22. The Withering of Unbelief

The Withering of Unbelief

"Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom."—Psalms 129:5-7.

"Notwithstanding the humidity of the season, the grass crop on Wandsworth Bridge will not be submitted to tender this year." This witty paragraph, taken from the "South London Press" an interesting local paper, of May 25, refers to a bridge upon which there is little traffic. Of course the grass will not be mown, for it has no depth of earth to grow upon, and is of no value. The text which we have quoted here finds an illustration. It is true a bridge is not a housetop, but in scantiness of soil it is much the same. The opponents of the gospel are very numerous, but they never come to anything; they are always confounded before they can well establish their theories. Various orders of infidels have sprung up suddenly, and have almost as suddenly disappeared, and even those which have endured for a longer season have ultimately passed away, leaving scarcely any memorial behind them. Unbelief is an unhealthy and unsatisfactory plant; there is nothing in it; it yields neither seed for the sower nor bread for the eater; it is not even good enough to fodder the cattle with; the very lowest of mankind find it unsatisfactory meat. Rationalists should never be too confident of their favourite scheme, for it is only one of a long series of shortlived weeds, and will be sure to wither before long and to be denounced by some other order of advanced thinkers. Infidelity like Canaan of old under the Hivites and the Jebusites, is a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof. Scepticism derives most of its life from opposition, it has no natural stamina, and is rather a negative than a real existence. Little cause can there be for the citizens of Zion to be afraid of such adversaries; instead of dismay we may even breathe defiance." The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee." It were well if this sacred confidence were more common among us; for it is to be deplored that, as each crop of the housetop grass of unbelief springs up, much unjustifiable alarm is manifested, and this does most of the mischief. There is really no cause to fear things so essentially feeble and self-destructive as systems of unbelief. The wooden guns of the Chinese are not more ridiculous than the philosophies of infidels.

"Ashamed they fly, they start aloof, Each foe of Sion flies;

They are as grass upon the roof, That ere th' uprooting dies; Where no glad store may reaper find To fill his gathering hand, Nor high their bosom heap, who bind The sheaves in wreathed band. Where never traveller as he past, Did prayer or greeting frame, Or say 'God's blessing o'er thee last We bless you in God's name.'"