic and V practical nsistcntly. d Hve did they heHeve that there are no spiritual realitio. with the ex- ception, ptrhaps, that they use on their lips the language of the l)()ok that takes its stand (m the existence of spirit, and that now and then they are awe-stricken, and not bv mun- dane considerations. They helieve in (iod, judgment, eter- nity ; and that the sources of true happiness must he in the soul itself and not in the (mtward; yet they live only for time, think only of its pleasures and distinctions. From such a llle I endeavour to wean myself and you. How often do we say that the soul is the one tiling valuahle ; yet, alas ! we think little of our own souls, we go little out of our way to attemj)t the rescui' of a lost one, when we will rise early and sit up late, ])lan, toil, and run risks to get gain, or fame, or sensual happiness. There is another extrenu* \ lew of nature and life, the in- fection of which is very general and very pernicious, and that is to regard man as if he were exclusively related to the? spiritual; and therefore to put to the han the hody and its powers, the world ol matter and of art, of society ami human relationships as evil or at least not good, a realm nt)t of (iod and unrelated to religion. \Vv uom- meet with few who pro- fess such a creed pure and simple, hut it has been reduced to system, and philosophically maintained. More than one sect of heretics in the infancy of Christianity held that the world was made by the principle of evil, and that the material was essentially evil. The heresy did not spring out of the Chris- tian Church or dogmas, but from the wild fermentings of thought and fantastic theosophies of the East and of Alex- andria ; and it has found its fullest developments in J'ersia, India, and parts of the Avorld where Christianity never gained sure footing. Other heretics held that the maker of the world was not God, but an inferior power, and that therefore our duties which spring from our relationship to it are h^ss II HHcml, less from (nxl than those which h(-K)ii^r t,, the (lomnin of the spiiitu.il. Thn)u<,'hout the history of the Chmrh Huch views liuvo riTeivcd imictit-al expression in various forms of asceticism, in recluses, coenobites, Hagclhmts, " eremites in cell," and orders wliich in some epoclis and countries have embraced an immense portion of the Christian popidation. The Influence of such vi.-ws is still i)()W(>rfully though nu)re imi)erceptibly felt. 'I'he gambols of childhood, the recrea- tions of young and old, the pleasures of society, the study of the Arts and Sciences would now be denounced by i'vw as irreligious ; but how many still regard them with suspicion, considering them as weaknesses that they must tolerate, in- stead of acknowledging thi'm as good gifts of (iod, or as duties that m c owe to Ilim ! Hence their feeling that thev cannot enter into sudi a sphere without hurt to the soul anil the great weakening of piety ; henc(> the continual restraint that is upon them so unworthy of those who are born unto liberty and who ought to look upon everything in heaven above and earth beneath. In the family, the state, and all the work of ordinary life, with the grateful thought "all are ours," for our " Father made them all." To take an in- stance : if we heard a number of little children singing hynnis, or repeating scriptural lessons, we would be delighted, and if they engaged In such religious exercises heartily would be i)ersuaded that God accepted them, and that the sight must be pleasant to angels as to us. But I hvUvw that there are Christians who Mould regard with verv different feelings the same children keeping holiday ui the fields, full of fun and happiness, skipping like hnubs in the mead, and bursting Into shouts of delight and Irrepressible catches of song. 1 fear that there are some who Mould look upon such a sight with little sympathy, M-ould let their heads shake and their countenances darken, — mIio, M-hile admitting that there 9 to the (loiiuiiii I' the C'lmicK various fornix its, '» j'lcinitt's [•ountrioH have n population, tliough inoiH' I, tlu' ITCll'll- thc study of t 'd l)y i'vw as ith suspicion, tolerate, in- f (io(l, or as njr that thi-y the soul and lual retitraint re horn unto \g in heaven ', and all the ,dit "all arc- take an in- dr(>n sini^ing- be deli<^hted, .'artily would lat the si<>ht beheA-e that ary different • fields, full ! mead, and e catches of k upon such Is shake and u that there was no sin ti»(«re, Mould he slow to thank Ood on the child- ren's hehalf for siuh a life, and who would have no conipunc- tion in sumnionins,' them from their sports fo listen to a sermon. Oh. «hat a mistaken vi( w of (iod if it is imagined that lie has no pleasure in such a sijrht. \\-|,„ madi- the lark and the nightingale.' Who caus(«s every wood to Ik- vocal with nuisic. every stream to ripple a sweet fnne.' Who sows the fiehls thick with flowers, and i)aints the passini; cloud, and i)urifies th(< snow-flake and the snow-droj) f \\ho made the sportive hnnhs and the wilil deer, ami all the donustic ereatures that beguile with their ])lays or their