Let him come back thus; and
then all is forgiven and forgotten; and all that will be said will
be, 'This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
found.'
SERMON X.--GOD'S WORLD
(Preached before the Prince of Wales, at Sandringham, 1866.)
GENESIS i. 1.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
It may seem hardly worth while to preach upon this text. Every one
thinks that he believes it. Of course--they say--we know that God
made the world. Teach us something we do not know, not something
which we do. Why preach to us about a text which we fully
understand, and believe already?
Because, my friends, there are few texts in the Bible more difficult
to believe than this, the very first; few texts which we need to
repeat to ourselves again and again, in all the chances and changes
of this mortal life; lest we should forget it just as we feel we are
most sure of it.
We know that it was very difficult for people in olden times to
believe it. Else why did all the heathens of old, and why do all
heathens now, worship idols?
We know that the old Jews, after it had been revealed to them, found
it very difficult to believe it. Else why were they always deserting
the worship of God, and worshipping idols and devils, sun, moon, and
stars, and all the host of heaven?
We know that the early Christians, in spite of the light of the
Gospel and of God's Spirit, found it very difficult to believe it.
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