THE BRITISH CHURCHMAN.

SEPTEMBER.-1844.

THE TOPICS OF THE TIMES.

No. VIII.

SELF-DENIAL.

"WHEREUNTO shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like unto children sitting in the market place and calling unto one another and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not wept: for John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He hath a devil; the Son of man is come eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her children."

Such were our Lord's words, addressed to the Jews of that day-words which, though primarily applicable to the time at which they were spoken, may with equal truth be asserted of various other periods, and are peculiarly suited to the present age. The human heart is indeed always the same in its elementary principles of feeling, thought, and action; and although the world assume various appearances under the various circumstances in which it is placed, yet the same subtle tempter is always at work there, acting on the same natural corruption; and the wiles of the one and the faults of the other, though always specifically different, are often generically the same. Thus, the high places of Judah find their representatives in the conventicles of England-the calves of Bethel and Dan in the images of Rome; thus the indiscreet zeal of the Apostle of the circumcision is revived in the persons of those who confound the minutiae with the essentials of our worship, or advocate points of private fancy as though they were points of private dutywhilst the popular preachers of chapels, which depend for support on VOL. I.-No. IX.

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the whim of their congregations, too frequently "speak great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage."

Yes, there is nothing new, essentially new, under the sun. The thing that hath been, it shall be; and though it must pain, it need not surprise us, to see the manner in which the idle multitude passes its inept and unchristia censure upon the salt of the earth. In the mode and the matter of the accusations, now as then resorted to, the Christian philosopher will remark, amongst other faults, these two glaring ones— inconsistency and narrow-mindedness-1. Inconsistency-since the presence of that is reprobated in one case, the absence of which is condemned in another; and vice versâ -2. Narrowmindedness-for those who urge the charges to which we allude ignorantly confound what is contingent with what is essential, and in the fulness of their folly suppose that inward holiness must always wear precisely the same external dress—an opinion nearly akin to the idea that the Bible is affected by its binding, or the identity of a rosebud by the material of which the vase which contains it is made.

Of course, in its reality, holiness must ever be the same; but as long as man is imperfect, and the circumstances in which he is placed continue to vary, so long will its outward dress be different. Christianity is no Procrustes, and woe to those, whether Puritanically or Mediævally inclined, whether Utilitarians or Contemplatists, Rationalists, or Pietists, who would cut and trim the human individual as to his spiritual nature as we perceive yew trees in old gardens.

But to proceed-Does one man spend a large portion of his time in a series of attempts to subdue the flesh and resist the devil? Has he devoted many years to moral training and intellectual advancement, to deep self-examination, and rigid self-discipline, to solemn thought and sacred study? And does he at length come forth a zealous but grave, a pious but austere, servant of God?

The idle multitude denounces him as a wild enthusiast, a mad fanatica methodist, if his views are "Evangelical," a papist, if they belong to the "Apostolical" school.

If, on the other hand, we perceive an individual performing, as far as man can perform them, all the duties of that station in which it has pleased God to place him, yet mingling with the joys of childhood, the pleasures of youth, and the amusements of manhood-cheerful, joyous, happy, gay; -the same idle multitude denounces him as wanting in spirituality (for cant is very popular with the world-with the worst part of it at least), wanting in spirituality, worldly-minded, a mere goodnatured man of pleasure,—in short "a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners."

Such is the way of the world. It stupidly forgets that its censures are inconsistent-it ignorantly imagines that inward holiness must always wear the same exterior-it blindly confounds the necessary developments with the extrinsic circumstances of virtue. This, however, is one of the many cases where vox populi is at variance with vox Dei, and opposed to the experience of ages. Wisdom ever hath been and ever shall be justified of her children. Whatsoever be their diversity of

appearance or variety of dress, they will never disgrace their parent

age.

The children of Wisdom, however, must view each other with the same liberality which we demand for them from the world at large. They sadly mistake their position and lower their character, if they do not lose both the one and the other, when they attempt to impose universally those details which suit their own character or circumstances. Let each of the classes above mentioned forbear the attempt of making themselves a law to others; let each individual follow that course which is best calculated in his own case to assist him in fulfilling his duty; but let him do so humbly and charitably-humbly as regards himself, charitably as regards his neighbours.

Let him who feels obliged to have recourse to a severe discipline avoid decrying him who is able to give a greater portion of his time and energy to actual works of obedience than to the formation of a habit of obedience; recollecting that such an one is his superior in holiness, inasmuch as he is employed in the end-obedience, whilst the other is employed in the means-self-discipline; that he is doing what the other is preparing to do; that he is running the race for which the other is training. The superiority, indeed, of the one state to the other seems intimated by the fact that our Lord's forerunner represents the one, and our Lord himself the other; whilst the principle above laid down, that we are not to impose on others the restraints which suit ourselves, is strikingly illustrated by the conduct of St. John himself, who, though practising austerities in his own person, did not enjoin them to others.

Again, let the man to whom such severe discipline is unnecessary, whose life is the continual easy, cheerful, happy practice of faith that worketh by love, refrain from denouncing his more austere brother, so long as he confines himself to the practice of self-denial—the humble and charitable practice thereof - without the attempt to impose on others that which happens to suit his own idiosyncracy.

And, above a'l, let him who abstains from severe self-discipline and rigid self-denial, not because he does not need but because he cannot endure it, let him beware of slandering those who are holier than himself. All of us, indeed, require self-denial, though in different instances and different degrees. The holiest need it least, but the unholiest practise it least. Since, then, we all need it, and since grave errors are current on the subject, we shall proceed to investigate it theoretically and practically. "Be ye therefore perfect, as your FATHER which is in heaven is perfect." Such is our Lord's command, such the rule of holiness, such the test of perfection which he laid down. The ideal excellence which we are to aim at is perfection: not that we can attain or even approximate to such a state, but that such should be our continual aim, our constant attempt.

Now it will scarcely be denied that perfection implies a coincidence not only of action and virtue, but also of desire and duty. As long and as far, then, as our desires are at variance with our duties, so long and so far are we distant from perfection.

But in the long and laborious struggle which the aim at perfection

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