The Life of Duty

A YEAR'S PLAIN SERMONS

ON THE

GOSPELS OR EPISTLES. 

VOL. II. 

TRINITY TO ADVENT. 

BY

H. J. WILMOT-BUXTON, M. A. , VICAR OF S. GILES-IN-THE-WOOD, N. DEVON. 

AUTHOR OF "SUNDAY SERMONETTES FOR A YEAR. " "MISSION SERMONS. " "THE LIFE WORTH LIVING AND OTHER PLAIN SERMONS. " "THE CHILDREN'S BREAD A SERIES OF SHORT SERMONS FOR CHILDREN. " "THE LORD'S SONG SERMONS ON HYMNS, " ETC. 

Sixth Edition. 

London:

SKEFFINGTON & SON, PICCADILLY, W. , PUBLISHERS TO H. M. THE QUEEN AND TO H. R. H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

1898. 

 TO

 MY DEAR MOTHER, MY EARLIEST AND BEST TEACHER AND GUIDE, THESE SERMONS ARE DEDICATED. 

Contents. 

THE OPEN DOOR (_Trinity Sunday_) REV. Iv. 1. "A door was opened in Heaven. "

THE CONTRAST (_First Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20. "There was a certain rich man, . . . And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus. "

THE WAY OF LIFE (_Second Sunday after Trinity_) 1 JOHN iii. 14. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. "

MAN'S LIFE HIS MONUMENT (_Third Sunday after Trinity_) 1 S. PETER v. 10. "The God of all grace . . . Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. "

THE BLESSING OF MERCY (_Fourth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE vi. 36. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. "

THE WORDS OF OUR LIPS (_Fifth Sunday after Trinity_) 1 S. PETER iii. 10. "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. "

ALIVE UNTO GOD (_Sixth Sunday after Trinity_) ROMANS vi. 11. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. "

SERVANTS OF SIN (_Seventh Sunday after Trinity_) ROMANS vi. 20. "The servants of sin. "

KNOWN BY THEIR FRUITS (_Eighth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATT. Vii. 16. "Ye shall know them by their fruits. "

RENDERING OUR ACCOUNT (_Ninth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xvi. 2. "Give an account of thy stewardship. "

THE TEARS OF CHRIST (_Tenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xix. 41. "He beheld the city, and wept over it. "

THE GRACE OF GOD (_Eleventh Sunday after Trinity_) 1 Cor. Xv. 10. "By the Grace of God I am what I am. "

DEAF EARS AND STAMMERING TONGUES (_Twelfth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MARK vii. 37. "He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. "

THE GOOD SAMARITAN (_Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE x. 30. "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves. "

WALKING WITH GOD (_Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity_) GALATIANS v. 16. "Walk in the Spirit. "

THE PREACHING OF NATURE (_Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATT. Vi. 28. "Consider the lilies of the field. "

PAST KNOWLEDGE (_Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iii. 19. "To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. "

THE PRISON-HOUSE (_Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iv. 1. "The prisoner of the Lord. "

FIRM TO THE END (_Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity_) 1 COR. I. 8. "Who also shall confirm you unto the end. "

SCHOLARS OF CHRIST (_Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iv. 20. "Ye have not so learned Christ. "

WARY WALKING (_Twentieth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS v. 15. "See then that ye walk circumspectly. "

STRONG CHRISTIANS (_Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS vi. 10. "My brethren, be strong in the Lord. "

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS (_Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATTHEW xviii. 28. "Pay me that thou owest. "

THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY (_Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity_) PHIL. Iii. 20. "Our conversation is in Heaven. "

THANKFUL SERVICE (_Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity_) COL. I. 12. "Giving thanks. "

GATHERING THE FRAGMENTS (_Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity_) S. JOHN vi. 12. "Gather up the fragments that remain. "

WHAT THE FLOWERS SAY (_Children's Flower Service_) PSALM ciii. 15. "As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. "

DAILY BREAD (_Harvest Thanksgiving_) PSALM lxv. 9. "Thou preparest them corn. "

GOD'S JEWELS (_Schools_) MALACHI iii. 17. "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels. "

MUTUAL HELP (_Female Friendly Society)_ S. MARK iii. 35. "Whosoever shall do the Will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and My Mother. "

SERMON XXXV. 

THE OPEN DOOR. 

(Trinity Sunday. )

REV. Iv. 1. 

"A door was opened in Heaven. "

When Dante had written his immortal poems on Hell and Purgatory, thepeople of Italy used to shrink back from him with awe, and whisper, "see the man who has looked upon Hell. " To-day we can in fancy look onthe face of the beloved Apostle, who saw Heaven opened, and the thingswhich shall be hereafter. We have summed up the great story of theGospel, and have trodden the path of salvation from Bethlehem toCalvary. We have seen Jesus, the only Son of God, dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification, and ascending into Heaven toplead for us as our eternal great High Priest. We have heard of thecoming of God the Holy Ghost, the gift of the Father, sent in the nameof the Son. To-day, the Festival of the Blessed Trinity, ThreePersons, yet one God, we are permitted to gaze for a moment through theopen door, on the Home of God, yes, and the Home of God's people, whoare redeemed with the Precious Blood of Christ. 

Now, there are many people who never think of Heaven at all, and manywho think of it in a wrong way. When we were baptised, the door wasopened for us in Heaven, and Jesus said to us, "Behold, I set beforeyou an open door. " From that day we were permitted to look with theeye of faith upon those good things which pass man's understanding. But some of us would not look up. We were like travellers going alonga muddy road on a starlight night, and who look down on the foul, dirtypath, and never upwards to the bright sky above. My brother, turn youreyes from this world's dirty ways, look away from your selfish work, and your selfish pleasure, look up from the things which are seen andare temporal, from the fashion of this world which passeth away, andgaze through the open door of Revelation at the things which shall behereafter. I said that many people never think of Heaven at all. These are they who love this world too well to think of the world tocome, they are of the earth, earthy. "As is the earthy, such are theythat are earthy, and as is the Heavenly, such also are they that areHeavenly. "

I said, too, that many think of Heaven in a wrong way, as did the ladyof fashion, who fancied Heaven would be like the London season, onlybetter, as there would be no disagreeable people. Now, if we are tothink rightly of Heaven, we must do as S. John did. He heard a voicesaying, "Come up hither, and I will show the things which shall behereafter. And immediately he was in the Spirit. " We must ask for theHoly Spirit to lift our hearts and minds to Heaven; we must try to goup higher in our thoughts, words, and works; we must try to get abovethe world, above ourselves, so shall we be able to look, though withbowed head and shaded eyes, through the open door. Let us reverentlydo so now, and see what we can learn of the things which shall behereafter. First, I think we learn that Heaven and earth are not, assome people fancy, two very different places, very far apart. TheChurch of Christ is one family, bound together by _one_ faith, _one_Baptism, _one_ hope, acknowledging one God and Father of us all. Thisfamily has one Home; here in earth it dwells in a lower chamber, afterdeath it passes into a higher room of God's great House. The Apostle, speaking of the Church, says, "Ye _are_ come, (not ye _will_ come, )unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the HeavenlyJerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the generalassembly and Church of the firstborn which are written in Heaven, andto God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood ofsprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. "

In a word, our Heavenly life should commence when we are baptised, dayby day ought we to grow in grace, and when we have grown sufficiently, God takes us to the upper Room above. It is this mistake of separatingHeaven and earth which makes people careless of their lives. If youwant to dwell with God through all eternity, you must walk humbly withGod all the days of your earthly life. Look again through the opendoor, and learn that in Heaven God is the central figure. So, if weare living here as Christ's people, God will be the central figure in_our_ life, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all ourwork, our wish, our plan. My brothers, if you feel that with you_self_ is the chief object in your existence, be sure that you are notliving the Heavenly life. You have put yourself in the place of God. 

Again, as we look through the open door, we see the intense _beauty_ ofthe Heavenly life. We see gates of pearl, and a throne on which sitsone like a jasper and a sardine stone, and the rainbow round about thethrone is in sight like unto an emerald. In all ages precious stoneshave been objects of the greatest value. We are told that JuliusCaesar paid a hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl, and monarchs have boasted of possessing a diamond of priceless value. You remember that God says of His redeemed ones, "they shall be Mine inthat day that I make up My jewels. " Well, I think we hear so much ofprecious stones in the description of Heaven, that we may learn thatits great glory and beauty consists in the holiness of those who dwellthere. _They_ are the pure and precious pearls which build up thefoundation, and they get their brightness from God, who sits enthronedamong them, and who is to look upon as a jasper and a sardine stone. And these precious stones are of different colours, as they reflect thelight from a different point. So is it with the people of God, theyreflect the light from the face of God in various ways, and so havevarious virtues. One shines with fiery zeal, like the red ruby. Another glitters with the soft beauty of a humble spirit, like thepearl, whilst yet another sparkles with many graces, like theparti-coloured flashes of the diamond. Some lives which here areobscure and neglected, like the precious gem at the bottom of theocean, shall one day glitter in Heaven, and be among the jewels of theMaster. 

Ah! my brothers, are _our_ lives such that we can ever hope to adoreGod's jewel-house above? Can these poor dull characters of ours evershine as the stars for ever and ever? Think, what makes a gem flashand sparkle? Light. Well, then, let us walk as the children of light, let us look up, and catch the radiance from the face of Jesus, andreflect it in our lives; then will our light shine here before men, andone day shine yet brighter as we draw nearer to the source of alllight. And think again that often the brightest and fairest forms comefrom the least likely materials. Of the same mould are the black coal, and the glittering diamond. The unsightly slag which is thrown awayfrom the iron furnace forms beautiful crystals, and the very mud underfoot can, as men of science tell us, be turned into gleaming metal, andsparkling gem. The fair colours which dye our clothing can be formedfrom defiling pitch, and some of the most exquisite perfumes aredistilled from the foulest substances. My brother, the same God whobrings beauty out of ugliness, and fair purity from corruption, can sochange our vile nature, and our vile body, that they may be made likeunto Him. The work of the Blessed Trinity, of the Creator, theSaviour, the Sanctifier, is day by day operating on the children ofGod, and making all things new in them. And remember that work isgradual. A man can make a sham diamond in a very short time, a realgem must lie for ages buried in the earth. So, if we are really andtruly God's people, we must grow gradually, and bear all the cuttingand polishing which God sees right, before we are fit for the royaltreasury. 

The same Divine Hand which changed Mary Magdalene to a loving penitent, and the dying thief to a trusting disciple, and lifted Augustine fromthe foul grave of lust to be a pillar of the Church, can likewisechange us, and make us to shine with the light of a stone mostprecious. Once again, as we gaze through the open door, we hear ofmusic in Heaven. Those who have wrong ideas of the life to come seemto imagine that the Heavenly existence consists in minstrelsy andnothing else. Surely the song of the redeemed, and the music of thegolden harps, are a type of the perfect _harmony_ of Heaven. This lifeis often full of discords, the life to come is perfectly in tune. Hereon earth our lives are very like musical instruments. One playsnothing but dirges of sorrow and discontent. Another life is made upof frivolous dance music; another is hideous with the discord of "sweetbells jangled, out of tune, and harsh. " The life to come is one ofperfect harmony, for each servant will be in complete accord with theMaster's will and pleasure. And I think the vision of those who playupon their harps, and sing their song before the throne, show us thatthe life to come is one of _occupation_. There will be, doubtless, growth, progress, experience, work in Heaven. But there we shall beable to do what we so seldom do here--all to the glory of God. Here wework so selfishly, there all work is worship. Here we struggle for thecrown that we may wear it, there they cast down their crowns before theThrone of God. When we speak of resting from our labours after death, and being at peace, we cannot mean, we dare not hope, that we shall beidle. When a famous man of science died, his friends said one toanother, "how busy he will be!" We are bidden to be workers togetherwith God, and we may believe that He has new and higher tasks for usall, when we shall have passed through that door in Heaven which Jesushas opened for all believers. 

SERMON XXXVI. 

THE CONTRAST. 

(First Sunday after Trinity. )

S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20. 

"There was a certain rich man, . . . And there was a certain beggarnamed Lazarus. "

What was the rich man's sin? We are not told that he had committed anycrime. He is not described as an extortioner or unjust. There is noword about his having been an adulterer, or a thief, or an unbeliever, or a Sabbath breaker. Surely there was no sin in his being rich, orwearing costly clothes if he could afford it. Certainly not: it is not_money_, but the _love_ of money, which is the root of all evil. Thesin of Dives is the sin of hundreds to-day. He lived for himselfalone, and he lived only for this world. He had sunk all his capitalin his gold and silver, and purple and fine linen. He had no treasurelaid up in Heaven. So when the moth and rust had done their work, anddeath had broken through like a thief and stolen all his earthly goods, he had nothing left. This parable is full of sharp contrasts. First, there is the contrast in the life of these two men. The one rich, theother a beggar. The one clothed in purple and fine linen, the otheralmost naked, and covered with sores. The one fared sumptuously everyday, the other lay at the gate starving, and longing for the crumbswhich fell from the rich man's table. The one had friends andacquaintances who ate of his meat and drank of his cup, the other was"a pauper whom nobody owns, " and the dogs were his only earthlycomforters. The rich man had great possessions, yet one thing helacked, and that was the one thing needful. He had the good things ofthis life, yet he had not chosen the good part which could not be takenaway from him. He had gold and silver, purple and fine linen, but hewas without God in the world. Lazarus, the beggar, was after all thetruly rich man, "as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. "Next, there is a contrast in the death of these two men. One expiredin a luxurious bed. No doubt there were learned physicians beside him, and perhaps friends and relatives, though, as a rule, selfish peoplehave few true friends. The other died we know not where, perhaps inthe hot dusty road at the rich man's gate. There were no doctors tominister to his wants, no kindly hands to sooth his burning brow, tomoisten his parched lips, to close his glazing eyes. But the angels ofGod were about his bed, and about his path, and in their hands theybore him up, whom no man on earth had loved or cared for. And there isa contrast in the after time for these two men. The rich man wasburied, doubtless, with great pomp. Some of us have seen suchfunerals. What extravagance and display take the place of reverentresignation and quiet grief! Of the beggar's burial place we knownothing. But the sharpest contrast of all is in the world beyond, fromwhich for a moment Jesus draws back the veil. He who had pampered hisbody and neglected his soul is now in torment; he who never listened tothe whisper of his conscience, is forced to hearken to its reproachesnow; he who had great possessions is worse off than a beggar--he hadgained the whole world and lost his own soul. And worst of all, hesees Paradise afar off, and Lazarus resting there, where he may nevercome. That beggar whom he had despised and neglected, to whose wantshe had never ministered, is comforted now, and the rich man istormented. 

Oh! awful contrast! Dives in his misery of despair looks up, and for amoment sees--

 "The Heavenly City, Built of bright and burnished gold, Lying in transcendent beauty, Stored with treasures all untold. 

 There he saw the meadows dewy Spread with lilies wondrous fair-- Thousand thousand were the colours Of the waving flowers there. 

 There were forests ever blooming, Like our orchards here in May; There were gardens never fading, Which eternally are gay. "

Saddest of all fates indeed must it be to gaze on Heaven and to live inHell. Then Dives remembers his brethren in the world, who are livingthe old life which he lived in the flesh, spending his money perhaps;and, still selfish after death as before, he asks that the beggar maybe sent from his rest and peace to warn them. The answer comes thatthey, like Dives himself, have Moses and the Prophets to teach them, ifthey neglect them nothing can avail them. And so the curtain dropsover this dreadful scene. Let us, brethren, hearken to some of thelessons which come to us with a solemn sound from the world beyond thegrave. In the first place, let us learn that being respectable is nota passport to Heaven. No doubt the rich man of the parable was veryrespectable. If he had lived in these days, and there are many of hisfamily with us now, he would have worn glossy broadcloth instead ofpurple, and have held a responsible position in his town and parish. He would have gone to church sometimes, and have been very severe withthe outcasts of the gutter and the back slums. And yet we find thatall this outward respectability, these salutations in the market place, were no passport to Heaven. The man lived for himself--he was a loverof himself. He had no love for his brother whom he had seen, ay, everyday, lying at his gate; and so he could have no love for God whom hehad not seen. The sin of Dives, remember, was not that he was rich, itwas that he was utterly selfish and worldly. A poor man may be just assinful. The man who makes a god of his body and its pleasures, the manwho makes a god of his work or his science, or of anything save theLord God Almighty, the man who lives for himself and does nothing forthe good of others, be he rich or poor, is in the same class with Divesin the parable. Next, there comes a thought of comfort from the storyof the beggar Lazarus. There was no virtue in his being poor--but heloved his God, and he bore his sorrows patiently, and verily he had hisreward. Jesus tells us that blessed are they that mourn, for theyshall be comforted; that all who have borne hunger and thirst, andpersecution, or loss of friends for His sake, shall hereafter have agreat reward. You, my brethren, who are any ways afflicted ordistressed, who have to bear sickness or poverty, who have few friendsand few prospects in this world, and yet are patient, and trustful, andbelieving, look beyond the veil, and be sure that there, if not here, you shall have your good things--such good things as pass man'sunderstanding. 

Again, we learn that death does not deprive us of memory. One of oldsaid wisely that they who cross the sea change their sky, but not theirmind, and that no exile ever yet fled from himself; and even after wehave exchanged this world for the unseen world to come, we do notescape ourselves, our thoughts and memories are with us. The rich manwas bidden to remember his past life. It must have been a terriblepicture as seen in the clear understanding of the spirit world. Oncehis life had appeared pleasant enough, harmless enough; now Dives sawit in its true colour, and understood the selfishness, the worldliness, the godlessness which had ruined his soul. He saw all the mistakeswhich he had made, and felt the terrible conviction that it was toolate to repair them. "Four things, " says the Eastern sage, "come notback again: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and theneglected opportunity. "

My brothers, what fate can be more awful than that of having to lookback upon a wasted life through all eternity? God has committed to youa precious trust in the life you have. Your position, your wealth, orpoverty are nothing, whatever your life is it must be consecrated toGod. You must live for Him, and by Him, and walk in the way of Hiscommandments, if you are to be with Him through eternity. You can makeyour own choice: God or mammon, this world, or the world to come arebefore you, but both you cannot have. If you make your Heaven out ofthe world's materials, you cannot expect to find it again beyond thegrave. Lastly, let us learn that the means of grace which we have aresufficient for our salvation. The brothers of the rich man had Mosesand the Prophets, and further help was denied them. We have in God'sChurch, and Sacraments, in God's Word, and in Prayer, the means ofdrawing near to our Saviour, and saving our soul alive. We must notask for some new revelation, some fresh Gospel, some sign or miracle. If we use not the means given us, neither shall we be persuaded thoughone rose from the dead. It is sometimes the fashion in these days tosneer at the preacher, or to listen with a polite contempt. God grantthat those "who come to scoff, may remain to pray. "

SERMON XXXVII. 

THE WAY OF LIFE. 

(Second Sunday after Trinity. )

1 JOHN iii. 14. 

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love thebrethren. "

The writings of S. John the Evangelist breathe forth love as a flowergarden does sweetness. Here lies the secret of S. John's title, "thedisciple whom Jesus loved. " Love begets love, and the disciple was sonear to the heart of his Master because he loved much. When the textwas written he was a very old man, and Bishop of Ephesus. It was inthat fair and famous city that men worshipped the goddess Diana, of theEphesians, in a temple which was ranked among the seven wonders of theworld. In the olden days there had been another temple to the goddess, which was burnt on the night when Alexander the Great was born. Twohundred and twenty years was the new temple in building, and each ofits columns was the gift of a prince. All that the art of Greece couldgive was lavished upon the building. The hand of Praxiteles carved thealtar, the magic pencil of Apelles adorned its walls with a picture ofAlexander. Ephesus was also famous for its magic arts; and when thepeople had been turned to Christ by the preaching of S. Paul, theybrought their books of conjuring and curious arts and burned thembefore him. Now the grass grows rank among the broken columns and fewstones which mark the ruins of what was Ephesus. 

It was in such a city, then in its full pride and beauty, that S. John, the aged, spent the last days of his long life. S. Jerome tells us howthe old Bishop was almost too feeble to be carried into the church, where now was worshipped the true God; and how his trembling lips couldonly fashion the same words over and over again: "My little children, love one another. " His hearers growing weary of this one text, askedS. John why he was ever repeating it, and the old man answered, "Because it is the teaching of the Lord; and if this alone be observed, it is sufficient. " To be as little children, and to love one another, such is the whole duty of man. S. John had lived a long life, and hadseen men and cities, and the one lesson which he had learnt above allothers is that which he teaches above all others--love. I think, brothers, we can picture the old white-haired Bishop of Ephesus, borneday after day upon a litter into his church, and ever saying the sametender words, "little children, love one another. " What a retrospectthere was for S. John to look back along that stretch of years! Whatmemories must have filled the old man's heart of those days when he wasa sunny-haired stripling, working with his brothers in the fishingboat, and casting net, and pulling oar over the bright waters ofGennesareth. What memories must have come of that Gracious Presencewhich one day appeared among the fisher folks, and opened a new worldand a new life to S. John and his companions. How every word and actof Him, who spake as never man spake, and went about doing good, musthave been engraved on the memory of the beloved disciple! He haddoubtless heard words spoken which no other ear had heard; he who wasnearest to the heart of Jesus, must have listened to mysteries whichthe rest could not hear. Day by day as the old Bishop lies in the dimreligious light of the minster, he looks back and sees, as in a vision, the story of the vanished years. What sees he? He looks in memoryupon a marriage feast, far away in Cana of Galilee. He sees the giverof the feast anxious and troubled. The wine is exhausted. He hearsthe Master give the answer to the Virgin Mother's request, and Hiscommand to the servants. He recalls the astonishment of all presentwhen "the conscious water saw its God, and blushed;" and he learns fromthat first miracle of the Master a lesson of love. Many another lovingact of mercy comes back to his memory. He seems to see once more theimpotent man, lying sadly at the pool of Bethesda. Again he looks onthe multitude thronging the mountain by the Lake of Galilee; and in thebroken bread which feeds the crowd, S. John sees a lesson of love. Once more he looks upon the trembling, sinful, sorrowful woman, whomthe Jewish rulers drag to condemnation. Once more he sees the Master'shand-writing upon the ground, and hears this gentle sentence, "Go, andsin no more. " Once more he hears the wondrous lessons of the Light ofthe World, and the True Vine, and the Good Shepherd, which his own handhad written from the Master's mouth. Once more he seems to standbeside the grave of dead Lazarus, and as he sees the dead alive again, he learns another lesson of love, and whispers, "We know that we havepassed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. " After allthat lapse of ages, the old man seems to see the sparkle of Mary'stears, and to smell the perfume of her precious gift. 

Then, too, there comes the memory of Palm Sunday, with its gladprocession, its waving branches, its joyful shouts, in which S. John, then young and vigorous, had delighted to take part. Then thebeginning of sorrow, the days of wonder, and of terror, and of gloom, begin to darken round the old man's sight. The night comes back to himwhen the dear Hands of Jesus washed his feet, and when, at that sad andsolemn parting feast, he had lain close to the loving Heart of theMaster. Once more he sees Judas go forth on his dark errand; once morehe sees the gloomy shadows of Gethsemane, and hears the clash of armsas the soldiers enter, Then all the confusion and horror of thatdreadful night come back to him. He hears S. Peter's denial, and markshis bitter tears. Presently he seems to stand again beneath the Cross, amid the awful gloom of Calvary, and anon he is leading the VirginMother tenderly to his own home. She has been buried long since inthat very city of Ephesus, but the old days come back to him. He isrunning once more, young, and lithe, and active, to the gardensepulchre, and outrunning the older S. Peter. And in all these visionsof the past, S. John sees one lesson--love, the love of Jesus teachingmen to love each other. Still the beloved Apostle looks back along theages, and thinks of that scene on the Mount, when Jesus ascended up, and appeared for the last time to nearly all eyes but his. He was tosee the Master again, though in a very different place, and underwidely different circumstances. Now his thoughts fly to the lonely, rock-bound isle of Patmos, whither the Roman tyrant had banished him. How often he had watched the sun rise and set in the purple sea; howoften in his cavern cell he had pondered over the Master's teaching, and the lesson of love. And one day he saw a light brighter than thesun, and a door was opened in Heaven. S. John seemed to be no longerin lonely Patmos, but amid a great multitude which no man can number, with whom he was treading the shining streets of the Heavenly city. His eyes looked on the gates of pearl, and the sea of glass, helistened to the song of the elders and the angels, and he beheld thethings which shall be hereafter. Once more he looked upon the Master'sFace, and beheld the King in His beauty. And remembering these things, the old man murmurs to the crowd, "Little children, love one another. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love thebrethren. " From death unto life! It is a strange expression! We allknow of the passage from life unto death. We have all seen theloosening of the silver cord, and the breaking of the golden bowl. Wehave all marked the fading cheek, the shrinking limbs, the glazing eye, which mark the passage from life unto death. But that other changefrom death unto life cannot be seen, it is the invisible work of theHoly Spirit. Yet S. John says, we know that we have passed from deathunto life. How? By our fruits. If the love of God is in our hearts, if we have passed from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, if we are risen with Christ, if, in a word, we are truly Christianpeople, we shall show it by our love for our brethren. If we areselfish in our religion, trying to get all good things for ourselves, and caring nothing for others; if we pray only for ourselves, if wework only for ourselves, if we live only for ourselves, if we seeothers in want, yet shut up our compassion, how dwelleth the love ofGod in us? Away with such self-deception, my brothers, if any one ofus seems to be religious, and yet stretches out no helping hand to hisbrother, that man's religion is vain. When we see a fellow man fallenamong thieves, and lying by the wayside of life, what do we do? Do wepass by on the other side, without a thought or care, like the Priest?Or do we look on our fallen brother with curiosity, and leave him tohis fate, like the Levite? Or do we give him a helping hand, pouringin the wine and oil of kind words, and gentle ministry, binding up thehurts which a cruel world has given him?

My brethren, how many Good Samaritans are there among us? Our brotherslie wounded along life's highway in crowds. There are feeble folk whowere never strong enough for the hard life battle; there are brave menwho have fought, and failed; there are some crushed down by hard times, others who have "fallen on evil days and evil tongues;" some who werewounded by the stoning of harsh judgment and cruel sneers. Some havelost their health, others their money; some their faith, and otherstheir friends. Sirs, we be brethren, shall we run from our neighbourbecause he is in trouble, as rats run from a falling house? Shall weturn away from a brother because the world speaks hardly of him? Shallwe be ashamed of a man because he is unfortunate? Oh! if you wouldever rest where S. John rested, on the bosom of Jesus, learn hislessons of love. Look around you and see if there is no Lazarus laidat your gate whom you may feed; no struggling toiler in the back streetwhom you may help to work; no sick sufferer whose couch you may makemore easy; no broken heart which you may comfort. "Dwell in the land, and be doing good. "

 "If time be heavy on your hands, Are there no beggars at your gate, Nor any poor about your lands? Oh! teach the orphan boy to read Or teach the orphan girl to sew. "

And you who are busy and cumbered with much serving, may find athousand ways, in the midst of your active work, of showing your loveto your brethren. Be unselfish, be gentle, be courteous, be pitiful. Never say a word which may wound another; never turn away when you canhelp a neighbour; never ask with the sneer of Cain, "Am I my brother'skeeper?" "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because welove the brethren. "

SERMON XXXVIII. 

MAN'S LIFE HIS MONUMENT. 

(Third Sunday after Trinity. )

1 S. PETER v. 10. 

"The God of all grace . . . Make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. "

Among the many monuments and epitaphs in S. Paul's Cathedral, there isa simple tablet to the memory of him who built it, and on the stone areengraved the words in Latin, "if you seek his monument, look aroundyou!" And as you gaze upon the grandeur and beauty of the vastCathedral, you feel that indeed the work of the architect is his bestmonument. He needs no sculptured tomb, no gorgeous trappings, nofulsome epitaph, to keep his memory green. The cunning hand hasmouldered away this many a year, and the busy brain is still, as far asthis world is concerned, but the work remains, and the builder cannotbe forgotten. Now, this world is full of monuments raised by good andbad, some monuments of glory, others of shame. There have beenmonuments of human pride, like the tower of Babel, and the great cityof Nebuchadnezzar, and God who resisteth the proud, has laid them evenwith the dust. There have been monuments of human wickedness, likeSodom, and like Pompeii, and God, who hateth sin, has buried thembeneath the fiery tempest of His wrath. There have been monuments ofhuman obstinacy and impenitence, like the deserted Temple of the Jews, where once God delighted to put His Name, and to receive worship. Andagain, the world is full of the monuments of the great, the gifted, andthe good. We need not go farther than our own chief city, and itsChurches. There we see carved in stone and marble the glories of Poetand Painter, King and Priest, Statesman and Warrior. But after all, mybrothers, these are not the true monuments of these men. The statelyAbbey may one day fall to ruin, the hand of violence may break andscatter those costly tombs, but the _memory_ of those who sleep therecannot die, their lives are their true monuments. Shakespeare's tombmay perish, but _Hamlet_ will live for ever. And men will honourNelson by the memory of Trafalgar, and Wellington by the thought ofWaterloo, though they may not recall one stone upon their sepulchres. 

My brothers, when we die no one will raise a grand memorial over us;they will not carve our story upon marble tombs. And yet, I tell you, we shall have our monument, we have it now, and we are building itourselves each day we live. 

Yes, our life and our works are our monument, and it lasts foreternity. The good life stands like a fair carved memorial of whitemarble. The evil life stands too, like Lot's wife turned to a pillarof salt, a monument of sin and disobedience. 

