“O taste and see how gracious the Lord is; blessed is the man
that trusteth in Him.”—Psalm xxxiv. 8.
You see by these words what love Almighty God has towards us, and
what claims He has upon our love. He is the Most High, and All-Holy. He
inhabiteth eternity: we are but worms compared with Him. He would not
be less happy though He had never created us; He would not be less
happy though we were all blotted out again from creation. But He is the
God of love; He brought us all into existence, because He found
satisfaction in surrounding Himself with happy creatures: He made us
innocent, holy, upright, and happy. And when Adam fell into sin and his
descendants after him, then ever since He has been imploring us to
return to Him, the Source of all good, by true repentance. “Turn ye,
turn ye,” He says, “why will ye die? As I live I have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked.” “What could have been done more to My
vineyard that I have not done to it[1]?” And in the text He condescends
to invite us to Him: “O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blessed
is the man that trusteth in Him.” As if He said, “If you would but make
trial, one trial, if you would but be persuaded to taste and judge for
yourself, so excellent is His graciousness, that you would never cease
to desire, never cease to approach Him:” according to the saying of the
wise man, “They that eat Me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink Me
shall yet be thirsty[2].”
This excellence and desirableness of God's gifts is a subject again
and again set before us in Holy Scripture. Thus the Prophet Isaiah
speaks of the “feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees; of
fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined[3].” And
again, under images of another kind: “He hath sent Me . . . to give . .
. beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called Trees of
Righteousness[4].” Or again, the Prophet Hosea: “I will be as the dew
unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the
olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow
shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the
scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon[5].” And the Psalmist: “O
that My people would have hearkened unto Me . . . the haters of the
Lord should have been found liars, but their time should have endured
for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest wheat flour, and
with honey out of the stony rock should I have satisfied thee[6].” You
see all images of what is pleasant and sweet in nature are brought
together to describe the pleasantness and sweetness of the gifts which
God gives us in grace. As wine enlivens, and bread strengthens, and oil
is rich, and honey is sweet, and flowers are fragrant, and dew is
refreshing, and foliage is beautiful; so, and much more, are God's
gifts in the Gospel enlivening, and strengthening, and rich, and sweet,
and fragrant, and refreshing, and excellent. And as it is natural to
feel satisfaction and comfort in these gifts of the visible world, so
it is but natural and necessary to be delighted and transported with
the gifts of the world invisible; and as the visible gifts are objects
of desire and search, so much more is it, I do not merely say a duty,
but a privilege and blessedness to “taste and see how gracious the Lord
is.”
Other passages in the Psalms speak of this blessedness, besides the
text. “Thou hast put gladness in my heart,” says the Psalmist, “since
the time that their corn and wine and oil increased[7].” “The lot is
fallen unto me in a fair ground, yea, I have a goodly heritage[8].”
Again, “The statutes of the Lord are right, and rejoice the heart, . .
. more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold,
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb[9].” “My heart trusted in
Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart danceth for joy, and in my
song will I praise Him[10].” Once more: “Blessed is the man whom Thou
choosest and receivest unto Thee: he shall dwell in Thy courts, and
shall be satisfied with the pleasures of Thy house, even of Thy holy
temple[11].”
I wish it were possible, my brethren, to lead men to greater
holiness and more faithful obedience by setting before them the high
and abundant joys which they have who serve God: “In His presence is
fulness of joy,” “the well of life,” and they are satisfied with “the
plenteousness of His house,” and “drink of His pleasures as out of a
river,” but this is, I know, just what most persons will not believe.
They think that it is very right and proper to be religious, they think
that it would be better for themselves in the world to come if they
were religious now. They do not at all deny either the duty or the
expedience of leading a new and holy life, but they cannot understand
how it can be pleasant: they cannot believe or admit that it is more
pleasant than a life of liberty, laxity, and enjoyment. They, as it
were, say, “Keep within bounds, speak within probability, and we will
believe you; but do not shock our reason. We will admit that we
ought to be religious, and that, when we come to die, we shall be
very glad to have led religious lives: but to tell us that it is a
pleasant thing to be religious, this is too much: it is not true;
we feel that it is not true, all the world knows and feels it is not
true; religion is something unpleasant, gloomy, sad, and troublesome.
