Vigils Reading

THE SECRET OF THE LORD

From a sermon by St John Henry Newman3

◊◊◊

Our Lord expressly promises all Christians a certain gracious

manifestation of himself, which it is natural, at first sight, to suppose a sensible

one: and many persons understand it to be such, as if it were not more blessed

to believe than to see. Our Lord says; “He that has my commandments and

keeps them, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me, shall be loved of my

Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” When Jude asked

him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the

world?” Our Lord answered, “If one loves me, he will keep my words; and my

Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with

him.

” In accordance with this promise, St Paul says, “The Spirit itself bears

witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God”; and St John, “He that

believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.”

Now, that this great gift, whatever it be, is of a nature to impart

illumination, sanctity, and peace, to the soul to which it comes, far from

disputing, I would earnestly maintain. And, in this indirect way, doubtless, it is

in a certain sense apprehended and perceived; perceived in its effects, with a

consciousness that those effects cannot come of themselves, but imply a gift

from which they come, and a presence of which they are, as it were, the shadow,

a voice of which they are the echo.

But there are persons who desire the inward manifestation of Christ to be

much more sensible than this. They will not be contented without some sensible

sign and direct evidence that God loves them; some assurance, in which faith

has no part, that God has chosen them; and which may answer to their

anticipations of what Scripture calls “the secret of the Lord,

” and “the hidden

manna” which Christ invites us to partake. Some, for instance, hold that their

conscience would have no peace, unless they recollected the time when they

were converted from darkness to light, from a state of wrath to the kingdom of

God. Others consider that, in order to possess the seal of election, they must be

able to discern in themselves certain feelings or frames of mind, a renunciation

of their own merit, and an apprehension of gospel salvation; as if it were not

enough to renounce ourselves and follow Christ, without the lively

consciousness that we are doing so; and that in this lies “the secret of the Lord.

”

Others go further; and think that without a distinct inward assurance of his

salvation, one is not in a saving state.

This is what men and women often conceive; not considering that

whatever be the manifestation promised to Christians by our Lord, it is not

likely to be more sensible and more intelligible than the great sign of his own

Resurrection. Yet even that, like the miracle wrought upon Jonah, was in secret,

and they who believed without seeing it were more blessed than those who saw.

3 Parochial and Plain Sermons, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987, pp. 1244-1245.7