syini)athies many a lonely, many a sorrowful hour i'rom us t \W ^ hose ordinance is it that the prattle and games of childn'u s-rve to develoj) their organs and their limhs, to sweeten their tempers ami form their characters ( ^\'ho alone cares for and loves all little things as well as all great things f (Unl CJod only. All are in Him, all How fnun Him as music in' the bounds of law. Oh, have we yet to learn to see all things in God ; to reverence the snudl as well as the great things because they arc His ! '] Vuly, great things are in Him; the highest heaven and the deepest hell ; thunders and lightnings ; ocean depths, skies " sown with stars thick as a field ;" seas of light and life, and love unutterable ; i)un- ishments and woes ; thrones of reward, and hai)piness inHnite, all-searching. But, little things also are in God ; the babe's first smile, and the smile of da^vn and of spring ; th(> starred or mossy flower "born to blush unseen;" the hum of insects and the laughter of young voices— all in Him.* And " lie praycth well who loveth well Ilotli bird and man, imd lieast; He prayeth best who loveth best All things both yreat and small ; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all." * The irerm ofthis Uivn I pot Pome vcarR a-n in " Piilsfor,!'^ Oukt Huurs " I im quo7e from it lUemllV.''' """" ^"""'' '" ""'' ^'"' '"'""*''"' i'-"fe'>"" o7l .houW i 10 Now then let us see where we are. Man is bound up in the two great departments of God's universe, I have said; Hnd we beeome unnatural and unhealthy when we eonfine our view to one side of our being and possessions, one side of t uth, happiness, and duty. It is ours to drink from all the streams of happiness that issue from God's throne. Our bodies are not to be macerated, but to be nm-tured into strength and beauty. Our characters not to be stunted, not put into straight jackets, but to be disciphned unto all their rightful issues ; our minds to be developed, our tastes to be cultivated, our imaginations to be educated, our recreations to be encouraged; no legitimate exercise of any part of our nature to be checked except when it comes into collision with higher claims : and all this to be done-religiously ' And^such a combination of the lower and of the higher iite IS, I believe, what is enjoined in the text. There is nothing ironical nor sarcastic in it, as is generally supposed, no more than m the context. In the preceding vein, the preacher had said that one ought to rejoice all his life, i. e. should ever keep a brave and happy heart ; for many diseases both of soul and body take theii- rise in gloomy and bitter thoughts; while a merry heart is bc^tter than m'edicine. In the opinion of Luther, the man of modern times who had surest faith m spiritual realities, facetious books and music are next best to words of Holy Writ for driving away the devil from us And the preacher next specifies the time of lite m which enjoyment is most natural and attainable. \ oung man, walk in the way of thy desii-e and by the sic^ht of thine eyes," U. Avhatever you see ^dthin your reach which would increase your happiness, enjoy that. It is yours ; but remember always that God will bring you into judgment for the manner m which you use this liberty. In oth^r words, use God s Jlessmgs, as comforts and pleasures intended for bound up in I have said ; 1 we confine s, one side of from all the hrone. Our m-turcd into stunted, not nto all their tastes to be • recreations part of our iito collision giously ! ' the higher . There is y sujiposed, f verse, the lis hfe, i. c. any diseases and bitter dicine. In s who had and music ;• away the the time of attainable. y the sight each which youj-s ; but dgmeut for licr words, tended for 11 you ; but beware of abusing them ; for know well that He will call thee to account for all that thou doest. Such is the wisdom of Scripture, and it is too broad for the ascetic and the austere, for Scribe and Pharisee. It was lived out in the , flesh by our I.ord, and it did not procure him the reputation of Saintship. He was called " winebibber and gluttonous, the friend of publicans and sinners." And such liberty may be abused by the weak and licentious ; but what of that^ "Wisdom is justified of her children" — her own children. I wish you all to understand clearly what is meant here, for I will dare to interpret the bold words of Scriptur(«, and to speak in the pulpit on tlie actual social questions, the temp- ^ tations, difficulties, and errors of living men, even as the * Prophets and Apostles, the Fathers and the Reformers spoke. Religious people often say to young men, and they say truly, — " We are not miserable, but happy indeed ; and if you join us, you shall experience that this is no delusion." But there is a fallacy often implied in such language, and the young man instinctively feels that there is ; when he looks into the case he finds that the only sources of pleasure really intended to be allowed are spiritual, or precisely those which he does not believe in, because he is ignorant of them, and which he needs to be educated up to appreciate ; while all the well- springs