Sermons for the Times

by Charles Kingsley

Let us pray that she will become so, some day; and we may have hope for her, for she is but young, and has time yet for repentance.

But some may say—indeed, we are all ready enough to say—‘Then the evil of this war is the Russians’ fault, and not ours; and so in every other case. In every other evil and misery they are rather other people’s fault than ours. If we do our duty well enough, and if other people would but do theirs, all would be well.’

We are all apt to say this in our hearts. But our Lord does not say so. His promise is to all mankind: but His promise is to each of us also. When He says, Seek ye first God’s kingdom and righteousness, He speaks to you and to me, to every soul now here. Believe it, my friends. The more that I see of life, the more I see how much of our sorrow is our own fault; how much of our happiness is in our own hands; and the more I see how little use there is in finding fault with this government, or that, the more I see how much use there is in every man’s finding fault with himself, and taking his share of the blame.

I do not doubt that if the whole people of England, for the last forty years, had sought first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and said to themselves in every matter, not merely ‘What is profitable for us to do?’ but ‘What is right for us to do?’ we should have been spared the expenses and the sorrows of this war: but as for blaming our government, my friends,—what they are we are; we choose them, Englishmen like ourselves, and they truly represent us. Not one complaint can we make against them, which we may not as justly make against ourselves; and if we had been in their places, we should have done what they did; for the seeds of the same sins are in us; and we yield, each in his own household and his own business, to the same temptations as they, to the sins which so easily beset Englishmen at this present time. I say, frankly, I see not one charge brought against them in the newspapers which might not quite as justly be brought against me, and, for aught I know, against every one of us here; and while we are not faithful over a few things, what right have we to complain of them for not having been faithful over many things? Believe, rather (I believe it), that if we had been in their place, we should have done far worse than they; and ask yourselves, ‘Do I seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness; for if I do not, what right have I to lay the blame of my bad success on other men’s not seeking them?’ To each of us, as much as to our government, or to the Russian empire, is Christ’s command; and each of us must take the consequences, if we break it. Let us look at ourselves, and mend ourselves, and try whether God’s promise will not hold true for us, each in his station, let the world round us go as it will. Be sure that God is just, and that every man bears his own burden: that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee, O God! Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Be sure that those who trust in Him shall never be confounded, though the earth be moved, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea, as it is written, ‘Trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in the land, and work where God has placed thee, and verily thou shalt be fed.’

But have we done so, my friends? have we sought first God’s kingdom and His righteousness? have we not rather forgotten the meaning of the text, and what God’s kingdom is, and what His righteousness is? Do not most people fancy that God’s kingdom only means some pleasant place to which people are to go after they die? and that seeking God’s righteousness only means having Christ’s righteousness imputed to us (as they call it), without our being righteous and good ourselves? Do not most of us fancy that this very text means, ‘Do you take care of your souls, and God will take care of your bodies; do you see after the salvation of your souls, and God will see after the salvation of your bodies’? a meaning which, in the first place, is not true, for God will do no such thing; and all the religion in the world will not prevent a man’s having to work for his daily bread, or pay his debts for him without money; and a meaning which, in the second place, people themselves do not believe; for religious professors in general now are just as keen about money as irreligious ones, and even more so; so that covetousness and cunning, ambition and greediness to rise in life, seem now-a-days to go hand in hand with a high religious profession; and those who fancy themselves the children of light have become just as wise in their generation as the children of this world whom they despise.

No, my friends, that is not the meaning of the text; and when I ask you, Have you obeyed the text? I do not ask you that question; but one which I believe is something far more spiritual and more deep, something at least which is far more heart-searching, and likely to prick a man’s conscience, perhaps to make him angry with me who ask.

Do you seek first God’s kingdom, or your own profit, your own pleasure, your own reputation? Do you believe that you are in God’s kingdom, that He is your King, and has called you to the station in which you are to do good and useful work for Him upon this earth of His? Whatever be your calling, whether you be servant, labourer, farmer, tradesman, gentleman, maid, wife, or widow, father, son, or husband, do you ask yourself every day, ‘Now what are the laws of God’s kingdom about this station of mine? what is my duty here? how can I obey God, and His laws here, and do what He requires of me, and so be a good servant, a good labourer, a good tradesman, a good master, a good parish officer, a good wife, a good parent, pleasing to God, useful to my neighbours and to my countrymen?’ Or do you say to yourselves, ‘How can I get the greatest quantity of money and pleasure out of my station, with the least trouble to myself?’ My dearest friends, ask yourselves, each of you, in which of these two ways do you look at your own station in life?

And do you seek first God’s righteousness? There can be no mistake as to what God’s righteousness is; for God’s righteousness must be Christ’s righteousness, seeing that He is the express image of His Father. Now do you ask yourselves, ‘How am I to be righteous in my station, as Christ was in His? how can I do my Heavenly Father’s will, as Christ did? how can I behave like Christ in my station? how would the Lord Jesus Christ have behaved, if He had been in my place, when He was on earth?’ My friends, that is the question, the searching question, the question which must convince us all of sin, and show us so many faults of our own to complain of, that we shall find no time to throw stones at our neighbours. How would the Lord Jesus Christ have behaved, if He had been in my place when He was upon earth?

My dear friends, till we can all of us answer that question somewhat better than we can now, we have no need to look as far as Russia, or as our forefathers’ mistakes, or our rulers’ mistakes, to find out why this trouble and that trouble come upon us: for we shall find the reason in our own selfish, greedy, self-willed hearts.

Oh, my friends, let us each search our own lives, and repent, and amend, and resolve to do our duty, as sons of God, in the station to which God has called us, by the help of the Spirit of God, which He has promised freely to those who ask Him. And now, this day, as we thank God for this great victory, let us thank Him, not with our lips merely, but with our lives, by living such lives as He loves to see, such lives as He meant us to live, lives of loyalty to God, and of usefulness to our brethren, and of industry and prudence in our calling, and so help forward, each of us, however humble our station, the glory of God; because we shall each of us, in the cottage and in the field, in the shop and in the mansion, in this our little parish, and therefore in the great nation of which it is a part, help forward the fulfilment of those blessed words, Our Father which art in heaven; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; and therefore, also, the fulfilment of the words which come after them, and not before them; Give us this day our daily bread.