Who? Who but he of whom St. Paul tells us, gives
the answer in the very next verse, ’I thank
God, that God himself will, through Jesus Christ our
Lord.’
Oh, my friends, whosoever of you have ever felt angry
with yourselves, discontented with yourselves, ashamed
of yourselves (and he that has not felt so knows no
more about himself than a dumb animal does)—you
that have felt so, listen to St. Paul’s glorious
news and take comfort. Do you wish to be right?
Do you wish to be what God intended you to be before
all worlds? Do you wish that of you the glorious
words may come true, ’And God saw all that he
had made, and behold it was very good?’
Then believe this. That all which is good in
you God has made; and that he will take care of what
he has made, for he loves it; that all which is bad
in you, God has not made, and therefore he will
destroy it; for he hates all that he has not made,
and will not suffer it in his world; and that if you,
your heart, your will, are enlisted on the good side,
if you are wishing and trying that the good nature
in you should conquer the bad, then you are on the
side of God himself, and God himself is on your side;
and ’if God be for you, who shall be against
you?’ Before all worlds, from eternity itself,
God said, ‘Let us make man in our own likeness;’
and nothing can hinder God’s word but the man
himself. The word of God comes down, says the
prophet, as the rain and the dew from heaven, and,
like the rain and dew, returns not to him void, but
prospers in the thing whereto he sends it; only if
the ground be hard and barren, and determined to bring
forth thorns and briars, rather than corn and fruit,
is it cursed, and near to burning; and only if a man
loves his fallen nature better than the noble, just,
loving, generous grace of God, and gives himself willingly
up to the likeness of the beasts which perish, can
God’s purpose towards him become of none effect.
Take courage, then. If thou dislikest thy sins,
so does God. If thou art fighting against thy
worse feelings, so is God. On thy side is God
who made all, and Christ who died for all, and the
Holy Spirit who alone gives wisdom, purity, nobleness.
How canst thou fail when he is on thy side?
On thy side are all spirits of just men made perfect,
all wise and good souls and persons in earth and heaven,
all good and wholesome influences, whether of nature
or of grace, of matter or of mind. How canst
thou fail if they are on thy side? God, I say,
and all that God has made, are working together to
bring true of thee the word of God—’And
God saw all that he had made, and behold it was very
good.’ Believe, and endure to the end,
and thou shalt be found in Christ at the last day;
and, being in Christ, have thy share at last in the
blessing which the Father pronounces everlastingly
on Christ, and on the members of Christ, ’This
is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’
Amen.