It imposes a number of restraints on us; it keeps us from doing what we
would; it will not let us have our own way; it abridges our liberty; it
interferes with our enjoyments; it has fewer, far fewer, joys at
present than a worldly life, though it gains for us more joys
hereafter.” This is what men say, or would say, if they understood what
they feel, and spoke their minds freely.
Alas! I cannot deny that this is true in the case of most
men. Most men do not like the service of God, though it be perfect
freedom; they like to follow their own ways, and they are only
religious so far as their conscience obliges them; they are like
Balaam, desirous of “the death of the righteous,” not of his life.
Indeed, this is the very thing I am lamenting and deploring. I lament,
my brethren, that so many men, nay, I may say, that so many of you, do
not like religious service. I do not deny it; but I lament it. I do
not deny it: far from it. I know quite well how many there are who do
not like coming to Church, and who make excuses for keeping away at
times when they might come. I know how many there are who do not come
to the Most Holy Sacrament. I know that there are numbers who do not
say their prayers in private morning and evening. I know how many there
are who are ashamed to be thought religious, who take God's name in
vain, and live like the world. Alas! this is the very thing I
lament,—that God's service is not pleasant to you. It is not pleasant
to those who do not like it: true; but it is pleasant to those who
do. Observe, this is what I say; not that it is pleasant to those
who like it not, but that it is pleasant to those who like it. Nay,
what I say is, that it is much more pleasant to those who like
it, than any thing of this world is pleasant to those who do not like
it. This is the point. I do not say that it is pleasant to most men;
but I say that it is in itself the most pleasant thing in the world.
Nothing is so pleasant as God's service to those to whom it is
pleasant. The pleasures of sin are not to be compared in fulness and
intensity to the pleasures of holy living. The pleasures of holiness
are far more pleasant to the holy, than the pleasures of sin to the
sinner. O that I could get you to believe this! O that you had a heart
to feel it and know it! O that you had a heart to taste God's pleasures
and to make proof of them; to taste and see how gracious the Lord is!
None can know, however, the joys of being holy and pure but the
holy. If an Angel were to come down from heaven, even he could not
explain them to you, nor could he in turn understand what the pleasures
of sin are. Do you think that an Angel could be made to understand what
are the pleasures of sin? I trow not. You might as well attempt to
persuade him that there was pleasure in feasting on dust and ashes.
There are brute animals who wallow in the mire and eat corruption. This
seems strange to us: much stranger to an Angel is it how any one can
take pleasure in any thing so filthy, so odious, so loathsome as sin.
Many men, as I have been saying, wonder what possible pleasure there
can be in any thing so melancholy as religion. Well: be sure of
this,—it is more wonderful to an Angel, what possible pleasure
there can be in sinning. It is more wonderful, I say. He would
turn away with horror and disgust, both because sin is so base a thing
in itself, and because it is so hateful in God's sight.
Let no persons then be surprised that religious obedience should
really be so pleasant in itself, when it seems to them so distasteful.
Let them not be surprised that what the pleasure is cannot be
explained to them. It is a secret till they try to be religious.
Men know what sin is, by experience. They do not know what holiness is;
and they cannot obtain the knowledge of its secret pleasure, till they
join themselves truly and heartily to Christ, and devote themselves to
His service,—till they “taste,” and thereby try. This pleasure is as
hidden from them, as the pleasures of sin are hidden from the Angels.
The Angels have never eaten the forbidden fruit, and their eyes are not
open to know good and evil. And we have eaten the forbidden
fruit,—at least Adam did, and we are his descendants,—and our eyes
are open to know evil. And, alas! on the other hand, they have
become blinded to good; they require opening to see, to know, to
understand good. And till our eyes are opened spiritually, we
shall ever think religion distasteful and unpleasant, and shall
wonder how any one can like it. Such is our miserable state,—we are
blind to the highest and truest glories, and dead to the most lively
and wonderful of all pleasures;—and no one can describe them to us.
None other than God the Holy Spirit can help us in this matter, by
enlightening and changing our hearts. So it is; and yet I will say one
thing, by way of suggesting to you how great and piercing the joys of
religion are. Think of this. Is there any one who does not know how
very painful the feeling of a bad conscience is? Do not you recollect,
my Brethren, some time or other, having done something you knew to be
wrong? and do you not remember afterwards what a piercing bitter
feeling came on you? Is not the feeling of a bad conscience different
from any other feeling, and more distressing than any other, till we
have accustomed ourselves to it? Persons do accustom themselves and
lose this feeling; but till we blunt our conscience, it is very
painful. And why? It is the feeling of God's displeasure, and therefore
it is so painful. Consider then: if God's displeasure is so distressing
to us, must not God's approval and favour be just the reverse; like
life from the dead, most exceedingly joyful and transporting? And this
is what it is to be holy and religious. It is to have God's favour.