 "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever; Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness. "

And this is specially true of the beauty of holiness. The palace ofCaesar, the ivory house of Ahab, the gorgeous home of Pilate, haveperished, but the loving tenderness of Ruth, the sweet ministry ofMary, and the holy affection of S. John, stand as monuments before Godwhich shall never perish or decay. Never mind, my brothers, what sortof tomb they give us, never mind what epitaph they write upon it, _they_ cannot know the truth. But let us try so to live near to Christthat our life may be a monument of His love and pardoning grace, and ofour poor endeavour to do right. If we want to make our life a _good_monument, we must ask God to help us in raising it. "Unless the Lordbuild the house their labour is but lost that build it. " Each one ofus needs the prayer of S. Peter in my text, "The God of all grace makeyou perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. " Yes, we must be_stablished_ and _settled_, that is, we must have a good foundation tobuild on. We must raise our monument on the foundation of a firm, trusting, humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. On that basis we muststrive each day to build the _life of duty_, by just doing what Godputs before us with all our might. It matters not what our rank inlife may be, whether we are princes or farm labourers, merchants orpetty traders, artizans or cabinet ministers, officers in high command, or soldiers of the rank and file, one thing has to be done by all--_ourduty_, in that state of life where God has placed us. Every piece ofearnest work well done adds a something to our monument. No matterwhether it be the building of a cathedral or a log hut, whether it bethe making of a poem, or the making of a pair of boots, work well doneleaves its mark, and builds our monument. 

My brothers, we must not expect to find the life of duty always easy, or the narrow way strewn with roses. But it is not for us to askwhether a thing is pleasant, it is enough for us to know that it isright. The Duke of Wellington once sent this message to his troops, "Cindad Rodrigo must be taken to-night. " And the answer of thosetroops was not to ask of the danger, or the difficulty of the task, butsimply to say, "then we will do it. " So when God puts our duty beforeus, we must not stay to ask if we like the work or no, but simply makeanswer, "then, by God's grace, we will do it. " Come what may, let usdo our duty. When the battle of the Alma was being fought, a messagewas brought to a general that the guards were falling fast before theenemy's fire, and suggesting that they should retire under shelter. And the general answered that it would be better that every man of thebrigade of guards should fall, rather than that they should retire fromthe enemy. 

Whatever hardship, sorrow, loss or trial it may please God to send us, let nothing turn us back from the path of duty. Remember, by ouractions we are raising a monument which will last for ever, when everymemorial of brass or marble has crumbled into dust. Every act of_brave self-sacrifice_ adds a something to our monument. Some time agoa ship was wrecked upon the rocks within sight of shore. The captainordered the crew to save themselves, whilst he kept his place on thedeck. When all the men had gone, there crept forth trembling from hishiding-place a boy, a waif and stray of the streets, who had concealedhimself on board as a stowaway. The boy begged the captain to savehim. Looking across the wild water that lay between him and the shore, the captain muttered, "I can swim as far as that, " and then unfasteningthe life-belt which he wore, he fixed it on the stowaway. Both sailorand child entered the waves, and the stowaway was kept afloat by thelife-belt, and safely carried ashore. But the brave man who had savedhim never reached land alive. Well says the writer of this true story, "words would be wasted in saying more of the perfect humanity, andnoble self-forgetfulness of a man, who gave up his best chance of lifewithout hesitation, 'for one of the least of these little ones' whostood helpless by his side, when man and boy were in the immediatepresence of death. That captain unlashing his life-belt, with twomiles of white water between himself and the shore, to tie it upon thelittle boy who had stolen a passage with him, is a figure which tellsus with new and noble force, that manhood is stronger than storm, andlove mightier than death. " And it is not only such sublime acts ofself-sacrifice as this which are acceptable to God. To live for othersis sometimes as hard as to die for them. The patient nurse, the gentlesister of mercy, the humble priest, unknown outside his own parish, these, and thank God there are many such, have a place and a monumentin God's great House of many mansions. It has been said that "theworld knows nothing of its greatest men, " and some of the best, andpurest, and most unselfish souls live unknown, and die neglected, butthey have their reward. The world gave them no monument, but God lookson the fair memorial of an unselfish life. Let this thought be everbefore us, we are building, raising our monument, for eternity. TheTurks carefully collect every scrap of paper which they find, becausethe Name of God may be written upon it. We ought to use every scrap oftime to good purpose because it belongs to God, and we have to employit for eternity. I have said that every honest work well done leavesits mark, and builds our monument. Never then be ashamed of your work, my brothers, however humble, if it be done well and rightly. If yourcalling be lowly, try to raise it and ennoble it by being strictlyhonest and faithful in following it. Never be ashamed of the sourcefrom which you spring, only be ashamed of doing wrong. If you were tovisit the old city of Mayence, you would notice that for its coat ofarms the city bears a white cartwheel. For many a century it has bornethese arms, and their origin is this. Long ago, an Archbishop ofMayence was chosen for his piety and learning, but many remembered himas the wheelwright's son, who had once worked at his father's trade. As the Archbishop passed in stately procession to the Cathedral, somejeered him, and one jester had chalked white cartwheels on all thewalls on either side of the procession. When the Archbishop wasenthroned in the Cathedral, he saw, hanging above his head, a shieldwhich was to bear his arms. The Archbishop was told that he mightchoose what blazonry he liked, and he at once ordered a painter todecorate the shield with a white cartwheel, that amid the great andnoble people around him, he might never forget whence he sprang. Afterhis death, the people of Mayence adopted his arms as those of the city, in memory of the wise and holy rule of the wheelwright's son. 

And there are other monuments which are built up in the home circle, and by the fireside. The good wife and mother, be she high or low, whofills the home with the sweet-smelling savour of holiness and love, precious in the Lord's sight as Mary's ointment; who leads her childrenin the right way, by the gentle ministry of a good example; who isalike cheerful and resigned in bright days and dark, "making a sunshinein a shady place, " such an one has a monument fair and stately, onwhich God's own finger writes, "She hath done what she could. "

SERMON XXXIX. 

THE BLESSING OF MERCY, (Fourth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. LUKE vi. 36. 

"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. "

"Mercy" is the one great cry of human nature. We dare not ask forjustice, we can only plead for mercy. David, after his great sins, could utter nothing but the mournful cry, the model for all penitentsinners, "Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness. " Thepublican standing afar off, and looking at his faults, and not at hisvirtues, offers the pattern prayer for all men, "Lord, be merciful tome a sinner. " The blind man by the wayside, the leper filled withloathsome disease, speak in the same strain, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us. " And so now from ten thousand altars, frombedsides wet with tears, from stately mansion and humble cottage, thererises one cry to Heaven, "O Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins ofthe world, have mercy upon us. " And we know to our comfort that "tothe Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we haverebelled against Him. "

But there is something more to think of beside our need of mercy. We, who want so much mercy from God, must learn to show mercy to our fellowmen. We are bidden to be merciful, even as our Father is merciful. Weare all ready enough to talk of the mercies and lovingkindnesses of Godto us and to all men, but what mercy, what lovingkindness, do _we_ showto our brethren here in the world? And yet an exceeding bitter cry isbeing heard amongst us. The poor cry to the rich, the starving to thewell fed, the sorrowful to the prosperous, the weak to the strong. Allalong life's highway lie those who have fallen among thieves, who arewounded and stripped, who are friendless and fallen, and they cry notonly to God, but to man for mercy. Think, my brothers, you who havethis world's good, how often have you answered the cry? Have you everstayed by the fallen traveller when others passed by; have you everpoured in the wine of help, and the soothing oil of sympathy; have youever tried to bind up the wounds of one injured by the cruel tongues ofthis hard world? Or did you pass by with the crowd on the other side, saying how sad a sight it was, but still no affair of yours?

O brethren, for whom Christ died, for whose sake He went about with sadeyes, and weary feet, seeking to save the lost, how can we look to Himfor mercy if we never show mercy, how can we ask forgiveness unless weforgive? The earthly life of Jesus is, in every respect, the model forour life. He came to seek and to save, to search for the lost sheep, to call home the prodigals, to bind up the broken-hearted, to visit thefatherless and the widows in their affliction, to assist the weary andheavy-laden to find rest. As Christ's disciples, we are bidden in ahumbler way to go and do likewise. This world is full of sorrow andsickness, doubt and anxiety. All around us there are brethren withbroken fortunes, or breaking hearts; there are those whose house isleft unto them desolate, and over whose threshold has fallen the shadowof death. There are prodigals who only need a kind word to bring themhome, wandering sheep who only want a loving hand to turn them back tothe fold. And God bids us do what we can to help these our brethren, saying that inasmuch as we have done it unto the least of them, we havedone it unto Him. We are all fellow-pilgrims through this world, andwe _must_ help one another. We are all dwelling in a world of sorrowand sin, and we _must_ strengthen each other to bear their troubles. "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in paintogether until now. " Even "the dumb, driven cattle" have their shareof suffering, and look at us with beseeching eyes, asking for mercy. And if we refuse mercy to them, our humbler brethren, or if we refuseit to our fellow men, how dare we look for mercy on the day of Christ'sappearing? We are distinctly told that as we do unto others, so shallit be done unto us. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtainmercy. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and yeshall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, andit shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shakentogether, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For withthe same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured unto youagain. "

Let us think, then, of some of the ways in which we can show mercy. First, we must shew mercy and lovingkindness _practically_, by deeds, not words. To cry over a starving man, and to leave him to starve, isof no use. To sigh over the sins and miseries of our fellow men, without trying to mend them, is mere waste of time. Practical mercyand kindness can be shown in a thousand different ways. Try to makethe lives of others happy. We are always seeking our own happiness, let us try rather to make the lives of others brighter, helping ourneighbour, and happiness will come to us. We often see people who areneglected and uncared for in life, and when they die men scatterflowers upon their coffin, and write their praises on their tomb. 

My brethren, let us not keep our flowers for our neighbour's coffin, but send them to him now, to brighten and bless his life. Mary did notreserve her alabaster box of perfume till her Lord was dead, she filledthe whole house with sweetness where the living Jesus was. Let us dolikewise. If we have an alabaster box of love and tenderness, let usnot keep it sealed till our friends are dead. Pour forth the sweetnessof loving words and kindly thoughts now, make their lives happy, youcannot "charm the dull, cold ear of death" with your praises. When wedie we have done with the troubles of this world, and its flowers, andits pleasant things concern us not. But now that we are alive, andhave to bear many hours of suffering and sorrow, kind, loving words, and the touch of gentle hands, and the help of strong arms, cheer andstrengthen us like the sight of flowers, or the perfume of Mary's gift. Scatter your choicest blossoms upon men's lives, instead of on theircoffins. Blessed are they whose lives are like the violets, making thehomes and lives of others sweet and fragrant. 

 "There be fair violet lives that bloom unseen In dewy shade, unvext by any care; And they who live them wear the flower-like face Of simple pureness, which, amid the crowd Of haggard brows, strikes like a sweet perfume Upon the jaded sense. "

This world would be far more like Paradise, and less like the howlingwilderness which it is to so many, if men would show love and mercy totheir fellow men. Nothing opens the heart to angels' visits, and shutsthem against the attacks of Satan, like love. Truly it has been said, "the heart of him who loves, is a Paradise on earth; he hath God inhimself, for God is love. "

We are sent into the world to make each other happy, by showing mercyand kindness. "Some men move through life as a band of music movesdown a street, flinging out pleasure on every side through the air, toevery one, far and near, who can listen. Some men fill the air withtheir presence and sweetness, as orchards in October days fill the airwith perfume of ripe fruit. Some women cling to their own homes likethe honeysuckle over the door, yet, like it, sweeten all the regionwith the subtle fragrance of their goodness. There are trees ofrighteousness which are ever dropping precious fruit around them. "Blessed are those lives which make others better and happier, purer, and stronger, verily they have their reward. 

Again, we can show mercy by _forgiving those who injure us_. Fewthings are more talked of, and less practised, than the duty offorgiveness. This world is darkened by the stinging hail of spite, andvindictive bitterness, just because people who have been wronged byothers will not be reconciled, will not forgive. If you believe inprayer, you ask God for pardon every day, but is not that somethinglike mockery, if you from your hearts do not forgive another'strespasses? And remember also that forgiveness does not mean merelyabstaining from injuring one who has wronged us. We must try to dosuch an one good if we can. Once, after a great battle, an Englishofficer, accompanied by his orderly, was examining the wounded on thefield. He came to one of the enemy who was badly hurt. "Give him adrink of water, " said the officer. As he turned aside, the wounded manraised his rifle and fired at the officer, the bullet just missing him. "Give him the water all the same, " was the order of the brave man whoknew how to forgive. 

Time would fail me to speak of the many ways in which we may showmercy. Kind judgment of another's motives, patient bearing withanother's temper, gentle sympathy with another's weakness, nobleself-sacrifice for another's good, all these are signs of the life ofmercy. Let me tell you, in ending, that mercy ever brings its sweetreward. Each act of lovingkindness comes back to us with abundantinterest. "Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, andrunning over. "

Once, a farmer, out on the Western Prairies of America, started for adistant town, to receive some money due to him. As he left his house, his only child, a little girl, clung lovingly to him, and reminded himof his promise to bring her home a present. Late on the same night thefarmer left the town on his way home. The night was very dark andstormy, and he was yet far from his home, and in the wildest part ofthe road, when he heard the cry of a child. The farmer thought that itmight be the device of some robber, as he was known to carry money withhim. He was weary and wet with his journey, and inclined to hasten on, but again the cry reached him. The farmer determined that whateverhappened he must search for the child, if child there were. Groping inthe darkness, at last he found a little figure, drenched with rain, andshivering with cold. Wrapping his cloak about the child, he rodehomewards as fast as possible, but when he reached his house, he foundit full of neighbours, standing round his weeping wife. One said toanother, "do not tell him, it will drive him mad. " Then, the farmerset down his bundle, and his wife with a cry of joy saw that it wastheir own lost child. The little one had set forth to meet her father, and had missed her way. The man had, without knowing it, saved his owndaughter. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. "

SERMON XL. 

THE WORDS OF OUR LIPS. 

(Fifth Sunday after Trinity. )

1 S. PETER iii. 10. 

"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain histongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. "

Among the scientific wonders of the day, one of the most remarkable isthe telephone, by which we can hear each other's words at aconsiderable distance. By means of that instrument the sermon of thepreacher, the music of the singer, the weighty words of the wise, andthe silly babble of the foolish, can be carried over a great space. Have you ever thought, brethren, that if a telephone could be inventedsufficiently large to convey the words uttered in one day in one of ourgreat cities, or even in this place, what a babel of strange discordantsounds would come to our ears? What a mixture of wisdom and folly, love and hate, selfishness and self-denial, would be heard! Few of uswould be the happier for hearing all the talk of their town or parishfor one day. Now, God does hear every word spoken throughout theworld. All that men say, good or bad, wise or foolish, is known tothat God to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid. And more than this, these words of ours are noted in God's Book ofRemembrance, from which we shall one day be judged. When a man istaken into custody on suspicion of having committed some crime, he isalways warned that whatever he may say will be used in evidence againsthim. Such a man is very careful to keep a curb upon his tongue. Mybrothers, we have all need to remember that for every idle word we mustgive account, and that what we say every day of our life will be usedas evidence against us, since "by our words we shall be justified, andby our words we shall be condemned. "

I have read of one of old time who, being unable to read, came to aPriest, and asked to be taught a Psalm. Having learnt the verse, "Isaid I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not with my tongue, " hewent away, saying that was enough if it were carried out practically. Six months later he was asked why he had not come to learn anotherPsalm, and he answered simply that he had not yet been able to masterwhat he had learned already. 

Most important, then, and most necessary among Christian duties, iscontrol of the tongue, and yet it is much neglected. Many, who wouldhesitate to do a foolish or wicked thing, do not scruple to say what isboth unwise and wrong. There are men living respectable and cleanlives who yet love to tell an unclean story. There are those who singGod's praises in Church, and pray earnestly, and with the same tongueswear and use bad language when their temper is ruffled. Out of thesame mouth proceed blessing and cursing. There are some good mothers, perhaps, who would shudder at a bad word, or an immodest story, who yethabitually sin with their tongue. They shoot out their arrows, evenbitter words, which wound a sister's reputation, and leave scars whichnever pass away. Truly says a well-known writer, "Heaven keep us fromthe destroying power of words. There are words which sever hearts morethan sharp swords do; there are words, the points of which sting theheart through the course of a whole life. "

My brothers, we all, like a deadly serpent, carry a fearful weapon inour tongue, and woe unto our happiness, and that of others, if thepoison of asps is under our lips. No one has learnt aright the lessonsof Christianity unless he can curb his tongue. We dare not callourselves followers of Him who went about doing good, and spake asnever man spake, if we go about with lies, with cruel speeches, withthe sneering sarcasm which maddens, and the unjust judgment whichkills. Let us put this matter before ourselves very practically, andthink of some words from which we must restrain our mouth as it werewith a bridle. First, let us guard against the _unkind word_ of everyclass. This world is full of sunshine, and flowers, and singing birds, because God is full of kindness. So, if we would find sunshine in ourlife, and flowers about our path, we must be kindly affectioned one toanother, pitiful, courteous, in our words. The man who goes throughlife saying cruel things is like a musical instrument out of tune, whose only sounds are discord. It is the kindly tongue which makes"the music of men's lives. " Think what an unkind word can do! It can, and has, parted husband and wife, parent and child, for ever. It hasdriven a man from the Paradise of home, to the cold, outer world oflonely misery. It has blighted a young life as a cruel frost kills thebudding may. It has embittered a parent's declining years, and broughtdown grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Of all miseries, surely oneof the greatest must be to stand by the open grave of some friend, andto feel that the poor heart, lying cold and still beneath us, has beenwounded by our cruel and unkindly words. O sons and daughters, takeheed to your words, lest when you lay father or mother in the gravethere comes the sad accusing whisper, "my angry temper, and mythoughtless tongue, saddened my parent's last days on earth. " A greatEnglish writer said sadly, "What would I give to call my mother back toearth for one day, to ask her pardon upon my knees for all those thingsby which I gave her gentle spirit pain. " Watch and pray against unkindwords, they never did, or can do, good. They never softened a hardheart, or convinced an unbeliever, or converted a sinner. You cannotshape lives into beauty by hard words, as you can a stone by hardblows. Say a kindly word whenever you have the opportunity, and youwill be like one sowing the seed of a fragrant flower, which will bringsweetness to others, and most surely to yourself. One of the bestlessons we can learn is to be silent at the right time. One of thegreatest of the old Greek philosophers condemned each of his pupils tofive years' silence, that he might learn self-control; and Holy Writtells us plainly that a man full of words shall not prosper upon theearth. 

Another which we must guard against is the _discontented word_. Everywhere around we hear people murmuring, and finding fault. Nearlyeveryone whom we meet has some complaint. It is almost a miracle tofind a man who says, "I am well, very happy, and quite contented. " Letthe skies be ever so blue, the eyes of the murmurer can discover arising cloud. Let to-day be ever so bright and prosperous, thediscontented forsees trouble to-morrow. The greatest and the best ofmen appear in his eyes to be full of faults and weaknesses. Everyonehas his price, he says, no man serves God for nought. In a word, hecan see no good in God's world, no beauty in God's creatures, noblessings in his own life. He can tell you all his misfortunes, butask him what good things God has done for him, and he cannot remember. My brothers, guard against the discontented tongue. It is a grievoussin against God, and it makes its owner and all around him wretched. Let the praises of God be in your mouth, and the two-edged sword offaith in your hand, and you will make your way through alldifficulties, and triumph over all troubles. Count up God's merciesand blessings every day, and you _cannot_ murmur. Sing the _Te Deum_oftener, and you will have no time for the miserable ditties of thediscontented. Imitate the bees, who gather sweetness from the commonthings of life. Look up to God's bright sky, and not down into thegloomy cavern of your own heart. Pray to be lifted out of self, andfilled with thoughts of God's love and mercy, then you will be able tosay--

 "My heart leaps up when I behold The rainbow in the sky! So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, Or let me die. "

And next, let us guard against the _untruthful word_ of every kind. There are hundreds of ways in which men sin against the truth, and yetthe world does not call them by the terrible name, the most shameful ofall names--a liar. The world is very fond of giving wrong names tocertain sins. A man appears in the morning with pale face, and shakinghand, and lack-lustre eye, and the world says he has been spending afestive evening, whereas the _truth_ is he has been drunk. The man wholeads an unclean life is pleasantly styled by the world a _fast man_. God in the Bible calls him by a very different name. 

Let us learn to call things by their right names. If what we say isnot quite true it is a lie, neither more nor less. If we go about withidle tales of our neighbour, tales which have some truth in them, butnot all the truth, then we are verily guilty concerning our brother;since the truths which are only half truths "are ever the worst oflies. " If in our business we say more than the truth, or less than thetruth, we are verily guilty. A lie is no less a lie because it isprinted in a prospectus, or written up in a shop window. A tradesmanwho sells a pair of boots which fall to pieces, or a garment which willnot wear, and tells us that they are good and genuine articles, is justas false as Ananias himself. I have heard traders declare that theycannot afford to be honest. This is an utter mistake. Every Christianman is bound by the vows of his Baptism both to speak and act thetruth. Well says a preacher of our day, "we have dethroned the MostHigh in the realm of commerce, and in the place of the Heavenly Majestyhave erected unclean and pestiferous idols; we have put into the holyplace the foul little gods, named Trickery and Cunning. We have triedto lock God up in the Church, and have shut upon Him the iron gates ofthe marketplace. "

My brothers, if you would prosper you must have God with you in yourbusiness, guiding your plough, blessing your farm, ruling your trade. You must have God with you behind the counter of your shop, or youroffice, and if God is to be there you _must speak_ the truth. AChristian man must have nothing to do with an unjust balance, or afalse weight. He must refuse to adulterate his wares, for these thingsare lies. The Chinese are in the habit of adulterating some of theirtea for the market, but they are honest enough to call it in theirlanguage _lie tea_. I only wish our traders would do the same whenthey offer us false articles under the name of genuine wares. The timewould fail me to tell one quarter of the ways in which God's law oftruth is broken. I may not stay to speak of the false advertisement, of the highly-coloured description, of the quack medicine, which we aresolemnly told will cure any kind of disease. I would only say, takethe matter home to your own hearts. Whoever you are, make up your mindthat as Christians you must speak the truth, the whole truth, andnothing but the truth. And may the God of all truth give your strength. 

SERMON XLI. 

ALIVE UNTO GOD. 

(Sixth Sunday after Trinity. )

ROMANS vi. 11. 

"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, butalive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. "

Every baptised person belongs to God. He is His absolute property, marked with the sign of the great King. As the broad arrow is the markthat certain property belongs to the British Government, so the Crossof Holy Baptism is the sign and pledge that we are God's. Think ofthat, my brothers, you are not free to choose your own way, your ownmasters; you belong absolutely to Jesus Christ. He made you Hisproperty by taking your flesh, by suffering in it, by dying in it, byrising with it in triumph. In Baptism you are made partakers of allthese benefits. You are baptised into the Death of Christ that yourold sinful nature may die and be buried. You are baptised too in HisResurrection, that you may after Baptism begin a new and higher life, with Jesus as your Ruler and Guide. From this fact come two others;first that we are not free to sin, because if we do wrong, we sin notagainst ourselves, but against Jesus Christ, "whose we are, and whom weserve. " I do not say that sin will not come in our way, will not temptus. We must, in passing through the world, encounter foul smells, hideous sights, dirty roads. But we can turn away from the foul smell, we can shut our eyes to the bad sight, we can pick our way carefullyover the dirty road. So if sin meets us, we must turn aside from it, we must stop our eyes and our ears to the evil sight, or sound, we musttry to keep in a clean path. The strength which our Master, Jesus, gives us in the Sacraments will be sufficient for us. And the secondfact is that, as baptised people, we are never alone, never forsaken. A great part of our life, and our work, must be solitary, and yet weare not alone, for God is with us. We must _do our work alone_. Noone can tread the path of duty for us, or fight the good fight on ourbehalf. Like the solitary sower in the fields, we are all sent intothis world to sow some seed, to do some work, _alone_. There may becrowds around us, and yet each of us has his thoughts, and hopes, andfeelings, with which others cannot intermingle; no two men think orfeel exactly in the same way, each of us is alone. We know that wemust fight the battle of life and duty alone, we know that we bear oursorrows and bereavements alone, we know that alone we must die, and bejudged, and yet, as Christians, we know that Jesus will never leave us, nor forsake us, that He is with us even unto the end of the world, andthat when most solitary we are _alone with God_. 

It is this thought that has strengthened the bravest and best of God'speople in their hour of trial. It was this which enabled Abraham toleave home and friends, and to seek a land of strangers; he was notalone, for God was with him. It was this which comforted Joseph in theEgyptian prison, and enabled him to feel as many another captive hasfelt--

 "Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage; Minds innocent and quiet take That for a hermitage. "

It was this which nerved Daniel to dare the den of lions, and Shadrachand his brethren to brave the fiery furnace; they were not alone, forGod was with them. This cheered David when he walked through thevalley of the shadow in his deep repentance; this gave courage to S. Peter, and S. Paul, and all the noble army of martyrs, to speak boldlyin Christ's Name, and to meet death with a smiling face. This carriedMoses through the desert, and Columbus to the new world, the thoughtthat in their loneliest hour God was with them. 

Yes, and it was the same thought which supported the dead hero, forwhom all England weeps. Day after day passed over Gordon in his lonelyexile far away. Day after day he saw the sunrise flash on the whitewalls and fair palm trees of Khartoum, and the sunset redden the desertsand. Cut off from home, and comrades, and countrymen, far from thesound of English voices, and of English prayers; there is no morelonely figure than that of the martyr of duty. Day by day he strainedhis eyes to see the rescue which never came, and yet in all this lonelywaiting we cannot believe that the heart of Gordon failed, for he couldsay to his God, "I am not alone, I will fear no evil, for Thou art withme. "

Thus, in one sense, every man must stand alone, and yet the Christianman knows that he is a child of God, and that his Father will neverforsake him. Every one of us must _labour alone_ in the great workshopof the world. Each of us has his corner where God has placed him toweave in his little bit of the pattern of this world's history, to addhis little portion of colour to the picture called Life. For each ofus there is the day's work, wherein we can labour, or idle, as wechoose, and for each there comes the night when no man can work. Andwhat we have to do we must do _alone_. The majority of men who livethe life of duty do so unnoticed and uncared for. They are like thosestars which our eyes never see, but they shine all the same. Such menwork and suffer, and wait till their time comes to join

 "The crowd untold of men, By the cause they served unknown, Who moulder in myriad graves of old, Never a story, never a stone. "

But such men have the comfort of knowing that they have not run invain, neither laboured in vain; they have lived unto God in this world, and if solitary, they have been alone with God. Again, _we must allsuffer alone_. However kind and sympathetic our friends may be, theycannot enter into our pains and agonies. They can be sorry for us, butthey cannot feel as we feel. When the body is racked by severe pangsof suffering, even the presence of friends is too much for us. We wantto be alone, _alone with God_. And this is specially true of thesorrows of the mind. "The heart knoweth its own bitterness. " No one, not even our nearest and dearest, can go with us to the Gethsemane, where we suffer, or the Calvary, where we endure our cross. But it isin these hours of bitterest suffering that the Christian feels that heis not forsaken. He remembers that his Master, Jesus, trod thewinepress of sorrow alone, and that of the people there was none withHim. He knows that he is permitted to walk the same lonely path asJesus trod before him. He knows that as he kneels in the darkened roomwith his solitary sorrow, with his breaking heart, with his sinful soulbowed down in penitence, that Jesus is with him--he is alone with God. And again, _we must all die alone_. The moment of death is the mostsolitary of all our life. The Prince, with his armies, and crowds offriends and courtiers, is, at his death, as much alone as the beggarwho drops and dies by the roadside. Loving hands may clasp oursfondly, but we must let them go. Husband, mother, wife, or child maycling to us in close embrace, but they cannot detain us, or go with us, we must die alone. And yet in that most solitary moment the Christianwho is dead unto sin, and living unto God, knows that he is not alone. He knows that when he has heard the sound of the last voice on earth, he shall hearken to other voices, never listened to before. When thelast farewell is spoken, and the last hand clasped on earth, there willcome the meeting with a new and glorious company, and the touch ofthose dear Hands once wounded for our transgressions. Be sure thatGod, who is with us in life, is specially with us in the moment ofdeath; we die alone, but we are alone with God. My brothers, we aretempted sometimes to murmur because our life and its work are dull, monotonous and solitary. Let this thought help us to check therebellious sigh, the thought that if we are trying to do our duty, Godis with us, and He that seeth in secret, shall Himself reward usopenly. We may be tempted to cry sometimes in our darkest hours, "MyGod, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me;" but the loving Hand has notgone from us, though we cannot feel its touch. Those dark hours oftenbring out the light of Christ's great love most clearly. I have seen afamous picture of the Crucifixion, which shows its sad beauty best whenthe window is darkened. Then there seems to shine a light of hope andsplendour behind the Cross, and the face of the Saviour beams withtenderest love. So when the windows of our life are darkened, whenbereavement, or ill-health, or disappointment come upon us, let us turnour eyes to the Crucified, and see a new light, a new meaning in ourSaviour's sorrow, and our own. Let us learn that the trouble has cometo lead us apart from the world and its selfish ways, that we may bealone--alone with God. 

