vanished out of all civilised
countries, and in its place came all the wonderful comforts and
discoveries which we have now, and which under God, we owe to the wisdom
of the great Lord Verulam. Cotton mills, steam engines, railroads,
electric telegraphs, sanitary reforms, cheap books, penny postage, good
medicine and surgery, and a thousand blessings more. That great Lord
Chancellor has been the father of them all.
And a noble thought it is for us Church people, and a glorious testimony
to the good training which the Church of England gives, that the three
men, who more than any others laid the foundation of all our wonderful
discoveries, I mean Lord Verulam, Mr. Boyle, and Sir Isaac Newton, were
all of them heart and soul members of the Church of England.
I said just now that the man who will not obey, will never rule; that the
man who will not stoop to be a servant, will never rise to be a master;
that the man who neglects God's will and mind about things, and will
follow his own will and fancy, will understand nothing, and master
nothing, and get comfort out of nothing, either in earth or heaven.
Either in earth or heaven, I say. For the same rule which holds good in
this earthly world, which we do see, holds good in the heavenly world
which we do not see. Solomon does not part the two worlds, and I cannot.
Solomon says the same rules which hold good about men's bodies, hold good
about their souls. The great Lord Verulam used always to say the same,
and we must believe the same. For see, Solomon says, that this same
wisdom by which God made the worlds, will help our souls as well as our
bodies; that it is not merely the earthly wisdom which brings a man
length of life and riches, but heavenly wisdom, which is a tree of life
to every one who lays hold of her (Prov. iii. 18). The heavenly wisdom
which begins in trusting in the Lord with all our heart, the heavenly
wisdom which is learnt by chastenings and afflictions, and teaches us
that we are the sons of God, is the very same wisdom by which God founded
the earth, and makes the clouds drop down dew! Strange at first sight;
but not strange if we remember the Athanasian creed, and believe that God
is one God, who has no parts or passions, and therefore cannot change or
be divided.
Yes, my friends, God's wisdom is one--unchangeable, everlasting, and
always like itself; and by the same wisdom by which He made the earth and
the heavens, by the same wisdom
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