And, as it is a great misery to be under God's wrath, so it is a great
and wonderful joy to be in God's favour, and those who know what a
misery the former is, may fancy, though they do not know, how high a
blessing the latter is. From what you know, then, judge of what you do
not know. From the miseries of guilt, which, alas! you have
experienced, conjecture the blessedness of holiness and purity which
you have not experienced. From the pain of a bad conscience, believe in
the unspeakable joy and gladness of a good conscience.
I have been addressing those who do not know what religious peace
and Divine pleasures are, but there are those present, I hope, who in a
measure are not strangers to them. I know that none of us gain all the
pleasure from God's service which it might afford us; still some of us,
I hope, gain some pleasure. I hope there are some of those who hear me,
who take a pleasure in coming to Church, in saying their prayers, in
thinking of God, in singing Psalms, in blessing Him for the mercies of
the Gospel, and in celebrating Christ's death and resurrection, as at
this season of the year[12]. These persons have “tasted” and tried. I
trust they find the taste so heavenly, that they will not need
any proof that religion is a pleasant thing; nay, more pleasant than
any thing else, worth the following above all other things, and
unpleasant only to those who are not religious.
Let such persons then think of this, that if a religious life is
pleasant here, in spite of the old Adam interrupting the pleasure and
defiling them, what a glorious day it will be, if it is granted to us
hereafter to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! None of us, even the
holiest, can guess how happy we shall be; for St. John says, “We
know not what we shall be[13];” and St. Paul, “Now we see in a glass
darkly, but then face to face.” Yet in proportion to our present
holiness and virtue, we have some faint ideas of what will then be our
blessedness. And in Scripture various descriptions of heaven are given
us, in order to arrest, encourage, and humble us. We are told that the
Angels of God are very bright, and clad in white robes. The Saints and
Martyrs too are clad in white robes, with palms in their hands; and
they sing praises unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the
Lamb. When our Lord was transfigured, He showed us what Heaven is. His
raiment became white as snow, white and glistening. Again, at one time
He appeared to St. John, and then, “His head and His hairs were white
like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and
His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His
countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength[14].” And what
Christ is, such do His Saints become hereafter. Here below they are
clad in a garment of sinful flesh; but when the end comes, and they
rise from the grave, they shall inherit glory, and shall be ever young
and ever shining. In that day, all men will see and be convinced, even
bad men, that God's servants are really happy, and only they. In that
day, even lost souls, though they will not be able to understand the
blessedness of religion, will have no doubt at all of what they now
doubt, or pretend to doubt, that religion is blessed. They laugh
at religion, think strictness to be narrowness of mind, and regularity
to be dulness; and give bad names to religious men. They will not be
able to do so then. They think themselves the great men of the earth
now, and look down upon the religious; but then, who would not have
been a religious man, to have so great a reward? who will then have any
heart to speak against religion, even though he has not “a heart to
fear God and keep all His commandments always?” In that day, they will
look upon the righteous man, and “be amazed at the strangeness of his
salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. And they, repenting
and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, This
was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach.
We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour;
how is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the
saints[15]!”
Think of all this, my Brethren, and rouse yourselves, and run
forward with a good courage on your way towards heaven. Be not weary in
well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Strive to
enter in at the strait gate. Strive to get holier and holier every day,
that you may be worthy to stand before the Son of Man. Pray God to
teach you His will, and to lead you forth in the right way, because of
your enemies. Submit yourselves to His guidance, and you will have
comfort given you, according to your day, and peace at the last.
[1] Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Isa. v. 4.
[2] Eccles. xxiv. 21.
[3] Isa. xxv. 6.
[4] Isa. lxi. 1-3.
[5] Hos. xiv. 5-7.
[6] Ps. lxxxi. 13-16.
[7] Ps. iv. 7.
[8] Ps. xvi. 6.
[9] Ps. xix. 10.
[10] Ps. xxviii. 7.
[11] Ps. lxv. 4.
[12] Easter.
[13] 1 John iii. 2.
[14] Rev. i. 14-16.
[15] Wisd. v. 2-5.