SERMON XLII. 

SERVANTS OF SIN. 

(Seventh Sunday after Trinity. )

ROMANS vi. 20. 

"The servants of sin. "

There is no existence in the world so sad as that of a slave; and thereis no slavery so hard as that of sin, no taskmaster so bitter as thedevil. There was a tyrant in the old times who ordered one of hissubjects to make an iron chain of a certain length, in a given time. The man brought the work, and the tyrant bade him make it longer still. And he continued to add link to link, till at length the crueltaskmaster ordered his servants to bind the worker with his own chain, and cast him into the fire. That hardest of tyrants, the devil, treatshis slaves in like manner. At first the chain of sin is light, andcould easily be cast off. But day by day Satan bids his victims addanother link. The servant of sin grows more hardened, more daring, more reckless in his evil way. He adds sin to sin, link to link, andthen the end comes, and the tyrant binds him hand and foot with his ownchain, and casts him into outer darkness, where there is weeping, andgnashing of teeth. Very often the slaves of sin do not know that they_are_ slaves. They talk about their freedom from restraint, they tellus they are their own masters, they would have us believe that thegodly, who try to keep the commandments, and walk in the narrow way, are slaves, but _they_ are free! Oh! fools, and slow of heart! Aswell might a prisoner cover his irons with a cloak, and try to pass asa free man. We can _hear the clank of the chains_. So is it with theslave of sin. Once I visited a madhouse, and talked with some of thepoor patients. Some had one delusion, some another. One thought hewas a king, another fancied himself the heir to a fortune. But onething they all believed, that they were in their right minds. 

My brothers, the slaves of sin are like these poor mad folk, they donot understand that what they call freedom is slavery, that what theystyle pleasure is misery, that instead of being the clever, reckless, free people they think themselves, they are only mad people possessedof the devil. First, then, we have seen that the servants of sin donot know that they are slaves. The tyrant, Satan, blinds their eyesbefore he binds them in the fetters of his prison house, even as thePhilistines blinded the strong man of old. Next, the servants of sinbear about the marks of their master I have seen gangs of convictsworking on Dartmoor. You could not mistake them for anything else ifthey were dressed in the best of clothing. The word _convict_ isstamped upon every grey face, as plainly as the Government mark isstamped upon their clothing. The servants of sin have their marksalso. Look at the shifty eyes, and downward glance of the knave andthe false man; mark the flushed brow and cruel eyes of the angry man;see the weak lips and trembling hand of the drunkard; they bear themarks of their slavery very plainly. So, too, the sensualist who livesfor his body, the impure man, the slave of lust, the criminal, hauntedby a guilty secret, the selfish worldling, who cares only for thislife; these all bear the traces of their sin upon them, these showwhose they are, and whom they serve. Again, the servants of sin havetheir so-called enjoyments, these are the baits with which the tyrantgets them into his power. For a time the way of transgressors is madeeasy and pleasant. The broad road is shaded, and edged with fairfruits and flowers. The down-hill path is strewn with glitteringjewels, the booths of vanity fair are fitted with all manner ofdelights, and the poor slave goes on, scarce feeling his chains, orknowing of his slavery, till the day of reckoning comes. "There is away which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways ofdeath. " A saint of old once saw a man leading a herd of swine, whichfollowed him willingly. The saint asked whither he was taking them, and he answered, to the slaughter. When the saint marvelled that theswine should go so readily to their death, the man showed him that theyfollowed him for the sake of the sweet food in his hand, and knew notwhither they were going. My brothers, the servants of sin follow Satanfor the sake of the sweet things which he offers, and know not thatthey are going to their death, even the living death of a lost soul. Some of you remember the old German legend of doctor Faustus. It is aterrible parable of the fate of all those who become the slave of sin. Faustus is represented as a man of great learning, who used hisknowledge for evil instead of good. Being filled with pride, herefused to bow down to God, and made a bargain with Satan that he wasto have his own way, and every wish gratified for a certain term ofyears, and then he was to pay the price--his own soul. During thoseyears he had all the health and strength of youth, he enjoyed all thepleasures of the body, the world, the flesh, and the devil were hisservants. But one thing he lacked, he had not God, and so he had nohope. There were times when he thought of the horrible bargain whichhe had made. He desired to see Paradise and Hell, and he was shown aglimpse of both. His servants found him in deep sorrow, and asked himwhat he had seen, and what the sorrows of Hell were like. But heanswered that he remembered not, one thing only he recalled, the peaceand beauty of that Paradise which he had forfeited for ever. This isthe story of every slave of sin. 

My brothers, there are many who have bargained with Satan, offering theprice of their own souls. When the Tempter came to the Saviour in thewilderness, he offered Him the glory and splendour of the world ifJesus would fall down and worship him. It is the same with us. Satanoffers us this world instead of the world to come. He offers us ourown way, so dear to all of us. He offers us the pleasures of the body, "let us eat and drink. " He offers us self-indulgence in all the lustsof the flesh. He offers us all the flash and glitter of the world, buthe does not let us see the foulness and rottenness which they cover. To the man of science he comes, as to Faustus in the legend, and triesto induce him to set up his knowledge against the All-wise, and todrive God out of His own fair universe. He does not show him how sadlife must be without the knowledge of God: how miserable death must bewithout a Saviour. He comes to the man of business, and shows himvisions of vast wealth. He whispers, "All these things will I givethee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. " And that implies falsedealing, sharp practice, trickery, knavery. It implies loss ofself-respect, loss of honour, the reproaches of an ever-accusingconscience. The tempter comes to the young man or woman, and showsthem all the delights of a life of pleasure. They see the sparkle ofthe wine cup, the glitter of the ball room, the pomp and vanities ofthis wicked world. But they do not see the other side of the picture. They do not see the grey, cold morning of sorrow which follows thenight of dissipation and sin. The young woman looks on the temptingdress, the flash of jewels, the gay company. She does not see the_price_ she must pay. She cannot see herself disgraced and ruined, andcast aside like a broken toy. She can hear the music of the revel, butnot the reproaches of a broken-hearted dying mother. The young mansees only the bright side of the picture, Satan keeps the dark sidehidden. He fancies himself his own master, free from the restraints ofhome and parents, walking in his own way, in the lust of the eye, andthe pride of life. Ah! brother, the way seems very charming now--itwill be hard enough one day. The cup of pleasure seems very sweet now, the dregs thereof will be bitter enough one day: as for the ungodly, they shall drink them and suck them up. The food which the worldoffers seems as honey and the honeycomb now: the day is coming when itwill be as ashes. You will come one day to the husks--the sick room, the dying bed, --and you will know that you gained this world and lostthe world to come: like the rich man, you will in this life have hadyour good things, but _you will have paid the price_. And those oldwords will have a terrible meaning for you then, "What shall it profita man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Yes, theservants of sin must fulfil their contract and receive their wages, andthe wages of sin is death. Ah! brethren, be serious; are these thingsnothing to you? Are there none of you who _know_ that you are theslaves of some besetting sin? Look into your lives, see whose marksare upon you, whose servants you are. Are you still tied and boundwith the chain of your sins? If so, turn you to Him who can alone setyou free; to Him who drove the strong man armed from his palace; to Himwho conquered Satan in the wilderness, in the garden, on the cross; toHim who can make the weakest strong, the most sorely tempted able totriumph; Who can wash the foulest life till it shall be whiter thansnow. Brothers, dare we turn away and carry our chain of slaverylonger? No, let us make a struggle to be free, and let our prayer be, "O God, whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive, receive our humble petitions; and though we be tied and bound with thechain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of Thy great mercy loose us, for the honour of Jesus Christ, our Mediator and Advocate. "

SERMON XLIII. 

KNOWN BY THEIR FRUITS. 

(Eighth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. MATT. Vii. 16. 

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. "

The religion of Jesus Christ is one of deeds, not words; a life ofaction, not of dreaming. Our Lord warns us to beware of any form ofreligion, in ourselves or others, which does not bring forth goodfruit. God does not look for the leaves of profession, or the blossomsof promise, He looks for fruit unto holiness. We may profess tobelieve in Jesus Christ, we may say the Creed without a mistake, we mayread our Bible, and say our prayers, and yet, if our lives are bad, allour religion is vain. If we would know whether we are being led by theHoly Spirit, we must see if we are bringing forth _fruits_ of theSpirit. If we would discover if the works of a clock are right, welook at the hands. So, by our words and deeds we shall show whetherour hearts are right with God. A religion of the lips is worthnothing. We may cry, "Lord, Lord, " in our place in Church, we mayrepeat the words which speak of the Will of God, and utter pious wisheswhen we sing chant or hymn, and all the while we may be far off fromthe Kingdom of Heaven, because we are not in our lives doing the willof our Father which is in Heaven. If we are selfish, self-willed, proud, lovers of our own selves, our religion is but the sheep'sclothing covering the wolfish heart, or the white paint hiding thecorruption of the sepulchre. It is easy enough to assume the characterand manner of a Christian, but to live the Christian life is not soeasy. A man can make a sham diamond in a very short time, but the realgem must lie for ages in the earth before it can sparkle with perfectpurity. We have far too many of these quickly made Christians amongstus, who have never brought forth fruits meet for repentance, nor gonethrough the fire of trial, and sorrow, and self-sacrifice. Do nottrust to feelings, or words, in yourselves or others, look at yourlife; a real and a false diamond are very much alike, and yet there isall the difference in the world in their value. 

"If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shalllive. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sonsof God. " My brothers, who is our leader and guide, the Holy Spirit, orour own will? How shall we know? By our fruits. They tell us thatwhenever the holy saint David, of Wales, stood up to preach, there camea milk-white dove, and sat upon his shoulder. It is a serious questionfor you and me, for preacher and people, does the White Dove perch onmy shoulder as I preach? Does the Holy Ghost descend like a dove onyou who hear? Men of business, anxious workers, is the White Dove withyou in your factory, your farm, your office? Mothers and fathers, young men and maidens, is there a place in your home where the HolySpirit may come, and continually dwell?

Let us look into our lives very closely, and see whether we aremistaking outward form for true religion, words and professions forholiness, leaves for fruit. What are some of the fruits which Godlooks for in the life of a Christian? At the head of all, I think, wemust place _love_. Ah! you will say to me, --I only wish I could loveGod more. It is so hard to love One whom we cannot see. I worshipGod, I try to keep His commandments, but I am not sure that I _love_God. My brother, my sister, let not your heart be troubled. If youreally try to do God's Will it is a proof of your love. "If ye loveMe, keep My commandments. " "For this is the love of God, that we keepHis commandments. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, heis a liar. We know that we do know Him if we keep His commandments. "You can show your love to God by showing love and kindness to yourbrethren. By kindly judgments of another's fault; by gentle words ofcomfort, of pity, or of warning; by tender hands stretched out to bringback the wandering sheep; by loving acts of charity to the sick andsuffering; by care for the poor bruised reeds of this rough world, youcan show your love for God, who is the source of all love. If we loveGod we shall try to lead others to Him. A true Christian cannot beselfish. Think of the example you set to others. Is it a good one, astrong one, a light shining before men so that they can see your goodworks? At the battle of Tel-el-Keber our troops had no sufficientplans of the ground. The General therefore ordered a young navalofficer to lead the Highland Brigade by the light of the stars to theirdestined post. When the fight began the Highlanders were ready, andamong the first to fall was their young leader. The victory wasgained, and the General hastened to the tent of his wounded officer. The dying man smiled as he raised his trembling hand to his commander, and looking him in the face said, "General, didn't I lead themstraight?" My brothers, we are leading our fellow men by the exampleof our lives, the question is, _are we leading them straight?_

Another fruit for which God looks in a Christian's life is _humility_. Every act and word of our Saviour's earthly life teaches us to behumble. Let the haughty, the proud, the self-satisfied man, open hisGospel, and he will find a reproof to his pride on every page. Let himbend his head, and bow his stiff knee before the Almighty God, cradledin a manger, fasting in the desert, homeless, friendless, silent beforeHis foes, stripped, mocked and beaten, dying upon the Cross. Go, mybrother, and bow your head at Gethsemane; go, kneel before the Cross ofCalvary, and ask God to make you humble. The longer a true Christianlives the more humble-minded he becomes. A young man, just starting inlife, holds his head high, and is inclined to look down on others. Butas he journeys on through the world, learning by experience, his headgrows bent and lowly. So is it with Christ's people. The longer we goto His School, and the more we know of the way of godliness, thehumbler we become. Like S. Paul, we count not that we have attainedthe mark, we only press forward towards it. We begin with shame totake the lowest place, we learn to consider others better thanourselves, and to say to our Lord, "I am not worthy that Thou shouldestcome under my roof. " As the laden fruit tree bends its branchesnearest to the earth, and the fullest ears of corn hang lowest, so theholiest man is ever the humblest. In a certain city abroad every childfound begging in the streets is taken to a charitable asylum. Beforehe is washed, and dressed anew, his portrait is taken as he stands inhis beggar's rags. When his education is finished, this picture isgiven to the child, and he is made to promise that he will keep it allhis life, that he may be reminded what he was, and what great thingshave been done for him. It is good for us to remember, my brothers, what we were: helpless wanderers in this world, clothed in filthy ragsof sin; and we must remember, too, what God has done for us. How Hehas redeemed us from our slavery, making us His own children byadoption, washing us in the Blood of Christ which cleanseth from allsin, and giving us the white robe of holiness. Who is there who, thinking upon these things, can be other than humble? Let us examineourselves, and see whether we are bringing forth that fruit. We preachhumility to others, we expect to see it in others' lives, are we humbleourselves? Have we learnt to walk _humbly_ with our God?

Another fruit which God expects in the lives of His people is_forgetfulness of self_. Have you stayed to calculate how much of yourtime is occupied in thinking and talking of yourselves? In some housesthey line the rooms with looking glasses, so that wherever you turn yousee a reflection of yourself. My brethren, some of us pass all ourlives in such a room; we are for ever contemplating our own selves. Wespend our time in looking into a mirror that we may see our beauty, ourcleverness, our fine clothing. One glass reflects our pleasures andamusements, another our sorrows and misfortunes. But every inch ofspace is so filled with self that there is no room for another's joysor sorrows, and, above all, there is no room for Jesus. Let us striveby God's grace to get away from self, and the eternal thinking andtalking of our own concerns. Even Jesus Christ pleased not Himself, and believe me, we are no Christians unless we are trying to forgetourselves, and to deny ourselves. We must be crucified with Christ ifwe are to reign with Him, and alas for us if we cannot show the marksof the nails where we have been fastened to our cross. My brethren, these are serious thoughts for us all. By our fruits, and by themonly, we shall be known. If our lives show no love, no humility, noself-sacrifice, no patience, no meekness, how shall we stand when thegreat day of ingathering comes? Often the Dresser of the Vineyard haslooked upon some of us, seeking fruit, and finding none, and we knownot how soon the sentence may go forth, "Cut it down, why cumbereth itthe ground. "

SERMON XLIV. 

RENDERING OUR ACCOUNT. 

(Ninth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. LUKE xvi. 2. 

"Give an account of thy stewardship. "

My brothers, we shall all hear that command one day. When our earthlybusiness is finished and done with, when our debts are paid, and ourjust claims settled, and our account books balanced for the last time, we must render our account to God, the Righteous Judge. But it is notonly at the day of Judgment that the Lord so calls upon us. _Then_ Hewill ask for the final reckoning, --"Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. " Now, whilst we are yet alive onthe earth, whilst we are still in the enjoyment of our stewardship, God, at certain times, calls for an account. Whenever the Holy Spirittouches our hearts, and stirs our conscience, and we look into thesecret places of our life, and examine ourselves, then we hear thewhisper of God, "Give an account of thy stewardship--how much owestthou unto my Lord?" Then at our dying bed there will be all our pastlife; our youth, our manhood, our working days, our times of pleasure, these will all be clamouring in our ears--"Give an account of thystewardship. " The dying bed of a sinner, who has wasted his life, willbe haunted by the ghosts and phantoms of the past. Days dead and gone, sins dead and forgotten, yet not forgiven, will be there to trouble thethoughts of the dying man, to murmur, "God requireth that which ispast; give an account of thy stewardship. " Such a death-bed must be anawful thing, no wonder that some people are said to _die hard_. Itmust be indeed a sad ending to a misspent life, to leave it amid theshadowy crowd of our former faults and failures; to the sound of theevil words which we have spoken; to the stern summons of our unquietconscience--"Give an account of thy stewardship. " May the mercifulJesus save us from such a death as that. And that we may find pardonand peace at the last, let us use the present, and not allow ouraccount to grow, like that of a reckless debtor, till we areoverwhelmed by the amount. We are all the stewards of Almighty God. Whatever things we possess are our Master's goods. Let us see how wehave used them hitherto. "Give an account of thy stewardship. "

What are some of the goods which our Master, God, has entrusted to ourcare? First of all, there is the treasure of _time_. Our years, ourmonths, and weeks, and days, are all so many precious jewels lent tous, and we must give a strict account of every one of them. Every dayof our life has its special work for God; have we always tried to dothe day's work with our might? Every day of our life is a teacher inGod's great School, and brings its lesson; have we tried to learn thelesson aright? If we must give an account for every idle word, sosurely must we for every idle day. And remember that any time spententirely on selfish pleasure, or amusement, is wasted. Unless we aredoing some good, we are certainly doing some harm. There is a mottovery commonly engraved upon a sundial, which means that the moments oftime are perishing, and are being recorded in God's Book. Yes, theyare being put down to our account on one side or the other, just as wehave used, or misused, them. Look on two death-beds. A Queen ofEngland is dying, surrounded by her attendants. What are the lastwords they hear her speak, as she passes over the brink of eternity?"All my possessions for a moment of time!" Now look on anotherpicture. An English Admiral lies wounded unto death. The decks areslippery with blood, and the air dark with smoke; but the sound of manyvoices is heard, it is the British shout of victory. The dying heroclasps the hand of his friend, and murmurs, "Now I am satisfied; thankGod, I have done my duty. " Brethren, our ending of this life must belike one of these. Either we must cry helplessly over wasted days, which cannot return, and beg in vain for time to right some wrong; orwe shall die with the comforting thought that, in spite of many faultsand failures, we have tried to do our duty. Remember that time oncelost cannot be recovered. "Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance and medicine, butlost time is gone for ever. "

Again, "give an account of thy stewardship, " of the good things whichGod has given you; your creation, preservation, and all the blessingsof this life; and above all, the redemption of the world by JesusChrist our Lord. I knew a man once who said that he was not thankfulto God for having created him. I think that man was wrong. We oughtto thank God for having made us, for if He had not we could never knowthe joys of Heaven. This world is full of beauty, full of good things, and we must give an account of our stewardship of them. God has sentthe sun to warm and cheer us, blue skies and flower-dotted meadows, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, wind and storm fulfilling HisWord. Too often we take these gifts as a matter of course, and forgetto thank God, who giveth all. God has fed you, and clothed you, andpreserved you all these years; have you been thankful? "Give anaccount of thy stewardship. " Then think what we owe God for ourredemption, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. Foreach of us Jesus suffered hunger and thirst, the temptation in thewilderness, the agony in the Garden, the cruel torture of the Cross. Do we think lightly of our sins? They were heavy enough to drive thosepiercing nails through the Hands and Feet of Jesus. Do we _speak_lightly of our sins? They were heavy enough to force that bitter cryfrom Jesus, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" How much doyou owe unto our Lord for these benefits? "Give an account of thystewardship. "

Then, too, the means of grace--how are we using them? There are theSacraments of the Church, do we value them as we ought? Do weunderstand the privilege and the blessing of having been baptised intoChrist's Holy Church, and made partakers of the resurrection of Jesus?Do we appreciate the value of that Holy Sacrament, when we bring ourchildren to be baptised? Then think of that other Sacrament, theblessed legacy of our dying Saviour's love, the Holy Food of ustravellers through the wilderness. Why are not all of you who hear menow Communicants? Why should there be two classes among you; one classof Church-goers only, the other of Church-goers who are Communicants?Your Saviour offers you the highest of all blessings in that Sacrament, He offers you Himself. Are you afraid to look upon God? You _must_look on Him one day. Are you trying to live without the Precious Foodof the Altar? Man doth not live by bread alone; he _cannot_ live bybread alone, unless God feeds him there is no life in him. As you turnaway from this Altar, and go to that other altar which you have raisedto some unworthy idol, does there come no reproach to you, no warningvoice--"What hast thou done? Give an account of thy stewardship. " Andso with all the means of grace, we must give an account of them. OurConfirmation, that solemn coming of age, when we were bidden to takeunto us the whole armour of God; have we remembered that, and all itsresponsibilities? Our prayers in private, and our public worship inChurch, we must answer to God for them. When you are tempted to hurryover your prayers, to say words with no heart, perhaps no meaning inthem; or when in Church you are silent and inattentive, instead ofthrowing all your heart and mind into the act of worship; remember thatfor all these things God will bring you into judgment, and will say, "Give an account of thy stewardship. " Is that your Bible on the shelf, covered with tell-tale dust? Well, God lent you that good thing, andHe will ask for an account of your use of it, or your neglect. 

Then again, God has sent you trials, sorrows, losses, as teachers whowarn you of your state. You must render an account for them. Youstood by the grave of someone stricken very suddenly by death. Thatwas a message sent to you by God, reminding you that man's time passethaway like a shadow, and bidding you take heed to your ways. Did youlisten to the warning, my brother, and take heed? Some of you havelost your money, others your health; some have seen their cherishedplans disappointed, their dearest wishes fail. All these are whispersfrom God, warnings from the Unseen. Have you understood them? Godwill ask you one day. 

Again, God has given you bodies and minds _in trust_. You must give anaccount of your use of them. Are you keeping those bodies of yours astemples of the Holy Ghost, in purity, chastity, temperance? Or haveyou defiled those holy temples with drunkenness and lust? "Give anaccount of thy stewardship. " Man of business, God has given you aquick brain, a keen eye, an aptitude for you [Transcriber's note:your?] calling. How are you using these things? Are you in yourbusiness walking honestly, as in the day? Will your accounts bearlooking into by God's Eye? "Give an account of thy stewardship. "

Fathers and mothers, God has given you children, souls precious in Hissight. Do you take good care of those souls? You clothe yourchildren, you feed them, you educate them; yes, but do you take care oftheir _souls_? Do you educate them for Heaven? Do you give them thatbest of all teaching--a good example? What if our children fallthrough our fault, because we have set no good pattern before them!What if they never get to Heaven because they have never seen _us_walking in the right way! God grant that these solemn thoughts maysink deeply into our hearts, and bear fruit of amendment, before theday when God shall say to me who preach, and you who hearken--"Give anaccount of thy stewardship. "

SERMON XLV. 

THE TEARS OF CHRIST. 

(Tenth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. LUKE xix. 41. 

"He beheld the city, and wept over it. "

The saddest sight, save one, in the history of the world is thatpictured in the text--the Son of God weeping over the city which Godhad chosen to put His Name there. Let us, in fancy, to-day look uponthe scene on which our Saviour looked, and recall the history of thatcity which had lost sight of the things concerning her peace. No othercity in the world, not even Rome, has such a wonderful story asJerusalem. Looking back into the past we see the city as thestronghold of the heathen Jebusites, perched on her rocky crest, andholding out when every other fenced city had yielded to the arms ofDavid. The Jebusites were the last old inhabitants of the land to giveplace to the conqueror; they trusted in the marvellous strength oftheir position, where "they had made their nest in a rock. " Theytrusted in "the everlasting gates, " which had never been forced by aninvader; and they declared boastfully that the blind and the lame werestrong enough to defend their citadel, and that David should not comein thither. But, as we know, the day came when David attacked thecity, and declared that the man who first smote the Jebusites should bechief and captain, and that man was Joab. Still looking back over thepast, we see David solemnly consecrating the once heathen city to theGod of his Fathers. The Ark, the most sacred treasure which Israelpossessed, was brought home with solemn state and loud rejoicing afterits long exile. As the procession of Priests and Levites, with theking and his chief captains, wound up the steep ascent, there rose thefamous shout which Israel had so often uttered in the wilderness--"LetGod arise, and let His enemies be scattered. Arise, O Lord, into Thyrest, Thou and the Ark of Thy strength. " And as the Ark is bornenearer to the ancient gates, which once defended the heathen Jebusiteagainst all foes, a new cry is raised--"Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall comein. " And so the Ark entered into Jerusalem, henceforth the Holy City, of which God said, "The Lord had chosen Zion, He hath desired it forHis habitation. " Still looking at this Jerusalem of the past, we seethe same David fallen from his high estate, sore punished for his sin, weeping for the dying child of His shame, fleeing from the city beforethe threats of another son whom he had loved "not wisely, but toowell. " Then we see the buildings of the temple rising high abovepalace and homestead, and mark the glory, and the wisdom, and theweakness of Solomon. Later we see clouds of sin and sorrow gatheringthick over Zion. Idolatrous kings have set up their heathen altars andhigh places. Of nearly every monarch the same dark sentence isrecorded--he did "that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. " Thedays come when we see the Temple of God closed; no sound of Psalm, nosmoke of incense within its walls. Men burn sacrifices to Baal andAshtaroth, and the Valley of Hinnom echoes with the cries of haplesschildren offered to Moloch, the hideous idol of the Ammonite. We seethe Ark of God cast out of the holy of holies, the name of Jehovahremoved from every public document, the altars of God overthrown, andHis Priests slain with the sword. Even to-day they point to themulberry tree of Isaiah, where one of the greatest of the prophets wasslain in the Valley of Kedron. Still looking back, we see the hand ofthe spoiler and the oppressor busy with the city which had forgottenGod--forgotten the things which concerned its peace. The ruined walls, the desecrated temple, the mournful band of exiles, all these seem topass before us like a dream. Then for a time come brighter scenes, asIsrael returns from its exile, and with joyful Psalms sings, "Let themrejoice whom the Lord hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, andgathered them out of all lands. "

Such was the Jerusalem of the past, over which the Son of God gazed andwept. What was the Jerusalem of the present, on which He looked; whatof the future? It was a doomed city, because in spite of all itschances, its warnings, its opportunities, it repented not. Its Rulersand Chief Priests refused to hear the Word of God spoken by theMessiah. What the common people listened to gladly, what the fishermenof Galilee, and the sick and sorrowing rejoiced to hear, Jerusalemrejected. And so Jerusalem was doomed. Over gorgeous temple, statelypalace, and quiet home alike was written Ichabod--thy glory isdeparted. Already the axe was laid to the root of the tree; alreadythe sentence had gone forth, "cut it down: why cumbereth it theground?" Already the hand of the destroyer was upon the city; theRoman eagle glittered amid the halls of Zion, and the once glorioussceptre had departed from Judah. Over such a city Jesus wept. Andwhat of the future? The end came soon. Quickly the Jews filled up themeasure, of their sins. Little thought they, as they watched with jibeand insult the agonies of God's Son, that those streets of theirsshould run red with the blood of their best and bravest. That famine, and pestilence, and treachery, and civil war should all attack themwithin, whilst the Roman hosts surrounded them without. Little theythought that the temple where Jesus had been presented, where He hadtalked with the doctors, where He had taught such wondrous lessons, should be burned by the hand of the enemy; that its altars should dripwith Jewish blood; the abomination of desolation stand in the holyplace, and the golden candlestick grace a victor's triumph in thestreets of Rome. Little thought those cruel men, who crucified theLord of Life, that within a while the Romans should crucify theirbrethren outside the walls of Jerusalem, till there was no wood left tomake a cross. "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this day, the things which belong to thy peace! But now they are hid from thineeyes!"

Brothers, those tears of Jesus should be very precious and veryterrible to us. Precious, because they teach us the sympathy, thetenderness of Christ; terrible, because they show us the awfulness ofsin. What must sin be like if it made God weep! Are there no cities, no towns, among us over which Jesus might shed tears? Think of thecrimes of our great busy centres of wealth and commerce; think of thefraud and falsehood which too often disgrace our trade; think of theselfish, cruel struggle for wealth, in which the weak are trampled downand ruined; think of the shameful scenes which night after night makeour streets hideous, and then ask whether or not Jesus weeps. And morethan this, let us bring the matter home to ourselves. Each one of usis, so to speak, a city, a temple of the living God. We have beenconsecrated to Him in Baptism, as was Jerusalem by the coming of theArk. God has promised that He will dwell in us. Are we trying to keepour lives pure and holy, remembering that we are the temples of theHoly Ghost? Is God dwelling in the holy of holies of our heart, orhave we cast Him out, like Israel of old, to make room for someunworthy idol? A man's god is that which he loves, admires, and truststo most. It may be money, it may be pleasure, or fame, or beauty:these are all idols. 

Brethren, who is your God? Who dwells in the secret place, the holy ofholies of your heart? God's people Israel were commanded to keep thesacred fire always burning upon the altar of sacrifice. It was neverto go out. It was to be fed daily with wood, and with sacrifices of asweet-smelling savour. It is supposed that this sacred fire was keptburning for a period of eight hundred years, till the reign of thewicked king Manasseh. From his days, when the fire was suffered to goout, the nation fell lower and lower into absolute ruin. When we werebaptised, the sacred fire of the Holy Spirit came down upon the altarof our hearts. Are we keeping that holy flame alight? Are we feedingit with offerings of self-sacrifice and love; offerings of asweet-smelling savour to God? If we have allowed the sacred fire todie out of our hearts God is no longer there. Our life is like thedesecrated temple of the Jews, silent, abandoned by all, except by foulthings which dwell in desolate places. Oh! that our eyes were open tosee our true state; to see the things concerning our peace, before thefatal day when they shall be hid for ever from our eyes!

