Second Sermon for Lent: On What is Meant by Conversion and by Rending the Heart

“ Now, therefore, saith the Lord : Be converted to Me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And vend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God.’’—Joel li. 12, 13.

“Be converted to Me with all your heart,” says the Lord Almighty, “in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. And rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God.” What means it, dearest brethren, that the Lord here commands us to turn to Him? For He is everywhere, He fills all things and at the same time contains all things. Whither shall I turn that I may turn to Thee, O Lord my God? “If I ascend into Heaven, Thou art there ; if I descend into hell, Thou art present ”? (Ps. cxxxviii. 8). What dost Thou require me todo? In what way must I turn so as to turn unto Thee ? Isit up or down? To right or to left? This, my brethren, is a secret of divine wisdom, a secret which is communicated only to the friends of God. It is a “ mystery of the kingdom of God ” (Mark iv. 11) which is revealed privately to the disciples: for to the multitude nothing is spoken without parable (ibid. 34). “ Unless you be converted,” said the Lord, ‘‘ and become as this little child, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven ”’ (Matt. xviii. 3). Now I see plainly whither He wants us to turn. We must turn to that little Child in order to learn from Him, because He is “ meek and humble of heart ” (Matt. xi. 29). For unto this has the Child - been given us (Is. ix. 6). This little One is indeed great also, but only in the city of God, to which the Prophet calls out, “ Rejoice and give praise, O thou habitation of Sion, for great is He That is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel” (Is. xii. 6). Why, O man, ‘dost thou inflate thyself? Why dost thou exalt thyself without reason? Wherefore art thou high-minded? And wherefore do thine eyes behold everything that is lofty (Job xli. 25) and which cannot profit thee? The Lord is high indeed, but it is not as high that He has made Himself thy model. His greatness is admirable, yet not also imitable. His magnificence is high, and thou canst not reach to it (Ps. cxxxvill. 6): try as thou wilt, thou shalt never lay hold of it. As the Psalmist sings, “ Man shall come to a high heart and God shall be exalted ” (Ps. Ixiii. 7, 8). “For the Lord is high and looketh on the low, and the high He knoweth afar off” (Ps. cxxxvii. 6). Only humble thyself and thou hast attained to Him. This is assuredly a law of mercy, “and by reason of this law, I have hoped in Thee, O Lord ” (Ps. cxxix. 4). If the path appointed to lead us unto God were the path of loftiness, and if that were the way by which is shown the salvation of the Lord (Ps. xlix. 23), Oh, what would not men do in order to exalt themselves! How pitilessly they would overthrow and trample upon each other! How shamelessly they would stoop to the meanest practices and endeavour with might and main to mount aloft, so as to be placed over the heads of other men! Yet it is an undoubted fact that he who attempts to rise above his fellows will meet with many an obstacle, will have many rivals and opponents, those, namely, who are influenced by the same ambition to rise. On the other hand, nothing is so easy as to humble oneself—all that is necessary is the desire. Dearest brethren, these are truths which render our pride absolutely inexcusable, and leave it without any veil, even the thinnest, under which to shelter.

But let us now see in what manner we ought to turn to this little One, to this Master of meekness and humility. ‘Be converted to Me,” He says, “with all your heart.” My brethren, had His words been simply, “ Be converted to Me,” without any addition, it would be open to us to reply: That we have already done, give us now another precept. Asa matter of fact, however, He admonishes us here—unless I mistake— of a purely spiritual conversion which cannot be accomplished in a single day; and would to God we were able to complete it in the whole course of the life we have to live in the body! An external turning to God, unaccompanied by a conversion of the heart and spirit is nothing worth. It is only a formal, not a true conversion, “having the appearance indeed of godliness but lacking the power thereof ” (2 Tim. iii. 5). Unhappy the man who, devoting all his attention to outward observances, remains ignorant of his interior, for “thinking himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. vi. 3). “I am poured out like water,” says the Psalmist, speaking in the person of such a one, “and all my bones are scattered ” (Ps. xxi. 15). And another of the prophets says of him who is thus exclusively attentive to external forms, “Strangers have devoured his strength and he hath not known it”

(Osee vii. 9). For as he looks only to the outward appearance, when that is found in order he judges everything secure, not feeling the secret worm that is consuming his vitals. The tonsure still remains, the religious habit is not yet put off, the regular fasts are observed as before, the divine praises are chanted at the hours appointed: nevertheless the Lord says complainingly of such a one, “ His heart is far from Me” (Mark vii. 6).

