Acts 27:7-14 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete… Paul was a landsman. What did he know about navigation? And so the centurion said — just as you would have said — "This is a matter that I would rather take the testimony of the shipmaster and the owner about, than yours." And the voyage went on, and it all came as Paul had declared, and he had that sweet opportunity that everybody longs for, of saying, "I told you so." So that Paul, at the end of the voyage, commanded the captain, and the owner, and the crew, and the soldiers, and the centurion, and had charge of everything on board, and finally of the islanders themselves, when they were wrecked. A true man shows that he is true at that very point where other men break down. There are two points of sensitiveness among men. I. MEN ARE JEALOUS AND INDIGNANT OFTEN AT MINISTERS MEDDLING WITH THE AFFAIRS OF SOCIETY. And when ministers are associated in a class with arrogant pretensions, men ought to resent their intrusion. But a true minister is a man moved by the grace of God to be the teacher of moral ideals in a community, and being a citizen has all the rights of a citizen to deal with public affairs. Now a judgment formed by a clear head upon any course from high moral grounds, is likely to be sounder, wiser, and more cogent than judgments which are formed from mere practical grounds. Moral intuition may be, and often is, wiser than practical experience itself. An outsider is very useful to an insider. As the engineer cannot steer, being down below among the machinery, he is very much helped by the man who is on the lookout; and men that are buried in the hull of their affairs ought to be thankful if there is anybody on deck that can keep a good look out, and tell which way the ship is going. All kinds of business, all professions, all courses in social life, stand in relation to the moral welfare of the whole community. And we have a right, with or without ordination, to meddle with the moral relations of every course and calling. Many and many a voyage has been disastrous because when Paul has said, "Ye will come to harm," the centurion said, "We have the shipmaster and the owner, and we will listen to them rather than to this Paul. What does he know about it?" In many and many a case it has turned out that the stranger, whose advice was rejected with scorn, knew more than all on board put together. This has been Christ's quarrel from the beginning. As it was said on one occasion, so it is said now, "What have we to do with Thee? Art Thou come to torment us before our time?" And when Christian teachers begin to apply the larger principles of criticism to the evil courses of society: "Ye meddlers, why do you not attend to your business, and let us attend to ours? Stay thou at home and preach Christ, and do not touch grog-shops or lotteries. What hast thou to do with Wall Street? 'Follow the meek and lowly Jesus.'" I do follow Him — precisely that; for He said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword," etc. The men especially who follow Christ and His apostles are the men who turn the world upside down. The minister has a right to go into every part of society and give advice, and no man can say, "It is none of your business." It is my business. Everything that is done under God's sun is my business. When I stand and look upon those things which are of common interest to you and to me, and say, "Such courses jar against the integrity at large," it is precisely my business. II. THERE IS A POPULAR IMPRESSION THAT EVERY MAN UNDERSTANDS HIS OWN BUSINESS BEST AND COMPLAINT IS OFTEN MADE OF MINISTERS THAT THEY MEDDLE WITH THINGS THAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND. But when ministers meddle with practical life they are meddling with just what they do understand, or ought to. Look at this matter. I admit that there is a truth in the contention that a man generally understands his own business best. The printer, the lawyer, the machinist, etc., understand the technicalities of their crafts better than I do. But does it follow that a man understands the general relations of his business to other businesses, the moral relations of his business, the relations of his business to political economy, better than an outsider does? So far from that, experience shows that no man is so blind as a man that is immersed in his own business. It is not often the case that any department of life is reformed of its own accord. It always is forced upon it ab extra. It does not follow that the miller understands bread better than I do. He knows more about the process than I do; but when it is done, and I take the loaf, and eat it, then I am as good a judge of bread as he is. It is not for me, perhaps, to say how a judge shall discharge his function; but it is for me to say when he discharges his function wrongly. It is not for me to say what is the special province of an advocate; but the moment he so conducts his profession that it touches the question of right and wrong, he comes into my sphere. Do you suppose that, because a man is an apothecary, he does not know how to catch trout? He has studied the nature of trout on purpose to amuse himself. Does it follow that, because a man is an able lawyer, he cannot be a skilful hunter? Experience shows that he can, though he may not have made it the sole business of his life to hunt. Do you suppose that I study old musty books when I want to preach? I study you! When I want to know more about the doctrine of depravity, I study you! When I want to know what is right and what is wrong, I see how you do; and I have abundant illustrations on every side! The same is true of the career of commerce, and all the instruments of commerce. There are a thousand things in these that a man cannot well and perfectly understand who does not devote himself to them. There are a thousand questions that no man would meddle with who was not inside of these things. Pan! did not say to this man, "You ought to hoist this sail, or that sail." That was not his business. But he did say to them, "You must not make this voyage." He knew that the season was unfavourable. He had some knowledge of the great courses of nature as well as other men. And the fact that he was an apostle did not take away his power of judging of these things. So I stand and say, "There are certain courses in the great commercial world that are sure to bring damage to those that pursue them." And you shall not revile me, saying, "You are nothing bat a minister." There are certain courses in banking that I know to be atrocious. I know that there are operations in railway management that outrage every law of prudence. I know that where a fraternity of villainous capitalists are joined together they shall be able to swamp legislators, and sweep whole communities to destruction, and it is my business to sound the alarm, and to say to men, "There is no prosperity to society so long as such gigantic swindles as these are going on." And when I say it, they say to me, "Are you a railroad man?" No, but I am after railroad men. "Do you understand this business?" No, but I know the men who are in this business. And when it is said, "Nobody can give advice in regard to the affairs of any given department unless he belongs to those affairs," I say that a cock does not need to be in bed with you to know that the morning has come, and crow! It is because he is out of doors, and sits aloft, and sees when the sun is coming up, that he becomes the clarion of the morning, and gives you the signal for waking up. That which is true of these departments is just as true of political affairs. It is an evil day when patriotism is considered to be too foul for a minister, when the formation of the laws is considered to be a business in which righteous men should not dabble, when the policy of the state, which carries with it the welfare of the whole mass of men — their joy or their sorrow, their weal or their woe — is such that a man of a pure heart cannot touch it. And I say, that, as long as I love my country — so long I am concerned in all these things, and so long I will be concerned in them. Therefore, if men say, "What do you understand of the mechanism of politics?" I say, "The machinery of politics I know very little about; but I know what courses tend toward rectitude, intelligence, liberty; and I know these thing better than men do who dabble in politics. For, when a man forgets God, country, manhood, that he may go down and mould his nefarious plans, I know more than he does, because I stand out in the Upper light." Do you say, "Is not this strange to be talking on Sunday night and in a church about these things"? What then! do you not believe that men are corrupt? that the young men are perverted in their ambition? that the bottom is falling out of honesty and patriotism? And is there to be nobody to say anything about these things? Have you a church that is like a boy's toy? and am I to stand and play on my trumpet for the amusement of the nursery? Am I to see humanity damaged, the nation shaken, God's cause in imminent peril, and must I remember that I am a minister, and not talk about these things? Is that your idea of a minister's business? Was that the cause that made Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, martyrs, confessors, and every reformer who was hated in his own age and worshipped in the ages that followed? I tell you, it is the business of every man to whom God gives the opportunity, the understanding, the courage, and the impulse; and it is my business. And if the centurion says, "I would rather believe the shipmaster and the owner," and he goes out, and will not take my advice, it will not be long before I shall have the chance to say to him after the desolating storm, "You ought to have heard my words." (H. Ward Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; |
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