An ancient legend tells us that the Centurion who pierced our Lord'sside at the crucifixion was a soldier named Longinus, and that he wasblind. When the Blood poured from the wounded side of Jesus it wassprinkled on the blind eyes of the Centurion, and he received his sightand testified, "Of a truth this was the Son of God. "

May that same Precious, Redeeming Blood open our eyes to see our sin, and to know Jesus as our Saviour. Then we shall ask Him to come intothe temple of our heart, as He went into the Jewish temple of old, andto cast out all those evil demons of lust, and selfishness, and pride, and envy which defile the shrine of our body. We shall ask Him tocleanse and purify the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of HisHoly Spirit. We shall ask Him to break down the idols which we haveset up in His Holy Place, and to overthrow the altars reared to self. We shall pray that the sacred fire may once more be kindled, and thesacrifice and oblation of our love once more offered, since "thesacrifice of God is a troubled spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, OGod, shalt Thou not despise. "

Brethren, if we have caused Jesus to weep over our lives, to weep overour wasted chances and neglected opportunities; if He has mourned overthe city of our life, wherein we have crucified Him afresh, let us turnto Him now. Those tears tell us of His love, His mercy, His greatpitifulness. Let our prayer be now--"O be favourable and gracious untoZion; build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, hear our prayer, andlet our cry come unto Thee. "

SERMON XLVI. 

THE GRACE OF GOD. 

(Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. )

1 COR. Xv. 10. 

"By the Grace of God I am what I am. "

In the Epistle and Gospel of the day we read the words of twoPharisees, who offer a very striking contrast. The one is S. Paul, thegreat Apostle, who humbly declares that he is not fit to be called anApostle, because he had persecuted the Church of Christ. The other isthe nameless Pharisee of the parable, who trusted in himself, anddespised others. In the case of S. Paul we see the marks of a trueconversion, of a real repentance. He had been proud; as haughty andvain of his religion as the Pharisee of the parable; but he had seenhis sin and repented of it, wherefore he abhorred himself. He had beenbrought exceeding low, and then it was that he was accepted to be God'sApostle. When he looked back upon his past life, the picture filledhim with shame, and humility. He recalled the day when they stoned S. Stephen, and he was consenting to his death. He remembered how he hadseized innocent men and women, and dragged them to prison, merelybecause they confessed Christ crucified. He knew that many a happyfamily had been broken up; many a child torn from its mother's arms;many a husband sent to chains and martyrdom, because of the faith ofChrist. And remembering these things, S. Paul forgets the gloriouswork which he had since done for Jesus, and declares himself the leastof all Apostles, unworthy of the name. He does not, like that otherPharisee, boast of his good deeds, but only declares humbly that it isby the Grace of God that he is what he is. Here, then, we have a testto try whether our repentance is real or not. When we look back uponour past sins and failures, does the memory make us sad--make ushumble? If we do not hate our old sins our repentance is not true. And again, if the recollection of our faults does not make us _humble_, we have not really repented. Directly we find ourselves trusting inour own righteousness, and despising others; boasting of what we were, and what we are; walking through the world with our head lifted up, andtalking with a stiff neck, let us be sure that we are in great danger. Let us get to our Lord right humbly, crying with the Publican "Lord, bemerciful to me, a sinner. " Learn, too, from S. Paul's words, that ifwe are trying to lead holy, gentle, pure lives, it is by God's gracethat we are what we are. Not by our own sword and our own right handhave we gotten the victory. It is God's grace and help which alonehelp us to lead a holy life. Let us think, then, how that grace may beobtained. God's grace comes to us through certain channels ordained byGod Himself, and these are, speaking generally, the Sacraments andOrdinances of the Church, Prayer, and the study of the Bible. 

Let me speak of one special means of grace to-day--Confirmation. Itmay be that there are some here who are not confirmed, and are notwilling to offer themselves for that holy rite. The hindrances whichkeep people from Confirmation differ with different people. There isone class of persons which will not be confirmed because it does notcare about God, or desire to lead a holy life. A young man or woman ofthis class says, I mean to have my own way; I am not going to be tiedand bound by promises and vows; I shall do what I like, whether it beright or wrong. Such persons are, I hope and believe, uncommon. Thenthere is a second class of people, which is indifferent aboutConfirmation, because it does not fully understand the blessingsbelonging to it. These people have probably never been taught trueChurch doctrine, and so they tell us that Confirmation may be a verygood thing, but they can do very well without it. They tell us thatthey know such an one who has never been confirmed, and who is a verygood man. They assure us that they do not "hold with Confirmation;they do not see the use of it. " Precisely, they "do not hold" with it, because they know nothing about it. Then there are others who form athird class, who have grown up, grown old, perhaps, without beingconfirmed, who tell us that they are too old now; that they have livedall these years without Confirmation, and are all right, and thattherefore they see no reason why they should come forward. 

Now, I will say a few words to each of these classes of people. First, let me speak to those who refuse to be bound by any vow or promise, because they do not care to lead a godly life. They imagine that ifthey are not confirmed they are free to do as they like. But it is notso. They are bound by the vows and promises of their Baptism, and theycannot throw them aside. To such persons I say, you _are_ God'schildren, signed with the Cross, pledged to lead a holy life. If youmake up your mind to have your own way, to do what you like, eventhough it be wrong, then you commit a deadly sin. You are doing justwhat Satan did, rebelling against God, and the wages of such sin isdeath. Understand distinctly that, as baptised people, you belong toGod; if you sin, you sin against Jesus Christ; if you repent truly, Godwill pardon you for Christ's sake; if you go on sinning, you will belost. If you say, I will not be confirmed, because then I shall befree to do as I like, you will be committing deadly sin, and sayingwhat is not true also. 

Next, I speak to those who are indifferent about Confirmation, becausethey do not believe, or probably understand, the benefits belonging toit. Let me speak very earnestly to them. I take it for granted thatyou want to please God; that you want to lead good lives; to be saved, to go to Heaven. You have been baptised, you bring your children to bebaptised. Well, Confirmation and Baptism are very closely connected. Baptism _gives us life_; Confirmation strengthens us to _live thatlife_. Baptism is only the beginning of life. You know we have twokinds of life: that of the soul, and that of the body. When we areborn our bodies are alive, but our souls are dead in trespasses andsins; we are spiritually dead. Now life is the gift of God the HolyGhost; in the Creed we speak of the Holy Spirit as "The Lord, and Giverof life. " In Baptism, God the Holy Spirit comes to us, we are bornagain of water and the Holy Ghost, we become new creatures. We are nolonger children of sin, but children of God, and heirs of eternal life. Thus we begin our spiritual existence, and commence to walk in thenarrow way. But not all who are baptised go on leading a holy life. It does not follow that because we are born again we shall be saved. We have been made God's children, but we may become prodigals, andleave our Father's House. We have been made heirs of everlastingsalvation, but we may forfeit our inheritance. What we need isstrength to keep on the right way, to persevere to the end, to resistthe temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Now thinkspecially about Confirmation. All of you will admit that we are veryweak creatures. No one here will dare to say that he is strong enoughby himself to keep on the right way. No one here will deny the truthof those words, "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anythingas of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. " Well, if we arenaturally weak, we need special strength and help, just as a new-bornbabe requires care, food, warmth, to keep it alive. We want strengthto keep our souls, our spiritual nature, alive. Confirmation is onevery important means by which this strength, this grace of God, isgiven to us. In Confirmation, God the Holy Ghost, who gave us life, makes us strong to live such a life here that we may abide with God, and continually dwell with Him hereafter. Surely there is no oneamongst us unwise enough to say--I do not need this strength, I amstrong enough by myself. But there are some here, perhaps, who willtell me that they do need strength, that they do want the help of theHoly Spirit, and that they can obtain that strength without beingconfirmed. They will tell me that they do not hold with rites andceremonies, and that God can give us His grace without them. Yes, God_can_, but God will not. God will give us help in His own way, not inour way. He has ordained certain channels, as I have already told you, by which His grace comes to us, and by them only. There are some whosay--"I do not see the need of Sacraments. " Then why did God ordainBaptism, and order His disciples to baptise all nations? Why didJesus, on the night of His betrayal, ordain the Sacrament of the Lord'sSupper, and command His disciples--"Do this, in remembrance of Me?"Others, again, will say--I do not see the use of Confirmation, it isonly a ceremony. Why then has the Church, from the earliest ages, fromthe days of S. Paul and the other Apostles, used Confirmation? If itbe only a ceremony, what does the Bible mean by saying that when theApostles laid their hands upon certain persons they received the HolyGhost? And remember that what the Apostles did, the Bishops, as theirdescendants, have done ever since. But some men will say--why cannotGod give me grace and strength without these forms? And I answer, simply because it is not God's pleasure; we are not to teach Him, butto obey Him. If you read your Bible you will find that God constantlyused earthly means to provide spiritual blessings. When the peoplewere threatened with the destroying angel in Egypt, they were bidden tosprinkle the blood of the Paschal Lamb on their door-posts. This was arite, or ceremony, but if neglected, death followed. The Israelites, who were bitten by fiery serpents, were commanded to look on the brazenserpent, made and lifted up by Moses. That was a ceremony, but todisregard it meant death. When Naaman wished to be healed of hisleprosy, he was bidden to wash in Jordan seven times. That was aceremony, but it was the only means of his cure. There must be achannel, a communication, between God and man through which His gracecomes. Suppose you were to come to a deep well, but had no pitcher orother vessel to let down into it, of what use would the water be toyou? You forgot that "the well is deep, and you have nothing to drawwith. " You have seen the telegraph instruments in the post office. Well, there is plenty of electricity there to send your message forhundreds of miles, but if there is _no wire_ the force of theelectricity is in vain. 

But perhaps some men will say to me--I know certain sects who do notbelieve in Confirmation. My brethren, how does that concern you? Iknow certain people who never wash themselves, who never pray; but whathave they to do with us? I am speaking to believers, to Church people, not to outsiders. I am speaking to those who are baptised into theChurch of Christ, and for whom it was promised that they should bebrought to the Bishop, to be confirmed by him. I think, then, that youmust see that it is _right_ to be confirmed, because the Church hasordered Confirmation, and used it from the beginning; and next, that itis good for us to be confirmed, because we are too weak of ourselves tolead holy lives. Now let me say a word, in ending, to those who havegrown up, grown old, perhaps, without Confirmation. What is theirexcuse? They say--I have neglected Confirmation so long, it is notworth while now. I have gone on so far without it, and I am all right. My brothers, how do you know that you are all right? You cannot seeinto your own heart, God can, and does. You may think you are alive, and behold, you are dead. You cannot be _all right_ whilst you aredisobeying God. Remember Samson. He knew not that the Spirit of theLord had departed from him. What if the Holy Ghost has left you, andyou know it not? What if the Holy Spirit no longer dwells in you, whatmust the end of such a life be? Eternal death. Do you tell me thatyou have delayed so long that it is too late now? I answer, it is_not_ too late to mend. Suppose a man to have neglected prayer foryears, is that any reason why he should not begin to pray now?

If any of you have neglected a plain duty, and shrunk from receivingthe precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, make up for the past now; do notoffer excuses, but never rest till you can say with truth, "By thegrace of God I am what I am. "

SERMON XLVII. 

DEAF EARS AND STAMMERING TONGUES. 

(Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. MARK vii. 37. 

"He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear, andthe dumb to speak. "

Such was the verdict of the people who saw one of our Lord's miracles. How far more strongly may we say the same, having seen the work ofChrist in the life of the Church at large, and in each of ourindividual souls! We cannot look on the world of nature withoutechoing the words of the text. No thoughtful man can mark thespring-time coming to the woods and hedgerows, and waking the sleepingplants as with the wand of an enchanter, or see the orchards white intothe harvest of fruit, or look into the gold mine of the ripe corn, orgaze at the slumbering earth in winter, wrapped in its white sleepingdress of snow, without acknowledging the truth that God hath done allthings well in the _creation_ of the world. No Christian man can lookat the earthly life of Jesus, without feeling that He hath done allthings well in the _redemption_ of the world. Whether we look on Jesusas the lowly Child, setting an example of obedience, increasing infavour with God and man; or as the humble worker, showing the dignityof labour in the workshop of Joseph the carpenter; or as the Friend ofSinners, teaching the fallen woman at the well; or as the sympathisingBrother of Humanity, weeping for Lazarus, and drying the tears of thewidow; or as the Teacher, speaking as never man spake; or as the MeekSufferer, bowed down in Gethsemane, silent before the jibing crowd, praying for those who nailed Him to the Cross, we must accept theperfect life, the perfect pattern, and declare--"He hath done allthings well. "

But turning from this subject in its wider sense, let us look speciallyat the miracle of to-day's Gospel. A man is brought to Jesus, deaf, and having an impediment in his speech. It is a well-known fact thatthose who cannot hear sounds are usually unable to utter themcorrectly. Now let us regard this miracle from a spiritual point ofview. There are among us many who are spiritually deaf, and cannotspeak aright. And it is because they are deaf to the voice of God, that they speak amiss. God utters His voice in many different tones, but their ears have waxed heavy and they cannot hear. God speaks to usby the _Voice of Nature_. This world has a myriad of voices for thosewho have ears to hear. There is the voice of praise and thanksgivinggoing up from singing bird, and rustling forest, and rushing waterfall. Every flower is an altar of pure incense, offering its sacrifice of asweet-smelling savour. "Earth, with ten thousand voices, praises God;"and yet some of us hear nothing of these things because we arespiritually deaf. Again, God speaks to us by the _Voice ofConscience_--a still, small voice, speaking from the innermostsanctuary of our soul. And some of us hear it not. They have stoppedtheir ears like the deaf adder, and so they go on wilfullysinning--deaf to the Voice of God. I have read how a notoriousprisoner, who had been convicted of many serious crimes, was found tohave the whole story of our Lord's crucifixion marked upon his breast. How utterly deaf to the voice of conscience that man must have been!Although he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, yet he wasthe slave of the worst sins. 

My brothers, we all bear the sign of the Cross, given to us in ourBaptism, and if our ears have become deaf to the Voice of God, thatcross is a witness against us. Sometimes we hear of a man beingarrested who has on him a certain letter, which marks him as a deserterfrom the army. Are there any among us who feel that God has set thatfatal mark on them: the sign that they, once soldiers and servants ofJesus Christ, have deserted their Leader, gone back, and followed nolonger after Him? Then again, God speaks to us by the _Voice of HisChurch_. There is no asylum in the world where you will find so manydeaf people as at a service in Church. Their ears are open to listento the praises of their friends, or the eager talk of the market, andthe place of business; but the warnings of God, the message of Christ'spardoning love, the threat of punishment, or the absolving word, fallunheeded upon deaf ears. How often from that altar has the lovingmessage been uttered--"Come unto Me, all ye that travail and are heavyladen, " "Take, eat; this is My Body, which was given for you, " and thedeaf ears heard not, nor understood? How often has the wickedness ofsin been proclaimed in this place, and the deaf ears heard only of_another's_ faults, without heeding the warning cry--"_Thou_ art theman?" And these people go through life unconscious of their danger, just as a deaf man would walk along a railway and never hear the soundof the advancing train. 

Notice, too, that those who are spiritually deaf have also animpediment in their speech. This is shown in many different ways. When I find persons who will not speak out boldly for the honour ofJesus Christ, who will not confess Him before the world, I know theyhave an impediment in their speech. When I find persons in Churchsilent throughout the Service, making no responses, singing no Psalm, or Chant, or Hymn, I know they have an impediment in their speech: theywill not put their tongue to its right use, which is to praise God withthe best member that we have. If I find a man saying what is false, hesitating to give a plain, straightforward answer, I know that he hasan impediment in his speech, his stammering tongue cannot utter thetruth. If I hear a man wild with passion, using bad language, I knowthat he has an impediment, he cannot shape good words with his tongue. And so with those who tell impure stories, or retail cruel gossip abouttheir neighbour's character, they are all alike afflicted people, deafto the Voice of God, and with an impediment in their speech. And nowlet us look at the means of cure. They are precisely the same as thosementioned in to-day's Gospel. They brought the afflicted man to Jesus. That is the first step. If we would find pardon and healing we must bebrought to Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads the sinner back in manydifferent ways. It was the reading of one text of Scripture whichturned Augustine from his evil life. It was the single word _Eternity_printed in the tract which a man had torn scoffingly in two, and whichlay in a scrap of paper on his arm, that led him to repent. Sometimesit is a word in a sermon, or a verse in a hymn; sometimes it is thequestion of a little child, or the sight of a dead face in a coffin;but whatever it is which brings us back to Jesus, that must be thefirst step to finding pardon and healing. 

And next, Jesus was _besought_ to heal the afflicted man. My brethren, our plain duty, as Christians, is to intercede for our fellow men. Weare often far too selfish in our petitions. Whilst we humbly rememberour own sins, and pray for pardon, let us beseech the Lord also forothers. And then Jesus took the man aside from the multitude. TheLord could have healed him with a word in the midst of that crowd; butHe took him aside. Why? Surely to teach us a lesson, that if we wantto be healed of our sins, we must go aside out of the crowd of oureveryday words, and thoughts, and companions. We must seek some quiettime, and place, where we can get away from the world, and be alonewith God. So much of the religion of the day is thin and shallow, because people do not think about it enough; they have never gone asideout of the world. The multitude of worldly cares and pleasures, work, money getting, politics, jostle them on all sides, so that they cannotcome near to Jesus and be healed. Have you never felt this when youhave knelt down to pray? You have not been able to tell your secretsto God, any more than you would tell them to a friend, in the midst ofa multitude. You want to go aside out of the crowd, where you canspeak quietly. When you have knelt down, although it may have been inyour own room alone, yet there is a crowd with you--a multitude ofdisturbing thoughts. To-day's work, and to-morrow's pleasure, themoney to be paid, or the money that is owing to you, the cares ofeating, and drinking, and clothing, the recollection of a trouble, realor fancied, the remembrance of some sharp word that made us smart andtingle, all these things make a crowd, and keep us back from Jesus. Ido not say that we can get away from the throng of thoughts entirely, but I _do_ say that we should try every day of our lives to go asideout of the crowd, and find a quiet time, when we can think, and talk toGod. 

And next, Jesus put His fingers into the deaf man's ears. If we wouldfind pardon and peace, _Jesus must touch us_. It will not help us tobelieve only in a Saviour who died, we must acknowledge One who isalive for evermore. It will not avail us to think of a Jesus who hasgone away into Heaven, we must look to Christ ever abiding here in HisChurch. When we draw near to Him in the sacred service of that Church, Jesus puts His Hands upon us. When we have truly repented of our sins, and the words of absolution are spoken, we have the pardoning Hand ofJesus laid upon us. When we kneel at the Altar of the BlessedSacrament, Jesus touches our every part. Our sinful bodies are madeclean by His Body. He lays His Hands upon ear, and eye, and tongue, and heart. He opens our eyes to see the wondrous things of His law; Heunseals our ears to listen to the Voices of God; He touches our lipswith a live coal from off the Altar, and our mouth shall show forth Hispraise. He strengthens our tottering feet to walk in the narrow way, and dismisses us with His Blessing, "depart in peace, thy faith hathsaved thee. "

Never look for Jesus afar off, or speak of Him as though He were lost. Jesus is here, standing in our midst to-day. He is ready now, as ofold, to cure all manner of diseases. My brother, what aileth thee? Isit well with thee; is it well with the husband; is it well with thechild? Prove to-day the truth of those words, "He hath done all thingswell. He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. "

SERMON XLVIII. 

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

(Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. LUKE x. 30. 

"A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell amongthieves. "

The scene of the parable is a wild, lonely road between Jerusalem andJericho. It is a road with an evil name for murder and robbery, and iscalled the red, or bloody way. The mishap of the traveller was commonenough in our Lord's day, and is common enough now. But I would takethe scene of this parable in a wider sense; I would ask you to look atit as the wayside of life. The road through this world is a dangerousway, leading through the wilderness, stained by many crimes, haunted bymany robbers. Travelling along this highway of life, I see crowds ofpersons, of all sorts and conditions of men. And I see moreover thatall of them bear scars upon them, as though they had been wounded, andmany I see are lying by the wayside in sore distress. All have at sometime or other fallen among thieves. There is a famous picture by thegreat French painter which illustrates this. It represents a number ofdifferent people journeying through the valley of this world. The wayis rough and gloomy, and all bear signs of having known weariness andsorrow. The king is there in his royal robes, and wearing his crown;but his brow is furrowed with care, and he seems to ask, like our ownKing Henry--

 "Gives not the hawthorn bush a sweeter shade To shepherds, looking on their silly sheep, Than doth a rich embroider'd canopy To kings, that fear their subject's treachery?"

The poet is there crowned with laurel, but his eyes are sad, as thoughhe felt how poor a thing is fame; how valueless the garland whichto-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. He looks with ayearning glance, as though searching for something not yet found. Evenlike the great poet Dante, who, when asked in exile by the monks, "Mybrother, what are you seeking?" answered, "I am seeking _peace_. " Thesoldier is there, his sword hacked, and his armour marked by many ablow. But he seems "weary with the march of life, " and looks sadlyupon the glittering stars and crosses which adorn him, remembering howsoon they will only serve to decorate his coffin. There, too, is theminister of state, who directed the fortunes of empires. "Whom hewould he slew, and whom he would he kept alive. " But his head is bowedwith trouble, and he seems to look wistfully to the time when "thewicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. " Among thecrowd there are women; the widow with veiled head, and tearful eyes;the mother clasping her dead child; the poor slave, cowering beneaththe lash of the taskmaster, and stretching out her chained hands forpity. There, too, are many sick folk. Blind men sit in darkness bythe wayside; cripples drag their maimed bodies wearily along; beggarsgrovel in their sores and raggedness. And all these different peopleseem to turn their faces longingly to one place, where a bright lightbreaks over the dark valley, and where there stands One withoutstretched arms, and loving smile. It is Jesus, the Good Samaritan, who is ready to help these travellers on the road of life; it is theGood Physician, who has medicine to heal their sickness; and who saysto every suffering heart, king and beggar, desolate widow, wearywarrior, childless mother, "Come unto Me, all ye that are weary andheavy laden, and I will give you rest. "

My brothers, this life is a pilgrimage through the vale of tears, ajourney along the robber-haunted road. Everywhere we see the travellerof the parable who has fallen among thieves. Some have fallen amongSatan and his followers, thieves and murderers of souls. I see youngmen who have thus fallen. My brothers, where is the white robe of yourBaptism, the shining armour of your Confirmation? Is that troubledface of yours the same over which a pure mother wept and prayed, andwhich she sanctified with holy kisses? Can you recall a time when youwent through the world "wearing the white flower of a blameless life?"And now, your white robe is stripped off from you, your armour isbroken and cast aside, there are ghastly wounds upon you. Yourconscience is wounded, your good name is wounded, your purity is allstained and foul, you have trampled on the white snow of some innocentlife. You have wandered out of the right way, and strayed into badcompany, into the drunkard's haunt, or the gambler's den, or the houseof shame. You have fallen among thieves, and they have stripped you, and wounded you, and left you half dead. 

Young men, is not this too true of some of those who hear me now? Whatwill you do? Will you lie there in the dangerous path, and die, die inyour sins? No, look for help--but where? The world cannot aid you. The world is selfish, the world is hard upon those who have fallen, theworld will pass by on the other side. Money will not help you, itcannot purchase clothing for you, or procure medicine for your disease. Your clothing must be bought without money and without price. Turn toJesus, the Good Samaritan, He alone has medicine to heal your sickness. Turn to Him in weeping, in praying, and He will give you wine, whichmaketh glad the heart of man, even the wine of pardon; and oil to makeyou a cheerful countenance, even the oil of comfort to your woundedspirit. He will clothe you once again, and make you in your rightmind. O wounded wayfarer on the road of life, cry out to Jesus, thegood Samaritan. Some have fallen among the thieves of bereavement andloss. As they lie there in their sorrow, they tell us how their moneywas lost in the bank, or their savings swallowed up in bad times oftrade. There are poor widows lying there, who say to us, "We haveburied our husband, the bread-winner, how can we feed and educate andclothe the children? How can we struggle on through a hard world?" Tothem I say--Listen for the footsteps of Jesus, the Good Samaritan. Thesame love which comforted the widow of Nain will comfort you. The sameHands which wiped away her tears will dry your eyes. Only believe, andturn to the Good Samaritan. Some have been beaten in the battle oflife, and are nearly heart-broken. I have tried so hard to getwork--they say, but there seems no room in the world for me, disappointment has been my meat and drink day and night. Ah! mybrothers, have you not been trusting to the Priest and the Levite, rather than to the Good Samaritan? The world has passed you by, butJesus will not. He will bind up your broken heart, and show you thatthere is room in God's world for all who will do their duty. But thereis another lesson for us to learn. If Jesus does so much for us, weought to help each other. "Go thou and do likewise. " The common, popular idea of religion, is utter selfishness. We are taught that thegreat end and aim of religion is to get our soul saved, as cheaply aspossible sometimes. Now this teaching is utterly wrong. It leads usto think only of ourselves, it makes us go to Church from a wrongmotive--that we may get good. True religion teaches us to be goodSamaritans, to do all to the glory of God, to love Him with all ourheart and strength, and our neighbour as ourself. "Pure religion andundefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherlessand widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from theworld. " The great lesson of the parable is this, that every man is ourneighbour when he needs help, and we can give it. The Jews, as weknow, had no dealings with the Samaritans, and our Lord's story showedhow that middle wall of partition should be broken down. The GoodSamaritan did not stay to question the fallen traveller about hisreligious views, or his political principles--he saw him in trouble, and he helped him. May we all go and do likewise. We Christians areall too ready to build up a wall of separation between ourselves andour brethren. One of these walls is that of religious difference. Wedisagree about some point of doctrine or ritual, and allow thedisagreement to embitter our feelings, and to shut out our sympathy. Politics form another wall of separation. We differ from a neighbourin our political views, and we refuse to recognise any good in himbecause he does not think as we do. There are some among the rich wholook down with contempt upon the poor, as though poverty were theunpardonable sin. And there are endless prejudices of rank and classwhich shutout man from man. Against all these things the parable ofthe Good Samaritan is a protest and a warning. 

It is the way of the world to leave a fallen man to his fate, but it isnot Christ's way. It is the way of the world to speak very hardly ofthose who are in want and misery, for as nothing succeeds like success, nothing fails like failure. But again, that is not Christ's way. Henever breaks the bruised reed, or quenches the smoking flax. Mybrothers, let us learn to look on all men as our neighbours, let usstretch out a helping hand to those who have fallen among thieves, letus pour the wine and oil of sympathy, and kind words where we can, letus be gentle in our judgment of another's fault, since "blessed are themerciful. "

SERMON XLIX. 

WALKING WITH GOD. 

(Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

GALATIANS v. 16. 

"Walk in the Spirit. "

The life of a Christian must be one of progress. S. Paul says, "_Walk_in the Spirit;" he does not say, stand still. It is not enough for usto have been born again of Water and the Holy Ghost, and to havereceived the Gifts of the Spirit from time to time through thedifferent means of grace. We are bidden "to stir up the gift that isin us;" we are told to "_grow_ in grace. " God has set us upon our feetin the right road. He has taken us by the hand, that is, the HolySpirit is our leader and guide; but we have something to do--we must_walk_. There are some who tell us that everything has been done forus in the past, and that everything will be done for us in the future;and those who believe that doctrine never do a day's work for Jesus. They never go into His vineyard; they never make any use of their fivetalents, or even of one; they never put on the whole armour of God. They tell us they have nothing to do, all is done for them. I shouldbe sorry to hold so selfish, idle, and unmanly a doctrine as that. Iknow very well that God _has_ done, and is doing, for me what I couldnot do for myself. I know how weak I am, and how much need I have ofGod's guiding, strengthening Hand: but I know also that He expectssomething from me. He bids me fight and struggle against temptation;He tells me to press forward towards the mark--to go up higher, to seekthose things which are above, to forget those things which are behind. He would have me labour and strive to enter in at the strait gate, andto work out my own salvation. He commands me to take up my cross andfollow, and all this means work, struggle, _progress_. "Walk in theSpirit. " When Jesus had opened the eyes of the blind man, he did notcontinue to sit by the wayside begging, he arose and followed Christ. It is only blind folks, whose eyes Jesus has not yet opened, who arecontent to sit by the roadside of life and do nothing. God says toeach one of us--"This is My way, walk ye in it. " Let us see what thiswalking means. First, I think it means _going forward_. There is nostandstill in God's natural world, nor is there in God's spiritualworld. If a child is healthy, he is growing: _getting on_, as thephrase is. So a true child of God is getting on, making progress, going forward every day. He goes on growing in grace till he comes ofage, then God takes him to His Home, and gives him his inheritance. Ifyou look at the tombs in a churchyard, you will see that those lyingthere died at all kinds of ages. Here is the tiny grave of an infant, snatched from its parents' arms almost as soon as the cross was writtenon its brow. But in God's sight that little one had come of age, andso was taken Home. Here is the grave of a child who had begun to dosome work for God, and was as sunshine in its home, and the joy of itsfriends. When death took the child, people mourned because he died soyoung; but God had said of him, and his work, "He has come of age--itis finished. " Here is the grave of an old man, a village patriarch. It required nearly a hundred years before he came of age, and he had towalk for many a weary day, and carry his cross, before God saw that thetime of harvest had come, and sent "the reaper, whose name is death. "And now comes the solemn question--are we making progress, goingforward; are we striving to do the work which God has given us to do?Next, walking in the Spirit means _discipline, self-denial_. "I keepunder my body, " is the motto for every Christian man. We must turn oureyes from the sight which tempts us to leave the right path; we mustclose our ears to the whisper of those who would lead us aside. Wemust keep our mouth, as it were, with a bridle; we must lay aside everyweight. Each of us has his special temptation, which becomes a weight, a hindrance. One man is so weighted with the cares of business andmoney-getting, that he cannot walk in the right path. The gold and thesilver weigh him down, and make him stumble. Another has piled up sucha load of troubles and worries upon his shoulders that he cannotadvance. One woman is so cumbered with her domestic concerns that shemakes no progress towards Heaven. Another is overwhelmed withpleasures and amusements which cling about her, and hinder her fromgoing forward. 