that he has been accustomed to draw from, his body, intellect, and imagination, are tabooed or discouraged, or coldly welcomed ; and he says, " I will not give up realities for what are to me only words or cold shadowy abstractions. You feel, if you do not openly say it, that my games and athletic pursuits, my boating, hunting, fishing, my social life or delight in the fine arts are all worldly, unworthy of the attention of a Christian, who ought to give his whole time to prayer-meetings or the study of the Bible. Well, all I sav is that I find such recreations, such studies, very real, very 12 pleasant ; they spring from legitimate parts of my nature, and 1 will not crush them down. I will not be a hypocrite nor an ascetic, for I am sure that I was not intended' by my Maker to be either the one or the other." Do I exa-erate ' or IS It not true that many an honest open-souled nature has been repelled from approaching nearer to God and spiritual ' thnigs l,y the essentially Manichean notions that have been presented to him as religion i Too often, I fear, the world has been thought to include not only " the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and everything that IS not of the Father," but also almost everything that is of the Father, even nature, society, and'the relations and work of ordmary human life. And thus have eternal moral dis- tmctions been obscured, and fictitious standards introduced— ' exercismg a disastrous effect, morally and intellectually, not only upon the priest and recluse, but upon the men who live m the world-on their ties and sympathies, and their conduct of secular business. WTiereas I am here this dav to give bod s sanction to " everything that is of the Father ;" yea even to protest against the suspicion that all that material economy of which I have spoken is opposed to the spiritual, and hurtful to our soul's interests, and therefore a realm in which we are to tread delicately. No, it is not so Spirit- ually we need the world, as a school, a gymnasium, a "means of grace." Our Lord prayed not that we should be taken out of the world ; for we require its hai-dships and business, the body and all its manifold activities ; else why are we sent into the world, thus equipped, at all ? The fact is that there IS a beautiful harmony between the lower and the hi-her theone ministering to the other. All men have a naLal desire for happiness, or a principle of self-love, and that is the mightiest spring of the world's motions ; and God would educate us to love the highest happiness or Himself, by .{y. r my nature, a hypocrite ncled by my [ exagg^erate { d nature has and sjjmtual t have been r, the world 3f the flesh, rything that ^ that is of s and work 1 moral dis- itroduced — ' ctually, not en who live leir conduct lay to give her;" yea, at material e spiritual, a realm in Spirit- , a "means 1 be taken d business, ire M^e sent that there tie higher, a natural lid that is rod Avould f, by giv- 1;3 ing us'lower forms of it to suit our sensuous nature. For, *' reason M-ith self-love and conscience are the chief or supe- rior principles in the nature of man, and they, if we under- stand our true happiness, always lead us the same way."* You fight against God then if you ignore or frown down the legitimate manifestations of any of those principl(>s or desires. In the first place you cannot wholly succeed; and in the next, as far as you do succeed, you make a one-sided and unlovely character, which would be moi-e unlovely still only that nature is too strong to be wholly crushed. And here we have the reason M'hy so many of those Avho are most honored in religious communities are not the highest style of men and women ; why there is in such " good people" often so nuich that is mean, petty-minded, false, and uncharital)le ; why they often appear to so great disadvantage beside the so- called men and women of the world. So then ".Rejoice, young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth ; but " — yes ! with all the admissions that I have most frankly made as to the reality, the importance, the godliness of the material, it is not all, nor is it the chief good. There is another system of things, unseen, but higher and permanent, and to k we are related. And as the King dominates over the subject, as the real work of life dominates over trivialities, so must ever the •higher dominate over the lower. Take all, friend, that thy nature desires, from God. He is a King. Giving doth not impoverish him. He grudges thee no happiness, takes no pleasure in rueful looks. But remember that He is a King ; has authority and jurisdiction by right divine ; has a realm wide as infinity, all its complicated interests in His hands ; and that if you, by yom- hfe fight against Him, if you abuse His^gifts and mock His restraints, if you neglect duty and * Bisbop Butler. 