My brother, consider carefully what is the object of thy love and of thy fear, what is the source of thy joy and of thy sadness, and thou shalt find a worldly spirit under the habit of religion, and under the tattered covering of an exterior conversion a perverted heart. For the whole heart is made up of these four affections,* and, so it seems to me, it is with reference to them we must understand the precept to turn to the Lord with all our heart. Therefore, let thy love be converted to God, so that henceforth thou shalt love nothing besides Him, or at least nothing except for His sake. Let thy fear, too, be converted to the Lord, because perverted is every fear whereby thou fearest aught besides Him or anything but on account of Him. To Him let thy joy also and likewise thy sadness be converted. This will have been done when thou shalt no longer either grieve or rejoice except according to God. For what could be more perverse than to be “glad when thou hast done evil and to rejoice in most wicked things ” (Prov. ii. 14)? Moreover, the sadness which is according to the flesh “ worketh death ” (2 Cor. vii. 10). If, on the contrary, thou grievest for thine own or thy neighbour’s sin, such sorrow is “‘ unto salvation ” (ibid.) ; and if thou rejoicest over the gifts of grace, this is a holy joy and a secure joy, for it is “joy in the Holy Ghost ” (Rom. xiv. 17). But, furthermore, for the love of Christ thou oughtest also to rejoice with thy brother in his prosperity and to condole with him in his misfortunes, according to what is written, “ Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep ” (Rom. xii. 15). Nevertheless, even a bodily or exterior conversion ought not to be despised, for, as you know, it is a very important help to that which is spiritual. Hence it is that in the text I am considering, after the Lord had said, “ with your whole heart,” He immediately added, “in fasting,” which appertains to the body. But I would have you to understand, dearest brethren, that this fast must be observed not only from food, but also from everything that flatters the flesh, from all bodily gratifications, yea, we are bound much more strictly to fast from the vices of the soul than from aliments of the body. There is one kind of bread, however, from which I should be sorry to see you fasting, lest perhaps you should “faint in the way ” (Mark viii. 3). And if you know not what bread I speak of, let me tell you it is the bread of tears. For our text goes on, “in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning.” The mourning is required of us by repentance for the past, and the yearning for the bliss to come is the cause of the weeping. So the Psalmist sings, “ My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God?” (Ps. xli. 4). But the newness of this heavenly life will have little charm for him who has not yet begun

ON WHAT IS MEANT BY CONVERSION 8r to lament the evils of his old life, to lament the sins he has been guilty of, to lament the loss of time. If thou mournest not, it is manifest that thou art insensible to the wounds of thy soul and to the damage done to thy conscience. On the other hand, thou dost not desire the bliss in store as ardently as thou oughtest unless thou askest for it daily with sighs and tears: it is a sign that that bliss is not sufficiently known to thee if it be not the case that thy soul “refuseth to be comforted” (Ps. Ixxvi. 3) until it has been bestowed.

The Lord then continued, speaking by the mouth of His Prophet, “Rend your heart and not your garments.” By these words He evidently reproved the old Jewish people for their hardness of heart and their vain superstitions. For the rending of garments was much more common with them than the rending of hearts. How indeed could those flinty hearts be rent which could not be even circumcised? (Acts vii. 51). “Rend your hearts and not your garments.” Is there any individual amongst you, my brethren, whose will is wont to attach itself with too much tenacity to some one particular object ? Let him rend his heart, let him cleave it with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Let him rend it, I repeat, and make haste to divide it into many fragments. For it is impossible for him to be converted to the Lord with all his heart until his heart has been thus rent. Until we have attained to the unity of “ Jerusalem which is compact together” (Ps. cxxi. 3), we have many things in the meantime prescribed to us, and whosoever offends in one point, is become guilty of all ” (James ii. 10). ‘ The Spirit of the Lord is manifold’ (Wisdom iL 7 vii. 22), says the Wise Man, hence he that desires to follow Him must have his heart rent with a manifold rending. Listen to the man whom the Lord hath found “ according to His own heart ” (1 Kings xiii. 14). “ My heart is ready, O God,” he exclaims, “ my heart is ready ” (Ps. lvi. 8)—ready, that is, for adversity and ready for prosperity, ready for what is high and ready for what is low: ready, in short, for everything which it may please Thee tocommand. Is it Thy will to make me an humble shepherd of the flock? Or art Thou pleased to appoint me ruler over the nations ? “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.” “ Who is so faithful as David’”’ coming in and going out and proceeding in everything at the bidding of the King? (1 Kings xxii. 14). Comparing himself with sinners, the same Prophet says, ‘‘ Their heart is curdled like milk: but I have meditated on Thy law” (Ps. cxviii. 70): wherein it is insinuated that hardness of heart and obstinacy of mind are the result of our electing to meditate on our own will rather than on the law of God.

Dearest brethren, let us therefore rend our hearts, in order that thus we may be able to keep our garments whole. Our garments are our virtues. A beautiful garment is charity, and obedience is another beautiful garment. ‘“‘ Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth these garments that he may not walk naked ” (Apoc. xvi. 15); for, as the Psalmist says, “ blessed are they whose sins are covered ” (Ps. xxxi. 1). And St. Peter tells us that “ Charity covereth a multitude of sins ” (1 Peter iv. 8). Accordingly, as I have said, let us rend our hearts to the end that we may keep our garments entire, just as the Saviour kept His coat entire (John xix. 24). Yea, the rending of our hearts will not alone preserve our coat undivided, but will even lengthen it out and make it to be “ of divers colours,”’ like that which the holy Patriarch Jacob gave to the son whom he loved beyond the rest (Gen. xxxvii. 3). For the effect of such a rending of heart is perseverance in the virtues and the many-coloured unity of a beautiful life. -Hence also springs that “ glory of the King’s daughter, in golden borders, clothed round about with varieties’’ (Ps. xliv. 14, 15). .

It is possible, however, to understand this rending of heart in another sense, as if we should say that compunction rends the evil heart, or that compassion rends the strong heart. Why should not the ulcer be rent in order that the pus may flow out ? Why should not the heart be rent in order that it may flow forth in the bowels of mercy ? Both rendings are undoubtedly profitable, for it is well that the poison of sin should not remain concealed in the heart, and it is well also that the bowels of compassion should not be closed to an indigent neighbour, so that we ourselves may obtain mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ, “ Who is over all things God blessed for ever. Amen” (Rom.

ix. 5).