My brethren, do not let the world over-weight you, or drag you backfrom the right way. There is one weight, however, which we must allcarry--our cross. I have heard of a picture which represents twopilgrims along the road of life. One bears his cross on his shoulders, and steps forward manfully, looking up to Heaven; the other is dragginghis cross after him along the rough road, with painful and unwillinglabour. We must _take up_ our cross and bear it if we would walk inthe Spirit. If we suffer it to drag behind us, it will only hinderinstead of helping us. Each sorrow, each loss, or bereavement, is as anail to fasten us closer to our cross. Let us stretch out our handswillingly to receive the nail, sharp though it be. Remember we must be_crucified_ with Jesus if we are to be glorified with Him. Again, walking in the Spirit means _patient perseverance_. A religion of fitsand starts is worth nothing. There are many who come running to Jesus, like the young ruler, but when they know what being a Christian means, they go away. There are many who, at the time of a Confirmation or aMission, declare that they will follow Christ whithersoever He goeth. But, after a little while, the enthusiasm dies out, they grow weary inwell-doing, unstable as water, they follow no more after Him. If wewould reach our journey's end, we must _keep on walking_, steadily, patiently, perseveringly. "He that endureth to the end shall besaved. " Again, walking in the Spirit means _looking forward_ along theroad. Too much of our religion is _short-sighted_. We see thepleasure or the sorrow at our feet, but we see nothing of the gloriousfuture, the rest that remaineth for the people of God. We are likethose who see the clod of earth against which their foot strikes, butnever lift their eyes aloft to look on the towering mountain. Men ofscience tell us that shortness of sight is greatly on the increaseamongst us, especially with those who live in great cities. The reasonfor this is that the city dwellers wear out their eye-sight by lookingconstantly on objects close to them, without having any wider or moredistant prospect. So it is with our spiritual sight. We wear it outby fixing our eyes on some worldly object close to us. One man hasgrown near-sighted by gazing day after day at his money bags, till hecan see nothing else; and another has studied his ledger and cash booktill he has no eyes left for God's fair Heaven above him; another haslooked at his own picture till he sees his own cleverness or greatnessreflected everywhere. 

My brothers, look forward, look up: see God's love and mercy on allsides of you. Come out into God's sunshine; ask Him to open your eyesthat they may see the wondrous things of His law. I think, too, thatwalking in the Spirit means having _perfect trust in God--walking withour hand in His_. If you see a man fearful about to-morrow, dreadingthe future, always expecting and anticipating evil, meeting misfortunehalf-way, be sure he is not walking in the Spirit. Hold fast to God'sHand--trust Him. Do you remember the story of the little Russian boywho trusted in God? He and a younger sister were left utterlydestitute on the death of their father. Left alone in the house, without money and food, the little boy knew not how to comfort his babysister. At last, urged by the tears of the little one, the boy wroteon a piece of paper, "O God, please to send me three copecks (a penny)to buy my little sister some bread, " and then hurried away with thisstrange letter to the alms box of a neighbouring church, believing inhis simplicity that in this way his letter would reach Heaven. APriest saw the little boy trying to force the paper into the alms box. He took the letter from him and, having read it, gave the child foodand assistance. Next day the Priest preached in the church on behalfof the orphans, and when he had related the story of the child's letterto God, a liberal offertory was given. 

Lastly, I think that walking in the Spirit means _walking in hope_. Ifwe trust God and do our best, we cannot despair. We shall find theroad hard and stony at times, but let us hope and go steadily forward. We shall fall sometimes, we shall make mistakes, we shall sufferdefeats, we shall be cast down, and weary. Still let us hope, and gosteadily forward. 

 "Hope on, hope ever, tho' dead leaves be lying In mournful clusters 'neath your journeying feet, Tho' wintry winds through naked boughs are sighing, The flowers are dead, yet is their memory sweet Of summer winds and countless roses glowing 'Neath the warm kisses of the generous sun. Hope on, hope ever, why should tears be flowing? In every season is some victory won. "

SERMON L. 

THE PREACHING OF NATURE. 

(Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. MATT. Vi. 28. 

"Consider the lilies of the field. "

This world is God's great Temple, and the voices of Nature are Hispreachers. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through these preachers likethe wind breathing through the pipes of a great organ. To those whohave ears to hear, the roar of the ocean, or the sound of the mightyrushing wind, are as an anthem of praise. The song of birds, the humof insects, every voice in the world of Nature combine to take part ina hymn of thanksgiving, a great _Benedicite_, and to sing, "O all yeworks of the Lord bless ye the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him forever. " And yet, my brothers, there are many of us too blind and toodeaf to see and hear these things. To one man this world is only agigantic farm, to be divided, and ploughed, and tilled, that it maybring forth more fruit. To another the world is merely a great market, a warehouse filled with all kinds of goods, which may be bought andsold. To some the world is like a chess-board, where each man plays aselfish game, and tries to overreach his neighbour. To others theworld is a mere play-ground, where they pass a frivolous, uselessexistence, sitting down to eat and drink, and rising up to play. Tothe selfish man the world is a vast slave plantation, where unhappyslaves are forced to toil and labour to supply the needs of crueltaskmasters. To the faithless man the world is nothing better than agraveyard, where lie buried dead friends, dead hopes, dead joys, without any promise of a resurrection. But to the Christian this worldis a great and solemn Temple, where he can worship the Creator, andwhere ten thousand voices teach him to "look through Nature up toNature's God. " When he stands in the meadow grass, or under theshadows of the pine-wood, he can feel that surely God is in this place, and that the place wherever he stands is holy ground. 

 "Oh, to what uses shall we put the wildweed flower that simply blows? And is there any moral shut within the bosom of the rose? But any man that walks the mead, in bud, or blade, or bloom, may find, According as his humours lead, a meaning suited to his mind. "

Let us listen to-day to the preaching of Nature, and learn a lessonfrom the grass which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven. Let us consider the lilies, and make them our teachers. The firstlesson which these silent preachers would have us learn is theunfailing care of God for His creatures. He never neglects to clothethe ground with grass, or to nourish the lilies, which neither toil norspin. Yet we who both toil and spin, and haste to rise up early, andso late take rest, are often distrustful and full of doubt. Brethren, let us work our work, but not put our trust in it. It is God's rightHand and His mighty Arm which must help us. Let us strive to do ourbest, and leave the result to God. Let us dwell in the land, and bedoing good, and verily we shall be fed. And next, we learn from thegrass and the flowers how short our time is. Every meadow, everygrassy hillock in the churchyard, seems to say to us, "as for man, hisdays are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. Forthe wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shallknow it no more. All flesh is grass, and all the goodness thereof asthe flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth;because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people isgrass. " Yes, surely this thought should be a check to our pride, andour schemes, and our worldliness, that we must one day lay them allaside, like a worn-out garment, and that the pleasant grass, which ourcareless foot is pressing, shall grow green upon our grave. Let ushearken to the warning of a quaint old epitaph which I have seen in aYorkshire Churchyard:--

 "Earth walketh on the earth, Glittering like gold; Earth goeth to the earth Sooner than it would. 

 Earth buildeth on the earth Palaces and towers, Earth sayeth to the earth-- All shall be ours. "

I read the other day that lately a workman, employed in someexcavations at Rome, found a funeral urn containing the ashes of one ofthe Caesars. The workman knew nothing of the matter, but seeing thatthe ashes were very white, he sent them to his wife to bleach linenwith. And this was all that remained of that body which had worn theimperial purple! "To what base uses we may return!" But the grass, and the flowers of the field, not only tell us of the shortness oflife, and the certainty of death, they speak to us also of theresurrection. Looking at the world in the autumn and winter time wesee nothing but death and decay. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, " isthe mournful text of every falling leaf, and faded flower. But God wholays nature in her grave, will, in the spring time, roll away the stonefrom the sepulchre. Who can look on Nature, touched by the warm breathof May, and doubt the resurrection?

 "Each tree she kindles by her touch bursts into leafy flames, And, like the sacred desert bush, God's presence there proclaims. The chestnuts spread their leafy palms in blessing on the air, And from their minarets of bloom call all the trees to share. With bridal blossoms, pure and sweet, the blushing orchards glow, And on the hawthorn hedges lie soft wreathes of scented snow. God reigneth, and the earth is glad! His large, self-conscious heart A glowing tide of life and joy pours through each quickened part. The very stones Hosannas cry; the forests clap their hands, And in the benison of Heaven each lifted face expands. "

Can we doubt, my brothers, that the same Jesus who rose from the dead, and also makes all Nature rise from the dead each spring time, will inlike manner raise us up, and give us a body like unto His gloriousBody, in that fair Kingdom where He maketh all things new? If we haveseen our dear ones cut down like the grass, and withered like theflowers of the field, let us remember that the grass will spring again, and the flowers will once more appear on the earth; and that our lovedones will also come again, clothed in resurrection beauty by Him whoclotheth the lilies of the field. 

 "Oh, rainy days! Oh, days of sun! What are ye all when the year is done? Who shall remember snow or rain?

 Oh, years of loss! Oh, joyful years! What are ye all when Heaven appears? Who shall look back for joy or pain?"

And again, the flowers teach us a lesson of usefulness. They are sentto make God's earth beautiful and sweet, and to gladden the heart ofman. Surely we are sent for the same purpose. Most of us are destinedto occupy a lowly place in life. Our position is like that of thehumble violet, not of the towering forest tree. But, my brothers, thesweetest spot is where the violet blooms, and it is better to be sweetthan to be grand. Never suppose that you can do nothing because Godhas placed you in a quiet corner of the world. God put you there as Heputs a violet in a lonely nook, that you might make your corner_sweet_. If we could only remember this we should not have so manyprickly tempers, and black looks, and cruel words spoiling our homelife, and making the world a desert. Life would be what God would haveit to be, if each of us would try by gentleness, by good temper, byunselfish love to make his corner sweet. Make up your minds now; sayto yourselves--I cannot do any great work for God or my fellow man, butI will try by purity, by cheerfulness, by thought for others, to makemy home sweet. And once more, the flowers teach us to be a comfort toour neighbours. When the earth is wrapped in snow, and the skies aregrey and cold, and no leaf hangs on the tree, the snowdrop puts forthits fair, pure blossom to cheer and comfort us. The sight of thatliving flower when all the world seems dead, is like a message from theother world, whispering of coming spring and the resurrection. Well, there are times when it is winter weather in our heart. When sorrowand loss have made life desolate as a December day, and blessed, thriceblessed, are they who come to comfort us, and to whisper of brighterdays in store. 

In the highest part of the Peak of Teneriffe, far above the clouds, andin a dry and burning waste, there grows a plant which, in the springtime, fills the air with delicious fragrance. There are some of us whomay be condemned to live in a barren and dry land of hard work, andlonely trouble. But loving natures, and gentle words, can make thatdesert blossom as the rose. The beauty of holiness, the sweetness ofsympathy, will make the poorest home lovely and fragrant. May Jesus, the Rose of Sharon, teach us to learn the lesson of the lilies, and tomake our lives sweet with purity and love. 

SERMON LI. 

PAST KNOWLEDGE. 

(Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

EPHESIANS iii. 19. 

"To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. "

There are some things which no earthly school can teach us, no earthlyscience explain. Science can do very much, it has done marvellousthings, and will do still more. Men can work now with ease such wondersas would have sent them to the fire as wizards three hundred years ago. Science can calculate the exact time of an eclipse ages before the time, science can connect two worlds with the electric wire, science can makethe powers of earth, and air, and fire, and water its slaves; but sciencecannot teach us the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, or show ushow to find the peace of God which passeth all understanding. No, wemust go to the school of Jesus Christ to learn these things; and in thatschool the learned, and the ignorant, the powerful, and the lowly, arejust on a level. The man of science may be there, like Sir Isaac Newton, of whom some one said that he had the _whitest soul_ of any man he hadever known. But it was not the power of the telescope which had broughtthe love of Jesus to his sight. The poor, ignorant cottager, who cannoteven read, may be there. He is no scholar, but he has learnt what somescholars are ignorant of, to trust God and love his neighbour as himself. Yes, brethren, if we would learn to know the love of Christ, we must goto His school, we must kneel at His Feet, we must hold close communionwith Him, we must daily endeavour ourselves to follow the steps of Hismost holy life. Grey-haired old man, tender little child, anxiousmother, busy worker, Jesus calls you to learn the lesson of His love, saying, "Come, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. " ButS. Paul says that the love of Christ passeth knowledge. And indeed wepoor, sinful, selfish creatures can never hope, at least here, tounderstand all the wideness, the depth, the power, of that love. Whenthe astronomer looks up at the starry sky above him, he does not think somuch of what he knows about that shining world as about what he does_not_ know. He thinks of the mysteries which those calm skies hold, andof the countless stars which no telescope has ever yet brought within therange of human eye. So the more we learn of the love of Christ the moremarvellous it appears. There are some among us who know absolutelynothing of the love of Christ. They are as ignorant of it as a blind manis of the beauties of Nature. To them Jesus is a character in historywho did certain things, who suffered for them and for others, and withthat they are quite content. But they know nothing of the love ofChrist, and care nothing about it because they do not love Himthemselves. Such people either neglect the duties of religionaltogether, or perform them as an idle schoolboy does his task, unwillingly, grudgingly. There is no love in their service, andtherefore it is worthless. There are many, I trust, who hear me now whohave learned something of the love of Christ; others who would willinglylearn. To them I say, come into Christ's school to-day. A willingscholar can always learn, if you _want_ to love Jesus you have begunalready to do so. 

First, let us think of some things in the love of Christ which make itwonderful, past knowledge. The love of Christ is wonderful because it is_impartial_. "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, andsendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. " Look at the sunshinepouring down over a great city, and think on what different charactersthe light falls. The same sun shines on the Church and its faithfulworshippers, and on the house of shame and infamy. The same light gildsthe dying bed of the Christian, and the couch of the infidel andblasphemer. The same beam glitters on the blessed Altar of the faithful, and on the cell of the impenitent murderer. Look at the sunshine and theshower in the country. The fields of the earnest, prayerful man, andthose of the unbelieving, prayerless scoffer lie golden under the samesunlight, are watered by the same showers. And why is this so? Surelyit is a type of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Surely itteaches us the wondrous height, and depth, and breadth of divine love. It warns us not to be kind and loving only to the good and gentle, but tolove our enemies, to do good to those who persecute us and speak evil ofus, to try to give all a chance to amend, even as God, in Hislong-suffering mercy, makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good. We shall get to know more of the love of Christ if we learn to be more_impartial_ in our love for our fellow men. I know a little island wherethe society, small enough already, is divided into certain classes, andit is considered a want of breeding for one class to unite with another. You can imagine the angry feelings, and petty jealousies, which such asystem excites. But even in the greater world we are too much inclinedto surround ourselves with a circle of friends and acquaintances, and toleave the rest of the world unknown and uncared for. The love of Christteaches us to see in every man a brother, a neighbour, whom we must helpif we can. The love of Christ would have us look on ourselves and othersas one great family, joined together by one common Faith, one HolyBaptism; or as one consecrated building, where high and low, rich andpoor, are all built into their appointed place, "Jesus Christ being thehead corner-stone. " My brothers, try to be more wide, more liberal, moreimpartial in your love for others, if you would learn the love of Christwhich is wider than the ocean, impartial as the sunshine--passingknowledge. 

Again, the love of Christ is wonderful in its effects. It makes thebrave still more heroic; it makes the timid courageous, the sad joyful, the hardened tender. It was the love of Christ which made S. Stephenbrave in the hour of his martyrdom, and taught him to pray for hismurderers. In all the long roll of heroes there are none so great asthose who fought under the banner of Christ's love. Feeble old men, little children, weak women, were transformed by that marvellous power;they could do all things through Christ who strengthened them. Theysuffered and died, but their death gave life to the faith of Christ. Didyou ever read, brethren, how the last fight of gladiators in theColosseum ended? It was when Rome had become Christian, but still thecruel sports of the people had not been entirely given up. After afamous victory, the Emperor, a feeble boy, and all the great men of Rome, went to the crowded theatre to witness the amusements given in honour ofthe triumph. After the harmless sports were over some gladiators enteredthe arena armed with sharp swords. The people shouted with delightbecause the old savage amusements of their heathen days were restored tothem. Suddenly an old man, dressed in the habit of a hermit, and unknownto all, sprang into the arena, and declared that as Christian people theymust not suffer men to slay each other thus. An angry cry rose from theeager crowd. The gladiators, disappointed of their gain, menaced thehermit fiercely, crying, "back, old man, for thy life. " But the strangerstood fearless before that angry mob, he heeded not the swords of thegladiators, nor the yells of the people, but solemnly protested againstthe deed of blood. In another moment he lay dead on the red sand, pierced by a dozen wounds. He died, but his words lived. When thepeople saw the fearless courage of a weak old man, shame filled theirhearts; the sports were stopped, and never again did the gladiators fightin the Colosseum. My brothers, if we are learning the love of Christ, weshall be brave to do the right, come what may. 

Again, the love of Christ is wonderful in its effect on our _work_. Itis a common saying that such and such a work is a labour of love; and, believe me, that is the best done of all which is done for love. Did youever watch a young mother making the clothes for her first child? Neverbefore has she bestowed such care, such thought, such patience, on hersewing, every stitch is prompted by love. 

Long ago, there was an old Cathedral somewhere abroad, I cannot tell youwhere. On one of the arches was sculptured a face of exceeding beauty. It was long hidden, but one day a ray of sunshine lighted up thematchless work, and from that time, on the days when the light shone onthe face, crowds came to look at its loveliness. The history of thatsculpture is a strange one. When the Cathedral was being built, an oldman, worn with years and care, came to the architect, and begged to beallowed to work there. Fearing his age and failing sight might cause theold man to injure the carving, the master set him to work in a dark partof the roof. One day they found the stranger lying dead, with the toolsof his craft around him, and his still face turned up towards that otherface which he had carved. It was a work of surpassing beauty, andwithout doubt was the face of one whom the artist had long since lovedand lost. When the craftsmen looked upon it, they all agreed--"this isthe grandest work of all, it is the work of love. "

We, my brothers, are all set to do some work here in the temple of ourlives, and the best, the most beautiful, the most enduring, will be thatwhich we do because the love of Christ constraineth us. 

And yet once more, the love of Christ is wonderful in its _power ofpardon_. Have you ever known what it is to have sinned grievously, andto have repented truly? Have you felt the shame, the sorrow, the miseryof knowing your sin, and the exquisite sense of relief when you knew thatyou were pardoned? Have you known the power of Christ's absolving word?Have you felt that He has given the prodigal the kiss of pardon, that Hehas carried the lost sheep home once more, that He has said to _you_--"Iwill, be thou clean, depart in peace?" To know this is to know the loveof Christ. Are there no prodigals here now who have not yet arisen andgone to their Father? Are there no weak, tempted women straying intodanger, like the lost sheep? Are there none here who are carrying aboutsome secret sin which poisons all their life? If there are such, I say, come and make trial of Christ's love _to-day_. "Come, drink of the waterof life freely. " Come with your sin, your sorrow, your trial, yourtemptation, to the feet of Jesus, and you shall learn "the love of Christwhich passeth knowledge. "

SERMON LII. 

THE PRISON-HOUSE. 

(Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. )

EPHESIANS iv. 1. 

"The prisoner of the Lord. "

This is what Paul the aged called himself in writing to the Ephesians. He had appealed unto Caesar, and he was a captive at Rome. But he doesnot style himself Caesar's prisoner, but the prisoner of the Lord, whose he was, and whom he served. Let us think first of the place andmanner of St. Paul's imprisonment. The place was Rome, the capital ofthe world. A city full of glorious memories of the past, and famous inthe present for art, and eloquence, and learning. Its soldiers couldboast that they had conquered the world, and could point out the tombsof Pompey and of many another hero along the Appian Way. Its streetshad been trodden by some of the greatest of poets, and its Senate-Househad echoed with the burning words of the first orators of the world. Rome was full of contrasts, wealth and beggary, beauty and squalor, thepalace of Caesar, and the haunt of vice and shame, were close together. The city was ruled over by a cruel tyrant, at once a hypocrite and amonster of iniquity. 

It was in such a place, so glorious and so shameful, that S. Paul was aprisoner. He was not, however, confined in a dungeon. By the favourof the Praefect of the Praetorian Guard, whose duty it was to takecharge of all prisoners awaiting trial before the Emperor, the Apostlewas allowed to live in a hired house of his own, to have free access tosuch friends as he had, and to preach the Gospel freely to those whowould hear him. But still S. Paul was a prisoner. After the Romanfashion, he was chained to a soldier, and at night probably twosoldiers were linked to him. Perhaps no such wonderful sermons haveever since been preached as those spoken by S. Paul, "the prisoner ofthe Lord. " We can fancy the old man, grey-haired, and bent withsuffering, and want, and hardship, bearing on his wrinkled face andscarred body those marks of the Lord Jesus, of which he tells us, andyet brave, unflinching as ever. We can picture him preaching theGospel of Jesus with the same boldness in his bonds as when at freedom, glorying in the cross of his Master, and rejoicing that he is permittedto enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. We can fancy even thestern Roman soldier watching with admiration, as the old man exhortshis hearers to show themselves good soldiers of Jesus Christ, to fightthe good fight, to take unto them the whole armour of God. Whilst manya Christian's heart must have swelled with emotion as the fetteredhands were lifted in earnest exhortation, and the blessing was givenamid the clanking of the Apostle's chains. And thus all the hearers ofS. Paul must have been struck with the wonderful faith and patience ofthe man; just as we are struck when we read his words to-day. Althoughhe was an exile, a prisoner, waiting for a trial where he would havelittle chance of justice, knowing that the sword hung above his headready to fall at any moment, S. Paul utters no complaint, no murmur ofdiscontent. On the contrary, he bids his hearers rejoice in the Lordalway; he himself thanked God, and took courage; he tells his disciplesthat he has learnt in whatsoever state he is, to be content. He ispoor, yet making many rich. He has nothing, yet possesses all things. He has that peace of God which passeth all understanding, that goodpart which shall not be taken away. The heathen tyrant can make him aprisoner, but his chains cannot keep him from the glorious freedom ofthe sons of God. Persecution may drive him from his home, but nothingcan rob him of his home eternal in the Heavens. The sword of the Romanmay slay him, but to him to die is gain, and he is ready to be offered. He has suffered want, and sorrow, and loss; he has endured perils byland and by sea, by robbers, by shipwreck, by the heathen, and by hisown countrymen, but for this S. Paul cares not, he has kept the faith, he has run the race set before him, looking unto Jesus, and he knowsthat the crown of glory is laid up for him. A great preacher of ourday tells us how they brought the news to Athens that the battle ofMarathon was won. The swiftest runner had come panting and exhaustedwith the glad tidings of victory, and worn out with exertion, hedropped, and died on the threshold of the first house he reached, sobbing out with dying breath the words--"Farewell, and rejoice ye, we, too, rejoice. " So the Apostle, the prisoner of the Lord, dying daily, and expecting each hour to be his last, tells the glad tidings ofChrist's victory over sin and death, and whispers with his dyingbreath, "rejoice. " It is no wonder that such a preacher should haveproduced marvellous results, and should have begotten many spiritualchildren, as he tells us, in his bonds. Luke, his fellow travellerthrough so many varied scenes, was there to comfort Paul the aged inhis bonds. Tychicus, who had formerly accompanied him from Corinth toEphesus, was ready to carry the Apostle's letters to the Churches; andMark, who had once failed in his ministry, was once more restored tothe side of his great teacher. Others, too, were with him, but noneperhaps was dearer to S. Paul than a certain slave, Onesimus, who hadfled from his master, Philemon, in Colossae. This runaway slave hadfound his way to Rome, and here probably some one, who had seen him inthe house of his Christian master, took pity on the fugitive, andbrought him to S. Paul. How tenderly the prisoner of the Lord dealtwith the erring slave we can well imagine, as we read the loving wordswhich the Apostle wrote in his Epistle to Philemon. Then, too, we canfancy the prisoner of the Lord talking to his jailor, the stern Romansoldier, who was chained to him night and day. Often in the long nightwatches, when the care of all the Churches kept S. Paul from sleep, hemust have conversed with the warrior so closely linked to him. I thinkwe may believe that a yet closer link than that of the iron chain atlast united the prisoner and the guard. I think that the earnestprayers, and burning words, of that brave soldier of Jesus Christ, musthave led the soldier of Caesar to take up his cross, and follow Jesus. 

And now what lesson can we learn from the prison-house at Rome? We canlearn this, that this world in which we live is in one sense aprison-house to all. It is a prison-house of hard work. In our greatcities the roar of traffic, the rattle of machinery, the shriek of thesteam-whistle, the eager crowds flocking to office and bank andexchange all mean one thing--_work_. Every man's talk is of business;he is in the prison-house, and he is chained to his work. Next, thisworld is a prison-house of _sorrow and trial_. Every one who has livedany time in the world can show you the marks of his chain. Every onewhom we meet is wearing a crown of thorns. It is hidden under thescanty white locks of the old, and the sunny tresses of youth. It iscovered by the soldier's helmet, or the peer's coronet, or the widow'scap; but the crown of thorns is there. Specially is this world aprison-house to those who strive to do their duty, and help theirfellow men. For them in all ages there have been prison bars, andchains of persecution. Joseph resists temptation, and he is cast intoprison. But the iron of his chain made his soul as iron, and changedthe spoiled darling of his father into the wise ruler of Egypt. He wasthe prisoner of the Lord, and this suffering was the way to glory. Truly says a great poet (Milton), "who best can suffer, best can do. "If we would look on some of the greatest teachers, philosophers, andbenefactors of mankind, we must look for them in a prison-house. Socrates, when seventy-two years old, was a prisoner, and condemned todrink poison, because he taught higher lessons than the mob couldunderstand. He died discussing the immorality of the soul, and hisfarewell to his judges was full of quiet dignity. "It is now time, " hesaid, "that we depart--I to die, you to live; but which has the betterdestiny is unknown to all, except to God. " Bruno was burnt at Rome, because he exposed the false philosophy of the day. When Galileo, anold man of seventy, taught the truth about the earth's motion, theycast him into the dungeons of the Inquisition, and after death the Poperefused a tomb for his body. And so for many others who dared to dotheir duty and to speak the truth, --reformers in religion, in science, in politics, --there was a prison-house, there was a chain. But thestone walls could not confine the mind; the iron chain could not bindthe truth. Some of the most glorious works in literature were composedin prison. The prison-house at Rome has given us some of thoseEpistles of S. Paul which have gone far to convert the world; and thefinest allegory in the English language was written in Bedford gaol. "If we suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are we. " If we are theprisoners of the Lord, let us welcome the chain of trial, of sorrow, ofself-denial, of persecution. There are prisoners who are not theLord's. There are some fast bound in the misery and iron of badhabits, and habitual sin. These are lying in the condemned cell, boundhand and foot with the devil's chain. The drunkard, the impure man, the unbeliever, these are prisoners, but not the Lord's. I do notspeak now of them. I speak to you, my brothers, who are trying to livea godly and a Christian life, the life of duty. And I tell you thatyou will often find this life a prison-house, where you must give upyour own will, deny yourselves, learn to endure hardness, and to bearthe chain which suffering, or neglect, or ignorance put upon you. Ifyou are indeed the prisoners of the _Lord_, the iron of your chain willmake you brave to suffer and be strong. The same hope which sustainedPaul the aged long ago will sustain you now; the glorious certaintythat after a while the Lord looseth men out of prison, and receivesthem into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. 

SERMON LIII. 

FIRM TO THE END. 

(Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

1 COR. I. 8. 

"Who also shall confirm you unto the end. "

Steadfastness is one of the most important characteristics of aChristian. Perhaps you will tell me that love, and self-denial, andpatience, and faith are the chief marks of Christ's followers. And Ianswer that these things are useless without steadfastness. It willnot avail us to be very loving, and self-sacrificing, and patient, andtrustful for a little while, and then to fall away, and be selfish, andimpatient, and faithless. It is not the best regiment of soldierswhich makes the most headlong charge, but which can _stand firm_against the enemy. The Spartans of old were forbidden by their lawsever to flee from a foe. In the Pass of Thermopylae stands a monumentto Leonidas and his followers, bearing this inscription--"Go, stranger, and tell at Lacedaemon that we died here in obedience to our laws. " Mybrethren, what we want, as soldiers of Jesus Christ, is not so muchzeal, or enthusiasm, or outward profession, as _firmness_ to the end, steadfastness to die, if need be, for the laws of our God. 