14 Iciul oth(>rs from Him by your selfisli un-rateful examiTle He will come to you, will meet you " terri),ie as death, relentless as doom," will judge you as traitors and women who break wedlock are judged, and damn you for ever in ondle.ss hell broth(.r,s, sisters ! let it not be ! A nobler life than the s(>i.sual IS offered ; one begun on earth, lived in the flesh but th(. pulses of whieh beat through all the ages to come' " Ihe heavens shall vanish a^^■ay like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner ; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished." Thus may we " make the best of both worlds." Thus an- M(. to consider the respective and often conflicting claims of both. Because all our life is not asked for special spiritual d(-votions and studies, that does not mean that we are to de- vote none of it to such exercises. Because there is a time for the material, for business, art, recreation, there should also be a time for prayer, for Scripture study and thought, for (.'hristiau Communion. And not only so, but all "our lo^^•er is to be regulated by the necessities of om- higher life • our ordinary life to be leavened with spiritual ainfs and in' fluences. And the great meaning and beauty of a life thus lived in the lower is that it leads us to a fuller life in the higher part of our nature, because it makes us feel " as ever I in the Great Taskmaster's eye." Viewing all our sources of j happiness as from God, we are taught to regard Him as the true centre of our being. And then we are blessed with the only happiness that is worthy of man, because it springs from the only pure and perennial fount. It springs from within, from the living soul ; not from senses that become dull, from nerves and appetites that blunt, from passions that die out. And then only arc we truly religious; we are in sympathy with the Supreme Good ; we love what He loves, and hate fill examine, He doath, relentless men Mho break in f^ndless hell, ler life than the id in the flesh, ? ages to coine. and the earth ; dwell therein all be for ever, worlds." Thus iiHictiiig claims ipecial spiritual we arc to de- lere is a tinu* there should and thought, 'r but all our u- higher life ; aims and in- of a life thus er life in the feel " as ever our sources of : I Him as the ssed with the ; sj)rings from from within, i ne dull, fi-om I that die out. I in sympathy f es, and hate 15 what He hates ; we have laid hold of salvation. •' And so we live, or else we have no life." " Marvel not that T say unto you, ye must be born again." l^nto such a life are we called ; a life weighted with the responsibilities of freedom, of personal hapjiiness subordinated to law and to others' good, instead of a selfish Christless haj)- l)iness ; a life in the present, yet a life of faith. And does not such a vi(^w best ennoble and consecrate this world. It is seen to be no mere stage on which actors are to plav out their brief parts with elegant inanitit>s, where the only olijects oi^ desire are the bubbles of sense ; but the antc-chambcr and workshop of eternity. "Life is rt'al, life is earnest, And tlie ^rrave is not its goal ; Dust tlion art, to dust rcturnet}), Was not spoken of the soul." Every deed done by us is as a seed which is sure to spring up and meet us and others hereafter in its full development, to be a joy or to be a curse. It is difficult to feel that. Our deeds seem to be forgotten, to leave no sign. They drop from us into the time stream and seem to sink into oblivion. But no ! they are not lost ; they die not, cannot die ; they are as the corn seed cast on the Nile flood, which is found as bread " after many days." This, O my people, is my New Year's morning sermon : to show to you the meaning of this life — its responsibility and the glory that awaiteth us. Thank God for life, for this new year! and i)ardon the sins of the past year! How viuickly it has gone from us and gone forever ! Time seems to be ever standing on the l)rink of a c-ataract. Have you ever seen Niagara ! Strike the river above the falls, and ac- company its course ; it scarcely moves you think. But soon there is no doubt of that. It flows down slowly, strongly, and now it is more speedy, it breaks into rapids, — it breaks l() I among rock.s and wooded islets,— it hurries on, — and now with a resistk-ss roiling plu„<.x. it has ^•anished into the abyss ! You strain your eyes over thi' gulf, but impcm-trable mists hide It from your sight. You hear only its thundrous echoes, and you turn away in sadness and awe, as if you had seen the whole of it, as if it were gone forever ! So roll down "from sunlight to the sunless laud" the years and generations of men ! so our lixes disappt-ar as our life current IS broken ! And yet not such is tlu> end eith(>r of river or of man. Onuard— on the other side of the mists, the stream flows on, calmer, deeper, grander than before. " Om- life -js rounded with a sleep," and then we awake in the eternities ! O Great Father of the e^•erlasting ages ! in this " solenui twd.ght of a new year's morn," taki« our weak hands hi Ihnie, as we stand together here, nearer to the yjave by another milestone- than we ever stood before ! Lead us oi\ ii-om this threshold of the year out into the future, with hopeful hearts, wisely saddened with the memories of de- parted years, to meet our new irsponsibilities, and to receive thy neiv blessings !