J.M.J.
Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
From Parochial and Plain Sermons Volume 5, Number 6.
We are not our own, any more than what we possess is our own. We
did not make ourselves; we cannot be supreme over ourselves. We cannot be our
own masters. We are God’s property by creation, by redemption, by regeneration.
He has a triple claim upon us. Is it not our happiness thus to view the matter?
Is it any happiness, or any comfort, to consider that we are our own? It may be thought so by the young
and prosperous. These may think it a great thing to have everything, as they
suppose, their own way,—to depend on no one,—to have to think of nothing out of
sight,—to be without the irksomeness of continual acknowledgment, continual
prayer, continual reference of what they do to the will of another. But as time
goes on, they, as all men, will find that independence was not made for man –
that it is an unnatural state – may do for a while, but will not carry us on
safely to the end. No, we are creatures; and, as being such, we have two
duties, to be resigned and to be thankful.
Let us then view God’s providences towards us more religiously
than we have hitherto done. Let us try to gain a truer view of what we are, and
where we are, in His kingdom. Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace His
guiding hand in the years which we have hitherto lived. Let us thankfully
commemorate the many mercies He has vouchsafed to us in time past, the many
sins He has not remembered, the many dangers He has averted, the many prayers
He has answered, the many mistakes He has corrected, the many warnings, the many
lessons, the much light, the abounding comfort which He has from time to time
given.
Let us dwell upon times and seasons, times of trouble, times of
joy, times of trial, times of refreshment. How did He cherish us as children!
How did He guide us in that dangerous time when the mind began to think for
itself, and the heart to open to the world! How did He with his sweet
discipline restrain our passions, mortify our hopes, calm our fears, enliven
our heavinesses, sweeten our desolateness, and strengthen our infirmities! How
did He gently guide us towards the strait gate! how did He allure us along His
everlasting way, in spite of its strictness, in spite of its loneliness, in
spite of the dim twilight in which it lay!
He has been all things to us. He has been, as He was to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, our God, our shield, and great reward, promising and
performing, day by day. “Hitherto hath He helped us.” “He hath been mindful of
us, and He will bless us.” He has not made us for nought; He has brought us thus
far, in order to bring us further, in order to bring us on to the end.