We find plenty of people ready to make professions, to be very zealousin the service of God, but after a time the fire of their zeal dies outinto dead ashes; they have no _staying power_; like the seed on therocky ground they wither away, because they have no root. Suchunstable religion as this is useless. We must be firmly _rooted_ and_established_ in the faith. We must endure to the end, if we would besaved. We must, for our part, hold fast to the truth as it is inChrist Jesus, and He, for His part, will confirm or strengthen us untothe end. Every period of the Church's history has had its specialdangers and temptations. The Corinthians had theirs long ago. We haveours to-day. Let us see what some of the special dangers of the Churchare now, and how Jesus provides means to confirm us to the end. 

First among these dangers we may place the _restless spirit_ of theage. This is the result of various causes. The spread of education isone cause. Men are taught to cultivate their heads at the price oftheir hearts. Children are sent to schools where God is almost shutout. Many people get that "little learning" which "is a dangerousthing, " and which makes them doubtful and uncertain in the faith. Thegrowth of cheap literature is another cause. The printing press whichgives us a cheap Bible and Prayer Book, and a vast amount of pure, useful reading, also sends out much that is dangerous, and positivelywicked. The most holy mysteries of the Christian faith are held up tomockery and ridicule, and treated as old wives' tales; and the restlessspirit of the age leads people to read these things, and to have theirfaith shaken and their ideas confused. Thus we find nowadays peoplearguing and doubting about doctrines which at one time were taken forgranted. One says, _perhaps_ we shall rise again after death; another_wonders_ if there be such a place as Hell. One _thinks_ that Godanswers prayer, another is doubtful about it. Now we do not find S. Paul and the other Apostles talking in this way. We do not find theearly Church talking in this way. They could say, "I know in whom Ihave believed. I believe, therefore will I speak. " The fact is, someof us in these days are getting too clever. We have got a few drops oflearning, and we fancy that we can pour the whole great ocean ofknowledge into our poor little bottle. Education is a great andglorious blessing, but, like every other blessing, it may be put to awrong use. And when we find shallow young men and women, who have justmastered enough subjects to be able to pass an examination, sneering atthe Bible, and calling religion superstition and folly, we can onlywish that they had drunk deeper, or not tasted, of the water ofknowledge. True education makes us humble, because it shows us ourignorance. My brothers, what are the doubters and the unbelieversgoing to give you in exchange for what they rob you of? They canperhaps rob you of your faith in Jesus Christ as a Saviour. But whatthen, they cannot make you forget that you are a sinner. You knowbetter, your own heart tells you the truth. They can take away theSaviour, and only leave you your sins. The doubter may scoff you outof believing in the resurrection. But can he laugh you out ofbelieving in death? When your little child dies, and you look at theloving eyes closing for the last time, what comfort has your doubtingfriend to give you? Not a word. He leaves you alone with your dead, and he has robbed you of the only hope which makes death bearable--theresurrection unto eternal life. You come to your own dying bed; isthere one of these doubting, scoffing faith-destroying friends who canbring peace or calm to your last hours? Will it be any comfort to youto hear them say that "there is nothing new, nothing true, and that itdoes not signify?" They tell you one fact, which you know already, that you are dying. But beyond that they know nothing, hope nothing, believe nothing. 

My brothers, do not let these people, with their shallow talk andshallow books, rob you of your peace, cheat you out of your birthright. Look at the lives of these doubters, and then look at the lives ofJesus and His saints. See which example is the purer, the more noble. Which is better, to imitate the life of self-sacrifice which Jesus led, to copy the dauntless faith of S. Paul, the loving gentleness of S. John, the humble penitence of Augustine, the fearless courage ofSavonarola, or to sit at the feet of those who spend a selfish life intrying to describe a world in which there is no God?

Another of the dangers of the day is a constant desire for _somethingnew_, and, if possible, sensational. There are some who would havetheir religion as full of novelties as their newspaper, or theiramusement. The old paths which God has given us to walk in have becometoo commonplace for such as these; and they run eagerly into any newway, however fantastic. And, above all, these people want a religionwhich is made easy for them. They have no objection to being savedprovided that the process is quick, easy, and costs them nothing. Theyturn away from the thought of self-denial, of keeping under the body, of fasting and prayer, of watchfulness and self-examination. They mustbe made good all at once, and be admitted into the front rank ofsaints, without having fought and suffered in a lower place. Mybrethren, beware of this mushroom religion, which grows up suddenly, and as suddenly vanishes away. The best fruit is not that which ripensmost quickly, and the best Christian certainly does not come tomaturity all in a moment. 

There is a fable of the Persians which tells us how a gourd wounditself round a lofty palm-tree, and in a few weeks climbed to its verytop. The quick-growing gourd asked the palm-tree its age, and the treeanswered, "an hundred years. " Then the gourd answered boastingly thatit had grown as tall as the palm in fewer days than the tree couldcount years. "True, " answered the palm-tree, "every summer has a gourdclimbed round me, as proud as thou art, and as short-lived as thou wiltbe. "

These, then, are some of the special dangers of the time--an unfixed, unsettled faith, leading men to question, and argue, and doubt, whenthey should believe; and next, a restless desire for something new andexciting in religion. And, besides these, there are special dangerspeculiar to ourselves, arising from our position, or temperament. Thisis a specially _busy_ age, when men must work if they would eat bread. Every walk of life is crowded, and the competition in every calling andbusiness is most keen. Now there is great danger in all this to aman's spiritual life, if he has not _God with him in his work_. Hewill become selfish, unscrupulous, and determined to gain a place, andmake money at any cost. He will think only of himself, and God is notin all his thoughts. There are some who would have us believe thatreligion is one thing and business another, and that the two must bekept distinctly apart. Never believe that false doctrine, my brothers. A Christian man may not take part in any work on which the name of Godmay not be written. Whatever business he may engage in, a Christianmust always remember that he must be about his Heavenly Father'sbusiness. The great merchants of old times used to begin their ledgerand business books at the new year by writing "_Praise be to God_" onthe top of the first page. I would that all men of business couldhonestly do the same now. Consecrate your work to God, so that youneed not be ashamed to pray about it, to study the Bible about it, towrite _Praise be to God_ on all your business transactions. And lastof all, a word as to the means by which Christ will confirm orstrengthen you unto the end. I can tell you nothing new about this, Iwould not if I could. The old wine of the Gospel is better than allthe new inventions with which some men would poison the cup ofreligion. God confirms you by the gift of the Holy Ghost, given by HisWord, and Sacraments, and means of grace. Let no one laugh you out ofbelieving in the Bible; let no one argue you out of trusting in thatBook which has been the guide, the teacher, the comforter of tens ofthousands. The followers of new creeds would like you to exchange yourBible for their books. They will offer you the gospel of selfishness, the gospel of pride, the gospel of hopelessness, the gospel ofmoney-making; turn away from them, and hold fast to the Gospel of theLord Jesus Christ. Hold fast to the Sacraments of the Church. Let thescoffer sneer, let the proud man refuse to bend before the Altar of hisLord; but let nothing drive you from the Blessed Sacrament of Christ'slove. Hold fast to prayer. Let no crowd of difficulties, or worries, or troubles keep you back from Jesus. Press through the crowd likethat woman of old, and touch the hem of Christ's garment, in prayer. Only hold fast to your Bible, to your Altar, to your prayers, and "theLord Jesus shall confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless inthe day of the Lord Jesus Christ. "

SERMON LIV. 

SCHOLARS OF CHRIST. 

(Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity. )

EPHESIANS x. 20. 

"Ye have not so learned Christ. "

Education is a very prominent feature in the England of to-day. Schools are among the most conspicuous of our public buildings, andcompetitive examinations are thronged by eager crowds; and, seeing allthis, it seems almost impossible that a few years ago most of ourpoorer brethren could neither read or write. I am not going to speakto you now about the blessings and the evils of the present state ofeducation; I want you to think of another school, and another kind oflessons, which are far more important than all else in the world. Thetime comes when the schoolboy can lay his books by, and when the youngman quits college, they have finished their education. But it is neverso in Christ's school, about which I am going to speak. As long as weare here in the world we must go to school. And when we come to die, our education is not finished, but we go to a higher class, as it were, to learn such lessons as we never could master on earth. 

In the school of Jesus Christ it is not always the oldest or thecleverest who are the best scholars. There are white-haired old menwho are only just learning the alphabet of Christ's religion, in thelowest place; and there are little children, so pure and white-souled, that they have already mastered some of the hardest lessons. In otherschools the scholar must be naturally clever, or, at least, mostindustrious, if he is to gain a high place, and win a prize. InChrist's school there is a place, and a prize, for the dullest, and hewill succeed very well if only _he wants to learn_. I have known manypeople who, as they said, "were no scholars, " and yet they were notvery far from the kingdom of Heaven. Brethren, some of us have neveryet been to Christ's school. We have been playing truant, oraltogether taken up with the lessons of that great, selfish, public-school--the world. I want you all to come to Christ's schoolto-day, old and young, clever and dull, and to hear some of the lessonswhich that school teaches. I think that if we examine ourselveshonestly in these lessons, we shall find how little we really know, andwe shall begin with shame to take the lowest place. And we mustremember this, that in Christ's school we shall have to _unlearn_ agreat deal which the world's school has taught us. The world will haveinstructed us to take care of ourselves, at the expense of others. Oneof the favourite mottoes in the great world school-room is--"every manfor himself. " The world will have taught us that to make money, and tobe successful, are the highest aims possible. And there are manysimilar lessons which are being daily learnt in the world school. Now, when we become scholars of Christ, we have to unlearn a great deal ofthis. Instead of finding the text, "every man for himself, " placedconspicuously before us, we see another, and quite oppositecommand--"No man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself. "We were taught in that other school outside that to make money and tosucceed were the greatest good. Here we are instructed differently. "Lay not up for yourselves treasure on the earth, where rust and mothdoth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. " One of thechief things which we learnt in the world's lesson-book was to mistrustour fellow men, and to be ready to resent an injury when discovered. In Christ's school the lesson is quite different, we are told to loveour neighbour as ourself, and more than this, to love our enemies. There are some here to-day, perhaps, who are very old scholars of theworld's school. They have got all its lessons by heart, they canrepeat its selfish maxims, and practise its hard teachings. Mybrothers, God grant that you may find out how greatly your educationhas been neglected! God grant that you may learn, before it is toolate, how little you know about the things which concern your peace. You, who have grown grey in the great world school, learning itssordid, selfish lessons, grinding away at its daily tasks, adding upyour sums of addition, and interest, scanning the money table witheager eyes, practising your skill in profit and loss, and daily writingas your one copy--_make money, and be rich_--to you, I say, come intoChrist's school to-day, and see whose teaching is the better: that ofthe world, or that of the Son of God. There comes to every school aday of breaking up, when the scholars go home. One day a man is missedin the great world school. His place is vacant. The shutters are upat the shop, or office, the servants at the place of business speak insmothered whispers. They miss the sound of the master's voice, theecho of his step upon the stair. He has learnt his last lesson inworldliness, and his schooling is over. The world has broken up, asfar as he is concerned, and he has gone home. But where? He knewnothing beyond the world's lessons, he never provided for another home. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose hisown soul?"

Briefly, then, let us look at some of the chief lessons which we mustlearn in the school of Jesus Christ. 

First, we must learn to hate our old sins. Like David, like S. Peter, like every penitent, when we think of the past we abhor ourselves, andsit down among the ashes of humiliation. Like the Prodigal, we cry, "Iam no more worthy to be called Thy son. " If you find yourself takingpleasure in the thought of former sin, boasting of your evil deeds, besure you are yet in your ignorance, you have never learnt the alphabetof Christ's lesson. 

Next, we must learn to know our own weakness, and our need of aSaviour. The world will not give us that lesson. The world will tellus to make our own way, to trust to ourselves, to our cleverness, andsharpness. In Christ's school we shall be taught our weakness, andshall learn to say, "Lord, save me, I perish. "

Another of the lessons we must learn is to _conquer ourselves_. Theworld gives a great many instructions about conquering difficulties, beating down obstacles, overcoming enemies; but it is Christ's schoolalone which can show us how to conquer _ourselves_. You have probablynoticed the change in a young country lad after he has enlisted for asoldier, and gone through his drill. Whereas he was a high-shouldered, slouching, ungainly figure, now he has learnt to carry himself like asoldier, he has conquered the old bad habits which he acquired bylounging in the lanes, or plodding along the furrow. My brethren, wehave all got our bad habits, our ugly tempers, our sharp tongues, ourdiscontented feelings, and it is only the drill of Christ's soldiers, and the teachings in Christ's school, which will make us get the betterof them. Christ's school will make a radical change in us. Jesus--ourMaster--says, "behold I make all things new, " and we know that they whoare in Christ are become new creatures, old things are passed away. Wemay be quite sure that if we are Christ's scholars we shall be changedpeople. S. Paul tells us, as he told the Ephesians, some of the marksof this change. We shall learn to speak, and act, the truth. "Puttingaway lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour. " We shall learnto control our temper, --"be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun godown upon your wrath. " We shall learn to work, and to workhonestly, --"let him that stole steal no more; but rather let himlabour, working with his hands the thing which is good. " We shalllearn to control our tongue, --"let no corrupt communication proceed outof your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. " Weshall learn to be kind and gentle to our neighbours, --"let allbitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be putaway from you, with all malice. " The great world school will teach usto practise these things, but not the school of Jesus. There we shalllearn "to be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving oneanother, even as God, for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. "

And we shall learn in Christ's school to be brave. The world schoolcan teach us a certain kind of courage, but not the highest, nor thebest. The world can teach us how to resent an injury, not how toforgive one. It is in Christ's school only that true heroes are made. The world can make such soldiers as Caesar, or Napoleon, but the schoolof Christ alone can make a Havelock or a Gordon. I have read of a poorboy who came to school with a patch on his clothes. One of hisschoolmates singled him out for ridicule and insult; and the boyanswered--"do you suppose I am ashamed of my patch? I am thankful to agood mother for keeping me out of rags, and I honour my patch for hersake. "

All the noble army of martyrs, of every rank and kind, learnt thesecret of their courage in the school of Christ, and have left us anexample to follow. 

 "By all the martyrs, and the dear dead Christ; By the long bright roll of those whom joy enticed With her myriad blandishments, but could not win, Who would fight for victory, but would not sin; By these our elder brothers, who have gone before And have left their trail of light upon our shore, We can see the glory of a seeming shame, We can feel the fulness of an empty name. "

My brothers, it may be there are some here now who have not so learnedChrist. Who have been in the world's school from the beginning, andhave grown weary of its selfishness, and its hollow maxims. If it beso, pray now that Jesus, the Great Teacher, may give you a new heart, and a new mind, bow the proud head, and bend the unwilling knee, say tothe Lord--"Lord Jesu, make me as a little child, let me come to schoolto-night. "

SERMON LV. 

WARY WALKING. 

(Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. )

EPHESIANS v. 15. 

"See then that ye walk circumspectly. "

Some people tell us that salvation is the easiest thing in the world. We have only to _feel_ that we believe in Jesus Christ, and all isdone. Now neither Jesus Christ Himself, nor the Apostles whom He sentto teach, tell us anything of the kind. On the contrary, our Saviour, whilst He dwells on the fulness and freedom of salvation, offered toall without money, and without price, tells us that many are called, but few chosen. He warns us in to-day's Gospel that when the Kingmakes His Great Wedding Feast of salvation numbers make light of it, and go their way to their farm, and their merchandise. He shows ushow, when the Bridegroom cometh suddenly. He finds half of the virginsin darkness, their lamps gone out, and He commands us to watch, becausewe know not the day nor the hour of the Lord's coming. He tells usalso that the way of life eternal is a narrow way, and the gate ofsalvation a strait gate, whilst the road to eternal ruin is broad, andeasy. Our Lord bids us _strive_ to enter in at the narrow gate, andassures us that few there be who find it. Now all this does not putthe Christian life before us as a life of idleness, and inaction; nordoes it describe salvation as a very easy thing. Both Jesus and Hisholy Apostles tell us that we must strive, climb, fight, run the racepatiently, walk circumspectly, watch, pray, arm ourselves, have on awedding garment; a very different doctrine this from that dangerous, do-nothing creed, which some would have us accept. I think S. Paul hadthe narrow way and the strait gate in his mind, when he told hisfollowers to walk circumspectly, looking around them, minding theirsteps, proceeding with care and caution. It used to be said of oldthat all roads led to Rome, because she was the capital of the world. And nowadays, in the most remote country place in England, you willfind a road which leads to London. But all roads do not lead toHeaven. Some foolish people like to believe that they can travelanyway they please, and yet reach Heaven at last. They love to imaginethat they can hold to any doctrine, however false and extravagant, andset up a gospel of their own, and yet find the way to Heaven. Thereare some who choose to walk in a way which seems right in their eyes, away of selfishness, and pride, and obstinacy; they will have _their ownway_, they tell us. Yes, but it is not God's way, and it does not leadto Heaven. There are just two roads from this life to the life tocome, no more. The narrow way of God's commandments, ending in thestrait gate which opens on Heaven; and the broad road of sin, terminating in the wide gate of Hell. 

Let us think of some of the rules by which we must walk in the narrowway. We must walk _humbly_. It is a narrow way remember, and if wewalk with our heads lifted up by pride, we shall miss our footing, andslip from the path. The gate, too, is strait, or narrow. It is likeone of those low-pitched, narrow entrances which you may still see inold buildings, and which were common once in all our ancient towns. Atraveller could not get through these gates unless he bent his head, and bowed his shoulders. So, my brothers, if we wish to enter into thegate of life eternal we must do so with bowed head, and with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart. Pride cast Satan out of Heaven, pride locks the door of life against many a man now. An unbelieveronce asked, with a sneer, who made the devil. And he was answered thatGod made him what he _was_, and that he had made himself what he _is_. So is it with us all. God makes us His children, heirs of Heaven, andwe too often, by our foolish pride, make ourselves into devils. Believe me, the gate of life eternal is far too narrow to admit us withthe great swelling garment of pride puffed out on all sides of us. 

Next, if we walk along the narrow way _we must not overload ourselves_. There are some burdens which we _must_ bear, but the dear Lord, wholaid them upon us, will give us strength to carry them. It is theburden of the world's making which will hinder us. We see a man whowants to walk in the right way, who hopes to pass through the narrowgate, who has so loaded himself with worldly things that he goesstaggering along, till at length he slips off on to the broad road todestruction. He is like one escaping from a shipwreck, who tries toswim ashore with all his money bags, and is sunk to the bottom by theirweight. Sometimes people, coming home from abroad, bring with them aquantity of smuggled goods, and their clothes are all padded withlaces, and other ill-gotten gear. What happens? They are stopped at anarrow gate, and stripped of all their load before they are permittedto return home. So, my brothers, if you would pass the gate whichleads _home_, to the rest which remaineth for the people of God, youmust not overload yourselves with this world's gear. You must not fillup your thoughts with your business, and drag that burden with you tothe very edge of the Churchyard mould. You are just blocking up theway to eternal life with your bales of goods, your manufactures, yourbusiness books. Some of you are blocking God's highway with thewaggons of worldly commerce, others with the gay chariot of frivolouspleasure. Here is a woman trying to walk in the narrow way. She has acrowd of children hanging upon her skirts. She has tried to be a goodmother, but she has let the cares and plans for her children draw heraway from God, and we see her dragged from the narrow way by those whomshe ought to have helped along it. Believe me, it is not open, notorious evil-doers who form the majority on the broad road todestruction. It is not the murderer, the thief, the drunkard, theadulterer, the unbeliever, who crowd that down-hill road. They arethere with the rest, but they are outnumbered by those whom the worldcalls very respectable. Amid that crowd of all ages and ranks, thereare those who have attended our Church Services, and knelt at ourAltars, some of them do so still. They have no vulgar vices, theynever swear, or exceed moderation in food and drink, they have wivesand families, and they pay their way like respectable householders. And yet, --Oh! the pity of it--they are travelling on the broad road. It is not open; disgraceful sin which has placed them there, but just_worldliness_. The dust of the world has filled up every corner oftheir life, and they have no room for God. The windows of their soulare so begrimed with the dust and cobwebs of this life that thesunshine of God's Holy Spirit cannot shine through them. One is sotaken up with his farm that his heart and soul seemed buried in thesoil of it. The Gospel message rings in his ear, but he makes light ofit. Another is so occupied with his merchandise, with making, andgetting, that he has no time to see how it stands with his soul, notime to think of the account to be rendered to God when all earthlyaccounts are closed for ever. One is so eager to obtain a goodposition for himself, or his children, in the world, that he utterlyneglects to fit himself, or them, for a place in the world to come. With some the idol is work, with others pleasure, but in either casethey worship an idol, and not God. There are women whose minds are sotaken up with the latest fashion, and the newest dress, that they haveneglected the white garment of holiness, and forgotten the old, oldfashion--death. My brothers, my sisters, take heed. It is not so muchthe coarse vices of the brutal and ignorant which ruin souls, as theselfish worldliness of those who ought to know better. If you areliving for self, for work, for pleasure, for society, for anything butGod, then, in spite of your respectable name, and your outward forms ofreligion, you have slipped from the narrow way which leads to lifeeternal. If you are determined to make this world your Heaven, youmust not be astonished if you are shut out of Heaven in the world tocome. 

If these poor worldly folk could only see the end, could onlyunderstand now how hollow and worthless, and disappointing, the thingsof this world are at the last, they would cast aside every weight, andstrive to regain the narrow way of God's commandments. History is fullof instances of those who found, some too late, that the pleasures ofthe world are worthless. How melancholy is the declaration of one whosays, "I have dragged on to thirty-three. What have all those yearsleft to me? Nothing except three and thirty. " Diocletian the Emperortells us that he is happier planting cabbages at Salona, than rulingthe world at Byzantium. Another Emperor, Severus, declares that he hasheld every position in life from the lowest to the highest, and foundno good in any. Look into the history of France, and see what theworld gave to Madame de Pompadour at the last. She had sacrificedvirtue and honour for the glitter of the court of Louis XV. And now inthe latter days she tells us that she has no inclination for the thingswhich once pleased her. Her magnificent house in Paris was refurnishedin the most lavish style, and it only pleased her for two days! Hercountry residence was charming, and she alone could not endure it. They told her all the gossip of the gay world, and she scarcelyunderstood their meaning. "My life, " she says, "is a continual death. "At last the end came. And as they carried her to her burial, the king, who had once professed to love her, said with utter unconcern--"TheCountess will have a fine day. " This is what the world gave to Madamede Pompadour. 

My brethren, I have been striking the old notes to-day, and re-tellingan oft-told story. But sin and sorrow are ever the same, and the onegreat concern of your life and mine is the same as when Jesus died forus on Calvary. Let us take heed to our ways, and see on which road weare journeying. If we have gone out of the way Jesus will bring usback, _if we want to come back_. Ask Him, brothers, ask Him now. Prayas perhaps you never prayed before. 

 "True prayer is not the imposing sound Which clamorous lips repeat; But the deep silence of a soul That clasps Jehovah's feet. "

"Strive to enter in at the strait gate. For wide is the gate, andbroad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there be whogo in thereat. "

SERMON LVI. 

STRONG CHRISTIANS. 

(Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. )

EPHESIANS vi. 10. 

"My brethren, be strong in the Lord, "

A weak and cowardly soldier is a pitiful object, but a weak-kneed, cowardly Christian is still more so. S. Paul told the EphesianChristians to be _strong_ in the Lord, and in these days especially weneed strong Christians, strong Churchmen. I do not mean that we wantmen to presume on their strength, to repeat the sin of the Pharisee ofold, and talk of their righteousness, or condemn their neighbours. Ido not mean that we must be noisy and violent, and quarrelsome in ourreligion. None of these things are a proof of strength. A giant ofpower is ever the gentlest, having the hand of steel in the glove ofsilk. So the stronger a Christian is the more humbly he bears himself. A writer of the day says very truly, "if the world wants iron dukes, and iron men, God wants iron saints. " Much of the unbelief andindifference of these days is caused by the weakness of professingChristians. When a man can point to a soldier of Christ who hasdeserted his post, and fled from the battle, it is no wonder that hehesitates to join an army which has such weak and cowardly warriors. When the enemies of the Church can show us unprincipled Churchmen, whohave no firm faith in the doctrines which they profess, who havedrifted away from their moorings, and, like ships without ballast, areblown about by every wind, it is not surprising if these enemies stillremain outside the Church. Can we marvel that some should sneer atHoly Baptism, when they can name those who have tried to wash out thesign of the Cross with every kind of sin? Can we marvel that they makelight of Confirmation, when we have so many who have been confirmedgoing back from holiness, forsaking their Church, and joining theworld, the flesh, and the devil? Or need we wonder that they neglectthe Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and try to keep others from it, ifthey lay their finger on the Communicant whose life is bad? Mybrothers, we need to set our own house in order, we of the Church areas a city on a hill, men look at us, and woe unto us if the lightwithin us be darkness. What we want are strong Christians to set astrong example. Teaching, argument, may do much with a careless world, but the example of a consistent, holy, life will do far more. 

Brethren, be ye strong, first of all, in _Faith_. Be quite sure thatyou _do_ believe; be quite clear _what_ you believe, and then show yourfaith _strongly_. Our faith is not built on sand, but on a rock. Itis not founded on such words as--perhaps, I suppose, I hope. No, theCreed of the Church says, _I believe_. There are crowds of peopleoutside who will all tell you what they do _not_ believe. There is theinfidel who says he does not believe in God. There is the man who sayshe believes in God, but not in the Blessed Trinity. There is one whotells you that he believes in Jesus Christ, but not as God, only asMan. Then comes another and declares that he does not believe ineternal punishment. One says that he does not believe we are bornagain in Holy Baptism, another will not believe in the Baptism ofinfants. Some will not believe in Bishops, and others refuse to creditany sect but their own. But the Church says plainly and boldly, I_believe_. The Faith once delivered to the saints, the Faith whichJesus taught to the first Apostles, the Faith which S. Paul preached, and for which he died, is ours. Let us hold fast to it in unity ofspirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Be readyto give a reason for the faith that is in you. There are mysterieswhich none of us can understand, but, thank God, we can believe. Andwe must show this faith of ours not only by believing in the doctrinesof the Church, but by putting our full trust and confidence in themercies of God. Where is the use of talking about our faith if we arepoor, fearful, unhappy people? If our faith is not strong enough tolet us trust God for to-morrow it is not worth having. It is themelancholy, over-anxious, troubled about many things Christian, who isalways anticipating misfortunes, who does so much harm. Brethren, trust God all in all, be strong in the Lord, be strong in your faith. 

Next, brethren, be ye strong in _your language_. Now, do notmisunderstand me. I do not mean that you are to copy those who, inpulpit and on platform, declare their favourite views and theories inwords of the most violent and intemperate kind. But I _do_ mean thatwhen the time comes to speak out, you should speak boldly and plainly. Let the world know that you _do_ believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, andthe doctrines of His Church, and that you are not ashamed to own it. Never be afraid to show your colours, or to declare the name of yourLeader. When Lord Nelson was going into his last battle, they wishedhim to cover, or lay aside, the glittering orders of victory whichadorned his breast. But the hero refused, and perhaps his refusal costhim his life. Well, let us never hide the marks of our profession asChristian soldiers, even if we have to suffer, let men know that webear about in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! wewant these strong Christians in shop, and factory, in omnibus, andrailway carriage, in soldiers' barrack-room, in schoolboys' dormitory, in servants' bed-chamber, --Christians who speak out strongly for Jesus. 

Again, brethren, be strong in _self-sacrifice for Jesus_. We must notforget our cross. The surest mark of a Christian is a willingness todeny ourselves for the sake of others. Let me tell you the stories oftwo simple servant maids who, under very different circumstances, gaveup their life for the life of little children. The scene of the firststory was in America, nearly five and twenty years ago; that of thesecond story was in London, only a few weeks since. A young Englishgirl had taken service in a family going to America, and her specialduty was the charge of the three motherless children of her widowedmaster. One cold day in December they all embarked in a greatMississippi steamboat bound for the far North West. Day after day theysteamed through the swollen river, where pieces of ice were alreadyshowing, past dark and gloomy shores, lined with lonely forest. Onenight, near the end of their voyage, the girl had seen her charges, twogirls and a boy, safely asleep, and now, when all the other passengershad retired, she was reading in the saloon. Suddenly the silence wasbroken by a terrible cry, which told the frightened passengers that thesteamboat was on fire. The captain instantly ran the vessel for theshore, and ordered the people to escape as best they could, withoutwaiting to dress. The faithful servant had called her master, and thencarried the children from their beds to the crowded deck. Quickly theblazing vessel touched the muddy bank, and the father placed theshivering children and the servant on one of the huge branches whichoverhung the river. A few other passengers, fifteen in all, reachedother branches, the rest went down with the burning steamer. But whathope could there be for the children, just snatched from their warmbeds, and now exposed unclad to the bitter December night? Theirfather had no clothing to cover them, and, as he spoke of anothersteamer which would pass by in the morning, he had little hope of hischildren holding out. Then the servant maid declared that if possibleshe would keep the little ones alive. Clinging in the darkness to theicy branches, she stripped off her own clothing, all but the thingarment next her body, and wrapped up the shivering children. Thusthey passed the long, dark hours of that terrible night. I know notwhat prayers were spoken, but I know that Jesus, who suffered cold andhunger for our sakes, made that servant girl strong to sacrificeherself. During the night one of the children died, but in themorning, when the first light came, the little girls were still alive. Then, when her work was done, the freezing limbs of the brave girlrelaxed their hold, a deadly sleep fell on her, and she droppedsilently into the rushing river below. Presently a steamer came insight, and the two children, for whom she had died, were safe. 

Only quite lately there was a great fire in London. In the burninghouse were a husband and wife, their children, and a servant maid. Theparents perished in the flames, but the servant appeared to the sightof the crowd below, framed, as it were, in fire, at a blazing window. Loudly shouted the excited crowd, bidding the girl to save herself. But she was thinking of others. Throwing a bed from the window, shesignalled to those below to stretch it out. Then, darting into theburning room, she brought one of the children of her employers, anddropped it safely on to the bed. Fiercer grew the flames, but againthis humble heroine faced the fire, and saved the other children. Thenthe spectators, loudly cheering, begged her to save herself. But herstrength was exhausted, she faltered in her jump, and was so injuredthat death soon came to her. My brothers, no one will raise a grandmonument to Emma Willoughby, and Alice Ayres, who passed, the onethrough water, the other through fire, for Christ's dear sake. Butsurely in God's great Home of many mansions their names are written inletters of gold. 

Lastly, brethren, be strong in _fighting the battle_. You know thatlife is a great battle-field. And you know, too, that as Christiansyours is the _good_ fight. Put on, then, the whole armour of God. Donot trust to any newly-invented weapons. Take the same armour in whichS. Paul, and many another veteran soldier of Christ, fought andconquered. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood. " No, our battleis with Satan and his hosts. One of old says that we must strip if wewould wrestle with the devil. We must cast aside every weight, stripus of all the hinderances, and worldly cares, which weigh us down; andbe clad in the spiritual armour of God. Hold fast to the old armour, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of theSpirit. Be strong in the strength of the Holy Ghost, for your strengthshall be made perfect in weakness. Stand, as Christ's soldiers, sideby side, shoulder to shoulder, with your faces to the foe. WhenNapoleon retreated from Moscow, and the main body had passed by, themounted Cossacks hovered around the stragglers, who, overcome by coldand fatigue, could only force their way slowly through the snow. Manya weary Frenchman thus fell beneath the Cossack lances. Presently aband of these fierce horsemen saw a dark object on the snowy plain, anddashed towards it. They were face to face with a small body of Frenchwho had formed into a square to resist them, their bayonets at thecharge. The Cossacks rode round and round, seeking for a weak placefor attack, and finding none. At length they charged the square, andfound it formed of frozen corpses. The Frenchmen had died whilstwaiting for the foe. Brothers, may death find us fighting the goodfight. "Be strong in the Lord. "

SERMON LVII. 

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 

(Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity. )

S. MATTHEW xviii. 28, "Pay me that thou owest. "

The Gospel shows us in a parable a picture of a king who called hisservants to a reckoning. That King is the Lord God Almighty. We areHis servants, and He calls us to account every day. All we possess weowe as a debt to God. Day by day He gives us our food, and suppliesour wants by His good Providence. On every hour of our existence iswritten, Jehovah-Jireh--The Lord will provide. Day by day God takescare of us, and shields us from danger. He provides for our souls aswell as for our bodies, and gives us the ministry of His Church, thegrace of His Sacraments, the teaching of His Bible, the blessing ofprayer. And all these blessings are a debt which we owe to God, and Heis ever saying to us. "Pay Me that thou owest. " And how can we pay?By doing what God bids us. By using our gifts in His service. We cangive Him _worship_, not only worship in Church, but in all our everydaylife and work, "doing all unto the glory of God. " We can show forthHis praise not only with our lips but in our lives. God has given ushands and brains to work with; and He says, "Pay Me that thou owest. "That means that we must do good work, honest work, unselfish work, because we owe our power to labour as a debt to God. He has given us avoice, and He says, "Pay Me that thou owest. " That means that we mustuse our voice to sing God's praise, to maintain His honour, to spreadthe truth of His Gospel, to comfort His people. We must devote ourvoice to speaking good words, and never defile it with vile language inthe devil's service, because it is a debt which we owe to God. So withour health, our strength, our time, for all these God reckons with Hisservants. If we are misusing these things, wasting our time, devotingour strength to mere selfish, worldly pursuits, neglecting ouropportunities, terrible will be the final day of reckoning when Godwill say for the last time, "Pay Me that thou owest. "

We read in the parable of to-day's Gospel that one of the king'sservants owed him ten thousand talents. This was so vast a sum that noman could possibly pay it. In that servant we see ourselves. We owe adebt to God which we cannot pay. The wages of sin is death, and assinners we are like the servant, we owe a vast debt, and we have notwherewithal to pay. Nothing that we can do will put away our sin, orexcuse us from the penalty. That servant in the parable prayed hislord to have patience, saying that he would pay all. We may thinkfoolishly that we can pay the debt of old sins by leading good livesnow. But it may not be. If a man owes money he is not excused thedebt because now he pays his way. Our sins are the great debt of tenthousand talents. God's law is written in the ten commandments, and wehave broken them a thousand times. We cannot pay. The king in hismercy forgave the servant. So God forgives us through the merits andmediation of Jesus Christ. He paid the debt which we cannot pay, Hebore our sins, the sin of Adam born with us, and the actual sins of ourlives, on the Cross of Calvary. His Blood was the price which paid thedebt. When we are baptised we are baptised into His Death, and the sinof Adam is forgiven. When we repent truly of a sin of our owncommitting, we are made partakers in the benefits of His Passion. Whenwe come devoutly to Holy Communion our sinful bodies are made clean byChrist's Body, and our souls washed in His most Precious Blood, and oursins are forgiven us. But the parable not only teaches us our need ofpardon, and the fulness of God's mercy, but the necessity of forgivingeach other. The servant who owed the vast debt was pardoned. Yet hewould not forgive his fellow servant who owed him a trifling sum. Thestory of the unmerciful servant is being repeated everywhere around us. We see men crying to God for mercy--poor, sinful, debtors, bankrupts, who have not wherewithal to pay. Every day we are obliged to confessthat we owe a debt to God, and cannot pay it. And every day the Lordof mercy and love forgives us our debt. Yes, but only on certainconditions. God has Himself taught us to say, Forgive us our debts, aswe forgive our debtors. If we are unmerciful servants, refusing to ourfellow men what God gives us, He will treat us as He treated theservant of the parable. He had forgiven him all, but now He withdrawsHis pardon, and delivers him to the tormentors. A man with anunforgiving spirit, who nourishes hatred and revenge against aneighbour, is already possessed by a devil, and his future must bespent in the society of devils. 

And now bring the matter home to your own individual cases. Are younourishing bitter, unforgiving feelings against anyone who has injuredyou? Is there anyone whose success annoys you, and whose misfortunewould give you pleasure? Are you thinking of some wrong done to you, some hard word spoken about you, some unjust judgment passed on you;and are you hoping that a day may come when the person who has soacted, or spoken, may suffer for it? My brothers, if so, you are justso many unmerciful servants, going through the world, and seizing yourbrother-sinners by the throat, and saying--"Pay me that thou owest. "Give up calling yourselves Christians, give up asking God to pardonyou, unless you can freely and fully forgive your brethren the littledebts of this little world. A certain king of France said that nothingsmelt so sweet as the dead body of an enemy. And there are peopleamong us now who tell us that revenge is sweet. But it is false. Toforgive is sweet, is blessed, to hate brings only the remorse ofdevils. But you tell me it is so hard to forgive sometimes. So it is, but the greater the pardon given the greater the blessing. Andremember that forgiveness must not be measured, and stinted, but free, and full. We must not say, "I will forgive him this once, but nevermore. " S. Peter asked Jesus how often he should pardon a brother'ssin, and suggested seven times. The Jewish teachers said that afterthree faults men need not forgive. S. Peter was in advance of them, but the Lord's answer must have astonished him, --"until seventy timesseven, " that meant _always_, without stint, or measure. And rememberalso, that forgiveness must be real and true. We may not forgive withour lips, and bear malice in our hearts. Such sham forgiveness is onlytoo common. A man was lying on his sick bed, and the clergyman by hisside was urging him to be reconciled to some one who had injured him. After much persuasion the man said, "If I die I will forgive him, butif I live he had better keep out of my way. " And again, ourforgiveness must be willing, not forced from us. As says our greatestpoet--

 "the quality of mercy is not strain'd; It droppeth, as the gentle rain from Heaven, Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: Tis mightiest in the mightiest. "

A boy, nearly broken-hearted with grief, stood by his mother's coffin. "Oh! let me see my dear mother once more, only once more, " he pleaded. A man who was about to screw down the coffin-lid thrust him aside withbrutal violence, and even struck the orphan child. Years afterwardsthat man stood in the dock, to be tried for his life as a murderer. Hehad no counsel to defend him, but just as the case commenced a youngbarrister rose in court, and offered his services to the prisoner. Hisspeech for the defence was so eloquent, and so convincing, that theprisoner was acquitted. Outside the court he turned to thank hispreserver. The stranger looked at him steadily, and said, "Do youremember years ago, driving a poor, broken-hearted boy from hismother's coffin with a curse and a blow? I was that boy. " The man wasoverwhelmed with shame and confusion. "Why have you given me my life?"he asked. "To show you, " answered the other, "that I can forgive. "

Oh! my brothers, if we would find pardon for our many sins, let us askHim who prayed for His murderers to teach us how to forgive. 

 "Walk with care 'mid human spirits, Walk for blessing, not for ban; 'Twere better never to have lived, Than lived to curse a deathless man. 

SERMON LVIII. 

THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY. 

(Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity. )

PHIL. Iii. 20. 

"Our conversation is in Heaven. "

People often fail to get at the meaning of this glorious text becausethey mistake that word _conversation_. Really the text means--ourcitizenship is in Heaven, we belong to the Eternal City. Once S. Pauldeclared with pride that he was a Roman citizen; and when the ChiefCaptain in surprise declared that he himself had purchased thatprivilege at a great price, the Apostle answered, "but I was freeborn. " Every Christian has the right to call himself a citizen ofHeaven, and to declare that he is free born. When in Holy Baptism wewere born again of water, and of the Holy Ghost, the freedom of theCity was given to us, and we were made a peculiar people, citizens ofthe Heavenly Jerusalem, with all the privileges, and all theresponsibilities, belonging to such a position. Get this glorious factinto your minds, brethren, not that you are _going_ to belong toHeaven, but that you _do_ belong to it now. Here in earth you areforeigners, strangers and pilgrims. Here God's Israel is in exile bythe waters of Babylon, Jerusalem on high, the Heavenly Sion, is yonder, and that is home. Heaven is yours now, if you forfeit it, if you loseyour inheritance, it will be from your own fault, your own sin. 

First, I think that the fact of Heaven being our home should make us_love_ it. Sometimes we find people who have willingly settled in aforeign country, and done their best to forget the manners and languageof their native land. But such cases are very rare. If you meet withan Englishman out in the Colonies, he always speaks of the old countryas home. Even colonists who have been born in our foreign settlements, and have never seen England, speak of _going home_ when they visit it. In many an Australian hut, or New Zealand farm, there is a swelling ofthe heart, or a glistening in the eyes, as the faded flowers drop fromthe home letter. The flowers are poor enough, and dead enough, butthey once grew in a home garden, or blossomed in an English meadow. One of our great novelists tells us how two men in Australia walkedmany weary miles only to listen to the song of the skylark. Thathomely bird was precious in their eyes because it reminded them ofhome. I have read that when Swiss soldiers are abroad, they are notallowed to play, or listen to, their national airs. The music remindsthem of their cow-bells ringing among the fair valleys and mountains oftheir native land, and under its influence some have deserted the army, and some even died of grief. The German loves to talk of the_Fatherland_, and has a word in his language which very stronglyexpresses home-sickness. Talk to a Scotsman about the beauties ofVenice, or Rome, and he will tell you that you should see Edinburgh, orAberdeen. Speak to an Irishman of the wonders of the tropics, and hewill at once begin the praises of the Green Isle. The love of home isthe very root and core of our nature. Well, if we love our earthlyhome, where we stay for so short a time, where, after all, we are butstrangers and pilgrims, we ought still more to love Heaven, whosecitizens we are. A child was once asked where his home was, andanswered with eyes full of love--"Where mother is. " Brothers, our homeis where Jesus is. 

Next, I think we ought to be _proud_ of being citizens of so fair acity as Heaven. A Greek of old was proud to belong to a country whichcould boast of the learning of Athens, the wisdom of Plato, the courageof Leonidas. If a Roman in former days was asked to do a mean, ordishonourable action, it was enough for him to answer, "I am a Romancitizen!" A burgess of London City to-day is proud of the positionwhich he holds, and of the rights and privileges gained by many anancient charter of freedom. But what ought we to think of theprivileges and glory of belonging to that City which is God's Home; ofbeing fellow citizens with the saints in light; of claiming as ourbrethren that great multitude which no man can number? Each town andcity of earth is proud of its most famous citizens, but what city canshow such names as our City, Jerusalem on high? What streets arecrowded with such a goodly company as the streets of Heaven? All thatis great and good, glorious, pure, gentle, self-sacrificing, finds aplace in Heaven. Mighty Preachers and Apostles, like S. Paul or S. Chrysostom; simple girls, like Naaman's maid, or Veronica, thefarm-servant; brave women who died martyrs for Jesus in the Arena, andthose who _lived_ as witnesses for Jesus, like Grace Darling, andFlorence Nightingale, and Sister Dora; these, and such as these, ofwhom the time would fail me to tell, form the company of Heaven. "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoeverthings are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things arelovely, think on these things. " And think, too, "'Tis mine, 'tis mine, that country, if I but persevere. "

We must remember, however, that a citizen has certain duties, as wellas rights and privileges, and if he neglects the former he forfeits thelatter. We, as citizens of Heaven, though exiles here in earth, havecertain duties and responsibilities laid upon us; if we fail to performthem, we lose our position as God's people. When an Englishman goesabroad to a foreign country he is at once recognised. When theforeigner sees the reckless courage, the cool daring, the love ofadventure, displayed by his visitor, he says at once, "that is anEnglishman. " We are here in a strange land, does the world take noticeof us as those who belong to Jesus? Does the world recognise us, byour manners, and way of life, as citizens of Heaven?

Think of some of the duties laid upon us as those who have received thefreedom of the City. We are bound, first of all, to keep ourselves, asfar as possible, unspotted from the world. We must live in the worldfor a time, but we must not be of it. If an Englishman were compelledto live for a season among savages, whose habits were horrible anddisgusting, he would take care not to become like them. He would thinkof himself as being a civilized man, to whom the manners of the peoplewere revolting, and he would endeavour, whilst avoiding their example, to set them a better. So should a Christian man be in the world. Hecannot avoid seeing and hearing much that is evil. But let him takecare lest, like Israel of old, he mingles with the unbeliever, andlearns their ways. Let him remember that he is a citizen of Heaven, and that he has no more right to take part in the frauds, and lies, andimpurity of the world, than Lot had to join in the abominations ofSodom. A Christian man should stand above the waves of thistroublesome world, as a lighthouse stands above the tumbling billows ofthe sea. And, like that beacon, he should give forth a warning light, clear, bright, and steady. 

Next, as citizens of Heaven, we are bound to work for our HeavenlyMaster. No matter that we are in a foreign workshop here in thisworld, no matter that we are employed by earthly masters, one Master isours, and He is in Heaven. We must be busy about our Father'sbusiness, we must do all, looking unto Jesus. Suppose that the Queenwere passing through this parish, and were to stop at one of yourhomes, say that of a cabinetmaker. And suppose that she were to orderhim to make her a cabinet after a particular pattern. Well, the manwould be very much flattered at the order, and you may be sure he wouldtake the greatest pains to put good work into the cabinet. "You see itis for the Queen, " he would say to his neighbour, in explanation of hisextra care. Now, my brothers, whatever kind of work we have to do, weought to do it as well as we can, saying to ourselves, "it is for theKing of kings, you see. " Oh! if men would only remember that, thenthere would be no more cheating, and swindling, and lying in trade; nomore labourers and artizans scamping their work, putting in badmaterial, working short time, and committing the endless dishonest actswhich disgrace a Christian land. Try to remember that whatever youhave to do, you are working for God, you are a citizen of Heaven, andto your Heavenly Master must the account be rendered. There shallenter into Heaven nothing that maketh a lie. If our lives are notquite genuine and honest here, we are locking ourselves out of Heaven. Let us, as citizens of no mean city, keep aloof from the hypocrite, theteller or maker of a lie, and speak every man truth with his neighbour. Again, I think that as citizens of Heaven, we ought to take very goodheed to our _words_. You know how our streets and lanes in this worldare defiled and made hideous by vile language. Can you fancy that sortof talk in the streets of the Heavenly City? No, there shall not enterthere anything that defileth, peace is upon her palaces. The swearingtongue, the impure tongue, the angry tongue, can find no place there. The cruel, slandering tongue talks many a soul into ruin, for they haveno room for the scandal-monger in Heaven. Let us guard our speech, brethren, let us remember that, as Heavenly citizens, our lips shouldbe sanctified by the fire of God's Altar. "Whoso keepeth his mouth andhis tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles. "

Once more, as citizens of Heaven, we must keep our home ever fresh inour minds. Here we are strangers in a strange land. You know how weEnglish abroad always cling to anything which reminds us of _home_. The settler in the Australian Bush keeps Christmas Day beneath theburning summer sky exactly as he always kept it amid the snow and iceof an English winter. When letters come, how eagerly are they read ifthey come from home! Many a rough miner on the other side of the worldgrows gentler as he looks at the faded photograph, or the yellow notepaper; they remind him of home. Well, here in earth, far from ourHeavenly home, we have certain means of keeping its memory fresh. Wecan go to God's Holy Church, and there join with Angels and Archangelsand all the company of Heaven in praise and adoration of our King. Wecan read our Bible, and then we gaze, as it were, upon the picture ofSaviour Jesus, and upon the faces of our brother citizens who haveentered by the gates of pearl. We can pray, and so send a message toour City, and get an answer back again, a blessing coming like a sweetflower sent from the fields of Paradise. When our soldiers do nobledeeds abroad, their thought is--what will they say in England? Let usdo our duty here in a strange land, thinking--what will they say inHeaven? My brother, my sister, let this thought help you to struggleagainst temptation--I must walk worthy of my vocation, I am a citizenof Heaven. 

SERMON LIX. 

THANKFUL SERVICE. 

(Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity. )

COL. I. 12. 

"Giving thanks. "

In one of our northern coal-pits there was a little boy employed in alonely and dangerous part of the mine. One day a visitor to thecoal-pit asked the boy about his work, and the child answered, "Yes, itis very lonely here, but I pick up the little bits of candle thrownaway by the colliers, and join them together, and when I get a light Ising. " My brothers, every day of our lives we are picking up blessingswhich the loving Hand of God has scattered around, every day we get thelight, but how many of us sing?

I want to talk to you about the duty and blessing of thankfulness, andhow it can be shown. Gratitude is the root of all true Christianservice and worship. If we go to Church, and give money for religiouspurposes, only because we want to stand well with God, or to getsomething from Him, our service is mere selfishness. We are likepeople buying votes to get themselves into a charitable asylum. All wedo in the service of God should be done from a motive of thankfulness. The thought should be, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all Hisbenefits?"

If a man does the state some great service we give him a pension, or astatue. It is nothing very much, but we do what we can to show ourgratitude. During the last American War a farmer was discovered oneday kneeling by the grave of a soldier lately killed in battle. He wasasked if the dead man were his son, and answered that the soldier wasno relation: and then he told his story. The farmer, who had a sicklywife, and several children, was drafted for the army, and had no onewho could carry on his farm, or take care of his family, whilst he wentto the war. Whilst he was overwhelmed with trouble, the son of aneighbour came forward, and said, "I have no one depending on me, Iwill go to the war in your place. " He went, and was killed in action, and the farmer had travelled many a weary mile to kneel beside hisgrave, and to carve on the headstone the words--"_Died for me. _"

Brethren, what ought our gratitude to be to the Lord Jesus, who lovedus, and died for us upon the Cross of Calvary? True gratitude is shownby deeds as well as words. We must try to show our thankfulness to Godnot only with our lips but in our lives. Too many people are contentto get all they can from God, and never to give anything in return. They tell us that they are poor miserable sinners, who can do nothing, and give nothing, they must leave all to the mercies of Jesus. Now, brethren, this is very often mere selfishness. They do not _want_ togive anything to God, they are not really thankful. It is not true tosay that we can give nothing to God. We are bidden in the Gospel torender unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the thingsthat are God's. We can all give God _worship_, and we should give itin the best way possible, as a token of our thankfulness. 

It is for this reason that we build beautiful Churches, and decoratethem with stained glass windows, and rich carvings. Such Churches arethank-offerings, signs of our gratitude to Him who on earth washomeless, who was born in a stable, who had not where to lay His head. There are people who murmur at the expense of building and decoratingsuch Churches. They say, "To what purpose was this waste?" They arevery nearly related to Judas Iscariot of old, who asked the samequestion, and, like him, they love themselves, and the money bag, better than their Master. These people tell us that God does not carefor handsome Churches and stately services. So they would give theAlmighty a white-washed building, whilst they dwell in a fair andcostly mansion. They would have fine damask and soft covering fortheir table, whilst they have dirty linen and a moth eaten cloth forthe Altar of their God. They will drink out of cut-glass and silver attheir feasts, and they leave the feast of Christ's dying love, theBlessed Sacrament of praise and thanksgiving, to be celebrated invessels of base metal. Their houses are kept in excellent repair, andcleansed by careful hands, but they suffer the House of God to fall todecay, and allow His Presence Chamber to be defiled with dirt. And allthis arises from a want of thankfulness to God. If we are thankful wedo not grudge what we give, we feel that we can never do enough for Himwho has redeemed us. But these people say, "God does not care for abeautiful Church, He loves simplicity. " Where has God told us this?David believed just the opposite. He said that he was ashamed that heshould dwell in a house of cedars, whilst the Ark of God dwelt amongcurtains. You know how he was prevented from building the Temple, andhow Solomon did the work. Now, did Solomon act upon the mean principleof building a poor, cheap house for God, whilst he erected a gorgeouspalace for himself? No! the Temple was one of the most gloriousbuildings ever seen, and those that were erected in later times weresplendid also. We find our Blessed Lord attending the Temple services, and those services were beautiful and elaborate. There was nothing inthe Temple or its worship to suggest that God prefers the ugly, white-washed building, and the slovenly, irreverent, service which somewould offer Him. 

If you love someone very dearly you do not visit him in your oldest anddirtiest garments, you do not send him the cheapest present you canbuy, nor put up a roughly erected tombstone to his memory. You givehim the very best you have. If you love God you will do the same toHim. 

Again, we show our thankfulness to God by giving Him a hearty worshipin His Church. I wonder how many people know exactly why they come toChurch at all. Some say they come to get good. That is mereselfishness. Some say they come because it is respectable. Yes, butworthless, unless it means something more. Others would tell us, ifthey were quite honest, that they come to Church because they want tostand well in the good opinion of the Clergyman, or with the Squire. This is sheer hypocrisy. There is only one true reason for coming toChurch, --the fact that we love God, and are grateful to Him for all Hismercies, and want to show it. We should come to Church to _worship_God with the best member that we have; we should come with thefeeling--"I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the Houseof the Lord;" "I love the place, O Lord, wherein Thine honour dwells. "All slovenliness in the performance of the service, all irreverence, orsigns of inattention, and indifference, are tokens of a want ofthankfulness. We should get this thought fixed in our minds when weenter Church, --I have come here to-day mainly to thank God for Hisgreat goodness to me, and to all men. I have come also to ask forcertain things, the forgiveness of my sins if I am truly penitent, thehelp and strength of the Holy Spirit to renew my life; I have come toask for those things, which are requisite and necessary as well for thebody as the soul, and I seek instruction in the lessons, the Gospel andEpistle, and the sermon. But the chief object of my presence here isthe worship, the glory, the honour of God. And so I will give Him thebest I have. If you once grasped that fact, my brothers, we shouldhave no silent lips, no sleepy eyes, no lounging bodies, no irreverentconduct in God's Holy Church. Remember God is present in His Church, therefore we must behave with the greatest humility and reverence. Insome Churches you will see the people obstinately sitting throughoutthe service, but if one of the Royal Family enters, they all rise up. Now, if we remember that the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the onlyRuler of princes, is present, we shall stand up to do Him honour. Itis defrauding God of the honour due to Him when we refuse to show Himmarks of reverence. Do you know that in the House of Lords it isalways the rule for members to bow to the throne, although it is empty, as being the seat of the Majesty of England. We bow to the Altar asbeing the throne of the Most High God, the place where He visits Hispeople in the Blessed Sacrament. There we should honour and reverenceGod, in whose presence we are, with the best members that we have. Ourheads should bow in humility before the God of Heaven and earth. Ourknees should bend in adoration before Him who is worshipped by theHeavenly Host. Our eyes should be fixed upon our Prayer Books thatthey may not wander. Our thoughts should be centred on the fact thatGod is there with us, that we are in the presence-chamber of the greatKing. Our voices should be used to praise God in chant, and psalm, andhymn, and to offer prayer or thanksgiving. If we are silent we aredefrauding God. God's Priest does not say, "let _me_ pray for you, " hesays, "let _us_ pray. " We cannot worship God by proxy, we cannot giveGod what He asks by means of a choir, whilst the congregation issilent. Let us, each one of us, for the future, remember why we havecome to Church, and that it is our individual business to worship Godwith reverence and holy fear. And in all you sing or say here, be inearnest, _mean_ what you say. It is an insult to God to say wordswhich you do not believe, or understand. Once in a certain Church, during Lent, an Easter hymn had been put down by mistake, and was sungvery heartily by the choir. The choirmaster after service spoke to thesingers, regretting that such a mistake should have occurred. And hewas answered, "Oh, it does not matter, we only think of the tune, anddo not trouble about the _words_. " I am afraid that too many hymns aresung in the same careless fashion, but if so, they are not _praise_. "Sing ye praises with _understanding_. "

One word more; we are bidden to render unto Caesar what belongs to him, and to God what is His. This world has certain claims upon us. Partof our time and our money must be devoted to our business and ourposition in the world. But not _all_ of our time and money must be sogiven. God claims His share, and our gratitude for His mercies oughtto make us gladly render unto God the things that are God's. He claimsa certain part of our time for His public worship in Church. If westay away from His House, or if, when there, we are careless, andindifferent, we are robbing God. God claims a certain part of ourmoney, to be dedicated to the relief of the poor, or the maintenance ofHis Church. If we spend all our money on the world we are defraudingGod of His right. May He grant us all more thankful hearts, for JesusChrist's sake. 

SERMON LX. 

GATHERING THE FRAGMENTS. 

(Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity. )

S. JOHN vi. 12. 

"Gather up the fragments that remain. "

The fragments that remain! What are they? Something more than theremnants of that miracle of feeding. We have come to the last Sundayof the Church's year, only a few more fragments, a few more days, remain, and then Advent will have come, and we shall begin a new year. Again we shall hear the warning cry--"Prepare to meet thy God. "Brothers, are we ready to meet Him? We are one year nearer the daywhen we must render in our account; one year nearer the time when theMaster will come to reckon with His servants; one year nearer thereturn of the Bridegroom. What of our lamps, are they burning? Whatof our talents, have they yielded interest? Another yeargone--eternity nearer by twelve months; surely this is a solemn timefor us all. Let us gather up the fragments of time that remain beforeAdvent. Do not put off making resolutions, or giving up bad habits, till next Sunday. We know not how few fragments of our life remain. As says a Bishop of our Church, "they who dare lose a day areprodigals, but those who dare misspend it are desperate. Time is theseed of eternity, the less that remains the more valuable it becomes. To squander time is to squander all. " The events of one brief day haveoften influenced a whole life, aye, a whole eternity. The flight of abird determined the career of Mohammed; a spider's spinning that ofBruce; and a tear in his mother's eye that of Washington. Voltaire, when only five years old, committed to memory an infidel poem, and grewto live and die an unbeliever; whilst Doddridge, as a child, studiedthe Bible from the pictured tiles at the fireside explained by hismother. Use the moments, the fragments, that remain, and so begin thisAdvent season rightly, your lamp burning, the works of darkness castaway, the armour of light girded on. But not only must we lookforward, the end of the Church's year is a fitting time for lookingback. Some of us can do so joyfully, thankfully, peacefully. Week byweek the teachings of Holy Church have shown them the life of duty, andthey feel that they have tried to live that life by the help of God'sHoly Spirit. The first half of the year's teaching showed us God'slove for us, the second half taught us how we can show our love to God. Last Advent told us of the battle of life, the good fight of the faith, and the love of God strengthening us in the conflict, and promising thecrown of victory. Christmas brought us once more the dear, glad, tidings that Jesus is our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of ourflesh. Epiphany showed us our Saviour manifested in our work, in thechanged character of a believer who out of weakness is made strong, inthe cleansed sinner whose leprosy is healed, in the storm of life madecalm. The star of Epiphany led us to Jesus, to hope, to rejoicing, andgladly we offered our gifts, to the King our gold, to the Great HighPriest our incense, to the Crucified our myrrh. Lent showed us thesterner side of the life of duty, and brought its lessons ofself-denial and self-restraint. Those of us who went out into thewilderness of this world with Jesus, "glad with Him to suffer pain, "resisting the tempter, found their reward at the glad Easter-tide. Thesorrow which had endured for the night of Lent gave place to the joywhich came with Easter morning. And so in every Sunday of the year wetrace the golden thread of God's loving mercy lying along the narrowway, the path of duty. If we have tried to keep in that path, then wecan look back joyfully over the year that is gone, and for the futurewe can, like S. Paul, "thank God, and take courage. "

They tell us that the fishermen of Brittany, when going forth on avoyage, offer this prayer--"Save us, O God, thine ocean is so large, and our little boat so small. " That may well be our prayer as we beginanother year. "Gather up the fragments. " For some of us that will bea sorry task; we are like children crying in the midst of the brokenpieces of some costly vase, shattered by our carelessness. Thefragments that _remain_! How many remain of the lessons and warningsof the past year? How much of the good seed remains undestroyed by thechoking thorn? Some of us made good resolutions last Advent, westarted well with the beginning of the Church's year, we girded on ourarmour, we determined to make a fight for the true faith, and we took afirm stand on the promises of the Gospel. And now nothing remains ofthose good resolutions except the broken fragments to witness againstus and upbraid us. As for the good fight, we have fled from the battlebeaten, our shield has been left disgracefully behind, we have turnedourselves back in the day of battle. My brother, what is that darkstain upon the white robe of your purity? It was not there a year ago. Last Advent you could look father and mother, aye, the whole world, inthe face. And now you have a guilty secret spoiling your life. Youmay cry with Macbeth--

 "Had I but died an hour before this chance I had liv'd a blessed time; for, from this instant, The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left. "

You cannot wash away that stain, even though you could "weep saltoceans from those eyes. " To look back mournfully will not help to undothe past. To lament over the fragments of a misspent year, or thememory of broken resolutions, vows unfulfilled, and chances lost, willnot bring back "the tender grace of a day that is dead. " The thoughtwould be maddening if we did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Theknowledge that we cannot recall one lost day, nor alter one past pagein our life's story, would bring a remorse cruel as the fabled vulturewhich ever fed upon the vitals of the chained Prometheus. But thanksbe to God, Jesus says, "He that sitteth upon the throne saith, Behold, I make all things new. " Dear brothers and sisters, some of us need toturn over a new leaf, to make a fresh start, how shall we do it? Letus take our secret sin, our secret sorrow, to Jesus now. Let not thesun go down and find us impenitent, unpardoned. Let us no longer gothrough life like galley slaves, chained and labouring at the oar. Jesus waits to strike off our chains, He came to preach liberty to thecaptives. Think of that, you who are yet prisoners, slaves of somesin. Jesus will set you free. As long as you hide your fault you area slave, you are torn and bitten by remorse, the worm that dieth not, the fire that is not quenched. Tell the story of your sin to Jesus_now_. Never mind how sad, how shameful it is. He is the _same_Jesus, remember. The same who cleansed the Magdalene, who pardoned theadulteress. Can you, will you, say to-day--

 "We come to Thee, sweet Saviour, With our broken faith again; We know Thou wilt forgive us, Nor upbraid us, nor complain. 

 We come to Thee, sweet Saviour, Fear brings us in our need; For Thy hand never breaketh Not the frailest bruised reed. "

"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. " LetAdvent find us once more fighting the battle from which some hadretreated. Let the marks and scars upon our armour teach us ourdanger, and help us to fight more watchfully, more humbly. Let themistakes, the weaknesses, the negligences, the ignorances of the past, be warnings to us for the future. 

 "Saint Augustine, well hast thou said That of our vices we can frame A ladder, if we will but tread Beneath our feet each deed of shame. 

 Deem not the irrevocable past As wholly wasted, wholly vain, If, rising on its wrecks, at last To something nobler we attain. "

Do you remember the Eastern story of the magician, who gave a ring ofvast beauty to a certain prince? Not only was the ring set withpriceless gems, but it had this wonderful quality. If the kingindulged in any evil thought or wish, or devised any sinful act, thering contracted on his finger, and warned him by its painful pressure. My brothers, does the ring of conscience press no finger here to-day?Is there no one here now who says in his heart: "Would to God that Iwere as in years past?" If so, cling to the cleansing Hand of Jesus_now_. A well-known Scottish physician tells us that, during aterrible outbreak of cholera, he was summoned to a small fishingvillage where the plague had broken out. As they approached the placeby boat, they saw a crowd of anxious watchers waiting for the doctor'sarrival. Suddenly an old man, of great height and strength, dashedinto the water, reached the boat ere it could reach the land, andseizing the doctor in his mighty arms, carried him helpless through thecrowd to the bedside of his cholera-stricken grandson. 

Brethren, if the plague spot of sin is upon you, seize upon the Hand ofthe Good Physician, clasp Him in your arms, cry to Him now: "wash methroughly [Transcriber's note: thoroughly?] from my wickedness, andcleanse me from my sin!"

SERMON LXI. 

WHAT THE FLOWERS SAY. 

(Children's Flower Service. )

PSALM ciii. 15. 

"As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. "

Children, have you ever heard of the language of flowers? Now, ofcourse, we know that flowers cannot speak as we can. I wish theycould. I think they would say such sweet things. But in one wayflowers do talk to us. When you give them some water, or when Godsends a shower of rain upon them, they give forth a sweet smell; Ithink that the flowers are speaking then, I think that they are saying, "thank you. " Let us listen to the preaching of the flowers to-day. What do they say to us? Well, some say one thing, some another; butthere is one thing which all of them say--"trust God. " God takes careof the flowers, and sends them dew, and rain, and sunshine, and freshair, and they tell us that the same God who cares for the flowers caresalso for us. And next, I think, all the flowers say to us, "thankGod. " See how the daisies in the meadow seem to look up thankfully toGod. Someone says that God smiles on the earth, and that the earthsmiles back again with its flowers. Is not that a pretty thought, children, that the flowers are the smiles of the grateful earth? Next, the flowers say to us, "be contented. " They are quite satisfied togrow, and smell sweet, and look pretty, in the place where God putsthem. Now, just as God plants the flowers in a certain place, some uphigh on the hills, others down low in the valley; some in the Queen'sgreenhouse, others in the cottager's garden, so He puts you children inyour right place. Be quite sure, my children, that the best place forus is where God puts us. Have you ever noticed the sweet-scented wallflowers growing on an old stone wall? They have scarcely any earth fortheir roots, only a little bit between the stones, yet they make theold wall beautiful, and no flower smells sweeter. They teach us to becontented. They seem to say, we have no grand place to grow in, nocarefully-prepared bed, only a bit of old wall for our home, but we arequite satisfied, and we mean to make home as bright and sweet as wecan. Let us learn the lesson of the wall flower. Let us try to makehome bright and happy, and sweet, no matter how poor it is. Anotherthing which all the flowers tell us is this, "remember that you mustdie. " When the Autumn and Winter come we say the flowers are deadbecause we cannot see them. But the flowers are not really dead. Theyare sleeping in the earth till the Spring comes again. God has putthem to bed in the warm ground, and when the proper time comes theywill waken up. Just what God does to the flowers He does to us. Oneday He will send us to sleep, and take our soul to a safe place inParadise, whilst our body is put to bed in the earth beneath the softand pleasant grass. People will say that we are dead, just as they saythe flowers are dead. One day the resurrection morning will come, itwill be our spring-time, and God, who raised Jesus Christ from thegrave, will raise us up again. 

So you see, children, the flowers tell us not only that we must die, but that we must rise again. What else do the flowers say to us? Ithink they say, "keep in the sunshine, be happy. " You always find thatflowers are on the sunny side of things. So ought we to be. A plantcannot grow, and blossom, in a dark cellar. It must have sunshine. Soif you want to be God's children, that is, good children, you must havesunshine in your hearts, sunshine in your faces. Look at the face ofan innocent child, one who is gentle, obedient, loving, pure. You willsee the face full of sunshine. But look at the face of a child who hasdone something wrong; who has told a lie, or done some cruel, mean, ordishonest act. There is no sunshine on _that_ face. There is nothingbut a dark heavy cloud. The ill-tempered child has no sunshine on hisface. He lives down in a dark cellar. The discontented child has nosunshine on his face. He lives down in a black dungeon with GiantDespair. My children, ask God to keep you innocent; or if you havedone wrong, ask God to forgive you for Jesus Christ's sake, then youwill have sunshine, you will be happy. 

There is another thing which the flowers say to us--"Be sweet. " Thereis nothing so delicious as to go into a flower garden after a warmshower, and to smell the sweet scents. Well, God has sent you into thegarden of this world to be sweet like the flowers. How can you besweet? You can be sweet-tempered, sweet-mannered, sweet-spoken. Sometimes you hear people say that someone has a sweet face. Now thatneed not mean a pretty face; a person may be pretty, and yet not sweet. Those who are sweet-tempered show it in their faces. You know how abunch of flowers in a room makes it sweet and wholesome. Now everygood child in a home, or a school, is like a nosegay of blossoms, making the place sweet and wholesome; and every bad, vicious, unruly, child is like the smell which comes from poisoned water. When I usedto visit the sailors in their ships to talk to them about God, I usedto say to them, "Now I want one of you men to be a little pinch of saltin this ship, I want you to keep things sweet. Who will be the littlepinch of salt?" You understand what I mean, children? I wanted a goodman, who prayed, and read his Bible, to help the others, to try andstop bad talking, to keep things sweet, as salt does. Well, I wanteach of you children to be God's sweet flower, and to try to make yourhome sweet by your gentleness, your good temper, your love. Somechildren are regular stinging nettles in a home, or a school. Theyalways make people uncomfortable. They sting with their tongues, andthey sting with their looks and their tempers. Make up your minds, dear little ones, to be, by God's help, sweet flowers, not stingingnettles. 

And now, before I leave you, let us think what one special flowerteaches us. I told you that there is such a thing as the language offlowers, that is, that each flower has its special meaning. Well, whatdoes the rose say? Surely the rose says, "love one another!" Do youknow who it is who loves us best, and who has done most for us? OurLord Jesus Christ. Yes, and it is for that reason, I think, that He iscalled in the Bible a Rose, --the Rose of Sharon. Whenever you see arose, think of Jesus, the Rose of Sharon, and remember what He says toyou, "Little children, love one another. " I will tell you a storyabout a rose. A little brother and sister lived in a crowded court ina great city. It was a wretched, dirty, ugly, place, where scarcelyany sunshine ever came, and where the people were often rough andwicked. Little Willie and his sister knew nothing about green fieldsspotted with daisies, they had never seen a flower. One day a kindfriend took all the poor children living in the court for a drive intothe country. I cannot tell you how happy Willie and his sister werewhen they saw the trees and hedges, which were all new and strange tothem. Presently they passed a garden in which were growing somesweet-smelling red flowers. Willie had never seen anything half solovely, and he was anxious to know what the flowers were called, sothey told him that they were roses. Well, after a time, when theWinter came, little Willie fell ill. Day after day his sister satbeside him, holding his thin white hand in hers. Often they talkedabout that wonderful day in the country, where they had seen the roses. Often, too, they talked about Jesus, and the still more beautifulcountry where He lived. The children were very ignorant, but they hadbeen to Sunday School, and learnt something about the dear Lord wholoves children. One cold, dark day, little Willie was much worse, andhe said to his sister--"Oh! I wish I could see a rose once more. Iwish you would go and get me one of those roses we saw that day!" Sothe little sister, who loved him dearly, set out to walk to the placewhere they had seen the flowers. After a long and weary journey, shecame to the field where they had played, and the garden where the rosesgrew. But the field and the garden were white with snow, and therewere no roses there. The little girl was worn out with hunger andfatigue, and she dropped on her knees in the snow, and prayed, and thiswas her prayer--"Dear Jesus, send me one rose, only one, for littleWillie. " Just then a carriage came along the road, and the lady whorode in it had a beautiful red rose in her hand, which had grown in agreenhouse. She dropped it from the window, I suppose, by accident, but when the little girl saw it lying on the snow, she thought thatJesus had sent it to her, and took it up lovingly to carry to herbrother. But she had no more strength to struggle through the coldnight, and when the morning came they found her dead upon the whitesnow, with the red rose in her hand. That night little Willie, lyingalone in the cold, dark, garret, also died. And the writer of thisstory thinks that when the brother and sister met in the Paradise ofGod, the sister, who gave her life for love, carried a beautiful flowerin her hand, and said, "Willie, here's your rose. " So thinks thewriter, and I think so too. 

SERMON LXII. 

DAILY BREAD. 

(Harvest Thanksgiving. )

PSALM lxv. 9. 

"Thou preparest them corn. "

"Come, ye thankful people, come, " and let us thank God for anotherharvest. Once more the Father, the Feeder, has given bread tostrengthen man's heart, and we turn from the corn stored in the garner, to God's own garner the Church, where He has stored up food for oursouls. 

And first of all, my brothers, let us be honest with ourselves. Are wequite sure that we _are_ thankful to God for the harvest? We havedecorated God's House with the first-fruits of the year, we have mettogether now to celebrate our Harvest Festival; but is there real_meaning_ in all this? Are we thankful to God? if not our Festival isa mockery. Let me give you a few thoughts which may help you to bethankful. The first thought is this: the harvest is _God's_ harvest, not yours. "Thou preparest them corn, " is spoken of God, not of man. Corn is unlike any other kind of food, it is the direct gift of God toman in fully-developed state. Other fruits of the earth are given toman in a wild state, and he must improve them by care and cultivation, till the wild vine is turned into the rich wine-producing plant of thevineyard, and the sour crab into the delicious apple. It is not thecase with corn. No one, says a writer, whose thoughts I am following, has ever discovered wild corn. Ages ago, when the Pharaohs reigned inEgypt, and the Pyramids were a'building, men sowed just the same cornthat you sow to-day. Corns of wheat like our own have been found inthe hands of Egyptian mummies which have been dead for thousands ofyears. The grain which Joseph stored in Pharaoh's granaries, and withwhich he fed his brethren, was precisely similar to the produce of yourown fields. Geologists tell us that there is no trace of corn to befound in the earth before the creation of man. When God made man Hecreated corn to supply him with food. The old Greeks and Romans had adim perception of this when they thought that corn was the gift of thegoddess Ceres. You know we call all varieties of corn _cereals_, afterthat same goddess. In these days there is, with some, less religionthan ever the old heathen possessed. They would shut God out of theworld of Nature, and see in a harvest-field only man's cleverness andenergy. Let us rather humble ourselves before God, and see that it isHis Hand which sendeth the springs into the rivers which run among thehills, where all the beasts of the field drink thereof, and the wildasses quench their thirst; beside them shall the fowls of the air havetheir habitation, and sing among the branches. Let us believe that itis God who watereth the hills from above, so that the earth is filledwith the fruits of His works; that it is God who bringeth forth grassfor the cattle, and green herb for the service of men, that He maybring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart ofman, and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and bread tostrengthen man's heart. Whilst the unbeliever, blinded by hisself-conceit, is worshipping his own little stock of knowledge, andneglecting God, let us be singing our _Te Deum_--"We praise Thee, OGod, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. "

Here is another thought which will help you to recognise corn as beingspecially the gift of God to man. It grows all over the world. Wherever man can live, corn of one kind or another flourishes. "Fromthe bleak inhospitable wastes of Lapland to the burning plains ofCentral India, from the muddy swamps of China to the billowy prairiesof America, from the level of the sea-shore to the lofty valleys andtable-lands of the Andes and the Himalayas, it is successfullycultivated. The emigrant clears the primaeval forest of Canada, or thefern-brakes of New Zealand, and there the corn seed sown will spring upas luxuriantly as on the old loved fields of home. " [1] All thisshould teach us to see in the harvest the result, not of our skill andcleverness, but of the good God's lovingkindness. Ask yourselves now, my brothers, whether you are truly thankful to God for this harvest: isyour presence here to-day a real act of thanksgiving, or only an idleform?

Among the many curious relics of the past which were dug up in theburied city of Pompeii were some loaves of bread, looking just as theydid when they came out of the oven. Think of those loaves bakedeighteen hundred years ago, and still preserved as witnesses againstthat wicked city. God was good to those people in Pompeii, andprepared their corn, and bread to strengthen their heart, just as Hedoes for us. And they went on thankless and careless in their sin, till the fiery stream overtook them, and that same fire which destroyedthem preserved the bread, as a sign of God's goodness and man'singratitude. 

There is yet another thought about the corn, which ought to make usfeel how dependent we are upon God for our _daily_ bread. Unlike thegrass which is permanent as a food for cattle, or certain trees whichbring forth fruit season by season, corn must be sown annually. Mandepends upon the result of each year's sowing for the staff of life. And we are told that as a fact there is only as much corn in the worldin each year as the world can consume in that time. "It is notprobable that there was ever a year and a half's supply of the firstnecessary of life at one time in the world. " Thus, as everyharvest-time comes round, we are almost looking famine in the face, andthen God opens His Hand and filleth all things living withplenteousness. Rightly indeed do we pray, "Give us day by day ourdaily bread. "

And now let us look at the spiritual meaning of all this. As corn isthe special gift of God to man, so is the gift of grace and pardon. God gives us what we cannot obtain for ourselves, does for us what weare powerless to do. As He feeds our bodies with the bread of corn, Hefeeds our souls with the Bread of Heaven. His Holy Catholic Church allover the world is a great granary stored with precious food. Just ascorn grows wherever man lives, so wherever two or three are gatheredtogether in Christ's Name there is He in the midst of them, feedingtheir souls. The exile in a foreign land can sow his corn seed, andgather the same food as in the fields of home. The same exile can findbeneath other skies the same holy teachings, the same blessedSacraments, the same prayers, as in the Church of his childhood. Thebread of earth and the Bread of Heaven are God's two universal gifts toman. The penitent sinner can kneel at the Feet of Jesus, and find thegrace of pardon beneath the skies of England, and India, and NewZealand, alike. The faithful Churchman can come to the Altar andreceive the Body and Blood of his Saviour, even the Heavenly Bread tostrengthen man's heart, all over the Christian world. As God gives useverywhere light and food, without which we cannot live, so does Hegive light and food for our soul. As says a Saint of old (S. Thomas āKempis), "I feel that two things are most especially necessary to me inthis life; prisoned in the dungeon of the body, I acknowledge that Ineed two things, food and light. Therefore Thou hast given me, a sickman, Thy Body for the refreshment of my soul and body, and hast madeThy Word a lantern unto my feet. Without these two I cannot live well;for the Word of God is the light of my soul, and Thy Sacrament is theBread of Life. "

My brothers, whilst we thank God for giving us this harvest of corn, let us still more thank Him for the harvest of spiritual blessing, forthe precious grace and mercy which make glad the hearts of hardenedsinners, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit which makes our facesshine with joy and gladness, for the Bread which came down from Heaven, and which strengthens our hearts to be Christ's faithful soldiers andservants. 

One last word. The return of seed time and harvest teaches us that weare all sowers, and that the harvest is the end of the world. Weseldom reap here the full results of our acts whether they be good orevil. "The evil that men do lives after them, " yes, and the good too. It may seem to some of us who are trying to do our duty, trying to liveas God's servants, that there is no harvest for us. We seem destinedto labour in the weary field of the world, and to see no fruit of ourlabours. Ah! brothers, the harvest is not yet, but it will come, theharvest of the good and of the evil, since--

 "We are sowers, and full seldom reapers, For life's harvest ripens when we die, 'Tis in death alone God gives His sleepers All for which they sigh. 

 Cast thy bread upon the waters: after Many mornings, when thy head is low, Men shall gather it with songs and laughter, Though thou mayest not know. "

[1] Hugh Macmillan's _Bible Teachings in Nature_, to which work I amindebted for the structure of this Sermon. 

SERMON LXIII. 

GOD'S JEWELS. 

(Schools. )

MALACHI III. 17. 

"They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I makeup My jewels. "

There is a legend of old time which tells us how a certain Jewish Rabbireturned to his home after a long absence. His first questionwas--"Where are my boys?" for his wife had greeted him alone. Then, instead of answering her husband's question, the wife asked his advice. She told him that some years before someone had lent her something veryprecious, and she would know whether after fourteen years the loanbecame hers. The Rabbi gently reproved his wife, and assured her thatthe treasure thus lent could not become her own. Then the wife toldhim that on that very day He who had lent the treasure had returned andclaimed it. "Ought I to have kept it back, or repined at restoring theloan?" she asked. The Rabbi was astonished that she could ask such aquestion, and again enquired anxiously for his two boys. Then the wifetook him by the hand, and turning back the sheet upon the bed, showedhim the two boys lying dead. "The Lord who gave hath taken. They aredead. "

My brethren, we who are parents should learn to look upon our childrenas a precious loan from the Lord. They are God's treasures, Hisjewels, and He lends them to us for a little while. Now, to-day, Ihave to speak to you about schools, and the duty of supporting a_Christian_, as opposed to a mere _secular_ education. But, first, Iwant to speak about another kind of education, the teaching of home. Iwould speak most earnestly to you mothers, because as you are theearliest, so are you the most powerful teachers of your children. Itis a tremendous responsibility which God has laid upon you. He haslent you a precious jewel, an immortal soul, which will be saved orlost mainly through your influence. Well says a writer of the day, "Sometimes mothers think it hard to be shut up at home with the care oflittle children. But she who takes care of little children takes careof great eternities. She who takes care of a little child, takes careof an empire that knows no bounds and no dimensions. The parent whostays at home and takes care of children is doing a work boundless asGod's heart. " O mothers! never grow weary in well-doing, never thinkthe children a trouble and a weariness, but a precious loan which Godwill ask one day to have restored. May none of you ever have to say--

 "I wonder so that mothers ever fret At little children clinging to their gown, Or that the foot-prints, when the days are wet, Are ever black enough to make them frown. If I could find a little muddy boot, Or cap, or jacket, on my chamber floor; If I could kiss a rosy, restless foot, And hear it patter in my house once more; If I could mend a broken cart to-day, To-morrow make a kite to reach the sky, There is no woman in God's world could say She was more blissfully content than I. But ah! the dainty pillow next my own Is never rumpled by a shining head; My singing birdling from its nest is flown; The little boy I used to kiss is dead. "

My sisters, God would have you who are mothers to be nursing mothersfor Heaven, your nursery, your home, the school of Christ. Let everymother here take to heart the story of Monica and Augustine. You knowthat the future Bishop and famous preacher was as a young man given upto all kinds of vicious courses, and refused to embrace the faith ofhis mother, a devoted Christian. His dissipation and impiety were aconstant source of sorrow to the gentle Monica, who never ceased topray for him. When Augustine was a student at Carthage, drinkingdeeply of the beautiful poisoned chalice of heathen literature, themother's letters to her son were full of the sweet lessons ofChristianity. Still Augustine persevered in the old evil way, and whenhe gained fame as a teacher he still disregarded the words of MonicaShe prayed on, but almost in despair. One night she dreamed than anangel appeared to her, and promised that where she was there herbeloved Augustine should be. She told the vision to her son, who madelight of it, saying, that if it meant anything, it was that she shouldadopt his faith. "Nay, " said his mother, "it was not said to me, 'Where he is you shall be, ' but, 'Where _you_ are he shall be. '" Stillthe years went on, and there was no change in Augustine. Monicaconsulted a great Christian Bishop, who bade her persevere, since itwas impossible that the child of so many tears and prayers shouldperish. After a while Augustine journeyed to Rome, his mother'sprayers going with him. There he heard S. Ambrose preach, and hisheart was touched. There was a hard struggle between the old life andthe new for a time, and Monica was with Augustine in his conflict. Atlast she saw of the travail of her soul, and was satisfied. O mothers, pray as Monica prayed for Augustine, if you would have your childrengrow up as God's children set them a strong example, and pray withoutceasing. 

There is, in a certain country Churchyard, a grave-stone with thisepitaph--"He loved little children. " Few of us could wish for abetter. Sometimes a whole life is written in one sentence, it was so, no doubt, in this case. There is not, to my mind, among all theepitaphs in S. Paul's Cathedral, or Westminster Abbey, telling thepraises of soldiers, heroes, statesmen, anyone to compare with thesimple sentence--"He loved little children. " Now, brethren, if we lovelittle children, we can best show our love by having them brought up asChristian children; by having them taught to love the Church of theirBaptism, and to know and reverence the Bible. The question of the dayis education with God or without God, a creedless School where theyoung may believe anything, or nothing, or a Church School where theyare brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and groundedin the faith of their fathers. Perhaps there was never a time whenEngland was in so critical a state as now, and its future depends onour children. Outside enemies are clamouring at the doors of theChurch, crying, "down with it, down with it, even to the ground. " TheFranchise will be practically in the hands of everyone; and what willthe future of the Church and the State be, when this new power isplaced in the hands of those who have been brought up without anydefinite religious faith? The policy of the day is to shut God out ofour Schools, as we have tried to shut Him out of our legislature andour commerce. We find our boys at the Public Schools, and our youngmen at the Universities, frequently taught by men who openly professunbelief, and talk of the Incarnation and kindred doctrines as"beautiful myths. " We find the children of our parishes brought up increedless Schools, where all dogmatic teaching is excluded, and we maywell fear lest England should drift into the utter unbelief of France. 

My brethren, you may take care of your children's intellects, you maygive them what is called a "good education, " but I tell you noeducation can be _good_ which is not based upon the Gospel of the LordJesus Christ. You may educate a child to pass one of the endlessexaminations of the day, but we must remember that there is a great andfinal examination to be passed, when all earthly competitions areended. Remember your child's soul, and educate him for Heaven. 

SERMON LXIV. 

MUTUAL HELP. 

(Female Friendly Society. )

S. MARK iii. 35. 

"Whosoever shall do the Will of God, the same is My brother, and Mysister, and My mother. "

There are just two points which I want to put before you to-day. First, what you as Christian women ought to be. Secondly, how you canhelp each other to be so. On the first point I would ask you toremember the glory and dignity of womanhood. You get this dignity fromJesus Christ, who was born of a woman, and who said, "Whosoever shalldo the Will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and Mymother. " Before Christ came into the world the condition of women wasmost miserable. They were degraded, despised, treated as slaves, andbeasts of burden, as they are in heathen lands to this day. SinceChrist came every good woman is loved, honoured, and respected. JesusChrist set us the example. It was on a woman's breast that the Son ofGod found earthly refuge. It was to a woman who had been probably agreat sinner, and out of whom He had cast seven devils, that Jesus gavethe first news of His Resurrection. He told Mary Magdalene to announcethe Gospel of the risen Jesus to His disciples. This, my sisters, isthe true work of every Christian woman, to teach those around you, thechildren, the household, the busy men, the Gospel of the higher life, the Gospel of the Resurrection. And this is not to be done with thepreacher's voice from the pulpit, but with the still, small voice oflove and gentleness, and sweet temper, and purity; by that mostpowerful of all sermons--a good example. 

Next, I want you to remember the wonderful power which God has givenyou, and which you can use either for good or evil. God has, in oneway, made men stronger than women. But every woman has influence, thepower of leading others right or wrong. Do you know that from the timeof Eve women have mainly made the history of the world? Men may havedone the deeds, but women have led the men. "The hope of France is inour mothers, " said a famous French Bishop, and every good man owes thebest part of himself to his earliest and best teacher and guide--hismother. The origin of most sins also can be traced to the influence ofa bad woman. Samson, the giant, becomes the blinded, helpless slave, by trusting to false Delilah. Ahab loses honour and life by makingJezebel his counsellor. Mark Antony, the conqueror, sits helpless atthe feet of Cleopatra. Never forget the power of leading others whichyou have as mothers, wives, or sisters, and take good heed that youlead them in the right way. 

Secondly, let me give you a few homely words of advice about thespecial temptations and dangers which surround you, and the best meansof helping each other to resist them. Many of you passed from homelife into domestic service, where you have very frequently to standalone, without the help of parent or teacher. Every position in lifehas its special trials and temptations. I have temptations which donot come to you; you have trials from which I am free. I have heardmany life-stories like yours when I have been holding a Mission, andtherefore I know far more of your special temptations than you imagine. One of these special dangers is _bad company_. You all have yourholidays, and your "days out, " and you naturally look forward to themvery eagerly. But, my sisters, stay, and ask yourselves thequestion--How do I spend my holidays? If the day be Sunday, do youkeep God's Commandment, and observe the Sabbath Day to keep it holy?If not, how can you expect to be kept from evil? You promised in yourBaptism and your Confirmation to keep all God's Will and Commandments, and one of these is, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day. "Take care what company you keep. If you cannot say, "I am a companionof all such as love the Lord, " be sure your company is of the wrongsort. I have known many a one who has lost name, fame, character, allthat a woman holds most dear, and who has brought an honest name todisgrace, and broken a mother's heart, by mixing with bad company. Theproverb says that a person is known by his friends, by the company hekeeps. You cannot touch fire and escape burning, and you cannot keepcompany with those who laugh at religion, who make a mock at sin, whonever pray, who talk immodestly, and are disobedient to the wishes ofparent or employer, without falling into sin yourselves. 

If any of you who hear me are entangled with such company, make up yourmind now, and give it up. Be brave enough to do what is right. AskGod to make you brave. And one word more, _help each other_ to do whatis right. I say to you who want to go in the right way, keep eachother company. None of us can stand alone, we need help. You haveprobably heard the story of the blind man and the lame man who werecalled to journey to a distant place. What was to be done? The blindman could not see, the lame man could not walk; so they helped eachother: the blind man carried the lame man, who directed him in theright way. Some of you have stronger wills and characters than others, let the strong help the weak. But _how_ can you best help each other?Soldiers in battle assist each other by closing their ranks, andkeeping together. There is the secret of strength, _keep together_. Let all the members of your society march together. Try to set each agood example, a _strong_ example, by prayer, by reading your Bibledaily, by attending the services of the Church as frequently aspossible, by coming to the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament, whenever itis possible. Above all, pray, intercede, for each other. 

THE END.